Then Ben was all over him, trampling him hard and brutally so that he had no chance of getting up, and ripping the shock prod from his hand. The cop tried to flail at Ben with the torch in his other hand, but Ben blocked the blow with his foot and kicked the torch away. Then he drove his knees downwards into the cop’s chest, punching all the air out of his lungs, and jammed the high-voltage device against the guy’s throat.

No hesitation, no mercy. This bastard didn’t get a second chance. A harsh electrical crackle and a high-pitched choking scream of pain filled the air, together with Grace’s confused yell of ‘Ben! No!’

Ben ignored her and held the powerful voltage against the cop’s throat for just an instant longer, until he was confident that the guy was well out of the fight before he ever got into it. Then Ben looked up and saw the second cop backing away, his smirk replaced with a look of startled fear. Turning. Feet slipping and sliding on the compacted roadside snow. Tripping over himself in his jittery haste to sprint back to the relative safety of the patrol vehicle.

Not moving anything like quickly enough.

Ben launched into the chase and caught up with the fleeing cop like a lean, hungry panther running down a fat, lumbering wild hog. The guy let out a gasp of shock and fright as he was slammed to the ground and his face crunched into the snow. His torch went tumbling out of his hand and clattered onto the road. He tried to twist and roll onto his back, lashing out in self-defence with the identical shock prod he’d produced moments earlier. His weapon of attack was now his only chance of protecting himself against his would-be victim who’d so suddenly and violently turned the tables against him.

But that chance was short-lived and futile. The sole of Ben’s left boot came stamping down hard and pinned the cop’s wrist to the icy road. Then Ben dropped his right knee to pin the cop’s other arm. He saw the terror flash in the guy’s eyes. Then came the fizz, crackle and scream as the metal contacts of the shock prod pressed into the soft flesh under the cop’s chin and let loose with several thousand volts of electricity. A small taste of his own medicine before Ben decided to be merciful and knocked him senseless with a hard crack to the side of the face.

Grace was standing on the verge, staring at Ben as though he’d lost his mind. She yelled again, more loudly, ‘Ben! What the fuck?’