We hung around the Starbucks until local patrol cars showed up. One of them was a young cop I had helped with his application. A kid named Tyler – the nephew of a family friend.

“Hey, can I give you my statement later?” I asked Tyler. “I gotta get this one to school.”

In Jadey’s defense, she was being a rockstar. She hadn’t complained once and was actually doing an incredible job keeping the screaming drive-thru girl – several years older than her – calm and composed.

“Yeah, of course, Mr. Dayson,” Tyler said quickly.

“Come on, man,” I replied. “I told you you can call me Steve.”

“Roger, Detective,” Tyler said with a grin. “We’ll catch up later.”

Jadey and I got back into the car. I opened the windows until the a/c could blow out the already hot air.

“Can I just stay home for the rest of the day?” Jadey asked hopefully.

“It’s not even lunch yet,” I chuckled. “There’s plenty of school day left.”

“Is too,” she protested. “It’s almost noon.”

“Gosh, is it?” I said. I really had lost track of time. “I’ll buy you lunch on the way to school. Your pick.”

“Oooh – how about Chipotle?” she said excitedly.

“Sure thing, kid,” I laughed.

I checked my messages while the car cooled off. Ed had spammed me with a ton of new messages.

“Dammit,” I grumbled and rang him immediately. He answered after one ring.

“Lieutenant…” I began, changing it to speakerphone so I could concentrate on pulling out of the very busy parking lot.

“Steve?” a voice answered. It wasn’t Ed.

“Jake?” I replied. “What’s going on? Where’s Ed?”

“Where’s Ed?” Jake replied. “Where the hell are you? Shit’s straight up sideways, dude.”

“I’ve got my kid here and on speakerphone,” I snapped back.

“Not my problem, Dayson,” Jake replied coldly. “We need you across town quick. The lieutenant is out of commission. Got t-boned just trying to leave the precinct.”

I had Jadey hold the phone so I could whip a U-turn at the next light.

“What the heck is going on, Jake?” I barked. “Just spit it out.”

“Some sort of coordinated attack,” he shot back. “We don’t exactly know yet, but tires are being slashed all over town. Cars. Trucks. Semis. An entire parking garage was hit downtown.”

“Ed told me this morning it was just some kids,” I pleaded.

“This ain’t kids,” Jake replied. “Not the main strike anyway. I think there’s been a cluster of copycats, but we’re talking dozens of people making coordinated moves. The first few victims called tow trucks. Now most of them are struck in the parking garage too.”

“The one on 9th?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Jake replied. “Word must be spreading around town ‘cause folks are acting stupid all over.”

“Can confirm,” I replied. “They’re panicked all the way over here in Greenwood.”

“People are idiots,” Jake said after a pause. “They’re going to keep overreacting to each other until they can’t anymore.”

“Any eyes on the actual perp? This seems pretty high profile to me?” I asked.

“Lots of tips so far,” Jake said. “We're doing some early scans of security footage from the garage, but something's wrong with the recording. These guys had a plan.”

“Any looting?” I asked quickly.

“No, not yet,” he replied.

“The Bureau involved yet?” I followed up.

“No, but they will be,” Jake said. “If they can get into town. I heard the Chief mention getting the national guard in, but a lot of the bridges from the west side are tied up. They’d be coming from the capitol, right?”

“Or the readiness center,” I suggested. “But that's on the other side of the river too.”

Jadey looked at me nervously while I weaved through traffic. I was going a little faster than I meant to.

“Where do you need me?” I asked.

“Well, don’t come here,” Jake replied. “It’s a total cluster. We’ve got some officers securing a tire distro not far from where you are. They need some help.”

“Call you on your phone?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Jake replied. “I’m going to be getting someone to bring Ed his phone over at the hospital. Luckily, they were able to get him picked up and transferred before traffic got worse. But he left his phone in his jacket.”

“Jacket?” I laughed. “It’s like 90 degrees out.”

“Eh, you know the old man,” Jake said before hanging up.

“Daddy?” Jadey asked as her breathing started to intensify. “What’s going on?”

I took a beat before I responded. I had been working on being patient with her…kid-ness.

“You heard everything I did, baby,” I said softly. “Some people are just trying to ruin everyone else’s day.”

“Are you going to stop them?” she asked.

“I’m going to try to help,” I replied. “I think that’s all I can do right now.”

“Dad?” she continued, a little calmer.

“What? Sorry – yes?” I replied.

“Does this mean I don’t have to go to school?” she asked.

I shook my head and laughed outright.

“Man, we’ve got a possible domestic terrorist on our hands – and you don’t miss a beat, do you?” I said, fighting back a smile.

“Is that a yes?” she asked more boldly.

“Dammit, Jadey,” I replied. “I don’t think I could get you to school if I wanted to now. But you’ve got to stay with me for a while.”

She seemed to snuggle into her seat before another question occurred to her.

“What about Johnna?” she asked. The thought had already crossed my mind. If even one or two dumbass kids were going to copycat this, the high school parking lot would be toast.

“She’s already at school, and that’s where she’s going to stay,” I said resolutely. “We’ll worry about getting her home later.”

“Do you think the school buses got hit?” she continued.

“How am I supposed to know?” I laughed. “Let’s meet up with this next group of officers and go from there.”

She gave me a little bit of a salute and hunkered down.

“How about that Chipotle?” she mused.

Matt Hebert is an engineer and self-published author. His dopamine-fueled creative pursuits have spanned from chicken keeping, sand sculpture, acting, and public speaking, but writing is nearest and dearest to his heart. He lives in Bellevue with his wife and two daughters. You can find him on Instagram at @jerkofalltradeshebert or email him at matt.hebert.books@gmail.com