Chapter 8 Night Watch

Mark sat behind the car wheel, drumming his fingers nervously on the wheel. "What's this dude's game?"

"I dunno. He called you, not me. You're the one that woke me up."

"You always tell me I rush into things without backup, so there you are. I ask you nicely, and this is what I get."

"You couldn't even bring coffee."

"Next time, I promise. How was your date last night?"He said, changing the subject.

"Sneaky, bro, real sneaky. You tell me you need me to help you out with this meet, and all you're really interested in is whom I'm dating."

Mark smiled. "What can I say, man. You seemed more than a little interested in the good sergeant when she stopped by yesterday morning."

"And you thought I was."

"Guilty as charged."

"Nope. She's made it clear. If you gotta know, it was Micki Donnelly from personnel. Tell me about this kid in the Beemer."

Ed's tone made it clear that the last person he wanted to talk about at five in the morning was Fran Belding.

"I got called over here to the shopping center two weeks ago, and this kid is driving daddy's brand new Beemer, spinning donuts and terrorizing all the silver-haired Mercedes and Jag drivers in the lot. He wanted to impress all his homies. He was being a jerk about it and in danger of doing some serious damage, so I gave him a citation. I handed the Beemer keys to dad when he showed up. End of story."

"You think he could be our hacker?"

"He sounds like it."

"Chief was talking with Rick Trombley when I got home from class last night. Rick called our guy a script kiddie. Someone who could do a lot of damage but was more interested in threatening instead.

He sounds like he could be our guy."

"Great, a pissed off teenager hacked our computers just because you took his keys."

"Someone had to parent him." Mark paused. "Look, over there. A car just turned in. You see that?"

"Yeah, new looking BMW. It could be our boy."

Mark got out of the car and stood in front of it. He had removed the dome light bulb earlier so that Ed would be hidden when he had to get out of the car. The soft click of the door on the other side told him Ed was out and ready to back him up should Max make a break for it. The other car pulled in opposite him. Sanger recognized the Beemer he'd ticketed earlier. The engine was left running, the driver got out.

"You Sanger?

"Yeah, you must be Max."

"Show me your badge.

Mark pulled his wallet out of his jacket pocket and flashed his badge.

Max looked at the number. "You got to help me, man."

"Why me."

"Because you're with Ironside, and I need his help."

"Come during office hours."

"I can't. He's watching me. He's hacked my system, and he's gonna send my dad away if I don't help him. He told me that."

"Who are you talking about, Max?"

"I don't know. Some guy. He knows everything. He thinks I robbed him a couple of weeks ago, but I didn't. I swear I didn't."

Mark could tell the boy was frightened. He made his decision. "Ok, turn off the car, lock it and come back. My friend and I will give you a ride to the Chief."

"Friend? Hell no. You were to come alone." He began to run back to his car.

"Ed! We got a rabbit."

Ed Brown broke out from the side like a running back instead of the quarterback he'd once been, tackling the boy. As they lay on the ground, Max began to sob. "You don't know who you're messing with."

"You can tell us about it when we get back to the office," Ed said, getting up from the asphalt Max along. As they did, the soft splat of a silenced bullet hitting the pavement with its attendant cloud of dust and debris alerted him that someone else was interested in Max as well. He bolted for the BMW, dragging Max alongside, hanging on to the kid by the back of his t-shirt. A second shot hit the engine block, killing it.

"Mark! A little help here would be good", Ed called out. From behind, Ed could hear Mark's car. It acted as a barrier between them and the sniper. He stopped it briefly beside them. Ed opened the rear door and pushed Max in. He flung himself on top of the boy. "Go! Go! Go!" He shouted.

Mark sped out of the parking lot, checking to see if they were being followed. After a couple of miles, he stopped and pulled into an empty parking lot. "Everybody cool back there?"

"Yeah, we're fine" Ed pushed himself off of Max, the boy squirming upright to a seated position, turned towards Ed, opened his mouth as if to speak, then closed it. He opened it again.

"Dude, you're bleeding."