Chapter 12
It was four in the late afternoon in Little Rock.
The clouds moved in fast in the area and thunderstorms were forecasted later that night.
Joey and Kathy parked their Harley’s at a truck stop just off exit 161 from Interstate I-40.
They just filled their tanks with gas and sat on their Harleys. They drank bottled water and munched on trail mix and granola bars. The snacks didn’t fill their stomachs, so Kathy bought two roast beef sandwiches from the truck stop.
Joey removed his iPhone from his belt. He turned it on his iPhone and opened his GPS application.
He typed in Ricky’s address. The GPS gave their location and indicated directions to Ricky’s place.
“We’re set,” Joey told Kathy.
She smiled and started up her Harley.
Joey started up his Harley.
They drove out of the gas station lot and onto the two-lane road.
They drove down the road.
Fifteen minutes later, an Arkansas State Police car pulled into the truck stop.
The female trooper drove around the stop, and she searched the area over.
On her laptop, wanted posters for Joey and Kathy appeared on her screen. Joey’s picture was from the bank robbery. Kathy’s picture was from her Georgia driver’s license.
The trooper drove to the restaurant and parked her car.
She got out and walked to the restaurant.
Meanwhile, Angie sat on a United flight from Orlando to Little Rock. She looked out her window and watched the Arkansas countryside fly past them.
“We’re be landing in Little Rock in fifteen minutes. On behalf of United Airlines, I would like to thank you for flying with us. I hope you have a great stay in Little Rock,” the Captain said over their loudspeakers.
The jet bounced around from turbulence as the clouds rolled in from the west. Angie dug her fingernails deep into her armrests and prayed they will land in one piece.
An hour later, Sergeant Pete Holloway held an evening shift briefing where twenty officers listened.
Angie stood by Holloway’s side.
“Listen up. With me is Angie Williams from the Orange County Sheriff’s department in Orlando, Florida. She has reason to believe that an Orlando bank robber suspect, Joey Austin, is heading here to Little Rock. His information is in the packets I handed out,” Holloway told the officers.
The officers looked at their information packets. A female officer rushed in with a piece of paper in hand.
She rushed up to Holloway and handed him the paper. He read it and waited by his side. He looked surprised and looked over at Angie, then back at his officers.
“We have an update that the First National bank robbery that happened three hours ago,” he said. “The suspect has been identified as Ricky Adamson,” he said then glanced over at Angie.
She didn’t look surprised when she heard the news, as she figured the rose tattoo girl struck again.
“I want three cars to see if Adamson is at his residence,” he said while he looked at his officers. “I want Cooper, Vaughn Woodson, and Booker to check out his place. Arrest Adamson if he’s there and if Joey Austin is there, arrest him,” he said then looked at Angie’s hopeful eyes. “Cooper, take Detective Williams with you,” he ordered.
Cooper, Vaughn, Woodson, and Booker nodded in agreement they understood their marching orders.
Angie turned to Holloway. “Thank you, sergeant,” she told him.
Joey and Kathy rode their Harleys down the streets of the east side of Little Rock. Joey held up his iPhone with his left hand while he glanced at the GPS directions. He felt good. He knew once he caught this girl in the act with Ricky, he would be free and clear and can get his life back to normal.
He glanced over at Kathy.
Then part of him didn’t want this adventure to end. He was actually having the time of his life with Kathy, even though he was a wanted man.
Angie rode in the backseat of Kurt Cooper’s police car while he raced through the streets of Little Rock. His partner was Gene Vaughn. It was quiet in their car except for the occasional radio calls from the dispatcher.
Woodson’s car, with his partner James Booker, trailed behind them.
Ricky lived in the Wedgefield Apartment complex off Rebsamen Park near the Arkansas River. It was peaceful at the complex as the sun started to set in the west.
Inside his apartment, Ricky removed a pan of barbeque ribs from the stove in the small kitchen of his two-bedroom apartment. He placed the ribs on another large plate.
The ribs looked mouth-watering delicious while he waltzed them over to the small table in his kitchen. He felt like a new man since he believed Rose was in love with him. But little did he know that his normal geeky life was about to be changed for the worst.
Joey and Kathy drove their Harleys through the complex entrance.
They drove through the parking lot, and Joey stopped his Harley.
Kathy stopped her Harley next to Joey.
He unclipped his iPhone from his belt. He looked at the GPS. “His building is up ahead to the right,” he said and clipped his iPhone back on his belt.
At another entrance to the Wedgefield apartment complex of Rebsamen Park, Cooper and Woodson’s police cars drove into the parking lot.
They raced through the lot towards Ricky’s apartment building.
Joey and Kathy drove their Harleys one hundred feet from Ricky’s apartment building when Kathy screeched her Harley to a stop.
Joey noticed, and he screeched his Harley to a stop.
“What’s wrong?” he asked her.
She looked worried while she stared at Ricky’s apartment building.
Joey looked. “Shit.”
Cooper and the other two police cars stopped at Ricky’s apartment building and parked behind Ricky’s Honda Civic.
Joey and Kathy watched from their Harley’s while Cooper, Vaughn, Woodson, and Booker jumped out of their police cars and removed their revolvers.
Angie got out of Cooper’s car and waited by the back door.
The officers rushed to Ricky’s first-floor apartment.
Inside Ricky’s apartment, he placed two plates with silverware at his table. Someone knocked on his front door. “I’m coming to my sweet Carrie,” Ricky called out.
“Open up, Adamson! It’s the Little Rock police!” Cooper yelled from outside his apartment door.
“Little Rock police?” Ricky questioned as he rushed to his door and figured they had the wrong apartment.
Ricky opened his front door and almost peed his pants when he saw Cooper, Vaughn, Woodson, and Booker outside his front door with revolvers aimed.
“Are you Ricky Adamson?” Cooper asked.
Ricky nodded he was as he was too scared to speak.
“Lie down on your stomach on the floor with your arms spread out.”
Ricky dropped to his knees and got down on his stomach. He stretched his arms out on the floor. “What did I do?” Ricky asked in a panic.
“You know exactly what you did,” Cooper told while he put his revolver back in his holster. The other officers guarded Cooper while he slapped his handcuffs on Ricky. Cooper got Ricky up on his feet and walked him over to the couch. He plopped Ricky down on his couch.
“You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed to you. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?” Cooper said.
“I still don’t know what I did,” Ricky asked while a tear ran down his cheek.
“You robbed the First National bank earlier today. That’s what you did,” Cooper told him then he looked at Booker and Woodson. “Check the apartment for Austin,” he told Booker and Woodson.
They all nodded and walked off to the other parts of the apartment. “Go get that Orlando detective,” he told Vaughn.
“Okay,” Vaughn replied and walked away.
“I didn’t rob a bank,” Ricky insisted.
“Sorry kid, but that’s for the courts to decide,” Cooper told him.
He got Ricky up on his feet and walked him over to the couch.
He sat Ricky down. “Now, where is Joey Austin?” Cooper asked.
Ricky looked surprised at such a question since he was just arrested for bank robbery. “I guess he’s in Orlando. I haven’t seen him in ten years,” Ricky stated.
Angie walked into the apartment with Vaughn, and they walked over to Cooper and Ricky.
“Did you find Austin?” she asked Cooper.
“We’re searching now,” he replied.
Angie looked at Ricky, who sat scared to death on his couch. “Did Joey Austin call to meet you here in Little Rock,” she asked him.
“My cell phone was accidentally damaged the other day. So I don’t know if he called,” Ricky told her.
Woodson and Booker walked back into the living room from the bedroom area. “Austin’s not here,” Woodson told Cooper.
Back in the parking lot, Joey and Kathy looked at each other. “I screwed up. I should have given him advanced notice of her. Now, what do we do?” Joey asked Kathy.
She looked at Ricky’s apartment building and watched as Booker exited Ricky’s apartment and walked over to his Honda Civic.
“We better get the hell out of here for starters,” Kathy told him.
They drove their Harley’s away through the parking lot.
They drove near the entrance when Little Rock police car with officers Scott Ryan, the driver, and Wes Stull, inside drove their police car into the apartment parking lot. They were sent as backups.
Joey and Kathy saw Ryan and Stull’s car when they passed them just before they got to Rebsamen Park.
Inside the police car, officer Ryan looked suspicious and turned around and glanced at Joey and Kathy’s Harley’s from his rear window.
Joey and Kathy drove their Harleys east down Rebsamen Park.
Ryan and Stull’s car drove through the parking lot towards the exit.
Inside their police car, Ryan had a hunch - a strong hunch. He grabbed the papers that were presented during the shift briefing earlier. Then it hit him.
“Austin and that Spencer chick was on Harley’s,” Ryan told Stull who then stopped his car and turned it around.
Ryan pressed his radio button. “Dispatch, we’ve located the Austin and Spencer suspects. They drove out of the Wedgefield apartment complex and headed east on Rebsamen Park. We’re in pursuit,” he said into his radio.
Inside Ricky’s apartment, Cooper heard Ryan’s radio call come across his radio. “Looks like your man didn’t make it here in time,” he told Angie. Cooper looked at Woodson and Booker. “Go help Ryan,” he instructed them.
They nodded in agreement and rushed to the front door.
Angie looked at Ricky, who looked baffled as he wondered why Joey was here in Little Rock.
“Can someone tell me what’s going on?” Ricky asked.
Cooper pulled Ricky off the couch. “Your attorney can tell you,” he told Joey as he walked him to the front door.
At another spot in the Wedgefield apartment complex parking lot, Jesse’s GTO was parked with a view of Ricky’s apartment building.
They watched while Woodson and Booker rushed out of Ricky’s apartment.
Inside the GTO, Jesse leaned over and gave Rose a huge kiss on her lips. “You did great, babe,” he told her with a smile. Frankie leaned forward from the backseat.
“You’re the best, Rose,” Frankie congratulated her.
Jesse started up his GTO and drove off.
He pulled out onto Rebsamen Park and drove and headed west.
Joey and Kathy drove side by side down Rebsamen with thoughts they are safe.
Kathy looked in her side mirror, and her eyes widen with fear when she saw Ryan and Stull’s police car as it raced up behind them.
Then from her mirror, she could see police car lights that flashed. “Crap!” Kathy yelled at Joey.
He looked over at her. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“The cops are after us,” Kathy yelled with a scared look.
Joey looked at his mirror and saw Ryan’s police car. “We’re dead!” he yelled back at her.
“Follow me,” she yelled back. “I’m not going to prison,” she shouted, then gunned her throttle.
Kathy weaved her Harley in and around traffic and gained distance from Ryan’s car.
Joey lagged behind as he weaved in and around traffic.
Joey missed a car by inches, and his Harley swayed. He got it under control.
He raced faster and caught up with Kathy’s Harley.
Ryan’s siren blared as he raced after Joey and Kathy.
Another police siren blared as Woodson and Booker’s police car raced down Rebsamen Park.
Kathy screeched her Harley into a right turn onto another street.
Joey’s Harley wobbled and almost lost control as he made his turn onto that street. He thought he was going to crash.
Ryan’s police car screeched into a turn onto that same street.
Woodson’s police car screeched into a turn after Ryan’s car.
They both raced down the street after Joey and Kathy.
Kathy snaked her car around traffic. Joey lagged behind as he snaked around traffic.
Ryan and Woodson’s police cars raced after them.
Joey and Kathy gained distance from Ryan and Woodson.
Kathy looked in her mirror and saw they were ahead of the police officers. She smiled and thought they just might make it.
Meanwhile, Jesse’s GTO drove west on another Little Rock street. He passed by a sign for I-40 up ahead.
Just as Kathy thought they might get away, she looked ahead and saw the red light and traffic was stopped.
She gunned her throttle and snaked through traffic and drove through the red light where cars screeched to a stop and missed her by inches. She made it.
Joey knew he didn’t have a choice. He gunned his throttle and snaked through the traffic to the red light.
“Ahhhh!” he screamed while he raced through the red light and weaved through the stopped cars that missed Kathy.
A little old lady with a cane stepped off the curb and walked down the crosswalk.
The light across the street said it was safe for her to walk, and she believed it, so she slowly inched her way across the striped lines. But she didn’t hear the police sirens that blared. She turned off her hearing aid a little while ago because of some annoying sounds.
Ryan weaved his car into the opposite lane and raced around the stopped traffic.
His eyes widened with fear and freaked out when he saw that little old lady as she inched down the crosswalk. He slammed on his brakes.
His car screeched and fishtailed to a stop inches from the little old lady.
She stopped in the crosswalk and looked at the hood of Ryan’s car that was inches from her body.
She opened her mouth in fear. Her false teeth fell out of her mouth and bounced off the hood of Ryan’s hood and landed in the crosswalk.
She now realized Ryan almost ran her over. She got furious. She took her cane and beat the hood ornament of Ryan’s police car.
“Jerk off!” she yelled as she beat his hood. She bent down and picked up her false teeth. She placed them back in her mouth.
Woodson raced his car down the street.
He looked up and saw Ryan’s car stopped at the light in the opposite lane. He freaked out and slammed on his brakes.
He clipped a couple of cars and hit the rear of another parked car.
His car flew in the air and flipped over.
The little old lady looked over her head just as Woodson’s car flew ten feet over her head. “Holy crap!” she yelled out as she watched Woodson’s car crashed into some parked cars.
The little old lady gave Ryan and Stull the finger then she slowly inched her way down the crosswalk.
People rushed out of their cars and ran to the aid of Woodson and Booker.
Joey and Kathy raced their Harley’s, side by side, down the street. Kathy looked in her mirror and saw the accident scene.
She smiled as she looked over at Joey.
“I think we made it,” she yelled.
Joey looked in his mirror and saw the crash scene.
He smiled as they raced down the street.
He wasn’t going to jail just yet.
Now, what do we do? Joey thought as he followed Kathy down the street as they followed a sign for Interstate I-40.