Vengeance of the Freeway Phantom
Chapter 2
The next day at briefing, Getraer once again had some very bad news for his officers. He walked up to the podium and slammed his book down, which naturally caught everyone's attention. "All right, people, listen up. Okay, yesterday, Grossman almost became the second officer taken out by our 'Freeway Phantom'. Fortunately, he's with us here today. Samuelson, from B-shift wasn't so lucky." Getraer couldn't miss the very disturbed expressions on everyone's face, as they waited to hear what had happened. "Samuelson was knocked off his motor much in the same way as the first officer was and Grossman almost was. He's in the hospital right now, listed in critical condition. People, I don't need to remind you that this guy has got to be stopped. So far, we've been lucky, but two injured officers is still way too many. The unfortunate thing about this whole business is that it seems this guy doesn't use the same car more than once. Each time it's been done, a different color, different make and model vehicle has been used, but the way these, ah, accidents have been so similar in nature, we're thinking it's gotta be the same guy. Somehow, he's got the knack of stealing a car, using it to cause an accident and then dumping it---long before the owner even knows its missing. The only thing we know about this guy, is that in all three strikes he's used a souped up sports car of some sort. That's not much to go on people." Joe then continued with additional items the officers were to look out for while on their beats. The sergeant just couldn't shake the bad feeling that things were only going to get worse before they finally nailed this guy. He hoped he was wrong. "Okay, people, get out there and make yourselves visible. Only stay out of harms way, okay?" he finished and left the room to head for his office.
As everyone filed out of the room, the topic of conversation was the 'Freeway Phantom'---the guy that simply showed up out of nowhere on the highway, created his havoc and then left the scene completely unscathed. All the uniformed officers left the room wearing frowns...and shaking their heads.
As Ponch met up with Jon and Stephanie he joined in their conversation about their latest nemesis. Then he changed the subject to a more--pleasant conversation, well, at least he thought so. "Hey, I didn't get to tell you last night about the elderly lady I stopped yesterday."
Jon eyed him suspiciously, "What is so different about stopping an elderly lady from anyone else, Ponch?"
"Man! This woman couldn't hear with a hoot!! I mean, I'd ask her a question and she'd come back with something totally off the wall from what I asked. I tried to get her attention---twice. She acted like she never even heard me. Oh and she had this little dog that wouldn't stop yapping. She paid more attention to it than she did to me!" he pointed his thumb at himself. Then he shook his head and started off once again, "Man, I don't see how people who can't hear worth a..." he stopped when he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Ah, Frank..." It was Getraer. He had momentarily stepped out of his office only to find a few of his officer's 'loitering' out in the hall. "You are going on your beat---sometime this morning?"
"Ah, yeah, Sarge, I was just..." Ponch stopped again when his sergeant pointed him toward the door.
"Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going!!" he knew better than to argue the point...even though he did think about doing so...for a second or two anyway.
Sergeant Getraer simply looked at Jon and Stephanie, waiting for one of them to make a retort, er, reply, but they just grinned and followed Ponch out the door, leaving Joe smiling and shaking his head.
This day's patrol proved no different from any other day. Each officer managed to keep pretty busy handling one thing after another.
After Ponch traveled a number of miles handling the typical freeway problems, along with keeping an eye out for the 'Freeway Phantom', he managed to stop a vehicle along a very busy portion of the freeway. "LA, 7 Mary 4." He had already retrieved the driver's paperwork and, from all the signs the guy had given him, he couldn't help but wonder if he had something to hide. Actually, he thought he caught a whiff of drugs, but before he did any searching he wanted to get assistance from another unit. He didn't want to give the guy any reason though to think that he even had the slightest inkling.
"Go ahead, Mary 4!"
He gave the dispatcher his location, requested back up and then the information needed to check the man's file and driving record. It wasn't long before the dispatcher came back, "7 Mary 4, LA, can you copy felony warrant traffic?"
"Go ahead LA!" Ponch wasn't surprised at that bit of news. He practically expected it. During this time he hadn't taken his eyes off the guy sitting at the wheel.
"7 Mary 4...Your subject has a felony warrant out of San Diego County. It's a statewide pick up. The warrant is for possession and sale of controlled substance and also weapons charges."
"Clear LA!!"
Just as he was about to walk back up to the car, a CHP unit pulled up behind him, it was Turner. "What you got, Ponch?" Turner asked.
"I got a felony warrant and I think I got whiff of drugs in this vehicle. C'mon, before he rabbits on us."
Both officers walked up to the car with Ponch taking the lead. Both men were ever so watchful, cautiously alert to suspicious movement in the car. Ponch stepped up to the driver's window with Turner taking the guard position. "Sir, would you please step out of the car," he stated more than asked.
The guy was about to hesitate and ask why, but he figured it would be in his best interest to comply. He felt if it would have been just the one Chippy he could more than likely have handled him, but two was an entirely different thing.
Ponch had his hold on the guy's one arm as they moved onto the shoulder behind his car. Then he explained to him about the outstanding warrants. Then Ponch took care of putting on the handcuffs as Turner read him his rights. Ponch concentrated on making sure that he was prepared just in case the man tried something stupid as he was worked to get the cuffs on him. Fortunately, for both officers and the suspect, everything went off without a hitch.
Jon and Stephanie had just finished taking care of a minor two-car accident and were back on the road. It wasn't very long after that when they got busy again as the dispatcher came over the radio, "Any units on the 405, BOL (be on the lookout) for a possible DUI. Car's described as an older model Oldsmobile, red in color." Then the actual location and the direction of travel were also given. Apparently, whoever called it in had also given the plate information.
The two motor officers traveled on until they came up to an emergency exit, which they took so they could head in the opposite direction on the freeway to see if they could manage to find this car. Jon notified LA that they would attempt to locate the vehicle as they were now heading in that direction.
A few moments later, LA came back, "7 Mary 3 and Mary 6 received another call on the DUI suspect. He's about..." dispatch continued filling them in as to exactly where the subject was. It appeared that whoever called the information in on the DUI was still following the suspect.
Jon did some quick mental calculating, and then he told his partner, "That puts him about five or six miles ahead of us!" At that point they sped up their motors considerably as they wanted this impaired driver off the road before he managed to hurt someone or worse.
Even though they did their level best to catch up to the car, it just wasn't good enough. The dispatcher called them, "7 Mary 3 and Mary 6, roll over with injuries. Paramedics have already been dispatched," came the unwelcomed, but not surprising traffic.
Because they had literally tried to race up to catch the driver, the accident was only about two miles away from where they were right at that moment. Both officers turned on their lights and sirens and got to the location in no time. Sure enough, the driver had been thrown from the car and now his legs were pinned under it.
As the rollover occurred in a rather brushy area, the last thing they needed was even the smallest spark from the damaged vehicle to start a fire. As soon as they arrived on scene, Jon informed dispatch to notify the fire department as well.
While Jon was on the radio, Stephanie quickly went over to the victim. The guy was alert, thus very aware of his predicament. Even with the affects of the alcohol it didn't fully mask the pain he was feeling at that moment. "Ahhh, help me!" he managed to plead through clenched teeth.
"Hold on! Help is on the way," she told him. She realized in the condition he was in that probably was little comfort. The victim wanted, er, needed medical attention--now.
In no time, a fire engine and a squad of two paramedics were on the scene, they quickly began treating the victim. The engine crew worked to get the car off of the guy so the paramedics could get him out from under it. That was the only way they'd be able to assess his leg injuries. A couple firemen were stationed in position to combat any spark that could ignite at any time. They worked quickly and efficiently and in no time, they had freed the victim. With the ambulance now on scene they loaded the guy onto a gurney and into the back of the rig then it was sent on its way.
After Jon and Stephanie completed what they had to do there they headed to the hospital as well to continue the investigation, get blood drawn to evaluate how much alcohold he had in his system and then place the driver under arrest for the DUI.
In the meantime, Ponch and Turner were still dealing with the man who was under arrest on the open warrants. Both officers knew they had 'probable cause' to search the suspect's vehicle and they certainly intended on doing just that.
First of all though, Ponch tried playing the game, as the suspect was in the back seat of Turner's car he asked him, "Hey man, you have anything in your vehicle you wanna tell us about to save us from having to search for it. Cause either way, we'll find it." The guy was totally silent. Actually, the guy figured his goose was cooked anyway.
So, they left the guy in the Turner's vehicle and both officers went toward his car. Ponch started in the front seat area and Turner took the back. It doesn't take a cop long in his career to learn the places a suspect could hide things. And in this case, it wasn't long before both found what they were looking for. It was because of that they decided to go even further with the search. Ponch went to the front of the car to check under the hood, while Turner went to look in the trunk.
Ponch raised the hood and then looked at the sides and he couldn't help but shake his head when he saw all the blocks of dope that was duct-taped to the insides of the car. He could only imagine the street value of the stuff.
Turner raised the trunk lid, then the blanket that was covering whatever the man was carrying there. Under the blanket there were a number of cardboard boxes with closed lids. He opened them one at a time; each box was filled with more dope. After opening them he moved a couple of them aside, he quickly noticed a wooden crate. He wasn't about to leave that unchecked. He went back to his car and got a tool so he could open it. Once he broke it open and saw what was inside, he arched a brow, shook his head and yelled, "Ponch!"
"Yeah?!"
"Ah, you may wanna come back here a minute? I think you'll want to see this!" Then he stepped aside as Ponch came around to the back of the car.
As he walked up to Turner, he asked, "What yah got?!" Without a word, Turner simply pointed to the inside of the trunk and the opened crate.
When Ponch saw what Turner wanted him to see, it was enough to make him whistle and shake his head. "Man, there's enough artillery here to supply a small army!! We're gonna have to get another unit here to unload this stuff." So he returned to his motor, while Turner kept an eye on the 'stuff' in the trunk. Ponch returned to his motor to contact the dispatcher, "LA, 7 Mary 4. I need an additional unit at my location." As the dispatcher handled his request, he went back to join Turner. He couldn't help but voice how happy he was that they made this bust, "Man, Turner, can you imagine what a gang could do with this stuff! I'm sure glad we got to it before he could get it out on the streets." Turner couldn't help but agree with his statement.
It wasn't long before Bear arrived on scene. Ponch motioned for him to pull in front of the car. After he exited and met up with both officers, he inquired, "Hey, Ponch, what yah got?!!"
Ponch directed him to the engine compartment, "But that's not all! C'mon!" All three stepped back to the trunk where Ponch motioned for Bear to look down at the trunk bed.
Bear's eyes became the size of grapefruits. "Umm, you honestly think my car is big enough to hold all this??"
"If we pack it real tight," Ponch told him with a toothy grin and chuckle.
The three officers began by putting the crate into the trunk of Bear's cruiser. There was so much dope they filled up the remaining room in the trunk with as much as they could, but because the crate was so big they had to put some of the dope in the back seat area. They really didn't want to do that, but using the blanket to cover it would safely keep it from any prying eyes.
The wrecker had been dispatched in such a timely manner that it arrived on scene shortly before they completed the task. So the car was now in route to the impound yard, the suspect was headed to jail and the dope and guns was transferred to headquarters to be stored in a safe place. The whole matter had taken so long that all officers involved headed back to Central to begin their reports.
Ponch finally made it home to his apartment and changed into his 'street clothes'. He sat on the couch and closed his eyes for a moment to reflect on the day's events. To say the least, he was bushed. He thought about Stephanie. He couldn't help but wonder why Getraer told him what he did about her. What was the big deal about him asking her out on a date? If she were married he would have told him. Subject would have been closed. Then an idea floated through his tired brain, an idea he personally thought was a good one. That is if he could say so himself. An idea he felt had to also include Jon and oh yes, Jon's girlfriend. Now that would be an excellent added touch. Getraer didn't have to know about him inviting 'friends' over for a simple dinner. Actually, Ponch felt that what he did after his shift was over was, well, none of anybody's business. He consciously felt that even included Getraer...well, to a certain extent anyway. Admittedly, though, Ponch knew he'd still have to be careful. He really didn't want to cross the line that Getraer had drawn. He couldn't help but smile as his plan fell into place.
'Jon's gotta be home by now,' he thought to himself, so he grabbed the phone and dialed his number.
"Hello?"
"Jon! It's Ponch!"
"Hey, Ponch, what's up?"
"You busy Friday night?"
"Well, Melissa and I were going to dinner and a movie. Why?"
"Umm, could you possibly take a rain check on that? I'd like both of you to come over to my place for dinner?"
Baker could tell by his voice that his friend was more than likely up to something." "All right, Ponch, why don't you just spill it..."
It seemed Ponch could never pull a fast one on Jon. "Huh? Do I always have to have an ulterior motive just because I ask you over for dinner?"
"C'mon Ponch, spit it out. I know you're dying to tell me whatever it is you're up to."
"Humph! All right, here it is. I'm also going to ask Stephanie to come."
Although he also wasn't given the particular reason behind the 'order, Jon had been warned by Getraer to watch out for something like this and should something like this happen he was to make an attempt to diffuse it. "Ah, Ponch, remember what Getraer said?"
Ponch was shocked that even Jon apparently knew what he was told 'not to do'. But then again, he should have known Getraer would make sure that all the bases were covered. "Ah uh, Jon," he paused to clear his throat, "this isn't a date! It's just a little get together with a friend, er, friends."
Baker was forced to chuckle on that one. "Now that's a first! Ponch, there's never been a time when you've been with a young lady that it's just been a 'little get together with a friend'."
Ponch was getting a little more than upset with this conversation, "Look Jon, if Stephanie does come, would you and Melissa come too?"
"Okay, you win; I'll cover this with Melissa and see what she says. I'm sure we'll be there. But I sure hope Getraer doesn't find out."
"Humph! So what if he does! Okay, I'll check with Stephanie tomorrow morning and let you know. Don't you dare say anything to her before I get the chance to ask her, okay?"
"Sure, Ponch, sure, my lips are sealed," Baker promised and chuckled again.
"All right then, see you tomorrow," with that the conversation was ended.