Chapter 3: Unwanted Guests

They showed up the following day. I received a perimeter alert and had time to send Trinity and Travis over to Gil’s and alert Sam and Kevin; before the three Sheriffs SUVs appeared and drove up to my dwelling. I was standing on the front porch drinking a cup of coffee as they parked. Seven men got out of the vehicles, some in uniform and others in plain clothes. I could sense the nervous tension among them as they all turned to an older guy for guidance. He was on the shorter side and significantly overweight, reminding me of Detective Sipowicz from NYPD Blue. He stepped over to my porch as he pulled up his breeches.

“You Carter Davis?” he asked in a raspy voice.

“Who wants to know?” I replied diffidently, setting my phone on the rail.

“We’re gonna need you to come with us,” he spoke with an arrogant tone.

“That so?” I looked about at the gathered goon squad, “And why is that?’

“We need to question you regarding the recent incident involving the alleged trafficking ring.”

“Alleged?” I snickered, “Last I heard that was a federal matter and is closed.”

“Regardless, we need you to come back with us,” he growled.

“I don’t think that will be happening,” I replied easily, “I notice that none of you appear to be wearing name tags or badges, much less body cams. Is that standard procedure for the Sheriff’s Department these days?”

“You’re either going to come with us willingly or we will take you in. What’s it gonna be champ?”

“I dunno,” I snickered and casually turned to look at the small camera mounted by my front door. Sipowicz followed my eyes and frowned. “What do you think Kevin? Does this seem like legal due process or some kind of shady vendetta to you?”

“Oh, these guys are a Defense Attorney’s wet dream!” came a voice over the speaker of my phone on the deck rail, “this is my bread and butter,” he added, “but I think I should probably dial up Assistant District Attorney Delila Ferguson, just to make sure she is looped in.”

There were a lot of uncertain expressions among the group.

My phone chirped and I was surprised to see it was my reticent hacker. “Sam?”

“Hya Carter!” said a young bubbly voice (clearly female), “I see that you have met Undersheriff Dennis Palmer, deputy Marco Benevidez—so sorry to hear about your cousin Renaldo, deputy,” she added brightly. The stocky Hispanic guy became angry and distressed as he was called out. “That taller blonde fellow there would be deputy Herman Stanza, beside him are deputies, Chris Henning and Eddy Johnson,” she continued, causing even more chagrined expressions, “and those two despondent-looking fellows to the right are detectives Harold Masters and William Parker.”

I had to struggle to keep a straight face and I could hear Kevin chuckling in the background. “Thanks, Sam,” I said, “I must say you sound even more beautiful than I imagined.”

“Flatterer,” she snorted, “ciao.”

I regarded my unofficial posse with raised eyebrows. “Where was it you wanted to take me, Undersheriff Palmer?”

He chose to glare at me with impotent rage rather than indict himself further.

“For some reason, I can’t get through to the ADA,” Kevin said over the speaker, “should I keep trying?”

I stared evenly back at the fat balding sheriff. “What do you think Undersheriff Palmer?” I asked curiously, “Should we go ahead and make this official, or are we done here?”

I could see the muscles in his jaw twitch as he ground his teeth. Then he turned away and gestured to the rest of his group. “Let’s go!” he growled.

They reluctantly returned to their vehicles and drove away.

“You haven’t seen the last of them yet,” Kevin stated flatly after they had departed.

“I know,” I replied, “I expect they will be waiting for me to leave the canyon and try to take me on the road.”

“You are living dangerously buddy. What are you going to do?”

“This needs to be headed off now.” I replied, “One thing I learned in prison was to take the fight to the bullies before they got a chance to get the jump on you.”

“Need I remind you that this isn’t prison and they aren’t convicts,” he said, “they have guns and resources...”

“I didn’t say it was optimal,” I saw Gil and Trinity heading back over with Travis wandering around them, “but I can’t live the rest of my life looking over my back.”

“Just let me know when you are going to make a move,” he warned.

“Count on it.”

Two days later I drove up out of the canyon and headed down the county road towards the Interstate—when they made their move. I could see the dust plume behind me as they raced up. There were two SUVs and they drove side by side as they approached. I pressed the three buttons on the side of my phone twice and then sent a text to Kevin with one word: Bingo.

They waited until they were dangerously close before turning on their flashing lights. I signaled and pulled over and they moved to block me in. I turned off the ignition and sat back waiting. The digital mini-cam Sam had me install beneath my rearview, featured two cameras facing fore and aft.

“Driver!” a voice commanded over a PA system, “Roll down your window and toss your keys out of the vehicle. Place both of your hands where we can see them! Do it now!”

I complied, unbuckled my seat belt, and placed both my hands out the window.

“Open your door from the outside and step out of the vehicle!”

I did as I was told and found myself facing two serious-looking deputies with their guns drawn and pointed at me. I could hear footsteps approaching from behind as well. “What now hot shots?” I asked grinning at the two before me.

“Shut your fucking mouth convict! Place your hands on your head and back up two steps!”

“Ex-convict, thank you,” I replied stepping back with my fingers interlocked behind my head.

“I said shut-the-fuck-up!” he yelled from right behind me.

I sensed the blow coming and shifted my position just slightly to mitigate serious injury to my kidneys. Still, it was a vicious sucker punch that sent me sprawling on my face with a grunt of pain.

“Stop resisting!” he screamed angrily and kicked me in the side. I felt at least one rib crack and saw stars as I fought to catch my breath. Suddenly a heavy weight crushed down on my back between my shoulders and my face was slammed into the hard ground by a stomping boot. “I said STOP RESISTING!”