Hide/Seek/NYC: RUNDOWN: Day 9, 12/7/00

DAY 9 RUNDOWN

Goodbye, Grandma. It's Zoe's game now.

Fugitive Jason’s quest for $10,000 ended in a high-speed, on-foot chase through the streets of Greenwich Village this morning, as webHunter Mark Tafoya tracked him down. The Fugitive known as "Grandma" to fellow Fugitives Zoe and Chris is done.

Jason’s capture, which unfolded in dramatic fashion just after 9:30 AM, came close on the heels of Fugitive Chris’s downfall on Tuesday. Now, nine days into the 17-day contest, only Fugitive Zoe, and her $10,000 bounty, remain.

"I had the attitude that I already had the $10,000," Jason said upon his return to Hide/Seek Command. "There were just three simple things I had to avoid -- getting caught, breaking the rules, and letting Zoe get more points than me. Obviously, I didn’t avoid them all."

Today's capture earned Manhattan-resident Tafoya $1,000, which he will split with web Viewer and NYU senior Heide Agas who sent him an email tip that helped him track Jason down.

Although pleased with his early success, Tafoya was not satisfied with a single catch. "I still have all day and I’m gonna get Zoë," Tafoya said after the catch. "I want to win that ten thousand."

If Zoë evades capture for the next 9 days, she’ll take home the $10,000 prize that Tafoya and thousands of others covet.

Is she nervous? After Jason’s apprehension this morning, she used all of her scheduled call-ins to taunt her hunters with modified Bob Dylan songs, an allusion to the morning’s Dylan-based Clue.

The Clue, sung to the tune of Dylan’s "The Times They Are A-Changin'," charged the Fugitives to organize and stage a protest outside a New York University building. Both Jason and Zoe acted quickly -- perhaps too quickly. Jason was nabbed on the way to drop off his evidence at the Drop/Box. The task was immediately aborted after Tafoya procured Jason’s Fugitive ID.

Here are the capture details:

Jason was on his way to drop off evidence of Day 9 Task completion. Walking west on W. 3rd Street, a trumpet’s cry from the Blue Note jazz club, he was pondering where to seek shelter for the rest of the day.
At the same time, webHunter Tafoya was walking east on W. 3rd. Tafoya, who lives in upper, upper Manhattan but says he knows the Village like the back of his hand, immediately recognized Jason by his eyeglasses. He stared through them, and saw the fear of a Fugitive who knew his time was up. "Excuse me!" Tafoya yelled from a distance.
Jason knew he was in trouble. But he wasn’t going to go down without a fight. He darted towards the busy traffic along 6th Ave., desperate to keep Tafoya outside of the 5-foot radius necessary for capture. A high-speed foot chase followed for half a block. But Tafoya moved too fast. He closed ground quickly, and bagged Fugitive #2 near the corner of W. 3rd and 6th Ave. Jason handed over his Fugitve ID, Tafoya called Command, and Command hit the scene to confirm. Indeed, the end had come for Jason.

The chase for Zoe is still on. Catch her if you can. Day 10 resumes on the Lower East Side.