Chapter Ninety: Blocking the Enemy

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Night fell over the police station.

Sheriff Coffin made another round through the temporary jail. The two Cobra members were being held in adjacent cells. One sat there looking quite at ease, while the other stood at the door, gripping the bars and sneering at Officer Coffin.

"You’re dead, Sheriff!"

He spat out the threat, then shaped his hand like a pistol and fired at her before jerking back as if struck.

"Don’t worry. I’ll see that you get delivered safely to the state prison." Coffin sneered back.

Caleb came over as well, took one look at the man, and said viciously, "Careful, or I’ll knock every tooth out of your mouth."

"Don’t worry, pal. You’re not getting away either." The man gave Caleb a cold smile.

"Worry about yourself!" Caleb raised his middle finger at him. "Boss, you should go rest. I can watch things here."

Sheriff Coffin shook her head. "Tonight is critical. I need to stay. The state police will arrive tomorrow morning, and then I can rest in the car for a bit."

Caleb shrugged. "Hey, Boss, work isn’t your whole life..."

"I know. I’m just a little uneasy. Special circumstances!"

"All right then, I’ll keep watch here. You go rest in the office."

Coffin nodded and went to the office.

The great clock on the wall ticked and turned with a faint, unsettling clatter. Everyone in the station was on hand. Tonight was the most critical moment of all.

On the road to the town of Abilene, motorcycle engines roared. A large convoy of riders came tearing out of the night like a line of fire, racing ahead through the darkness.

"Hey, boss, do we really have to hit Abilene at night and break those guys out?" Suddenly one motorcycle shot to the front, pulling alongside the lead bike as the rider shouted to the man ahead.

"Would you rather face that many state cops tomorrow?" The man glanced back. "We’re not here to break anyone out. We’ve got a better plan than a jailbreak."

"All right, then. Let’s just hope we don’t get surrounded by Abilene’s people!"

Suddenly the man called Boss stopped. One after another, the whole convoy came to a halt. More than twenty riders pulled off to the roadside.

The boss looked around, then checked his watch and waved a hand. "We’ll camp over there. Tomorrow morning, once the police are on the move, we strike."

"Boss, are we really going to war with the police?" the earlier rider asked in astonishment.

"No. We’ll let those two bastards suffer a little longer," the boss said with a cold smile. "But if anyone dares touch our people, we will not let her off. Listen up, boys. This is the map of Abilene I drew these past few days. The man who runs the noodle shop lives here. There are no buildings or woods around him to use as cover, so we can charge straight in from this road. The Japanese woman lives here. Juan, take ten men and rush in from this side. Be fast, and bring the whole family back. Tomorrow, most of the town police will be escorting those two bastards, so the town will be wide open."

"And what about our two brothers?" Juan asked.

"Damn it, we have hostages now. Can’t we trade for our men?" the boss shouted angrily at Juan.

"Fine, fine, we’ll do it your way. You’re the boss." Juan shrugged, then waved his hand and rode off with his men to set up camp in the designated area.

They stopped less than ten miles from town, and someone lit a fire. No tents were pitched; they simply lay down beside the fire in their clothes, while some of them cleaned their weapons in the firelight.

"You sure Diego’s idea won’t land us in trouble?" In the glow of a separate fire, apart from the boss, one of the members asked Juan in a low voice.

"Diego is the boss. That’s how it’s always been. We do what he says." Juan lowered his voice to warn the man. "Don’t go thinking about anything else, especially not before we move. It’s too easy to shake everyone else’s nerve."

"All right, I hear you." The man pledged his loyalty to Juan.

Juan nodded. "Just remember that."

Then, after a moment’s thought, he still said to him, "If anything seems off tomorrow, we pull out at once. Understand?"

"I only take orders from you!" The man nodded firmly at Juan. "I think his idea is terrible. We should just hijack the police station tonight. Why go to all this trouble? Damn it!"

Juan nodded at him. "I need to make sure everyone I brought listens to me. Tonight, that’s your job."

"I know what to do!"

Juan nodded again and began wiping down one of his revolvers.

The night deepened.

Sheriff Coffin dozed in her chair. The two Cobra men in custody also sat on the floor, sleeping against the wall. Now and then came the sound of Officer Caleb pacing nearby.

Sheriff Coffin was awakened by Caleb. When she opened her eyes, it was already around six in the morning.

"Boss, I ordered breakfast," Caleb said with a smile. "We finally got through the night, and that proves I was right: you worried too much." He was joking.

"It never hurts to be careful." Sheriff Coffin smiled and went to the washroom to freshen up.

The plump policewoman had woken as well. Smiling broadly, she said, "I like ham pizza."

"Have you contacted the state police?" Sheriff Coffin asked after washing her face.

"They’ve been contacted. They’ll be here at seven-thirty, and then the delivery can be sent on its way!" the plump policewoman said. "Honestly, they could have come earlier. Everybody wants to slack off."

"Hey, guys, the vehicles are ready." A patrolman walked in from the station entrance. "We can set off any time. They’re fueled up, and I checked the condition of the cars. I can guarantee that even if we drove them all the way to Washington, they wouldn’t break down on the way. I put in quite a bit of work yesterday."

"All right, everyone, eat breakfast quickly. The pizza will be here in a moment. Before that, let’s all check our weapons." Sheriff Coffin came out, half-sitting against a desk in the office as she clapped her hands. "Stay sharp. Once the state police arrive, we’ll get this done."

At seven-thirty, the state police arrived on time, though only ten of them came in total. They drove five patrol cars. After they arrived, a deputy sheriff came over to coordinate with Sheriff Coffin. After the two discussed matters for a while, they began loading the two bastards into the vehicles.

Sheriff Coffin had been on edge the whole time. Watching the two men put into the cars, she felt a little more at ease. Up front, two state police cars and two station cars led the convoy. Right behind the prisoner transport were more state police vehicles, and only at the end came the station cars.

Coffin’s patrol car was in front of the prisoner transport.

"The police cars have already set off!" Juan said to Diego, who was lying beside him.

"I saw it!" Diego put away the binoculars, then rolled up and headed toward his motorcycle. Early that morning, they had already reached a point five miles from Abilene.

He and Juan had come forward first to reconnoiter.

"We’ll each lead our men against our own target. Don’t tangle with them. Once you’ve got the people, pull out fast. Understood? We have to finish within half an hour if we can, or we’ll have to break into the jail, and that would be the worst possible outcome."

"I understand." Juan nodded.

The two men rode back to their separate groups.

Then Diego gave a whistle, and everyone assembled, ready to head toward town.

But just as they started their engines and prepared to leave, one impatient fellow at the front suddenly toppled to the ground, and his motorcycle skidded far away before smashing into a stone by the roadside with a thunderous crash.

"Damn it, what happened?" the man following close behind shouted.

Before his words had even faded, his head snapped back all at once, blood spraying from his skull as he crumpled to the ground. His motorcycle dragged him several yards before stopping.

"Sniper!" Diego suddenly shouted, wrenching his motorcycle hard to the side and charging toward cover.

At once the motorcycle convoy broke into chaos, scattering in all directions to dodge.