The guy shook at the gate, but it wasn't budging with all the vegetation wedging it in. He swore some more as he moved something around next to the fence. She suspected he was going to try to climb onto something and then make his way over the fence.
Kendra and Ivan hid in the tall grass and weed trees, not wanting the fugitive to try to leave any other way. She was thinking that if he had been a member of a Homeowners Association (HOA), he would have had tons of violations. She couldn't understand why the city wouldn't have contractors come out and clean up the mess, and if the fugitive didn’t pay them, which she suspected would be the case, put a lien on his property for the rat and snake-infested mess. They could even foreclose on the house and send him to jail for that.
Though the property might have to be condemned, depending on its structural condition. One of the weed trees was even growing through the roof.
She saw a few neighbors standing in their front yards, watching what was going on. The homeowners on either side of him couldn't see what was happening, but they crossed the street to watch.
She texted Rowland: Can you tell your officers here that the guy is in the side yard? He's trying to climb the fence, we think, but everything is covered in vegetation.
"Damn it to hell!" the fugitive shouted, and wood splintered.
She glanced at Ivan. He smiled. "He tried to climb on a rotting wooden structure."
"Sounds like it."
Then they heard more moving around. More dragging of stuff. Then his head popped up over the fence. Even then, he was going to have a time getting through the weed trees blocking his path. Then he cut off some of the smaller weed trees with a heavy-duty lopper.
He was finally able to clear enough to swing his leg over. He was wearing shorts and was bleeding in several places.
They needed him to get on this side of the fence before they apprehended him.
She glanced at the front door and wondered why the officers didn't come out of the house. Or why he hadn’t come that way. Then she received a text from Rowland: They're not answering their texts. Sending reinforcements.
Kendra texted back: Okay.
She said to Ivan, "The officers who are in the house aren't answering their text messages."
"Hell. As soon as we take this dirtbag into custody, we'll have to check on the officers."
"Exactly. Hazmat suits or not." They had to make sure the officers were alive.
The fugitive got his shirt stuck on one of the weed trees he'd cut down. He was half on the weed tree, his legs stuck in the vines.
Suddenly, Kendra saw metal sticking out of the fugitive’s pocket. "He has got a gun in his shorts pocket,” Kendra warned.
28
Grayson and Marcus had just arrived at an abandoned warehouse where the fugitive was supposed to be holed up. Graffiti covered the outside of the metal building, windows were broken, the front door was chained, but people could get in through one of the windows.
"I'm going around the backside of the abandoned factory to make sure he doesn't get out that way if he's in there," Marcus said.
"All right. Let me know when you're in place, and I'll try to get in the front way."
Marcus headed through the parking lot that was covered in grass and weeds. Signs were posted all over telling people not to trespass, that it was condemned and off-limits.
A misty rain began to fall, and then the sky turned darker and darker. A bolt of lightning struck the ground about three miles away, branching off in multiple directions on the way down, lighting up the dark sky.
Grayson didn’t wait for his brother to tell him he was in place. They both needed out of this weather, either in his SUV or his brother’s. They could get electrocuted outside the metal building.
He quickly texted his brother: Return to your vehicle or mine. The inside of the metal warehouse should act as a Faraday cage. But outside, it would be dangerous.
Another fork of lightning struck even closer by.
Marcus texted him: I’m at the back of the building. Coming around.
Grayson rushed to his SUV, climbed inside, grabbed a towel from a bag, and began drying off.
His brother, soaking wet, raced around the building and entered Grayson’s SUV. “You got another towel?”
