Chapter 9

Our new car passed inspection at school from the first day: it was totally ignored, and that was exactly what we wanted. So far, nobody knew that we were associated with law enforcement, though in a rather peculiar way, and, again, that was the way we wanted it. We did not have to flash our badges to the Principal a single time last school year, and we hoped that situation would continue throughout this year.

Once the other kids found out that we had a police association, we would be ostracized from all activities, and that would make it hard for us to do our job. Certainly, we would no longer be able to move around the high school without attracting a lot of attention. That could make it impossible for us to work effectively. The question was, how long would our luck hold?

We had only two weeks of bliss before we heard at lunch, “Did you hear that if you wanted any sort of drug that Sam Hunter was the person to see?” We had stopped going to the wet-lands for a while because we felt that we were becoming too conspicuous by going there every day. Besides, we were losing contact with the gossip that every kid needed to hear. This drug comment was exactly the kind of thing that we were looking for.

Beth picked up on that comment and asked, “Who is Sam Hunter? I don’t recognize the name.”

“He’s that kid over there wearing the Yankees cap. See, the bill is forward right now. That means that he has stuff to sell. He’s out of stuff if he wears the cap backwards.” Dammit, he was eating with a bunch of Freshmen. Did that mean that he was trying to start them on drugs at that age? If so, that put some urgency into shutting him down.

Beth and I started shadowing Hunter to try to find his supplier. It turned out that Hunter was also a Sophomore, but we did not know him because he had transferred into our high school this semester. The fact that we were also Sophomores was going to make it easier to follow Hunter.

We followed Hunter for a school week (five days) and spotted three of his regular customers. Just possibly, those customers could be turned into a source of information. We could not follow Hunter every moment of his time at school, so he undoubtedly had customers that we didn’t know about. We would worry about them later.

On the fifth day we were shadowing him, Hunter spent the last half of the lunch period walking toward the wet-lands. Beth led off after him, and I followed about five minutes later. We thought that she could get closer to him if I was not obviously with her.

Beth had hardly entered the preserve when she was grabbed from behind by somebody who obviously knew what he was doing. Dammit, Beth had screwed up and had not been using her mental ability, but was too confident that she had not been spotted by Hunter.

The assailant had put his left arm around her neck and was using his right hand to hold a knife against her right kidney area. For the moment, Beth was in no position to counter the assailant; however, she should be able to break away when she needed to.

“Why are you following me, Bitch?”

Beth recognized Hunter’s voice as soon as she heard the person speak. “Because I was told that you were a source of heroin, and I am getting close to needing a hit.”

“Okay, but why didn’t you contact me in the school building?”

“I was afraid that I would be spotted buying from you, and the word would get back to my parents. They think of me as goody-goody, and I can get away with a lot of things as long as they think that. I didn’t want to spoil a good thing.”

“Okay, I can understand that. Right now, I am out of heroin. I’m on my way to meet my supplier, so, if you wait here, I will have something for you in about 10 minutes. Can you handle that?”

“That’s good. I’ll wait for you here.”

Hunter released her and walked deeper into the preserve. I had come up just a minute before, and I was ready to attack Hunter when he released Beth. I waited until he was out of sight before I walked up to Beth. “What was that all about?”

Beth gave me the story and said that he was on his way to meet his supplier. I told her to call Dad while I ran to the road to intercept the supplier. I knew that there was so little traffic on the road that the only parked car there had to be the person I was looking for. She was going to overpower Hunter when he came back.

I ran for the back road by the shortest route. When I got there, I spotted a pickup truck parked at the edge of the road. It was only about 30 yards away, so I ran to it. I was going to wait for the supplier from a convenient place; namely, sitting inside the truck. Of course, when I got there, I found the doors were locked, but Dad had taught me how to pick locks, so I had a door open in only a few seconds.

I climbed in on the passenger side and slid down in the seat. I could not be seen very easily from outside of the truck if I was not suspected of being there. On the other hand, I could see anyone approaching the truck, so I would have ample warning to be ready.

While I was waiting, I made a quick search of the cab and found several bags of what looked like drug packets under the front seat. Hell, that was good enough for me. I scrunched down and waited. Within 10 minutes, a heavyset man wearing a white tee-shirt and faded blue jeans came walking toward the pickup. I pulled my pistol and pointed it at the opposite door.

The man paid no attention to what might be in his truck and opened the door. I let him get close enough so that he could not slam the door and said, “That’s far enough, Buddy. You are my prisoner. I am an outstanding shot with this automatic, and I will blow the shit out of you if you move the wrong way.”

“Hey, hold on. If this is a stickup, just take what you want and let me go. I ain’t nothing but a messenger boy.”

“No such luck. Now pay attention to what I say. Open that door all of the way and step back 10 feet. When you get there, drop to your knees. I’m coming out on your side, so you better not move or do anything else that will upset me.”

“Okay, Man, I’ll do what you say. Just don’t shoot me. Hey, there’s a car coming. I got to get out of the middle of this road.”

“No, stay where you are. That’s my partner, and he’s expecting to see you.” Dad parked behind the pickup and walked up.

“Well, I see you’ve caught us a live one. You, drop your pickup keys on the pavement. When you do, you can stand up. Okay, now walk to my car and open the back door. (Talking to me.) Keep this guy covered while I truss him up, then you can go see about our other prisoner. The two of you, bring the other prisoner to the usual place. Your other passenger is expecting you.”

Dad had the man immobilized in the back seat in just a minute or so. He drove off, so I relocked the pickup cab and ran to see what I could do to help Beth. What I found was Hunter lying on the ground trussed hand and foot with cable ties. Beth said, “I’m glad to see you. You were gone so long that I was afraid that you had gotten lost.” She grinned, and I knew that she was only kidding.

“There’s a pickup back on the road. You can drive. We can stash Hunter in the passenger seat and I will ride in the bed. Take me around to the parking lot where I can pick up our car. I’ll drive it by to pick up our fourth party and meet you at the usual place.”

That’s what we did. Beth had done a good job on Hunter because he was still out cold. I did hope that we could wake him up for questioning. I picked up Mom and we drove to the farm. She commented, “It sure is a pleasure to ride with a sane driver for a change. Your sister scares me to death. She knows that she is immortal, but I am not so sure about myself.”

We went through the usual routine with these two captives. The man, Joe Zelon, turned out to be exactly what he claimed to be: just a messenger boy. He was not a regular gang member, but just a guy who did odd jobs for whomever would hire him. He got off with a couple of busted knees and a free trip to the ER.