Page 114 of Wild Escape

Raj blew through the stop sign, taking a hard right. His passenger freaked out in the back.

The dirtbag took a quick left, careening through the neighborhood, then a right onto Paradise Park. That's where he got into trouble.

We followed and caught up to him.

An accident at the intersection had slowed traffic to a standstill in both directions.

Raj flung open his door, hopped out, and sprinted across the oncoming lane. He darted into another residential neighborhood.

I sprang from the Porsche and gave chase.

The little bastard was pretty quick.

He craned his neck over his shoulder with wide eyes as I gained on him.

A woman on a bicycle headed toward us. With a helmet and bike shorts, she was out getting her exercise.

Raj stuck his arm out and clotheslined her.

She flopped off the bike and landed flat on her back, smacking the asphalt.

The bike kept cruising down the road without her, rolling past me.

With the wind knocked out of her lungs, she groaned in agony.

Raj grabbed her, yanked her to her feet, and put a knife to her throat. With panicked eyes, he shouted at me, "Back off. I’ll kill her! I swear."

I guess Raj figured he was going down for murder anyway—what was kidnapping?

The rotor blades of Tango One thumped overhead as the chopper circled.

"Looks like you’re having a bad day," I said to Raj, trying to diffuse the situation.

"No fucking shit, Sherlock!"

"Doesn't have to be this way.”

He glanced around as patrol cars screeched onto the scene from all directions, boxing him in.

Lights flashed.

It wouldn’t be long before camera crews were on the scene.

"Tell the cops to clear out, or she dies!" Raj shouted.

"Let me help you," I said. "How about you put the knife down, let the girl go, and nobody gets hurt?”

"You're not listening to me," he growled, pressing the knife tighter against her skin.

I raised my hands in surrender and took a step back.

The other officers were out of their cars, using them as cover, their weapons drawn.

"Walk me through this," I said to Raj. “If you kill her, what do you think is going to happen to you?”

Raj glanced around at the cops, then up at the helicopter that circled. He fidgeted with nervous energy, shifting his weight from side to side. The knife was tight against the woman’s throat. With fear in his eyes, he shouted at me again, "I told you to back off!"

The woman reached into a belly pack and pulled out a can of mace. She sprayed Raj in the face and spun away.