TEARS OF RAGE

Chapter 39

As cops began to gather en mass about the area, it was as if every available officer within a thirty-mile radius had come to converge upon the last reported location of the murder suspect.

The city of Augusta was a hornet's nest of activity.

Within thirty minutes the area was crawling with over two hundred law enforcement personnel.

They created a net of bodies, that moved as a group, to canvass the area.

Roadblocks were set up within a thirty-mile radius.

The crash site was crawling with teams of crime scene technicians, working to preserve evidence from the taint of rain and damage.

A tent was erected about the body of the Cadillac.

The smear of blood had been seen amidst the shards of glass, but the rain had diluted it from its prior state.

It was a picture of police manpower at its most efficient.

There was a cop killer on the loose.

The search for the suspect had become a top priority.

K-9 units, Sheriff deputies, and U.S. Marshals from around the county had come to assist in the police search.

Residents from about the area were gathering on porches, peeking from windows, and watching live news reports about the status of a murder suspect who had killed a U.S. Senator, in her home.

The epicenter of the search began to focus on the circumference of the block surrounding the paper mill.

Neighbors had reported seeing a man stagger from the wreckage, and head west towards the woodland.

Beyond the area where the residents had seen the man run, there was an expanse of the terrain surrounding the abandoned buildings.

The old paper mill was a ruin.

There was a broad field of potential hiding places, but cops were searching every inch of it.

The dilapidated warehouses that sat on an open lot of land were like a hazardous 'Temple of Doom' for any Indiana Jones enthusiast.

A place where kids could come to run through corrugated corridors, and hide amidst mountains of rusted machines.

Aside from the brief flashes of lightning, the entire building was cast in darkness.

The first wave of cops was halfway across the field before Swaylo was able to reach the skeletal remains of an elevator shaft.

It descended deep into another section of subterranean space.

A section where lumber had once been processed and treated to be made into bushels of paper.

To follow that route meant to submerge himself in a blanket of darkness.

There were only two bullets left in his gun, and he weighed his options... Suicide or prison.

A desperate man had limited options, but surrender was not one of them.

With a groan of pain, Swaylo climbed down the elevator shaft, feeling his way through the cavern of darkness.

The bark of dogs, and a collection of voices, echoed from beyond the building. The net of capture was closing in...

"Okay, fellas. Listen up," lieutenant Randy Simms called out over the group of cops.

"This man is to be considered armed and extremely dangerous. We're not about to approach this thing like amateurs. I want you guys to move as a unit. No lone cowboys on this one, fellas."