Love Gone Viral

It was a sunny Friday afternoon along 3rd street Broadway in Santa Monica California, with the usual buzz of activities going on in the busy street. Everything seemed normal. The atmosphere is vibrant and lively as the sun was out, blazing its radiance as though to remind everyone of its title as the hottest thing ever to exist. The air had a unique salty zephyr from the ocean, filling into the empty space its calmness and glee. Pedestrians are seen strolling languidly, shoppers moving in and out of shops and malls, cars drive by slowly, the sound of faint distant music fills the air as everyone went about their activities. The feeling of normalcy was disrupted when an unmarked black sedan zoomed past the street with a blistering speed that could be likened to the speed of light, which immediately caught the attention of by-passers. It almost ran against a delivery truck, but the driver swerved at the last second to avoid any contact with the truck, and continued its speed. Two police cruisers raced against it with their sirens blaring into thin air, filling the air with tension as they ran down the chase. It was now clear to everyone why the Sedan ran at such speed. The cops had suspected the car of carrying drugs as they have been carrying on investigations and narrowing down on their suspect. As the black sedan zoomed past the street, it swerved swiftly narrowing missing a black Honda parked by the side of the street. The cops continued their chase with their sirens blasting out louder moving in steady staggered motion with their eyes keen on their suspect. Around the corner, at the intersection of the 5th street, the driver of the sedan made a sudden left turn and headed straight towards a narrow street. passers by paused and watched in amazement as the sedan tore through the street, scattering items displayed along the street, swiftly avoiding collision with incoming cars while maintaining a very high speed. It was like in the movies, as though the popular action movie star Jason Statham had been on the wheels, racing his way out of danger. But the cops weren’t far behind as they continued their chase, the sudden left turn of the sedan caught the cops by surprise as the driver of the sedan swerved and took the left turn unexpectedly. It was actually a dead end. Only a foolish criminal will choose to head towards a close. The driver of the sedan seemed to reduce his speed a bit and the cops gained ground on him. He ran into an old truck parked towards the side of the street and crashed into it. It was a fatal crash and it seemed he would have been greatly injured. The cops reaching the scene quickly rounded the crashed sedan and waited in anticipation for the driver to step out while steadying their guns, they went closer to the crashed sedan and discovered that it was empty. Just then a silver Chevrolet zoomed past from the opposite direction. The cops didn’t need a second thought, they hurriedly got back into their cruiser, did a quick reverse and continued their chase. Within a second, it seemed like the silver Chevrolet was out of sight, the driver drove as though he or she was racing against formula-one champion Lewis Hamilton. The cops continued their chase, legs firmly pressed on the gas and navigating the steering as if doing so would make the cruiser move faster. It was obvious that they were losing ground on their chase. The lead sergeant radioed for backup, with his voice steady but urgent. “we have a situation on ground, suspect is racing away and we’re losing grounds, we are on 6th street, we need more units at the Ocean Avenue, if he makes it to the 10, Freeway, we’ll be lost completely, suspect is driving an unmarked silver Chevrolet, all units respond as fast as possible, over. His partner was in charge of the wheels, and a little ray of disappointment was obvious on his face as he clearly couldn’t figure out what direction the Chevrolet went to. It moved like a flash and disappeared into empty space. The look on his face gave him in, they knew they had lost the chase. “Damn it” the lead sergeant echoed angrily, punching his fists against the air, hands in his chin, the adrenaline surge from the chase was still having its course on him as he took a long deep breathe. “how did he manage to disappear?” he said leaning back in his seat “Too fast”, his colleague replied him. “These are not common thieves” he said. “of course, they’re not” The lead sergeant rattled back. “common thieves don’t do drugs, and which common thief could afford a Sedan and a Chevrolet Camaro.” “It seemed they had everything planned out”, the lead sergeant continued. “Crashing the sedan and swiftly swapping for the Chevrolet, we thought we were dealing with mere drug dealers, but whoever this is, has one hell of experience with getting away from crimes and must be super smart.” “Yes, you’re right” the sergeant on the wheel responded. “The cars had no plate numbers, these are real criminals, but I’m sure some of our colleagues on patrol might nail whoever it was.” “sometimes you make me wonder how you got into the force” the lead sergeant blasted his colleague furiously. “you think someone who could outsmart us wouldn’t be smart enough to change plate numbers?” The two police officers sat in their car dejected, losing out on a chase like this was always a hard one to swallow. The other cruiser bumped against a wall and had a little delay, but they finally met up with them. The look on the sergeant’s face was enough to let them know that they lost the chase. They had radioed for backup; two more cruisers came evidently losing out on the trail and having no information whatsoever to help their cause. “you seem to get better at this with each passing day” Rex muttered excitedly. “Better at what”? Lena asked feigning ignorance “confusing the cops, manoeuvring them and weaving past your way like they never existed” Rex said. “well, let’s say I learnt from the best in the game” Lena said with a half-smile “And who is the best?” Rex asked “you of course papa” “You’ve done well Riley” Rex said. “I thought I’m Lena now, I’m still Riley”? Lena asked waving her hair backwards and giving her father an odd stare. “it will still take some few hours to get you completely out of your Riley mood, we’re still on the road, anything can still happen, so until we get home and finally settle down, you are still Riley. Please speed up a little more Riley” smiling sheepishly and scratching his left eye, Rex patted his daughter on the back. “okay papa, hit it on Riley girl” Lena increased her speed and drove for a distance, then noticing a cruiser and a DBU checkpoint, she slowed down before they even saw her. The officers scanned the vehicle, while Rex commended them on the good job they were doing to keep the city safe. Rex had a baby’s innocent look that no one would believe he could hurt a fly, and he used that to his advantage. Even at 54, he looked 15 years younger. Needless to say, her daughter Lena was his carbon copy, and it made for a perfect combination of partners in crime. Suspecting nothing amiss, the cops quickly let them go. Rex gave out a faint smile, he unfastened his seatbelt and felt a bit of relief, looking into the distance as Lena zoomed off, birds clattered and flew away in zigzag patterns which gave him a unified sense of freedom. He brought his camera and took a picture of them. He always loved nature and loved to capture it. As they drove a few kilometres, they met another DBU checkpoint. “A lot of checkpoints today” Rex muttered “Maybe they’re looking for a silver Chevrolet” Lena said with a half smile. The cop was a much elderly person who seemed overly passionate about his job. His grey hair was in stark contrast against his dark uniform, he had a calm demeanour in his voice, he spoke calmly with a sense of authority that resonated years of experience. He raised his hands gently for Rex and Lena to pull over. “License and registration please” he asked. “Good day officer” Lena smiled politely, reaching for her license and registration and handing them over to him. He reached for his spectacles, his hands shaking slightly, he guided it over his eyes and glanced through the details. “Lena Campbell’’ he muttered slowly, giving Lena a close look. “And you must be Mr. Campbell” he said addressing Rex as he saw the striking resemblance. “Yes sir, Rex Campbell” Rex said, bringing out his ID and handing it over to the officer. He glanced through the ID, took a meticulous scan of the vehicle and decided that he was satisfied. “everything seems fine here” the officer said, handing them back their ID and the papers. “Do have a good day and drive carefully” he said, stepping back and making way for them to drive by. “Thank you, officer, do have a great day too”. Lena said as she moved her vehicle slowly back into the main road. The other officers made way for them as they drove past. For some odd reasons, the streets were a bit deserted today. “I guess its as usual” Joyce said faintly as Rex and Lena opened the door to meet her. “As usual my love” Rex said as she gave Joyce a peck on the cheek. Lena went to sit beside her mum, her hands over her shoulders “I hope you feel much better now mum” she said “I do, just a little pain here and there” she said pointing to the parts where she felt pains. “you will be fully okay in no distant time” Her daughter assured her. Joyce had a health challenge and she had been ill for a while. Lena stayed and conversed with her mum for a while and later rose to go. Lena entered her apartment. It was a hugely successful day as everything went perfect as it always does. She languidly laid her body against her sofa, burying all her weight against the cushion and giving out a huge sigh of relief. She was too tired to remove her shoes or to go take a shower. Then she heard a noise in the distance, at first, she thought it was just a normal sound or objects clattering against the wind. She paused to feel the silence and assure herself that everything was fine. Then she heard faint voices. She wasn’t used to receiving visitors as she barely had any friend. A cruiser drove past with the siren on loud blast and stopped not so far away. Her pulse quickened as her heart raced, she was instinctively alert and she sensed that something was quite amiss. She narrowed her eyes towards the tiny spaces in her window blind trying to get a clear view. The noises became much distinct and this time, they were accompanied by footsteps against the ground in slow steady movement. Someone was in her premises. She went to another section of her sitting room to get a clearer view of the outside premises, then she saw it. The silver Chevrolet car parked outside her house. Many thoughts raced through her mind as she paced around. Could the cops finally had tracked her home? Had someone been following her? She quickly discarded those thoughts as she knew her way around these things and was super smart to be caught. She had come back with a Nissan car and she played her cards very well. But then the same silver Chevrolet car. Could this be a coincidence? The cruiser stopping inches away from her house, and the voices. She was not new to pulling off such hits and she wondered what could have gone wrong. She paced around trying to control her breath. Whatever it was, she knew it was not yet time to be Lena, like her dad said, she still had to be Riley till the coast was very much clear. then she heard her doorbell ring, and the cruiser’s siren went up again in the air.