“Yes. We called it in and it became a substantial bust. I remember.”
“Well, they drew our attention back then because they stood out in that area. They just didn’t fit in with everybody else. Wouldn’t you say the same about that human?”
“Yes, I see what you mean,” Trent said, observing the man.
Even millions of miles from home and in a different environment their police instincts were still very keen. The man was dressed in a dirty t-shirt and jeans, while everyone else was dressed in business or casual attire. He didn’t fit in.
Just then the man in the jeans started to walk a little quicker. He started to approach a woman from behind and then quickly and suddenly grabbed for her purse. She swung around and shouted. She held tight to the strap. The man in the jeans started pulling. It was a tug of war struggle for the purse. He then took the palm of his hand and shoved her hard in the shoulder, knocking her to the ground.
“HEY!” Genghis blurted out.
“He pushed her!” Jeff Trent said in disbelief. Chivalry was far from dead in their culture. “He pushed her right to the ground!”
The man in the jeans yanked one more time and achieved his goal. He then turned and ran down the sidewalk bumping into pedestrians as he went. Jeff Trent and Genghis Khan instinctively started to pursue. Trent ran as fast as his new human legs could go while Genghis trotted beside him.
Then it happened.
Genghis was not sure how or why, but he took a giant stride and before he knew it, he was ten paces in front of Trent. His spine flexed, leg muscles tensed, paw pads gripped for traction. And he was twenty paces in front of Trent.
The man in the jeans ran down the sidewalk and darted into traffic. Brakes squealed, horns sounded. People started to look in the direction of the commotion. Genghis blew by the woman as she was getting to her knees. Genghis did not lose focus. He did not take his eyes off the man in the jeans. His legs pumped faster, objects in his peripheral vision went by in a blur.
Trent reached the woman as she was standing. “Madame, are you hurt?” he asked, slowing down, but not stopping.
“That bastard stole my purse!”
“Yes, we know,” he called over his shoulder, as he started running again in the direction of his partner. “I have to catch up to my human canine!”
“Your what?” The women called back. Then she too started running after Trent.
The man in the jeans made it across the four lane brick roadway and ran into a park where people were sitting and lying on the grass. Marking the center of the park was a large statue of a civil war general, proudly sitting on top of his horse.
Genghis tore across the roadway. More horns and more brakes as cars avoided hitting the big dog as he ran between cars. An SUV braked hard, tires screaming, the vehicle coming within less than three feet of Genghis.
The man in the jeans looked behind as he ran, wondering what the disturbances were that he left in his wake. A few yards ahead of him were a young couple. They were sitting on the ground having an early dinner before seeing a movie. It was their third date. Suddenly a man ran across their picnic blanket, knocking over drinks and kicking a bowl of potato salad like a soccer ball. The man in the jeans stumbled as his foot got caught in the blanket. He kicked it away and kept running.
Genghis entered the park. Now without any obstacles in his way he was able to hit his full stride. The young couple were on their knees picking up the remnants of their picnic when the young man glanced up. “Watch it, Babe. Watch it!” The young lady turned in the direction of his alarm. She let out a small scream and dove for the ground as a large dog hurtled over both of them. The animal hit the ground on all fours and tore off, kicking up dirt. The funny thing was, when the young couple later thought back to the event, they both could have sworn they heard someone say ‘excuse me’ as the dog jumped over them.
A few moments after the dog passed, another man came running by. He was huffing and puffing and breathing hard. “Sorry! – Sorry! – That was my canine,” he said, as he ran by the young couple. He was followed by a woman, flailing her arms and shouting, “Wait up! Wait for me!”
The young couple stood up, looked at each other, and in unison said, “What the hell is going on?”
The man in the jeans was nearly at the end of the park, heading for an alley he knew very well, when he felt an enormous blow to his back. He was thrown forward, knees buckling as he lost his footing. His chest hit the ground hard, knocking wind out of his lungs, his face digging into the soft dirt, his mouth filling with grass. He lay there stunned for a few seconds, then coughed out some grass and proceeded to prop himself up on his forearms. He looked up and came face to face with a snarling Doberman Pinscher.
Genghis wasn’t sure why he was having this reaction, showing his teeth and growling and all. But it seemed to be the thing to do. He then gave two sharp aggressive barks throwing saliva onto the face of the man in the jeans.
The man rolled to his back and using his elbows tried to crawl away from the growling dog. “Oh, shit!”
Just then Trent came running up. Breathing heavily, he stopped, bent over, and put his hands on his knees.
“Shit, man!” The man in the jeans pleaded with Trent. “Call off your fucking dog!”
“Stay on the ground,” Trent said, still trying to catch his breath. “And the canine won’t inflict any harm to you.”
A small crowd started to gather. Among them was the young couple. More people were walking up. Some of the bystanders got on their cell phones. The woman finally caught up and burst through the small crowd. She snatched up her purse and swiftly kicked the man in the jeans in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him for the second time.
“I hope that dog bit you on your ass, asshole!” she shouted. She then turned to Trent. “Thank you so much.”
“It was our pleasure, madame,” Trent replied, finally breathing normally.
A police car pulled up to the curb bordering the park.
“You really have a well trained dog. Is he friendly?” And before Trent could answer she bent down toward Genghis, took his head in both hands, and started rubbing. “Yes, yes, you’re a good boy aren’t you, yes you are.” Genghis wasn’t sure how to react. How would a human canine react to this kind of an assault? He wasn’t sure. But one odd thing, he couldn’t stop his little nub of a tail from vigorously wagging back and forth. Now why the hell was that?
“Thank you again,” the woman said, straightening up. “Thank you so much.”
Just then a voice came from the crowd. “Okay, what’s the problem here?” It was a police officer cutting through the crowd, followed by another.
“Yeah! I can tell you,” the woman said, “This piece of shit inbred stole my purse. And if it wasn’t for this man he would have gotten away with it.”
The police officer looked down at the man in the jeans. “Louie, you stealing purses again? This is strike three buddy. You know what that means.”
The woman started to explain everything that happened. From the theft of the purse to the kick to the stomach.
The police officer looked at Trent, then to Genghis. “That’s a pretty well trained dog you got there. You in security or something?”
Jeff looked nervously at Genghis, who looked back with the same expression, then back to the police officer. “Yes, you could say that.”
“Okay,” the police officer said. “I’m going to need all principal parties to stick around and give me a statement.” The second police officer rolled Louie over and handcuffed him. “Everybody else, go home. Nothing more to see here, move on,” the police officer said, shooing the bystanders away like cattle.
Jeff Trent bent down and pretended to adjust Genghis’s collar. He then got close to his partner's ear, “I think we better go,” he whispered. “We’re attracting way too much attention to ourselves.”
“I concur,” Genghis said quietly, while looking toward the ground.
So, while the two police off
icers were loading Louie into the back of their police car. Jeff Trent and Genghis Khan slipped into the crowd and left the park.
They were a couple of blocks away, walking back to their cruiser. There was hardly anyone else on the sidewalk. The shadows of the buildings were long, and daylight was fading as the sun slowly headed toward the horizon. Genghis had a slight spring in his step, and excitedly said, “Man, oh man! Did you see how fast I ran?”
“Yes, I did. Quite impressive. I would have kept up, but I’m . . . ah, I’m still not used to these human legs.” Jeff looked down at himself. “You know they’re a little thicker than what I’m used to.”
“I mean, Geez O’ Cow!” Genghis said, still very excited. “I don’t know what got into me. It was so exhilarating and felt so right. Boy! Codas canines could never have run like that, not with their inherent hip dysplasia.”
“No, I don’t think they could have.”
Genghis started to trot a little faster and looked back at Trent. “C’mon, c’mon! I’ll race you back to the cruiser.”
Chapter Seventeen
That night, they found a parking lot, parked the Thunderbird and retired to the lower decks of the cruiser. The parking lot they chose belonged to a very large renovated warehouse overlooking the Horseshoe River. It was the largest structure in the historic district and took up almost four blocks. Built in 1923, it was a warehouse for all imports and exports that were being transported by merchant ship. What made this location ideal for a shipping warehouse was the Horseshoe River. And it was just that, shaped like a horseshoe. Each end was connected to the bay. Ships would enter the mouth of the bay, then travel up the wide river and dock parallel to the warehouse. Docked bow to stern, the warehouse could accommodate two ships at one time. They would have their cargo offloaded, then the ships would continue traveling up river for about five miles and reenter the bay, then from there, out to sea.
In the mid 1960's, the warehouse was closed due to the fact that more and more freight was being transported over land by rail or truck. Then, by the late 1980's, the warehouse was renovated and converted into The Riverside Mall. Boasting to be the largest mall within thirty miles, it had twenty-five retail shops, a movie theater, and two three-star restaurants.
Genghis got up at seven the next morning. Below decks, he exited his cabin and went into the science lab. He checked the condition of the cruiser, the life support system, the power plant, the propulsion systems, and finally the replicated generation field that surrounded the vehicle. Everything was operating normally. He then checked to see if they received any communications from headquarters. There were none.
He headed for the stairs. At the top, he activated a small wall unit. It scanned the outside of the cruiser and determined that there was no one in the parking lot. He continued on, pushed the back cushion down, and entered the back seat of the Thunderbird.
The cruiser was parked as far from the mall as possible. The windows were rolled up and the canvas top was on. He hopped into the front seat and unhooked the top, then sent it folding up and back into the trunk. He rolled down the windows and surveyed the area. He noticed that there were about fifteen cars in the parking lot close to the mall. He could see employees inside getting the stores ready for the day. A cool breeze was coming off the river and Genghis could smell the salt of sea water. It was then that he saw Trent, walking into the parking lot from the opposite end, heading for the Thunderbird. He was carrying something.
When he got close enough to hear, Genghis called to him. “Hey! I thought you were still asleep in your cabin.”
Trent reached the cruiser. “No, I got up a couple of hours ago.” He placed his bundle on the back seat, opened the door, and sat behind the wheel.
“What do you have there?” Genghis said, looking into the back seat.
“Well,” he turned and grabbed one of the bags, “I decided to get up and do a little reconnoitering of the area.”
“You did? What happened? How did it go?”
“It went very well. There were many people out and about. Going to work, opening up shops.”
“Did you talk to any?”
“Yes, they were very polite.”
Trent told Genghis how he got up and ready. He put on his black linen suit with a light blue shirt and dark blue thin paisley tie. He slipped on his trench coat to conceal his weapons, then exited the Thunderbird. He locked it up, crossed the parking lot, and started walking toward Eighth Street. As he walked the sidewalk, he made it a habit to make eye contact with as many humans as he could. And to his surprise many greeted him warmly. Trent was gaining more confidence in himself. He realized that he and Genghis did fit in well with the human race, and with the correct mannerisms, they most likely wouldn’t attract the undue attention that they first thought they might.
He crossed over Eighth and made his way to Fifth Avenue and found Dave’s Coffee Pot. He opened the door, heard a ring. Looked up and saw a small silver bell attached to the door frame. He opened and closed the door several times, watching how the door would hit the small bell alerting the shop owner that a customer had entered. He smiled to himself thinking of the simplicity of the device. He swung the door a couple of more times listening to the tiny rings and then finally closed the door. Turning, he saw that the five customers and three clerks in the coffee shop were all staring at him. He nervously, said good morning, and got in line.
When he reached the counter he found the young girl with the silver wire on her teeth behind it. “Hi!” she said as pleasantly as she did yesterday. “Hey, I remember you, you were in that cool old car. Are you gonna use your coupons?”
“Yes,” Trent replied. He then noticed her name tag. “Mon-i-ca, yes, I was thinking of the same thing we had yesterday.”
“Sure, I can get you one.”
“Oh, could you make it two?”
Monica giggled brightly, showing her braces, and said, “One for your dog, right?”
Trent exited Dave’s with two white bags. He found a newsstand and told the attendant that he was new in the area and asked for a local paper. He then struck up a small conversation, and found out about local history, restaurants, different shops and theaters.
“It was really fascinating,” Trent told Genghis. “This part of town is called, of all things, Old Town, because it’s so old. The big area right over there with all the newer buildings is called Westberry.” They could see the large metal and glass buildings five blocks away very clearly. The orange glow of morning reflected off the shiny glass. “Founded in 1865 by the railroad tycoon, Albert Westberry.”
“What’s a tycoon?”
“Haven’t a clue, but look what I got in the bag.” Trent reached in and pulled out a Styrofoam cup.
Genghis’s ears shot straight up. “Oh, is that a cup of that layte stuff?”
“It most certainly is, complements of the grand opening of Dave’s Coffee Pot. And look at this.” He popped off the lid and showed Genghis. “Foamy stuff on the top.”
“Alright!” Genghis replied.
“And it’s called a latte.”
“Don’t care! Hand it over.”
Trent replaced the lid and held the cup out for Genghis. Genghis looked at it for a moment, then muttered something about no opposable thumbs. He swung his hips so his butt was now directly on the seat. He pulled his hind legs in close to his body and balanced himself, then reached up with his front paws. Taking the cup, he held it in between his paws and started sipping. Trent pulled another cup from the bag and started drinking his own.
They drank their coffee making little mmm and ahh sounds after every sip, sitting in the morning light of the parking lot of The Riverside Mall. They watched more employee cars pull in.
Genghis looked again into the backseat. “What else you got there?”
“Oh, yes,” Trent said, and grabbed the other bag and newspaper. “Two breakfast sandwiches from Dave’s.” He placed one on the center console for his partner. “Egg, cheese, and sausage o
n something called a bagel. I even picked up a news-paper. It has all the news periodicals of the local area and includes international events as well. I figure that our escapees will most likely go back to their old ways and if so, it might be published.”
“Yeah, old habits are hard to break,” Genghis said, in between big bites of breakfast sandwich. “Even on a new planet.”
While they were enjoying their breakfast and coffee, Trent opened the paper. He handed a couple of sections to Genghis and they both started to go through the newspaper, hoping that something would stand out. Trent opened the first section and started flipping page by page. What he found on page three under the fold surprised him. “Oh, no!” Trent said quietly.
“What? You find something?” Genghis asked, with a mouth full.
“Yes. A picture of us!”
“What! Let me see.”
He angled the page so Genghis could see and sure enough. It was a photo of them in the park. Under a headline that read, “Good Samaritan and Dog Stop Theft.”
“Oh, no!”
Jeff Trent and Genghis Khan stared at the photo for a few minutes in disbelief. “I don’t remember seeing anyone with any photography equipment.”
“Neither do I,” Trent said. “But there it is.”
It was obviously taken with a cell phone. It showed Louie on the ground being handcuffed by the police officer, the women speaking to the other officer, Trent standing next to her, listening, and Genghis sitting, panting with his nose in the air and in the middle of a blink.
“What the hell am I doing? I look stupid! My tongue, it’s . . . it’s hanging out of the side of my mouth!”
“Yeah, I was going to ask you about that.”
“About what?”
The Interstellar Police Force, Book One: The Historic Mission Page 8
