“We’ve come so far! Not now!” Jenny whimpered.
Peering out the crack in the door, Dom saw two police officers standing in the lobby talking. They stood there for a minute before he could make out any of the conversation. Finally he heard the inevitable.
“I wonder where Darryl is,” one of them said.
“Good question,” the other one answered.
As they watched and listened, he heard one of them say something about going to look for him back in the offices. The other one said he’d go check the cells. They were going to be discovered.
Jenny heard the last part of the conversation even though she was behind Dom. She reached into her pocket and took out the pepper spray, handing it to him. He caught the hint right away. She reached into the other pocket for the stun gun. The cop was nearing the door. The other cop had already moved back into the offices. It was time to move.
Jenny pulled the car keys out of her jeans and got them ready to start the car. At that instant, the door opened and Dom caught the police officer by surprise by spraying him right in the face with the pepper spray. The cop screamed, trying to cover his face, and at the same time he tried to reach for his gun with his other hand. Jenny shocked him and he went down. Dom reached down, grabbed his gun, and in a split second they were all crashing out the door, heading towards the car. They could hear yelling and screaming as they ran, and Dom knew that the other occupants of the police station had been alerted.
As Jenny slipped in behind the wheel and crammed the keys into the ignition, Butch pushed her over and slipped behind the wheel. Dom jumped in the back seat as the car started to take off. Looking back, he could see four or five policemen running out into the station lobby.
As the cops ran towards the door of the police station, their guns drawn, the glass on the side of the door exploded inward and they all dove to the ground. They momentarily thought they were being shot at, while in reality, the car tire had thrown a rock at the window with such force that it had shattered the glass. For whatever reason, the glass was not safety glass and shards exploded across the room.
The diversion was a freak of nature, but it bought them about thirty seconds of time. Before the officers at the station recovered from the shock, the group of outlaws were down the road. Shortly thereafter, they heard sirens.
Neither Dom nor Jenny were prepared for Butch’s driving, though, and by the time the cops were rolling out units to look for them, they were beyond being caught. Still, they were antsy and scared.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“So, where’s my money?” Butch asked.
They were parked in the desert between two tall scrub bushes. After they had pulled away from the police station, Butch had floored it, at times going over a hundred miles an hour. Dom and Jenny were amazed at the skill with which Butch maneuvered the car around turns at high rates of speed. The police never got close enough to figure out which way they were going, easily giving them a chance to head out to the open desert and take a side road leading into nothingness. It wasn’t a place they could stay forever, but it would work until the heat was off.
“How much money did you promise him, Dom?”
“Five grand,” he answered.
Jenny took five thousand dollars out and gave it to Butch. “I really appreciate your help in breaking Dom out,” she said.
“It was actually fun,” he replied. “I enjoy getting the best of the cops. They’ve caused me nothing but misery.”
Dom finally spoke up. “I really do owe you big time, Butch. Where do you want me to drop you?”
Butch was silent. Finally he answered. “I’m just curious as to what your plans are with this car and all? They are probably out looking for it.”
“My head hasn’t cleared enough yet to have thought of that, but you’re right,” Dom said. “They have to be looking for us and it will be light soon.”
Jenny buried her head in her hands. They had come so far yet they had so far to go. Why hadn’t she thought of that?
“Does anybody have any ideas?” she asked.
“Well …” Butch answered. “I have a small idea.”
“Which is?” Dom asked.
“Well it’s risky, but it should be child’s play compared to what we just did. Do you want to hear it?”
“Sure,” Jenny answered for them both.
“Do you see that dark shiny spot about a quarter of a mile that way?” he asked.
“What is that?” Jenny asked, peering through the darkness.
“I think it’s someone’s motorhome,” Butch answered. “If I’m right, they’re camping out here and they may have some motorcycles or ATVs around and we could grab them. Then we could ride into town through the brush and ditch the car out here.”
Dom thought for a minute. “I guess we’re in so deep that nothing matters anymore. Let’s check it out.”
The three of them got out of the car and took the items they needed with them. They started to walk, knowing that the element of surprise had to be on their side if they were going to make this work. Dom hoped the people had some other form of transportation.
As they neared the campsite, they could make out the motorhome and the rest of the camp. There was a table set up next to the RV underneath the canopy that they had stretched out. There was a fire pit although it wasn’t burning at the present time. They also had lawn chairs set out. Dom was tempted to sink his weary body into one, but he resisted.
They made their way to within two hundred feet of the motorhome and looked for signs of movement. There were none. They could see no other vehicles, so they started working their way clockwise around the RV. That was when they spotted it.
“Look! A dune buggy!” Jenny whispered.
Dom and Butch nodded. After a brief conference, they slowly made their way to the buggy. They had to be extremely quiet to avoid waking up the sleeping people inside the motorhome.
Jenny climbed into the buggy. She put her thumb up, meaning that they didn’t need to worry about keys. It did not have a key-type ignition. All that was required to start the buggy was the push of a button. Jenny shifted it into neutral while Butch and Dom came up to the front of the buggy and pushed it back, away from the motorhome, while Jenny steered. They did not dare start it for fear of waking the owners.
After they had pushed the buggy about a hundred feet down the road, they told Jenny to stop and they maneuvered it around so it was facing the other way. Now they could push it forward instead of backwards. Still, they did not start it up as they knew the buggy would be loud and sound would carry for at least half a mile. To be on the safe side, they pushed it a mile farther.
“It’s a damn good thing this is flatland out here, or this would not be so easy,” Dom said.
“It’s a damn good thing these dune buggies are so light, or I’d be pissed,” Butch added.
When they felt it was okay to start the engine, they stopped pushing and climbed in.
“Why are you doing all of this for us?” Jenny asked as they headed back towards town.
“Well, you got me!” Butch answered. “It comes down to money. I figure that if I give you a hand again, you might bestow some more of that green stuff my way. That, and the fact is, if they catch you and I’m in the car, they catch me.”
“Good point,” Dom said. “And I appreciate your honesty on wanting more money. How does another two grand sound?”
“About a grand lighter than I was thinking,” Butch answered.
Jenny looked shocked and Dom just chuckled. “You drive a hard bargain, but I appreciate your help, so okay, but this is the last of the money,” he answered. “Now where can we drop you off?”
“Just follow this road into town and I’ll show you where to go,” Butch said.
He directed Dom to a Circle K convenience store and told him to pull up to the side of the building. Dom did so and Butch asked him to wait there for a minute. As they waited, Dom asked for their gun back and Butch handed it to them.
In exchange, Dom handed him the gun he had taken from the cop at the police station. A couple of minutes later, a blue midsized car pulled up, and the driver got out and went inside to get something. She left the car running.
“I guess it’s time to say goodbye,” Butch said, and with that, he got out of the buggy and waved for Dom to leave. Dom pulled out of the parking lot and as they were pulling onto the street, Jenny saw Butch hop into the blue car and start backing out.
“He’s stealing that car!” Jenny said, amazed that he was so bold.
“I kind of had a feeling that he would, especially when he made us wait until a running car was there before he left.”
“I suppose we can’t talk since we just stole this buggy,” she said.
“I guess not,” Dom said, laughing.
“So how are you anyway, you hunka hunka man, you?”
“Much better, now that I’m back with you, thank you very much,” he answered.
“Not to change the subject, but I can’t believe Nina is dead,” Jenny exclaimed, sorrow in her eyes. He had told her earlier while they were in the desert.
“I can’t either, Jenny. It’s hard for me to take. I also can’t believe we’re driving around the town in which we just broke out of jail and we’re riding in a stolen dune buggy that sticks out like a sore thumb.”
“I was just going to mention that,” she said. “We need to shag ass out of town again and we need a fresh set of wheels.”
“You know,” he said, “you just gave me an idea on the wheels.”
“That’s great, because I just thought of a place we can go to hide out for a while until things settle down a little bit and we figure out what we are going to do next.”
They shared their ideas with one another. Agreeing that both ideas were good ones, they headed out to implement their plans. The sun was peeking over the horizon as they drove away. It had been a long night. It most certainly was going to be a long day.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Kent Perry had never been so pissed in all of his life. He had received a phone call at about 4:45 in the morning regarding Dom’s escape. After he threw the phone across the room, he spent the next five minutes shouting out every profane word he could think of, accenting every word with a kick to the bed or a fist to the wall. When he had finished, he had punched two holes in the sheet rock and had torn up a feather pillow, leaving his bedroom covered in white fluff.
When he had calmed down a little bit, Kent sat on the couch and buried his head in his hands. He was out of control and he knew it. He could not figure out exactly why his temper had gotten so bad in the past few days. He had never in his life been this mad before and had never taken out his frustrations on inanimate objects. He had only gotten this angry since the Dom situation.
Kent Perry was worried. Not just about his temper and what was happening inside his head, but about what Dominick Maxwell would be up to next, what horrors would happen from here, and who would get sucked in along the way.
And he was tired. He had barely gotten two hours of sleep and he didn’t get much the night before. He could tell that he wouldn’t be getting any today either. It didn’t end there. Kent was also mentally tired. With all of the things going on in this case, and all the difficulty that Dom was giving them, he was just mentally exhausted as well.
Kent pulled himself off of the couch and jumped in the shower. He had to do something to jolt himself awake and besides, he knew he couldn’t smell too pretty from the day before. When he was awake and somewhat refreshed, Kent dug out a partial pack of cigarettes and lit one. He figured he might as well take up smoking until this thing was over.
He jumped into his car and headed down to the station where the escape had taken place. There he met with all of the officers that were on duty at the time, including the officers that had been shocked, sprayed, and/or cuffed. After about an hour and a half of interrogating everyone, Kent had it all figured out as to what had happened.
He was ninety-nine percent sure that the female involved was Jennifer Capstan. While there was a slight possibility that it wasn’t her, he was not thinking about that small chance. The only thing that put doubt in his mind was the fact that she’d come to visit some prisoner named Butch. He felt that it had to be Jennifer, because she didn’t know Butch’s last name, and they went to the extra effort to break Dom out after they cuffed the guard.
Kent motioned for one of the officers to come over to where he was.
“Yeah, Perry?” the officer asked.
“I need a few things from you,” Kent said. “I need you to get a picture of a girl named Jennifer Capstan. She lives in New River. Here is her parents’ phone number. See if they can get you one.” Kent wrote down a phone number and handed it to the other officer.
“What else?” the officer asked.
“Run the plate on the car that was used in the getaway. Find out who it belongs to and who was in possession of it this morning. Also, put out an APB on that vehicle.”
“No problem. What else?” he asked.
“Find out all of the information on this Butch guy. Find out where he lives, who he hangs with, who his woman is, if he has one, and anything else you can dig up,” Kent asked.
“Gotcha,” the officer said as he walked away.
Kent walked around and surveyed the damage while he was thinking about what to do next. He couldn’t do much until he knew where to go or what to look for.
Around 8:30 in the morning, a couple in their early fifties walked through the door of the station. Kent did his best to avoid them, but they came up to him anyway.
“Excuse me, sir. Can you help us?”
Kent had a hard time hiding his annoyance. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to get help from someone else. I’m working on something.”
“Well who would I talk to about my vehicle being stolen?” the man asked.
Kent wished the guy would shut up. “Go to the counter over there,” he pointed. “Someone will be with you shortly.”
“Thanks,” the guy said. His wife stood beside him, not saying a word. “I can’t believe someone actually stole my buggy. I never thought it would happen to me,” the man said to no one in particular.
Kent rolled his eyes and sighed. “Would you shut the hell up?” he muttered under his breath.
“I was actually out camping at the time,” the man said, “and there was no one around. I’m really shocked that it happened.”
Kent shot a look at the man, hoping to silence him. The guy didn’t take the hint.
“The weirdest thing about it though is that it looks like they left their vehicle behind when they stole ours,” he rambled on.
Kent was about to tell the man to sit down and shut up when the last words sank in. “What?” he asked.
“I said they left their car behind,” he repeated.
Kent woke up instantly. “What kind of vehicle was it?” Kent asked, his curiosity piqued.
“A dune buggy,” the man answered.
“They left you a dune buggy?” Kent asked incredulously.
“Oh no!” the man answered. “They stole our dune buggy. They left behind a light brown Cadillac. I’m not positive if the same people that left it stole our buggy, but it’s less than half a mile from our campsite and there are no other people around.”
“Is it an older Cadillac?” Kent asked.
“Looked like an eighties model.”
“Take me there,” Kent demanded.
“Shouldn’t we file a report first?” the man asked.
“There will be time for that later. Right now, we need to go look at that vehicle. It was involved in a crime, if it’s the same vehicle we are looking for, and if so, then the same criminals stole your dune buggy. What color was it and do you know the plate number?”
The man scratched his head with a puzzled look on his face. “So you might know who took my dune buggy?” he asked.
“Yes, and we might even be able to catch them if we hurry, so wh
at color is it?” Kent asked.
The man shook his head for a second and then, snapping back to reality, he responded. “It’s green and has a roll bar. It’s a typical dune buggy with the fiberglass body, no doors and no top.”
The man recited the license number to Kent, and Kent went behind the counter and talked to the dispatcher. Shortly after, Kent came back and the couple led him to their RV and they all climbed inside. As they drove, Kent pumped the man for all of the information that he could.
“Are they out looking for my car?” the man asked.
“As a matter of fact, I had my dispatcher put out a call to every available unit,” Kent responded. “We have a lot of people looking for that buggy of yours.”
“Good,” the man answered. “I don’t use it except for in the desert, so I don’t have it insured. I hope you find the person that stole it.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that part about the insurance,” Kent said, cracking an ever so slight smile.
He watched as he was driven out to the site of the abandoned car. He looked in the side mirror and saw a tan Jeep following them. He had asked Dispatch to have a four-wheel-drive vehicle follow him out there so he would have a way back. They did not disappoint him.
As they drove, he filled out a stolen vehicle report and handed the man’s wife a card with information on where to call to check on their progress. It also had the case number written on it. She still did not say anything.
As they pulled up to where the car was, Kent read the plate and compared it to the notes he had made about the prison break. It was the car. He got out and started searching the car. He did not find the keys to open the trunk, but he found clothes and other items in the back seat. In the front, all he found was some trash.
“This is the vehicle we’re looking for,” he told the other officer, who had just pulled up in the Jeep. “Call a tow truck and let’s impound it. Also, do you have anything to pop the trunk with?”
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