Peter Grist - Flashback

Rosen hit his brakes long before the corner and watched in amazement as the car in front took off like a jet-fighter straight into the sunset. The dumb numb-nuts had just committed hare-kari right in front of him. Didn’t even see the guy touch his brakes. The DeSoto flew over the hill and down out of sight. In a spray of rainfall, he came to an abrupt halt on the gravel strip at the bend. He hadn’t heard the noise of tortured metal as it was ripped apart, the explosion from the ruptured fuel tank or the screams of the intruder as he died a painful but timely death. He turned his siren and light off, followed by the engine of his car. Silence except for the incessant noise of the rain on the Ford’s roof engulfed him. Puzzled, he picked his service revolver off of the seat beside him and clipped it back in its holster, just in case. As he stepped out of his car he was instantly drenched, his uniform shirt plastered to his thin torso but he ignored the discomfort. He peered through the downpour and could see there was no break in the metal barrier, not even a scratch. The guy must have been a natural pilot to clear that. Rosen chuckled to himself. He walked up to the edge of the drop and peaked over. He had seen a quite a few crashes over the years, many of them right here and he knew what to expect. He looked down and saw… nothing! Absolutely nothing! Where the freakin’ hell was it? There was no wreck at all, no crushed trees or bushes, no rips or jagged scars in the earth as the car plunged down the hill. A crack of lightning illuminated the hill and from where he stood he could see clear to almost the bottom of the drop some 200 foot below. Nothing, just gone. No way could the car have just driven down there, even if it had survived the impact there were no tracks, nothing. Rosen climbed over the barrier and leant out to get a better look. He wiped his sleeve across his forehead ridding himself of some of the rain pouring down his brow and into his eyes and stared for long moments. He stared until the noise of the big Peterbilt coming up the road broke the spell of amazement. He ran soggily back to his car, started the engine and with a spray of water and gravel coming from his spinning wheels, he spun his car around and headed back into the hills.

Ed flung his arms up to protect himself from the impact when he hit the earth. He felt himself tumbling forwards for just a second before he hit the earth on his butt. Then silence, and stillness. The quiet seemed to invade the salesman’s head. Was that it? No pain, no broken limbs, no explosions? Of course, I’m dead, there wouldn’t be any pain would there?

“Ed, are you okay? Ed, please, wake up?” Linda’s concerned dulcet tones seeped into his consciousness. He tentatively opened his eyes to see Linda’s big chocolaty eyes just a few inches from his face, staring straight at him. She looked so worried but he couldn’t help smile at her. “What? What are you smiling at, I’ve been so worried about you?”

He carefully put his hands up to her face. “You are so beautiful Linda, it’s hard not to smile when I see you.” The words were out of his mouth before he even knew he had said them. Her look changed from worry to shock. Now it was Ed’s turn to look worried. “I’m sorry, did that come out loud?! I shouldn’t have said that, I don’t know what…” Linda softly put a finger on his lips to stop Ed’s ramblings then as she removed her finger, replaced it with her full lips as they kissed properly for the first time. Ed stared into her eyes as he thought to himself ‘ Yep, died and gone to heaven! ’

The kiss turned into a passionate embrace. When they finally, breathlessly pulled apart they had kissed fervently for what seemed to Ed to be an eternity but was still not long enough. Their cheeks were flushed as they tried to slow down their breathing and pulse rate. “Wow!” was all he could finally manage.

Linda looked around the clearing to see the others peering through the gloom at them. “We’ll finish this later.” she said promisingly.

Captain Dewhurst and his team were met at the bottom of the foothills by Buster’s friend BJ. They followed him up into the woods as he drove John’s pick-up through the winding tracks to where the rest of the vehicles had congregated. Some of the hastily put together response team from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and Ohio State Troopers were in civilian clothes with a bullet-proof vest over the top, while others looked like they were part of a heavily armed SWAT team dressed from head to foot in black and sporting assault rifles. A few were in their two-tone grey trooper uniform, topped by their grey wide-brimmed drill hat. Now on foot, they made their way quickly through the trees, two medics at the rear carrying a lightweight stretcher. At the front, BJ tried to explain to Captain Dewhurst the situation as it had been when he left to meet them. They paused briefly at the body of the Mayor but he wasn’t going anywhere in a hurry so continued on. BJ stopped them again just after they crossed the small river.

“We are almost there now,” he whispered to Dewhurst, “but we should be careful in case things have changed ya unnerstand?”

Dewhurst nodded and brought his team around. He quickly split them into two squads with the medics staying way back at the rear. Dewhurst gave his first team a few minutes to run left so that they could come in from two directions, just in case the captives weren’t captives anymore. On a signal from him over his radio, both teams moved tactically through towards the clearing.

Everyone there now knew that bodies were buried beneath them and the whole area had taken on the feeling of a cemetery. The few people that talked were doing so in very hushed, solemn tones. In the time it had taken the State troopers to get up the hill and through the trees, Ed had told Linda what he had seen in his latest flashback and where he thought the children may have been held whilst awaiting their ceremony of murder. She listened in stunned silence as he described his harrowing car chase and crash. The sharp snap of a branch caused Ed and the others to hear before they saw the State Police coming through the trees, the snapping of twigs underfoot alerted the group to the presence of people getting closer, then lights on top of rifle muzzles flicked on and searched through the darkness for targets. Ed went over to George, who was still staring at the body of his best friend.

“George, I’m going to go before these guys arrive, I have some unfinished business to sort out, and if I wait until they get here I am going to be held up for hours”.

“Well that’s all fine and dandy, but if you are going after Rosen I’m coming with you”.

“I know you want to come to George but you need to stay with Buster and explain to the State Troopers what’s been going on here, and to be honest I don’t want you getting involved in what I have to do”. George looked dismayed but understood the logic of Ed’s way of thinking. “You know they’re gonna ask how we found out about all this stuff don’t ya? What do we say, some Oracle came along, looked into ‘d past an’ the future an gave us clues? I don’t think they are gonna buy that.”

“Just tell them the truth George; Buster called you, found out who had taken Gracie and you wanted to lead them to where she was buried. You can say I helped by doing some investigation work I guess, but keep it simple… and believable.” The lights were getting brighter from two directions. Ed shook George’s hand then turned and kissed Linda swiftly but passionately on the lips. “Please be careful!” she pleaded.

“I will, promise.”

As Ed Saunders slipped out of the far side of the clearing and into the dense trees, Captain Dewhurst and his team entered from the other side.