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Tim and Aaron were dispatched to run down a lead for the FBI’s stolen list of undercover agents. The list had a GPS tracking device and Tim and Aaron were checking where it had last pinged. The location turned out to be a parking garage.
“I don’t see anything,” Aaron said, peering through the passenger window as they pulled into the dark interior.
“Keep your eyes peeled,” Tim said. “Like a video game with a subpar 2D map, the list could be anywhere above us.”
Aaron nodded. He radioed in their status. Another unit was dispatched to help them with the search due to the size and number of levels in the structure. Tim didn’t need to be told that the other unit dispatched was Lucy’s. He always knew her call sign on duty.
Tim continued to drive slowly through the parking garage. They cleared every level as best they could from within the shop as they went, coordinating with Lucy when she arrived. When Tim and Aaron reached the top, the lead appeared to be a dead end. None of them had seen anything worth looking into further.
Then they heard the sound of tires squealing behind them and were jolted as they were rear ended. They both turned to see the F-350 that had rammed them. Their suspect was the driver. Aaron called it in as Tim threw the shop into reverse. The smell of burning rubber permeated the interior as the smaller vehicle battled gamely against the large truck.
Aaron issued a mayday over the radio, but as they barreled toward the edge Tim had no hopes that anyone would reach them in time.
They hit the rail hard and broke through. The front tires fell off the edge of the parking structure, but busting through the rail had used up most of the initial momentum. They continued to slide closer to the tipping point, but much more slowly.
Lucy slammed on the gas as soon as she heard the mayday. She drifted around corners, using every advanced driving technique she’d learned and practiced at UC school. Due to the tight confines of the parking garage, she couldn’t get up any real speed. Careening around nearly 90 degree turns took all of her concentration and she didn’t catch any updates from Tim and Aaron about their situation.
When she broke out onto the top level she slammed on the brakes and took in the situation. The front of Tim’s shop was already over the edge. The ramming truck showed no signs of backing off. She had a matter of seconds to decide what to do before Tim would fall five stories to his death.
Lucy slammed into gear, swinging her shop around and throwing it into reverse. She put the accelerator to the floorboards, then let off the brake. Riding the line next to the rail, she sped toward Tim’s shop in reverse.
“Please work, please work, please work,” she chanted as she sped toward the entangled vehicles. At the last moment, she swung the steering wheel so that the back of her shop hit the suspect’s truck at a sharp angle, knocking it away from the police vehicle and sending it spinning. Shattered glass exploded everywhere. Metal screamed in protest as it was mangled and twisted.
The side of the truck slammed into Lucy’s shop as they both careened backward. The windows broke, raining glass shards down on Lucy and into the empty passenger side of the other vehicle. The driver’s side door buckled toward her hip.
The suspect hadn’t let off the gas the entire time. The truck tried to lurch forward, but at least one tire was blown out and the metal of the truck and Lucy’s shop were tangled together.
Suddenly there was silence as the engines stopped and the vehicles settled into place.
“LAPD!” Lucy shouted.
The suspect pulled a gun and started shooting. Lucy ducked as she pulled out her gun, counting the shots. She didn’t know what kind of gun the suspect had, so she prepared to pop up at each of the common magazine size capacities.
There was a pause at twelve shots. Lucy popped up and unloaded a double tap to the suspect’s center mass. Blood exploded out of his chest in a fine mist. Lucy scrambled out of her shop through the passenger side.
The truck was pinned between the two police vehicles. The only way to reach the cab was over the hood. Lucy climbed up to check that the suspect was no longer a threat. Pressing two fingers to the pulse point in his throat, Lucy confirmed that he was dead. She removed his gun in an overabundance of caution and went to check on Tim and Aaron.
Lucy sent up a silent prayer of thanks when she found their shop still on the parking structure and better suited for rescue than when she’d struck the truck. Somehow, during the collision Tim’s shop had spun so that the passenger side tire was back on the structure, though the driver side was hanging even more precariously off the edge.
Tim and Aaron were debating how to get out. The obvious solution was to have Aaron climb out and have Tim follow through the passenger side, but it was unclear if removing Aaron’s weight would send the shop over the edge.
“Lucy,” Aaron said. “With your help we should be able to get the margin of safety we need to get out.”
“Officer Chen, you are not to get in or on the unstable vehicle under any circumstances,” Tim said.
“Yeah, no. I’m helping you get out now,” Lucy said.
“That’s an order Officer Chen,” Tim barked.
Lucy gave him a look, then turned to Aaron. “Aaron, just tell me what you need.” Aaron looked back and forth between them. Lucy met his eye. “Sergeant Bradford is welcome to write me up in his report after we’re all back on solid ground.”
“Uhhh,” Aaron hedged. “Open the trunk and sit on the most stable part of the vehicle.”
Lucy nodded and followed his instructions. She had to walk around all three vehicles before reaching the trunk. After gingerly opening the hatch, she sat on the side of the trunk most firmly planted on the concrete.
Aaron opened his door. Instead of getting out, he put his feet on the lower door frame and turned, working his way out until his body was out of the seat, but his weight still on the vehicle. He gripped the upper rail and leaned away from the car. “Just like hiking in sailing,” he said. “Okay, Tim, come over.”
“How is using your body as a counterbalance anything like hiking?” Tim grumbled as he started to move. The shop swayed. Tim froze.
Lucy stood, grabbing the edge of the hatch and leaning out in an imitation of Aaron. “Try again,” she called.
Tim carefully crawled his way into the passenger seat, freezing every time the shop swayed. When he reached Aaron, both men fell out of the vehicle at the same time into an uncoordinated heap. They scrambled away from the vehicle. Lucy jumped away as soon as they were clear.
All three stood and looked back at the shop. It swayed from Lucy's dismount, but remained situated on the edge of the parking structure and slowly settled into a stationary tableau.
Lucy rounded the pileup and gave them both a once over. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yeah,” Aaron said.
“Fine,” Tim answered. He walked toward her, examining both her and her shop. “Are you?” he asked. Lucy nodded.
Aaron surveyed the wreckage of the three vehicles. “Why’d you back into him?” he asked.
Lucy looked at the lost cause that was the rear of her shop. “Oh, well.” She glanced at Tim. “I’ve been in enough wrecks that I know if I hit him head on the airbags would deploy. Getting hit in the face with an airbag can stun you for a minute and I didn’t want to be compromised that long.”
“Huh,” Aaron said.
“That was a big risk,” Tim said. His gaze was sharp and accusatory. “You could have sent all of us over the edge.”
Lucy shrugged. “I gave ramming the truck a 50/50 chance of working. Weighed against 100 percent chance of him sending you over the edge by doing nothing or trying to talk him down or shoot him, the choice was obvious.” She looked him straight in the eye. “You go, I go, Tim.”
Tim shook his head.
“If you guys need me to look the other way for a minute…?” Aaron asked. Tim threw him a glare.
Lucy looked over the carnage: three mangled cars, a busted safety railing, and a dead body. “This is going to be a lot of paperwork.”
Aaron’s head whipped toward her. “That’s what you’re thinking about right now?”