Chapter 3

Stuck In Traffic

It was now dark. The traffic was thick and impatient. Dean sat in the front seat of the Impala that was basically parked on the bustling city street, drumming his fingers on the steering wheel while wishing he was anywhere but stuck in traffic. The horns echoing in succession around him seemed to mirror his thoughts.

He rolled down his window and stuck his head out to see farther down the long line of traffic, hoping to spot the reason for the hold up. He got a brief glance of flashing lights near the intersection. Police were ushering cars in other directions, but it still appeared as if no one was really moving.

Dean opened his car door and stepped out onto the tar road, as many other angry drivers were doing. He scanned the area where he had seen the lights. He could now see the police cars and hear their faint sirens ringing into the night. They were the one's apparently blocking everybody's path. Maybe there was an accident. People were getting frustrated and annoyed. They climbed out of their vehicles and gathered around the police cars to see what the commotion was. Dean's curiosity was getting the better of him too.

Feeling hopeful, he shut the metal-framed door and followed the flow of the crowd to the center of the traffic. There was no accident. That much was for sure. There were no crashed or damaged cars, and no dead or injured bodies. There was a single man fighting off the officers that pursued him as they attempted to cuff him and shove him into the back seat of one of the police cars.

Dean pushed his way through the crowd of spectators to get into the action. An officer with his arms out was trying to hold back the people so they didn't get in the way of the government officials. Dean approached the man with confidence.

"Sorry, sir. You have to stay back."

Dean reached into his jacket and pulled out an officer's badge with a small picture of himself and a false name attached to it.

"Private investigator. What's going on here?"

The officer took a close look at the badge and nodded, letting Dean pass. Another officer in a fancier uniform, clearly the head of the team came forward to talk to him.

"You're the private investigator we sent for?"

"Yes, sir", Dean agreed.

"Thank god you're here. We've been waiting for you to help us with this guy. He's really giving us a hard time."

"Sorry. I was caught in traffic", he went along with his act. "So what's going on here?"

"Johnny Blaze. We caught him red handed", the officer explained as they walked over to a clear space away from prying ears.

"What are the charges?" Dean questioned, sounding professional.

"Man slaughter, at least five men in the past week. There have been more before that, but we can't find evidence to pin him to their deaths. We just got here to find him after another one. He keeps saying it's his job and that they were evil. And the funny thing is we checked their files for a criminal record, and all of his victims had killed more than one person each in their past."

Dean suddenly got interested in the matter.

"Is that it?"

"No. It gets weirder."

Dean laughed.

"Weird I can handle."

The man kept a straight face.

"You sure about that? 'Cause this guy is hard core."

Dean tilted his head to the side.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean this Johnny character was found on fire with his head and hands looking like bones."

Dean's smile dropped.

"Still think you can handle him?"

Dean nodded, unsure, but very curious.

"Yeah. I'll see what I can do. Do you know how he did it?"

"Who knows? Johnny Blaze has all kinds of money. He can do whatever he wants. He's a world record holder for the longest motorcycle jump in history, 300ft from field goal to field goal. Not only that, six black helicopters, too. He's a motorcycle maniac. Everybody knows Johnny Blaze."

Dean's thoughts bounced around in his mind crazily.

"Well that would explain a lot", Dean muttered under his breath.

"What?"

"Oh, nothing. Uh, do you think I could talk to him or something? You know, see if I can get anything out of him."

"That's why you're here. He just keeps giving us smart ass remarks."

Dean looked over his shoulder and watched as the police finally caught Johnny and were helping him into the car. He half smiled.

"Oh I can handle the attitude, if anything."

"Alright then. We'll set you up down at the station. Tail us and we can get started."

"Thanks", Dean concluded as the officer left to his car.

Finally, he was getting somewhere. Not only did he make progress, Dean found the Ghost Rider in person! And, better yet, found himself an opportunity to get some answers to his many questions. Maybe if he talked to Johnny he would find out whether the stories were true and what the rider was capable of. He strode back to his car as the police cars cleared the streets for him to pass through. He started the engine and followed them to the place criminals fear.