Tyler ran as fast as he’d ever run towards the car, shouting and waving his hands as he went. He was thwarted once more as a police helicopter made an unwelcome appearance over the house and the din was enormous. He never got in the eye line of the front of the car and Sarah pulled off onto the rural road and was gone before he could do anything.
Tyler stood there looking after the car for only a moment as he decided what he had to do. That press van and his own car were in for a lot of damage, but one way or another he was getting his car free of its current prison.
As he got back to the car however something caught his eye and he cursed himself for not seeing it the first time. The key was still in the ignition of the van! He jumped in and turned it on and put the van in reverse, jumping out as soon as his car was clear and not caring in the least where the van went after that. He dived into his car and set off after Sarah. If he was right there was a very good chance she didn’t have much time left to live!
Chapter 47
“WHY DO WE NEED TO GO so soon?” Sarah asked Malick as they pulled out onto the rural road from the Spalding house.
“Spalding’s not here,” Malick said, “But I’ve managed to get us some info on the case we’re locked out of.” Sarah looked at him briefly and he was smiling at her, she turned back to the road.
“How?” she asked.
“Well, I don't have it yet, but I’ve arranged to meet someone who can tell us everything we want to know.”
“You arranged to meet in the middle of the night?” she asked.
“That wasn’t my idea, it was his,” Malick said. “Then this whole mess blew up and I wasn’t sure we were going to make it but I guess there’s nothing at the scene that won't still be there in the morning or that forensics don't pick up for us.”
“When were you going to tell me about this meeting?”
“Right before I got the call about this house.” Sarah glanced down at the monitor of her screen and then to the satnav on the dashboard.
“Where are we meeting?” she asked.
“Near your house,” he replied. “That was my idea, save you a long journey in the middle of the night- though at that time I thought you’d be at home and not miles away out here.”
“Typical,” Sarah smiled. “Well, I don’t need a map to get me home, Interstate here we come.” As she pressed down easily on the gas pedal, Sarah felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She had turned it on silent earlier on but she knew who it was calling and she also knew that she couldn't answer them right now.
After a while, Malick closed a report he’d been flicking through and said, conversationally,
“Is the car tracker on in here?” he glanced at the screen but it was angled towards Sarah. She had been expecting this question and she too glanced down at the screen.
“Yeah,” she said, “Why?”
“Would you mind turning it off? This guy is pretty jumpy about meeting us as it is and I don’t want there to be any trail to our meeting to worry him.”
“Cloak and dagger, eh?” she smiled at him and then leaning over flicked off the cars internal tracking system.
“He’ll give us everything if we play ball his way,” Malick said.
It was a long drive back to where Sarah lived but the time went fast.
“You know this ‘Agrarian’ case is really bugging me,” Sarah said.
“How so?” Malick asked, “Apart from the obvious,” he added.
“That’s just it, the obvious, why isn't there anything obvious in the entire case?”
“I’m not following you.” Malick looked at her with interest.
“It’s too perfect,” she replied.
“I’m sorry Sarah I’m still not following where you’re going with this.”
“I know that everyone knows all the forensics stuff they see on TV, but there’s more to it than that, you know? This guy knows this too and I don’t like it.”
“Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” Malick asked and Sarah paused a moment before nodding once very slowly. “You think it’s someone in the police force?” Malick said, seeming almost shocked.
“I know how it sounds but it just feels right to me,” Sarah said, shrugging for emphasis.
“You got anything to go on?” Malick asked and Sarah wasn't sure but she felt there was a slight tinge of ice in his tone.
“I wish,” she said as they left the interstate to head for town.
The streets were dead at this hour, barely a person around save the odd insomniac jogger or homeless drifter.
“Where are we meeting this guy?” Sarah asked, turning to look Malick in the face.
“Just up here,” he said nodding ahead. Sarah looked and saw an opening to a car lot outside a long abandoned supermarket. Nothing had replaced it yet and it looked like the kind of place kids would play dangerously during the day and drug addicts would make their home at night.
“You couldn't have picked a bar or something, even a bowling alley would have been better than this dump,” she said mocking him. He didn’t smile back and this was the first crack in his facade. They pulled into the lot and as Sarah turned off the engine she heard the click of her partner’s gun cocking.
“Don’t move,” he said. Sarah turned her head slowly to face him, he was sweating and he looked pale and it was almost possible to feel sorry for him. Almost.
“What is this Malick?” she asked as she placed her two hands firmly on the steering wheel where he could see them.
“Shit, shit, shit,” he said though she felt he wasn’t really replying to her question. “This wasn’t part of the plan.”
“Whose plan?” Sarah asked calmly and his reaction, his widening eyes and mouth falling slightly open told her she was right. “Spalding left you out to dry.” His face hardened then and a cold gaze of finality came into his eyes,
“That doesn’t change your situation though does it?”
“I guess not,” Sarah said resignedly. “Why though?” she asked him.
“You don’t know him,” Malick said, “If he wants you to do something, you’re going to do it.”
“Even after all our years working together” she said and it was a terrible and sad thing to have to say.
“Nothing else matters” he said, “I can’t explain it any more than that.”
“You don’t have to do this,” Sarah coaxed him, “We can work through this together.”
“I’m sorry, Sarah, I really am, but this turn of events has changed everything on its head.”
“What turn of events/” Sarah asked.
“There was a message on your phone when I picked it up, you hadn’t seen it yet, I guess. Your friend Tyler Ford knew I was the ‘Agrarian’ and he was trying to warm you.”
“I did see that message,” Sarah said, “I just left it on the screen and dropped my phone for you to see it.” Malick looked at her perplexed.
“What? Why?” he asked dumbfounded.
“I wanted to see if it was true and your actions have proved it to me.” Malick suddenly looked panicked and he shot glances outside the car to the sky like he expected to see a helicopter drop down with a SWAT team or something Sarah took this moment to open her door and he turned back to her and pressed the gun against her ribs.
“Where do you think you're going?” he asked menacingly. Sarah kept on moving and got out of the car. Malick scrambled out his own door and rounded the car. “Don’t make this worse for yourself!” he shouted at her.
“Do you want to know what I did after I saw Tyler’s message?” Sarah asked.
“What?”
“I called Bobrick and Anderson and told them what I knew.”
“You’re lying,” he said. She shook her head.
“I told them to track my movements and they would find you if we left the house alone together.”
“Now I know you’re lying,” Malick grinned, “you turned off the car tracker and I saw your phone had GPS disabled too.”
; “One of my cell phones did,” Sarah shot back. At that moment there was the sound of approaching cars, and Sarah knew they were on the way to save her. Malick looked scared and hesitant but Sarah was calm. “There was one more thing I did this evening that you didn’t see,” she said. Malick stood there wondering how things could get any worse. “When we were putting on the forensics suits I switched our guns. The one you’re carrying has a clip of blanks in it.”
“Bullshit,” Malick said, glancing quickly at the gun in his hand. Sarah took a step back and shrugged,
“Only one way to find out,” she said. He looked at the gun again and Sarah suddenly panicked. Had she remembered to empty the round in the chamber earlier? Surely she had but no mental images of doing so were coming to her. If he fired from this distance one bullet was all it was going to take to kill her. He looked at the gun once more and Sarah could see now that his hand was trembling.
“It wasn’t supposed to go like this,” he said as the first of the cars rounded the corner and came screeching up to them. Sarah pulled her own gun in the confusion (Malick’s actually) and pointed it at him.
“Let me take you in and it will go easier on you,” she said, her tone pleading. Malick had a wild look in his eyes and Sarah was worried he was going to try suicide by cop.
“Drop it!” multiple voices started shouting towards Malick and Sarah put a hand in the air and shouted back,
“The gun he has is not loaded, don’t fire!” Malick turned the gun away from Sarah and with lightning speed put it under his chin and fired. There was a loud bang and a flash and he fell down hard on the ground. Officers rushed in and someone grabbed Sarah and pulled her away as she tried to get to him. As she was led away Malick was just lying there and all she could see were his unmoving feet.
Chapter 48
TYLER WHIZZED ALONG the country road taking bends far too fast and wishing he had one of his motorbikes with him instead of the car. Time and time again he redialled Sarah’s number and each time it rang out, going to voicemail. It was infuriating. What was more, he didn’t know where they had gone and he was driving blind in the general eastward direction. He should have caught up with them by now.
Unless they had pulled in or turned off up some dirt road he hadn’t even noticed. Tyler knew he was going to have to bite the bullet and call the FBI. They would be able to track her, he was sure of it and time was not on his side. He pulled over and found a number for the Field Office closest to him through Google Maps.
It only rang once and a man's voice answered,
“FBI Field Office...”
“Listen, my name is Tyler Ford,” he rattled off his address and phone number knowing it would be asked of him and then went on, “FBI Agent Sarah Brightwater is in a car with a killer. It is her pool car and she has her cell phone with her, can you track her. He’s going to kill her!”
“Who is in the car with Agent Brightwater?” the FBI man asked. Tyler could hear the clicking of typing on a keyboard as the man both spoke and listened.
“Another agent, Agent Malick out of Quantico Academy. I have recently uncovered evidence that he is the man who has been killing the farmers in this State.”
“Okay, Sir, and how did you come across this information?” His voice was calm, courteous and professional and showed not the slightest hint of emotion.
“I’ve told you all you need to know, save the fact they have recently left the Spalding house that was discovered tonight.” Tyler hung up on this news, there was no point in going on talking as it would simply be endless questions he couldn’t answer without betraying sources, something he was never going to do.
After trying Sarah’s phone one more time and not getting an answer, he set to driving again, this time heading for the Interstate. He didn’t know where they were going but he had an idea Malick might try to lure her back on the route to the FBI Academy and kill her somewhere along the way. Sarah was the one driving and she would be powerless to do anything about it. She wouldn’t even see it coming.
The next hour and a half was the longest drive of Tyler’s life. His phone sat in the window suction holder and its blank screen stared back at him like the abyss Sarah might now be a part of. He couldn’t stop his mind wandering back to what had happened between them only a few short hours ago, how different that was to now. It was like two different worlds, a before and after life.
The idea that he shouldn’t underestimate her came to mind frequently. She was after all a very accomplished law enforcement officer and had been in her fair share of fights in the past. There was every chance she could best Malick, but not if she didn’t see it coming, if she trusted him to the last like it seemed she did.
Tyler made his way back to Ellicott City and pulled into a diner for a coffee and a burger to keep him going and he rang some contacts trying to find out anything he could. It was destined to be a frustrating night, one of those rare times when no one had anything or people weren’t picking up when he called.
When the call finally came it was a great relief to him.
“Sarah!” he said, answering.
“Yes, it’s me,” she said and she sounded a little shaken but fine.
“What happened?”
“I got your message earlier, Tyler,” she said, “Thank you,” and now he thought he could hear tears in her voice.
“Why didn’t you answer me?” he asked.
“I used it to trap Malick. I let him see it and then had the cell phone you gave me tracked so we could arrest him away from the farmhouse so as not to have all the reporters there.”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m as good as I can be considering what I found out tonight,” Sarah replied.
“Are you hurt?”
“Not on the outside.” Tyler could hear her breaking at this. Time for the good news he thought.
“Well, at least the ‘Agrarian’ case is solved now, that's a win for you, and even more importantly Spalding’s link into your inner life is broken. That will be a big blow for him.”
“One step closer to catching him,” Sarah agreed but it was very half-hearted.
“Is Malick still alive?” he asked.
“Yes, but he hurt himself firing blanks into his face from point blank range. He won’t be talking for a while.”
“But when he does, it’s going to be a goldmine,” Tyler said.
“Let’s hope so,” Sarah said. Tyler felt this was as good a place to leave this as any, he wanted to get the full story from her in person. Should he say something about last night?
“I’m glad you’re alright,” he settled on. “Let me know when I can see you.”
“Thanks,” she said, and then after a long pause added, “It might be a while.”
“I’ll be here,” he said nodding to himself. It would take her some time to get past this but he knew her drive to catch Spalding would get her though it sooner rather than later.
“I know,” she said, “I have to go now, bye.”
“Take care,” Tyler said and the call was over.
While he still had his phone in his hand he sat back and sighed. That had been a busy few days to cap off a long month. Tyler scrolled through his calendar to see what was coming up next and saw it was only five weeks to another big event for his book. He was going back to be a witness at the execution of Stewart Spekler as he’d promised the killer when he interviewed him in jail a few months back. No doubt Spalding would keep an eye on that one too.
The thought of Spalding made Tyler drift back to their meeting in the warehouse. ‘How many?’ Spalding had asked him over and over. Tyler dwelt on this a long time but couldn’t think what it could be. There was one number Spalding would be interested in, but there was no way Spalding could know anything about it, no matter what spies he had anywhere. That was Tyler’s secret and Tyler's alone. The day would come when they met again and perhaps Spalding would explain to him then, when someone's life was not on the line.
For now though, it
was time to go home and rest. He had a big story to start writing tomorrow morning.
Chapter 49
MEGAN STANVER WAS REUNITED with her mother two days after she entered the Dover Sheriff's Office. It was an emotional meeting and made all the more so by the harrowing absence of her father. Melanie, Megan’s mother was overjoyed at the sight of Megan despite her diminished weight and spindly limbs and arms and cried all the time for the first few hours.
Ellie was similarly reunited with her parents around the same time, and in her family it was a brother who was in jail for a crime committed at Spalding’s behest to keep Ellie alive who was missing.
Before leaving Megan asked if she could see Ellie and the two women were left alone in one of the meeting rooms, their relations hovering outside not willing to take their eyes off the family they'd only just found after so long.
“We have to stay in touch,” Megan said but even as she did she didn’t feel it fully in her heart. They had been through a lot together but they would also each always be a reminder of the ordeal and terror they had gone through.
“Of course,” Ellie said and she seemed entirely genuine and it made Megan feel a little ashamed of her own feelings. “We don’t ever have to talk about this though,” Ellie added, perhaps sensing Megan’s worry or sharing them.
“It would be nice to get to know the real you,” Megan said. They hugged and Megan looked out through the glass panel in the door to their waiting families. She knew this wasn’t going to be the end of all this, not just yet. There would be FBI and who knew else who wanted her side of things but once all that was done, that would finally be the end of it.
But would it? Could there ever really be an end to something like this for either of them, or anyone else whose life had been turned upside down by Dwight Spalding?
Only time would tell, she guessed, but for now she was free and that was worth more than most things in the world to Megan Stanver.
A Clattering of Jackdaws (The Birdwatcher Series Book 2) Page 18