Broken Hero

Chapter 9

Kevin had worked enough roadblocks on the days leading up to the Fourth of July to interdict anybody trying to smuggle fireworks in from New Hampshire to know that they'd be looking for him on the major roads and numbered highways. He figured his best bet for getting out of the state would be to take North Broadway, which would straight-shoot him right across the New Hampshire state line into "Tax-Free" Salem, as every single commercial for businesses there advertised. From there he could figure out his next move: perhaps head west to Vermont and upstate New York, then either head south to Florida like he'd originally intended and then possibly to one of the Caribbean islands, or maybe further west to Seattle or San Francisco. He was definitely through with the suburban/rural scene he'd experienced with the department, wanted fugitive status or no.

He drove normally, just a few notches above the speed limit, hypervigilant paranoia setting in as he made his way to North Broadway. No blue lights had appeared yet, but the five miles or so between him and the state line might as well have been five parsecs what with all the dread he was feeling.

The residential and commercial area blocks ticked past as he drove through Haverhill. Still, nobody had tried to pull him over. After a while, the road passed under Interstate 495, and his paranoia levels spiked because overpasses like this provided great cover for police cruisers to lie in wait for transgressors. But he had no other options, as 495 formed a massive arc corralling Essex, Middlesex and Norfolk Counties away from anything resembling a state line. Air travel was out of the question at this point, as he'd never get more than $9,999.99 of the money aboard a commercial airliner without raising suspicions, even if nobody was looking for him.

He applied the brakes just enough to bring his speed back down below the speed limit just in case his suspicions were correct before driving under the overpass. Kevin glanced to his right after exiting it and saw with relief that there was no police car hiding there. He pushed back down on the accelerator to make up for the few seconds he lost during that small stretch, relaxing just a little at the thought that he was almost out of the jurisdiction.

There was a sudden explosion of blue light and a blare of a siren behind him, shocking him. He looked in his rearview to see a Haverhill Police cruiser behind him. It might have been lurking somewhere else, but he didn't have time to consider where exactly it could have been hiding because of that BOLO on him. Kevin pushed down farther on the accelerator, catapulting him past 45 MPH.

The cruiser also sped up, sideslipping over as it did as its driver announced "Pull over!" on its external megaphone. Kevin suspected that it might try to tactically ram him, so he slid over as well to make sure it couldn't. It was tricky keeping his attention adequately split between denying his pursuer and the road ahead, especially since that cruiser might be radioing for backup from Haverhill PD or even notifying the New Hampshire authorities to be waiting for him at the state line with a roadblock. There wasn't anything he could do about the latter, especially with the current threat of that cruiser on his tail.

Oncoming traffic kept them both from making and blocking another tactical ramming attempt. Kevin used the opportunity to boost his speed some more, even though he risked losing control because of the performance disadvantage his Honda Accord had versus anything purchased by a police department. But the state line was getting closer, and unless the New Hampshire cops were also hiding or at least keeping their own lights off until the last possible moment, it looked at this point like he was going to get away somewhat cleanly.

The cruiser sideslipped and accelerated again, adding in another megaphoned order to pull over. Kevin caught it happening peripherally in his rearview and swerved in the same direction. His rear bumper clipped the cruiser's front quarterpanel, resulting in a reverse tactical ramming maneuver that knocked the cruiser into the same kind of spinout Kevin suspected the cruiser wanted to knock him into. He smiled and let out a half-chuckle at the sight of it in his rearview, but then saw it turn around and come back his way.