The Summer Home

6. Grand Theft Auto

     "Why that little piece of shit!" Ray cursed, as Peter could hear the sound of his car turning around. "Please tell me that van has all the fixings."

     "You know it does," Peter answered.

     "Then this is going to be the shortest car theft in the history of this town," Ray said as he asked Peter to text all the information on the vehicle and he would call it in himself. "I'll call ya back when I have him."

     Peter hung up the phone and looked back at Sonya.

     "Everything will be fine." He honest said with a warm smile.

     "How do you know that?" Sonya said, visibly upset.

     "When I got this minivan, I didn't hold back on any of the extras." Peter explained, "That van has a GPS tracker and an override that can be remotely activated. When Ray gets close enough to the car, he will call the company and ask for them to do an emergency remote shutdown. The car will stall and act like its out of gas and Nathan will have to pull over. Ray will jump in and that's it; game over."

     "I didn't know you could do that with cars these days." Sonya said, as she started to calm down a bit.

     "Technology has improved greatly," Peter said as he came over and gave her a hug. "Despite what he's done, I feel sorry for my son right now. When Ray gets his hands on him, that kid is in serious trouble."

* * * * *

     Nathan punched the dashboard in frustration. He was barely a few miles out of town and the car was not responding to his commands. The engine just seemed to die without and notice or alarms to give him any indication that something was wrong. Before he could do anything else, the answer to his questions came running up on him like a bat out of hell. Ray's truck, with lights on and siren blaring came over the hill and screeched to a halt in front of the minivan and its thief. Nathan watched in fear as the big Sheriff got out of his truck, took off his sunglasses and gave him the coldest stare he had ever seen in his entire life. Ray had just finished a night shift and wasn't in the mood to negotiate.

     "You listen here, boy!" Ray roared at him, slamming his own door as he almost growled every word, "Get your punk ass out of the car, or I'll drag you out through the damn window myself!"

     Daniel was about to say something, but Ray never gave him the chance.

     "NOW!" Ray called out at the top of his lungs.

     Nathan didn't need to be asked twice as he stepped out of the van and slowly took a few paces towards the big man.

     "I'm sorry," Nathan called out.

     "Oh, you will be, I guaran-damn-tee it." Ray said as he walked over and grabbed the kid back the back of the head. He slammed Nathan's chest into the front hood of the van and immediately took out his handcuffs. "Nathan Anderlini... you are under arrest for grand theft auto, reckless endangerment, driving without a license, and pissing me off before breakfast!"

     He cuffed the punk and treated him no differently than he would any other perp who had just stolen a car. He tossed Nathan into the back of his car and called in the stolen van to the station. Ray slammed the door with authority, and practically growled as he walked up to the front and pulled out the radio from his jacket. He called someone to come out and get Peter's van and have it towed. They both waited there for the two truck to arrive. Ray walked over and took the driver aside and talked to him far enough away so that Nathan couldn't hear them.

     "What happened here?" the tow driver asked.

     "Grand theft auto ended by remove shutdown," Ray answered.