"Hands up!" I yelled, barreling down the bridge, aiming my gun at the 20 year old running from us. The man continued to run away, even as I watched the red ice spill out of his pockets. I could not risk this being the serial killer that has evaded Nick and I for a year. We've already been inside the national data base 5 times this month to edit data and throw the feds off the case. We couldn't do this again.
He was one of 10 men who used the alias Asher Kam in the past decade. Couldn't risk this one getting away.
I fired. I watched as the man fell to the ground grasping his leg and screaming.
"Fuck! FUCK!" He screamed.
"You'll survive," I sighed, pinning him to the ground, and handcuffing him. I could hear Nick's footsteps as he catched up.
"He our guy?" Nick asked. I pulled up his sleeve, looking for poorly drawn tattoos anywhere.
"No...but call a bus anyway. I don't want to fill out another incident report."
Nick sighed, picking up his phone.
"Lance Anderson calling in a bus to Devin Bridge, Mile 2," Nick sighed into the phone.
"Listen, when a cop says stop...you stop," I yelled into the tackled man's ear.
"Yes...yes m'am."
"But since you're not our suspect, learn your lesson and we'll make sure you only get months for this possession," I whispered to the young kid.
"Wait! Did I agree to that? Don't remember agreeing to that," Nick asked.
I turned to Nick, knee still pressed into the back of the suspect.
"Do you have a choice?" I asked. Nick rolled his eyes and chuckled.
"I am terrible at bad cop," Nick sighed.
"Yep," I nodded.
We could hear the sirens as the ambulance flew down Devin Bridge, and met us where we stood. I helped the paramedics put the kid onto the stretcher, and watched him get wheeled away.
The ambulance drove away, sirens off, because it was nothing but a flesh wound. As they did, I heard another car pull up on the otherwise empty bridge. I turned around half expecting to see a citizen who wanted to hear all the drama of the police business that just transpired, but instead I saw Connor pulling up.
"You never tell me when you're going to need a ride until the second you need it. Decided to try being early and ran into you," he called out to Nick and I.
"If you're here now, where's the baby?" I asked concerned as I approached the convertible.
"In the backseat, obviously. I couldn't just leave her home alone," Connor explained. I looked and saw our beautiful husky Blueberry staring at me with her gorgeous blue eyes.
"I knew you would do that to her," I smiled, getting into the passenger seat. Blueberry placed her head on her shoulder making me laugh, and I kissed her nose.
"She is your baby, after all," Connor smiled and laughed. Nick sighed and got into the backseat.
"You know, I remember when I was your baby," Nick frowned.
"You never were," I said, turning back to him.
"Okay...I was at least...nice to you," Nick laughed. "Speaking of babies. Do you think Gavin is okay?"
"You can't trust him at home by himself and you're considering adopting an actual child?" Connor asked concerned.
"Wouldn't the best one to take care of a child be someone like that?"
"You have some nerve acting like he's childish when you laughed for 30 minutes about an inmate named Dick P. Ness," I answered.
"Ha!" Nick laughed, nearly doubling over in laughter. Not even Connor could stifle a laugh at the man's unfortunate name.
"Really, it's not that funny," I explained.
"It wasn't until you said it out loud," Connor said quietly, holding back his laugh as best he could.
"You are the worst," I sighed.
"You adopted into his family and married me. It was your choice, to be fair," Connor laughed.
"I regret it every day," I sassed back, making Connor laugh even harder. Suddenly, Connor slammed on the brakes as hard as he could, making us stop inches before a blonde haired copy of me, who stood directly in the middle of the road.
"What the hell?" Connor whispered. "She's awake? The CR400 is awake and Christen didn't tell us?"
"Christen would've told us," I said, jumping out of the car. I grabbed my gun out of its holster and checked it.
"I am so done with your bullshit, whatever the fuck you are," I yelled, aiming my gun at her.
"Don't!" Connor yelled.
"Yeah! Wait! She's...dumb?" Nick questioned.
I stared at her for a few seconds. Nick was right. She hasn't flinched or moved. She hasn't even spoken. She was just...frozen. Staring at me with these dead eyes. I holstered my gun and pushed her, and all she did was stumble back and stare again.
"What the fuck?" I mumbled. She really was...just out of it. Suddenly, I heard the noise of screeching car tires. Turning to my right, I saw approaching us a black SUV. Out of the car jumped Elijah Kamski...but he was barely recognizable. He was scruffy, hair messy, and eyes tired.
"Oh...here's Samantha," he groaned grabbing the CR400.
"Samantha?" I questioned.
"I'm working on her," Elijah said, throwing her into the backseat of the SUV fairly roughly.
"Working on her?" I questioned.
"Working on her," Elijah answered.
"Where's Christen?" I asked.
"At home," Elijah responded. "Now, stop bothering me."
I watched as he jumped into his SUV and drove off. I climbed back into the convertible.
"I don't fucking trust that."
"With good reason," Connor responded. "No one does that."
"Working on her? Wait...Christen's 'at home?' His home or her home?" Nick asked confused.
"Home, I guess," I answered confused. "That was...odd."
"Don't mention it," Nick sighed, sitting back.
"How is 2040 so crazy already?" Connor questioned.
"Already? This is nothing, boys. This? Well, this is just life now," I smiled.
~
The sequel, The Chase, is currently out! Thank you for your continued support!