Free Street Justice by Trevor Shand

escape. Too late the driver realized he wasn’t going to make it and he crammed the brake. Mario did the same.
    But it was too late. The much smaller Peugeot slammed into the back of the double parked car. The Hummer screeched to a halt next to the Peugeot. Before the Hummer had stopped rocking, Russ swung the double barrel Browning to the left and aimed it down into the rear section of the roof and squeezed the butterfly triggers. The finger sized .50 caliber bullets punched through the car like it was tissue paper. Russ drove a line back through the trunk, trying to instill as much shock on the occupants and damage to the wheel drivetrain as possible.
    “Go, go go,” Mario screamed. He was pinned in and unable to exit the Hummer. The other members of the crew piled out of the passenger side doors and raced around the ends of the Hummer. The soldier that had been riding shotgun raced to the nose of the Peugeot and aimed his assault rifle toward the occupants. Both occupants looked dazed and bloody. The passenger had a crisp red line across his forehead that seeped blood. The driver had been sitting quite near the steering wheel and the impact caused blood to gush from his nose and mouth.
    The other two soldiers hopped up on the truck of the car and aimed their guns in toward Zemal and Ajmar. Russ immediately rotated the Browning skyward and flicked the safety. “All right Mario, back us up,” Russ said smacking the top of the truck. Mario threw the Hummer into reverse. The nearly unstoppable behemoth lurched backward. The air filled with the teeth gnashing sound of wrenching metal. The Hummer held up for a second, until Mario gave it a bit more gas. The Hummer jumped backward, peeling off the rear quarter panel of the 505 like it was opening a can of Spam.
    The soldiers repositioned themselves in a semi-circle around the car. The other two Hummers pulled up behind Russ’ and soldiers streamed out. “Get your hands up,” the soldier in the front of the car yelled repeatedly. Finally Zemar and Ajmar regained enough of their wits to understand where they were and the full depth of their situation. Even though neither understood a lot of English they would have been able to figure out what they needed to do without understanding any English at all. They wearily raised their arms with the hands open and up.
    Russ looked back at the two other Hummers, “Goodness, Doug, your Hummer looks worse than mine.”
    “I do not think the Motor pool is going to be too happy with us,” Doug replied.
    “But we got the job done and now someone is buying me multiple beers,” Mario’s voice crackled over the radio.
     

Chapter 2
                  Katie Verd pulled the wilted flowers out of the small, green glass vase that stood on her worn wooden desk. She threw the wilted flowers in the trash and replaced them with the bouquet she’d picked up at the QFC Supermarket on her way in to work. She then pulled a Tupperware container from her reusable grocery sack and placed her lunch on the small fridge in her office. The fridge was battered and worn but it meant she didn’t have to store her lunch in the large communal fridge in the break room. Since she usually ate at her desk rather than in the break room this worked fine. Plus this way she knew her lunch would be there when she was ready for it rather than being pilfered by a stranger or co-worker.
                  Katie was a small, black woman in her mid-forties. She lived with her mother, and while Katie tried to eat healthy, her mother was a traditional cook from the south, so maintaining her weight relied as much on her jogging habit as much as a good diet. A simple headband held back her straightened shoulder length hair. Her clothing was a conservative, gray skirt suit and flats. She dressed conservatively because it fit her reserved personality and because it helped ensure her style never went out of fashion since money for new clothes was hard to come