A lot of people may tell you that crime rate drops during the rain. They think that would-be criminals stay home when the weather gets bad. That’s wrong. People are actually more likely to commit crimes during inclement weather because less people will be out and there will be fewer witnesses. Case in point, I sat there in the drivers seat of a friend’s old Honda, asking myself if I was really going to do this as I watched the water droplets stream down the end of the side-view mirrors. My life was about to change, whether or not this went according to plan.

Sometimes in life you get to a crossroads and you know that whatever happens, things will change. Sometimes its a special occasion and you prepare for that decision, but others, an opportunity comes and you just have to decide which path to take. This was a little bit of both. This was a planned moment, but my chance arrived sooner than expected, and rain can also be a great cover-up.

We all have reasons for the actions we take. We may regret what we do later, but in the end the choices we make have answers behind them. I’ve always been different from those around me, even in what you would call my line of work. The two paths that lay ahead of me go in opposite directions, in some respect, and I know that most people would choose the safer one. In truth, most people frown on murder as a means to an end, and while I hate doing it this way, this is the only chance I’ll get.

Red and blue lights blurred into view from the main street, turning onto the road my car was parked at. There were no sirens; it was far too late at night and beyond that it would tip off the supposed break-in he was investigating.

There was, of course, no real break in. But there would be a real crime. Adrenaline surged through me as I held the gun at my lap. I glanced downwards to make sure it was ready to go. My eyes had adjusted as much as they could in the darkness, but there still wasn’t much to see. The gun doesn’t even have an external safety mechanism, which would surprise a lot of people, but the truth is that most guns don’t. One pulled trigger will always mean one fired shot, provided it was loaded, obviously. There are internal mechanisms in the gun to make sure it doesn’t discharge accidentally, but if you needed it, it was there for you in an instant. That was why this had to happen fast.

I glanced back up to the car as it coasted down the soaked asphalt. I wasn’t just going to kill any officer. This was personal. If all went according to plan, this would be the Chief of Police. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. Other times, people get what they deserve.

There are actually quite a lot of misconceptions around being a police officer and how dangerous it usually is. Most people consider being a cop one of the most dangerous occupations, but the truth is that there are dozens of occupations that are more likely to get you killed. In fact, most people that die in the line of duty aren’t even killed in the act of violence. Today’s acts notwithstanding, the chances of being killed intentionally are astronomically low. I hoped to use this to my advantage.

The biggest problem with this plan would be the fact that while it would very distinctly give me cover, there was no way in hell it would look like an accident. Unless it started raining bullets, this would be a murder, and I would be mixed up in it for a while regardless of how this investigation went. I wondered once again whether this was really the choice I was going to make.

I watched him through the tears that rolled down my window. It was relatively dark in the cab of my car, so I wasn’t worried about him seeing me. As he opened the door and stood, the street lamp illuminated his face and I saw without a doubt that this was my target. I took a deep breath. It was now or never. If I waited too long and let it turn into a confrontation, my cover would be blown. Ideally it would only take one shot and he wouldn’t even see me.

I got out of my car. The rain greeted me as I stood, and just as the officer was turning on his flashlight he looked up to address the noise.

I fired.

One shot was all it took.