Walmart Security's Journal: Episode 12: Reciprocity

And there I lay quietly on the rain-soaked concrete, stunned by the events that had just transpired before my eyes. I listened to the soft rain falling and the SUV speeding away, the sound of its engine fading away like an ascending space shuttle. I wanted to fall asleep, to believe that the bullets had indeed struck my chest, and that everything was lost - that my purpose in life had become forfeit.

"Peter," Robert's frantic voice echoed nearby, "I've called emergency. They'll be here soon. And, uh, this was supposed to be a surprise, but I bought a car for us. You know, a patrol car. I think that we can catch the filthy bastard. Get up!"

I stumbled to my feet with a renewed sense of purpose, brushing a stray hair aside.
"Where's Vickie?"

Robert moved closer. "She's in the back. Come on, follow me!"

We hurried through the empty parking lot, no longer illuminated by the massive stadium lighting erected above it, dodging fallen tree limbs and debris. Robert drew a key from his pocket and hastily opened a small passenger vehicle. A decal affixed to the trunk that read "Dodge Neon" presumably indicated the original paint color.

Robert slid into the driver seat and engaged the ignition. The engine roared to life with an exhaust note that utterly astonished me.

"This is an eight, isn't it, Robert?"

"No way," he replied, shifting our vehicle into reverse, "it's a four banger. I changed the muffler. Cool, huh?"

My protégé was an impressively resourceful automobile tuner. "Either way, it sounds like a beast," I said. "Let's catch the bad man!"

I scarcely blinked before we were traveling west on US 190 in pursuit of a hostile suspect.

* * *

A confident Robert smiled as our elite racing engine propelled us to 90 MPH. After a few minutes of driving, I spotted the SUV not far ahead, obscured slightly by night fog. Its taillight pattern, however, was entirely unmistakable. Robert glanced over. "We're gonna dispense us some good old-fashioned vigilante justice now, aren't we?" He accelerated and pulled alongside of the three-pointed menace.

"I'm going to roll down my window," I said, "and instruct him to pull over and surrender immediately via a hand signal. Watch this."

"No," said Robert, retracting my automatic window, "you stay back. I'll give him a signal." The man looked over as Robert extended his middle finger, rendering a hand signal that I was completely unfamiliar with. Perhaps this method of communication had been developed recently.

Over the strong wind came the roar of the man's engine as he began to steadily accelerate. "Keep on him," I implored Robert. "You keep on him!" We followed the man stealthily for around twenty minutes. We had just begun to cross the bridge when our final journey began. Suddenly, and without a discernable sound, the SUV came to a halt above a forebodingly foggy Steinhagen Lake. The man stepped out into a cool, reflective mist, and stood on the railing, making no apparent effort to secure himself.

Without even a word, the man fell silently to his watery grave. And, although Robert and I searched for him afterward, we could see nothing through the silver fog except an occasional light blue reflection. Perhaps the man's blinding headlights created it. Perhaps it was created by something else.

* * *

I watched solemnly as a lone fishing boat crossed the lake, its green and red navigation lights a little blurred and scarcely visible. I began returning to our patrol vehicle, but a faint glow emanating from the SUV seemed to catch my eye. It was some sort of television screen. "Robert," I said, "come take a look at this."

"Yeah, that's one of those navigation things," he said, joining me. "It probably knows where he was going before he stopped."

"Maybe he was heading to their headquarters," I suggested. "We should find out."

Robert stood outside of the vehicle as I acclimated myself with the driver position. "Peter, we can't just leave our patrol vehicle here, though!"

"We need to." And with that, Robert stepped inside. I shifted the SUV into "D" and sped away, our patrol car's hazard lights blinking rapidly behind us.