by Roy Bright
The voice goes quiet for a second, the sound of fingers tapping on a keyboard faint in the background.
The voice returns, “They believe they have them in Bohemia County Park. Units are en route now to secure them.”
Zenaku hangs up without replying. He removes his jacket, then his tie and takes a deep breath. He walks back to his side of the desk and taps an area of it. An intercom rises from the desk and a voice greets him.
“Yes, Sir, what can I do for you?”
“A car. Downstairs. Fifteen minutes.”
“Yes, Sir, I will make the arrangements now.”
He taps the top of the intercom and it slides back into the desk.
Walking over to the window, he stares into the city.
“I know what you are doing, Judas and I know where you will want to go. This ends tonight. Your time has come, Iscariot.”
He puts his right hand up against the glass, eyes burning with intensity.
“Your time has come!”
Twenty-Two
The late afternoon sun dips into the tree line at the edge of Gary’s view. A chill has begun to pervade the air and as he sits next to it, he very much appreciates the fire keeping it at bay. He looks across at Abi as she stirs from sleep; sitting upright and stretching. She looks as though she hasn’t slept well at all. “Bad dreams?” he asks, in sympathy.
“Yeah, something like that,” she says, rolling her head around her neck. “Or at least shit memories of a crap life.” She chuckles. “Christ, I could use a cigarette.”
He smiles and raises his eyebrows. “I’m starting to think we shouldn’t be using the Lord’s name in vain anymore.”
She laughs. “I don’t think anything I do from here on out could make it any worse for me in His eyes, Detective.”
“Call me, Gary. Seems like we will be together for a while so, no need for formalities.” He smiles once again.
“Fair enough, Gary,” she says, smiling back and pushing loose strands of hair over her ears.
He moves a little closer to her as she reaches out to the fire, warming her hands on it. “So, what’s your story? How did you end up like, well, this? You seem a smart enough girl.”
She laughs, “What, too smart to be a hooker, Gary?”
“Well, I just meant, you know, a woman of your clear and obvious beauty and well, resourcefulness, I would have thought you could have made something more out of this world.”
“Oh, thanks.” She laughs again, sarcasm running through her tone.
“Look, I didn’t mean to offend, it’s just…”
“No, it’s okay, Detective. I understand. I’m just a prostitute right? I shouldn’t do this crap, yeah? I should just get my life on track and stop being a selfish bitch, is that right?”
He sighs, annoyed with himself that he has antagonized her without meaning to. “I’m sorry, Abi, I spoke out of turn and you’re right, it is unfair of me to just trivialize any issues that may have led to you choosing this path.”
She looks at him. The last of the true gentlemen. Now it’s her turn to feel ashamed for making him feel bad. “Don’t sweat it, Gary. Superman over there was right, I did this to myself,” she says, motioning towards Judas who is sat underneath an oak tree; a sleeping Charlotte in his lap. “I went to the city with stars in my eyes, and those stars soon turned to dust. It’s amazing how quickly New York can break a person.” She laughs to herself. “I’m just another small town girl running away from being trapped forever. I was the prom queen, the most popular girl in school, had all the friends and a path already mapped out for me. I was supposed to marry the quarterback and we would live happily ever after, most likely after he would fail to realize his NFL dream and then come home to be the big shot in town, managing his daddy’s car lot, whilst I stayed at home and pumped out kid after kid after kid.” She shakes her head,
“That’s not how I wanted to live my life. So I faced the wrath of a devout Catholic father, whose feet were so firmly planted in the ground that they were almost poking out of the Victorian ages.”
She smirks, and he joins in.
“So you ran away?”
She shakes her head, “Not so much ran away as just out and out left, following one kick ass argument with my folks of course. Then I just headed off to the city and let it repeatedly kick me in the teeth until I submitted and found myself… here.” She raises her hands and looks around, a broad, sarcastic smile across her face.
He laughs and shakes his head, “Lucky you, eh?”
“Yeah, lucky me.”
He hears the faint sound of a helicopter in the distance and turns his attention towards it.
Abi takes the moment to study him and she thinks to herself how handsome he is. She could definitely go for a man like this: intelligent, dominant and a man of action although with a humble side. She had warmed to his gentle demeanor as she watched and listened to him trying to coax information out of Judas; a hostile one at that. Yet through the anger and ridicule, he had never lost his temper, always kept his dignity and tried to calm the situation. It is clear to her that he is a good man and a damn good-looking one at that. Yes, she could very much come to like a man such as this.
The sound of the helicopter once again plays through the sky and this time Gary stands and advances towards it. He places his hand across his brow, attempting to curtail some of the sun’s glare as he continues to search for the helicopter that he has heard on three separate occasions. “You know that chopper is spending an awful lot of time in this area and if you ask me, it’s on a search pattern.” He does not look at the group, instead continues to scan the zenith for the aircraft.
This is the second time he has delivered a report on the movement of the helicopter.
Abi stands and looks in the same direction. “It’s most likely the Park Rangers. You know, checking up on wildlife or something. Surely your guys can’t know where we are so soon?”
He looks to his left as Judas walks up next to him looking into the same direction. “How long do you think we have before they find us, Gary?”
He drops his hand from his face and turns toward him. “You think it’s looking for us as well?”
“Of course it is. That scenario is the most likely to affect our possibility of an easy path through this situation therefore, it must be assumed that the most probable of outcomes is that it is looking for us. If we work on that basis and it turns out not to be the case, well, we won’t be here to realize it, just as we won’t be here to realize it if it is the case. It is pure logic that can only benefit rather than hinder us, wouldn’t you agree?”
He looks at him, a smile of amazement on his face. “In as many years as I can remember, that is the most ridiculous yet smartest thing I have ever heard anyone say and yes, Mr. Spock, I totally agree with you.” He chuckles.
He smiles, relishing the reference Gary just made as he is a sucker for television and film comparisons and it seems as though the cop is on the same wavelength this time. Maybe this won’t be as much of an annoying alliance as he first envisaged. He turns his attention back towards the direction that they last heard the helicopter. He stares into the distance in silence for about half a minute and then turns to Gary once more. “Okay then, we will risk staying here a little longer so let’s put more camouflage on the car. As much foliage and bushes as we can find from random areas all around so we don’t end up creating a patch of deforestation and give ourselves away. All of this will be for nothing if we can’t make it to sunset and, if they have a chopper up, then you bet your ass they will have ground teams working their way in. If that damn chopper spots us we will be heading to Jersey, OJ style.”
Gary laughs. “Yeah, but you can’t afford Cochrane so you won’t get away with it.”
“Gary, my friend, you would be surprised at the fortune I have acquired over the years.” He turns his attention back to searching for the helicopter.
He stares at Judas. “Enough for a cop to retire from all this bullshit
?”
He looks at him and, smiling says, “Go get some foliage, Gary; we need to cover up this car.
Twenty-Three
Sergeant Dave Morris scans out of the right side of the cockpit of the police helicopter he is piloting. He is at the very limits of his concentration as he combs the forestation of Bohemia County Park looking for the vehicle reported to contain a fellow detective and an abducted woman and child. He handles the aircraft with perfect and precise control, balancing its pitch via the cyclic and power distribution of collective with the throttle to keep the helicopter moving along at an adequate speed for land scanning.
He and his observer Tony Marshall, were about to go off duty when the call came in and, despite having packed in a pretty big shift during the night and into the late morning, they were more than happy to jump into the primary search position given the circumstances of events surrounding this case. Tired or otherwise, the news of a fellow officer losing his life in the line of duty, always provided officers vital adrenaline and energy levels to keep them going and push through any effects of fatigue in order to apprehend suspects as soon as possible.
He and Tony need to stay sharp, they need to find that car; they owe the detective, woman and the kid that much.
The noise created by the rotors, pistons and the drive transmission is immense and if it weren’t for their internal communication devices inside their helmets they would have great difficulty hearing one another. Even wearing their helmets, they find themselves having to shout to be heard over the ferocious roar of the rotor blades.
He looks at his observer.
“Tony, I’m not getting a buzz about this area we’re searching. I know we have come in from the north and it’s better to search up here first than to come back again but it seems pretty impossible given the time frame of apparent sighting that they would make it through this far. Whaddya reckon, buddy?”
Tony continues to search out of the left side of the cockpit for a few seconds then looks at his pilot. “Yeah, I agree, I can’t see them being this far up. How about we go south a few clicks and do it by the numbers, parallel track search patterns, with half mile spacings.”
“Copy that. Coming around to one seven zero. Mark the search start reference at forty degrees, forty-five minutes twenty-six point two nine seconds North, seventy-three degrees, zero-eight minutes zero point six-two seconds West, and advise ground support OIC of change in search vector.”
Tony reaches over to the helicopter’s radio transmitter and adjusts the frequency.
“Ground support OIC, this is Alpha Sierra Two, over.” He waits. He and his pilot know all too well that the cops on the ground can take several seconds to respond. He continues to search out of the cockpit as Dave brings the aircraft around to the desired heading and they make their way to the starting point of their new search area.
The radio squelches back at him.
“Alpha Sierra Two, this is Ground Unit Nine, you’re speaking with Detective Martin Dowd. Good to have you out here with us guys, go ahead, over.”
“Hey, Detective, Sergeant Tony Marshall here, and likewise. We’re calling to inform you of a change in our search pattern. We are kinda getting the feeling they won’t have come up this far so we are heading to your grid location foxtrot eighteen, copy?”
The radio goes quiet.
Tony looks at Dave and they both smirk imagining the ground cops struggling to grasp just where the custom grid co-ordinates will take them.
The radio squelches into life once again.
“Ahhhh, okay, just a little to the left and north of Slade Pond, yeah?”
“That’s affirmative, Detective.” Tony nods.
“Okay guys, cool. We will pass on the area of concern down to our teams here and lock off the grid. Lemme know the second you spot anything boys, we got one of our own and a kid out there.”
“Roger Unit Nine, we’re all over this. Alpha Sierra Two, out.”
Dave eases forward on the cyclic whilst at the same time applying a little more throttle and collective and the helicopter increases its forward velocity. He turns and smiles at his observer. “It is one hell of a nice day for November, dude, and it should’ve been the start of five glorious days off. What are your plans for when we do get time off, buddy?”
Tony continues to search out of the cockpit window. He doesn’t look at his pilot, although it is evident from the tone of his voice that he is smiling, “Yeah, man, I was supposed to be hooking up with that barmaid from Pepé’s, promised to take her out on my boat, show her a good time, y’know.” He turns and winks at his pilot. Both men knew just what that wink meant.
Dave laughs at his observer. “I thought you were a gentleman?”
“I am. I’ll be gentle with her, and all man,” he replies, making a thrusting gesture with his crotch, as much as the constrictive harness allows.
They both laugh for a few seconds.
“I hope we find that kid,” Dave says, his tone more serious.
“A cop knows what the job entails but that young kid! Man, that must be terrifying for her, I hope it doesn’t go sour like it did with tha—”
“What the fuck was that?” Tony blurts.
The pilot glances at his observer then scans out of every window. “What? What have you seen?”
He continues to search hard out of the left side of the aircraft forcing Dave to repeat himself with more force. “Tony! What did you see man, was it the car?”
“I dunno, it’s hard to explain. It was like, the shape of huge bird that I could, well… see through!”
They stare at each other for a moment.
Dave is expecting his observer to burst into laughter at any moment, signaling another great prank on his part. He hasn’t buckled. “Tony, I fucking swear to God, man, stop fucking around!”
“I swear, bro, I ain’t yanking yer chain, that’s what I saw, that’s the only way I can describe it, a bird shape or something that I could see through but the shape was like, like… I dunno man, but I saw it, I swear.”
“Tony, come on, man, I ain’t having you get me on this one, you ain’t getting me with a flying fucking Predator thing, like out of the goddam movies, no way, man, you ain’t-”
“That’s it, man, that’s exactly it,” he says, interrupting him. “Just like that Predator in the movie, I could see it, but see through it. I swear, man, I ain’t yanking your ch—”
Something slams into the helicopter on its left side. A multitude of audible alarms and warning lights go off as the chopper loses velocity and altitude in an instant.
Dave fights with the cyclic and collective to try to regain control of the aircraft. He switches the radio to the emergency channel and commences crash protocol: “MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is Alpha Sierra Two; we are going down! I repeat, we are going down! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! This is Alpha Sierra Two, we are going down, grid location echo seventeen I repeat, grid location echo seventeen.”
Dave’s whips his head to his left as Tony lets out a scream of terror.
“Oh my God! What the fuck is that?”
Fear grips Dave as he stares into a horrific face cackling at the left side cockpit window. The terrifying beast laughs with gusto as it brings the helicopter to the ground. Golden yellow eyes pierce into the two men’s souls as it licks its razor-sharp teeth and a forked tongue dances around a long slender mouth, protruding from the bottom of a bald, speckled stone colored head with huge pointed ears.
The helicopter circles out of control towards the ground; the engine whirling like a cyclone, the sound intensifying at it nears collision. The beast screams with laughter as it releases the helicopter and thrusts itself into the air with a powerful downbeat of its wings.
The very last thought that Dave has is identical to that of his partner, as his mind repeats the question, What the fuck was that?
The helicopter slams into the ground and pieces of rotor blade spin off in all directions. The cockpit and fuselage break up into segments and aviation fu
el ignites as electrical components break and arc. The subsequent explosion rips the rest of the helicopter apart setting parts of the forest on fire, a napalm effect covering trees and foliage as burning fuel ejects, spraying out everywhere.
Twenty-Four
Judas and Gary cease camouflaging the car; their attention snapping towards the massive explosion that has just ripped through the forest.
Abi and Charlotte sit bolt upright. The young girl had moved over to her and had been resting on the woman’s lap but the sound of the crash grips both of their attention.
“Everyone into the car!” Judas bellows.
No one moves as they all seem to be stuck in a trance. “Now! Get into the car!”
“What just happened?” Abi asks, alarmed.
Gary grabs Charlotte as Judas puts out the fire, separating the embers with his feet. He then runs to the vehicle and starts to remove the camouflage.
She asks them again, slower this time.
“What has just happened?”
Gary grabs her arm and guides her to the car along with Charlotte. “We don’t know, Abi, but it appears the police helicopter that has been combing the park for us has just crashed and that will bring more police to this area.”
Judas interrupts him, “That’s not what’s happened and that’s not why I’m concerned.” He stands at the driver’s side doorway, his seat pushed forward indicating they should be in the car by now. “That chopper has been taken down by Abaddon, the only winged demon I know that the Dark One would trust with the task of finding Charlotte. It is not in my nature to panic as it is also not in my nature to ask a third time but if Abaddon is in the area, which I am sure he is, he will certainly know that we are here. He has taken down the chopper knowing full well it will attract searches to this area and in turn force us to flee. This of course we do not want so in fact, his plan is working perfectly because I would like to not be here when this flying demon finds us so please, for a third time, get into the fucking car.”