Chapter 28

One of the great things about police cars was the fact that they all looked alike. Jake was sure that the city police would be putting a look out for a stolen squad car at any time. It would not do them much good since those bumper numbers were not the easiest things to make out. The other great thing about squad cars was that the normal parking rules tended to not apply. That went double during special events like the one at the palace today.

When Jake saw the car, that he let his brother take, it was not far from the palace grounds and right about where Jake would have figured. He blocked the vehicle in with the patrol car and then Jake got out and opened up it’s trunk. He thought himself lucky because he found exactly what he was looking for inside.

Jake slapped the parking boot on the right passenger side wheel of Bob Johnson’s double stolen car. Jake patted the boot for good measure as he got up and said, “there you go Mister Johnson. Have it back to you in no time.”

When Jake went back to the squad vehicle he found himself face to face with several city officers, all with their guns drawn. Jake slowly raised his hands and said, “glad you guys could make it.”

One officer holstered his pistol and then cautiously approached Jake saying, “yeah I bet you do.” The guy looked awful nervous as he began patting down Jake. Jake actually had to tell him, “please take your time and don’t do anything rash on my account.” Then the guy found the badge in Jake’s coat pocket. He was not so much impressed as confused, “who are you?”

“Chief Agent Barton,” Jake told them, “Colonial Rangers. I heard about your car getting stolen and was just happening by when I noticed this one here double parked. Thought I’d check it out.”

The guns dropped and the man with the badge handed it back to Jake, “sorry about that sir. We just.. Well…”

Jake now had to admit that stealing police cars was actually much easier when you really were a cop. He had these guys at a disadvantage now so he put them to work. He pointed to the car with the boot, “I’m betting that’s a stolen vehicle too. You can check your records and I’m sure it’ll come back. Before I came over here, I saw this big white guy, over six feet, with a green jacket, leaving the area. He had a big bag on his shoulder. Anybody else see him?”

The uniformed officers all exchanged glances and then one of them said, “don’t think so.”

“Ok,” well so much for his luck holding. Jake motioned to the tall buildings on the street, “I’m sure he’s in one of these. You guys need to start checking.”

Yet another officer said, “Agent Barton, with all do respect sir, we don’t have any orders. We also don’t have the man power to go looking for a car thief. Those are some big buildings.”

“All right,” Jake groaned, “whatever. You guys are all stationed on this street, right?”

“Till after the ceremony,” yet another said.

“If you see the guy I just described,” Jake told them. “Call and get a lot of back up, then detain him. He is very dangerous.”

The cops nodded and when Jake walked off, heading towards the nearest tall building, one of the cops said, “anybody else feel particularly compelled to aid in the apprehension of this suspect?”

The cop who had searched Jake replied, “not really. Let’s get back to crowd control.”

Jake took the elevator all the way to the top. He was not going to bother with the lower floors since he knew that was a waste of time. He knew that just as much as he knew how to keep the city officers out of his business. He had to take one of the two sets of fire stairs to the roof. He pulled his weapon when he reached the door and then burst out on the roof, hoping he did not have to shoot.

There was something definitely there but, it was not a target for a bullet and, it also told Jake that his brother was anywhere but here. Jake put his weapon away and then pulled a phone down from the support bar, of the satellite dish, that it had been taped too. Jake tore off the sticky note that had his name scribbled on it and then put on the little ear peace that came with it. Then Jake dialed the only icon on it’s display screen.

It was no great surprise when Jamie answered, “took you long enough. I was getting bored.”

“Where the hell are you,” Jake growled.

“Patience Jake,” Jamie replied and made Jake think about how his brother was the last person who needed to be giving that advice. Jamie continued, “now I want you to crawl over to the south edge of the building. Just look over there and you’ll see where.”

It was most definitely the truth. Jake saw the bipod mounted scope set up right at the edge of the roof. He got down and crawled just as his brother said. Jamie also added the advice, “don’t raise your head up. The Krauts do tend to look this way.”

Jake gruffly replied, “and they probably got drones too. Did you ever think of that genius?”

Jamie whimsically replied, “oh they got ’em all right. That was what I was going to tell you next. I figure you don’t got too long so I wouldn’t dick around.”

When Jake reached the scope he knew exactly what to do with it. It was the exact same model that he had used countless times in the army. It was designed to be handled much like a rifle only it had no actual weapon component. You could link it remotely to almost any weapon you chose, just as long as that weapon had the motorized base and receiver unit. Now Jake knew what was in the bag that Jamie had. That meant Jake no longer knew for certain what caliber Jamie was planning on using. At the distance they were from the actual palace building, it had to be pretty damn big if Jamie wanted to hit something.

Jake asked with some concern, “what are we doing here Jamie?”

“Well big brother,” Jamie replied, “if you don’t want to come along willingly then I’m going to have to draft you. Good job with those cops down there by the way. Did you steal that patrol car?”

“I am not shooting anybody today Jamie,” Jake let it be known. He then added as an after thought, “but I am seriously considering changing my mind if you stick your head up.”

“Sorry Jake,” Jamie told him, “not in the package deal, not just yet. Now I want you to look through that scope and take a gander at the awards platform.”

“Forget about it,” Jake told him harshly. “Jamie if you do this you could start a war. If the Germans decide to wreck this planet you’ll be on it too. Did you think of that?”

“Like I don’t have a way off,” Jamie replied with deep sarcasm and a giggle, “now are looking through the scope?”

Jake put his eye to the view finder. He then handled the rest of it like he had never left the Army. It was an old familiar feeling that was more like a memory than anything else. Jake then adjusted the magnification and found himself looking at Governor Crass. She was up on the stand, giving a speech. Jake also saw some other people there and more than one of them looked all too familiar.

Suddenly the scope went out of focus. It jerked to the left and then the right. As it slowed down Jake could here his brother on the phone going, “woops! Oops! Got to get the hang of this.”

“Are you doing that Jamie?”

With a sly laugh Jamie replied, “sure am brother. This is one of them new fangled toys. Actually, some dildo contractor was probably looking at a way to increase profits by making it where you could play video games with it.”

Jake did not think Jamie could have had another unit. The bag that he had gotten from the French guy was simply not big enough. Then it struck him. Jake looked down at the side of the scope and saw the electronic connection ports. One of them was for a civilian model phone. In an accusing tone Jake said, “you’re controlling this with your phone, aren’t you.”

“Sure am,” Jamie replied, “and I can over ride the weapon any time I want. It’s a twenty five mike-mike by the way, Jake. Take a man’s head clean off at just about any range you can hit them.”

Jake took out his own phone and pulled out the little connection wire as he talked to his brother, “I’m not doing this Jamie. I’m getting up and walking away.”

“Sure Jake,” Jamie replied, “you do that. I can still control the weapon from here, course, I’m not sure how accurate I’ll be with this little piss as phone. I’ll just have to crank the ole twenty five over to rock and roll and hose down the entire platform.”

Jake froze. If Jamie did that then he was not just going to hit his target. He was going to kill everyone on that platform along with the people right in front of it and, more than likely, behind it too.

Jake stopped what he was doing and took a really close look through the scope. The first person he saw was Barbara. Jake groaned, “oh crap.”