Mountain Justice

by Phillip W Price

  I parked, grabbed my laptop, and made my way into the room. I found the audits piled up on the worktable in the room where I had left them. Sure enough, as I looked over the accounts for the Water and Sewage Authority, there were no indications of collecting any moneys from customers. I ran the amounts and started to see what was going on. Money was spent by the county on supplies and equipment. Then those supplies were sold or returned to the vendor. The money for the sales was going into the accounts controlled by the Judge and his cohorts. After all this work, there was enough information to justify a forensic audit.

  My pulse was racing, and I noticed my breathing was shallow. I was more excited than I realized to know this case was coming to an end. I checked the LED display on the motel-room clock. It read 6:45 p.m. I made a mental note to be sure to call the Radio Room, but first I wanted to get an email report going. I hadn’t bothered to take off my jacket or put my gun on the bed. All I could think about was putting this whole mess into writing so I could get some of the GBI financial whizzes involved. I had set up the computer and got it online.

  I was excited to finally feel like I had gotten on the right track. I felt like there was enough to justify a full-blown criminal conspiracy case. It took several seconds to get logged in and start my email to Will Carver. I had only been working on my report to the bosses for a few seconds when I heard a knock at my door.

  CHAPTER 12

  WHEN YOU’RE

  WORRIED OR IN DOUBT, RUN

  IN CIRCLES, SCREAM, AND SHOUT

  When I saw Rose knocking on the door of my room through the peephole, I was pleasantly surprised. I was excited by the information I had developed and thought it would be fun to share some of it with her.

  I wasn’t expecting her, and there was a distant alarm bell ringing in the back of my head. I instinctively put my right hand on my gun while I threw the motel room door open with my left. I should have paid attention to the way she seemed to be staring at the ground and backed away from the door. But I threw caution to the wind, a little bit.

  Before I could react, Rose’s soon-to-be ex, Deputy Mitchell, shouldered through the door and into my room. He was followed closely by his partner. Neither one was displaying a weapon. Without giving it much thought, I grabbed the front of the soon-to-be ex’s uniform shirt and swung him in an arc. He was able to stay on his feet but just barely. At the last minute, I swept his left foot out from under him and let go of his shirt. He tumbled backward into his partner and they ended up on the floor like a pair of turtles on their backs.

  Tilting the worktable and a chair to slow them down even more, I ran outside and slammed the door. Rose was standing by the door to my room, crying. She was mumbling how sorry she was.

  “They made me get you to the door. That son of a bitch threatened my mom and dad!”

  “Get to the lobby,” I shouted. “You need to get away from them, and they’ll follow me, not you.” I fought the urge to grab her hand and bring her with me. I watched her run toward the lobby.

  By now, the rain was coming down hard, and the sun was setting. I hesitated for a second before I ran to my truck, but then the Deputies started crashing around in my room. I heard the two goons coming out as I got into the truck and got the engine going. They were between me and the motel exit and running as fast as they could toward me. I threw the Expedition into reverse and executed one of the best J-turns I had done since the GBI Academy.

  In a few seconds, I could hear Dumb and Dumber coming after me in their patrol car. They weren’t hiding the fact, either. The patrol car was running lights and sirens and coming on hard. I didn’t have anything to lose, so I hit my lights and siren. I came out of the entrance to the motel and hit the parkway going north. I knew there was nothing to be gained by heading south into Gilmer County.

  Traffic was worse than I would have thought. Almost immediately, I had to run onto the median to avoid a granny going to the drug store. The big truck went from the pavement to the median strip with grass and discarded bottles. I was trying to get on the radio to call GSP Blue Ridge for help, but the bounce onto the median caused me to drop the radio microphone on the floorboard.

  I had gotten back on the pavement, but the Expedition just wouldn’t outrun the Crown Vic on a level roadway with no head start. I saw them trying to get alongside me. I guessed they were going to try to execute a PIT maneuver—forcing my car to go sideways. I jammed on the brakes and watched them shoot by me. I put on my seat belt and pulled it tight. I figured we were going to crash any minute.

  I waited for them to try to figure out how to get behind me. They were slowing down and pulling to the side. I pulled the shift lever into second gear and let my truck slow, too. I kept the RPMs up and let the transmission slow me down. When I got even with the Gilmer County car, I popped the gear lever into third gear and stood on the gas pedal.

  I shot ahead of them, still going away from Ellijay. We blew through an intersection with a traffic light, but the light was green. It was the turn that would have taken me to the State Patrol post, but I didn’t think I could make the turn running so fast.

  My lights and siren were giving me enough room to stay ahead of the patrol car, but not by much. I tried to bend down and grab the microphone cable, but I couldn’t get my hand on it. We were coming up on another intersection, where there were lots of businesses close to the road. I faded left and made it appear I planned to turn on the road toward McCaysville. When the Crown Vic slowed to maneuver behind me, I cut hard back to the right and continued north on the parkway. The bob and weave maneuver wasn’t going to work much longer.

  I figured I could get far enough ahead of them to get to the area around Lake Blue Ridge. I thought I could find a place to hide there. But the boys in brown had other ideas. I was running over a hundred miles an hour when the patrol car came up behind me and tapped my back bumper. I could feel the truck sway and fought to keep control. The rear of the Expedition sat so high and the nose of the Crown Vic was so low, even with the push bumper, that I thought they might have run under me.

  I was about five miles outside of Blue Ridge, and traffic was now so light I could just keep standing on the gas. I couldn’t manage to get my radio microphone around where I could grab it, but I kept trying to kick it with my left foot. The marked car was just too close behind me to give me a chance to grab the mic.

  The light ahead was red, and I couldn’t chance just blowing through it. The road we were coming up on was the road to Mineral Bluff, and the intersection was usually busy. I saw the Gilmer County Deputies making a move to try to ram me from the rear again. My truck was pretty solid, but at this speed, I was vulnerable. I knew if I tried to go to the right or left, their car would flip my truck over. So, the only real option was to keep straight ahead and wait till they made their move. And I only had to wait a matter of seconds. The marked Crown Vic was coming up behind me fast. When the Crown Vic was about a hundred yards behind me, I stood up on the brake pedal with everything I had. The rear of my truck rose up as I hit the brakes. I could only do that for a second, or I knew when we crashed, I would end up with a broken leg. I had slowed to eighty miles per hour when they hit me running closer to 120. I heard the crash first, then I felt the rear of my truck come off the ground, and then the truck went into a slide to the left.

  My truck and the marked patrol car entered the intersection sliding in different directions. The patrol car was already spewing steam from the ruptured radiator. My truck came to a stop about a hundred yards from where the patrol car ended up. Civilian cars were stopped all around the intersection, curious about what was going on. I couldn’t tell if my car was drivable, but I knew I wasn’t on my side. The seat belt had held me in the seat, but the impact had thrown my head against the inside mirror and my left knee had jammed into the switch for my blue lights.

  The smell of vaporized antifreeze and burned rubber were overwhelming. Blood ran down my face from where I had hit the rearview mirror. The airbag hadn’t d
eployed in my truck, which was lucky.

  I shook my head, trying to clear it, and then took a deep breath and tried to get the truck moving. I knew almost immediately that my right rear tire was gone. The truck was sluggish and didn’t want to track correctly. I tried to get my rearview mirror back into position. That’s when I saw the second police car coming over the hill headed our way. It didn’t have a roof bar light, so I guessed it was Chief Deputy Givens.

  My blue lights and siren weren’t working, but it didn’t matter at this point. My best bet was to limp this car off the road. I hit the gas and ran the truck down an embankment into the woods.

  When I finally ran into a tree, the truck ran out of steam and shuddered to a stop. The windshield shattered and the engine puffed and then stopped. I shut off the headlight switch so that I wouldn’t be backlit by my own truck.

  Pulling myself from the exhausted truck, I looked behind me to see if Givens was close. His car was making its descent down the hill toward me, and I knew I only had seconds to get away. Without thinking, I bolted away from the road and went deeper into the woods for cover. Despite the thick foliage, the rain was still able to make it through and soaked everything, including me. Even though I needed speed, I also needed to not slip and fall, so my progress was slow but calculated. The rain continued to fall, and without a flashlight, it was hard to know where I was headed.

  The second Gilmer County Sheriff’s car slid to a stop near where I went into the woods. I knew my best bet was to go to ground and wait them out. The rain was picking up force.

  I was still close enough to the road that I could hear the Deputies shouting. Some voices were muffled, but I heard enough to know that the Gilmer County Deputies were calling on Fannin County Deputies to help them with the pursuit. That seemed to be a pretty stupid thing to do, but then I heard someone say I was a police impersonator. That sent a chill up my spine. None of the Fannin County Deputies would know who I was, and credentials could be forged. I could very easily end up cuffed and taken back to Gilmer County.

  Then everything got worse. I heard one of the Gilmer County folks telling the responding Fannin County Deputies I was armed, and had shot at them. I was in a box, and there was not much I could do. If they stumbled up on me, I figured the Gilmer County folks had orders to shoot me. I tried to come up with another solution, but there really wasn’t a good one.

  I stood under a tall pine tree for a minute, trying to get my bearings. In the heavy rain, I knew I could make my way farther into the woods, but I had no idea where I could go. Small rivers were beginning to form where the rain was pouring down the hills. I was not dressed for the weather and was shivering. I had turned up the collar of my navy blazer to help with concealment. I knew I had to keep moving toward the lower ground, but was worried I would come to a bigger stream of water I couldn’t get across. Working without a light, I kept falling on the slick leaves.

  Working my way away from the Expedition, I stumbled around as best I could. I could still hear the officers shouting nearby which made me worry I was walking in a circle. The rain continued to pound me, and the conditions were unforgiving.

  I had reached forward to grab a tree for support when a pair of vice-like hands grabbed me from behind. I may have shouted, but the rain would have made it hard to tell which direction it came from.

  “You white-eyes make the sounds of an elephant in the woods,” Willie Nelson said from behind me.

  I was both shocked and relieved. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “I was on my way home when I heard Fannin County talking about some kind of incident with Gilmer County and a GBI impersonator. I knew it had to be you.”

  “Does Fannin County know I’m legit?”

  Willie shook his head. “If I can get to a phone, I’ll call the Fannin County Sheriff. I saw where the commotion was and came down here to find you. What can I do to help?”

  Willie was outfitted in full rain gear. I was envious, but I wasn’t about to ask. “Is there any way out of here?”

  If anyone would know, Willie would. He shook his head. “They’ll have the area surrounded. I can get you back to my truck, but we’ll never get out of the area.”

  “Will they believe you if you vouch for me?”

  Willie seemed to think for a minute or two. “There are a couple of Deputies I know who might be friendly. You have to remember I’m not considered a local by the very folks who tried to force my family out. If I can get in touch with the Fannin County Sheriff, I can get something done. He and I are pretty tight.”

  “How about you walk me out at gunpoint? I’m your prisoner. Maybe we can buy some time.”

  Willie wasn’t crazy about that idea. But he looked at me. I had to look like a drowned rat in the dark. I was shivering from the rain and the cooling air. “I will do all that I can. If nothing else, I can get to the GSP and try to get help.”

  I hoped that giving up would at least buy me some time. I fished out a business card and wrote the twenty-four-hour eight-hundred number for the GBI on it. I had to lean over the card to keep the ink from dissolving in the rain. I told Willie to tell the operator what was going on and ask for as much help as they could send. It was about time for my check in with the GBI Radio Room, too. I just had to stretch things out.

  Willie shouted up the hill that we were coming up. Suddenly, it seemed there were half a dozen shotguns pointed down at me. Bright lights shined down at us. Willie half pulled and half pushed me up the hill. The ground was soaked and neither of our shoes were getting much traction. The knee I had jammed into the dash was complaining and climbing up the embankment wasn’t helping.

  When we got to the top of the hill, there was a sea of blue lights. Three were Gilmer County Deputies out front, with the Fannin County Deputies taking a back seat. Willie tried to wave all the guns back, but the Gilmer County folks were having none of that. Once we were on the shoulder of the road, I was shoved over the back of a patrol car and handcuffed. I flexed my arms and kept moving around, so the Deputy didn’t get the cuffs on tight. The same Gilmer County Deputy pulled my gun from its holster and grabbed my credential case from my shirt pocket. They weren’t interested in my wallet or any of the other things a cop would normally take out of a suspect’s pockets. I looked at the Deputy and said, “I’ll be coming to get that stuff back. You better hope everything is in good shape.”

  The Gilmer County Deputy looked at me and then glanced at the Chief Deputy. He handed my gun and credential case to Givens.

  I saw a Fannin County Deputy walk up to the scene. He was in his mid-thirties. He looked fit and seemed sharp. He was pulling on rain gear as he walked up. “Deputy,” I said. “I am an actual GBI Agent. My name is Danny Byrd. Those credentials they took from me are real.”

  Willie stepped up. “He’s telling the truth. I know him to be a GBI Agent.”

  Chief Deputy Givens shook his head and said, “Put him in my back seat. Judge Pelfrey wants him back in court in Gilmer County. He was in front of the Judge, trying to claim he was a GBI man. The Judge was about to have him locked up when he hit one of my Deputies and made a run for it. We chased him all the way up here, running wide open. I plan to make sure he pays for what he did.” Then he motioned at the wrecked patrol car. “And pay for that car over there. He’s going to be a guest of the Department of Corrections for a long time.”

  I suddenly had a sinking feeling. I tried to give the Fannin County Deputy the toll-free number for the Radio Room and advised him to call and check on my identity. Willie stood by me and said, “Deputy, you need to do what he is asking. You’re about to make a big mistake.”

  Given’s eyes narrowed, and he looked at Willie. “How do we know you’re not working with him? How did you find him in the woods, anyway?”

  Before Willie could come up with an answer, Givens put his cigarette in his mouth and pushed me toward the back door of his car.

  I thought about what he had just said. I knew I might have a chance. “I d
idn’t hit that patrol car, it hit me,” I said. “And I’ll need the State Patrol to work the crash, since that’s a government-owned vehicle.”

  Givens seemed stunned. “What the hell do you mean? You slammed on the brakes and my men hit you. Plain and simple. Your fault, and I could give two shits about an accident report.”

  The Fannin County Deputy cut in. “Something about this seems fishy.” He turned to the Deputies who had crashed into me. “Are your men okay? Do they need medical attention?”

  The Chief shook his head. “No, they’re both shook up and will have some seat belt burns, but they’re fine.”

  The Fannin County Deputy continued, “We’ll get someone to run them down to Ellijay when the GSP get finished with the accident report.”

  Givens almost shouted. “We don’t need no accident report.”

  The Fannin Deputy was unfazed. “We do. This crash happened in Fannin County. You can take your prisoner before the Judge if you need to, but we’re going to do our investigation.”

  “Well, your Sheriff might have a different view after I talk to him.”

  The Fannin County Deputy didn’t blink. “I just talked to my Sheriff on the radio, and he’s on his way here now.”

  Willie stepped over by me and tried to keep me near the Fannin County patrol car. Givens knew he had to get moving while he could. He tossed his cigarette on the side of the road and stepped on it. “Thanks for the courtesy. I’ll remember it.”

  “Do that,” the other Deputy said. “I don’t know exactly what you’re up to, but I got a strong feeling this ain’t right.”

  Willie looked from me to Givens. “Anything happens to this man and there’ll be hell to pay. This ain’t goin’ away. The State of Georgia is about to drop on you like a ton of bricks.”

  Givens decided he wasn’t going to wait on anyone to act. He shoved me into the back of his car. I struggled, but he pushed me in the car and slammed the door. I was glad he didn’t have a cage in his car, or I would be folded up in the back seat. When I looked in the front seat of Givens’ patrol car, Rose was looking back at me. “Chief Givens was at the front desk when I ran in. He dragged me out and told them I was wanted on a warrant.”