The Truth Berries

XIV

       He thought he knew his partner very well. But as he helplessly watched his very own car speeding away from him, he knew he was wrong. Alex massaged the back of his neck where Miguel hit him with his own pistol. One thing was still baffling him. Did Miguel miss his target, making him not lose his consciousness? Or did he do it on purpose? Part of him wanted to believe that Miguel would never hurt him. Still, he was now officially a fugitive and a rogue detective. And he knew he must distance himself away from him or he knew he was done for. He found a decent place to sit under a massive acacia tree so he sat and waited in silence for about ten minutes. As he expected, a police car stopped before him and a young man wearing wire-rimmed eyeglasses stepped out from the passenger seat. Alex stood up, staggered a little, and hopped inside the car.

       “What happened, Sir?”, the policeman behind the wheel asked. He was wearing civilian clothes but his badge swung from his silver necklace.

       “Hijo de puta hit me with my own gun. Luckily, the bastard missed the bull’s eye widely. Now he has my car and he’s on the run.”

       “What now, Sir? This won’t look good on you if Sergeant Romero escapes successfully. What do we do now, Sir?”

       “Take it easy, boy. I always have my Plan B. Hey Ricky! Can you trace my phone right now?”

       “Yes Sir, I think I can do that.”

       “Do it. I hid it in the car’s mini compartment and I don’t think he’ll suspect anything. Once we get its location, we’ll find Romero. But we will follow him at a safe distance for a while. That way, he would think he got away so easily and he might get reckless. What we could discover might shed some light as to why he killed his own wife. Perhaps, he’s on his way to a hidden shack where his unknown mistress is patiently waiting for him.”

       The two plain clothed policemen snickered. The man with eyeglasses brought out a black laptop from his back pack and started tapping. Alex chose not to watch as he did his thing. He despised the younger generation and their ‘newer and faster’ ways of solving cases. Back then, they relied upon their hunting instincts, their unbending will and their sheer determination. Before, every clue and information gathered came from countless hours of hard work and weeks of sleepless surveillance. It’s true they had to elbow their way numerous times on the murderous streets at night and more often than not, they had to fold someone into two just to get the information that they needed. There were a few casualties, alright, but they learned that justice was never for free. Still, they were not afraid to get their hands dirty unlike those two men who spent their time sitting behind their computers just waiting for the crimes to solve themselves. The Force, in his opinion, modernized into a lazy research center.

Five full minutes has elapsed before a beeping sound from the laptop was heard. Ricky’s face lit up.

       “Got it!”

       “Where is he?”

       “It seems he’s in a hurry but he’s still in the Expressway. He just passed the San Pedro exit gate, Sir.”, Ricky spun the laptop around so that its screen faced Alex.

       “San Pedro? That’s already thirty kilometers away! Where are you heading, Romey?”, he said softly as if he was talking to himself only.

       “Should we not inform our home base so they could already set checkpoints in every exit of the expressway? That could make this arrest a lot easier, Sir. Saves us a lot of time and energy too, don’t you think, Sir?”

       “Too soon. We need to know what he’s up to.”

       “He’s up to fleeing, I think”, the driver said.

       Alex glared at him, making the man zipped his mouth and focused on driving instead.

       “Sir, what’s your call?”, Ricky inquired.

       “We need to catch him red- handed.”

       “With what?”

       “I don’t know, with whatever he’s planning. But I know that there is more to it than this. Trust me, boys. I just know”.

       So they continued chasing him, now gradually gaining speed but they made sure Miguel wouldn’t notice them. They sounded no siren and displayed no police lights. Of course, a speeding police car couldn’t go unnoticed forever but Alex was certain that before Miguel could realize what’s happening, it would be too late already.

       “Sir, I know you two have been partners for quite some time and that could explain your unusual enthusiasm in going after him. But, Sir, are you not taking this case too personal? I’m just curious”, Ricky asked.

       “That, f*****g killed the cat. You do know that, didn’t you?”

       They fell silent but he knew the guy had a point. He tried to recall everything that has happened. He was older than Miguel and naturally, he must be the first to retire between the two of them. But ever since Miguel received his seemingly valuable package, he knew things were about to change. Sure enough, a letter of resignation appeared on their Chief’s desk telling them all that it was a pleasure working with them for years. He has gone greedy, of that he was sure. Out of a sudden, Miguel just got his hands on a lot of money and he could enjoy his dream retirement a lot earlier than him.

He felt pity for himself. And he felt envious of him too. Miguel would retire first with a secured future ahead of him while he would be left alone, with a few more years left to bear. Additionally, he would have to accept whatever amount the department should give to him upon retirement, be it some chump change. Yes, he was envious and he felt utterly pathetic. After many years of working as brothers, he felt like he just got dumped by Miguel. Miguel left him behind, with no intention of sharing his sudden great luck with him. He hated his partner for that and the only thing he knew that could level the game for them was successfully indicting him to his wife’s death. Yes, he admitted to himself, it just got personal.

       “Sir, he’s making a move. He just exited in Sta. Rosa.”

       “Keep an eye on him.”

       Without waiting for instructions, the driver floored the accelerator and the car sped away, breaking the maximum speed limit of the expressway in no time. They wove through the traffic of cars and cargo trucks with their sirens and horn blaring. They were about eighteen kilometers away from him when Ricky noticed something.

       “Uh Sir, he’s just stopped.”

       “Caught in heavy outgoing traffic, for sure.”

       Ricky was not convinced but he did not say a word. After some time, they reached the Sta. Rosa toll gate. There were two long lines of cars and delivery vans on cash lanes, patiently waiting for their turn at the booth. Alex ordered his driver to go straight to the ETC lane even though their car had no special sticker on it. A security guard armed with a shotgun and a caliber .45 pistol waved them to stop but Alex shoved his badge under his nose and commanded him to step aside.

       “Police! We are pursuing a murderer who just passed under your watch, you i***t! So get the f**k out of the way or we’ll happily run your ass down!”

       The guard grudgingly obliged and the barrier rose. Alex’s company laughed when they passed the humiliated guard. Upon exiting the expressway, heavy traffic welcomed them. Every vehicle moved inch by inch and that infuriated Alex.

       “s**t! How far is he from here?”, Alex asked impatiently.

       “I can’t say for sure, Sir. Maybe fifty meters straight ahead, then another fifty meters to a narrow dirt road to the right. A hundred meters, give or take.”

       Alex clicked his tongue. Seeing no other way, he took Ricky’s firearm and got out of the car. He tucked the gun behind his pants as he started to run. Damn, he thought, I’m getting too old for this kind of s**t. After running about twenty meters, he started to break a sweat. The lack of sleep and two hearty meal skips made his feet weigh thrice as they did yet he went on. Once, he had to push two women onto the sidewalk to prevent heavy collision and that made one of them to hug the trunk of a tree growing by the sidewalk. The other one cursed him. Still, he went on. He was already panting when he saw the narrow dirt road Ricky was talking about. There were fresh tire tracks on the ground so he followed them cautiously, the gun already c****d in his hands. He surveyed the place, expecting to see even a small hut somewhere nearby but there was nothing but thick vegetation and a big heap of dry leaves and twigs waiting for someone to light them up. Fifteen meters ahead, he saw a familiar sight. It was his black Toyota Corolla, with its engine still running.

       As stealthily as he could, he walked to the car. He tried his best to avoid the angles where the mirrors could see him approaching, attempting to use the element of surprise to his advantage. When at last he reached the car, he saw that Romero was nowhere to be found. Neither in the driver’s seat nor in the back of the car. Alex searched the surroundings, hoping he was just taking a leak or maybe hiding, but it was all in vain. Sergeant Miguel Romero has successfully escaped. So he went back to the car and saw his mobile phone faced down on the driver’s seat. He took it but when he flipped his phone to see the screen, he saw that Romero wrote something for him. It was only consisted of two words but it caused him to lose his patience and it made him feel incompetent.

       “ROMEROOO!”, he screamed.

        For the screen simply read;

        HAPPY HUNTING!