On The Grind

Chapter 46

"Scully! Give yourselves up," Alonzo screamed over the shoulder rover. "Don't die for these shit-stains!"

I didn't answer, and lowered the volume instead.

"You've committed an attempted murder on a police officer," Bell continued. "I've got a full police response. Air One on the way and a shoot-on-sight order. I'll cancel it now if you pull over, throw down your guns and give up!"

"Maybe we should stop," Carmen veiled over the screaming engine. "What are they going to do, shoot us all?"

"That's exactly what they'll do," I answered. "He'll say we initiated a gunfight and then just execute all three of us. They'll haw ten cops to swear witness."

"He's right," Rocky shouted. "In this town, they do what they want."

I had my foot to the floor and within a block the little red Mustang was again going almost ninety. The engine was wound tight. screaming. We flashed past Pacific going south heading out of Fleetwood a block from Monterey Park.

Just then I saw two Haven Park black-and-whites make smoking turns into the intersection ahead, braking to a tire-shredding stop, blocking both lanes.

"You can't get through!" Rocky veiled.

I slammed on the foot brake, pulled the hand brake to lock the tires, and threw the Mustang into a heart-stopping 180-dcgrec bootlegger s skid. All four tortured tires screamed as I completed the maneuver, burning rubber, bouncing onto the curb but finally getting the vehicle turned around, speeding through my own tire smoke, heading north back into Fleetwood.

"Go right! Try to make it into Vernon," Rocky yelled.

I hung a quick right. Sirens blared all around us, closing in from every direction.

Then I heard a cop screaming at the dispatcher through my shoulder mike. "This is One-L-Nine! I have the suspects vehicle in sight. He's southbound on Otis Avenue heading into Vernon."

"Scully, you'll never make it," Alonzo's voice came over my shoulder rover. "The air unit will be over you in a minute. Be smart, man. Don't die over this. We can still work something out."

I triggered my shoulder mike with my right hand as I drove.

"This is One-L-Nine," I screamed, trying to mimic the frantic sound of the pursuing cop. "The fugitive vehicle just turned onto Huntington Park Drive passing Bristol heading west."

As I put out the phony call I heard Alonzo's voice immediately step on it. "Cancel that! He's still westbound on Otis."

"One-L-Six has the suspect vehicle in sight," Roulon Green said.

I glanced in the rearview and saw a second set of pursuing headlights about two blocks back.

We didn't make it into Vernon either. Just as we were about four blocks from the city boundary, two Haven Park squad cars turned onto the street ahead, blocking our way.

I pulled another smoking one-eighty and reversed course, passing between the two trailing black-and-whites, splitting them, knocking off side mirrors, going almost eighty. I caught a glimpse of Roulon Greens startled expression as we flashed past. Both patrol cars made screeching turns and came after us.

Rocky yelled, "You're heading toward the river. They'll have all those bridges blocked. Go left here. Try for Monterey Park again."

I took a thirty-mile-an-hour left on the next street and almost flipped the Mustang as the right-side tires slammed hard against the far curb. But we stayed upright as I hit the gas and headed west again.

We had gone almost six miles, but had gotten nowhere. Alonzo and the Haven Park cops had managed to herd us in a big useless circle.

Over the noise of the sirens, I heard the chopper moving in. Carmen cursed in Spanish under her breath.

"Almost there!" Rocky shouted. "Two more blocks!"

We drove through the underpass that bordered Fleetwood and Monterey Park. For a minute I thought we'd made it. We were out of Fleetwood and that meant we were out of Haven Park PD's jurisdiction. I didn't think Alonzo would shoot us down in county sheriff territory because the sheriffs would be in charge of the investigation, putting another controlling authority into the mix. T hen Alonzo's voice came over the rover.

"All units. All frequencies. We have just been given hot pursuit authorization by Monterey Park Sheriffs. Do not break off. I repeat, do not break off at the city line. Continue into Monterey Park, lake this guy down."

Just then, two Haven Park PD squad cars rounded the corner ahead and skidded to a stop, blocking the road. I had no choice but to make another smoking, tire-shredding U and retreat again into Fleetwood. As I came out of the underpass, the xenon sun in the belly of the police chopper suddenly lit us in a halo of white light.

"I've gotta lose this chopper," I shouted. "Well never get away with him on top of us!"

"How about Live Oak Street?" Carmen suggested.

"What s on Live Oak?" I shouted.

"Oak trees," she said.