Behind them, with sirens blazing, followed a police cruiser in hot pursuit.
         “Hot damn, Jim,” yelled Tyler in the passenger seat, “Looks like sheriff’s gaining on us.”
         “Don’t you worry there, Ty,” replied Jim, “I’m gonna lose ‘em on this side road. Watch this.” He pulled the E-brake and turned a hard left, the spinning tires shooting gravel into the trees behind them as he cut down a side road that branched off from the one they were on. The sheriff, however, was one step ahead and cut the same corner right after them.
         “Ah shit, Jim” yelled Ty, “We can’t shake him. This copper’s good.”
         “I’ll shake him,” said Jim, all calm and cool. They turned a corner and up ahead was a bridge crossing a small creek.
         “Hold on,” said Jim, “We’re comin’ up on McDouglas Bridge.”
         Ty looked at it and immediately noticed that something was wrong.
         “Oh shit! The bridge is out!” he yelled.
         Coolly, without taking his foot off the accelerator, Jim evaluated the situation. Sure enough, both the on- and off-ramps were still intact but the length of the bridge in-between was completely washed away - most likely in last spring’s flood. Jim downshifted and put the accelerator to the floor.
         “What the hell are you doing!” yelled Ty, “What are you crazy!?”
         Jim grinned and clenched the steering wheel.
         “Here goes nothin’” he said right before they hit the on-ramp, and braced himself as the car took air.
         It all seemed to go by in slow motion; dirt and dust trailing behind the spinning tires as the orange sports car sailed across the creek bed and slowly spun sideways to the left. The boys inside were screaming, “Holy Shit!” as the car touched down sideways on the other side and proceeded into a barrel-roll, tumbling four or five times before coming to a halt on its roof some ways down the trail.
         The sheriff, still hot on their trail in his cruiser, came upon the broken bridge and had just enough time to pull his E-brake and skid sideways to a halt just inches away from the on-ramp. He jumped out of his cruiser and ran up the ramp to see what happened to the boys. Right at this time, Jim and Ty were just crawling out of the wrecked, upside-down sports car. Jim stood up.
         “Ah shit,” he said, kicking the side of the car, “Ted is really gonna hand me my ass this time. You Ok, man?” he added, looking at Ty.
         “Yeah... I think so,” said Ty, stretching his back. He chuckled, “Heh, heh. All in one piece - oh shit! Callahan!” he shouted when he spotting the sheriff standing on the on-ramp on the other side of the creek.
         “You boys alright?” called the sheriff. Jim turned to Ty without answering the man.
         “We should book it, man. Let’s make a run for it.”
         Callahan must have overheard him because he yelled, “No point in running, son. I can see your face from here, James Starkey.” Jim stopped in his tracks but Ty made to make a run for it.
         Callahan yelled out, “I see you, too, Tyler Keefer. You wouldn’t want me to tell your old man you tried to run, now would you, son?” Tyler grimaced. “Now, ya’ll come on back here. Le’me give you all a ride home. We’re ten miles outta town after all.”
         “Ah shoot,” said Jim, kicking some stones. He looked at Ty and shrugged. They both climbed down the creek bed and made their way to the police cruiser.
~

         Meanwhile, up on Helias 1, Captain Jack Fisher was sitting outside the office of a certain John Sterric.
         “Mr. Sterric will be able to see you now, Mr. Fisher.” chirped the secretary.
         “Captain Fisher.” grumbled the old man under his breath as he got up and stepped inside the office. John Sterric was a senior executive with Astrocor™, one of the primary spacing companies in the Alpha Centauri System. As such, his office was among the most luxurious on the station. The walls were done up with the most expensive wood panel; mahogany trimmed with brass. His desk was made from the finest Masanboan redwood with what looked like a polished granite surface inlaid in the middle of the desktop.