In Hot Pursuit

by Patrick Doyle

  with Raybourne standing over her.

  “Can I at least call my mother? I don’t want her to think that I have abandoned her.”

  He gave her a sheepish grin. “I do admire the close relationship you have with your

  mother. I wished I had that with mine, but I’m afraid I will have to decline your

  request. You will get a message to her eventually, but not now.”

  He probably knew she had no intention of making that call to her mother. Her survival mode was finally kicking in. There was no way in hell she was going anywhere with him. She would fight him to the very end if she had to.

  “Why did you frame Earnes?”

  He grinned at her. “Concern for your partner, are you! You do know that he’s in love with you. Haven’t you ever thought that was probably the reason why his marriage didn’t work out? Are you in love with him too? I will understand if you are. It’s inevitable, with two people working as close as you were.”

  She sidestepped his question.

  “He’s a good agent.”

  “Yeah, I heard you. You have praises for him. It’s admirable. I’m sure he will say the say thing about you.”

  “I will like you to clear his name. I want him to have his job back.”

  He looked at her and laughed. He seemed to be doing a lot of that. It was very

  unsettling.

  “Wow! The devoted friend! What’s in it for you, Agent Bowles? You won’t be

  around to work with him. Why would you want to save him from jail and ruin?

  Unless…”

  “He saved my life,” she told him quickly before he could rush to any of his

  depraved conclusions. She was already getting sick of them. “I wouldn’t be here if he

  hadn’t put his life on the line for me. You should be thanking him instead of trying to send him to jail for something both you and I know he didn’t do.”

  That seemed to get to him. “Okay, you convinced me. I will release the information they need to drop the charges. Consider him off the hook!”

  “Thank you.” She told him in an extremely low voice. She wasn’t certain he would keep his word, but she had to appear grateful.

  “Excuse me a moment.” He told her and left the room.

  She watched him go. She got to work on her hands, trying to see if she could slip the ties off her wrists. They were done too tightly, so tight that they were cutting into her skin. She couldn’t do anything with them. He came back into the room about twenty minutes after. He had a few things in his hand.

  “There has been a changed in plans. We are leaving tonight.”

  She didn’t want him to see the fear in her eyes.

  “It would help to know where we are going. I don’t do well in hot weather. My

  allergies flare up. They could be impossible to live with.”

  “Don’t worry your pretty head about that,” he told her in a condescending voice. “Your non-existent allergy will be taken care of.”

  She gave him a surprised look.

  “Oh, don’t look so surprise! I know you are as healthy as a horse. You have remarkable genes. I hope our children will inherit them. I had a look at your medical history—there’s nothing to worry about in there. You will be fine!”

  She felt sick to the stomach! “That was a rather creative way to get me to reveal where we are going. Bravo to you, Agent Bowles!” He looked at her and grinned widely. “I have a couple things here that I would like you to slip into, including this wig. You have to look like the person in your passport. You are now Kate Raybourne. I hope you don’t mind—I aged you by two years!” He produced a pair of jeans, a white shirt and a black cardigan. The wig was light blond. “Change into these.”

  He dropped them onto her lap.

  “And how am I supposed to do that?” she asked him, glancing down at her tied hands.

  He followed her eyes. “I’m going to cut you out of them, but don’t have any ideas. There are two guys standing outside the door. The others are stationed out front. They are everywhere. There’s no way out of here. So don’t think of climbing out the window!”

  He sounded as if he was joking.

  “I will try not to.”

  He stooped and cut her free.

  “I know you don’t have a gun. My men found the two you had in the car.”

  He seemed rather pleased.

  She took the clothes and stood up. He made no attempt to leave.

  “You don’t expect me to change here with you.”

  “The bathroom is back there.” He pointed at the door. “I will be right here.”

  He removed an end of his shirt to show her the gun in his waist.

  “I keep that in mind.” She gave him a sarcastic smile, and turned away.

  She went into the bathroom and locked the door. She tried the window. It opened on the first try, but there were bars. She wouldn’t be able to get them out without alerting him, and the window seemed too small for her to climb out of. She would have to find another way. She still had the knife. His goons hadn’t thought to pat her down for any other weapon. They had found the guns and thought they were all she had.

  She lifted her left leg up onto the toilet seat and removed the switched blade. She flushed the toilet to make some noise, and went to the door. She stood there and listened for movements outside. She wasn’t counting on any of his men coming back into the room. She wouldn’t be able to handle them, not without a gun. They were big, strong men, towering at over six feet, and three hundred pounds. He had chosen his pit bulls well.

  He knocked on the door about five minutes after.

  “Are you okay in there?”

  She kept quiet. She knew he would come in if she didn’t say anything. He pounded on the door when she didn’t answer a second time.

  “Stand back,” he warned. “I’m coming in.”

  The idiot thought she had probably fallen into the toilet! He knew there was no way she could get out the window. She got up on a side of the large tub and waited for him. She plunged the knife into the top of his head when he came in. The shock attack caught him completely by surprise. He stumbled in, and she jumped on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, and applied as much pressure as she could, using the inside of her arm. She cradled his head with her next hand and tried to twist his neck. He fought her. He was harder to subdue than she thought. He tried to back her into the wall in the shower. They ended up getting tangled in the shower curtain instead.

  She reached up and grabbed as much as she could of the fabric and wrapped it around his neck, pulling him back swiftly against her. It was enough to get him on the floor. She reached over for the toilet bowl over and smashed it against his head. He went out cold. She stood back for a second and watched him. Blood was spewing from the knife wound in his head. She lifted him by the shoulder and rolled him into the tub.

  She brought the butt of the gun down and hit him in the face. Once across his left

  cheek, and again on the top of his nose, smashing his nose bridge. She knew she couldn’t shoot him because it would bring his men running in here. She wouldn’t have a chance against them, then. She pressed her fingers to his neck. He was still alive. He would probably be out for a good couple of hours. It would give her time. She would come back for him after.

  She opened the door and stepped out. He had told her there were two guys

  out side. She had enough bullets to take them out, and a couple more. She had no idea how many of them were out there, but she could only guess that he had an army. He never traveled light. She switched off the light and crouched down behind the large desk. She took aim at the lamp across from her. It went crashing to the floor. The loud noise brought them running in. And she was ready for them. She shot the two of them in the head as they cam in the door. She waited for a full second to see if anymore of them were outside.

  They were probably outside the house and didn’t hear the shots. Or they were waiting for her to
come out. She got up, and shot the two guys again to make sure they were dead. She took their assault rifles and headed out into the hall. She tossed one of the rifles into a hall closet and kept the other one with her. They came at her when she got to the front door. There were six of them, coming at her from both sides. She slipped back against the wall, and returned fire as they shot at her. She got two of them. She kept shooting blindly as she made her way up the stairs that were ahead of

  her. She might be able to hold them off if she got to the top.

  She went around the corner at the landing. Three of them were approaching from the right. They were trying to come up after her. They probably didn’t know she had them in her sights. She opened fire on them, sending them backwards down the stairs, and to their deaths. She saw the sixth man heading out the door. She paused to reload the gun with the bullets she had taken from the first guy. She hoped that was all of

  them. She hadn’t heard any more of them coming in.

  “Throw the gun over here and show me your hands.”

  She did as she was told. “Now, head for the stairs, and do it real slow.”

  “Where are we going?” She tried to turn to see who was holding the gun on her.

  “Never mind! Agent Bowles, is it?”

  “Gabby.”

  “I preferred to call you Agent Bowles. You have been after my son for a very long time, Agent Bowles, and I don’t like it one bit!”

  “Your son is a very bad man, Ma’am.”

  “He’s not a bad person. He has done a whole lot of good for a lot of people. You just have to get to know him.”

  “I will pass on that, Ma’am. I think I know enough about him already.”

  “So you think you are too good for my boy! Have you ever wondered why he turned out that way?”

  “No, but I bet you are going to tell me.”

  “He never had a chance.” The woman sounded angry and bitter.

  “He had more chances than most people I know, Ma’am.”

  “You don’t know anything about the way he was brought up, Agent Bowles! Money and things can not replace the love and warmth of a loving mother or a father. Gilly has spent his entire life looking for that.”

  “I was meant to believe that he grew up in a loving home.”

  “He had two parents, but it was far from being a loving home. My son was always treated like an outsider.”

  “How could that have been? You are his mother.”

  “I’m his mother, alright, but I had no hand in the way he turned out. He was taken from me at birth. I was fifteen when I had him. My parents took him from me and gave him up for adoption. The commander and his wife weren’t his biological parents. Gilly found out in his teens, and spent his whole life looking for me. He caught up with me about ten years ago, and we have been inseparable since then.”

  “So you condone what he has done. He has killed a lot of people.”

  “He’s only acting on the pain that was inflicted on him. He’s returning the flavor.”

  “You think it’s justified? Then you are just as sick as him.” Bowles couldn’t resist.

  “Mind your tongue! I wouldn’t mind putting a couple of holes in you. In there.” She tried to push Bowles back into the room.

  “Hold it right there.” The voice was directly behind them.

  Bowles stopped. “Get in the room.” The woman tried to shove her in. “Get in or I will shoot.”

  Bowles didn’t wait. She spun around and kicked the woman in the stomach. She fell to the floor with the gun in her hand. She looked up at Bowles and fired. Bowles jumped out of the way, and Earnes shot her twice.

  “We have to stop meeting like this.” He told her in a hurried breath. He bent and kicked the gun away from Charlene Raybourne’s body. “Who was that?”

  “Supposedly his mother.”

  “We thought the professor was his mother.”

  “According to her, he was adopted at birth. Commander and Professor Wallace aren’t his biological parents. He changed his name to his mother’s when he realized he had one.”

  “I got your message,” he told her.

  “We have been working on this case nonstop for almost two years. I wanted us to take down Raybourne together. I found out he was hiding here.”

  Earnes gave her a wry smile. “Director Nilsson isn’t going to be happy that you did this alone.”

  “He would be when he realized we have Raybourne in custody. And I didn’t do it

  alone. I had you.” She gave him a smile. “You single-handedly took out most of his

  men.”

  “I just clean up the ones you left.” He winked at her. “He contacted me.”

  “Who?”

  “Director Nilsson.” Earnes clarified. “They received a bunch of documents. He thinks it’s enough to clear my name. Do you know anything about it?”

  “It was the most I can do, Earnes. You shouldn’t have to pay for Raybourne’s sins. You deserved better. I wasn’t going to just sit back and see you go to prison for something you didn’t do.”

  “Thank you. I’m glad you had my back.”

  “I always had your back, Earnes.”

  “I know you did. Speaking of the devil...”

  “He’s in there. You can put the cuffs on.”

  “I prefer to leave that one up to you. You deserve it, Gab. You never gave up trying to find him. You worked long and hard on this investigation. Besides, I don’t know if I’m going back to the agency.”

  Bowles gave him a stunned look. “What do you mean? It’s over. You can have your job back.”

  “I’m not sure I can do it again, Gab. The whole thing left a bitter taste in my

  mouth. It made me realize how quickly things can slip away from you.” He turned to look at her.

  Bowles touched his arm. “We will sort this out, Earnes. I can understand, you need a break, but I don’t want another partner,” she told him decisively. “I’m counting on you coming back.”

  Raybourne was still out cold when they pushed the door and went in. Bowles reached for the tap and turned on the cold shower.

  He came to within minutes.

  Earnes helped pulled him out of the tub and onto his feet. He looked dazed and he

  couldn’t stand on his feet. They held him between them and led him out into the other room.

  “He’s all yours,” Earnes told her.

  “Gilles Raybourne, you are…”

  Earnes interrupted her. “You know you don’t have to read him his rights.”

  “I’m giving him a heads up for what’s to come. I want him to know that he doesn’t

  have a chance in hell of ever seeing the light of day again. None of his high priced

  lawyers could get him out of this.”

  “Then by all means, go ahead!”

  Bowles picked up where she had left off. “You are under arrest for your crimes against the government and people of the United States of American. You have the right to remain silent, but anything you say to us will be used against you. You do not have the right to ask for a lawyer; neither would one be afforded to you. You lost that

  right when you plotted to harm the people of this country.”

  Raybourne looked at her and laughed. “Agent Bowles, you do have a remarkable way with word. I will certainly miss our lively banter—and you.”

  He pulled the knife from his head and plunged it quickly into his upper chest. Bowles and Earnes didn’t have the chance to react. They didn’t see it coming. They didn’t think he would pull something like this, not with the state he was in. He could barely stand on his own two feet, and he was weak from all the blood he had lost.

  They let go of his arms, and he fell to the floor. Bowles drew her gun and stepped back from him, giving him a reserved look. A huge part of her was glad that he had done it, and she wasn’t going to lift a finger to try to save his life, although she wasn’t certain there was much she could do at this point, either.

&nbs
p; “Do you think he will survive?” Earnes asked her. He too had no emotion. He looked down at Raybourne on the floor. He was bleeding out quickly.

  “I hope he doesn’t. Knowing he’s dead will give us closure and tremendous peace

  of mind. I will sleep better knowing that he’s dead.” Bowles told him coldly.

  Dr. Bailey and his team were just entering the house.

  “It’s either now or never,” Earnes decided in a low voice. He raised his gun and

  shot Raybourne in the head. “That should take care of him,” he said after, his voice lacking any sort of real emotion. “There’s no way I was going to let him come back from this.”

  They turned away and walked to the door together.

  Table of Contents

  In

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapters 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15