HEROES Chapter 2

Yelena slid her hand up and let her fingers rest on the corner of the file so she could slide it closer to her. She’d played this game before so it was nothing new to her. Knowing Vacily would counter her request with one of his own, she didn’t blink when he told her she would have to stay in her chains for a while longer. It would have been too easy to think he’d have released her from her bonds so quickly. This was all a part of the game and she knew she would be the mouse to his cat. For now.

When Vacily tells Yelena the other part of the deal, she merely lifts her gaze and stares straight ahead without blinking. Again she knew there had to be a catch somewhere along the line and it came as no surprise when he delivered the news to her in such a cold, calculating way. He had learned a great deal more while in Siberia than he realized, she thought. Finally she closed her eyes lazily and opened them again as she let her gaze settle on his as he stood over her.

“Crystal.”

Morgan knew Tim was right, she had to get past Cassie's death and what has happened to her along her journey to New York City. Someday, maybe the guilt will go away, but not today.

Rising, she grabs her knives from their hiding spots and puts them in her bag. Sheathing the bowie knife, she takes it and the bag and heads for the bathroom where she showers and dresses. The outfit if similar to the one she had yesterday, but this one covers a little bit more. She has on a tight, white, plain t-shirt underneath a black denim vest. Her jeans are black as well as her soft suede boots. She ties the sides of her hair back with a black tie, brushes her teeth and heads over to Tim's room to eat breakfast, clipping the sheath to her bowie knife on her belt at her right side before sliding the bowie home. It all only took her about 15 minutes as she's learned to move quickly.

Entering his room, she sees the breakfast layed out on the small table. Breakfast steak, eggs, orange juice, coffee, and milk. OMG!! He got milk. She all but rushes over grabbing a glass of milk she downs it, making noises in her throat of pure pleasure as she drinks it. She hasn't had milk in quite a few months. Lowering the glass, she blushes and sets the glass back down on the table. "Sorry." She sits down and reminds herself of her manners as she prepares herself a plate.

Eating her breakfast in silence, she watches Tim from under lowered lashes, her lavender eyes taking everything in. His face, his build, how he moves, his quiet strength. She was beginning to like Tim and that she didn't like. She was also beginning to trust him and she didn't like that either, but there it was. Her uncle on the reservation always told her that she had good instincts and should listen to them more often.

Once she's done, she wipes off her mouth, thanks Tim and heads back to her room through the adjoining door. She pokes her head through the adjoining door, "Tim, have you ever been up close and personal with a red-tailed hawk? And, if you haven't, would you like to be before we leave?" She wants to do something to repay him for his kindness and she figures, what man can resist getting up close and personal with a raptor.

Before Vacily walked out the door he turned once more to Yelena and nodded. "I hope you will find enough information in the file. We will wait until Zoe makes contact with you. I have ensured that security is minimal, yet believable. I will contact you with the necessary information when it is time, until then know that I will be watching you."

The door opened. "Good day, Yelena. It was nice to see you again, I hope that we will be able to speak more freely in the future and you will come to trust me. My men will take you to Cassius' cell in half an hour, that should give you ample time to review the file and make your change."

Vacily tipped his hat and exited the room, leaving Yelena alone to formulate her strategy.

Yelena returned to her straight forward stare when Vacily walked away from her. He would recognize it as her submission to the situation at hand; after all, he had seen it too many times before. As she heard the sound of the locks being released and the door opened to allow Vacily to exit, she said one last thing to him.

“Zhelayu vsego khoroshego, Vacily.” (I wish you all the best.)

Then the doors closed heavily behind her and the locks secured once more, she slowly eased her eyes down to the file before her.

Knowing she was being monitored from almost every angle possible, she flipped open the file and began reading. Vacily must have anticipated her participation for the file was given to her in Russian making it much easier for her to read it.

Slowly her eyes scanned the photos in the file. As she read the file she would look at different pictures. The only sound in the room was the sound of the chains securing her shackles in place as she moved the different pages. After about 15 minutes she had different pages and photos spread out before her on the table.

Exactly 15 minutes later, she heard the locks being released the door again and this time, when it opened, three Marines came in. Two guards and one Marine to unlock her shackles from the floor and table. The two guards had their plasma rifles at the ready and she knew, even before she looked at them, they were not set for stun.

“No quick moves, ma’am or you will be shot and killed. Stand up slowly and face the door. You will exit after me and be followed by the two guards behind you.”

Yelena did as she was ordered and found herself escorted down the hall by the Marines. The one who unlocked her shackles from the table and floor led the way followed by her then the two armed guards behind her. As they walked up the hall, Yelena kept her eyes dead ahead. Not once did she look around at her surroundings.

As they approached Cassius’s cell, Yelena was halted so the door could be opened for her. When she was escorted into the cell, she was given more orders.

“Stand facing the wall.”

As she walked over to stand before the wall, one of the armed guards pressed the barrel of his rifle to the back of her head while the Marine with the keys unlocked the shackles from her wrists and ankles. Immediately she felt the pressure released and felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from her shoulders. The Marine with the keys backed away and gave the all clear and the Marine holding his gun to the back of her head slowly backed away as well. Only when the cell door was closed and locked behind her did Yelena dare to move.

Slowly letting her gaze move about the cell, Yelena already knew where the cameras were located and where they weren’t. There was little room for anything to escape her monitors on the other end of those cameras. Vacily in particular. So without any further hesitation, she morphed into Cassius and laid down on the cot in the cramped room and simply waited. Drawing the right forearm over her eyes, she rested as she waited for Zoe to arrive.

Tim smiled as he stepped forward and reached out to stroke the raptor's back. "She is a wonder ta behold, a magnificant bird. Thank you for sharin' he wit me." he said

After several minutes, Tim said "I recon we best me on ar way, ifin' ya ar ready. I recon we shud be outta tha city and up US 87 by nighfall."

"Hey Cassius! You alright?" Came a voice through the adjoining air vent high above the bed. "Where did they take you? Did you see, Yelena?" When there was not an instant reply Toril added a little bit of humor to try and alleviate any tension that the young man may be experiencing. "Hey, I think I found a way out of here. I figure with a good spoon I can tunnel my way outta here. I calculate it would take about 47 years. You gotta spoon?"



Surge watched Yelena transform into Cassius and remain lying on the bed from a computer in one of the many control rooms throughout the base.

"You can't trust her." Said Sara-Lynn, as she walked around from behind Vacily and stared into the monitor. "All those shapes she can take, all those identities stored within her mind, she's probably insane. She's a liability."



Vacily did not take his eyes off the screen as he replied. "The other controllers said the same thing about you, 'sunshine', and look where we are today."

Sara-Lynn shrugged apathetically as Vacily put the computer to sleep.

"Is everything prepared." He asked as the woman sat on the end of the desk and tossed her immaculate blonde hair to the side.

"Killswitch won't even know what hit her." She said with a fiendish smile.

"You're sure the machine can be used in such a capacity?" Confirmed Vacily.

"I told you, Vacily, the device can be used at close proximity and my research has proven with with no margin or error that it's wave will have a profound effect on her."

"She's no good to us dead, Sara-Lynn." Argued Vacily.

"There's no risk of that." She assured him, "I can account for a 99.8% probability that it will put her into a temporary coma."

Vacily turned his cold blue grey eyes upon his colleague. "You better be right."

Sara-Lynn smoothly rolled off of the desk and cast Vacily a defiant stare. "I'm not the one taking the risk here, Vacily. That shape-shifter can't be trusted!"

Vacily remained stolid, his eyes fixed upon the wall behind her.

"You have let go of the past, Vacily, nothing you're going to do now is going to change it. You're cursed like the rest of us. Live with it." Saying that, Sara-Lynn headed for the doorway.

"Sara-Lynn." Vacily quietly called. She stopped and spun around, exasperated, expecting another ultimatum. "I need to give her a chance. Please, do this for me."

Shaking her head she reluctantly agreed. "Alright, Vacily but if she does betray you —"

"If she does," Vacily interjected, and with a merciless stare made his vow. "I will destroy her myself."

The lights of the room flickered eerily, casting Vacily's stern features in shadow and as a malicious grin curved Sara-Lynn's perfect lips, her pupils momentarily flashed with golden light.

Yelena heard Toril’s voice in the ventilation and moved her hand from her eyes. Moving to stand on her cot, she rose on her toes and peered into the vent then raised her mouth to the air shaft.

“Dude…Yeah…I’m alright. These dick heads are seriously in need of some R&R. They’re worse than any stiff necked detectives I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting. I didn’t see Yelena, man. I’m not sure where they squirreled her ass away. Almost afraid to ask, tell ya th’truth.”

Yelena chuckled at Toril’s suggestion of tunneling 47 years with a spoon.

“Dude…that’s like…totally unacceptable. 47 years means I’m way past my prime and unable to do the ladies any justice. Make it a more suitable time frame and I’m right there with ya. Know what I mean?”

Glancing around the cell, she lifted her mouth to the vent shaft again.

“You been escorted out of your cell yet, dude? Wait till you get a load of the fine five star accommodations they have here. You’re gonna love it.”

Toril smiled. It was good to hear, Cassius in such fine spirits. He feared for Yelena though, and what of Shawn? His cell mate would have mentioned it if he saw him, so Toril did not bother to ask and tried to give some words of encouragement. "Don't worry, kid I'm sure we'll be out of here soon." He winced as the words rolled off of his tongue. What a lame thing to say! Those guys that tackled them last night were, marines, not your standard lackeys. Cassius probably knew as well as he did that they were in serious shit. Who knew how long they would keep them locked up?

Toril snapped his attention toward a noise by the door and leapt of the bed. Beside the doorway there was square depression in the wall and that's where the sound was coming from. There was the sliding noise of a door opening and then a slam, after which the small steel door slid open revealing an area the size of a bread box where there was a tray of food. Taking the tray, Toril sat back down on the bed and placed it beside him.

"Mmmmm, salisbury steak and synthetic mashies. My favourite!" Toril shouted through the vent. "I guess, if don't hear from me in the next fifteen minutes or so, the food's drugged." Toril was so hungry he didn't care if the food was laced with an agent to knock him out, at least he'd have a full belly. "Here goes."

Cassius was curious to hear the sound of gagging and retching sounds coming through the vent, a thud, then silence.

"Did I have you going?" Called Toril's voice, "Maybe just for a moment, eh? Hey, did you get any gravy, those bastards gypped me!"

Finding another dark room with a computer that had not been used in nearly an hour, Zoe paused, listening for signs of life. When the only sounds that reached her were the gentle hums from the computer itself, the black and green-flecked binary goo oozed out from the monitor, quickly taking shape. Within seconds, Killswitch materialized and immediately searched the top corners of the tiny office until she located the tell-tale little red eye of a security camera. With her mere gaze, the light vanished and the camera shut down in a fizzle of gray smoke.

With long strides, Zoe crossed the room and drew her weapon, cocking back the hammer and pausing beside the threshold, gun at the ready, waiting for someone to burst in. When the door remained silently closed, Zoe abruptly shoved it open with her boot and pointed the gun straight out. A very surprised security guard looked up with eyes widened in alarm just before she put a bullet between his eyes. For a moment, she paused again, gun at the ready, listening to the silent hallways for any others until she was sure no one had heard. She then slid the guard into the office and wordlessly stripped him of his uniform and identifications. When she had neatly tucked his shirt tightly in and pulled the belt as tightly as it would go around her small waist, Zoe turned back to the computer that had been her own personal conduit. The screen flashed as windows flew past with lightning speed before abruptly stopping, a single highlighted line across a block of text.

Dominic Cassius........ Section 12, Cell B.

After quickly pulling up a map of the facility, Zoe's eyes turned red as she looked it carefully over. She then closed the windows, shut down the computer, and strolled casually out the door, gun by her side.

When a similar thing happened at the cell Yelena was housed in, like Toril, she leapt off the cot and stood waiting for something to happen. When the tray of food was slid into her cell, she took it but unlike Toril, she wasn’t all that keen on eating it. There was no doubt in her mind it was laced with some sort of drug, but exactly what she wasn’t sure.

Of course she heard Toril’s voice followed by the chocking and gagging sounds. Instantly she was terrified he had indeed been poisoned and it felt as though her heart fell to her feet before jumping back and lodging in her throat. When she heard his voice again after some tense seconds, she wanted to reach through the vent and choke him herself.

“Dude….that was totally f#@*ed up. Don’t scare me like that again or I’ll have to find a way to come over there and seriously kick your big, blond headed ass.”

Flash backs of memories she had been so good at suppressing began flooding her mind again. There was no doubt it was from seeing Aleksandr again. Or Vacily….or what ever his real name was. Now was one of those flash backs. She remembered being so hungry that she didn’t think about anything but eating and when the food was brought to her ell and shoved through the hole, she grabbed a hold of the tray then hurried to the far corner and crouched like a rabid dog and shoveled the food into her mouth with her fingers. It wasn’t until she had consumed half the food that she realized it was laced with a sedative. What occurred after that she refused to remember and in an effort to keep that memory from coming to the surface, she closed her eyes tight and forced her mind to keep that memory well suppressed.

As Yelena tried to stop the memory from happening her body began to tremble. As her hands gripped the tray of food tighter and tighter, the tray, being only a thick card board, couldn’t handle the pressure and quickly crumbled causing her food to fall to the floor at her feet. When she felt the sensation of something warm oozing over her hands she snapped her eyes open and looked at what she had done. A feeling of pure dread filled her then and she quickly knelt down and began cleaning up her mess. The last thing she wanted was for her captors to see what happened, even though she was certain they were already aware of it.

Thankfully Yelena was able to get it cleaned up for the most part with the aid of some paper towels from the small bathroom. The only saving grace she saw in all of this was that it LOOKED like she ate some of the food when in fact she hadn’t touched any of it. So, if by chance, her captor didn’t see what took place, they would be none the wiser.

Tossing the destroyed try into the trash, Yelena flopped back on the cot leaning back against the wall with a dejected sigh. What the hell was she going to do? She had made a deal with the devil and now Cassius’ life hung in the balance. If she could, she would kick Vacily in the side of the head and drop him like a toy soldier then inject him with a sedative and muscle inhibitor to paralyze him for hours on end to let him know exactly what it was like for her. Somehow she knew the man had never been subjected to such things and a good dose of his own medicine would do him a world of good. But in the mean time, she was stuck in a cell pretending to be someone she really didn’t know very well hoping to somehow bring this whole fiasco to an end. One that didn’t cause anyone to lose their life.

Even though she knew deep down that wasn’t going to be the case.

In the surveillance room of the top-security military base the guards kept a close watch on every sector of the complex. The Colonel had placed the base on high alert without specifying any details on the threat, as was his custom. The guards were used to it and modified their scan of the system accordingly.

"Sir!" Called a young fresh faced marine, her eyes focused on an alert from a blacked out display on one of her monitors.

The Sergeant came over and verified that the malfunction was not on their end. "That's a vacant office in Sector 6. Probably just a glitch, but the 'old man' wants us to check out everything shy of a cockroach passing gas." He straightened up and looked over to a corporal who was instinctively awaiting direction. "Send a team to check it out."

"Yes, sir!"

The Sergeant turned back to the console that registering the blacked out camera, and check the time of the malfunction. It read 10:12am, only ten minutes ago, but if it did end up being a security breach, he knew it would be ten minutes he'd live to regret.



Toril was at least glad to have some company. He really wasn't worried... yet, but he sure was curious where they were and specifically who had apprehended them and for what purpose? As he finished up his meal, and it seemed to be settling alright he contemplated grilling, Cassius for more information but thought it best to leave the kid alone for a while. He needed to collect his thoughts and prepare a believable statement for when his turn came. Toril had been interrogated many times before and knew how to prepare himself for the mental assault, so he laid on the bed and ran over past scenarios, remembering mistakes and flagging them in his mind.


Sara-Lynn, made her way back the lab that housed the 'Data-Disrupter', entering codes and providing security scans until she was sitting before the main console that controlled the device. It was a closed system, separated from the from the base and the world. It was designed specifically to keep Killswitch out. All their research on her lead them to believe that so long as they ensured that there were no connections to any other computer systems or electrical wiring beyond the the boundaries of their lab they would be safe. Of course, they couldn't be one hundred percent sure, and that urked Sara-Lynn, still the risk was marginal.

She prepared the system for a close proximity strike and set the parameters of the effected area for an ten foot diameter sphere, a large enough web to catch their little fly. All the spider had to do now was await their shape-shifter to lure Zoe into a place where she had line of sight, as the holding cells unfortunately nullified the 'Disruption-Wave'. Sara-Lynn, shook her head, still upset by Vacily's employment of Yelena. She had been prepared to have Cassius transferred to a location where she could simply blast, Killswitch when she came with ten feet of him but Vacily was convinced that they needed more suitable bait in the case that Zoe was able to knock out their cameras and blind them. His solution was to configure the 'Data Disrupter' software to follow Yelena's meta-human registration tracking device implanted within her. Every so often, Sara-Lynn was able to 'ping' Yelena's tracker and use it as a proximity locater letting her know if anybody was within ten feet of her, of course she couldn't be sure it was Killswitch, for that they were reliant on Yelena's cooperation and that's where the plan fell apart as far as she was concerned. Vacily was trusting her to escape her cell with Killswitch and to Sun Storm it was an unacceptable risk.

As Tim drove west on 57th street then turned right onto Broadway, he said " We're goin' ta Troy, New York an' nope my friend's ain't gonna mind that I brought someone along, much like 'em, with me. We gotta make a couple a stops, ta pick up sum things at a friend of mine's shop 'fore we kin start thar though. ....... Don't ya fret now, he's cool." Tim then drove through Columbus Circle and thrugh Morningside Heights, into Halem.

He then turned right on 112th street, then left on 2nd Ave, pulling up in front of Julio's Electronics and Pawn. Parking the Mustang in front of the store, he turned it off and unbuckled his seat belt. "This might take a spell, ya wanna come on in and have a look see, ur ya wanna sit har? ...... Might find sumthin' that'll come in handy fur ya." Tim the stepped out of the car and walked around and opened Morgan's door. Tim then turned and walked into Julio's store "Holla Senior Tim, long time I no see you." An old weathered Hispanic man said with a broad grin.

As Tim Rutherford walked into 'Julio's Electronics', the silver cadillac glided to a stop and parked on the other side of the street. Staring out from the open windows were two African American men and in the back seat a Hispanic man, his face completely covered with tattoos.



"That's him, man! I told you I saw him!" Said the excited gangster in the passenger seat.



The young man driving the car, known as D-Slam said nothing, just stroked his chin and eyed up the man who was supposedly the one who sent his brother to the pen and shot dead, two of his cousins. He glanced back to the one in the back seat. The tattooed thug sat silently, focusing on the man and remained staring at the doorway even after he went into the building. He seemed to enter a trance-like state, and as concentrated the tattoos on his flesh began to writhe and twist.

"So whats you think, 'Doo?" Asked the leader.



"It's him." Answered the one known as Voodoo with the upmost certainty. "I believe he is also da one the Fed's are after. Da one they are calling, 'Wrangler'."

"Shoot, dawg! That's the guy?" Squeeled the one in the passenger seat. "Man, we gots ta go in there right now and bust up that j-cat!"

"Cool it, Hi-Dro." Ordered the driver. "We gots ta think this through. Now them other motherf- - - s gots their asses handed to them cause they didn't think. We gots ta guard our grills, know what I'm sayin'?"

Hi-Dro, smiled submissively. "Com'on, Slam, You just do yo thing and everything be everything. This busta won't even know what hit 'em."

"Na, man. This guys, good. We needs to blind side this motherf- - -r." Countered D-Slam as he put the car in gear and they slowly pulled around the corner. This wasn't their neighbourhood and he wanted to make sure that there weren't any soldiers around looking for a fight before they made their move. They'd wait for Wrangler to come out of the shop and do a drive by on him. He turned the car around, lined himself up with the store front, parked the car and waited. "Yo, Voodoo, give one of them street sweepers (machine gun) to Dro. Now when he comes out, we're gonna hit him hard and fast."

"Just do your thing, man." Barked Hi-Dro. "Doo and me know the drill."

"Ay'ight motherf- - -r, just chill." Said D-Slam. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, closed his eyes and concentrated. The car began to shimmer then vanished from sight. Everything outside the car was tinted blue and they knew that they were invisible.

"Now, remember that once we start rolling I can't keep this up." Instructed D-Slam, gripping the steering wheel tightly, beads of sweat forming on his brow from the strain of hiding something as large as a car.

As Tim smiled as Morgan left, reached in his back pocket and withdrew a small folded stack of money held together with a rubberband. He pealed off two one-hundred dollar bis and folded the three one dollar bills around them, sliding them into his jacket pocket ans he laid the CD on the counter and stuffed the rest of the money back into his hip pocket.

"Hey Julio, my friend. How are things going?" he said as the old man gave him a hug.

"Ju know good days an bad days. This is not the place it once was, theeze damned gangs gots everybody afraid. But I here tell of some hombre, he take out a few of theeze gangbangers." Julio then gave Tim a quizzical look. "Ju tink I maybe know this "wrangler"

"I ain't got no idea what ya ar yakin' 'bout Julio." Tim said

"I tink you knows more dan yuz say, my old friend. Now what ju needs." Julio said with a slight twinkle in his eye.


"I be needin' a police scanner and radio with ultra high frequency and a broad band width. I also need 300 rounds of twelve gauge slug, 50 rounds of 12 gauge shedders and a thousahnd rounds of 40 caliber S&W law enforcement. Ya got a 9mm semi automatic and and a thousand rounds of 9mm holow points?" Tim said

"Damn yuz goin' ta war hombre?" said Julio

"Naw just like ta be ready." Tim then looked around the store as Julio gathered the requested items. Tim grabbed a couple of kevlar vests and laid them on the counter next to the cd.

Julio desireed items along with the cd into a small box and shoved them towards Tim.

Tim reached in his hip pocket and pulled out the folded money "What I owe ya compadre?"

Julio held up his hands "Ju no owe me a ting. Ju help Julio and young Juan, dat lawyer he no take no money for defending Juan. He say it tooken care of. Your poppa he be good ta Julio too." he crossed himself and added "My the Good LOrd Bless his soul. He hel Julio become United State citizen."

Tim smiled and took Julio's hand slipping the folded money into his hand as he shook it. "Now I ain't gonna have it any other way Julio. You watch yur ass now. An anybody come snoopin' round ya ain't seen me in years." Tim then turned and walked out towards the Mustang.

"Morgan hit tha hatchback release, it's in the glove box." Tim said as he moved towards the back of the car. When the hatch opened he placed the box inside, took out the hand held police scanner, the hand held police radio, the 9mm and a hundred round box of ammunition, the hand held police scanner, the hand held police radio the CD, two one hundred round boxes of 40 caliber ammunition, tossed them on the rear seat and reaches up to shut the hatch back.

As Morgan sat and waited on Tim to come out, she noticed a Cadillac pull up across the street. She watched as a man with a tatooed face pointed at Tim standing at the counter, then saw the other to men look. She then saw the man in the passanger seat hand something that looked like a gun to the tatooed man. They then drove off slowly. Shortly there after Tim came out carring a box and Tim asked her to open the back hatch. She popped the hatch like Tim requested, then turned back around, watching people walk by. She waved at the man who owned the store as he waved at her, somehow knowing that she was in the car even though he couldn't see her.

Her eyes widened when she saw what Tim had tossed into the back seat. She stepped out of the car and looked at Tim, a worried expression on her face. "Uhhhh...Tim....what's with all the...uhhh...toys and stuff? Something I should know about?" She wasn't sure what to think and even though she knew how to shoot a gun that didn't mean that was good at it.

While she was waiting for Tim to reply, she shivered, feeling as if something wasn't quite right. Something was going to happen and even though she didn't have premonitions, she did have a good sixth sense at times and fairly good instincts. She keeps looking up and down the street, "Tim, something doesn't feel right. I can't explain it, it just feels like there's something coming."

Morgan sat there waiting for Tim to respond uneasily, she can't shake the feeling that something is going to happen, she definately didn't get a good feeling about the men in the Cadillac. She sat there, nervously waiting on Tim to finish loading the car, looking up and down the street.

Suddenly, she sees the cadillac appear where it had been sitting, invisible to her and everyone else walking, about three car lengths behind them. She knows now that it was a gun she saw exchange hands and slides over into the driver's seat, starting the car. "TIM, GET IN....GET IN!! DRIVE BY!! YOUR THE TARGET.....GET IN!!

As Tim jumps in through the hatchback, Morgan slams the car into gear and peels out, the cadillac hot on their tail.

Tim jumped into the back seat, pulling the hatch back shut as he did and Morgan floored the Mustang and it started screaming down 2nd Avenue. Climbing into the front seat, he grabbed the sawed off shotgun and two boxes of shells ..... "Stay on this street then turn left on 120th cross Lexington to Park Avenue then turn right to 132nd Steet then left on 5th Avenue, right at 138th and across the Madison Avenue Bridge." Tim said as he loaded the shot gun and rolled down the passanger side window.

He grabbed the handheld police radio and turned it on, as a rapid series of shots were fired from the Cadillac. Tim stuck the barrel of the sawed off shot gun out the window, aiming back at the Cadillac and fired hitting the right headlight. As he ejected the spent shell and prepared to fire again a voice of the radio said "All units vicinity of 114th and 2nd Avenue....Code 3 ....Report of shots fired, possible Code Purple (Code 3 = Use lights and siren ...Code Purple=Gang Activity) Tim picked up the radio and said "Unit 6743 - 1079" (1079=In route)

In the distance could be heard sirens, as a series of patrol cars reported that they were in route.

Morgan just nodded her head at Tim, letting him know that she'd heard his directions. She was a good driver, down-shifting and up-shifting quickly as needed, taking the corners at breakneck speeds, but smooth, not choppy.

She winced when she heard the volley of gunfire coming from the caddy and put on a burst of speed as she made a sharp left turn onto 5th Avenue. She couldn't keep a small scream from escaping as she saw the sparks of the bulletts hitting the driver's side window, but she didn't slow down nor miss a beat.

At 138th street, she slams on the brakes as she makes the turn as sharp as she possibly can, causing the caddy to speed by and slam into a car parked along side the road. This slows them down for a few seconds before they're back on their tail.

"I"M COMING UP TO THE MADISON AVENUE BRIDGE!!! WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?"

"Cross the Bidge take Boston Road and turn left on Boston Post Road, then left on Baychester Avenue." Tim said as a siren grew louder and the radio barked "Unit Baker 253 ... 1080 a silver 2006 Cadillac Coupe De Ville New York Liscense Boy - Adam - Nora - George - Edward - Robert" ....... "Unit Baker 253 ....1012...... 1099 .... " ( 1080 = Pursuit in progress; 1012 = Stand by; 1099 = Wanted or stolen )



As Tim looked out the passanger side window two squad cars pulled across the intersection two blocks behind them and blocked the street. Tim said "Slow down and turn left then turn right and find an alley." When Tim turned around in the seat, blood was running down his left arm just below his tatoo.

The Cadillac came to a screach halt sliding side way in the street as the officers in the two squad cars jumped out and lowered sawed off shotgun across the tops of thier patrol cars and the pursuing partol car slid to a stop and the two oficers jumped out with thier weapons drawn.

"Aw shucks, it ain't nothin' but a scratch." Tim said as Morgan jumped out of the car and retieved her first aid kit. He saw as her hands shook while finishing the bandage. As she began to shake all over, he reached over and took her into his arms. "It's all over, fur now Morgan. Why don't ya slide ovr' har an' let me drive a spell. Ya done yurself right proud, ifin' ya hadn' acted so fast, them bangrs, wud of had me fur sure, an I thank ya fur that. I ain't gotta a hankerin' ta die in New York City. I kinda figured I just go ta sleep in my rockin' char on my parch, on the ranch in Texas, an wake up on that big ranch in tha sky." Tim said

"So why don't we just mosey on outa har and git up ta Troy so I kin intraduce ya ta my friends." Tim released Morgan, slid out of the passenger's seat and walked around to the drivers side. Sliding into the drivers seat as she slid over to the passager's seat, placing the shot gun and shells on the back deck of the folded down rear seat. Tim started the car and said "Lay that Police radio on tha console, will ya MOrgan, please." Slowly Tim pulled the Mustang out of the alley.