S.U.T.S - Full Throttle Four

Two hours later, at the racetrack.

Xeros is pacing up and down, whilst CJ sits playing an XBOX 360 on the plasma screen TV. The rest of the gang are nowhere to be seen, but their cars remain in the garage. CJ finishes a race on his game, and places the controller down in front of him, and looks up at Xeros.

“Hey, Z, give up with the walking man, you’ll do yourself an injury.”

“Yeah, but the problem is this, what if someone else has already done Neil an injury? You should’ve stopped him.”

“I did, but it didn’t make much difference, he said he could handle it, and I trust him.

Xeros sits in a chair opposite CJ.

“Yes, except now that you’ve trusted him with something he has no idea how deep it runs, we’ve got Sarah and Gareth out looking for him. Do you know what these guys are capable of? If they are all that you said they are, then they must be taken seriously, these guys are dangerous.”

“Z. They’re only the last few members of the Black X. We disbanded that group ages ago, before we went to Palmont in search of fresh ground. It was thanks to the others from Bayviews Best that we got this far, holding two cities at a time. These guys just think that they know their own way around, well, I’m out to show them better than that. And so are you, on our team we do things our way, the proper way. They’ll cut corners and mess with the wrong people, we won’t do that. We’ll make everything legit, and draw the trump cards. Just you watch.”

At that moment, Xeros’s cell phone rings. He picks it up.

“Yo yo yo, Xeros yo. Sarah, you okay? What?! No way! Right, just hold on there, I’ll be right with you.”

He hangs up and gets on his feet. CJ looks at him.

“What’s going down?”

“They’ve found Neil, and his car.”

“Is he okay?”

“I don’t know.”

Xeros runs out. CJ turns everything off and follows suit.

“Yo hold up! Hey! Wait around for a minute, how do you mean you don’t know?”

Xeros looks at CJ.

“Because they found both of them up a back street. Neil has been badly shaken and has bruises, and as for the DB9, knocked seven bells out of the thing. Now will you believe me when I say these guys are dangerous? Come on.”

Both guys run for their cars. CJ gets in and starts his engine.

“Oh man, I’m damaged. I’ll never live this down to show my face to the city in a dented car.”

“Man, just shut up and drive fool!”

Both guys head out of the entrance and rocket down the street. CJ gets on the radio.

“This is Charlie Juliet 101. Riding wingman to Xray Foxtrot 01 on frequency 10. Sierra Bravo 02, you got your ears on, I’m picking you up on the GPS, be with you in about five minutes. Stay cool, we’re on it. Over and out.”

He replaces the handset and guns it across a green light at an intersection. Xeros follows on. Both vehicles enter an alleyway and skirt round the back of the buildings to avoid detection. CJ gets back on the radio.

“Charlie Juliet 101 to Xray Foxtrot 01. Do not deviate from my tail, repeat, do not deviate. This town is going to be crawling with guys from the Black X. Stick to the back routes only.”

“Yo, I appreciate what you’re saying, but clap your ears round this buddy. I know what I’m doing, and I can take these people.”

Sarah then comes over the radio.

“Sierra Bravo 02 to Xray Foxtrot 01. Listen to CJ. He has the right idea. Just wait until you see Neil. Then you’ll understand.”

Xeros follows CJ along the long alleyway and back onto a small street heading deeper into the centre of town. They follow the street for a short period of time until they dive into another alleyway. CJ gets back on the radio.

“This is it, they’re at the T junction at the top of this. Stay alert.”

CJ and Xeros slow to a crawl as they approach the junction. Sarah and Gareth are crouched beside Neil, who is sat against the base of a building. He has been badly beaten about the head. CJ and Xeros stop and get out. CJ immediately goes over to check on Neil, whereas Xeros takes one look at the car and runs over to it screaming.

“No man! Not the DB9! Look at it man! Every window has gone, the windshield, lights. Look at the bodywork! That is a $70000 repair job! Damn!”

CJ looks up at Xeros with a look of disgust.

“Excuse me, but I think you’ll find your comrade here is in a bad way against this wall! Have some sense!”

Xeros looks over at Neil and the rest of them.

“Oh god, sorry! Just automatically go for the car. God man! Are you okay?”

Neil sits up, holding the back of his head. He is bleeding from several wounds, but is able to talk and see what’s around him. Gareth and Sarah remain concerned however.

“I’m fine, ish. A bit cracked, but I’ll be fine.”

CJ crouches down in front of him. He examines Neil’s face.

“I’m not so sure, I think you’d better get to a hospital right quick, just to check you over once and for all. Don’t worry about the car, we’ll be able to trace it and get it back again.”

Throughout all this, the gang fail to notice a black exotic sports car pull up momentarily at the exit of the alleyway of which CJ and Xeros used to get to Neil and co. It pulls away again, but the bark of it’s exhaust alerts CJ, who stands up and looks about him sharply.

“No way, I don’t like the feeling of this man, we’re being watched from every angle I swear it. Listen, Xeros and Gareth, you take Neil to the district hospital, get him checked over, me and Sarah will head back to the track, keep an eye on things there. Go, now, let’s not waste another second, time is tight.”

Both Gareth and Xeros give Neil a hand. Xeros then turns to Gareth.

“Gareth, I’ve got no back seats man, the engine’s on them.”

“Oh jesus, so what do we do?”

“There’s only one thing we can do, that’s take the cracked up Aston”

“You are joking me right?”

Xeros looks hard at Gareth.

“You got a better idea? Come on.”

Both Gareth and Xeros lead Neil to the Aston. Xeros takes his keys and locks his Ferrari.

“I’ll be back for that later on. Let’s rock.”

Xeros climbs into the driving seat of the Aston and screeches away. Both CJ and Sarah head for the R8, climb in and move away. Both Sarah and CJ are visibly tense. CJ holds the wheel in a vice grip as he draws away. He looks ahead the clear entry to the alleyway, and then looks at Sarah.

“We’re away.”

As soon as he says this however, a black Lamborghini Gallardo turns into the alleyway and stops. CJ stops the car and looks back. Out of nowhere, another black Gallardo has blocked the entry behind him as well, and a Corvette blocks the side entry. Sarah looks at CJ.

“Well, this is great. How do we get out of this one?”

“The simplest answer would be to say that we don’t. But that is not an option.”

CJ picks up the radio handset.

“Xray Foxtrot 01 and Golf Mike 07. Exercise extreme caution, we’ve been trapped this end, they’ve found us out. Move out now. Over and out.”

He replaces the handset, and follows by flooring the throttle. Sarah grabs the door handles in terror.

“What the hell are you doing?”

“Just stay with me, and hold tight, ‘cause we’re going in.”

CJ mounts the pavement and drives right up against the wall. The Gallardo fast approaches on the right hand side, causing Sarah to cringe as it closes in. However, there’s just enough room for CJ to tear through at full pelt, only clipping wing mirrors with the Gallardo, which makes Sarah taste her heart in her mouth. CJ handbrake drifts out of the alley and hurtles up the street towards a towering office block. He turns right and then immediately left again, off the street and back into the side alleys again. The sound of police sirens comes to his ears. The police band scanner then lights up.

“Bravo Delta units. We have reports of at least one vehicle driving at high speeds in the South Market area of the city centre. Vehicle is a grey Audi. Nearest available units directed to head up and provide cover patrols.”

CJ drives on down the alley, right to the end, and drifts out again. This time, he exit’s the alley right in front of a police vehicle. The lights activate and the sirens begin to sound.

“Delta Zulu 56. I’ve got a fast moving vehicle in the South Market area, wait on description once I catch up with him.”

“Roger Delta Zulu 56, go ahead.”

The cop draws up close to CJ, shining his headlights right into his rear view mirror.

“Vehicle is a silver/grey Audi R8, speeds at over 50mph and increasing. Refusing to stop, I’m going to need some backup on this one, repeat, requesting covering units, Delta Zulu 56.”

CJ turns right again, heading up a large boulevard. Another police vehicle joins the chase.

“Bravo 27, I’m on scene now, commencing pursuit.”

CJ looks in his rear view, and sees the large convoy of police units on his tail, and when he approaches the next intersection, two police vehicles block the entry to both the road dead ahead and to the left. CJ throws right, and finds what looks like an unfinished roadblock. Sarah sees the gap.

“Take the left hand side.”

“No chance, hold onto your seats, kerb drill!”

CJ throws the R8 wide to the left side of the block, mounting the sidewalk briefly, and rejoining the roadway right after the block. The scanner lights up again.

“All units, be advised, suspect missed the spikes, repeat, missed the spikes. Hold off for a bit and try again.”

Sarah looks back at the block, and in the road between the sidewalk and the police vehicles, there is a large stinger laid out across the whole width of the gap. She then looks at CJ.

“How did you know that?”

“I got that from the police in Rockport, all the time. I’ll explain later, right now we got a problem.”

CJ sees a freeway onramp approaching to the left, however a police vehicle moves across to block the lane off, forcing CJ to stay on the roadway, and they try to do the same for the exit ramp, but CJ has a plan. He slams on the brakes fully, creating a slingshot effect with his pursuers, who all fly past him whilst trying to brake with the same ferocity, but fail, and CJ takes the moment he has to handbrake drift around the concrete barrier and up the ramp onto the freeway.

“All units, all units, suspect has evaded our blockade, he’s onto the ring-road  interstate heading clockwise.”

CJ handbrake drifts around the water barrels and into the hard shoulder, tearing up to the next onramp immediately after the previous junction. He rushes up it, and then slows down. The rest of the police vehicles join the freeway, but CJ is out of sight at the top of the ramp exiting the freeway towards Beacon Hill.

“Okay, we lost him, let’s canvas the area.”

“Roger Bravo 27, all further units involved, be advised, suspect was last seen heading clockwise on the interstate ring-road. I have a go to set up a containment. Units to set up watch points for the northern section of the interstate and for the northern edge of the South Market area. Standby for updates.”

CJ drives off the off ramp and across the suspension bridge into Beacon Hill. Once there, he pulls into a back alley out of sight of the road. Once he is totally hidden from view, he stops his engine and pulls out a stopwatch. He sets it to five minutes and starts it counting down.

“Right, five minutes, and we’ll be good to go. I’m an expert at all this stuff now, so just stick with me.”

Both Sarah and CJ sit back. CJ keeps his eyes on the stopwatch as it counts down. Sarah keeps looking about her for anything odd or suspicious.

“How do you know to time it for 5 minutes?”

“That’s the standard cool down period introduced across the police departments in every American state. Once the five minutes are up, the suspect is considered lost and the pursuit is terminated. You do have to avoid contact with the cops afterwards, there’s no rule stating they can’t try to pull you over after they lost you. More’s the pity.”

“What about that roadblock? You said you’d explain.”

“Yes, if you ever get into a chase, and you see a gap in a police roadblock, do not take it. It’s bait for you to run over what they like to call a stop stick. It’s a metal object shaped like a scissor lift, only it has hollow spikes on, which penetrate the tyres and let the air escape from them slowly. Once you’re out of air, you’re out of options. I learned that too many times back in Rockport. Once I came up against a roadblock which has stopped an empty car transporter, so I just took that to dodge it. You should’ve seen the look on those state sheriffs faces when I pulled the loser face at them. Priceless!”

CJ sits back. The clock reads 2:30 and counting.

“So can we not move until that thing hits zero?”

The police band lights up again.

“Zulu 28. I’m cruising just north west of the suspects last known location, still no contact.”

CJ looks at Sarah.

“We could, but we’d be pushing our luck. We get seen by the cops before the cool down period ends, the pursuit is resumed with equal ferocity. It’s best just to hit the back streets and stop. Turn off your engine and your headlights, and sit real low down in your seat. Wait for five minutes to pass, then once you hear the break off message over the police band, you’re free to go. With caution back to the safe house. I had to do it time and time again in Rockport, those damn cops, they had no idea when to stop. Don’t know if any of the ones that dropped into the gorge survived, and quite frankly, I couldn’t care less.”

Sarah places her hand onto CJ’s, which is planted solid onto the gearstick. CJ looks across.

“Good to have you back CJ.”

The police band once again lights up, and the stopwatch beeps.

“All involved units, be advised, suspect lost. Units to stand down heightened alert status and resume patrol. Switching off tab channel, return to channel 1.”

CJ starts the engine and switches on the headlights.

“Right, let’s get back to the track, and then we’ll check on Neil and the others, there ain’t no way I’m driving to the hospital tonight, I’ve got to get off the streets. Let’s go.”

CJ floors it out of the alley, and down the street heading for the bridge back into the city centre.