Sunday Reading - Fight or Flight cont.

Fight or Flight cont.

Why do I always get stuck with this dickhead? Was what Eric was asking himself as he downed another cup of coffee and stamped his feet in the slush trying to wake up.

Eric had always wanted to be a small town cop ever since he was a kid. After getting through high school he had joined the National Guard and became an MP. With basic and AIT under his belt all he had to do was go to drill each month, get a part time job and wait to take his state law enforcement course for certification. At twenty one he was offered a spot almost automatically with the local department. The turnover rate was pretty high in those days because the pay wasn't all that good.

Eric didn't care he was doing what he loved. After almost 15 years on the force the locals all liked him and he was assured of  landing the chief job when the current one retired or more likely found a higher paying position somewhere else. Eric had learned his lesson after the last time and even went and got his Bachelors degree in Criminal Justice so the asshole politicians didn't have a convenient excuse this next time around.

"Fucking Mayor" He said out loud.

Until then here he was, the official Ashton Police Department officer on loan to the regional DHS task force. Eric hated these damned so called task forces. Once long ago he had been talked into taking a slot with a regional drug task force made up of personnel from all the departments around the area. They were  given full SWAT gear and each department of course got some Federal money, which was the real reason the chief at the time was all for it. Eric just wasn't that type of officer and quickly moved aside when the extra money allowed the department to hire another three officers. There was no end to applicants that just wanted to be armed thugs back in those days and Eric couldn't stomach the one knock with a battering ram raids and dog shooting parties the other officers seemed to enjoy.

The last raid was what did it. Up North in the college town they had a warrant on an alleged meth house. As it turned out they were indeed cooking meth in there but no one even bothered to ask about children and when the stack went in knocking the door off it's hinges they about killed a four year old girl. They didn't even know she was under the broken door until all of them had tramped over her. She didn't die, which saved the task force some bad press, but she was never going to grow up to be a healthy woman that's for sure.

Eric still had nightmares about it and he knew with cold certainty not one other member of that task force even cared or remembered it.

So here he was on another joint task force just outside Ashton. His town. At least there were no raids because the Fed guys looked down on the locals and only used them to set up these check points that were manned by a couple of National Guard guys, a local law enforcement representative and a DHS thug. The idea was to check anyone coming or going into the off limits areas and if an arrest or pursuit took place the DHS agent and the local LEO would do it in the locals patrol car and leave the National Guard guys at the checkpoint.

It really wasn't a bad gig. These days there wasn't much traffic in or out of the off limits area but it meant spending time with a dickhead or in this case Agent Anthony Delgado aka dickead.

At the moment agent dickhead was over telling one of the National Guard guys how in the Marines they made the top gunner constantly scan 360 degrees at all times while at a check point.  The poor kid standing up through the open turret on the Hummer manning the SAW just kept saying yes sir and swiveling around as fast as he could.

When Eric had had enough he broke in saying "Have there been any red flags radioed in tonight Agent Delgado?"

The kid on top of the Hummer looked at Eric with obvious relief as dickhead turned to focus on the question, puffing up his chest in imagined importance. Eric gave the soldier a quick look and winked.

'Ya some dirtbag escapee stole a car up near the university and assaulted a couple of chicks. That was a few hours ago so I doubt we will see anything of him." He said "If the scumbag was coming this way he would have passed by here a long time ago."

It was then that Agent Delgado noticed the headlights coming down the road from the West.

"Heads up guys" is all he said as he stepped out into the road to wave the red SUV down.

The checkpoint really wasn't set up to stop traffic. It had one simple 2"x4" saw horse type arrangement across the road and that was it. The driver of the SUV gunned the engine and damned near did the world a service by running over agent Delgado but dickhead managed to jump out of the way at the last second, all the while screaming at the soldier on the SAW to fire.

Eric had no clue what was wrong with the SAW he glanced up to see the National Guardsman fiddling with it but it never did fire. The other guardsman did begin popping off with his old M16A2 but Eric doubted if he hit anything.

The driver of the SUV didn't know what he was doing that much was obvious. He had ran right over one of the upright supports for the barrier and by the looks of it had shoved one leg of it up under the vehicle hard enough to get stuck there. Eric chucked his coffee to the side of the road and moved to his patrol car while dickhead was screaming to get after him as he got up and made for the passenger side of Eric's patrol car.

They were 50 yards down the road and only about two tenths of a mile behind the jeep in justa  few seconds.

"Shit I left my M-4 hanging on that damned HumVee"  Delgado said. "Is your shotgun unlocked down here?"

Delgado was looking down and reaching under the seat trying to remove the old 870 Eric's department assigned to each patrol car so he didn't see the tail lights of the Jeep suddenly rise into the air and then spin end over end to land upside down twenty yards into an old hay field.

Agent Delgado did curse loudly when the top of his head bumped hard into the handle attached to the car's dashboard as Eric slowly pumped the brakes to come to a safe stop.

"Remember to buckle up. It's the Law" was all Eric could think of in reply to Dickhead's cursing.

Eric was not the slightest bit surprised the jeep went off the road at this particular spot. Over the years many a drunk driver had done exactly what this guy did. Not a few of them were being pursued by Eric in this very car as a matter of fact. With the warning signs missing, the lack of snow removal and the speed the jeep was traveling this outcome was a done deal in Eric's mind before he had even started his pursuit. No reason to let Dickhead in on that though.

As Delgado fumbled with the 870's safety release Eric aimed the spotlight towards the wrecked jeep and was surprised to see a figure dragging himself away from the wreckage towards the treeline on the edge of the field.

"Now let's get that son-of-a-bitch" Delgado stated as he climbed out the passenger door while simultaneously working the slide of the 870.