Working Cases - Episode 14

 

The next day…
The good news: there was only five hundred kilometers of straight road between the city and the federal court where I would present the case. We were approved a witness transport convoy consisting of three standard-issue armored military vehicles and a force of thirteen armed police officers, myself and the witness, Gabe. 
The bad news: those five hundred miles of road were surrounded by thick forests made up of almost identical trees and a labyrinth of narrow footpaths spread across a two-hundred-kilometer-radius. You get in; you get lost, and end up wandering directionless for hours on end . It was also an amazing vantage point for an ambush or surprise attack, and we were sure Duncan had the entire stretch lined up with armed men ready to blow us all to kingdom come.
The solution: put the pedal to the metal and zoom across that road as fast as the vehicles can go, be on alert, and hope to God that we don’t die.
Simple. But not easy.
We set out four hours before the time we said we would, hoping to throw off Duncan’s intelligence as much as we could. At three o’ clock in the morning, we set off under the cover of darkness and began our one hundred and thirty seven minute journey at top speed. In other words, we did not go gently into that good night.
I looked Gabe over

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. The boy was sleeping. It was still very early. He had been brave and understanding the past two days. He knew his life was in danger and had stopped going out, instead staying at the station’s bunker with me for his protection. He knew what he needed to do, and was doing it. He was under an overwhelming amount of pressure and yet he didn’t buckle. I admired him for that.
I looked around me. The three other faces in the vehicle were familiar—officers Adajo, Collins, and Ejike—some of the station’s best officers. There were five others in the vehicle in front of us and five in the one behind. 
Like everyone else in the station, they didn’t really like me, but lately, that animosity had begun to fade. They no longer avoided me, or scorned me as before. They were warming up to me, even growing to respect me. Putting Duncan away would seal the deal. It would redeem me in their eyes; grant them faith in the reforms, and in me. They would consider me a friend and ally, and not an outsider sent to spy on them or tear them apart. It would feel good to have friends in the police department.
“Uncle Nick?” Gabe’s voice shook me out of my reverie.
He had woken up and was sitting between me and Officer Collins in the backseat. I smiled at him, “Good morning, Gabe.” I glanced at my watch, “You woke up well in time too. We’ll be there in about forty-five minutes.”
“Good morning, Collins.” He greeted again.
Officer Collins smiled. “How are you,–––”
A loud screeching interrupted him, followed by a bang, and then a boom. Adajo, who was driving our vehicle, cursed silently, while Ejike readied his gun whispering, “Get ready! This is it.”
In front of us, the first vehicle had gone up in flames. The sound of automatic fire coming from behind us alerted us to the shootout that had already begun. We were surrounded and three of the men in the rear vehicle lay dead on the ground. The attackers in front approached us, nearly a dozen of them, all carrying automatic weapons except one who was kneeling and aiming a legit bazooka at our vehicle.
The horror of realization jolted us into action. They were going to blow us up. “Cover me!” I yelled to Ejike and Adajo. “Collins, stay behind us! Keep the fire away from Gabe.”
“What are we going to do?”He yelled back, grabbing a few clips and leveling his rifle.
There was only one thing to do, “We’re going to make a run for it. The forest is our best bet. We’re surrounded. In a few seconds, they’ll blow up the car. Let’s go!”
The car doors burst open and we opened fire on the assailants, dropping six of them immediately. Before they could recover, we assumed positions. Gabe and I faced the forest and began to make our way to it. Collins walked ahead of us, gun at the ready, dropping any attacker hiding in the tree line. Adajo and Ejike walked behind us, facing left and right respectively, opening fire on the assailants on both fronts.
We made it to the trees just as Adajo groaned and dropped to the ground, shot in the chest. A sudden burst of rapid fire as the assailants realized we were escaping into the trees caught Ejike’s left knee, shattering it and taking him to the ground. “Run!” he screamed managing to keep shooting until another bullet tapped his skull. A missile roared past us, missing us by a few inches, and barreled into tree, exploding in a burst of shrapnel and burning wood splinters that, fortunately, were expelled in the direction of our other assailants. The shockwave however, flung us a few feet back into the woods. I hit the ground, rolled on my back and double-tapped the guy with the bazooka in the side of the head.
“Quick. Get up!” I shouted to Gabe and Collins as we ran deeper into the woods. As an afterthought—before we got too far in that the sky was completely hidden from view—I took note of the sun’s position relative to the direction we needed to go. 
We ran haphazardly, zigzagging as much as possible, changing direction, and doubling back a few times to make it hard to follow or track us for more than thirty minutes. We could no longer hear the sound of gunfire, and the sun was completely covered when we stopped. Tiny rays that passed between the leaves on the very tall forest trees illuminated the ground.
We caught our breath in silence for a few minutes, hearts beating out of our chests, minds racing. Everyone else was dead. It was just three of us now; Collins, Gabe and I. We had to navigate the forest labyrinth and get out of danger. The assailants would have regrouped and followed by now. They couldn’t be too far behind.
Collin’s voice broke my stream of thought. “Well, shit,” he croaked, “where the hell are we now?”
I answered as truthfully as I could. “I have no freaking clue.”