The second car pulled around it and continued the chase. He fired the pepper spray out the window until about half the can was gone. He couldn’t see how effectively it was working, but the car did seem to back off a little. Then he picked up the laser and aimed it through the rear-view mirror on his driver’s door. He could get the aim fairly close just by sighting down the length of the laser, but he couldn’t see where the beam was hitting with all the lights behind him. So he put it more or less on target and moved it back and forth, and then got the result he was looking for. The car veered off the road and into a ditch, one that was deep enough that this car wouldn’t be pursuing him any longer either.
The deputies driving it did still have a perfectly good radio however.
* * *
The bulk of the on-duty force in town had been killed already. But the officers from the other shifts were arriving and getting out on the streets to find him. Randy heard their chatter on his stolen police radio. He gathered that they were mostly covering the roads on the East side of town, right between him and city limits.
Randy picked one of the back roads heading into town and found a driveway he could back into. The driveway was lined with trees and he was pretty well hidden. He didn’t have to wait long before two city patrol cars sped past him, headed to search the outlying areas. Randy started his truck and sped into town.
Being on city roads again gave him more side roads to disappear on, but a lot of people were watching for him now. And his list of options was pretty narrow. His pain and exhaustion levels were catching up with him, but there wasn’t a chance in hell he was going to put any friends in danger by asking them for a hideout. He couldn’t flee town without involving other agencies in the hunt for him, which was precisely what he wanted to avoid. There was really only one option left to him, but before he could carry that out he needed a vehicle that didn’t have such a big target painted on it.
There was a Toyota dealership in this part of town that Randy was pretty familiar with. He made his way there, and right close by it he saw a vacant house with a “for sale” sign in the yard. That made a good place to park the truck for now. He locked it up and walked over to the dealership lot.
When Randy had been about twenty, he had worked for a local security patrol. Among his duties was that every night, he had to visit this dealership and one other one, and pull on every single car door to check for cars that had been left unlocked. Few were the number of nights when he had not found at least one car that was open, with the keys sitting on the visor.
When he started pulling on doors again, it almost felt like old times. Times when he still had his whole life ahead of him. But he didn’t anymore, so he didn’t waste time. He began in the section that had the nondescript looking cars, and it wasn’t long before he found one. It was an off-white 4-door Camry that was just a few years old, and had its own license plate. The keys were right on the visor.
He drove the car over a couple of curbs to get it out of the lot, then he went back to his truck to get his rifle and gear. Then he headed out toward the scene of his final showdown.
* * *
Unfortunately, some neighbors had noticed the suspicious activity and called 911. Randy got out of there ahead of the arrival of police, but not by much. As he was making a beeline for the department headquarters, he heard chatter on the radio. They had found his truck, and had a general description of the car that he had taken. Employees of the dealership were on their way in to confirm exactly what car was missing. In the meantime, nondescript white cars were the new focus of the search. At least there were more of those on the road than there were company trucks.
The word came over the radio that a similar car had been spotted, and a felony stop was ensuing. Luckily this was happening a good couple miles away, so maybe that would distract them away from him while he made his way to the police station. His plan from there was fairly uncomplicated, and that was to rack up the biggest body count of city uniforms he was able to before buying the farm himself. Under the current circumstances, he didn’t expect the score would get that much higher, but it was the only plan left to him. So he continued on with the hope that the ones out on patrol would be distracted enough by the similar cars to allow him to make it there. But his luck didn’t turn out to be that good.
He passed a light-colored Chevy Caprice headed the other way, and it whipped a u-turn and flipped on flashing lights in the grille. It was an unmarked car, and it was currently attempting a stop while being used for patrol illegally, but Randy doubted that argument would carry a lot of weight at the moment. He floored it before the pursuing car could get up to speed, put some distance between them, and took a hard right into residential streets. A few zigzags later he had lost the car, but as the radio chatter confirmed, he had tagged himself as the one they were looking for and they were all headed this way.
He rolled down the windows so as to be able to hear the sirens. They were numerous, and closing in. The middle of a neighborhood was the last place he wanted to make his stand, but it was appearing he might not have a choice. The sound of the sirens came closer, from at least three directions, and then he spotted it. It was an open garage door, with nothing parked inside, and he drove into it. He knew he’d regret this, but he was panicking and didn’t know what else to do.
Randy killed the engine and jumped out. He searched frantically for a button on the wall and finally found it. He pushed it, and the garage door began to close.
The pain in his back was growing more intense, as was his exhaustion level. And he had a whole new problem to deal with; the fact that he was now a home invader.
Whoever lived here was undoubtedly aware of his presence, so he had to move fast. Whatever that movement was going to be he had no idea, as this was territory he had never planned ahead for. It’s a well-accepted premise that home invaders deserve, and need, to be shot on sight.
With his Glock in hand, he opened the door into the home and went through. The hallway was dark, but it led straight to the living room, where he could see light. He emerged into the living room, and a woman was standing there. In her sixties, wearing spectacles, with curly black hair that was graying. She looked at his gun, and he realized it was pointing in her direction. He pointed it away from her and put his other hand up. “I mean you no harm,” he said, but as he tried to think of how to explain his presence, he drew a blank. There was no explanation.
That turned out to be a moot issue anyhow, because at that moment there was a loud POP from behind him, and a fiery jolt of electricity ripped through his body. He collapsed, the last tiny bit of his strength gone, and the world started going black.
This could not be good.
Chapter 12
Viral Video
“Sir, you need to see this now,” Esther said as she walked into Burt’s office. Burt seriously did not feel like being interrupted, but when Esther barged in there was always a reason for it.
She went to his computer and started typing until a video popped up on Youtube. Burt’s jaw almost hit the desk when he saw Randy’s face appear on the screen.
“My name is Randolph Gustin,” he said on the screen. It appeared he was sitting in his pickup and moving while he had recorded this, and holding the camera himself. “Earlier this evening I was attacked by an officer of the Forest Hill Police Department. He tried to set me up for a justified homicide and he almost succeeded. If he had, I’d be dead right now and he’d most likely get promoted. But it didn’t happen that way. I killed him in self-defense, and I’ve killed every cop that’s tried to shoot me since that moment too.”
“This is not what I wanted, it was forced on me. Now I have to contend with the unfortunate reality that justice is not equal. While a cop could easily get away with killing a citizen under such circumstances, I would not. The same system that lets murdering cops off the hook would do whatever it took to make sure I get the book dropped right on me. There is no point in my surrendering because no matter what choi
ce I make, my life is over.”
“I’ve been waging a peaceful campaign on the issue of out-of-control police for some time. But now that this has happened, the peaceful approach will not help me. Every cop in the Forest Hill Police Department is on the side of the would-be murderer. That means that war has been declared upon me by their entire department. So war is what they get.”
“I hereby ask that every citizen and governmental entity leave this conflict between me and the Forest Hill Police Department. You have my word that I will not leave the city limits, and I will not endanger any citizen who doesn’t point a weapon at me first, even if it means I die. This one department started this fight willingly. They’re all big boys, and capable of taking care of their own messes, so let this one department settle this with me themselves.”
At that moment Randy held up his microcassette recorder in front of the camera. “A part of the incident that started all this is on tape. I want you to hear that now. And I want you to understand that I’m not doing this for me, because my fate is already sealed. This is for you. This is to stop the gang of thugs in this town who thinks that a badge is a license to demolish people’s lives. If they can do this to me, they can do it to any of you, and I am compelled to make them understand that the time has come when they can no longer do this to people for free. Goodbye now.”
The screen went black as Burt sat back in his chair. Then some text appeared on the black screen. It read, “Audio tape of Randolph Gustin Shooting Incident.” The tape rehashed what Burt already knew from the dash cam video from the rear vehicle, and one thing that he didn’t. Officer Simmons had made an incredibly stupid error by letting himself get taped apparently admitting his intent. Burt was becoming less concerned about the body count and more concerned about the unprecedented publicity nightmare he was looking down the barrel of.
When the audio recording ended, another face appeared on the screen. He didn’t recognize her right away, but she identified herself quickly enough.
“My name is Elena Gustin, and I’m Randy’s wife. I first met Randy when he saved me from being murdered by this same department. Most of you already know that story.”
“Now I want you to hear me. Everything he’s told you is God’s own truth, so please do what he asks. Don’t get involved and don’t help him. But don’t help this department either. They are every bit the monsters he’s ever called them, so let them settle this with my husband themselves.” The video ended, frozen on that frame.
Burt reached for his radio, then thought twice about that and took out his cellphone instead. He dialed Jack Hayward, who at that moment was in the outlying areas helping with the search. When he answered, Burt asked, “Jack, you seen that video yet?”
“Yep, just did.”
“Get her.”
* * *
By the time that phone call happened, Elena was long gone from Bourbon Street. She was riding in the passenger side of Vincent’s Bronco on the way to someplace hopefully safe.
“He’s gonna be mad you put yourself in the video,” Vincent said to her.
“I didn’t say anything about me being there or doing any of the shooting. And he’s not the only one who has a right to take any risks.” She opened her purse and fished around inside, only to remember that she didn’t smoke anymore. “You got a cigarette?”
Vincent shook his head slowly. “If there’s one thing that’d make Randy think this was all for nothin’, it’d be for you to get the idea it was okay to throw your life in the gutter again. I’m not givin’ you one.”
“It’s all over whether I think it’s okay or not. They’re taking him from me.” She stared out the window as they passed through town. “I can’t live without him.”
* * *
“Chief Grandstone, I saw that video, and I heard the audio, I need to ask you just one question.” The governor was on the phone and she didn’t sound happy. “What the fuck?”
“Governor, the audio shows Simmons making a questionable remark that can be interpreted in more than one way. I promise you this doesn’t tell the whole story.”
“How much more do I need to know? Your guys tried to outright murder someone, and it’s all on tape. How the hell am I supposed to take your side with that thing all over the news?”
“This is the worst attack on law enforcement ever. Are you telling me that’s not a good enough reason?”
“Burt, before this I wanted to send you everything I had, I really did. But there’s a court of law and a court of public opinion, and the court of public opinion isn’t buying your excuses. I’m getting calls from people who want me to send in the National Guard all right, but they want the Guard to leave this Gustin character alone and arrest you and your whole department instead. And truth be told, I’m giving it some thought.”
“That would not take a hell of a lot of manpower right now, but that’s a mistake even you don’t want to make,” Burt said. “Don’t you get what’s at stake here? This isn’t just about his fight with me and my department, this man is challenging the whole foundation of authority. Mine, yours, everyone’s. If he is perceived as the winner of this fight, it won’t make a bit of difference who started it, because people’s respect for us will evaporate down to nothing. We keep people in line by making sure they know that getting on our bad side isn’t worth the consequences. You want to start seeing another Chris Monfort cropping up every couple of months? Do you want to live in a world where we’re the ones who have to be afraid of them deciding it’s time to take some fucked up kind of enforcement action against us?”
“I’ve got news for you Burt,” the governor said, “for me to take your side in this would make me appear as an accessory to attempted murder. And rightfully so. You think that would inspire a lot of good will toward the state?”
“Governor, you need to think longer-term. There is one thing that halts copycats, and that’s when the original shooter loses his fight and goes down in flames. Either that happens now, or this could become the next national shooting trend. If that happens, it’ll be on your resume for life. So what’ll it be?”
There were times when the governor hated her job and this had to be the worst of them. The Forest Hill Police Department had long been one to push the envelope, to see how much they could prod people and get away with it. But Burt was right about everything else too. This situation could balloon into something national. Washington State had long been known as the birthplace of national shooting trends. The school shooting trend that dominated the nineties had originated in Moses Lake. A spurt of mall shootings around the country had started in Tacoma. A spate of campus shootings had begun with young Rebecca Griego being killed at the University of Washington, and the very next one of those had been Virginia Tech.
The last thing she needed was for an insurgency against police to be the next such trend to spring from her state, especially on her watch. It was going to hurt, but something had to be done. “Tell you what I’ll do,” she began. “I’ll assign some National Guard troops to work with the Sheriff’s department. They’ll help with keeping the town surrounded and sealed off, and they’ll be ready to intervene in case of some extraordinary circumstance. Will that suffice?”
“I guess it’ll have to. We’d just as soon find him ourselves anyhow, because this can’t end peacefully. He has to lose, and it has to hurt, or we’ll all be paying the price for a very long time.”
“Well, good luck with that. But be advised that afterward, you’ll be having a nice long talk with our attorney general.” She hung up before Burt could think of a good reply.
* * *
Vincent couldn’t take Elena out of town because of all the roadblocks, but there was one place in town where he hoped she’d be okay. It wasn’t a place he had ever wanted to visit again, but at the moment what he wanted had to be put aside. “Rosemary is her name,” Vincent said. “She’s my ex.”
“You told us your ex-wife was dead,” Elena replied.
“To me, she is. B
ut right now we need help, and she offered it.”
They pulled into the driveway of a fairly nice two-story house. “This is a pretty nice place she lives in,” Elena said.
“I know. It used to be mine.”
Vincent flashed his headlights, and the garage door opened. He drove in and the door closed behind him. “You’re gonna have to stay out of view of the neighbors,” he told her. They got out, and the door that led into the house opened. In the doorway stood a woman in her mid fifties, wearing an expression that seemed to exude dignity more than anything else Elena could think of. “Hi Rosie,” Vincent said. Elena gathered from his voice that he was neither comfortable with, nor happy about being here.
“Vince, you sure got mixed up in a pickle this time,” Rosemary replied.
“Don’t tell me I’m not allowed to help my friends, okay?”
“If I believed that, do you think I’d have called?” She motioned them to come inside, and they followed her. Once inside the living room, she motioned them to sit on the couch while she went to the kitchen to pour some soft drinks. “I’ve been looking at all the news on this,” she said from the kitchen. “I want to help, but I’m not sure what I can do.”
“Elena needs to hide out until tomorrow,” Vincent replied. “Then she needs a ride to see their lawyer and he’ll take it from there.”
Rosemary brought the drinks in on a tray, set them on the coffee table and sat down. “Elena, would you tell me what’s going through your mind right now?”
Elena felt a twinge of suspicion. “I’d rather not talk about that, no.”
“I understand, but my getting involved sort of depends on it. You can consider me sworn to secrecy.”
Elena looked toward Vincent. “Whatever else I might think of her,” he said, “she does what she promises.”
Rosemary gave Vincent a wink. “You can take his word for that, he knows,” she said. “Now if it helps, I’ll simplify what it is I want to know. Are you angry or scared?”
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