Vengeance of the Freeway Phantom
Chapter 6
Friday morning found the 'Freeway Phantom' hidden in some very tall, thick bushes a safe distance away from the Central Division parking lot. He knew that from this vantage point, he could very easily see the Chippies comings and goings without anyone being the wiser. A number of uniformed officers had already arrived that morning to cover their shift, but his pigeon hadn't yet made his appearance. After taking a quick check of the time, the Phantom wondered if 'Ponch' wasn't working today or if he was just running a little late. Well, it seemed to the Phantom he was running late anyway. He'd barely finished that thought when another motor officer came in, parked and then headed for the building. As the officer removed his helmet, he was quickly recognized as the Phantom's next target. Now all the lurker had to do was sit tight and wait for his next victim, er, this 'Ponch' to return to his motor, then he'd trail him a little and see what highway he'd be covering. The Phantom knew this was only the beginning.
As Ponch entered the building, he hoped to find Jon and Stephanie around...somewhere. He was a little earlier than usual, which surprised a few of the officers that were there. They always enjoyed the usual growling, er, chewing out Ponch got from Getraer when he'd attempt--but always failed miserably--to sneak into briefing on those 'late for work' days.
Even Getraer, who was in his office standing at one of his filing cabinets spotted him as he looked through his doorway and wondered, "Hey, Frank, what's up?!"
Ponch had just stepped past his sergeant's doorway when he heard his name, so he backed up a might, "Nothing's up, Sarge. Why you ask??" he was rather confused by the question.
"You're here earlier than usual, Frank. Does this mean I can expect you on time at briefing this morning?"
Frank quickly decided that now was not the time to be flippant. "Sure, Sarge," he vowed and then quickly moved on. The first room he checked was the break room and that's where he found his friends. "Hey, Stephanie, Jon! Let's hope this stays a great morning. Feeling better, Stephanie?"
She just couldn't help but smile at the dashing young officer's warm greeting. She found his smile rather contagious. "Yes, I am doing better Ponch, thanks." She finished her coffee and commented further as she got up from the table, "I'll see both of you at briefing."
"Sure," both men agreed.
"Ponch, Melissa wanted me to ask if you'd like us to come a little early tonight, ah, just on the off chance you needed help in the kitchen," Baker grinned when Ponch's face lit up with acceptance of the idea.
"That would be great, Jon!" Then he took a quick look at his watch and added, "Ah, c'mon, we're gonna be late!"
The two men made it into the Briefing room with only seconds to spare, which of course, didn't go unnoticed by Getraer, as he entered the room. "Frank, you got here ahead of schedule this morning and you still managed to almost be late for briefing!" he quickly put up a hand to silence any excuses. The sergeant just wasn't in the mood to hear them. "Never mind, Frank, never mind."
Then Getraer got rolling on the briefing. He wanted his people out on their beats, hoping at least that one of them would somehow stumble onto the Phantom---without injury, of course. The freeway felon was the number one item of the morning. "Okay, for one reason or other we caught a break last night as the Phantom must've laid low. So keep your heads up and both eyes open. He quite possibly could dog our shift today. Remember, if you smell a trap back off. I don't want to hear any 'officer down' traffic." He continued on with another item or two and then dismissed the officers. so everyone began filing from the room, in route to their units.
Before Ponch could make it to the door Grossie tapped him on the shoulder and commented, "Looks like you're on Getraer's list again, Ponch."
"Grossie, I've been on his list for the last five years," Ponch told him with a wide grin. His comment made those around him laugh heartily, then they continued on outside to their respective units.
As the officers exited the building, the Phantom watched closely from his vantage point to make sure he could pick out his pigeon. It turned out that Ponch was one of the last few to come outside. His target was with a tall blonde guy and a brunette woman. The latter two parted company from his mark to go to their own motors. Ponch was all set to leave the parking lot.
The Phantom swiftly jogged to his own vehicle and was ready to get behind the man on the motorcycle. The first part of his plan was simply to learn a little bit about this officer. How he handled his motorcycle under the various situations he may find himself in. Would Ponch be as easy to take down as the others seemed to have been? Would this particular officer take just any bait offered him and fall into his trap? He never bothered to ask himself these questions before. But the other times he simply took the officer out that happened to be there at the time. There wasn't anything special he had to do. This time, he didn't want to take the chance on failure. This one was going down.
The Phantom kept a respectable distance and followed Ponch for some time. Suddenly, his prey sped up and took the next exit. He figured something must have been happening somewhere down on another highway. The Phantom also took the off ramp, yet still kept far enough behind so as not to be noticed.
As soon as Ponch got on the next freeway, he picked up even more speed. The Phantom quickly realized he had to back off as the officer he had intended on following quickly disappeared. He didn't dare try to follow, not at the speed his target was travelling. He didn't want to risk getting into the sites of another officer and get pulled over again. The predator wasn't too upset though, he figured he'd be able to pick up his prey again sometime later that day and if not today, there was always tomorrow. Besides, he knew he could wait for Ponch to finish his shift and then follow him home. That would be the next step. Life--and his plan would go on. Besides there were other things he could do today.
Ponch had been dispatched to assist Baricza who was involved in assisting traffic around some boxes that were creating a traffic hazard. The objects were blocking the freeway's second and third lanes. Unknown to the officers, the boxes had basically been thrown in the back of a large dump truck, but had not been secured enough to keep them inside. The driver had apparently been clueless as to his spilled load and had simply kept right on going. Baricza already had dispatch get in touch with Caltrans for cleanup detail. In the meantime, he and Ponch dealt with the traffic detail. When the Caltrans personnel finally arrived on scene, traffic was stopped for a while so the men could work free of worry about being hit by any motorists. Once all the debris was removed, both officers got traffic going again.
As traffic was no longer tied up, both Baricza and Ponch breathed a sigh of relief. Bear was first to speak up, "Man, we're lucky we didn't have a horrible MVA on this one by cars shifting lanes to avoid all these boxes."
"Yeah! What I can't figure out is why the person carrying this junk didn't stop. He had to have seen the boxes falling."
"Would you have stopped?" Bear asked him with a grin. He didn't get an answer as Ponch just grinned and returned to his motor.
Then Ponch notified LA that he was clear the traffic hazard and Baricza followed suit.
Jon and Stephanie were covering their territory for that day when dispatch came over the radio, "LA to any units available and on 15, identify. We have a two car TC (traffic crash) just south of Broadway. Cars are blocking lane one."
"7 Mary 3 and 6 responding, we're two away," Jon acknowledged. Then both officers put on the emergency flashers and picked up speed.
The accident turned out to be minor as far as injuries were concerned. However, both cars were somewhat disabled. The way they had collided had caused considerable damage to the front fender of one vehicle and caused it to buckle in such a way that it hampered the tire from turning. The other vehicle had a leaking radiator. So, along with a couple of tow trucks being called in, the fire department was also called in to take care of the fluid. Once that was all taken care of, Jon and Stephanie continued on their way down the highway.
True to his word, the Phantom had returned to his hiding place later that afternoon. He arrived just in time to see his target return. Then, he simply waited for Ponch to completely finish up whatever it was that he had to do. He intended to follow this pigeon to his nest, er, his home.
As Ponch headed to the Report room, Grossman spotted him, "Hey, Ponch, got anything planned for tonight? If not, wanna go to the gym...?"
"Can't Grossie, got some 'friends' coming over tonight," Ponch told him with a grin.
Grossie totally misunderstood his response, "Ohhh, you're having some of the guy's over for poker and I'm not invited. I get it." It appeared that his nose was a little out of joint.
Ponch smiled and shook his head, "No, Grossie!" Then he lowered his voice considerably, "Jon, his girlfriend and Stephanie are coming over, that's all."
"Ohhh, okay," Grossman paused a moment, then continued as he looked around, "Why you whispering?"
Ponch just looked at him, then took a step or two toward the room, then turned back, "Grossie? Ah, never mind." Ponch didn't think he had to go into detail on this with Grossman, not right now. He just wanted to finish his reports and then head home to get things started for this evening's dinner. He was glad for the help Melissa offered. He wanted everything to be perfect.
After parting company with Grossman, he went straight into the room to get started. It wasn't long before Jon and Stephanie came in, both looking a little haggard, which Ponch immediately noticed as soon as they walked in. "Uh oh, somethin' tells me it got kind of rough out there today," he stated more than questioned.
"You might say that," was all Stephanie replied, with a deep sigh.
Jon grabbed the necessary numbered report sheets before taking his seat across from her. "Yeah, between kids on skateboards, one and two car minor accidents one right after the other, traffic hazards and all sorts of other crazy things that could have, er, did happen, you might say it was a rough day," Baker summed up with a sigh.
"Well, you guy's will get a chance to relax for a while at my place tonight. A great meal, soft music..."
"Ah huh, and pretty ladies knocking on your door every five minutes for a cup of sugar," Jon couldn't help but chuckle and shake his head.
Ponch gave him a dirty look, "Jon...just do your reports." That comment only made his blonde friend chuckle even harder.
As soon as he finished, Ponch stood up, "I'll see you guys later, okay?"
"Sure, Ponch," both Stephanie and Jon answered.
The officer left as quickly as he could so he could put the paperwork on Getraer's desk. Ponch then beat a hasty retreat out of the building to begin his ride home, totally unaware that his every move was being watched and soon to be tailed as he got out on the highway.
The Phantom entered the highway a safe distance behind him. Although he didn't want to lose his target in traffic, he didn't want to put him on alert either. It was only a few more miles so he just calmly stayed in the lane he was in and kept a wary eye on the motorcycle up ahead.
The pigeon finally took an off ramp and the Phantom's black Camero turned off as well. It was only a few more miles than Ponch turned into his apartment complex parking lot and drove into the tenant's parking area. As for the Phantom, he parked his car near the driveway entrance Ponch took and then watched as he disappeared inside the building. He waited there about ten minutes then he turned into the parking lot and parked the car in such a way that if circumstances called for it, he could make a hasty get away. He kept the car running as he entered the building. He found the mailbox area, so he made a fast search to find his prey's Post Office Box which would also have Ponch's apartment number. Turns out his apartment was right on the first floor, so he quickly left the building for his car and then home. He had some more thinking to do. His sole purpose for doing this was so he could be prepared for either situation. Whether he would take care of his pigeon while he was on-duty or off. He just felt better knowing where he lived so if he had to he could start his watch from there.
Back in Ponch's apartment, he quickly changed into a navy blue pair of dress slacks and a soft blue shirt, and then headed for the kitchen. First thing he had to do was put the meat in the oven. Then he had some little stuff to take care of. He was just starting to work on the second 'little' item when the phone rang. "Ah, man, why now?" he complained out loud. He knew he had to answer it, "Hello."
"Ponch, its Jon, Melissa wanted me to call to see if you needed anything."
Ponch's quick thinking mind never failed him, "Yeah, help!!"
"I take it you want us to come right now?"
"Yeah, could you...please?"
Jon couldn't help but chuckle, "Okay, we'll be there in about twenty minutes."
"Thanks!" The conversation ended and they hung up.