Mystery Noir

Mawaska Part 7

I continued driving around until well after dark, playing with the confusion in my mind as the ride on my bike helped me sort through the jumble of thoughts. I was dealing with people running from something and disappearing into some sort of Bermuda Triangle of a town. I had two assholes gunning for me in the same town, and half suspected that they had somehow traced the targets that got away here as well. I had a town of seemingly healthy coexistence between humans and supernaturals, who were hiding something from me but not being very nefarious or threatening while they did so.

On that thought, I noticed a large dark vehicle pull off of a side road behind me. The large truck engine roared to life as they accelerated after me, though their headlights prevented me from seeing who it was. Sheriff's truck? Or someone else? I didn't change speed as I continued down the mostly deserted back road that would take about four miles to get within town limits, and another mile later that to be anywhere near civilization.

I waited for the flash of red and blue lights, or for the truck to slow down even a little as it approached my rear end. And it was only at the last minute that I opened my throttle, spitting up gravel as my bike fishtailed and accelerated quickly enough to avoid being rear ended by the vehicle.

"Holy fuck!" I swore as my bike roared and I picked up speed, though I hated going so fast off of pavement.

On two wheels, any turns, stops or increases in speed caused you to slide or possibly even lay down the bike when you were on loose gravel or dirt. I had gone down enough times on the stuff that my body tensed with every increase in speed, though the truck behind me continued to give chase. I could gain speed a lot faster than they could, but all they needed was one wrong move or a couple hundred feet to catch up to my quick take off.

"Siri... call nine one one." I yelled in my helmet, to activate my blue tooth microphone.

"Sorry, I didn't get that, would you like to listen to ninety-nine point one?" Siri chimed back at me as I shifted gears and sped up, cursing as my headlights picked up the orange "Dead End" curve ahead sign.

I was going to have to turn, going forty miles an hour, from gravel onto pavement. In the dark. While being chased by someone who really wanted to run my bike over.

Or me.

My bike was a pretty nice bike and even bad guys would probably be upset at seeing it turned into a pile of scrap metal. Me on the other hand, I was expendable, apparently. My poor bike would just be collateral damage.

"SIRI! Call the police!" I yelled over top of the sound of my bike's exhaust pipes, that were probably louder than was legal in some noise restricted municipalities. The roar of the truck behind me and the musical 'ting ting tang' of the rocks hitting the metal undercarriage not far behind.

"Is this an emergency for police, fire or ambulance?" Siri asked cheerfully, and I swear she was fucking amused at what was going on right now.

"Police!" I yelled as I pulled the clutch while turning, leaning against the curve to fight against the force wanting to pull my bike out from under me as my tail end swung out wildly. My two tires caught on the pavement and the bike wobbled some more, sparks from my foot pegs, handlebars and the metal bars that protected my saddle bags, lighting up the air. I felt my knee pad scraping on pavement, then I brought my bike back up and took off, opening the throttle once more. Three miles of road that ended in a Y, each branch taking you to a different side of town, a big metal billboard advertising the town's hotel smack in the middle.

"Sheriff's office, what's your emergency." The voice sounded unaffected, almost distant, as headlights lights took up my side mirrors and the road lit up light the daytime.