Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended. I wanted to write an action adventure for just Lassie and Jules. I hope you like it!

Fight or Flight

Juliet O'Hara leaned forward to turn up the radio when she noticed one of her favorite songs playing. She began to bob her head, just a little at first, somewhat self-conscious about her partner who was driving the Crown Vic, but when her favorite part came on she let herself bounce on the seat to the beat. She even sang along under her breath. She glanced at Carlton Lassiter out of the corner of her eye to make sure he wasn't getting too irritated by her music. Not that she'd stop listening, of course, but she'd learned over the past few years to monitor her partner's moods. She nearly laughed out loud when she saw that he was almost imperceptibly nodding his head to the beat as well. He had definitely changed since they'd first been made partners. She gave herself a lot of credit that he was more open and relaxed around other people than he used to be. And she gave him a lot of credit for making her more confident and authoritative in her police work and an all-around better detective.

When the song ended and a commercial came on, Lassiter turned off the radio. "Are you getting a signal yet? We should call the Banksville sheriff and give him an ETA."

Juliet checked her cell phone and found that it finally had a signal. They'd been driving for over two hours into the rural areas north of Santa Barbara, and they'd lost cell phone reception for a good portion of the drive.

"Yes, I'll call them. How much longer will it take?"

"About 20 minutes," said Lassiter.

Juliet made the call to the sheriff's department of the small town. They were on their way to retrieve a suspect wanted for several drug-related crimes in Santa Barbara. They were notified earlier that afternoon that he'd been arrested in Banksville for a traffic violation.

"That's odd," she said after hanging up the phone. "They seem surprised that we're on our way."

Lassiter grunted. "Well, it is almost 6PM. They're probably all getting ready for bed. I mean, the sun's going to be down in 2 hours!"

"Carlton," said Juliet with an exasperated sigh. "You're going to be polite to the Banksville sheriff, right? He did catch Earle for us."

"Of course. I was just joking," said Lassiter with a wave of his hand. "You forget, I grew up spending my weekends out in the country. Early to bed, early to rise, and so forth." He looked thoughtful for a moment, then he grimaced. "That was such a pain in the ass."

Juliet laughed. Lassiter flashed her a quick grin.

"Well, I don't think this area will be very rural for long," said Juliet. "Did you notice that construction about 20 miles back? It looked like a huge new subdivision."

Lassiter nodded. "Suburban sprawl. Bessy the Cow over there's going to have a Starbuck's in her pasture pretty soon."

Juliet smiled and gazed out the window for the last part of the drive. It had been a nice day, with a lot of blue sky and just enough fluffy white clouds to make it picture perfect. She was actually pretty happy that they'd had to take such a long drive. Most days, she was stuck in the station or running around town and didn't get to sit back and enjoy the beautiful weather. By the time they collected their suspect, Billy Earle, and headed back to town, she figured they'd be treated to a spectacular sunset.

When they arrived in Banksville, Lassiter made his way through a couple of the only half dozen traffic lights of the town and pulled into the small parking lot at the side of the sheriff's office building. A Banksville squad car was parked on the street at the front of the building and another one was in the lot. Juliet's cell phone rang as Lassiter finished parking.

"It's the Chief. She's probably checking in before she goes home for the night," said Juliet.

"I'm going to get the paperwork started in there," said Lassiter.

Juliet watched him disappear around the front corner of the building as she updated Chief Vick. The phone call lasted several minutes as Vick asked Juliet several questions about the case and one of their other pending cases.

Lassiter opened the door of the sheriff's office, setting off the small bell hanging from the top edge of the door frame. He could hear two voices cut short a conversation at the sound of the bell. As he continued into the office, he had a feeling the two men in the room, the sheriff and a deputy, had been having a heated discussion and wondered if it was about their prisoner. Flashing back to O'Hara's admonishment earlier, he smiled warmly and held out his hand to the sheriff.

"Sheriff James? Carlton Lassiter, Head Detective, SBPD," he said as he gave the man a firm handshake. "My partner and I are here for Billy Earle."

"Hey there, Detective Lassiter. Welcome to Banksville. This is my deputy, Andy Spark."

"Howdy," said the deputy as he shook Lassiter's hand. He wore an expression that seemed to be half puzzled, half peeved. "We kinda figured you all would wait until tomorrow to come for Billy."

"Well, our afternoon was pretty open, and Earle holds the key to a major case we're putting together in Santa Barbara. We wanted to get him back as soon as we could," said Lassiter, keeping the bite of exasperation he was starting to feel out of his voice. He didn't appreciate having to explain their motivations to these officers. "Is he ready to go, then?"

Deputy Spark glanced at the sheriff, grimacing slightly, and said, "I told Joe he could talk to Billy. He wanted to real bad."

"Whatever your brother wants to say to Billy, he'll have to do it on the phone. Or he can take a drive to Santa Barbara. You know that, Andy," said the sheriff with a hint of resignation in his voice, as if he was used to having to explain things to his deputy.

"Yeah, alright," said Andy with a poorly hidden sullen tone. "Well, I gotta go, got a thing to check out. Goodbye, detective." He stalked out the door and climbed into the squad car that was parked out front, then he drove off. Lassiter raised his eyebrows as he watched the deputy leave.

"Don't mind him, detective. He's a rookie, and he's still getting used to police work and dealing with other police departments. He and Billy grew up together, too, so I think that's got him a bit off kilter about this whole affair."

"It's no problem at all, Sheriff," said Lassiter. He glanced over his shoulder as the little bell rang again behind him.

"Hi there, sorry about that. I had to speak to the Chief," said Juliet as she walked in to stand beside Lassiter.

"Sheriff James, this is my partner, Detective O'Hara," said Lassiter as Juliet and the sheriff shook hands.

"Nice to meet you, detective," said the sheriff with a warm smile.

"You too," said Juliet. She looked around the room. "Is Earle ready to go?"

"Yes, just a moment, let me get him for you," said the sheriff. He handed a file to Lassiter. "Here's the paperwork, if you would." He went through a door in the back of the office.

"He seems nice," said Juliet as Lassiter started signing the papers. He just grunted a response. "Who was that other officer?"

"Deputy Spark. He seemed less nice," said Lassiter as he scanned the forms.

Juliet just shrugged, wondering if Lassiter had said something that ticked off the deputy, without realizing it. She knew her partner could sometimes be a little oblivious of how his words or tone sounded to other people.

After a few minutes, the sheriff reappeared from the rear door of the office leading a tall, lanky man who had his hands cuffed in front. Billy Earle had thin brown hair falling almost shoulder-length and hanging in front of his light gray eyes. He was gaunt and pale and seemed extremely nervous, eyes darting from Juliet to Lassiter and back to Juliet. He seemed surprised to see a female detective. Juliet sighed a bit inwardly.

"Here you go, then," said the sheriff, handing Earle off to Juliet who took him by the elbow as he loomed next to her. "And here's his possessions. Well, it's just a cell phone, I guess. It's all he had on him." He handed Juliet a small brown bag. He took the paperwork from Lassiter, and then turned back to Earle. "I always told you to stop all that messing around, Billy. I wish you'd listened."

Earle nodded but kept his eyes on the floor. He was sweating and kept shifting his feet.

"Thank you, Sheriff," said Lassiter as he shook his hand. "We appreciate your cooperation on this case. It's going to help get a lot of bad guys and drugs off the streets."

"Well, then, that's a good thing. You take care, now. Drive safely."

Lassiter took hold of Earle's other elbow and led him out of the office with Juliet following up behind. When they got to the car, Lassiter opened the back door and made sure Earle didn't hit his head as he climbed in, which was a trick. Earle was well over 6 feet tall.

"In you go, beanpole," said Lassiter. He saw Juliet's look of admonishment and just shrugged as he climbed in behind the wheel.

As they pulled out of the parking lot, Lassiter glanced at Earle in the rearview and said, "Okay, we've got a long drive Mr. Earle, so I'm going to lay out the ground rules. No yelling or spitting or kicking the seats or any other disruptive behavior or we will pull over and cuff your hands behind your back, which will be extremely uncomfortable for you. Do you understand?"

Earle nodded and tucked his chin to his chest as if he was studying his own knees or an interesting piece of lint on the car's floor.

"And no incessant talking or nervous rambling about stupid things, or about anything for that matter. Silence is golden."

Juliet shook her head and pinched the bridge of her nose.

Earle's eyes stayed trained on the floor, only occasionally flicking up to meet with Lassiter's in the mirror. "What if I have to go to the bathroom?" he asked meekly.

"We'll stop once along the way. Don't ask for food, we're only going to be driving for 3 hours. You won't starve to death. Anything else?"

Earle shook his head and peered out the windows, occasionally twisting to look out the back windshield as they made their way through the small town and back onto the highway towards Santa Barbara. They drove along the winding road and over rolling hills as the sun sank closer to the horizon. After a half hour or so of silence, Earle shifted in his seat and cleared his throat.

"Am I going to be taken to prison tonight?" he asked.

Lassiter and Juliet exchanged a look.

"You'll be kept in the SBPD holding cells for tonight while we get you processed, and then we'll be questioning you," said Juliet. "Then probably tomorrow you'll be arraigned."

"Can't I just go to prison tonight?"

Lassiter half-turned to look at Earle. "What are you talking about? Why do you want to go to prison tonight?" He turned back to the road.

"It's safer there, isn't it? I mean, there's more guards and stuff," he said almost in a whisper, looking out the windows as if looking to see if they were being followed.

"Do you think you're in danger, Mr. Earle?" asked Juliet. She kept her tone neutral and unthreatening. She wanted him to keep talking so they could figure out if he was being paranoid or if he perhaps had a valid fear. "Why do you think that?"

"Look, I think we got mixed up with something bad. More bad than the normal stuff. I mean, drugs and stuff, can get into some bad scenes and deal with real wacko people, but these new guys..."

Lassiter's eyebrows raised and Juliet's scrunched together as they exchanged another look. "Mr. Earle, you were read your rights by the sheriff, I believe. Is that correct?" asked Lassiter, wanting to cover all the bases. The kid seemed on the verge of making a confession right there in the car.

"Yeah, the silent thing and attorney, yeah. I dunno, though. I got a bad feeling. See, I think I got some stuff they want back."

"Who wants back?" asked Juliet.

"These guys. I think they were Mexican, but they were really bad dudes, you know? I dunno. Just let me think for a few minutes," he said as he slumped in the seat, laying his head on the back of it.

Juliet looked at Lassiter, trying to convey with her expression the question of what to do next. He gave a slight shrug and tilted his head as if to say let it go for now and see what happens. Juliet gazed out the windshield, considering Earle's words. He was afraid of something, apparently of some people. Perhaps it was a drug deal gone bad. They were taking him back to Santa Barbara to face charges of drug dealing, and they'd been hoping he would give up some names of dealers higher up the ladder from him. Maybe these were the people he was afraid of now. The mention of Mexicans was a new twist. They hadn't been looking into Mexican gangs specifically, but there had been a spike in drug cartel activity in their area in recent years. Maybe they'd struck gold with Earle and would be able to open a line of investigation into cartels. With as talkative as he'd already been, she started to feel hopeful that he would be a big help in identifying and implicating more suspects. She looked out the side window at the sun approaching the horizon and thought again about what a pretty sunset it was going to be.

"Okay, see, I was at this guy's house the other night and he had some Mexican dudes there and I don't know why but I had my phone out to text my girl and I kinda hit the camera button by accident," said Earle, talking quickly as if wanting to get it all out before he changed his mind. "And I got this picture of them but they didn't know it, and I'm not sure why I even kept it on there. But then later that night the guy was, like, gone because I think he tried to back out on the deal and then I knew I was screwed, you know, really screwed."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what do you mean the guy was gone?" asked Lassiter, staring intently now at Earle in the rearview.

"C'mon man, you know what I mean. I didn't see it or anything, but he wasn't there the next day. And those guys were eyeing me, then, like I was next or something if I made the wrong move. And then I go and run that light in town and dumbass Andy pulls me over."

Juliet blinked. She put her hand on the small paper bag the sheriff had given her that was lying on the seat. "Are you saying these men killed your friend? Was this a drug deal?"

"Well, we were talking about deals, setting up a system. These dudes are connected, big time. I don't know why he wanted to do it, man. What a stupid fucking idea," he said with despair. He leaned forward in the seat and put his face in his hands. "Why did he think we could deal with these guys?"

"Who? Why did who think?" asked Lassiter. He was steering around a wide curve in the road that was skirting a hill on the left. The beginning of the subdivision construction area was visible up ahead on the right side of the road, a wide area of cleared land dotted with large construction vehicles. Lassiter saw a dark blue SUV sitting across both lanes of the highway ahead of them and felt the hairs rise on the back of his neck as he slowed the car to a crawl. "What the hell."

The back window of the Crown Vic exploded inwards. Broken safety glass pelted Lassiter and O'Hara from behind as Lassiter slammed on the brakes. Juliet gasped and threw her hands out to brace herself. Her left hand grabbed Lassiter's upper arm, and she felt her elbow hit something hard. She glanced back between the seats and saw Earle slumped forward, his head hitting her arm. There was a bloody hole between his shoulder blades.

"Carlton!"

"I see them," said Lassiter grimly as he stomped on the accelerator.

Juliet turned to look out the windshield. Three men had exited the SUV. They all had guns. "Oh my god," she whispered.

"Hang on!" Lassiter pulled hard on the wheel and slammed the brakes again to spin the car 180 degrees. Then he smashed the accelerator as faint popping noises reached them through the opened back window. "Stay down!" The tires squealed as they rounded the curve of the road.

"Earle's dead," said Juliet as she hunkered down in her seat and pulled out her gun. She saw that the paper package had slid off the seat to the floor. She picked it up and stuffed it into the pocket of her suit coat.

Lassiter grimaced and checked the rearview. The passenger-side rearview mirror exploded. Then a hole appeared in the hood of the car. The engine started to make a clunking noise.

"Dammit!" yelled Lassiter, pulling the car hard to the left. "There's a shooter on that hill."

He guided the Crown Vic onto a small, overgrown dirt road that probably accessed some rancher's field or hunter's base camp. The car skidded and fishtailed on the dirt as he accelerated faster, hoping to get out of range of the sniper. The engine continued to knock and clang as the car bounced over the rutted trail. They moved deeper into brushy undergrowth and scraggly trees. The road wound over a rolling hill and into a gully that helped hide their progress from the highway. Lassiter hoped it would be enough to shake the pursuit of the SUV before the sniper was able to tell them where they'd gone. He had to build up as much distance as he could along the trail. He hoped it would curve back to the highway eventually, but he was afraid it wouldn't. They'd really be in trouble then. From the sound of the engine, he knew he'd better start planning for deep trouble. He glanced at O'Hara. She seemed shaken, but she wasn't panicking as she checked her gun and then dug her cell phone out of her pocket. He felt a pang in his chest, but pushed away all of the fear-tinged thoughts starting to crowd his brain. He had to focus on getting them through this. There would be time for fear later.

"Signal?" he asked grimly as he struggled to keep the car on the rough track.

"No," said Juliet, stuffing the useless phone back into her pocket. "Where are we going?"

"Away," said Lassiter. "I don't know. If we can circle back to the road, or find a house with a phone, although I'd hate to lead them to innocent people."

Juliet grimaced and nodded. "That construction site was close. Maybe the office trailer, if we can find it?"

Lassiter nodded. They both grunted as the car hit a huge rut and bounced them around. Lassiter fought the wheel as the tires dropped off a sharp edge of the trail and pulled the car towards the brush. Lassiter managed to correct and get back on the increasingly rough trail, but the engine finally gave out with a loud clang and shudder. The car rolled to a stop.

"That's it," said Lassiter, uncomfortably aware of his heart pounding in his chest. He pushed the button to open the trunk and looked at Juliet. "We have to find cover."

"Right," she said, sounding breathless. "I saw a lot of machines at the construction site. Maybe we can use them to hide while we look for the office."

Lassiter nodded and looked, finally, at Earle's body in the back seat, swallowing hard at the site. He blinked and met Juliet's eyes again. "Are you okay?"

She took a deep breath and half-shook her head, but then she said, "I'm good, partner. Let's go."

They got out and stepped first to the trunk. "Put on your vest," said Lassiter as he took off his suit coat and tie and shoulder harness and put on his own vest. He placed his gun in a belt holster and clipped it to his belt. Juliet handed him some extra ammunition and clipped a flashlight to her belt. Lassiter kept looking over his shoulder at the road, peering into the gathering dusk for signs of dust being kicked up by pursuit. "At least it'll be dark soon. Come on."