chapter 123

word count: 1225

it didn’t take long for a patrol car to roll up on buzz,, still duck taped into the chair,, laying somewhat worse from the ware in the middle of the street.. the chair hand splintered in the fall,, a portion of which had pierced buzz’s calf and was sticking straight through the flesh.. buzz was in what appeared to be agonizing pain.. as the first responders bounded out of the car,, one of them called for a bus.. 

“officer down!!! need immediate response corner of lafayette and matheson!!”

the duct tape over buzz’s mouth was not going to be easily removed,, in fact the officers decided to wait on the bus to remove it in order to not pull off half of buzz’s lips in the process..  buzz flailed and writhed in pain.. he tried to speak,, but was clearly unable to do so..

“hang in there buddy,, the bus is on the way,, we’ll have that tape off in no time.. in the meantime let me see if i can’t loose you from some of these restraints.” with that he took out a knife and gingerly nipped away at the duct tape that secured buzz to the chair,, careful to rip off as little hair and flesh as was humanly possible in the process.. 

in the distance,, a siren sounded.. it wouldn’t be long now.. 

buzz’s mind raced.. they still had mrs. dunn.. and if it was money they were after,, it was highly unlikely she would bring in much of a windfall.. chances were better they would just off her,, and it was imperative that they be caught before they had the opportunity to do so.. 

gil careened the crown vic to a stop at the corner of lafayette and matheson, just as the bus pulled up.. he and hank ran over to buzz,, still retrained,, unable to talk and visibly in severe pain.. 

as the emt’s worked diligently at removing the duct tape from buzz’s mouth hank tried unsuccessfully to soothe him.

“they’re on the run!! but we are closing in fast.. it shouldn’t be long now before the call comes in that we got ‘em.. just relax buddy,, we ought to have that tape off in no time and then you can fill us in.”

after several minutes of gently working the tape off buzz’s lips with the help of some baby oil and petroleum jelly,, at last buzz was free to talk.. he did so in hushed tones,, the pain clearly getting the better of him.. 

“mick is not mick at all.. he is his twin brother mark,, and he and the old lady offed mick when he refused to cooperate with their sick plan.. they got mob ties,, serious mob ties.. they wanted to auction me off to the highest bidder.. we gotta get mrs. dunn before they off her.. she isn’t worth anything to them. it was me that they wanted.. you gotta help her…’ he whispered as he slipped off into a drug induced sleep,, thanks to the pain meds the emt’s were slipping thru the iv.. .. 

as they loaded buzz still partially restrained onto the gurney, gil offered to ride in with him,, as hank took to the streets to aid in the chase.. he wanted to be there when they took the motherfuckers down.. 

this was personal.. all too personal.. and he wasn’t gonna let it transpire without him being there to make sure it all went down by the book and there was  no way a legal loophole would be left open that might allow for them to get off lightly on a technicality.. 

with four squad cars in close pursuit, mark took every avenue available to shake them.. unfortunately for him,, he wasn’t anticipating the cumbersome sunday morning traffic,, and found himself boxed in at the stop light at the corner of matheson and main street.. 

thinking only about saving himself at this point in time,, he fled on foot,, only to be taken down by a frothing canine that was loosed from the back of one of the squad cars.. as the dog held on to his calf,, shaking him like a dead rabbit, mark screamed out in agony, “get him off me!! get him off me!!”

the dogs handler resisted the temptation to call the dog off too quickly as it was more than a little bit gratifying to see him writhing in pain as the dog clamped on and refused to let go.. 

back in the hearse, mother was swiftly taken into custody without any difficulty,, and a bus was called to transport both her, and mrs. dunn,, who although looked as if she had survived the traumatic situation intact,, no doubt needed to be checked over.. 

the first responders worked at gently removing the duct tape from her mouth,, as the rest of the team loaded her still duct taped to her chair onto a gurney for quick transport.. 

one of the officers on the scene accompanied mrs . dunn to the hospital and took down her rapid fire accounting of what had gone on.. by the time they arrived he had more than enough for an indictment.. there was no way this gruesome twosome was gonna get away with this..   

as soon as the call came in that mrs. dunn had been recovered safely, hank tried to roust buzz to give him the good news..  it was all to no avail,, the drugs still had him under.. he was gonna have to wait till after the surgery to remove the splintered wood from his calf was completed to find out that everything was alright.. 

the emergency room staff shooed hank out of the exam room as they prepared buzz for surgery.. in the waiting area he met up with the officer that had made the ride in with mrs. dunn,, and was only too eager to be filled in on all the details mrs. dunn had been able to impart on her ride into the hospital.. 

gil met up with the two of them and together the three of them tried to piece it all together..  

“fuckin’ mick!! hank exclaimed. “i always knew there was something that was just not right about that guy.”

“but i gotta tell ya,” gil interjected “never in a million years would i have imagined he could have been conspiring to pull off something like this!! guy just didn’t seem to have enough common sense to tie his own shoes let alone put together a plot like this..”

“he didn’t.” hank assured him.. “that’s why his mother and mark took him out like they did.. he might have opened the door,, but in the end it seems he was more trouble than he was worth.."

it was then that they herd the unmistakable cries of mrs. johnson as she was being hauled into the emergency room.

“show some common decency will you??” she bellowed. “i am an old lady,, you don’t have any reason to man handle me like this!! i’ll have your badge!!” she shouted at the attending officer has he accompanied her into the cordoned off exam room.

“you’ll have more than my badge lady!!” he advised her,, “you’re gonna have the unlimited hospitality of the DOC,, for the rest of your days if i have anything to say about it..”