About the owner

"Hey, can you come get me?" It was a fellow investigator on the phone. "I think my subject's on to me, and I don't want him following me to my vehicle."

I said, "Sure. Where are you?"

"Gold's gym on Flamingo and Sandhill. Can you pick me up on the southwest side of the intersection?"

"Okay. I'll be right there."

When I arrived to pick Dwayne up, he was waiting for me, and jumped in the passenger seat. We went a couple blocks away to have a cup of coffee while he talked about his case. He had been doing surveillance on a guy at Gold's gym who was claiming injury in a small car accident. Dwayne had been in the gym with a covert camera filming this guy as he was working out. After a while it became evident that this guy was "on" to him.

We finished our coffee about a half an hour later, and I drove Dwayne back to his vehicle. As we entered the parking lot of Gold's gym, Dwayne scooched down in his seat so as not to be seen. Just as I approached his car in the parking lot, a jacked-up Ford F250 pulled up alongside my vehicle. The subject, a body builder, and his brother (equally buffed) were in that truck.

"I got you, you son of a ........!!!" The guy yelled.

"Holy ......!" Dwayne said. "Let's get out of here!"

I took off, locked the doors, and told Dwayne to call Metro. Off we went with these guys chasing my little Honda Acccord in their monster truck. I went North on Sandhill, hoping to elude them by making a series of right-hand turns, but they kept right behind me. I ended up in a residential neighborhood. That wasn't good. Unfortunately, I had turned into a cul-de-sac, and they were right behind me. They blocked us in by turning their truck sideways at the entrance to the cul-de-sac. Both of them got out, and ran over to the passenger side of my vehicle. Dwayne, still on the phone trying to explain to Metro exactly where we were, looked up to find these guys trying to open the passenger door. Since the doors were locked, they started pounding on the passenger window, yelling, "I'm going to kill you, you son-of-a- ......!"

With these guys out of their vehicle, I saw an opportunity to try making it around their vehicle. I narrowly made it around. They ran to their truck, got in, and roared behind us. I could hear Dwayne's frustration with Metro. We were moving too fast to help them locate us. I decided to head for Boulder Highway. My heart was pounding. I've come to know that I have this ability to do all the right things in an emergency. Two hours after the emergency, however, it hits me and I break down, sometimes in tears.

On the way to Boulder Highway, I was driving faster than normal, cutting across parking lots, going over curbs, and cautiously going through at least one or two red lights. Once I actually got to Boulder Highway, I wanted to stay right there. We needed to give Metro a chance to find us. So I went round and round - Boulder Highway going North, crossing the median, and Boulder Highway going South - right around the Boulder Station. Round and round we went like this at least six or seven times. The brothers, frustrated, tried to cut us off by going down into the median grass.

All of a sudden, four Metro units converged on us, guns drawn. "Turn your engine off, and step out of the vehicle", an officer yelled. I turned the engine off, and Dwayne and I both stepped out hands raised. A few yards away, the brothers were going through the same routine with other officers. I looked down at my poor little Honda. The passenger window was dented in and off track, and the engine was smoking. My hands had a tremor.

In my 15 years as a private investigator, there have been interesting stories; not always this exciting or dangerous.

(More to come.)