Chapter 8

Johnny and Damon turned the boat and made their way back to the shore, mooring further up the bank from where they'd launched and walking back along the road to their truck. Getting in, they took a final look at Ken's watery final resting place and without a second thought, they gunned the engine and turned back towards the city centre. Next on their hit list was the cop who'd chased them through the streets earlier. Get him, kill him and hightail it out of Duluth and they'd be home scot-free.

They cruised through the town, eyes open for the cop's car, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack and finally they decided that it would be better to go right back to beginnings and start back at the precinct.

Meanwhile, Hank Netter was still dealing with the forensic guys back at headquarters. He'd handed the ransom note to Jed, the head of that department and stood back as the scientist and his team started to run a battery of tests on the crumpled piece of paper. Starting with absorption tests, dirt count, K&N Ink smear, porosity and Sutherland Ink tests, they then went on to look at the size, density and composition of each of the letters cut from newspapers and magazines in turn. There was a lot of humming and hawing before two hours later, Jed was able to come back with some results.

During that time, Netter went quietly back to his office, got a coffee from the wending machine in the hallway and eased his aching body into his chair. Leaning back, he put first one foot and then the other up onto the desk top and tipped the chair so that it rested on its two back legs. It had been a long day. Well, if truth had it, it had been a long few months during which he'd become almost an expert on kidnappers and their victims. The last case he'd dealt with had been the kidnap of the Mayor's daughter. The girl was 14 and the ransom note had been typical – give us the money or she dies.

In that particular case, Netter had managed to negotiate and the sight of the Mayor and his wife's faces when he returned the young girl safe and well was the best repayment he could have wished for. Completely different from the Hutchinson family he was currently dealing with. He could not believe that the doctor had had threatening notes before and had chosen to ignore them. Although not a family man himself, Netter felt sure that if he did have a child, he would want to keep them as safe and sound as he possibly could and he couldn't shake the feeling that Hutchinson senior had played fast and loose with his son's life. And he also had the almost certain knowledge that that son's life was about to come to an end, if it hadn't already.

At 36 Netter had had girlfriend after girlfriend but no-one he felt ready to settle down with. His 6'2" muscular frame topped by a head of thick almost black hair was attractive to the opposite sex for sure, but Netter was a man married to his job and deep down he felt that time for families would come later. He had worked with a partner for the past 4 years, but after Dan had been mown down by a getaway vehicle and had been killed, he'd fought against working as a duo again, unable to come to terms with the loss of his friend and certain he couldn't go through that grieving process a second time. It was lonely working alone, and he missed Dan's huge comforting presence watching his back. The big Hawaiian had been a friend, partner and part of Hank's life for so long that he felt as though his right arm had been severed when he'd been killed. But he felt grateful that he'd had the chance to have a partnership like that. They came only once in a lifetime and Netter felt sorry that Ken Hutchinson had had so little love from his family. He hoped that if the young blond did survive, one day Ken too would have a deep and lasting friendship. The Lord knew that with a family as dysfunctional as the Hutchinsons the flaxen haired man needed all the love he could get.

His ruminations were shattered by Jed bursting back into the quiet room and Hanks chair almost slipped over backwards as the big cop jumped at the sudden intrusion.

'I think we might be getting somewhere' Jed said excitedly as he dumped down a sheaf of papers on the desk.

'Where exactly?'

'It's the print they used for the note. We got nothing from the paper the letters were pasted onto. Standard heavy weight velum paper with a standard watermark. Even the paste they used was none descript, although interestingly it all fits with the information we got later. Most paste is derived from animals. Companies boil up hooves and the like to make sticky stuff. But this paste was different. It was vegetable based'.

'And?' Hank asked, trying not to sound too irritated. He loved a man who loved his work, but sometimes Jed was a little too passionate.

'The letters were all cut from either The Veterinary Times or the magazine Veterinarian Today. It fits. The vegetable paste, the animal centred magazines and the fact that Dr Richard Hutchinson is one of the leading specialist surgeons because he practices his techniques on animals'.

'So you're telling me we're looking for an animal rights organisation? They're the ones who took Ken Hutchinson?'

Jed looked pleased enough to burst. 'I can go one better and tell you exactly who to look for. My daughter came home from school with a leaflet someone had handed her at the school gate. A group calling themselves PACE. People Against Cruelty and Experimentation. I think that's who you need to be targeting'.

Netter snatched the report from Jed's hands and ran a cursory eye down the numbers, his mind working overtime. Yes it made sense now that Jed had spelled it out. But where were they? Where was the group?'

'I don't suppose your daughter happened to find out where PACE hung out?' he asked, not really expecting an answer.

Jed's face was a picture as he nodded briefly. 'One step ahead of ya Pal. Although there was nothing on the leaflet Sarah brought home, I did a little research of my own. You hear too many scare stories of cult membership these days. A Dad needs to be careful. Anyhow, I did some digging and it seems that a certain Hillary French rented a recently refurbished veterinary hospital out to the east of town. I went one step further and checked with the letting agents. She told them this morning that she wouldn't be needing it further. If you're real quick, I think you might still find them there'.

Netter ran from the building and back out to his car. He'd asked Jed to notify his Captain that he would be going out to the east side and had asked the forensics man to give out the address. Although he worked alone, he knew he'd need backup for this particular affair. He jumped into the vehicle, started the engine and fishtailed out of the parking lot and into the traffic. It slowed him down and he toyed with the idea of slamming the mars light onto the roof and running the traffic, but decided against it for fear of alerting the group to his arrival too quickly. Instead he sat behind the wheel and cursed as slow moving cars blocked his path and buses pulled out in front of him. So intent was Netter on the stuff going on n front of his car that he failed to notice the truck that fell in neatly behind him and stuck to him like glue through all the traffic of the busy city.

Johnny nursed the truck through the bends, weaving in and out of the other cars calmly so as not to draw attention to themselves. They needed to nail the cop, but this was too crowded a place to be able to do it. So the duo bided their time and followed closely, but not too closely behind until they were out of the main drag and motoring out into the quieter suburbs. As the traffic started the thin and office blocks and stores gave way to residential housing, he pushed the pedal and started to close the gap between them and Hank's car.

'Slow an' easy man' Damon urged his friend. 'It's still too crowded around here. We don't wanna make him suspicious just yet'.

'What's your problem bro? We're gonna waste him anyways. What difference does it make whether we shoot him or run him off of the road?'

'At least with a gun I can make sure he's dead. Run him off the road and we wouldn't be sure whether he's survive or not' Damon explained. Johnny may have been big on brawn but there were very few brain cells residing between those big ears.

'Believe me. If I'm gonna do a number on him, he'll be dead'.

'Just drive, man. Let me do the shootin' when the time's right'.

Netter drove quickly and carefully out of the city limits and up towards the address he'd taken from Jed's information sheet. He wasn't to familiar with this side of town, although he had been here before and as the houses started to thin, he started looking for the turning that would take him out to the big farmstead. He kept his fingers crossed that he wasn't too late and now that there were fewer vehicles on the road, he pushed the pedal to the metal and sped up. Glancing in the rear view mirror he saw a truck behind him and wound his window down flagging them past. He didn't want anyone behind him in case he needed to make a swift turn.

The truck, however, stayed where it was, about 50 yards behind him and he signalled again, cursing the driver's stupidity under his breath. The truck closed the gap a little but made no attempt to overtake. Instead it settled in about 10 yards behind him and in his mirror, Netter saw the two men, both big and well built and both intent on his car. Shit! How the hell had they got behind him? Had they followed him out from the city? Netter was fairly sure that these were the same two men who he'd followed through the city streets earlier and a cold trickle of sweat started to roll down his spine as he gunned the engine ever faster.

The were driving at almost break neck speed down the highway now, all thoughts of looking for the farmstead gone from Hank's head as he concentrated on trying to loose his tail. But out here, on this long, straight road it was difficult. In the city he could ustilise his knowledge and turn down small back streets and alleyways in an attempt to loose them, but here, out in the pen there was no place to hide. And the truck, with it's more powerful engine was keeping up with him effortlessly.

Netter chanced another look in the rear view mirror and ducked as he saw a gun levelled at him. A shot rang out, shattering the rear window and punching a hole through his wind shield. Another followed, smashing the rest of the glass. Hank could feel shards of glass sting at his face as he tried to wheedle every last ounce of speed from his car. For a moment it looked as though he may succeed in drawing away from the tailing truck, but them a shot rang out and he felt an almighty blow to the side of his head. The world went black and he had the sickening sensation of slewing sideways across the roadway before the car turned over onto it's side, it's roof and finally came to a rest on it's opposite side in a cloud of dust, the wheels continuing to turn even though there was no road for them to bite at.

Johnny was about to pull over to the side of the road to check that they had indeed killed the cop when he saw in the distance another car coming in the opposite direction. He pushed his foot to the floor and as Damon peered through his side window at the wreck of the car and the body of the big cop sprawled half out of the open door, the truck powered away into the distance.

In the quiet that followed the attack, Netter's radio crackled to life.

'Ocean 4, Ocean 4, be advised. Truck seen tailing you out onto freeway. Please proceed with extreme caution'.