The Road

Chapter 15

The police were running wanted ads on the radio and on the television for H.D.; he was wanted for rape, kidnapping, and for having a weapon. The police considered him armed and dangerous. It didn't take too long for H.D. to know that he was wanted for questioning; so he kept low for a couple of weeks and tried not to be noticed by his neighbors or enemies. It had been a three weeks now and the police still had not captured hi. The police had not given up on the case; it was just H.D. had more places to hide than a rabbit had holes in the ground. H.D. decided to make a run for it within the next week because the police was getting too close on his heals. He figured that he would have to leave town just to avoid a run-in with the police.

No sooner than he packed to run; Orlando got a tip from Dottie where he was hiding out. Orlando strapped on some running shoes, packed his bag with some knuckle brass rings, several knives and a metal bat. He told Dottie that he was going to settle this once and for all with H.D. for harming Bethany. Orlando never did see Bethany after he took her to the hospital; they only allowed family members as guests to see her. This was more personal for Orlando; he still felt that he could have helped her out that night of the accident.

"What the hell... who is that banging on my door?"

The banging continued. Out of breath and dazed Dottie was begging for help.

"Dottie, what is wrong with you?" said Brunson in a startled voice.

"Brunson, you have got to help Orlando. He went to go find H.D. by himself and I think he may be in for some trouble."

"What? When did this happen?" sounding concerned.

"About 15 minutes ago. Brunson, I found out where H.D. was hiding and I told Orlando. I had no idea that he was going to get all crazy about this."

"It's all right Dottie. I will make some phone calls and see what we can do to help him out. Meanwhile, you stay here and catch your breath because you are breathing very hard."

Within minutes Brunson was out the door and heading towards Winston home. They were just as anxious as Orlando but they never thought he would take matters into his own hands.

"It has almost been a month since we found Bethany and this is the first lead anyone has really had on H.D. whereabouts" said Winston.

"I have contacted the others already and they are going to meet us down there; so we need to get going Winston" said Brunson.

"Okay, that's great. That young man is going to need some help with that H.D. guy; especially if he is as bad as others made him out to be."

"I agree with you on that Winston" said Brunson.

Orlando was less than 10 minutes away from the house where H.D. was hiding out. Since he had seen pictures of him on the television; he was sure to pick him out of a crowd. Mrs. Beauvais overheard Brunson and Winston talking downstairs and after they had gone out the door, she called the police. Mrs. Beauvais could not hear the exact location but she knew it was by some projects homes near an expressway. It was not a whole lot of information but the police radioed the message in to all available cars that could check out any homes near an expressway.

By the time Lorenzo and the others had gotten to the projects, the fight was already on. From the looks of things Orlando was holding his own, however H.D. had threw dirt in his face and kicked him in the side. H.D. was not as small framed as the photos had shown on television. Lorenzo and the rest of the fellas jumped out of the vehicle and ran towards the fight. By this time Orlando was on top of H.D. pounding him in the head with a rock. Some of H.D. boys jumped in and pulled Orlando off of H.D. and began to punch and hit him. One of the blows was a direct hit. Orlando went down like falling sand in an hourglass. H.D. began to boast about how his boys helped him out and that's when Lorenzo came up from behind and hit him. It was a brawl and everyone was fighting.