by Kipjo Ewers
“Neither did I...this shit is happening…” Mark gritted his teeth trying to catch up with the woman doing near a hundred on foot.
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Back at the Matheson’s house General Matheson exited his house with two pieces of luggage heading for his car; Mrs. Matheson chased after him demanding answers while Alexis chased after her mother followed by Jeff bring up the rear.
“Mom! Mom!” Alexis frantically called to her.
Mrs. Matheson had blinders on obsessed with chasing down her husband who she still remembered, “Where are you going Bernard?! Where are you going?!”
He doesn’t answer her as he went for the car door, but she managed to jump in front of him grabbing him by the front of his shirt trying to shake him, “What did you do, you son of a bitch?! Tell me what you did!”
“I did what I had to do for my country!” he fired back refusing judgment even by his own wife.
“Did you murder my baby, did you murder my baby and Sophia took the fall for it? You bastard!” She slapped him hard across the face, which angered him enough to grab her; Alexis jumped in slapping his hand off her, getting in between them to protect her mother.
“Don’t you touch my mother…get out of here and never come back…” she bared her teeth at her father while giving him a direct order.
The General sneered before opening his car door throwing his bags in, hopping into the driver’s seat and quickly backing out of the driveway before speeding off.
“God help you if you had anything to do with this Bernard! God help you!!” Mrs. Matheson broke down crying in the arms of her daughter who held her close as Jeff put a comforting hand on his wife’s shoulder.
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Back at the chase, fast as they floored their vehicles the fleet of pursing police and F.B.I vehicles could not catch-up with Sophia easily clocking a hundred miles an hour or more. By right, she could have probably gone faster, but there was the great fear at her current speed that she would accidently slam into an unsuspecting car hurting someone.
As she spied the helicopters flying overhead probably broadcasting the unbelievable spectacle below of her version of the O.J. chase on foot, the last thing she needed was to be filmed accidentally killing innocent people trying to escape Five-O. She needed some distance between herself and the authority and decided to head to the nearest highway to get it.
“Looks like she’s headed for Interstate 10,” Dustin hung on to the strap inside the car as Mark drove like a maniac.
“We got to stop her before she gets on there…” Mark pushed the 2008 Impala to its max, his mind going through a thousand scenarios to end this. A reject sign flashed on every one of them spelling disaster.
“With what, the bazooka in my ass cheeks?!” Dustin barked breaking Mark’s concentration, which set him off.
“Why don’t you stop acting like a bitch and think of something man!” he said getting into Dustin’s ass, “I can’t drive and do everything!”
“You want me to do something? Fine!” Mercer yelled back removing his seat belt. He turned throwing his rear into the window going for something in the backseat, he came back around brandishing a Heckler and Koch MP5 locked and loaded.
Mark glanced at the combination and saw a bad idea, “What the fuck are you going to do with that?!”
“Something!!” yelled Dustin
He leaned half his body out the window taking aim the best he could from a moving vehicle doing close to eighty, and pulled the trigger trying to unload rounds from the Heckler into Sophia’s back. Several pierced through the mid-riff leather Goth jacket and shirt she was wearing, but none pierced her skin as they just bounce off like previous rounds failing to penetrate her.
Sophia turned quickly to shoot Dustin a dirty look for ventilating the only articles of clothing she had in her possession, and then picked up speed darting onto Interstate 10.
Mark quickly drifted the car leaving skid marks to make the exit onto the highway while grabbing onto Dustin who almost fell out.
“Get your ass in here!” Mark barked.
Dustin fell back into his seat checking his rounds with disgust, “Any other bright ideas you want me to come up with?”
“There’s got to be a way to stop her…” A Dodge Charger patrol car blasted right by them on a mission cut off Mark’s vocal train of thought.
“What the…” Mark’s face twisted in disbelief.
“Looks like someone’s got an idea,” Dustin raised an eyebrow.
“If he’s thinking of doing, what I think he’s doing...,” Mark seeing an idiot attempting a dumbass move got on the CB, “Someone tell that dumbass in the Charger ahead of us to stand down!”
“Go suck an asshole FBI man!” came over their CB from the State Trooper in front of them, “While you two are holding each other’s dicks, I’ll show you how to shut this freak show down!”
“How’s he know we’re holding each other’s dicks?” an insulted Dustin turned to his partner asking.
Mark ignored his partner’s joke stepping on the gas, “We got to stop that dumb fuck before we’re a wreck on a wreck on this interstate!”
Sophia at this point was moving way beyond a hundred miles per hour based off Armitage’s speedometer pushing his car to ninety. Without realizing it, she had gotten better at maneuvering around objects at great speeds.
It made it easy for her to move around vehicles considering they were going with the flow of traffic, also cars literally began to part like the red sea at the sight of a woman on foot moving faster than most vehicles on the highway with a fleet of police cars attempting to chase her down.
Sophia thought the fact that she smashed through their barrier with considerable easy, and out running the FBI, and Houston’s finest on the busiest highway on foot would give them a hint to back off. However, they were unbelievably relentless, despite witnessing the impossible taking place in front of their eyes.
Maybe they figured she would eventually run out of gas, hit the wall; but there was no wall for her, and her tank would never run low from what it seemed. They’re tanks would surely run low before hers, giving the ten year veteran State Trooper in the supped up dual turbo charged Hemi powered Charger motivation to put pedal to the metal to end this quick.
“Time for some jungle bunny road kill…,” grinned the State Trooper
The Trooper went into “Fast and Furious” mode with the objective to slam right into her from behind hoping the reinforced grill guard would clip and trip her up, so he could run her over. No one would dispute he was not doing his duty. As his vehicle moved in for the apparent kill Sophia sensing something coming up from behind simply moved out of the way while maintaining her speed. Royally pissed that his initial plan did not work, the trooper decided to take a more direct approach swerving his car into her like he would do with a regular vehicle during a car chase…he would soon wish it was another regular vehicle.
Dodge Charger met unstoppable force as Sophia literally stopped the car from slamming into her with one arm grabbing it by its hood while breaking the passenger side window with her thumb, taking the now terrified State Trooper for a ride pulling the car along with her.
“Jesus Christ!” screamed the Trooper pulling out his issued side arm firing repeated shots that just bounced off her.
Fed up with people putting bullet holes through her clothes, she lost it reaching down grabbing the bottom of the car.
“Awwww shit!” she had meant to flip the car over on its driver side stopping it in a screeching halt.
Once again, not in full control of her own strength, she sent the vehicle flying over the guardrail into opposite oncoming traffic a good forty feet up, high enough to know that when it landed there was a slim to nil chance the officer inside would survive. There was also the high possibility the vehicle might land on another vehicle, or cause a massive wreck injuring and possibility killing many people.
She could not allow that to happ
en as she slid to a halt leaving a trail of smoke while kicking up concrete, in just two steps she launched herself towards the falling near three thousand pound vehicle catching it in mid-air.
Her landing was extremely awkward due to the sheer size of the vehicle, but she managed to get her feet underneath her as she came down on one knee. Oncoming traffic stopped abruptly in their tracks causing a few minor rear fender benders at the unbelievable scene.
On the other side of the guardrail, every patrol car that was on her heels screeched to a halt. Civilians, special agents, and local police all exited their vehicles watching with their hearts in their throats as Sophia rose to her feet, and gently lowered the Dodge Charger back down onto its four wheels. The State Trooper inside righted himself and quickly wiped his eyes while sniffling as he quickly looked around making sure no one saw the state he was in.
As Dennison slowly walked around the vehicle, the authorities on the other side finally came to their senses drawing their firearms on her. There were about thirty to forty screams from men and women alike telling her to get on her hands and knees as she slowly placed the hood to her Goth jacket on her head.
Some people turned their children away fearing what was going to happen next, while others continued to watch; others went further pulling out their cellphones to record the whole scene for a YouTube or Facebook exclusive.
Armitage stood there with his gun lowered for the first time unsure what to do; something told him to see if he could talk to her, reason with her to come in, except the gap between the two sides made it impossible for him to cross.
Before he could put thought to action, someone in the sea of pointed guns lost it breaking command and opened fire causing everyone except for Armitage and Mercer to open fire.
Screaming and yelling came from the civilians off to the side watching as bullets from all types of firearms pelted and ripped through Sophia’s clothes, only to fall like coins to the ground as they slammed against her hardened skin.
Seeing that ricochets were getting closer and closer to the native Texans watching on the side Mark decided enough was enough grabbing the bullhorn inside his car, “Cease-fire! Cease-fire! Goddammit! We have civilians in the damn vicinity! Cease-fire!”
The shooting came to an abrupt end with the target still standing, her clothes a lot worse for wear, but she was no doubt still standing and unscathed. She took her time backing up to the guardrail behind her, as every person looking back could feel her narrowed gaze. She was deliberately allowing people to take one final good look at her.
“No woman should have that much power…,” a male civilian driver from within the crowd uttered.
She then effortlessly hopped over the guardrail dropping a good two hundred feet below. Civilians all left their vehicles clamoring to the guardrail looking down to see her land safely at the bottom creating a sizable crater on impact. She casually sped off in a direction where no vehicle both land or air was capable of following her. Armitage walked as close as possible to the guardrail on his side unable to cross due to the huge gap between his side and the other highway.
“What was that? What the hell was that?!” Mark finally lost it on the Interstate 10.
“We’ll find her again…” Dustin said attempting to calm Mark down.
“And do exactly what Dustin?!” Mark threw his hands up hysterically pointing at every single agent and officer that fired a shot, “If you haven’t noticed every damn shot from those dumbasses over there is all over the goddamn Interstate! Why didn’t she kill him?!”
“Kill who?” Dustin looked around confused.
“She threw his car into the freaking stratosphere. Could have let it crash and burn into oncoming traffic for the perfect diversion, but she stopped, and does a superman save on his worthless ass,” Mark continued his pointing rant, “She could have torn us apart back her ex-father-in-law’s house…yet she chooses to run…where in that is a woman who butchered her husband over some money?!”
Dustin shrugged his shoulders unable to find a suitable explanation for his partner, “Maybe she found Jesus.”
Armitage gave Mercer a look as if he was about to shoot him, he then marched back to his patrol car.
“Where are you going now?” Dustin asked frustrated.
“Going to find out why she came back to Houston once and for all,” yelled Mark, “Bring Lieutenant Kenneth Scott in…and get me Doctor Charles Hampton…now!”
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St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital, inside the break room nurses, doctors, orderlies, and patients all huddled near every flat screen television to view the incident on the interstate.
As reporters talked to commuters who gave their account of the phenomenon that happened during Friday rush hour traffic, Charles Hampton was the only one that stood way back with a visibly worried look on his face. No one but him knew that it was his best friend on that interstate out running the police, and throwing patrol cars like Tonka toys. As he wondered her whereabouts after the death-defying jump played for the umpteenth time, he jumped out of his skin at the sound of his “Pocket full of Sunshine” ringtone.
“Hello? Hello?” Charles whispered.
“Charlie…it’s me…” Sophia spoke holding a pay phone.
Hampton looked around as if all eyes were on him, then scurried off to find a safe place to speak, “Oh my god…are you alright…?”
“I’m fine…clothes look like shit…” she joked, “But I’m right as rain…found the last working pay phone in the world…”
“I’m glad you’re in a joyous mood while I’m having a heart attack watching you do your version of “Hulk Smash” on national TV…!” he raised his voice a bit scolding her.
“I’m not running anymore Charlie…” she got serious.
“What?” Charles asked now confused.
“I am tired of running like I’m guilty when I know damn well that I’m not, and I don’t have to,” she came to a decision, “I’m not running anymore. I’m not going to find Rob’s murderers while hiding in the shadows and ducking the police and F.B.I every two seconds…I have to call them out and really go hunting for them…”
“How are you going to do that?” he said hoping to talk some reason into her.
“I don’t know yet,” she looked around, “But I’m going to figure something out.”
“Let me come and meet you. I could bring some clothes and money, and we can figure this out,” he proposed.
“No…Charlie …I don’t need you to come, and I’m good on money…I took some out of the bag…the rest is yours,” she thanked him.
“I don’t want the damn money,” Charles fired back at her frustrated.
“Then just hold it for me,” she calmly returned with no time to argue with him, “But I need you to do me a favor.”
“You name it,” he said.
“The samples you took from me,” she requested, “I need you to destroy them.”
Charles paused as if hit with a body blow, apparently, he did not expect “I need you to do me a favor,” to mean that, “Soph….”
She cut him off before he could ask if she knew what she was asking him to do; reasoning with the doctor within her, “Charlie whoever killed Rob over this will kill you if they find out you have it. They have the ability to work behind the shadows without prosecution; they are that treacherous. I couldn’t live with myself if that happened. Not to mention it is dangerous. I know you see it as the ultimate cure, but at the end of the day, it’s just too dangerous. I am dangerous…can you imagine more people like me in this world; people like the ones who killed Robert? I think he found out how dangerous this was and tried to tell people…and they killed him for it…I have to finish what he started...I have to stop them for him.”