Pacific Force Read online

  PACIFIC FORCE

  PACIFIC FORCE

  BOOK 1

  BLAZE WARD

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Epilogue

  Read More

  About the Author

  Also by Blaze Ward

  About Knotted Road Press

  CHAPTER

  ONE

  Jake surveyed the crime scene with a grim smile on his face, leaning his weight a little on the fender of somebody’s brand new 2018 Mustang in Arrest-Me-Red. Not even a GT, just a little pussy six cylinder with an after-factory, amateur-hour paint job.

  He was standing back behind the strip of tape marked ‘POLICE’ in bright yellow, with a few other folks who were watching as the party slowly concluded with all the bad guys being marched out in cuffs. The rest of the folks around him were just innocents—drawn by sirens, fire trucks, news vans, and apparently every cop and federal agent in Seattle and the surrounding jurisdictions—to see the number of different logos and officers involved.

  In the middle distance, Perkins—a tall, slender almost-bald guy with a ring of brown hair—was reading a prepared statement to a handful of cameras and a bank of lights. Jake presumed that he was giving the standard report that would be shown on every local news network as well as clips across the country.

  A lot of unhappy people would see one of their principal warehouses in the background, with federal agents loading evidence boxes into unmarked panel vans to be hauled off. That made Jake happy.

  Around him, Jake felt the crowd start to dissolve and head back to one of the nearby brew pubs where they’d been having a karaoke night before all this started. He shifted to the side so he could lean against an old brick wall. Deeper into the shadows, or at least harder to see.

  Over there, Perkins wrapped up his bit, ignored a few questions, and walked off, seemingly at random. At least random enough that none of the reporters were paying attention as they each did their little sign-off bits and blew their night vision to hell.

  There was a reason Jake was standing in semi-darkness. Not invisible, but certainly shadowed.

  Perkins knew where he was. Walked right to the tape, nodded to the Seattle cop holding it up, and slipped under.

  “Safe to talk here?” Perkins asked.

  “Better than the bar behind me,” Jake replied.

  “Think we got them all,” Perkins said. “Twenty arrests, so I’ll have to compare faces to lists when we get them all booked, but this looks like a clean sweep. You’re a dumbass for doing this by yourself though, Jake. Where’s the rest of your team?”

  “Pacific Force is retired, Perkins,” Jake replied. “You know that. This was a one-time favor for you and your Multi-Jurisdiction Task Force. Then I’m back out of the game.”

  Perkins grimaced, then forced it into a grin.

  “If you ever want an official job, you’ve got my number, Jake,” he said. “The feds could use you. And the others.”

  “We don’t want badges, Perkins,” Jake replied. “We do this—excuse me—did this because a lot of the times the very people who are supposed to arrest people like that are either working for them under the table or so utterly corrupt that they can be bought frighteningly cheap. The feds aren’t much better, present company excluded.”

  “SPD can be among the worst,” Perkins agreed. “But you’re tarring the rest of us with an unfairly-broad brush.”

  “When you start doing stop-and-frisk in rich, white neighborhoods, we’ll see,” Jake snapped quietly at the man. “The kids I went to high school with twenty years ago would have gotten any cop his quota for drug arrests every damned week. But they’re too busy protecting the money in this town. And every other town. That goes back centuries.”

  At least Perkins just grunted, smart enough not to take that bait. This country was due for a reckoning on police tactics one of these days. Especially now that a smarmy television actor had gotten himself elected President, then used all his power to loot every place where his friends in Congress could protect him.

  Perkins knew that, too. They’d had a few conversations, the off-the-record type where a career bureaucrat wouldn’t get himself in trouble with those same political appointees.

  “So, one Seattle drug and weapon smuggling ring pretty much smashed,” Perkins nodded. “What do you need from me at this point?”

  “My car is inside the perimeter,” Jake said. “I’d like it to not be evidence so I can drive it home tonight.”

  “That I can manage,” he replied, turning and gesturing for Jake to join him as the officer lifted the tape.

  The cop had been close enough to overhear everything, but maybe was young enough to not be completely bent yet. And looked Hispanic or Native American, like maybe his family was from around Yakima or Thurston County, and he’d come to the big city for a job. Hopefully, he’d see what the white power structure was like around here and either head home to make East-of-the-Mountains better, or at least not sell his soul to the police union in this town.

  They walked to where Jake’s old classic had been left by the curb, hemmed in right now by the vans. Perkins offered a few rude remarks to people standing around and got one of them moved.

  “You got anything lower profile?” Perkins asked as Jake cracked open the door and stood next to his favorite coupe.

  It had started in a junkyard. A ’39 Plymouth coupe front end welded to a 1940 Chevy coupe frame. Chopped down some, until the windshield was just barely legal. Big slicks on the back to handle the oversized Oldsmobile 454 engine that had been slipped in with Vaseline and a crowbar after it had been customized and blueprinted. Gas mileage sucked, but you needed turbo and nitrous injectors to even keep up when Jake had a straight-away to run.

  The exterior had been done in a sedate electric purple that looked like a supernova on the few clear days in Seattle where you had the right sun. The interior was completely modern and largely electronic, with a full crash cage and racing harnesses, because this was not show car. It was a working beast with an armor rating sufficient to stop most small arms at short range.

  Necessary in this business, where he’d had to have a few bullet impacts buffed out over the years.

  “This is low profile, Perkins,” Jake said. “Loud would be me pulling in a McLaren supercar or something equally overpowered and stupid, like so many of the people I helped you arrest. Tonight, it was necessary to get their attention. Worked, too.”

  “That it did,” Perkins agreed as Jake pulled the door the rest of the way open and slid in.

  It purred when he turned the engine over, but that was on purpose. Never let the fools know how much power they were facing if they wanted to race from a red light. Fart cans were for kids.

  Jake slipped it into gear, dropped his thumbs onto the Toyota shifter buttons that had come off an old MR2 like the one in his garage, and waved at the Fed as he pulled away.

  Not quite midnight, but Jake knew he was way more wound up than he’d been willing to let Perkins see. He crossed up to I-5 and headed north, dropping onto 520 to cross the new floating bridge. Traffic on a Thursday was a little heavier than normal, but Jake needed a drive to relax. No music, just the hum of the tires and the roar of the engine.

  Still, he picked them up as they started to close. Something about the way they were driving didn’t smell right. Big SUV, like a Suburban or an Expedition. Way too many lights across the front, all of them on and probably blinding everyone else, but Jake’s glass had been tinted and treated with various things to mute that crap when idiots drove with their high beams on. Way too common in this town.

  Closing. Weaving in and out dangerously, like they were trying to catch up to someone. Traffic was flowing about sixty across the bridge right now. Sedate, for Seattle drivers.

  The SUV was closing at about eighty. A vehicle that big got unstable at those speeds.

  Jake kept one eye on the ragged zipper of cars in front of him and left most of his attention on the SUV. The weather was dry tonight, so his suspension was gripping down hard, to the point he could feel every grain of sand on the road. Yet the ride was so smooth it still felt like silk.

  He had wondered earlier if maybe somebody had gotten away tonight after all. Or been late to the party and then watched from across the street until they had identified Jake and decided to follow him. He had a pistol on his hip, mostly for show, but he could have used it. Plus, he’d had half the feds in King County within sight back at the arrest.

  Someone apparently wanted a private party.

  Jake saw an arm come out of the passenger front
window as the SUV started to come along side. Looked like it had a pistol or a submachine gun in it. He pedal-shifted down two gears, slammed his foot to the floor, and took a really good grip on the steering wheel.

  He owned a third generation Toyota MR2 Spyder, back in the garage, custom rebuilt for street racing. He drove that around when he wanted something a little less flamboyant than an electric purple classic. He’d bought it secondhand from an old gearhead who’d had to retire and sell everything after a nearly fatal stroke. It was a mid-engine design, and Jake liked those, but that took practice to handle, with all the weight behind you.

  He still preferred a huge hunk of angry steel in front of him and a drive shaft howling as the surge of gasoline got turned into raw acceleration.

  Gunshots, but behind him. Back where he’d been before he made the jump to warp speed. The Plymouth was at eighty and rising, throwing a little smoke on the tires even at this speed.

  The SUV took a few moments to catch on. And then to accelerate. Picked a bad place to do it, too, as they both were climbing up that big hill to Bellevue right now. Didn’t lose them, though. Just got a nice head start.

  Less chance they would be firing randomly at innocent cars. Jake doubted that he’d be lucky enough to blow by a cop or state trooper right now. He did smile at his favorite burger drive-in as he roared past it. Seattle was always a Dick’s Burgers kind of town, but Jake preferred Burgermaster every time.

  Up the hill now, curving around to his right. The SUV was keeping up, but only because Jake backed everything down some. Tantalize them with those taillights. Draw them in. The Plymouth could top out at a speed where the SUV wouldn’t ever catch him if he really wanted them to.

  The SUV got crappy gas mileage, but the Plymouth was probably worse and had a smaller tank, so he couldn’t just run them dry. Especially not doing shit like this.

  So he let them stay close. Over that long curving left-hand on-ramp to 405. Luckily, nobody was headed west and needing to merge.

  Eighty miles per hour now. Ninety as they hit the straight and climbed. One hundred as they wove in and out of the thin, night-time traffic.

  The SUV was rocking now, but Jake figured they’d gone all-in on one of those lift kits to make it ride a little higher when a vehicle like that was already top-heavy.

  Good enough.

  He cut suddenly from the left, all the way across the freeway to hit the off-ramp to NE 85th, wondering if they’d be able to make that drift without losing it.

  Came close, from the way the ass-end slewed around a little, but the roads were apparently dry enough to hold, so he had them on his ass again.

  Now, the fun part.

  Not many cars he’d be willing to try this with. Certainly not at these speeds. He owned two, though.

  Jake downshifted hard and more or less drifted too fast into the off-ramp headed west down the hill to Kirkland and the lake. The SUV was having a hell of a time keeping up, but the driver gunned it now to try to catch him as he got onto surface streets.

  Bad choice, though. Jake hit the bottom of the off-ramp and was lucky enough that nobody wanted to merge into his lane as he blew right under the bridge and downshifted enough to make the engine howl with fury. If they had a window open, they’d hear that and maybe overreact. He stayed in the right lane right back up onto the other ramp.

  The westbound 85th to southbound 405 cloverleaf onramp was the tightest, nastiest one Jake was aware of around here. You were supposed to take it at a sedate, controlled speed, getting out onto the top at thirty-five and using the straightaway up there to accelerate for merging.

  Jake put the pedal to the floor and listened to the engine scream as the rubber grabbed hold.

  He loved this circle. This and his MR2 were the only cars he knew that could do this without squealing the tires. He was doing seventy halfway up the curve. Behind him, the SUV driver realized that Jake was getting away and floored it.

  Then the guy tried to take that curve.

  Jake watched those headlights tilt and roll over suddenly as the driver lost control, slewed into the steel barrier on his left, and was too top-heavy for the thing to stop him from tumbling right over the edge of it. At least there were trees there to stop them from rolling in front of any oncoming cars.

  He lifted his foot off the gas now and let the Plymouth slow down to sane speeds on this road as he watched the SUV tumble to a stop behind him.

  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and pushed the voice-command button.

  “Call Perkins,” he said simply, watching traffic, but nobody was chasing him.

  “What’s up, Jake?” The fed was on the line almost instantly.

  “Redmond,” Jake replied. “Onramp to southbound 405. Somebody was shooting at me across the bridge, lost control, and tumbled his SUV pretty hard. You might want to come over and see if it’s anybody else you want to arrest.”

  “You stopping to check?”

  “Not a chance,” Jake laughed. “One and done. And only for you.”

  He hung up and chuckled, driving like a proper civilian now, rather than a maniac. Everyone drove more or less politely as he considered what restaurants might be open for a quick bite. He’d need some downtime and carbs if he was going to sleep at all tonight, especially after that spike of excitement.

  His phone chirped and Jake picked it up to check, glancing down.

  Email from Spencer that simply read: CALL ME!!!

  Three exclamation points meant serious, so Jake hit his speed dial.

  “What’s up?” he asked when the man answered instantly.

  “We’ve got trouble.”

  CHAPTER

  TWO

  Jake stood off to one side and watched the afternoon class work slowly through a set of martial arts forms. He wasn’t personally familiar with the art they were practicing, but he’d only studied karate in his time, and this was a variant of kung fu he’d never pursued. In the end, there were only so many ways to move, step, and strike, though. The only question was what order they were assembled in.

  He’d slept some last night after talking to Spencer. Had breakfast. Made it here fairly early in the morning. He could sleep another time.

  The teacher had noted him as he approached across the open space of the park, but she had pointedly ignored him other than that, focusing on her half-dozen students, all older women dressed in matching black pants and tunics. Jake watched.

  He did smile at the age discrepancy, as the woman teaching looked to be half the age of the youngest student, with a couple that might have been in their seventies. But they were all moving slowly and with graceful surety as hands came up and they turned in unison. It wasn’t tai chi chuan, at least not the classical form he’d studied at one point, but it seemed to be a variant designed to help keep older women limber.

  They finished up as he leaned against a tree that was just starting to get serious about leafing out. Seattle had been a little slow getting warm this spring, so the flowers were only now coming up. A nice breeze blew through the section of the park’s parking lot that was dry enough, since it had only misted a little overnight and then blown on.

  Jake didn’t know if the group would have met in the rain. The woman teaching probably would have been out here practicing in anything less than real rain, but she was something of a hardass about things like that.

  Finally, they were alone, the two of them. A couple of the older women had politely inquired about the stranger but smiled at whatever they’d been told then went on their ways.

  Jake wondered if she’d told them he was an old boyfriend. Technically true, however long ago that had been.

  He stayed against the tree and let Hollyanne walk towards him. That way, Jake wasn’t invading her space.