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The helicopter had just lifted off when I rolled out from underneath the police SUV where I had been hiding.

In the SEALs, we had learned lots of dirty tricks. And one of the lesser-known ones is to wedge yourself on the underside of a vehicle to sneak into army bases and embassies and such. This is why sharp people involved with embassy and military base security usually have a mirror on a stick to search beneath any incoming vehicles.

Lucky for me, the jackasses I was up against here weren’t very sharp.

No, not in the slightest , I thought as I came around the trail side of the police vehicle and stood staring at the backs of the two men.

Five feet away stood Travers and Garner. I recognized the both of them from Jodi’s video. They were just standing there oblivious, staring up at the deafening ascending bird.

As I stared at them, a mean rhyme from my childhood popped into my head.

Fat and Skinny had a race

Up and down the pillowcase

Fat fell down and broke his crown

And Skinny won the race

Sounded like a plan, I thought.

Except Skinny was about to lose, too.

I shot the both of them simultaneously with the weapons I’d borrowed from the female cop.

With my right hand, I shot the skinny Travers through the back of his left knee with the Glock 17, blowing out his kneecap. At the same time with my left hand, I shot the corrupt chief right in his large backside with the officer’s Taser.

A moment later, they were both on the ground. As the sound of the rotor wash died down a little, I could hear that Travers kept saying uh-uh-uh and the chief kept saying ah-ah-ah. The way they were doing it at the same time sounded oddly musical, like they were warming up to sing in a barbershop quartet.

“Surprise, fellas,” I said as I stepped up.

I saw that Travers was crying like a baby as he clutched at his bloody knee. I patted him down and found a Glock and a pair of handcuffs. I disassembled the Glock and tossed the parts into the trees. After that, I gave the chief a couple of blasts with the Taser to give him something to do. He gave out a yah-yah sound this time and actually flopped over. I guess the backside of him was done.

Then I handcuffed Travers behind his back and dragged him to the far side of the SUV next to the guardrail. I hauled him up and dumped him in the back. When he started howling, I pulled his hair back and rammed the Glock in his mouth.

“Either you’re going to shut your piehole or I am,” I said.

Then I attended to the chief by giving him a healthy twenty-second press on the fizzling buzz trigger of the Taser.

“Please,” he said as I knelt and relieved him of his .38 and his cell phone.

“Shut your mouth,” I said as I ratcheted his own handcuffs on his wrists. I hauled him up and dumped him into the passenger seat of the police SUV.

I looked down Route 4. We were still alone for now. I realized I needed them in order to have Colleen released.

“Time to get on the horn, Chief,” I said, holding up the radio to his mouth.