Mack nodded in the affirmative. “Okay, I’m in then. Let’s do it. We can head out in the morning.” They rejoined the party in the dining room and partook of the first quality meal either of them had received in a very long time. It was one that they would savor, understanding fully well that this could be their last supper. There was no talk of the abominations that had become all too often seen shuffling and smudging their way into rural neighborhoods and city streets, claiming lives and completely redefining a “normal life” as they once knew it to be. Tonight, the assemblage would celebrate being alive and being together. Tomorrow would be a completely different story.
The following morning, Jake and Mack thanked Stan for his hospitality. They announced that they and Roscoe had to hit the road even though Stan and Hannah had been gracious enough to extend an invitation to all present to stay if they wanted.
Duy and Anthony found themselves wanting to contribute to the cause and agreed to tag along and take the trip south. Denise stepped forward from the back of the room and said, “I would like to stay if that’s cool with everyone. “
“Yayyyy!! Yes, you can live here! Right, Dad?” Hannah was overly excited, as she had made a great new friend in Denise and was happy to see her stay.
Denise walked over to her short-term travel companion and gave Jake a big hug. “You know, Jake, for a big goofy old cop you’re pretty cool. Thanks for saving my life and putting up with my attitude like you did. And for not kicking me out of the car. And for the hotdog.”
“Of course, Denise. You’re a good kid. Take care of yourself, okay? “
Now that Mack’s mango machine had melted into the ground, and Jake’s Kia Soul was somewhat out of order, the guys had to arrange for an alternative means of transportation. About three blocks up the street was a locked, unoccupied navy-blue Chevy Silverado crew cab with Virginia tags. This vehicle would suit the fellas just fine.
Anthony had come prepared for such a situation and pulled out a slim jim. He slid it down between the driver’s window glass and frame to manipulate the lock buttons and to set them into the “unlock” position. Next, he opened the driver’s door and used his power drill to force open the steering column and then flip the ignition switch. Within a matter of a couple minutes, the crew was all loaded up and rolling southbound on Interstate Highway 64.
Mack was driving the rig while Jake rode shotgun and Duy, Anthony and Roscoe occupied the back seat. Roscoe sat in between Duy and Anthony.
“Umm, Jake... Is it safe for us to be riding back here with this killer police dog?” Anthony nervously inquired. “And I think maybe he’s hungry too? He’s looking at me and drooling like I’m a chicken nugget or something...”
“Nah, man, that just means he likes you. Roscoe, er ist ein freund.”
“Okay, Anthony, you can pet him now if you like. He loves to be scratched behind his ears too.”
“What did you just say to him?”
“I said you would taste better with some sweet and sour sauce.”
Duychuckled. “Haaa, very nice.”
“No, seriously,” Jake explained. “I just told him you were a friend. Just don’t make any sudden moves toward me and he should let you live.”
“Gee, thanks, I’ll be sure to move nice and slow around him.” Anthony said. “So… he doesn’t look like a German shepherd, I thought all police dogs were shepherds.”
“No, many police agencies are using the Belgium Malinois now as well. That’s what Roscoe is.”
“So why did you guys decide to get the Malinois?”
“We actually have some of each. When a handler is looking for a new dog, the department sends them out to a breeder who has both Shepherds and Malinois. The K9 officer will then get to spend time with the dogs, see how they react to him or her and what their relationship is like. It’s really more about choosing the individual dog more than selecting which breed you prefer, because both breeds have their advantages and disadvantages. The Malinois are smaller but faster and slightly more aggressive, whereas the Shepherds are larger and maybe a little smarter...”
“So, what was it about Roscoe that made you select him? “
“He was just a badass little dog. We got along great from the start. But that’s not what sold me on him. This dog had something the others didn’t seem to possess.”
Duyasked, “What was that?”
Mack said, “I bet it was his flatulence!”
“Sounds like you’ve gotten to know Roscoe quite well, haven’t you, Mack! You’re exactly right! This dog loves nothing more than to catch a bad guy, bite him on the ass and then rip a juicy one in their face as they’re being cuffed and stuffed.”
“Oh, that’s what I’m smelling back here,” Anthony remarked while trying not to breathe in the malodor. “I thought it was Duy.”
“Heyyy…” Duy chimed in.
With a long trip ahead of them, the bunch began to take advantage of their down time by getting each other caught up with the details and events leading up to this very moment. Duy was curious, as were the others. “So, Jake. How the hell did the whole prison bus crash and escape thing go down? The news reports were so sketchy and so different that no one could tell what really happened out there.”
“I’ll tell you what, guys - that was some crazy shit that I still have questions about myself. This group of masked dudes in some hopped up four by four get the bus to flip over on the freeway, and then they come on board and demand the guard to set me free from the cage. No one else, just me. They kill the guard and cover my head with a pillowcase or something and then they started driving me somewhere. Next thing I know, the van stops, they knock me in the head with something, and I wake up alone in a swamp a few hours later.
“So of course, I was wondering who the hell would have broken me free like that. Initially, Mack, I thought it might have been you who freed me, but then I knew you wouldn’t have knocked me out and left me out in the middle of nowhere. So now I’m wondering if they meant to release someone else and got the wrong person, and then when they realized they screwed up they just discarded me? I don’t know what to think.
“One thing I do know. The main man in that heist was a big friggin’ dude . Strong as an ox too, picked me up and threw me around like yesterday’s trash. Of course, I couldn’t get a look at his face with his mask on.
“Anyways, “Jake continued. “Is what I’m hearing about Amanda really true? “ Mack said “well, I spoke to her about two weeks ago. She mentioned some guy that’s been annoying and bothering her. But now Michelle is telling me Amanda posted something on social media about her previous relationship ending when her man died, and that she has just married some rich oil man.”
“Wow. Didn’t take her long to get back in the saddle again, did it?” Jake said. Officer McElroy took this opportunity to change the topic. He told his former partner about everything he had learned from his personal investigation as well as that which Michelle had told him.
He also talked about some of the mind-boggling things that had been happening on duty, and how these incidents have now become more of the norm. For instance, he had seen increasing numbers of people taking their own lives. People who have become infected were attempting suicides by cop, jumping off freeway overpasses, intentionally being run over by cars.
“Every day we were getting multiple rescue calls too. People being chased by these creatures, getting trapped up in trees trying to escape. The deadare growing in numbers. It’s bad.
“We actually have come up with an officer safety roll call training that we call the ‘Twenty Foot Drool Rule’. Basically, it’s been determined that twenty feet, give or take, is the average distanceone of THEM can travel in the time it takes us to recognize whether it’s still alive or one of the DEAD, pull out a weapon, and stop the threat before IT’s mouth full of mini-sharp edged weapons can reach us and chomp into us.“
“You gotta be kidding me. The twentyfoot drool rule?”
“Man, I didn’t
come up with it. Kinda catchy though.”
The team was now navigating westbound along rural Route 58 in the central North Carolina town of Danville. They passed a flat black unmarked Dodge Charger that appeared to be idle on a dirt patch on the north side of the roadway.
The tint on the vehicle’s window glass was too dark for anyone to determine whether the car was occupied, and in their brief glimpse of the vehicle the guys were unable to notice if it was equipped with emergency lights or any sort of police package.
“Guys -was that a cop car we just passed?” Anthony offered.
“Not sure if it was or not. Were you speeding, Mack?” Jake asked.
“Of course,I was.”
“Okay, then I guess we may be about to find out.”
Mack continued rolling at the same pace, with one eye on the road and the other fixed upon the rearview mirror. Jake, in the front passenger seat, was focused upon the right-side mirror, and all the heads and eyes in the backseat were completely turned toward their six.
The Silverado traveled about another mile further before everyone noticed the red and blue wig wags activated on the front of the unmarked Charger, which was closing in quickly behind them.
“Oh fuck. It’s about to go down. “Mack muttered.
“What’s the big deal? “Anthony inquired. “So, what if we get pulled over by a cop for speeding. You guys are cops too. All you gotta do is identify yourselves as police officers and they will cut you loose that whole ‘professional courtesy’ thing.”
“Dude, have you not been listening to our conversation up here? About how there’s two groups of law enforcement out there after Jake: the real police who have been told he’s a wanted convicted murder escapee and then there’s the federal cops who for some reason are involved with that crazy Camacho guy and seem to have a vendetta against Jake for something that happened between them in the Corps.”
“All I can hear is this dog snoring and farting back here.”
“Mack’s right,” Jake intervened. “Either way, being stopped by any cop is a bad thing for us. I’m not going back to prison on a bogus murder or escape charge. And as for the feds - if they were putting out information to the public that I was dead, they most likely intend to see to it that I end up that way.”
Anthony absorbed the recent revelation and paused briefly. “Oh FUCK! It IS about to go down! “
Now the cop car was directly behind them, weaving back and forth, still flashing the reds and blues and pointing a spotlight in their faces.
Mack suggested, “I think we should pull over and just explain the circumstances to them. After all, you told us how you were able to successfully communicate with those Pennsylvania Wildlife cops who believed you were innocent, and they sent you on your way.”
The season ed Sgt. Hathaway disagreed. “How do we know these guys are that cool? Maybe these dudes are complete opposites. For all we know these could be some of those crooked feds ready to kill me and all of us on this very spot.”
“I don’t know, Jake. Let’s just stop and see what happens, then improvise if we need to. Let ‘s just be prepared for the worst and hope for the best.” Mack slowed the crew cab truck down and pulled onto the narrow shoulder of the highway in preparation to stop. Suddenly, the Chevy got rocked by a hail of AR-15 rounds fired directly at the truck. RATTTTTATTTTAAATTT!!!! RATTTATTTATTTTATTTT!!!!!!
“SHEEEIIITTT!!!!! SEE!!!! TOLD YA !!!!” Jake bellowed as Mack punched the accelerator and the rear tires chirped, charring the concrete black. The tires finally grabbed traction and the steel sled sped up and pulled from the Charger. For the moment.
Mack had driven in many police pursuits previously, but this was a first for him. He had never been on this end of a chase, being the pursued rather than the pursuer. Mack was now imitating all those criminals who had tried to outrun and outlast him, some successfully. Others, not so much.
Knowing that the police interceptor would be able to catch up to them soon, Mack determined that technique might beat out tachometer in just such a situation. Predictably so, the deputy in the Dodge was soon on their heels again. Mack meanwhile was driving the acquired Chevrolet at top speed, moving like greased lightning along the left lane of the two-lane highway. He approached an exit and, at the last second, swerved all the way over to the right lane and exited, hoping the cop car would be following too closely to respond quick enough and miss the exit entirely.
The maneuver was unsuccessful in losing said pursuer, as the Charger was able to exit and maintained its close distance behind the pickup.
“Come on, man!” Duyyelled. “Drive it like you stole it! You gotta do better than that!”
“All right, all right. I got one more move. This one should work.”
McElroy killed the truck lights and shuffle steered to the right. He made a sharp quick turn onto a narrow, rocky dirt back road which cut through a thick wooded property. The smooth squad car was still on his ass.
“All right, guys. Muzzle Roscoe up and tell me when you’re ready to bail!” Anthony fastened Roscoe’s muzzle mount onto his snout as Duy grabbed his edged weapons. The entire group inched open the four pickup doors and prepared to run for it. “OK, we’re ready when you are!”
“As soon as I yell ‘ now‘, jump out and run like hell in different directions. If he’s lucky he might get one of us.”
“Umm, which one of us? “Anthony asked.
“The slowest, “Mack said.
Mack dropped the speed down to roughly 25 mph and then slammed the automatic shifter into reverse. “NOW!!” The four men and a dog all hurled themselves from the vehicle passenger compartment and took off running through the dense forest as the Silverado’s rear bumper trailer hitch careened into the grill and motor of the tailgating, pursuing Charger.
Everyone fled in separate directions through the North Carolina woods, with Jake having run eastbound. The lone officer, his Charger now disabled with a Silverado in its grill, entered the thicket where he had last seen the biggest and slowest suspect running.
The North Carolina state trooper soon saw a huge looming form attempting to hide behind the trunk of a grand oak tree. The highwayman drew down o n the figure behind the tree and commanded, “all right, asshole! Stop right there and drop whatever weapon you got!” Jake stepped out from behind the massive oak with his hands held high.
“Damn, you’re a big -ass cornfed motherfucker, ain’t you?” the trooper retorted. “I would say I’m probably gonna be justified to shoot if you do so much as blink. Hell, even if you thinkabout blinkin’ I might have to shoot your ass…”
What had appeared in the darkness to be a small stump or log under the ground cover of leaves and pine needles sprang toward the ankles of the officer. This was Anthony, who grabbed the officer around the shins and pulled his legs out from under his body. The young law man dropped to the ground, firing off a round from his Sig Sauer service weapon as he went sprawling backwards.
The projectile missed its target. The officer was quick to his feet and stood upright while Anthony held onto his legs with white knuckles, restricting the trooper’s motion. Mack and Jake each darted over to share a football style sack on the startled young North Carolina cop.
Jake disarmed the trooper, then called Roscoe over to intimidate their pursuer. Jake announced, “You see this demon dog? He’s just chomping at the bits for me to give the attack command so he can shred you to bits with those titanium blades on that muzzle of his.
“If you don’t want that to happen, get on your portable radio and tell the other officers out there that the bad guys got away. Say we car-jacked someone in a green Camaro and fled in an unknown direction. Don’t say anything cute like numbers or codes or else you won’t live to tell this story to your kids.”
The nervous patrolman held his portable radio shoulder mic to his mouth and said exactly what he was told to say.
“That was great,” asserted Mack. “Now this time try it with the radio keyed up, you douchebag
.”
The officer transmitted the information requested and was abruptly snatched up off the ground. He was then handcuffed to a supple birch tree by the former DPD Sergeant Hathaway.
“Is that really necessary, Jake?”
“What? “
“Cuffing him to a tree.”
“Mack, you heard all that shit he was talking about shooting us if we blink, calling me a cornfed motherfucker. I don’t even like corn.”
“Funny, Jake. But you know you were in his position hundreds of times, chasing bad guys and talking shit when you caught up to them. You know you can’t be a cop and sound weak or scared or unconfident.”
McElroy continued, “remember what you told me back in field training? ‘You must come off strong, brave, determined. Ready to kick some ass and take some names. It’s also a mind game you’re playing on the suspect, the more confident you are and sound, the less likely they are to try and fight you or flee, and the more apt they are to give up and surrender. So, if by talking a little bit of trash to the suspect, the cop is able to take the suspect into custody without having to use force, all the better it is for everyone involved.’ YOU said that, Jake. That kid’s just doing his job.”
“Fine, Mack. If you want to let him go so bad, you make him strip down to his skivvies and he can walk. If you let him go as is, with his uniform on, I guarantee he’s got a back-up weapon on him or something like that and your kindness will bite us in the ass!”
Mack removed the trooper’s gun belt and then addressed the young man. “You heard my partner. Take off your uniform and hand it to meif you want to leave here on foot. If you don’t mind being chained to a tree, then that’s your prerogative.”
The trooper said, “I’ll walk.” He stripped down to his boxer shorts, handed his uniform over to Mack and said, “until we meet again... “as he began to walk off. Mack interrupted, “Umm no, dude. You need to go THAT way -away from the vehicles.” The trooper did a slow 180-degree spin and began to hike off in the opposite direction, further from the group and into the woods, until they all lost sight of him.
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