Disclaimer: The driving maneuvers in the following chapter were done by professional drivers on a closed course...even if it does say otherwise. Please do not try this a home. Seriously. You can kill a lot of people, and I\'d be in jail for a long time \'cause I\'ll be blamed for it. And I don\'t like jail. At all.
Ikimashou!
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CHAPTER 4 – The Boulevard of Death
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A livery cab rolled up to the front door of Annette\'s apartment building, beeping its horn twice to signal its arrival. The reporter stepped out first, looking around to notice if anyone was watching.
Naya rolled her eyes. “Really, Annette...if anyone\'s spying on us, they won\'t be holding a sign reading \'hey, we\'re watching you!\'. Just get in the car already.”
The blond stuck her tongue out at her companion as they both entered the back seat of the cab.
- - - - -
Cortez\' face was a mixture of emotions. Part of it was curiousity, as a computer screen he was watching displayed the recent article about the Brooklyn Bridge Park scandal. Part of it was amusement, as that report was partially covered by the picture of a woman with short curly blond hair and a wide-eyed expression. “I was expecting some grizzly-faced, trenchcoat-wearing investigative reporter...this girl looks like she belong in a sorority dorm.” Yet, the information that came with the photo matched the byline of the article: Annette Stanhope.
“Unit JH reporting.”
Cortez picked up his headset. “Go Unit JH.”
“Yellow tag is in a livery cab heading towards Long Island City, probably to the newspaper. She is accompanied by another person, though it\'s tough to get a visual...could be the target. Sending surveillance photos. Awaiting further orders, sir.”
Cortez confirmed the blond as Annette, but the other person was wearing a large jacket with her head facing downward, her hair covered by a black cloth hat. “I\'d bet that\'s the target. We won\'t have another opportunity to take her...we\'ll have to risk it. Bring them both in.”
“Will do. Unit JH, out!”
Cortez closed the windows on his computer, then turned the unit off. “That\'s one story that\'ll never see the light of day.”
- - - - -
Annette gave the driver the address of the Courier, and soon the cream-colored sedan was on it\'s way down Queens Boulevard.
“You know, they call this the \'Boulevard of Death\',” Annette said lazily.
Naya took a look out of her window, noting the extreme width and insane number of lanes of the throughway. “I\'d spend all my lives just trying to get across this thing! And the drivers don\'t make it any easier...”
“Hey!” the cabbie shot back with a laugh, “I resent that remark! I\'m a safe driver!”
“Definitely a safe driver, definitely!” Annette giggled at the movie reference, which apparently went right over Naya\'s head. The reporter thought about explaining it, but was suddenly interrupted by a slight bump.
“Did we hit something?” she asked.
“No,” the driver said with more than a little fear. “Something hit us!”
Sure enough, a black SUV was practically kissing the cab\'s back fender...not safe to do at any speed.
“I don\'t think it just wants to pass us,” Annette said nervously.
Naya tapped the driver\'s shoulder. “Could you outrun it?”
“I\'m a safe driver!” the cabbie reiterated. “I don\'t want to lose my license!”
Another bump—this one a lot more forceful than the first—and Naya\'s patience was starting to wear thin. “You want to lose your life?”
“No!” The driver took a look behind him at the menacing minivan, then took a deep breath. “Here we go!” Suddenly the cab swerved into the express lane, narrowly missing a smaller car. “I hope you know I charge extra for this!”
“Are you serious!?!” Annette would\'ve smacked the driver, if her hands weren\'t busy fumbling for the seatbelt.
Naya kept her eyes on their pursuers. “Fine...as long as you get us away from them! She\'ll pay you whatever you want!”
Annette had just gotten the belt to click in place when Naya\'s remark startled her. “Wait...what??”
- - - - -
The driver of the SUV tried his best to keep up with the cab, which was practically swimming through traffic like a fish in a rock-filled stream.
“Stay with \'em, Frank!” A man in the front passenger seat reached down and pulled out a small handgun. “We\'ll take \'em at the next intersection.”
- - - - -
Annette was pounding on the back of the driver\'s seat with balled fists. “Can\'t this thing go any faster? They\'re gaining on us!”
“It\'s just a cab, lady, not a race car!”
“I don\'t care...just move it!!”
Naya saw an arm stick out of the passenger side of the SUV. “You might want to turn as soon as possible....he\'s got a gun!”
Annette\'s scream nearly drowned out the squeal the tires made as the cabbie suddenly made a U-turn, skidding across two lanes and into the opposite side of the street.
Naya was impressed. “Nice move! How\'d you learn to do that?”
“Playstation!” the man beamed.
- - - - -
The man with the gun ducked his head back into the chasing vehicle. “Follow them!”
The driver of the SUV handled the U-turn more skillfully than the cab driver, using a city bus as a buffer to keep him from skidding too far off course.
“Damn it...we\'re gonna get local LEO\'s if this keeps up. Hurry up, Frank!”
“You yelling won\'t make this thing go any faster, Joe!”
- - - - -
True to Frank\'s prediction, a siren rang out behind the two cars as they weaved through the eastbound traffic.
“Yay! The cavalry\'s here!” Annette said with a wide smile.
“Don\'t be so sure about that...they could be after us. Remember, we\'re speeding too!”
The reporter looked at her companion with a sour expression. “Killjoy.”
“Hey...just stating a fact.”
“Would you ladies mind if I took the side streets?”
Both passengers looked at the cab driver. “Why?” Naya asked, “you got a plan?”
“Better than that!” He gauged his distance from the next corner. “I hope your seatbelts are on tight.” He waited until the SUV was directly behind him, then he slammed on the brakes and made a hard right, drifting off of the boulevard and leaving the SUV to shoot past him. He then regained control of the car and took off down a narrow street.
Annette was wondering whether or not her insurance was up to date, while Naya smiled gleefully. “I bet your kids love playing against you!”
The driver\'s laughter filled the cab. “Who do you think taught me how to drive?” The man made two more rights and then a left, heading back on the westbound side of Queens Boulevard.
The police car that had been chasing them had just made it back to the Boulevard when it was clipped by the black SUV, who tried to beat the cabbie at his own game.
The sideswipe gave the cabbie enough time to find the onramp to the BQE. “It\'s gonna get a bit tricky from here, ladies. But don\'t worry, I got ya covered!”
Naya turned to Annette, “You wouldn\'t happen to have anything larger than a twenty in your wallet, do you?”
“Will you stop spending my money!!”
“Um, ladies...we have more company!”
The two women followed the cabbies pointing thumb behind them, to see two black SUVs and a couple cop cars in hot pursuit.
“Oh, come on!” Annette wailed. “It\'s not like we robbed a bank or killed someone...right?”
Naya took offense to the blond\'s questioning look. “What? What??” When Annette didn\'t relent, Naya did. “Okay, so I beat up a guard or two and memorized some formulas or whatever...”
That bit of info perked up the cabbie\'s ears. “Hey, were you on \'America\'s Most Wanted\' or something?”
“Shut up and drive!” the two women shouted in unison.
- - - - -
“Owl Unit reporting.”
Cortez had a feeling he was going to need some strong painkillers for the migraine he was about to receive. Helicopter footage of the chase had begun playing on the local news networks, and he was getting too good a view. “Go Owl Unit...please tell me something I don\'t already know!”
A long pause followed the sergeant\'s comment. Finally the woman known as Constanza spoke up. “Well, sir, we have the newspaper building covered. There\'s no way they\'ll get there even if they manage to elude the Raptor Units.”
Yeah, that migraine was preparing to rent Cortez\' head with an option to buy. “Has anyone managed to tell the police anything?”
“Well...no, sir. We thought it best not to compromise the mission.”
“They have to be dealt with. Tell the two vehicles in pursuit now to sheild the cops on the BQE...play the \'official business\' card with them. I\'ll alert Unit AS to intercept the target.”
“Will do, sir. Owl Unit, out!”
Cortez reached for the temples of his head. These women were much more trouble than they were worth.
- - - - -
Traffic had started to pile up on the northbound BQE, the rubberneckers watching the pile up of cars that had suddenly clogged the southbound side just before the 36th Street exit.
The sounds of screeching tires and crunching metal were fading in the distance from the cab. “What the hell just happened?” the cabbie yelled. “Those two SUVs just turned and crashed into the cops!”
The two female passengers looked behind them and saw the pile-up quickly become a distant memory as the cab took the exit and returned to the local streets. “What a lucky break!” Annette said, heaving a huge sigh of relief.
Naya wasn\'t so sure. “I don\'t think that was sheer luck. The police were getting too involved...I think they deliberately stopped them to take them out of the picture.”
“Why would they...” Annette suddenly remembered what happened with the Chimera when the police got involved. “Ah...they don\'t want to be found!”
“Bingo! We can use this to our advantage, like last time.” Naya looked around as the car moved through the streets, noticing an overpass a few blocks away. “How much further until we get to the Courier building?”
“It\'s right after that overpass. Why?” Annette watched as Naya undid her seat belt and leaned over to whisper to the driver.
“Yes, ma\'am!” the man replied to whatever it was the other woman told him. Soon the car pulled up under the overpass.
When the car stopped, Naya quickly got out and ran around to Annette\'s side. “Pay the man, and let\'s get out of here! Give him fifty—we\'ll give him the rest later!”
“What!?!?!” Naya\'s urging stare pushed Annette along, albeit begrudingly. She gave the man his fare, and left the cab. The minute she was out, he tore away from the curb like a bat out of hell. As he blew through the intersection, another black SUV turned a corner and immediately followed him.
The reporter\'s jaw hung for a moment. “How did you know?”
“It was odd that they just let us go like that,” Naya answered. “I had a feeling they had a back-up plan, and I was right.”
“I\'m guessing they knew where we\'re going next, huh?”
“I\'m afraid so, which means they\'re watching the building. If there\'s a way we can get in without being seen...”
Annette\'s eyes lit up. “There is!” She pulled out a cell phone and punched a couple of buttons. “Mike? It\'s me...can you give a couple of ladies in distress a helpnig hand? Really? That\'ll be great! Oh, and bring the truck and the gear...we\'re gonna need it. Thanks, Mike, you\'re a sweetheart! See ya!” She snapped the phone shut and leaned up against the brick wall, smiling broadly.
Naya raised her left eyebrow. The right one might have been raised as well, but it was hidden by her thick bang. “Who\'s Mike?”
“Mike,” Annette answered with a grin, “is my knight in rusty armor!”
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End of Chapter 4
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