One Step Ahead

Behind The Eight Ball

      Sanger brought the car to a stop and shut down the engine, then hurriedly threw open his door and leapt from the vehicle. The other members of the task force quickly followed his lead and hurried toward the helipad, which bustled with activity as numerous flight personnel and FBI agents rushed around the waiting helicopters, preparing them for the trip.

      Yesenia Pruitt, who had arrived shortly before the detectives, hurried to meet them, gesturing to her left as she drew nearer. "Anyone who's planning to come, grab a vest over there if you don't already have one. And your guy had better get a move on if you insist on taking him along, Lieutenant. We're airborne in five minutes."

      The words had no sooner left her mouth than they saw an elderly conversion van careen into the lot, coming to a stop near Sanger's car, and a burly bearded man practically flung himself out of the driver's side door. As he trotted toward the detectives, they also noticed a teen-aged boy coming around from the other side of the vehicle, carrying some sort of large bag slung over one shoulder. They joined the gathering of detectives and FBI agents, and the man stopped in front of Sanger and extended his hand. "Wiley Frazier, and this is my boy, Cody. Thanks for giving us the chance to help Briar and Ashley, and to get this walking piece of shit off the streets." 

      Taking the proffered hand, Sanger responded, "Nice to meet you, Mr. Frazier. And Mr. Frazier. And I managed to talk Chief MacDevitt and Agent Pruitt into letting you come along because you know the area better than we do, and because if he gets there before we do, and they get the chance to get away or hide, they might be more likely to reveal themselves to you than to any of us by ourselves."

      "Because if they don't see his face or anything, they won't know if they can trust you, right?" Cody said calmly.

      "Yeah, you pretty much hit it on the nose, kid," Weintraub replied. "If they didn't get a look at the bastard before they blew the safehouse, I'm guessing that they'd likely be kinda leery of a uniform or a badge."

      "Okay, Mr. Frazier, if you're coming, we need to get you suited up," Pruitt interjected. "You'll need a vest, and may we assume that you're armed?"

      "No, ma'am, I'm on probation right now, so I'm not allowed to have any guns," he said, before moving away to collect his Kevlar vest.

      "And we're both coming with you," Cody added.

      "Hold on, Lieutenant, I never agreed to take a teenager into this situation!" Agent Pruitt exclaimed, which caused Cody to turn his attention to her.

      "Maybe you didn't, but just so we're clear on this, Briar is my friend, and probably the closest thing I'll ever have to a sister, so I am going," he stated, staring directly into her eyes. " If you don't let me on that chopper, I'll just drive myself up in the van, but one way or the other, I will fucking be there."

      She opened her mouth to speak, but Weintraub shocked everyone by saying, "Let the kid come, he can stick with me."

      "Yeah, we might as well bring him with us, because I don't know about anyone else, but I don't want to have it on my head if he takes off on the highway and gets into an accident," Eloise Han added.

      Sanger said nothing, only looked at her with a level gaze, and she sighed. "All right, get him a vest, but you all know that we can't just hand a gun to a juvenile."

      "No worries, I don't need one," Cody informed them. He pulled the bag from his shoulder and opened the zipper enough to reveal a rather complex-looking compound bow. "I'm just fine with this."

      "That's one way to put it," his father proudly declared as he rejoined the group, still fiddling with the closures on the heavy, unfamiliar garment. "He's the junior-class champion for Los Angeles County, won his last competition by putting an arrow dead-center into the target, and then splitting it down the middle with another arrow."