Nathan's Run (1996) by John Gilstrap Page A

was no doubt what they would show. Americans loved the underdog, even underdogs who killed. In twenty short minutes, Nathan Bailey had placed the police and the prosecutors on the defensive.
    Petrelli saw it all so clearly. The Bailey kid had been incarcerated by a judge for stealing his uncle's car, and for being declared incorrigible. He was to have remained in detention for eighteen months. He had taken it upon himself to unlawfully leave the Juvenile Detention Center, and in the process killed a supervisor. He was a thief, a jailbreaker and a murderer, and he deserved to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
    But Petrelli knew, even before the first polling question was asked, that all the public would see was a small, beaten boy being pursued and outnumbered by big bad cops. Petrelli was reminded of the old television series The Fugitive. Everyone knew from the outset that Richard Kimble was a fugitive from the law, and that Lieutenant Gerard was just doing his job, but who did everyone see as the villain?
    The senator-to-be was sitting on the edge of a public relations nightmare, and he held Michaels responsible. If the police hadn't botched the response, the ,kid would have been reincarcerated before dawn. Now he'd been on the run all night, and he had done incalculable damage to a political career in its infancy.
    "So listen to this carefully, Lieutenant Michaels, because I will only say it once. I expect you to apprehend Nathan Bailey by this afternoon at the latest. And I don't want to hear any excuses!"
    That was it. Michaels had been able to tolerate Petrelli's rantings to this point, busying himself with other trivial tasks on his desk. But the prosecutor had crossed the line.
    "All right, J. Daniel, I've listened carefully," Warren said in measured tones, "and I guarantee you'll only say it once. Here's how I see it: You just couldn't wait to open your big mouth this morning and make wholly unjustified comments to the press. I'm the cop, J., you're the mouthpiece. If you'd have waited for us to collect evidence before you rested your case, you wouldn't be looking like such an asshole now. My heart fucking bleeds for you.
    "Personally, I don't give a rat's ass who's elected senator this year. I probably won't even vote. All I care about is doing my job. Save your speeches for the press, J. And stay off my phone!"
    He slammed the receiver onto the cradle. Damn, that felt good.
    "Feel better?"
    The familiar voice startled him. When Michaels looked up, he saw Jed Hackner's form filling the doorway. "Jesus, Jed, I don't need a heart attack today."
    Hackner smiled, helping himself to one of the straight-backed chairs in front of Michaels's desk. "Lighten up, boss. Talking to your buddy Petrelli?"
    "You got it. The asshole's beginning to panic after Nathan Bailey's radio debut. Did you hear it?"
    Hackner nodded. "Yeah. Well, most of it. I missed the first couple of minutes. He sounded pretty convincing to me. Overall, I think Petrelli's got reason to panic. He made the kid sound like young John Dillinger, when Oliver Twist might have been a better choice."
    Michaels smiled wryly. "Yeah, well, I don't remember little Oliver killing any law-enforcement personnel." He abruptly changed the subject. "I don't suppose you have any good news for me."
    "Well, I don't know if it's good or not, but it certainly is interesting."
    Michaels's thick eyebrows raised in anticipation.
    "First of all, we haven't been able to contact the kid's uncle and ex-guardian, Mark Bailey. We tried on the phone; even sent a unit around, but if he was home, he wasn't answering the door."
    "You think he helped in the escape?"
    "Not likely. There's not a lot of love lost between the two of them."
    "Give me the lowdown."
    Hackner removed the notebook from his pocket and started reading. "This all comes from the Juvey files. Judge Potter unsealed them for us this morning. Kind of a sad story, really. For the first ten years of his life, Nathan