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Chapter 9
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2021-03-04 13:02:31He headed straight to Andy’s house. He knocked on the door and a big bulk of a man answered. He was surly but seemed to relax when he realized it was Zane, the town’s chief of police.
“Yes chief, how can I help ya?”
“I’m looking for Andy. Is he here?”
“Why? He done somethin’ wrong?” the man asked immediately suspicious.
“On the contrary,” Zane smiled. “He’s done something right.”
“Oh, well that’s good,” the man smiled. He opened the screen door and invited Zane in.
Zane politely declined, saying he was enjoying the beautiful day outside.
“Andy!” the man shouted.
Moments later a young boy about James’ age rounded the corner into the living room behind the man at the door.
“Yes, Dad?”
“Police chief here wants to have a word with ya. Take a walk with him outside,” the man replied stepping aside to let Andy out.
Andy stepped outside on the porch and looked up at Zane.
“Yes sir. How can I help you?”
“Shall we take a walk?” Zane suggested.
“Okay,” Andy shrugged.
Together they stepped off the porch and walked across the open field in front of Andy’s house. Zane could feel his father watching them.
“Am I in trouble Chief?” asked Andy.
“No. Not at all,” Zane assured Andy tousling his hair. “I just have some questions I’d like to ask you about a job interview you had the other day.”
“Oh, that. Okay,” Andy replied.
“I understand you never turned up for work. Did you decide you didn’t want to work there or was there something else that stopped you from going?”
Andy shook his head. “No sir. I just felt something wasn’t right about the job. When they called me to go yesterday, I answered and said okay, but decided not to. Then James sent me a message and said they were packing drugs.”
“I see. What did you think about that?”
Andy was quiet for a moment. Hesitant. Then finally he made a decision. “Can I ask you not to say anything Chief?”
He looked up at Zane searching for assurance.
“Your secret will safe be with me as long as it doesn’t break the law.”
Andy smiled, “No sir. I’m the one who called the police with the tip-off.”
“I thought as much when you told me you didn’t go to work. I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you, sir. But please don’t say anything. When I tipped the police off it was because I wanted the drug dealers caught, not my friends. But I heard I got them into trouble. I didn’t mean to. Honest.”
“It’s okay. I won’t say anything. I promise. But I wanted to ask you if you could remember anything from your interview. Anything at all that could help us find this woman. She escaped yesterday.”
“She escaped? Wow!” Andy was surprised. He was quiet as he thought a moment. He closed his eyes tightly. “Come to think of it, there was something....”
“Okay. Can you remember?”
“I’m trying sir.” Andy kept his eyes closed. He screwed his face up and he looked as if he was in pain as he tried to remember.
Zane waited patiently as Andy tried to remember. Then he opened his eyes and his face lit up. “I’ve got it!”
Zane waited for him to continue.
“She had a pen and a pencil from a motel. The ‘Hello Goodbye’ Motel just outside town. I don’t know if she’s staying there but I figured she had to be when she interviewed us. She told us she was only in town for a few days setting up her business and when I saw the pen and pencil, I figured she must be staying there while she’s in town.”
“Why didn’t you tell the police that?”
“I was scared to reveal who I was, and in all honesty, I just remembered now about the pen and pencil. Besides, I figured she’d been arrested anyways....”
“Thanks, you’ve done great Andy. I’ll tell no-one that you gave us the tip-off. But James knows I came to see you.
So don’t tell him anything we discussed. Just tell him you couldn’t answer my questions because you never turned up for work.”
“Sure, thanks Chief. I appreciate it and I’m glad I was able to help.”
Zane tousled his hair again and thanked him before leaving. He turned onto the main road and headed to the ‘Hello Goodbye’ Motel just outside town.
He reached it in no time and drove by slowly. There weren’t many cars out front but he decided not to stop at the motel itself.
There was a supermarket a bit further down on the opposite side of the road. He pulled off there and parked behind other cars so his cruiser wasn’t so readily noticeable. Then he retrieved the binoculars from the cubbyhole and settled down to watch.
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The ‘Hello Goodbye Motel’ was a single-story structure with ten guest rooms. Even so, it wasn’t easy to approach with stealth. All the rooms had windows that looked out front over the main road. The entrance was such that every car had to drive by each room on the way to the reception. The chances of being spotted were high and the chances that Hope wouldescape if she saw him were high. He would have to go to reception and ask if they had a guest fitting her description.If she spotted him driving up in that time she would be long gone by the time he got to her room. He watched for hours but so no movement. He wondered if Hope had checked out already. After her capture, she might have decided to move on. Brian radioed him and asked where he was.“I’m questioning the kids we arrested who were released. So far nothing. Let me know if anything comes up at your end.”Brian assured him that he would.Zane turned his
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He breathed slowly and as quietly as he could trying to hear what was happening in the bedroom. He hoped she would leave again soon for any reason. His luck had run out though. He heard her push open the bathroom door and enter the bathroom.He heard the rustling of clothing and saw the blur of her movements through the shower curtain. He wondered if she could see his blurred outline standing still in the bath. From her blurred outline, it was clear that she was undressing. She finished undressing and sat down on the toilet, relieving herself. Then she flushed the toilet and Zane heaved a quick sighof relief under cover of the noise of the flushing toilet.In the next instant, the shower curtain was swept aside as Hope cried out.“Who the hell are ...?” She broke off her question as she realized that Zane stood in her bath. She held a pistol trained on him. A smile slowly stretched across her face.“Well, well, Chief.”
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She listened to him breathing and to his heartbeat. She felt torn. She hadn’t known a man like Zane in a long time. But from when she had first been informed about him and come into this town and watched him, she had felt an ache in her heart. An ache she hadn’t known since she had first laid eyes on her daughter’s father all those years before. She had known what she was coming to do here. Had been promised this was her last job. Then they would let her go. Let her daughter go and she would be free. With a handsome payoff to boot and even funding for a non-profit organization to help street kids without having to employ them to pack or push drugs on the street.In her heart, she agreed with Zane. He was right. Even though she hadn’t started outright and had been peddling marijuana to begin with, she had never intended to do it this long. It had never been meant to be a way to make a living but rather a temporary to an end.And then? Then she ha
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They dressed and Zane left the way he had entered. Through the back window.Zane left Hope feeling more besotted than ever before. He felt as if he was adrift on the ocean. He had not felt the way he did about Hope since his fiancée. He was disappointed though. She was not going to give him the chance to show her that he could help her. She was going to continue regardless. Whatever hold the people had over her, it was more than she believed he could offer her.He told himself that he had to wise up. He had to be strong and accept that she was going to go down at some point.At this point, everything was between him and her and he had to believe that she would have some honor if she was caught and not take him down with her.Zane pondered their chat and her remark that there were corrupt cops involved. She had denied that there was any corrupt police on his team but since she had turned up here just maybe there were corrupt police on his team and s
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Zane looked at Sanchez as he pondered what to say and where to begin. He had always considered Sanchez as one of his best friends. They had gone to the academy together, graduated together, and started together learning their trade on the streets of Chicago.Zane had always seen Sanchez as his equal in their careers even though they were best friends as well.He knew though that what he had to say would potentially put him below Sanchez from a legal standpoint. Even so, he knew he could trust Sanchez if anyone. Besides Sanchez was in the FBI, separate from the police force. He was safe discussing what he had to discuss with Sanchez.“I think I’m in a spot of trouble. Or maybe more than just a spot.”Sanchez sat forward. He was all ears. “I’m here buddy. What’s troubling you?”Zane hesitated then made his decision and plowed on. He told Sanchez how they had received a tip-off about a drug-running operation i
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Zane arrived back in Hurstville after dark. He felt better after meeting Sanchez. He’d had time to think on the journey back and knew he had to keep his distance from Hope as much as possible.He would try to steer things through Brian and the other officers as far as possible. He was the chief after all.His phone buzzed with a message. Talk of the devil…It was Hope.Why so quiet?He looked at the message. He was tempted to answer it but decided not to. He needed to cut ties. Sanchez had let him know he could still get through this with his job and badge intact. But continuing with what he had done with Hope wasn’t going to help him. He was sad at having to cut ties.He had not felt like this with any woman for a long time. While he hadn’t spent much time with Hope, there was something more than he had felt for other women he had briefly dated since his ex-fiancee. He wasn’t quite sure what it was th
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The phone rang ten times before it was finally answered.“Eric?”“Sanchez! Nice to hear from you man. It’s been a while.”“It sure has. It’s good to hear your voice too.”Eric was in the FBI jurisdiction under which Hurstville fell.“What can I do for you?’“I had a visitor yesterday. A highly placed source who told me about a drug network expanding to Hurstville. Are you guys aware of the operation? Are you tracking anything that way?”Eric was silent for a moment. “Who’s your source?”“He’s highly placed. He told me that his source told him there’s a bunch of corrupt cops involved in this ring and that Hurstville is the last stop to opening a cross country drug-running highway. His source set up the network in other towns before Hurstville and is now setting it up in Hurstville too. He came to me because he doesn’
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Zane and his men were in place well before three pm. They had arrived separately and crept into hiding in the bushes and long grass that surrounded the Old Mill.The Old Mill had ceased operations years before and was in a state of disrepair. Nevertheless, the owner kept the caretaker employed. Everyone expected it was out of the goodness of his heart that the owner employed the caretaker.The caretaker, Kevin, was in his seventies and lived alone at the Old Mill. He had been loyal to the employer for many years and everyone believed that keeping the caretaker on even though he was unable of fulfilling the duty of taking care of the Old Mill was the owner’s way of repaying Kevin’s loyalty.Why Kevin would be involved in being a contact for a drug cartel was beyond Zane. There was no confirmation that it was him though. Just the fact that he was the caretaker and therefore living onsite didn’t make him the contact. Nevertheless, they stayed well
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Zane watched Amanda as she posed for the photographer. She was a natural as far as he was concerned. He never tired of watching her at work. How many men had the opportunity to spend as much time as he did with their wives every day?He had to admit that he had been a little concerned at the thought of being Amanda’s bodyguard at first, not that he hadn’t wanted to but he had doubted it was necessary. A few nasty incidents with stalkers had however quickly brought home the reality of the dangers that models could face in their line of work even if they weren’t the world’s most famous models.After Hurstville, he had resigned from his position as chief of police and relocated to New York to be with Amanda full time. They had married a few months later and Zane had started to build his security firm. He had a few small jobs for personal protection so far and on the whole, work was increasing slowly. When he didn’t have other wo
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Amanda had watched the news with interest. She heard that Zane had been cleared of all charges and reinstated as chief of police in Hurstville.She thought of calling him to congratulate him but she put it off. She felt guilty for the way she had ended things. She had been right she knew but she also knew in her heart that what she had done went against everything her parents had always taught her. She had chosen money and success over caring for another. On the other hand, it was her life and she had to look after herself. There was no point in destroying her career because she cared about Zane.While they had enjoyed some passionate moments after they met again, a decade had passed and there was no guarantee that their new relationship would last. She could not justify destroying her career for Zane.Now that he was cleared she wondered if he would call her. Over the next few days though, he had not called and she decided that he must have decided it was best
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Zane returned to his home after the excitement was finished. He returned the key for the cabin to the person Amanda had left in charge at her home up the road from him.He relaxed for a few days at home just following the story as the ripples from the arrests that had been made in Hurstville spread out across the six other states where he had known Sunflower, or Hope had worked. Police Chiefs, police, and criminals were all arrested in sweeping raids across the states.As Zane watched the updates one afternoon, his phone rang. He answered it.“Sanchez! How are you? I see you guys have been busy. Very busy!”“We sure are,” Sanchez replied. “I’m just calling to tell you that your name should be cleared this afternoon. I asked that it be given top priority so you could move on with your life. Check your e-mail a bit later. I’ll have the documents scanned and e-mailed to you as soon as it’s done. No more crimina
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“How much cash is in there?” Loman asked.“Five million,” Jerry replied. “Don’t you just love these old Cadillacs? That’s why they’re so awesome. So much boot space to carry so much money or happy pills.”Commissioner Loman smiled.“Well, what do you want? What kinds of drugs do you want?”“Coke and Marijuana.”Commissioner Loman considered for a moment. “Okay, let’s deal.”He turned to Aaron. “You heard Jerry. You know what he wants. Get it and bring it. Let’s start getting the cash unpacked so we can get it counted.”“Roger that boss,” Aaron replied. He turned and shouted to some of the men. “Help get the cash unpacked and bring the goods.”The men hurried off to comply with their orders.They unloaded the cash and set it on tables that were brought and set down in front of the Cadil
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Zane made himself a cup of coffee and drank it while he waited for Johnson to return. Finally, he heard Johnson’s motorbike pull up outside. Zane turned off the lights and locked the house. Then he climbed on the back of Johnson’s bike and together they headed for the cabin.Sanchez let them in and locked the door behind them. They all sat down and ran through the new information they had gathered. Johnson gave them the address he had followed Hope to. It was a warehouse on the outskirts of Hurstville. Sanchez made a call and passed on the information to his team.They were told to meet at a point downtown in the morning at which point a combination of law enforcement agencies would gather nearby to support the team that would go in with Jerry. The rest of them intended to storm the building if necessary.Zane told Sanchez to tell his team to wait until he got the message from Hope that everyone was present. They didn’t want anyone slipping thr
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Zane entered his house and found Sanchez sitting on his sofa.“Hey,” Sanchez said as Zane entered. “What’s with the phone?”“I think the battery’s flat,” Zane replied. “Damn thing’s always acting up.” He pulled out his phone, turned it off, and dismantled it.“You think it’s bugged?” Sanchez said.Zane nodded. “Come with me,” he said. They left Zane’s home and drove up the road to the cabin that Amanda was allowing him to use.They entered and settled at the dining table. Zane explained everything to Sanchez about Johnson returning and that he had sent him to get new phones and that he was using Johnson’s phone till he got back. He sent Johnson a message with directions to get to the cabin when Johnson sent him a message telling him he was on the way back.“Can you trust him?” Sanchez asked.“I believe so. I th
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Zane tried one last time with Hope and sent her a message informing her that it was his last night in Hurstville. He could only hope that she would take the bait and visit him.She did. But before she arrived Zane had another surprise visitor.He had just pulled onto the road when someone on a motorbike roared up behind him and flashed their light at him.Zane pulled over to the shoulder of the road. The motorcyclist pulled up beside him as he stopped. Zane was surprised when he saw who it was.“What are you doing back here?”“I decided to come back. I think you need some help.”“There’s a roadhouse about ten minutes out of town that way,” Zane signaled ahead of them. “I’ll meet you there. Don’t follow me okay?”“Got it,” Johnson revved his motorcycle and pulled off quickly disappearing into the distance ahead of Zane. Zane took his time enjoying the scenery
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Want to meet? No doubt you’re aware I’m no longer a threat to you. Zane sent the message to Hope.Why? As I recall you didn’t like me very much when we last met.I’m sorry Hope. I’ve given everything some thought and I realize that you had no choice but to do what you did. If you were in my shoes, you would have had the same reaction.Come around to my place. Let’s have dinner.I’ll think about it. You don’t seem to be too pissed at the fact that your career’s over.I can sit here and cry about it or accept that life goes on. I have opportunities to explore and some cash in the bank, Zane replied. It’ll probably mean leaving Hurstville but then you go where your job takes you.Okay. I’ll think about it, Hope replied.Zane left the messages at that. There was no more he could do. He contacted the fun
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By the time that Zane arrived at his home, he decided he needed to make himself scarce. He needed to leave town. He had no idea where he was going but he would think of something.Zane, opened the door to his home half expecting to have someone pointing a gun at him again. He breathed a sigh of relief when he realized his house was empty.Zane bathed and changed into casual clothes then started packing a bag with basics so he could leave. As he packed his phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number but decided to answer it.“Hello?”Chief Zane?”Zane wasn’t sure he recognized the voice. He didn’t admit that it was him. “Who is this?” he asked.“Chief? It’s Johnson.”“I’m not Chief anymore, Johnson,” Zane replied. “How’s your mother?”“She’s fine Chief ... er ... Zane. She’ll be okay. What’s happened there
