Imperatrix

chapter 26

Jack looked back at the freeway and then back at the cops. She couldn’t go back or forward. Closing her eyes for a moment, she sighed as she considered her options. She was wasting time. They probably already had back up on the way. Opening her eyes, she came to a decision and revved the engine, white smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe.

Oh no, it was too hot.

The cops, as if noticing her intent said into the public address system of their car, “Stand down,” he said slowly.

Jack revved it even harder, and the smell of burning tyre filled the air. Suddenly she stopped and there was silence as they stared at her. She let off the throttle and the bike jerked forward.

“Halt, or we will shoot!”

Jack increased her speed ignoring their command. She was aiming for the space between the vehicles. They had used their open car doors to block it.

“Halt!”

Jack squeezed the throttle and the bike went even faster. When they saw that she wasn’t slowing down, they began to shoot at her. The windscreen of the bike shattered, and Jack leaned forward. Bullets whizzed past her as the cops jumped out of the way in time and her bike pulled the doors from their hinges as she successfully passed the blockade.

They kept on shooting at her, until a bullet met the caliper of the tyre and the bike somersaulted, throwing Jack off. She fell with a hard thud and quickly rolled out of harms way. Her body ached as she tried to sit up. Groaning, she looked back and saw that the explosion of the bike had stunned the cops giving her just enough time to get away. It took her a lot of effort to get to her feet.

She couldn’t stand straight as she held her side and limped into a nearby alley. Leaning against the wall, Jack breathed heavily as she shrugged out of her leather jacket, pulled off her cracked helmet and stuffed them into a backpack then threw that in the garbage.

A message came in and she took out her cracked phone.

Jose is coming to get you, it read.

Jack winced as she tried standing straight, it was hard, and the simple act made her lose her breath. The force at which she fell must have broken some of her ribs. She hunched over and took slow steps to the end of the alley. The police would be combing every inch of the area in search of her.

A taxi stopped as she came out of the alley. The door opened and she got in. Jose didn’t say anything as he drove off. Jack lay on the backseat and closed her eyes. All the pain she wasn’t feeling before came back now double.

***********

“Damnit, how the hell did you let her get away?!” Harry snapped.

“I’m sorry sir, she ...”

“Save it! I don’t want to hear it.”

He looked at the burning bike and ran his hand through hair. If he had been there minutes earlier, he would have gotten her.

“Sir, we found these in the garbage,” an officer said holding up a helmet and jacket, the ones she was wearing.

“Good, take it back to the precinct and have it tested for any samples.”

The officer nodded and walked away. Harry slowly walked, his eyes scanning every inch of the ground. Then he saw a small puddle of blood.

Crouching down beside it, he wore plastic gloves and took a pen from his pocket, dipped it in the blood and sealed it in a Ziplock bag. He looked around the scene and sighed.