Page 32 of Teddy Sinatra: Go Your Own Way
His car was coughing up dirt and bouncing over heavy brush as he fought with all he had to control his car and avoid incoming bullets too. He sped and sped and sped so fast that no man could control that kind of speed.
He was going so fast, and bouncing over so much brush, that his car hit one big branch too many and lost all traction. Then it flipped and ended up on its roof, sliding through those woods, until it came to a stop with the wheels still spinning.
The chase car driver swerved, to avoid killing himself and his crew in what would have been a massive collision, but the driver swerved too recklessly and ended up slamming into a tree. The car hit so hard that it exploded on impact.
The sound of the crash sent shockwaves through the woods as birds flew away from trees with loud sounds of distress, dogs were barking furiously, and every manner of creature scurried for cover. But the sound of the explosion after the crash silenced the noise. Every wildlife in those woods had been screaming out all at once in a unified terror of sounds.
And then, as if they knew something horrific had just occurred, there were no sounds at all.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Boss! Boss!”
Mick, Teddy, and Nikki were still sitting on the dock of the bay when they heard Renardo’s voice. They all turned and saw their dock supervisor running across the plank toward them.
Teddy was especially agitated. “What is it?” he was yelling even before Renardo made it to them.
“I just got a call from Tech-quarters.” It was their technical team’s headquarters. “They tried to call you guys but nobody was answering.”
Teddy had broken his phone in a fit of rage the day before, Nikki’s phone was still turned off, and Mick had left his phone in his Escalade. “What do they want?” he asked.
“They just got a distress signal, sir.”
Everybody flew to their feet. “From whom?” Teddy asked anxiously.
“From Duke’s detail,” said Renardo. “And they weren’t able to reach any of the team members, nor Duke or Jackie by phone either. They also got a distress signal from Duke’s Mustang.”
Mick’s heart slammed through his shoe as he, Teddy, and Nikki were already running. “Where?”
“Over on Copperfield. They were running so fast that Renardo couldn’t keep up. “The nine thousand block,” he added as he gave up and let them run.
All three hopped into Mick’s Escalade and Mick sped away as Nikki was on the phone trying to reach Jackie and Teddy was trying to reach Duke. They couldn’t get there fast enough as all of them were thinking the exact same thing: Thatreal motherfuckerMick had spoken about had come for the very ones he was certain they wouldn’t come for: his children.
He was turning corners on two wheels as he raced to the scene.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Even before they made it to Copperfield Road, there were police cars and ambulances and cordoned off spaces blocks away. It was what they assumed was where it all began as Mick’s Escalade drove passed the twins’ security detail car, which was being processed with all three deceased bodyguards still inside. The car was so mangled that it was almost unrecognizable. Mick, Teddy, and Nikki all froze in fear.
But the main crime scene was much farther away and Mick kept on speeding. That was when he arrived at the nine thousand block of Copperfield Road where bumpers and tire tread and other car parts sprawled across the road like litter, and the damage continued into the woods.
The man in charge, Captain Andrews, knew the Sinatras well. That was why he was out there. He also happened to be crooked as the road and on Mick’s payroll.
“Where’s my children?” Mick asked frantically as they hurried toward the Captain and the Captain hurried to them.
“Their Mustang ran off the road,” the captain said, “and went into the woods. It flipped over, Mick.”
“Lord have mercy!” Nikki cried out.
“They’re trying to get them out now,” the captain added, but Mick and Teddy were already running into those woods and Nikki was right behind them.
When they saw the car that had slammed into that tree and exploded, their hearts began hammering in fear. But when they realized it wasn’t Duke’s car, they kept running. They saw a small group of cops attempting to make contact with Duke, and figure out a way to pull him out with the car upside down, but that wasn’t going to be enough for them.
Mick and Teddy got a grip and began to use every ounce of strength they had to lift that Mustang and flip it over. The cops out there, when they realized first that it was Mick the Tick and Teddy T, and that those fools were actually going to try to lift a car, all lent a hand. And the car actually did flip over and back on its four wheels.
Then Nikki grabbed the jaws of life from one of the cops and pried open the driver side door. And that was when they saw Jackie.
“Daddy!” she cried out when she saw her father’s face. “Duke,” she was saying too. “Duke.”
