The Spirit Box (5)

Chapter 5: Hostages on a Train

I walked into the police station and immediately heard the yelling.

“Do you know where I had to sleep last night?” Emily shouted.

“Hell, hopefully?” I asked.

“You’re not funny. But close. I had to sleep on the floor. I had to shower using a hose the chief connected to a prison toilet,” Emily screeched.

I started to chuckle.

“I’m glad this is funny to you. You’re a monster. How could you just leave me here, Fred?” Emily said, now in tears.

“You’re right, I’m sorry. I forgot to pick you up. I was tired from boxing and had a few drinks. Yi drove me home. I should have at least arranged for you to get a cell…” I said.

“You could have waited for me,” Emily shouted.

“You could get your own car!” And with that, Emily almost flooded the room with her tears.

“Ok, I’ll make it up to you. Why, I don’t know, but I feel bad. I get the day off tomorrow, so let’s take the train somewhere tonight and rent a place. Call it a vacation,” I said.

“Really?” Emily asked in a squeamish voice.

“Yah, really?” Yi questioned.

“I… um… surprised myself as well. But yes.”

“A train ride to where?” Emily asked.

“Does the zoo sound fun?”

“If they have a panda exhibit,” Emily stated.

“I’m sure they do,” I attempted to smile.

I walked into chiefs office.

“Still doing favors for Emily? And on your day off?” Chief scoffed.

“You caught me,” I smiled, chagrined.

Chief grunted, not saying a word. He didn’t have too, the message of me being a weak man was loud and clear.

“Maybe Emily can give you a reading and tell you why you’re such a sucker,” chief said.

“Yah, chuck it up while you still can,” I said and walked to my desk.

I sat down and looked through my case files to see if I had anything interesting to work on.

The phone rang, and I almost fell out of the chair.

I picked up with an overly enthusiastic, “Hello. Is this an emergency?”

It was a police operator.

“Yes. There’s just been a robbery on a train. Camera footage captured the suspects, but they’re in hoodies,” the operator said.

“Ok, send me the footage,” I asked and gave her my badge identification number and email.

“Thank you detective,” She said and promptly hung up.

A new case. I opened the footage and it was to difficult to identify the suspects underneath their hoods with a raging headache that was only getting worse with every thought of being on a long train ride with that manipulative twit, Emily. Even after I used AI to clear up the faces a little, it was still nebulous. The picture was to hazy to make a positive ID. All I could see was vaguely human features on three men.

I needed a break and left my desk to get cheap station coffee. As gross as it was, enough cream and sugar could make anything taste better. If you ignored the odious smell wafting towards your nose as you downed the creamy brown substance, it wasn’t half bad.

I went back to my desk and pretended to research other robberies in the area until it was time to clock out. I took one last look at the screen to see if there were any identifying features about the train robbers, and aside from their AI enhanced deep set eyes, I didn’t see anything significant.

I was walking out when Emily shouted “don’t forget me.”

“Oh damn. You’re still here? I mean… I didn’t forget.”

“Ha ha,” Emily moaned.

We walked out and Emily put her arm around my shoulders.

********

The trains didn’t go where we wanted to go, so we ended up at the bus station..

“Where too?” I asked.

“San Diego Zoo?” Emily said.

“Two tickets to San Diego,” I said to the man at the desk.

Without saying a word, he held out his hand for payment. I took out my card, which was hastily grabbed and swiped.

The man ripped the tickets, slapped them down in front of us, half attempted to smile, and monotonously told us to “have a nice day.”

“That guy must love his job…” Emily said sardonically.

“I don’t blame him. He’s bored from sitting around all day. That’s why I became a detective. I get out of the office every now and then,” I said.

We got to the bus stop. The bus screeched to a halt and the door hissed open. We got on and sat in the back, and three familiar guys in hoodies got on.

Something looked familiar about them, and I got a bad feeling.

As if sensing the same thing, John started to rumble the spirit box.

I took out John but before I could open the box and inhale, one of the hooded men shot the box out of my hand.

“Jesse James and the younger gang. Give us your money, NOW! NOW! NOW” the man demanded and the other two hooded men inhaled from spirit boxes and pulled out guns.

Damn. They had spirit boxes.

Emily approached one of them and said, “C’mon, baby. Don’t rob us, sexy,” and rubbed her hand on his chest.

“Shut up, bitch,” the man said and hit her face with the butt if his gun.

“That wasn’t very nice,” Emily said and started to cry.

While she had them distracted, I got on the floor and searched under the seat and found my box. I inhaled John.

I felt the cold metal business end of a revolver on the back of my neck.

I slowly stood up, hands above my head, smiling.

“What’s so funny, asshole?” Jesse asked.

“Just your lack of muscles, sweetheart,” John said.

I grabbed his gun and crushed it. The other two pointed their guns at me and fired, and I grabbed Jesse James and moved him in front of me and they stopped shooting only after nicking his ear.

I lifted Jesse and threw him at the other two. The three of them shattered the window and fell out of the bus. The driver slammed on the breaks, causing everyone to lurch forward.

I ran off the bus to catch them, but they hopped into a Ford Mustang that had been driving alongside the bus and sped away.

I ran back onto the bus, John's spirit still surging through me. "Emily, are you alright?" I asked, rushing to her side. Her cheek was red and swelling from the impact of the gun.

"I'll live," she said, wincing as she touched her face. "But we need to get these bastards. No one hits me!"

I nodded in agreement. I called Yi and gave him a description of Jesse and the Ford Mustang he escaped in. As we waited for the police to arrive, I turned to Emily. "Did you see their spirit boxes?"

She nodded. "It looked just like yours. How did they get them?"

"I don't know, probably mysterious Joe. but we're going to find out," I promised.

The other passengers on the bus were murmuring among themselves.

“Is everyone ok?” I shouted.

Some of the passengers grunted, but I didn’t hear anyone giving a definitive yes.

“Alright, I’ll call for paramedics to check on everyone,” I announced.

The driver sat in his seat, staring out the windshield in shock.

Emily leaned in closer. "What are we going to do now?"

"We're going to the San Diego zoo," I told her. "Then we're going to find these guys, and we're going to stop them."

I asked the bus driver for a copy of his footage. He had access to the footage on his phone and sent it to mine.

The paramedics came and after they examined the bus driver, I sneezed John back into his box.

We hopped on another bus to head to the zoo.

As our replacement bus pulled away from the curb, I studied the footage the bus driver had sent to my phone. The images were blurry, but there was no mistaking the gang's faces or the spirit boxes they carried. I showed the video to Emily, who nodded grimly.

The ride to the zoo was tense and quiet, both of us lost in our own thoughts. When we finally arrived, the sun was beginning to dip low in the sky.

“Well, we might have gotten here late, but at least we’re here,” I said and smiled.

We stepped off the bus and into the zoo's entrance, where we were greeted by the sound of animals and the smell of popcorn.

We hadn't been inside for more than a few minutes when we heard a commotion. People were screaming and running in every direction, and the sounds of animals filled the air. I grabbed Emily's arm and pulled her behind a nearby concession stand.

"What's happening?" she asked, her voice trembling.

"It's them," I said grimly. "They're here."

Peeking out from behind the stand, I could see Jesse James and his gang standing in the center of the zoo's main path, guns drawn.

I inhaled John again.

“Twice is nice. Good to be back inside you,” John said.

“Shut up, John, and let’s kick some ass.

As I approached Jesse, he turned and looked at me.

He recognized me, then turned back to the zookeeper in a panic.

"Release the animals!" Jesse James shouted, his voice echoing through the zoo. "Or we'll shoot every one of them!"

The zookeepers hesitated, looking around at the frightened faces of the visitors. One of the gang members shot his gun into the air, and the crowd screamed.

"Do it!" Jesse James bellowed.

The zookeepers reluctantly began to open the enclosures, and soon the animals were free, running in every direction. I saw a lioness stalk past us, her muscles tense and ready to pounce.

“Calm, girl. We mean you no harm,” John said in a deep, throaty and dominating voice that seemed to intimidate the lion into walking away.

In the chaos, Jesse James and his gang disappeared. I took Emily's hand and pulled her along with me as we ran after them.

We emerged from the zoo just in time to see the gang piling into a new car, a brand new Bronco.

I sprinted towards them, but the van peeled away before I could reach them.

I slammed my fist against the pavement in frustration. "Damn it!"

The ground cracked beneath my fist.

“Damn, were strong,” John said. This made me laugh a little.

“Well, we’re at the zoo. Might as well help them get the animals back in their exhibits,” I said. Emily rolled her eyes.

Despite everything, it was actually fun rounding up the animals. Especially the bears, me and John enjoyed wrestling one of them.

After we were finished, the zookeepers thanked us profusely. The manager even gave us free passes to come back anytime we wanted.

"We'll definitely take you up on that," Emily said with a smile.

I asked the manager for any footage he had of the gang, which he happily gave to me.

“Thank you,” I said, and left.

As we made our way back to the bus stop, my mind was racing.

I knew we had to find a way to track down Jesse James and his gang. But how?

"We need to go back to the station and check the footage again," I said to Emily. "Maybe there's something we missed."

"Good idea," she agreed.

When we arrived at the station, I immediately pulled up the bus and zoo footage on my computer.

I called in Yi to help us.

“But I was about to clock out,” Yi said.

“Overtime?” I asked

“Ugh. Fine.”

We went over the footage.

We watched it again and again, looking for any clues we might have missed.

And then I saw it.

"There," I said, pointing to the screen. "The Bronco they escaped in. It had a logo on the side."

"You're right," Yi said leaning in closer. "It looks like some kind of delivery service."

Yi zoomed in, slowly un-blurring the footage.

“Bozo the Clowns Fresh Pizza! We’re not the best, but we’re the cheapest! Speediest delivery in town,” the sticker said.

With the new lead on the pizza delivery service, we jumped into action. We contacted Bozo the Clown's Fresh Pizza and found out that one of their delivery cars, a Hyundai Equus, had been stolen earlier that day.

We got the vin number and license plates of the car and listed it as hot.

Someone eventually reported the location of the car.

I looked up the address and Yi and I were about to drive to an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town when Emily asked “can I come?”

“No. You’re not a trained officer. Stay here and grab a coffee. Then… do some paper work or something.”

I smiled, rolled up my window and Yi and I drove off.

“How pissed does she look?” I asked Yi.

Yi looked out the back window.

“Pretty pissed,” Yi said.

I sighed.

We arrived at the warehouse, guns drawn and ready for anything.

I inhaled John, and Yi Bruce.

As we crept inside, we heard voices coming from a room in the back. We burst in, surprising Jesse James and his gang in the middle of counting their stolen money.

“You’ll never catch us…” Jesse said.

Jesse shot a fuse and it sparked. The fuse was connected to dynamite and shouted, “Yi, let’s get out of here!”

We ran out of the building and the warehouse exploded.

Yi and I ran to the other side of the building and caught up to the younger gang before they had a chance to escape, but Jesse wasn’t their.

A shootout ensued, and we hid behind some trash cans while occasionally returning fire.

When they were out of ammo, we charged them, used our stun guns, read them their Miranda rights as we were cuffing them, then took them to jail.

“Where’s Jesse,” I asked them each individually in several separate interviews.

Their only answers were ‘lawyer, screw off, and we’ll never tell, copper scum.’

“Maybe putting them in a cell for a few days before their trial will loosen them up a bit,” I said.

“Let’s try,” Yi smiled.

We threw them in a cell with Big Bubba.

“Enjoy,” I said and smiled.

I just sat back down at my desk when I heard a loud crashing sound, then shouts of joy.

I ran back to the cells and the wall to the cell containing the younger gang was collapsed.

The gang was in a Ferrari Stallion being driven by dear old Jesse James.

“Pig,” Jesse shouted as he drove off, giving me the finger.

I called for backup and we began pursuit of Jesse.

After a long freeway pursuit, an officer finally managed to lay a spike strip in front of their vehicle, which flattened three of their tires.

They pulled off the freeway and holed themselves up in a bank.

I inhaled John and started to walk in the door and Yi grabbed my shoulder.

“You can’t go in… without me,” Yi smiled and inhaled Bruce.

I ripped off the banks doors from the hinges and threw them at two of the robbers.

Yi kicked his way to a third and I drew my gun and fired, shooting Jesse’s gun right out of his hands.

He put his hands in the air.

As we led Jesse James out of the warehouse in handcuffs, he looked at me with a sneer. "You may have won this time, detective," he said. "But you haven't seen the last of me. I’ll escape again and again and again!"

I just smiled. "We'll be ready for you, Jesse. You can count on that."

Back at the station, we were congratulated by the chief and the rest of the force for our quick thinking and bravery. Emily even managed to crack a smile as she received a commendation for her assistance in the case.

“I can’t believe that twit gets anything,” I said.

“Admit it. You still love her,” Yi said.

I made a barring sound.

“As if,” I said and smiled.

I couldn't help but feel a sense of satisfaction as I closed the file on the Jesse James case. Another job well done.

“Don’t get to cocky, kid…” John said.

“Back in the box, John,” I said and sneezed him back in!