The Runners: Chapter 17
Chapter 17
David drove westbound on Lawrence Avenue. He has never been to this part of the town, but found it to be a pleasant one. As he drove, he saw newly remodeled buildings on either side of the street. Most buildings seemed to have been torn down and rebuilt at no taller than three stories. The population in the former US Midwest has been gradually migrating out of the region. Most went to the northern parts of the continent towards former Canada and this area was no exception. In the early 20th century, this area had provided major commerce activities with the likes of the giant retailer Sears that had opened one of their earliest stores in the country here.
However, with the depressed economic conditions hitting the region, those who could not afford to stay, but had the means to bail out from the area had left, leaving behind many empty retail complexes. As a consequence, the properties went for cents on the UN$ as the supply overwhelmed the demand. This allowed some of the opportunistic investors, businesses, and even individuals to explore this area. After grabbing the cheap properties, these investors have replaced many of the older structures with flattened architectures, infused with open concept designs.
CST Corporation had moved into the plot, where the old Sears store was located on Lawrence Avenue, on the north side of the street. They had it rebuilt in a shape of a pyramid that reached four stories high. Its unique look and the height that rose above other structures in the area made it easily identifiable. David spotted the CST building from about a half mile away.
David did not forget to look into the rear view monitor to keep track of the silver vehicle that was tailing him. The car was still behind him cushioned by seven car lengths in between. He kept his eyes on the vehicle as he drove closer to the CST office. He called Jackson’s direct office number to alert his arrival, but there was not an answer. David called Jackson’s cell, which also went unanswered. Since he had spoken with Jackson about his planned visit to collect the surveillance recordings, David thought it was odd that his calls went unanswered.
As David approached the building to park his car, he saw two men in gray suits and visors that covered most of their facial features above their lips, hurriedly exiting the CST building. David noticed that one of the two men was carrying a silver brief case. They got into a large SUV, one similar to the one that the old lady whom he saw on LSD drove, driving off burning tires as David parked his vehicle near the CST entrance. He thought their behavior was suspicious and instructed his vehicle to store the SUV’s information.
David exited his vehicle, walked around the front of the hood and headed to the entrance of the CST Corp. As he got within several ft of the building, the all glass triangular shaped door in the front middle section of the building slowly opened. As it fully opened, David had a clear view of the building’s inner space. There was a reception desk at the far end of the lobby. To the right of the desk, he saw escalators rising up leading to the 2nd floor landing area.
There, David saw an armed security person wielding a gun while running down the stairs in the direction of the reception desk. David could see red marks on the face of the guard, who was profusely perspiring. As the guard ran down the stairs, the receptionist, in her late 30’s was frantically talking into a microphone attached to her headset. “A man is shot!” The woman yelled into the mic as the security guard came running down, turned to his left, and ran towards David.
Instinctively, David flashed his badge and ordered to “drop your weapon, now!” as he drew his pistol from its holster in his jacket. The guard did not hear him. Instead, the guard ran faster and yelled, “Robbery, a man down upstairs!” And, he continued his run into David’s direction. David gave another instruction to the man to “stop and raise your hands!” There was a tense moment as both were now, pointing guns at each other within a few feet. As guard came to a halt, they stood looking at each other’s eyes over the barrels of their guns.
David flashed his identification one more time in a loud and authoritative manner, “UNBI! Drop your weapon!” David ordered again. Finally, the guard heard David. He cautiously put the gun down onto the floor with his right hand while showing his left palm to David. This allowed David to move closer to him without an incidence, although, he had his gun still drawn, pointing at the guard. David moved to pick up the gun off the floor, locked it then put it into his back pocket. The guard stood with both his hands up in the air. His uniform was soaking wet with perspiration and dark red blood.
At this time, David heard different footsteps coming from upstairs and noticed a second guard at the top of the stairs. David ordered loudly, “Stop! UNBI! Do not move!” This caught the guard’s attention immediately. “Robbery, manager, Jackson is shot!” The guard, in urgent tone, yelled from the top of the stairs.
At this point, the receptionist screamed, “they are CST employees. The two men in gray suits…, they had guns!” Upon hearing the woman’s scream, David quickly looked at both guards and decided that it was acceptable to trust the receptionist. David threw the gun that he had collected off the floor back to its owner. Then, he turned back and ran out the door, his weapon still drawn. He looked to his right and saw the large SUV navigating erratically near the intersection two lights away, heading west. David ran to his car and called for backups and for EMTs to attend to the CST personnel that may have been hurt.
‘Wheeee-ooooooo….Wheeee-ooooooo’ ‘Beeeeep, Beeeeep’ the siren from his car blasted off as the vehicle engaged into pursuit mode. Immediately, a small robot, a flying tracker was launched from the top of the vehicle. The tracker, a sphere shaped object with wings in the form of dual crescent moon, flew ahead of David’s vehicle. Equipped with a GPS, a transmitter and with the SUV’s identification data programmed in, the tracker led David to the moving location of the SUV.
David floored the accelerator and picked up speed. But, with the traffic in front of him, he decided to maneuver his vehicle to the left on to the oncoming traffic lane in order to catch up with the SUV. He had passed several cars that were moving in the westbound lane on Lawrence Avenue while driving in the eastbound lane. He swerved left and right as he avoided the oncoming traffic in the opposite direction. At the same time, the silver vehicle that was trailing David appeared in his rear view monitor, also at high speed.
When he returned his sight to the forward direction, he saw a big Metro-City bus heading directly towards him. At that moment, the passenger in the silver sedan, trailing David took a rifle and fired at the bus, hitting the driver’s shoulder thru the windshield. The bus driver was blowing the horn as the bus started to move in zigzag pattern. In an attempt to control the bus, the driver turned the wheel wildly while applying the brakes, causing the large mass to skid and turn over on to its side. The bus encroached into the opposite lane with the nose of the bus as it continued its slide.
The bus crashed into several vehicles in the west bound lane. There were loud bangs and screeching noises as the bus’ metals met the concrete. The bus collided with one of the trucks that were westbound, causing the truck to roll several times before slamming into the windows of a 7-Eleven convenience store. The impact had completely destroyed the frontage of the store. The truck, finally, came to a stop, half way into the store with its nose landing on top of the checkout scanner. The sprinkler spewed water everywhere, more or less, destroying the store’s inventory. The checkout scanner, attempting to read the vehicle’s nose, repeated ‘Invalid Item Scanned’, ‘Invalid Item Scanned’. It kept alerting, mimicking the annoying sound of an alarm clock that was attempting to get someone out of bed at 5 AM. Windows shattered and sent millions of glass pieces on to the counter, floors, and out onto the sidewalks.
One of the cars that were slowly traveling westward had managed to swerve to the right, just barely dodging the oncoming bus. Unfortunately, it had crashed into a candy store as it had evaded the bus. Candies of all kinds flew in every direction. The vehicle came to a complete stop, its nose raised up and resting on top of the candy display under the sign, ‘UN $2.50 per 1 lbs’.
The bus continued skidding on its side, now covering almost the entire width of Lawrence Avenue. Sparks flew as it skidded, causing smoke to engulf part of the bus which was leaking fuel at this time. A sedan came into contact with the bus and was pinned under the front wheel. The kinetic force of the bus moving at high speed and the pinned vehicle applying opposite force caused the bus to flip on contact, launching the bus airborne. The passengers in the bus screamed, holding tight on to anything that they could hold on to, embracing for the worst.
“No…! Aaaak!” Loud screams filled the space inside the bus. People were tumbling around like loose laundry items in a dryer spin cycle. The windows of the bus shattered and glass pieces flew in every which way, littering the streets. The people, who were inside the nearby buildings, looked out from their windows with gasps as they watched the chaos unfold on what was usually a peaceful commercial street.
The drivers of the vehicles in the eastbound lane, seeing the bus roll towards them, tried to outrun the bus in the same direction. They all increased speed and were headed directly towards David. Several cars navigated on to the side walk, causing people to run fast for cover or run into their buildings of choice in order to avoid getting crushed. Quickly, David moved his car into the westbound lane. Barely missing the oncoming traffic, he had allowed the vehicles to race away from the bus in the eastbound lane.
The bus rolled and hit several cars in the westbound lanes. As it hit the tops of some of the vehicles, it appeared to have picked up its velocity as it headed towards David. Now, David faced ten tons of steel nearing him in tumbling, rolling, and bouncing motion. Instinctively, David hit the brakes hard and came to a stop with the nose of the car hitting the ground. The bus rolled and rolled and as it was about to hit David’s car, the bus rolled up and cleared the height and length of David’s vehicle by an inch.
David looked in the rear view monitor and saw the bus reappear behind his vehicle and roll another tens of yards before coming to a halt, crushing several cars in the process. As it rolled over his car, he witnessed many passengers pushed up against the windows of the bus with horrified looks in their faces. Smoke rose from the bus and from the cars that were damaged all around him. He could only imagine the agonies of the people inside the bus.
However, David did not have the time to stop and tend to the possibly injured citizens. He needed to pursue the SUV. He engaged engine into higher gears and maneuvered around the cars that were piled up and followed the birdie. All the while, the silver sedan kept its pursuit of David’s vehicle.
The SUV entered north bound on I-94 towards the Wisconsin border. The tracker kept close and relayed information to David’s car. The SUV exited onto a remote highway just past the Wisconsin border. The road was narrow and had many sharp turns causing David to lose sight of the SUV until he came to a straight way. David chased, but close behind him came the silver sedan. The shooter who shot the bus driver aimed his rifle again in the direction of David’s vehicle as he entered the same straight way.
Instinctively, David lowered his head which had caused him to momentarily release the accelerator, causing his vehicle to slow down. He heard several shots being fired, but the bullets seemed to have missed his car. With the SUV at about 1/4 mile away, the birdie stopped transmitting information. As he followed the road, he saw black smoke rising at the right end of the road, intermingled with broadening wall of dust that was produced by the SUV, which had just gone ahead.
Soon, David learned the source of the smoke as he discovered the disabled birdie, lying on the ground upside down with its wings all bent and covered with battery fuel and dirt. He realized that it wasn’t him that the shooter was aiming at rather, it was the tracker birdie. At this time, the silver sedan stopped its pursuit of David and was nowhere to be seen in the rear view monitor.
David didn’t have a moment to lose by trying to determine where his trailer went. David increased the speed of the pursuit and caught up to within three car length of the SUV. He saw one of the passengers in the SUV detaching himself from the safety restraint device then moving towards the back seat. The rear window of the SUV opened and David saw a large man aiming a rifle at his vehicle.
Again, David hit the brakes creating greater distance between him and the SUV as he swerved left and right in an attempt to confuse the gunman’s aim. Shots fired repeatedly from the SUV. Several bullets, hitting the hood and the front windshield of David’s vehicle, caused a small crack in the windshield. And, as the man kept firing, David’s vision became obstructed with the growing size of the cracks in the windshield.
Then, the SUV turned a corner of the road and the man stopped discharging his weapon. Taking the brief interruption from the assault as a window of opportunity, David engaged the auto pilot. Then, he leaned deep back into his seat and with all his might, kicked the windshield several times with both of his feet. Becoming un-tethered, the windshield flew off over the roof of his car. Quickly surveying the turn, David discovered that the SUV was now, going uphill.
David sat up upright and grabbed his gun. As the SUV came into the view, David and the man in the back of the SUV both fired at each other almost at the same moment. David was one step quicker and more accurate, however. David hit the man right in the middle of his visor. The man took couple of shots at David, but his shots went astray as he fell on his back towards the inner space of the SUV. His finger stuck to the trigger of the rifle, it continued to shell out bullets striking the ceiling of the SUV. David saw sparks flying inside the SUV and smoke escaping up through the roof of the SUV.
The driver of the SUV ducked low at this time. However, David was able to release additional shots and one of the bullets had pierced through the seats and hit the back right shoulder of the driver. Reflexively, the man put his left hand over his right shoulder, releasing both of his hands from the vehicle’s controls for a moment.
The SUV moved wildly and reached the top of the hill, at which point, it hit a large dry tree trunk that was exposed from the barren ground. The SUV took off airborne, landing on its front wheels then bounced up and down. In the process, the driver completely lost control of the vehicle, unable to engage the auto pilot to maintain control. A 35 degree turn came up which had three story of a drop at the other side. The SUV missed the turn badly and kept going straight and over the hill. As the front sank low, the back of the vehicle rose up high. The forward momentum flipped the SUV over before crashing hard onto its roof, ultimately, bringing the pursuit to an end.
David slowed down and came to near the crash site. He got out of his car, pointing his gun at the SUV’s driver. He moved to the driver’s side to examine the casualties. The wheels on the SUV were spinning wildly in the air while dirt and black smoke were rising all around the wrecked vehicle. He approached the SUV and discovered one man in the back lying on his abdomen and found the driver pinned upside down and bleeding in his seat. David couldn’t tell whether the driver was alive or not since the dark visor that he wore was covering his face. David moved closer and removed the visor, then checked for the driver’s respiratory activity. He could not feel any breathing or pulses. The driver’s body was twisted as it hung upside down. His spinal cord appeared to have been severed and was killed instantly.
David took several deep breaths and put his gun back into its holster. On the bottom of the debris, on the passenger side, he found the silver brief case that he saw the men carrying out of the CST Corp. He went around to the other side. Reaching in thru the broken window, David retrieved the brief case. Then, he went back to his vehicle and pried it open. In it, he found a storage disk with the label ‘David Chan’ in its housing. It has not been damaged as far as he could tell from a visual inspection. He took it out of the brief case and stuffed it into his inside shirt pocket.
David called into the Chicago office, “This is agent Chan of UNBI…,” and waited for the help to arrive. He found a streak of blood on his shirt and felt thick liquid dripping from the side of his head. Slowly, David raised his right hand to his forehead, smearing the tips of his right hand against his right temple. He felt a scrape and fresh blood from an apparent bullet wound.
David felt sharp pain in his left shoulder, prompting him to discover yet, a second bullet wound. He realized how close a fatal shot had come and passed as he found a bullet lodged in his shoulder. The anxiety and adrenaline of the chase was over and David felt exhausted. Dropping all his weight deep into the seat of his car, he transfixed his eyes on the spinning wheels of the SUV. As he watched the wheels, he saw the dust and smoke rise from the site of the crash that seemed to get blown away by the wind. His vision was blurring as objects no longer appeared in clear shape or form. David was succumbing to the physical and mental fatigues as he felt that time had stopped.