Pursuit

Chapter 4

Pursuit Team

"That guy was a pain! He was just toying with us!" Tucker snapped.

Vanoss chuckled, "Welcome to Trestle. Smii7y owns these roads."

"That doesn't make sense to me. How does he escape so easily by roads we don't even know about? Shouldn't we learn them?" Eli asked.

"We've tried." Fitz said as he hung up his police uniform in a locker, "For every secret road you see, there's five more you don't and Smii7y knows them all. We've sent out scouts, drones, satellite images, and cartographers. They still can't figure out how he slips away."

"What about the Subaru that was with him? He seemed pretty good. They both got out of the pass." Flom pointed out.

Nogla thought for a moment, "I haven't seen him around yet. He did seem very talented."

"I swear. If we have another ghost car, Imma lose my shit." Vanoss said.

"His car is like the color of lightning. Lightning Subaru." Eli said, "No that doesn't sound good."

Nogla ignored him, "It wasn't a complete loss. We did catch some racers last night. Head home boys. Get some sleep for pursuit tonight." The team hung up their uniforms and closed lockers.

"Oh! Lightning wheels!" Eli said as he followed Tucker out of the police station.

"You need help, Eli." Tucker responded. Nogla watched them go. He placed his hands on his desk. There on the desk was a message that was haunting him.

Chief Nogla,

If the suspect Smii7y is not restrained and put to justice in three months, you will be demoted and replaced. The T.P.D. will not tolerate these dangerous racers and action must be taken to protect the people of Trestle.

-T.P.D.

Nogla sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. The racers were enough of an issue for him. He didn't need the higher-ups barking up his tree. That message was sent a month ago and time was not on his side. He was nowhere near catching Smii7y and Smii7y had already taken advantage of the new members of the pursuit team. He fell back into his office chair. There was a beep from his desk phone.

"Chief. There is a call from Captain Esmond." Said a female voice from his receiver.

Nogla sighed and pressed a button on it, "Patch him through." There was a beep as the call connected.

"Nogla! What the hell happened last night?! An hour and a half pursuit?!" The man on the other side of the phone shouted.

"Sir. It was merely an accident. We have a few new pursuit team members who didn't understand." Nogla explained.

"Accident or not! That damn racer made bank off of your team! It's your job to train them and catch this son of a bitch!" Esmond shouted.

"Yes sir. I know sir. I will make sure that they are educated." Nogla replied.

"You better! Your position is on the line and I'll get real pursuit drivers out there!" Esmond threatened.

"Yes sir. This team is the best of the best. Even the new drivers. We just need time for a plan." Nogla said.

"No need. We already have one in place." Esmond said a lot more calmly than before.

Nogla's brows furrowed, "What plan?"

"That is above your pay grade. You haven't been able to catch Smii7y for years so it's time for me to step in. That is it, Chief. You have two more months." The call ended with a dial tone. Nogla sighed. It was now a race to catch Smii7y with his team against Esmond's plan. He had no idea what Esmond's plan was but it wasn't looking good for him.

He stood up and left the police station to try and develop a plan of his own before their patrol tonight.

"Keep an eye out, team." Nogla said into his scanner. It was late into the night and he was looking for a white Porsche.

"Oh I know! Blue Thunder! For the Subaru!" Eli exclaimed.

Tucker yawned, "You're still on that, Eli?"

"I really want to name the Subaru. You guys named the Porsche. I wanna name the Subaru." Eli said defensively.

"Who's gonna tell him that Smii7y rolls with a whole team of misfits." Fitz chuckled.

"Shush. You're going to give him ideas." Vanoss said.

"Guys. Clear coms." Nogla ordered.

"Come on, Nogla. Why is looking for Smii7y tonight any different from any other night? We're not going to catch him." Vanoss asked. Nogla debated on telling them or not.

"We have a deadline to catch Smii7y." Nogla stated. There was silence throughout the scanner.

"What kind of deadline?" Vanoss asked after a few moments of silence.

Nogla sighed, "I got a call from Captain Esmond this morning. He said that he has a plan to catch Smii7y. I don't know what it is but he is giving us two months to get Smii7y in custody or I will be removed from this position." There was no response on the scanner for a while. Nogla just listened to his car hum and watched the road ahead.

"If you're removed from Trestle, we will be too, huh?" Fitz asked. Fitz was always the one who put the pieces together the fastest which was why Nogla always wanted him on his team.

"I can't guarantee that you all will have this position, no." Nogla sighed.

"But you just requested us to be on this mission." Tucker said softly.

"I did. In hopes that a larger team would be able to track this guy down." Nogla responded.

"Then we have two months to bust Smii7y and take down these racers for good. We can do it." Flom said encouragingly.

"Yeah! Fitz knows the racers, Vanoss can teach us, and with Nogla in charge, we will have these guys pinned down in no time!" Eli agreed. Nogla smiled. He was glad he brought the rookies on. The team needed a bit of confidence.

Fitz chuckled, "I agree. It's a race to catch the Ghost Porsche and free the Trestle roads of those damn racers."

"Oh! Lightning Rex!" Eli exclaimed.

"Where'd the Rex come from?" Vanoss asked.

"Well, WRX could be said like Rex." Eli explained.

Nogla chuckled, "We'll catch the Ghost Porsche, the Lightning Rex, and the lot of them."

"Oh boy. Nogla likes it. Guess it's sticking." Fitz laughed.