The Fear I've known

Hunting

Once my jaw had healed enough for me to return to my post, I jumped onto my computer and began to put as much of the information I knew together. From what I knew Alex was still in Rochester but I wasn't exactly sure where he was stationed. I had a hunch that needed further investigation so I called up one of my ex dealer contacts to see what I could find.

I punched in the number and waited for the line to ring a couple of times before I hung up. 'Damn' I thought to myself. I racked my brain for anyone else I knew that might know him. I let my head fall to my desk in frustration which caused an unbalanced badge to fall off the shelf above the desk onto my head, the metal glancing off my left temple. I cursed in pain and grabbed the badge ready to toss it, but saw something on it that piqued my interest.

It was one if my earliest badges from Saint Cloud when I had worked at the federal prison there. "That's it!" I exclaimed to myself drawing a few looks from others in the office. I snatched the phone up again and punched in what I hoped was the right number and let it ring. I had my fingers crossed as I counted the rings. One. Two. Then someone picked up the phone.

"Saint Cloud federal penitentiary, can I help you?"

"Is that you Jonesy?" I asked cautiously.

He answered with a question of his own. "Who is this?"

"It's Darius Jeanson." There was a pause.

"Jeanson? Like the Jeanson I knew back in highschool?!"

"The one and the only. How's it been my friend?"

He laughed. "Nothing new, just a few guys who come and go from the prison. So what prompted you to call?"

There he was. Always to the point and never wasting any time. "I called because i had a couple of questions about a guy we're chasing up here."

His tone went from playful to completely serious, "What's the guys name?'

"His name is Alexander Throndson. We got a hit on him after an explosion at an auto store. I was curious if you knew anything about him or what he likes to do."

There was silence from the other end with the occasional click I assumed was from a computer of some sort. After about a minute wait he came back on the phone. "It's interesting you bring him up."

"Why is that?"

"Well we had him in here a while back. He was generally a good prisoner, listening to instructions and even breaking up fights. I got the express feeling he was only being good to get out early though."

"That would not surprise me in the least."

There were a few more clicks and then Jones said, "Yeah, we let him out almost a year and a half ago on good behavior."

Good behavior, hah! I thought to myself and asked, "Where did he go after you let him out? I'm sure you had a tracker on him for a while after that."

 "As a matter of fact we did. We got rid of that a while back as well but the last place we had him was a hotel near Rochester."

"Perfect. Thanks a lot Jones, i owe you one." I hung up the phone and grabbed a phonebook. It was time to make some calls.

=================

An hour later, I  had talked with several hotels in and near Rochester with very few results. I decided I had had enough sitting around and got up to go do a round around the town. I Informed Frank and told him to let Dick know where I was if he asked.

I hopped into my cruiser and set off down some of the backstreets, looking at some of the businesses around the area. Here there was a business having a liquidation sale and another one closing shop. And there was a store just getting started with a red carpet starter sale. I looked at some of the paintings done on the buildings around and marvelled at how one man could do such large scale things. I went around like this for a while, just trying to relax and let my mind go for a bit.

I had made it nearly three quarters through my round when I saw a suspicious figure. I drove a bit closer to get a look at his face. When I did, i realized that it was Alexander! I stifled the urge to immediately jump out and give chase and instead watched him as to where he was going. He got into his vehicle, started it up and began driving away. I radioed for stand by backup and began to follow him.

I made a point to keep a fair distance between  my vehicle and his. If he was half as smart as I thought  he was, he was going to be keeping an eye out for cops. I thanked my lucky stars i had grabbed the undercover vehicle as he made a turn onto the main highway through town. He made an exit onto highway fourteen and I became curious as to where he was headed. After about 20 minutes he took a right into Owatonna. So this is why i couldn't find him. He's not staying in Rochester.

He made his way through the streets and eventually he stopped at a shady looking motel. I parked a block away and watched as he left his vehicle with a bag and went into the motel. I radioed dispatch to inform the Owatonna Police Department of my intentions, asking them to provide me with backup. I waited ten minutes before two more vehicles pulled up behind mine. I made sure i had everything and began to put on my vest when I noticed something in my pocket and i took it out.

It was the locket my mother had given me when i was a child. I dropped it into my breast pocket and got out of the vehicle. I told the other two officers who were coming with me of my intentions and told the last vehicle to stay in case of a possible chase. We made our way over to the motel and once inside, asked the receptionist for the room of the man who recently entered, knowing that Alexander would not have used his real name.

We got his room number and walked down the hallway. If the outside of the motel was sketchy then the inside was a right horror. The carpets were dirty and stained with the vomit and miscellaneaous spills, the walls were a grayish color with paint coming off revealing the underlying dry wall and there were obscene words and other graffiti everywhere. Why am i not surprised.

We found the room and I knocked on the door. "This is the police Mr. Throndson! You have ten seconds to come to the door before kick it down!"

We waited the ten seconds and I motioned the other two to get ready. I stepped back and gave the door two good kicks before the wood around the latch cracked and we could get in. Once on the other side I heard a gunshot and felt an excruciating pain in my chest. I fell over.

Hello to those still reading this story. I realize that this has been a long time coming ubt with college coming up I've got severl irons in the fire. Please let me know what you think about this chapter and give me a vote. It really helps motivate me. Next time we'll see what happens to our valiant cop :)