Bounty Hunter [REWRITTEN VERSION]

Chapter 43: Johnson & Monroe

JOHNSON & MONROE

A dozen or so miles away, unbeknownst to themselves and the individuals of the party of which they currently sought after, the two men parked along the side of the highway where a reported car chase had taken place nearly two days prior. Local cops had long since deserted the scene, finding nothing. Which gave way for the two of them to step in and examine the field without interruption or questions. Something neither of them wanted.

They both wore the same similar attire; dark, plain, and meant to blend in. Were you to happen to see their faces one afternoon, the chance that your mind would even remember them was slim to none. A none-memorable pair, aside from the cold attitude and lack of facial expressions. But in the work they planned to accomplish, such a fact worked to their utmost advantage, they did not want to be easily remembered.

Their names were Johnson and Monroe. And they were looking for something. Someone.

Johnson stayed in the driver's seat of their car, dark reflective pair of black shades hiding cold eyes as his partner, Monroe, quickly stepped out of the vehicle and walked around to the foot of the car where they had parked. Traffic had already hit the rush hour, and any cars that happened to pass by at this time were simply stragglers, who most likely had their own pressing lives to attend to than thinking anything of the two men strangely parked alongside the road. Monroe lifted his own black shades out of his eyes so that he could examine the ground before him without obstruction.

Someone had done some dangerous driving, if the clear black tire marks left from the rubber residues of the two different pairs of heavy wheels were any indication. They knew one of the cars had been their intended targets, but the other had been an unknown. Someone else was also on the hunt for the same group they were.

A striking new development, one that could prove to become a problem.

They hadn't been informed of any others assigned with a task similar to their own. Had not calculated an attack to have been coordinated a day and a half before they had planned to make a move. And this had resulted in chasing their marks into hiding, screwing all of them.

They hadn't been notified of any secondary party.

They had one clear job to do, but wildcard unexpected casualties could prove to screw up their initial plans. They would have to look further into the new two before they proceeded, because in their line of industry, one factor could determine their success or their failure. And they had a reputation to uphold, they did not fail.

Once Monroe had finished inspecting the tire tracks, he returned back to him and his partner's car. He had what he needed.

He nodded once to Johnson, whose reflective lenses mirrored the movement back at him, and then he stepped back into the vehicle and took off again down the road.

A two-hour timespan of a drive later had them stopping in front of an old rickety road-side Gas station & Chow. The place was practically a dump, both literally and figuratively, the outside walls were white but grimy, the sign only lit up half of the words, and the gas pumps looked ancient, unusable. But the two weren't concerned with the place's exterior state. Their focus was on the wrecked grey Hyundai Elantra that had been left behind the parking lot.

They shared a look that was shaded by each of their glasses and quickly parked a little ways away from the vehicle in question. The second they stepped out and began to head towards it, a large burly man with aged grey hair and beard came out of the shack-like old restaurant to intercept them.

"You boys the guys I called to pick up that totalled piece of junk?" He called gruffly. He was wearing dark green mechanic's overalls with the name Jeffrey stitched on in bright red thread, and the expression on his face was one of mild agitation not directed at the two men. "Jesus, kids these days know my parking lot ain't no place for dumping trash don't they?" he ranted. "For damn's sake, I had hoped the lot that left the thing here would eventually be back for it but they haven't yet and hell, I'm gettin' impatient. How y'think this looks? Having this wrecked piece of scrap metal in front of my place, uh? Looks like the thing got freaking shot up, and by all means, that's gonna scare my customers away!"

The two men stared back with even expressions giving nothing away. They failed to mention that the oddity of the totalled vehicle actually blended in quite well with the rickety old station, which is probably what the previous owners had been thinking when they chose to leave it there. Nevertheless, Johnson spoke up.

"We'll take care of it for you sir," he said.

Jeffrey furrowed his brows at them, unable to meet their gazes through the impenetrable shades of the glasses, but frowned suspiciously. "You sure? It ain't look like you two got a tow truck on ya or anything..." he started to say, but Monroe ignored him and walked straight past. Johnson stayed behind to make up a story that would hopefully satisfy the gas station keeper enough to buy some time. Monroe would only need a few minutes.

He came up in the car and examined it from all sides and angels. He didn't write anything of his observations down, but he didn't need to, he made mental notes as he went along. He searched the car, took note of the broken windshield, and looked into the back. There he found something of interest, which he made sure to keep out of the eyes of the station keeper before pocketing it subtly.

His entire examination took a total of 5 minutes, there was not a substantial amount of information to go on from what had been left behind. An empty car could tell what had happened, but it could not tell him where the passengers inside had since then gone.

It was simple, not much to do in terms of the car after he had gotten the information he needed. Monroe headed straight back to their own car, and a few seconds later his companion followed. They left a confused and irritated gas station keeper staring at them as they began to pull away. "E-ey! You boys said you'd tow this thing away!" The old man yelled after them, trying to catch up, but it was no use, they had cleared the lot in seconds, and in a few more, their car would be nothing but a small fleeting object as it disappeared further down the road than the eye could see.

Trees and mountain views sped past them as Johnson drove straight at an average of over 62 miles per hour. Monroe instantly began relaying the details he had observed off the damaged car they left in the parking lot.

"Back windshield was shot out from behind. Sustainable damage to the rear and side-rear suggests the obvious; someone was trying to run them off either before or after firing the shots," he said in a monotone before he pulled the small object he had found in the back seat under a plate of glass from the rear windshield, holding it up for his partner to inspect. "Recognize this? Bullet, nine-millimetre. I'm guessing it was shot by the hostiles in their pursuit of the targets."

"Local report did claim gunshots were fired," Johnson supplied evenly. "Anything about where they went after they ditched the car? Possible injuries we could note?"

Monroe shook his head. "No blood. The targets seemed to have managed to make it out without much of a scratch, but it means that they could be anywhere right now..." Johnson was silent while Monroe stared passively at the bullet between his black-gloved fingers. "This means things could get ugly," he murmured to his companion.

"They were already ugly," Johnson stated tersely. "We just need to locate the targets before the competition does or we're screwed."

"Couldn't have said it better myself."

The message was implied; the two had some busy work ahead of them.