Disclaimer: Don't own Automan—wish I did. Please don't sue. For full disclaimer see Chapter 1.
Ch. 2--Danger In The Park
In the Waterton/Glacier International Park, John and a blond man of average height, his partner Steve Daniels, were walking around patrolling. The orange stripes of their tan uniform coats along with John's commemorative pin, which was pinned to the breast pocket of his uniform coat, reflected the afternoon sun.
They had helped two lost couples and helped some skiers with their skiing gear. All in all, the shift had been rather dull. As there was a lull in the action now, John decided he would try once again to talk to Daniels about why he disappears. "Steve, everything okay?"
Daniels looked at John confused. "Yeah. Why do you ask?"
"I don't know," answered John nonchalantly. "You seem distracted lately. Like your attention's somewhere else."
"Well, I guess I'm still a little shook up thinking about that fire we had recently." At seeing the concerned look on John's face, he added, " I'll be okay, though." Daniels didn't really want to talk about the fire. "How did the reunion go last week? Have fun?"
Not totally surprised by the sudden change in direction of the discussion, John replied, "Oh yeah. Met an old friend. Lucky guy had a beautiful woman with him."
"Oh?" Daniels' blue eyes sparkled with mischief.
"Yeah. Got to dance with her. Don't think he appreciated that, though," answered John, grinning.
"You sly dog," said Daniels, smiling. "Sounds like you though."
The sound of snow crunching interrupted their conversation. Both men turned to see who was coming. A gray-haired man wearing a dark winter coat over a gray three piece suit and a another oriental-looking, dark-haired man wearing a police uniform were approaching there position.
"Hello, Lieutenant Kovilli, Sergeant Tang," greeted John. "What brings you out this way?"
"Hello, John, Steve," said the man in the three piece suit, Lt. Kovilli. Sergeant Tang nodded in acknowledgement.
"Sorry, John. Need to borrow your partner for a minute. He may have some information concerning a case we're working on," said Kovilli.
"Sure. Anything I can help with?" asked John.
"No, that's all right, John. Besides, we wouldn't want to keep you from your patrol. We'll only be a couple of minutes."
"Okay." John walked away from the trio of men to continue his patrol of the park.
The three men waited until John was out of sight, then they started walking the other way. After walking for about one mile, Daniels suddenly turned to the two cops. "What's this all about? What information? What case?"
Lieutenant Kovilli led them to an isolated clearing. He turned to Daniels with his hands raised in an attempt to calm Daniels down. "Calm down, Steve. No case. We just needed to get rid of your nosy partner." Daniels seemed to relax. "We came to discuss a new drug shipment that's going to be coming in in a couple of days."
Daniels appeared very nervous again. "Another shipment? I don't know. This is getting awfully risky with John snooping around."
In another part of the park, John had just completed a second round of the patrol area. The most exciting thing that happened was he helped a group of Girl Scouts who had gotten lost.
'What happened to Steve?' wondered John. Didn't the Lieutenant say they'd only be a couple of minutes? He expected Daniels to be back by now. He decided to back track to where he had last seen Daniels.
"Look, you just deal with getting those drugs safely into the country. We'll handle John should he suddenly become an inconvenience," said Lieutenant Kovilli to Daniels.
Daniels calmed down for the moment. "All right. Where do I meet the supplier this time?"
"At the north end of Glacier park."
"North end? No way, man! I got rousted by some DEA agents there last time! What happens if DEA comes around again?"
"Don't worry," soothed Kovilli. "I checked around. The DEA came up blank. They won't be back."
Daniels didn't appear convinced. "Look, things are heating up. I want a bigger cut or I'm out."
"A bigger cut? Why?" asked Kovilli warily.
"Because, man, John's gotten a lot more suspicious. Plus getting rousted by DEA."
"Steve, Steve." Kovilli put his arm around Daniels' shoulders. "We're all friends here, right?"
"Yeah…," replied Daniels uncertainly.
"Well, then, there's no need for greed between friends," replied Kovilli, smiling and removing his arm from Daniels' shoulders.
"Still, I'm taking most of the risk. I want a bigger cut or I'm out," said Daniels.
"You will help us bring in this next shipment or you'll be out all right. Out for good," threatened Kovilli.
John arrived back at the place where he had last seen Daniels with the lieutenant and sergeant, but they weren't there. He didn't see them following him at a slower pace behind him when he continued the patrol. He would have spotted them while on patrol otherwise. He figured they must have headed in the opposite direction, so that's the direction he headed in.
After 20 minutes of walking, he could hear voices not too much further ahead in a secluded clearing. Sounded like arguing, but he couldn't be sure. He was too far away to make out any words. He slowly and silently crept closer. As he neared the vicinity of the voices, he crouched behind some nearby snow-covered bushes unsure whether or not to get involved.
"Look, either I get a bigger cut or I'm walking. You can deal with the shipment coming in a couple of days yourself. Now, if we're finished here, I have a patrol to complete." John recognized Daniels' voice.
As John peered between the branches of the shrub, he silently thought, 'Shipment?' He saw Daniels turn to leave.
"Hold it right there, Daniels," said Sgt. Tang. He had his gun out aimed at Daniels.
Daniels turned around. Surprise registered on his face.
"Easy, Pete. Let's give Steve one last chance," said Kovilli, placing his hand on Sergeant Tang's arm convincing him to lower the gun. Turning to Daniels, he said, "Steve, you don't want to do this."
"Oh yes I do," said Daniels.
John saw Lieutenant Kovilli nod to Tang, who raised his gun and pulled the trigger just before Daniels turned on his heel to walk away. Daniels' body crumpled to the ground facedown. Heart racing at the thought of what he just witnessed, John decided to make a quick run for it. He stood up. As he turned to run, his foot stepped on a loose, dry twig half buried in the snow snapping the twig in two.
Lieutenant Kovilli and Sergeant Tang spun towards the snapping sound in time to see John running full out in the opposite direction.
"Damn! He must have heard and seen everything! Come on, we've gotta get him!" exclaimed Kovilli to Tang. They dashed after John.
John knew if he was going to have any chance of survival, he would need to evade the lieutenant and sergeant for as long as he possibly could. The best way to evade them was to stick to the park. He figured he knew the park better than they did, hence it would take them some time to find him.
After ten minutes of flat out running, John slowed to catch his breath looking around for any sign of the lieutenant or sergeant. He spotted a small, disused, secluded camping area and ducked into the area. 'I'll be safe here for now,' thought he. "Shit!Shit!Shit!" huffed out John in quick succession in between pants. 'What do I do now? Who can I possibly turn to? Nobody here is going to believe me. The lieutenant is too well respected,' thought John, frantically.
As he bent over to ease his breathing, the commemorative pin fell off of the front of his coat. He picked up the pin. He remembered when he had shown the pin to Wally. An idea formed in his mind. It was a desperate plan, but maybe, just maybe, Wally might be able to help him. Knowing he wasn't going to be able to outrun the lieutenant and sergeant forever, he took out his pocket knife. He thought back to what he had overheard trying to decide the best message to leave on the pin. 'Shipment? Wonder if they were talking about a drug shipment?' wondered John. He quickly settled on what he was going to engrave knowing time was against him. 'Sorry, Sam, Edie,' he thought apologetically. He turned over the pin and started etching over top of the inscription.
In another part of the park, the lieutenant and sergeant had not been able to find John. They slowed their running to a jog looking for any sign of John. After a couple of minutes of fruitless searching, Lieutenant Kovilli turned to Tang. "Let's split up. We can cover more ground that way. He couldn't have gotten too far."
Back in the disused camping area, John inspected the crude inscription he had made with his pocket knife. 'Well, at least it's legible. For the most part,' he thought morosely. John put the pin and pocket knife in his pants pocket and pulled Wally's business card from his wallet. 'Now time for the hard part. Time to call in the cavalry. Time to call in an old friend,' thought John, decisively.