ChapterThirty-Nine
Chase
The wind whipped through my hair as I tookoff down the alley, burning rubber as I tore off into the town. Iknew it was that sheriff on my ass, along with a few of his men. Itook a quick look back as I sped down the main street and saw threeflashing cop cars on my tail. Well, the gig was up, butat least,I had completed my mission, andnow, I wanted to take it a step further. I wanted to see if I couldmake myself famous.
I tore off into the main road, making aright and headed for the big city I could see way off into thedistance. It looked like it was maybe twenty miles away. I kickedthe bike all the way into fifth gear, riding eighty miles an hourin a forty-mile zone, hoping it might actually cause a helicopterto enter the chase. I wanted my fucking face all over the news sothe world could see me.
Thankfully, with itbeing pastthree thirty in the morning and stuck in asmall town, there was no one around. No cars on the street, nowalking passersby to accidentally run over. Besides the sirensblaring behind me, it was actually a pretty quiet and peacefulnight, and with the wind and hair in my face, I almost felt free.Almost.
I knew the speed I was going at wasdangerous. Plus, I didn’t have a helmet. But fuck, I hadn’t been ona bikeforseveral months, and Imissed the rush my Ducati at home could give me. I could notbelieve my luck in finding out that Darren had the same bikeasI did. Even all the settings onthe bike were perfect. Darren was so going to kick my ass afterthis.
The cops were closing in on me now, yellingat me to pull over, but I just flipped them off knowing they weredirty anyway. And then I noticed something black and shiny keepingup with meonthe next streetover. I looked to my right and saw the exact same thing. Darren’sguards. They were trying to close me in.
I saw as they sped up even more, and thensuddenly, they turned a corner onto the main street and blocked theentire street. I kicked it into sixth gear and brought my speed upto 96 mph and left the cops in my dust. I could see the guards exittheir vehicles yelling at me to stop, but just before I reachedthem, I decelerated, and maneuvered right between their cars,nearly running them over. I noticed the drivers remained in theircars and immediately took off after me.
Once I passed them, I decided to have alittle fun. I pulled the clutch in just enough as I brought myRPMsto rise up to the torque peakand then quickly released, the front tire lifting and bringing meinto a fantastic wheelie as I tore off down the street.
With my headlights still off, I quickly speddown another street withfewerlights, hoping to conceal myself better. Darren couldn’t have madeit easier with the bike completely blacked out. The only thing thatreally gave me away was that my engine was loud as fuck. I headeddown another street that ran parallel to the main road, stillhoping to make it to the city.
I could still hear the sirens and the roarof the BMWs in the background until my GPS signal finally revealedthe street I was on. But then something magical happened as I felta searchlight comeovermy bike,with the whopping sound of helicopter blades above. I looked up atthe giant newscaster helicopter and smiled. Bingo.
But now my location was completely givenaway and stealth mode quickly became obsolete.
I turned my lights back on and took off,popping another quick wheelie, but only to suddenly find threeblack BMWs ahead of me, with the cops closing in behind me. Fuck,they might actually box me in.
I was going too fast to make a quick turn,and if I slowed down, the cops behind me would definitely box mein. If I sped up, the three BMWs would prevent my advance.Shit.
The three BMWs ahead of me were flanked in atriangle formation and all at once, they all started to hit theirbrakes with the cops no more than ten feet behind me, way too closefor comfort. But then, eventually, everyone got too close andsuccessfully blocked me in. I hit my brakes, both BMWs that nowflanked my sides pulled in so close that they were less than a footaway from me.
As soon as we were at a dead stop, the BMWswere close enough to me that I was able to reach out with my legsand press their car doors closed with my feet. They pushed andjammed on the doors, yelling at me to knock it off, but I didn’tknow quite what they were thinking. There was barely any room fortheir doors to open anyway with bike successfully wedged betweenthem. One of them finally got smart and started to roll down theirwindow while one of the guards in the driver’s seat got out.
In a rush, I kicked off one of the doors andmanaged to leap out between the cars, landing on the top of the BMWto my right, jumping off the hood, and taking off at a dead run.All sorts of lights were on me as more adrenaline pumped through myveins while the cops ran after me, shouting my name along withorders I did not intend to follow.
One of the cops finally caught upwithme and made the mistake ofgrabbing my upper arm. I turned and side kicked him in the gut andthen retracted for a second kick right under his chin. Another copadvanced on me, attempting to strike my face, but I quickly spunlow, knocking his ankles out from under him and dropping themotherfucker to the ground. I then quickly slammed anaxekick right down on his throat. A third copcame up behind me and grabbed both my arms, while another came upin front of me and tried to hit me in the face.
I instantly moved my head to the side and heended up punching the cop behind me in the mouth. I kicked the guyin front of me in the face and sent him back a few feet while Iswiftly brought my heel up between the legs of the cop who held meand shot it up into his groin. He loosened his hold immediately,allowing me to slam my elbow into his face several times before hefinally loosened his grip. I was then able to take hold of his arm,lock it, and then tossed his limp ass over my shoulder, slamminghis bodyintothe ground andforcing anotheraxekick into hisgut.
By then, the rest of the cops made it to thescene and basically dog piled me to the ground. I screamed inabsolute rage as I felt something prick the side of my arm. A waveof dizziness quickly consumed me as it dawned on me that my handswere now being cuffed behind my back. I was then yanked to my feetand held up by my upper arms as my mind fought against the drugthey had pumped me with.
All kinds of shouting was going on, but Icouldn’t make out a single word. Flashing lights blurred togetherin a storm of red and blue as I was dragged to a squad car. Ilooked on to the distance to find Darren’s guards leaning upagainst their cars, one of them smoking a cigarette as they watchme get carted off with the cops. Two of them I didn’t recognize, asthey were both dressed in black suits and actually looked like thesame person. I gave them all a cocky smile and laughed. I was surethey were in just as much trouble as I was.
The ground beneath me felt like it wascrumbling with each step I took. It felt like I had downed anentire bottle of tequila on an empty stomach … in an hour. Myvision blurred, sounds were nothing but noise, and my stomach feltlike it was on a roller coaster.
Eventually, I realized I had been tossedinto the back of a cop car and was now on my way to wherever thefuck they were taking me. I presumed back to Darren’s. As we drove,I laid on my side; my legs sprawled out across the seat as Igroaned from the effects of the drug.
“Where we going, boys?” I asked as if I wassome child tired from a long road trip.
One of the cops looked back through thefenced window and acknowledged me. He was the sheriff who broughtthe gardener to Darren. Hagen, I think his name was.
“Ya know, you’re in a lot of trouble, littlelady,” he said with a toothpick in his mouth.
“Yeah, no shit.” I giggled and then finallyblacked out in the backseat.
Chapter Forty
TheWait
I woke up hours later, groggy, thirsty, andwith a pounding headache. I barely opened my eyes to find I was, infact, not back at Darren’s, but what looked like a prison cell forsolitary confinement. I was lying on a padded bench, surrounded bycement walls, a toilet and sink, and a large door with a singlesmallsquarewindow. Panic rushedme.
