Back on Grey Man #5, tentative title Twilight.
Got 2500 words today, right at 75000 words. My ‘goal’ is to have it out before Christmas.
I would like to apologize to my readers who have been delayed on the Grey Man series, but I owed my full concentration to Calexit- The Anthology, to give the writers there the best product I could. It ran long, for a number of reasons, most of which were my fault, but it’s out now…
Here’s a tease on the chapter I’m working on now… Matt gets ‘bit’ by not paying attention to what he’s getting into…
The old man cautioned Matt about letting the defense attorney try to get him to say anything about what happened after the wreck, including the drugs Deputy Ortiz had found after Matt called for backup when he saw the package thrown from the Challenger. Luckily, it had been caught on video with a road sign, allowing them to pinpoint exactly where it had been thrown out.
Matt couldn’t help but think back to that night, it was a quiet Saturday, and he’d been ready to call it a night, sector four was boring as usual, but it still had to be patrolled. He’d been all the way down at the county line, getting ready to turn around when the Challenger had gone past heading north. He’d flipped on the lights, just in case somebody else was coming north, as he swung around and started back up two eighty-five.
What he hadn’t expected to see was the tire smoke from the Challenger accelerating hard up two eighty-five. What the hell? All, I’m doing is turning… Shit, I’m not going to catch him in this old beater…
“Dispatch, two-oh-eight, northbound two eighty-five, late model dark grey or black Challenger, rabbited when I turned around at the county line. Speed unknown, I’m at eighty and he’s still pulling away.”
Dispatch replied, “Roger, two-oh-eight. Anybody assist two-oh-eight on two eighty-five north?”
He continued accelerating hard after the car, but at 95 the old Ford started shimmying and he backed off to 90. “Dispatch, he’s in excess of ninety.”
He heard Deputy Ortiz answer, “Two-oh-one, I’m southbound out of town.”
Matt thought he saw something come out of the side window and said, “Think the driver just threw something out. Coming up on…” A huge cloud of dust appeared in his headlights, and he continued, “Think the car is off at the curve just north of twenty-four hundred.”
Matt jumped on the brakes, cussing the old Ford as it nosedived and swayed side to side, but he got slowed down enough to see a taillight fifty or sixty yards out in the brush. “Dispatch, car is off in the brush just north of twenty-four hundred. I’m out of the car, and in pursuit. Two-oh-one, I see your lights.”
Matt jumped out, grabbing his Maglite and headed into the brush, following the tracks of the car as he heard Ortiz slide to a stop. Just as he got to the car, and saw the open driver’s side door, he heard Ortiz yell, “Matt! Get out of there! Come back! Mala Mujer! Mala Mujer!”
Matt turned around, “What?” Just about that time, his legs began to sting, and he shined his light down, to see he was standing in a bunch of green plants with white flowers. “What about the driver?” The stinging got worse, and Matt headed back for the road, as they both heard screaming starting deeper in the brush.
He heard Ortiz calling for an ambulance, but wasn’t sure why, then heard Ortiz yell, “You. Driver! Come back to the road with your hands on top of your head! Do it now! We have an ambulance on the way. You have been stung, and require immediate treatment! Come out now!”
Matts legs were really burning and itching now, and he was tearing up, “Danny, what the hell is Mala…”
Ortiz hung his head, “Uh, what you call bull nettles. You’ve got them embedded in your pants. They’re what’s stinging you. Let me get the shears out of my medical kit, and we’ll cut your pants legs off. That should…”
They heard another scream from the brush, and a sobbing voice said, “Oh my God, help me. Help me! I’m dying!”
Ortiz called out, “Come back to the road with your hands on top of your head! Do it now! We have an ambulance on the way. You have been stung, and require immediate treatment! Come out now! We are not coming in to get you.”
A sobbing voice said weakly, “I… I’m coming out. Oh God, help me!”
Ortiz handed Matt the shears and said, “Cut them off higher than you were deep, I’m going to see where this asshole is.”
Matt handed the shears back, “I’ll go get him. I’m already screwed up. At least you can arrest his ass and take him in. I don’t need an ambulance.” Matt sighed, flipped his Maglite back on and scanned the area, finally seeing a scrawny white male in dark shorts, without a shirt, staggering toward the road. Flipping the light beam over him, he said, “Come to the light. Keep your hands out where we can see them.”
As the man turned, Matt could see the welts already rising on the man’s chest, and he winced in sympathy. Hearing the warble of another siren in the distance, he said, “The sooner you get here, the sooner the ambulance crew can treat you. Keep coming!”
