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Foot Chase

by H. K. Slade

About the Author: H.K. Slade has spent the past decade as a patrol officer, academy instructor, and crisis negotiator in one of the largest metropolitan police department in the southern United States. His stories aim to capture both the tension and high stakes of police work, but also the often overlooked elements of adventure and humor. In addition to having had short stories published in Allegory, Peridot Books, Down in the Dirt, and Alien Skin Magazine.

Excerpt

“Baker Three-Five, foot chase!” Joshua “Country” Tumblewhite hollered into his shoulder mic and broke into a run. The driver of the car he’d stopped had a good lead, but the young deputy had an extra fifteen inches to each stride and an enthusiasm for the chase that would have done a foxhound proud. 

“Heading north from the Shell station on Fighaven,” he said, broadcasting the driver’s direction of travel to all the responding units. In the near distance, a police siren roared to life. Country smiled. He had him. 

It wasn’t the driver’s first time running from the police. He never looked back, not once, but made a straight sprint for the nearby woodline. The sound of the siren so close it could have been a starter pistol for the way the little man accelerated. He planted one foot on the dilapidated fence separating the gas station parking lot from the undeveloped easement and vaulted full-speed into the woods. 

Country was only a few steps behind but had to slow down to climb the fence. He carried twenty-five pounds of gear and probably forty pounds more muscle than his quarry, and while that might come in handy once he finally caught the little man, it was hell on a young deputy’s parkour abilities.

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