The Case - Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine:

8:00pm Day 3

"Those morons should've been back by now", said Jones.

He knew something was wrong.

Jake had called the DA and told him about their plan. Of course, Jones yelled at him for half the time the conversation lasted, but later agreed to help him. It was their secret, even Chris didn't know about this.

Of course Jake didn't want to risk another slap. Something was wrong, and he felt it in his bones. Jake gave him a tracking device and bugged the guys secretly so that they could find the hide-out. The gang wouldn't be expecting them since no one knows where they stay.

But Jake made him promise not come till it was late, in order to not jeopardize the plan.

But then again, who listens to Jake?

Jones called on all the units and raised an alarm. He sent a distress call to all the stations telling them to bring their best men. He later called in the SWAT team to help. The ex-marines also came to help. One out of the seven was particularly set on gaining revenge on Steven. Bobby was his best friend. His name was Raphael, Ralph for short. They struck a deal and agreed to join the police service if they were to help. The SWAT team arrived, and Jones then briefly addressed them all.

"Tonight, we're going to war... " He said.

They would not see them coming.

******************************************

At the gang house ....

"How did ... where did ... how come ... " Chris mumbled.

He stared at the cold eyes of Jasmine. She grinned at the sight of his dismay. Tears fell down his eyes. Susan just kept looking at her and turned to Raymond. Her eyes were red, but not from crying. Her bloodshot eyes met with the careless look on Raymond's face.

 Jake looked at Connor, gritting his teeth to keep the anger down. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, Jasmine spoke up.

"You guys didn't see this coming did you? Even you Iil sis?", She said bringing her face to Susan.

Susan spat on her and strained at her bonds. The calmness of Jasmines' attitude was beginning to unnerve them. She simply cleaned her face and continued.

"Of course, how do you think they kept you on surveillance? Did you think Raymond did that? No ... that was all me. Let's take a trip down memory lane shall we?"

"Why would you do this to me?" Chris said fighting tears.

"I can't believe I ate your spaghetti and meatballs", Jake said shaking his head.

"You loved them and you know it", Jasmine grinned. Al Capone just stood back, genuinely enjoying the looks on their faces. Steven was staring particularly at Chris. He smirked when their eyes met.

"So, quick adjustments to Raymond's story. I killed the man that night". Susan looked up as though she didn't know her sister anymore. Then she recalled that they were on patrol that night, and Jasmine had left her for a long time with the excuse of getting something to eat but not returning with anything.

"No time to explain how I did it, we had to make it look like we had a reason to fight with the police. We needed their attention, and what better way to get their attention than to get the stars of the station?", Jasmine said as she rubbed Chris' hair like a child.

She continued…

"So I invited you to dinner of course with my sister oblivious to my intentions. She loves

Jake, and seriously I still don't get that, even up till now. Anyway... I knew you would be at your house at that time so I gave the info out, and that explains why our guys came there. But the morons didn't get the job done, so we lost you until you trusted the DA with critical information that you were staying at your brother's house. Raymond gets credit for that one, he tapped the DA's lines so he heard every conversation you two had, and also eavesdropped on you, once or twice".

Susan became really restless, and tried to jump on her sister. Jasmine walked over to her and slapped her mercilessly across the face. Susan's face showed anger.

"Be quiet... Now where was I, oh yes. Al Capone, here, wanted in on the fun - so he got to your house before you, snapped your brother's neck like a twig and attached a bomb to take you out. If you had died there, the police would have been rattled for a moment, allowing us more freedom to get away with the crimes we were doing. But no, somehow you just had to survive."

Chris was staring directly into the eyes of Al Capone. His fists were clenched and he gritted his teeth.

"I am so enjoying this, we figured that the only way to get to you and distract the police more was to draw in two more characters of influence. And who better than I and my Iil sis here. And because of your "so called love" we got what we wanted. Renee was a threat that had to be removed, and that was easy. Why do you think she ran out of the house to tell you? She found out about me, and I wasn't ready to let her stupid mouth blab around your dumb ears - so Connor took her out, and let the other thugs move in finish you off but they failed. A bomb was attached to Jake's car that I didn't know of, so I wasn't ready to die or let my sister die too. So Raymond took care of that. Then Steven came along and wanted in on all the fun, and we made this grand plan that landed you three dumbasses right here.", Jasmine finished.

They were all dumbfounded. Al Capone then suddenly began an annoying mechanical clap that stung their egos.

"Now can I kill them?", Steven asked with so much enthusiasm. Without waiting for a reply he grabbed a gun and pointed it at Chris.

"Goodbye Goldilocks.", He said with a chilling and dark, small smirk.

A gun was fired.

But it was Steven's body that hit the floor. Al Capone had shot him.

"No one does anything without my permission", he said, blowing out smoke from the gun's mouth.

They all left the room and placed them there with three armed thugs. They

knew no one would come rescue them, if no one could find their hide out. And as long as the police were looking for them. They would never concentrate fully on the crime waves they were planning. They had the best of the force right there with them.

******************************************

10:00pm

The three guards walked round and round the little room. Chris was too depressed to talk, Jake was muttering prayers and Susan just stared at the floor.

"I need some water' Chris said finally.

One of the guards moved close, and slapped him across the face.

"Feels good doesn't it?", Jake whispered to him. Suddenly the glass window shattered.

Three bodies were lying prone on the ground. Blood was oozing out of their heads. Bullet sized holes were in the panes of the thick glass. As they guessed - it was snipers.

Help had arrived. The Marines showed up by the window. They had taken care of the guards outside. Ralph used a silencer, and shot the glass to avoid dragging attention. He climbed in with the others and set them free.

"Oh common!! ...Who killed him?", Ralph asked, seeing Steven's body on the ground.

"Alright.. we got Kevlar vests, guns, and a snickers bar for Jake' said one of them.

"Aww fellas you shouldn't have", said Jake as he attacked the bar.

The alarm had sounded. They quickly ran out the door with the Marines in front of them. They were at the east wing of the building. The police were coming in through the north wing. The gang was caught unawares. Bullets began to fly everywhere.

There were at least 200 hundred armed thugs there, but Jones came prepared. He was outside barking orders. They intercepted the thugs from the north, while the Marines sandwiched them as they ran to the east wing. More thugs came in from the West and Al Capone and his team came from the south.

The police were surrounded along with the Marines. Jake, Chris and Susan stood in the middle as the police formed a ring with the Marines around them, forming a wall. They were getting too much heat. Even the Kevlar vests were going out. Jake just kept praying. Suddenly the SWAT Team burst from the glass ceiling above, and came firing down.

There were at least 80 SWAT men with heavy duty ammunition. The gang began to fall back. Bodies were dropping. Al Capone shouted something in Italian, and ran towards the south were he was. Jasmine and her cohorts were trying to evade the fire from him. Al Capone ran first.

"Hey Ralph!! Cover us, we're going in!", Chris shouted, and pursued Al Capone. Jake followed him while Ralph drew fire away from them. They were in hot pursuit, but the Italian was faster, and gave the guys quite a gap. He dropped a live grenade behind him and kept running.

Chris launched Jake towards the grenade. Jake tucked and rolled and carried the grenade in the process. He threw it towards the Italian as he was about to enter a room. Chris aimed at it with his pistol, and shot the grenade before it hit the ground. The explosion sent the Italian forward into the room, and the door shut behind him. It seemed like the room had other entrances.

The Marines and some SWAT team members caught up, and together they moved in. Al Capone and his cohorts were cornered. Jasmine, Raymond and Connor were there. They obviously must have used a different route. About 20 thugs stood in front of Al Capone, and pointed AK 47's at them. The police arrived and they went in together. Jones finally surfaced with Susan in tow.

"You have three seconds to surrender", Jones said.

"Unfortunately, it took five seconds for him to say that", Susan shouted as she cocked her gun.

Green dots were everywhere as other SWAT men arrived at the first floor, pointing down at them. They had been caught.

Al Capone looked at his cohorts, and at the glass window behind them. Jake looked and saw that something crazy was about to happen. The police didn't have anyone outside of that wing and that place was deserted. Al Capone shouted something in Italian, and suddenly a thug dropped a flash grenade that rattled everyone's sight. Everyone covered their eyes from the blinding light. The SWAT team fired. The thugs shielded the four cohorts as they jumped through the glass window, breaking it, and fled once they had landed.

"How the hell did they get a flash grenade?", Jones asked.

"We got this, Al Capone is mine", Chris said, as he jumped through the window.

"I got dibs on Connor", Jake followed.

" Leave Jasmine to me", Susan screamed.

" I got that road runner Raymond", said Ralph. They all jumped through and ran in hot pursuit.

"Let's move!! C'mon!!", Jones screamed.

The remaining thugs were hand-cuffed, but they knew the war wasn't over.

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(The Case - By Edward Onuoha)