Road Rules Online

A few miles north of Statesville, North Carolina, traffic had started to back up.  Mike couldn’t see anything that would cause it until he noticed a black column of smoke rising beyond the trees.

Half an hour later, he could make out the flashing lights of fire trucks and police cars as traffic was shunted into one lane.

“Somebody’s having a bad afternoon,” said Cinnamon.

“You mean besides us?” said Stan.

As Mike made it into the leftmost lane, traffic picked up a little.  Soon he could see what had drawn the authorities.

The remains of what looked like a Ford sat smoking in the right shoulder.

“Jesus Christ,” said Mike.  “What happened?”

“Guess someone’s having a worse day than us,” said Stan.

Beyond the burning car, the highway opened once more to three lanes.  Mike hit the gas and had the Lexus back up to eighty soon after.

“Hey, Bob,” said Estevez, “can you come in for a second?”

Jordan returned to Estevez’s office.

“Sit down,” said Estevez.  “I just got off the phone with the mayor.  It’s highly unusual, but I convinced the mayor we needed you, and you had a personal stake in us cracking this case.”

“Do what?” said Jordan.

“As of this moment,” said Estevez, “you are hereby reinstated with the rank of detective.  I’ll swear you in once my boss gets here, but you’re one of us, at least for the duration of this case.”

Jordan started to get up and sat back down again.  “I don’t know what to say.”

“How about ‘thank you?’”

“I want my lawyer!  I want him now!  I know my rights!”

Mason didn’t even know why he bothered anymore.  By now, he’d come to realize these were not real cops.  Real cops would have called a tow truck and maybe backup.  Instead, the “officers” went back to their car and extracted a floor jack and a four-way lug wrench.

He couldn’t understand what they were saying.  They spoke Spanish the entire time.  The big one kept looking at him and making hushed comments.   His partner would laugh uproariously.

After about half an hour, they had the wheel back on the Cadillac and the car down.  The short one got in the car as the big one went back to the Crown Vic’s trunk.  The big one heaved the floor jack and the lug wrench into the trunk, then leaned in to fiddle with something.

“What’s going on here?” said Mason.  “Why are you arresting me?”  And why aren’t you looking for the Chest? He decided not to ask that last question.

The short one turned to him, his expression grim.  “You are being punished for your sins, Seňor.”

The big one crammed himself into the front seat and nodded to the short one.

The Cadillac still wobbled as they drove off.  Neither “cop” seemed concerned.  Mason turned around and noticed the Crown Vic no longer had its flashers on the roof.

As the Caddie settled into traffic, the back end of the Crown Vic exploded.

When Estevez returned to his office, he found Jordan waiting for him.

“It’s been twenty-four hours,” he said.  “Over twenty-four hours.  Sharon’s neighbor said he saw her leave with an overnight bag.”

“Then report her missing,” said Estevez.  “We can bring in more manpower from Homicide to look for her.”

Estevez studied his former partner closely.  He hadn’t said much about his niece, but his face had lines that weren’t there the day before.  “You think she went after that Cadillac.”

Jordan said nothing.

“And you think maybe she knows the Chest is somehow tied into this.”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” said Jordan.  “She’s always had this need to prove herself.”

“Gimme a minute.   Step outside.  I need to make a call.”

“To whom?”

“You’ll find out.  Go wait in the squad room.  Keep Wendt out of the donuts, will you?  Guy makes us cops look bad.”

Jordan closed the door behind him.

Estevez dialed a number he seldom used.  When a woman answered on the other end, he said, “Hello, Your Honor.  It’s Lieutenant Estevez.  Sorry to disturb you on a Saturday afternoon.  I have a little request that requires the mayor’s authority.  Do you have a few minutes?”

Chapter 14

Koradovich poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down at his kitchen table, the phone still cradled to his ear.  “No, no.  I think this will blow over.”

Someone pounded on his front door.  The voice on the other end asked what that sound was.

“I have a visitor,” said Koradovich.  “I seem to have had a lot of them today.”

The pounding came again, louder this time.

“Yes,” said Koradovich.  “They are persistent, whoever they are.  So far, I’ve been visited by the police and the feds.  Maybe this time, it’s the Citizens Concerned for Virtue here to chastise me for owning interest in two strip clubs.”

More pounding came accompanied by, “Open the door.  This is the police.”

“I was wrong,” said Koradovich.  “It’s the police again.  Guess those citizens could care less about my virtue.”

A different sound came from the front door, the sound of metal on wood and the door cracking apart.  The thunder of several footsteps followed as men shouted to each other.  All through the house, from upstairs and in the basement, the men and one woman shouted “Clear!” to each other.  Two men in riot gear sporting automatic rifles burst into the kitchen.  Behind them stood Detective Simmons, his pistol out, but not really aimed at anything or anyone.

“Freeze!” the lead riot cop shouted.

Koradovich smiled at them.  “I have to go, Julian.  There’s a black man with a lot of big guns and a very tiny dick here to take me downtown.”  He hung up.  “Detective Simmons, how nice to see you again.  You brought an entire SWAT team for me?”

“Lieutenant Estevez didn’t want to take any chances,” said Simmons.

“Why, Detective, these men might have shot me if they misinterpreted anything I did.”

“That chance he was willing to take.”  He took out his handcuffs.  “Andre Koradovich, you are under arrest for conspiracy to commit grand theft, obstruction of justice, lying to federal authorities, and income tax evasion.”  He winked at Koradovich.  “Those last two, by the way, are courtesy of the FBI.  They’ve got two cars parked outside.”

Koradovich started dialing his phone again.  “We go nowhere until I call my lawyer.”

“Take your time.  You’ll have plenty of it from here out.”