by Libby Drew
It made sense. Silvia had made smart choices so far—barring the one to run away in the first place. She kept her wits about her in a crisis. They needed to do the same. “Okay. Fine. Let’s go get the car. But I’m going on record as saying I think we should stay on top of her.”
“Noted. And I’m going on record as saying ‘I told you so.’ As soon as I have a reason to.”
“Pretty sure of yourself.”
“Just of my experience. If she’s carrying any cash, she’ll use it to get away. Sitting still in a cab gives her time to take physical stock. It’s entirely possible she’ll find that bracelet. The same goes if she holes up anywhere. Stops moving. We can’t afford to take our time with pursuit. We need the car.”
They turned as one and started back up the street. Drawing a deep breath eluded Reegan. His throat felt too swollen and tender. Saul bolstered him, taking some of his weight, but it still took several minutes to get back to the Rover. Reegan climbed into the passenger seat with a deep groan. “Oh, thank God.”
Saul spared him a glance as he climbed into his own seat and turned the key. “That bad?”
“There isn’t a square inch of my body that hasn’t been battered.”
“I’ll check that later.”
Reegan eyed him from underneath the brim of his hat. It had taken a beating too. One more wrestling match, and he’d have to put it out of its misery. “I can’t tell whether you’re serious.”
“Rest assured, I’m serious.”
That warmed him an inordinate amount. More than it should have. Twisting around to reach his seatbelt sent another bolt of pain through his chest. “It I survive this, I’m taking a vacation.”
“You’ll deserve it.” Saul pulled onto the street, heading toward the next block. “Which direction is she headed?”
Reegan consulted the blinking dot that represented Silvia’s fleeing form. “West. Moving much slower now.”
That fact didn’t prompt Saul to drive slowly. He raced down the mostly residential street at twice the posted speed limit. “Tell me if she veers off.”
Reegan tapped the display on his bracelet and keyed in a code. A map overlay of the streets appeared. “She’s moved one block south.”
“But still going west?”
Reegan nodded, and Saul fell silent, adjusting the Rover’s speed as they approached a busier intersection. Reegan scowled at the increase in traffic.
A few minutes later, Saul slowed to a stop at a traffic light. “How far now?”
“She’s only three blocks ahead.” Reegan didn’t have it in him to begrudge that fact that getting the car had been the right call. “Wait. She’s stopped.”
Saul cursed under his breath and stepped on the accelerator. Two blocks down, he swung to the curb in front of a fire hydrant, and they both jumped out, Reegan’s exit far less graceful. He pointed. “One more block. She’s still not moving.”
Saul took off at a jog, and Reegan followed, huffing for breath. His finicky lungs protested the exertion. “Slow down.”
“Can’t.”
“But she’s close.”
“Or that damn bracelet is, tossed onto the ground in some alley, and she’s long gone.”
It wasn’t the first time Saul had proved how vital he was to this search. Two steps ahead of Reegan at any given moment. With luck, he’d stay ahead of Silvia as well.
Reegan hissed a warning as they approached an alley entrance. “Down here, I think.”
Saul’s footsteps slowed, and he edged to the corner of the building before shooting a glance down the dark alley.
They’d entered an area more industrial than residential. Warehouses lined the block beyond, their hulking size dwarfing the one and two-story structures spaced haphazardly between them. “Still no movement?” he whispered over his shoulder.
“No.” Nothing. Trepidation bloomed in Reegan’s stomach. If they lost her here, they’d likely lose her for good. Reegan wouldn’t have the slightest idea of where to begin searching.
Saul risked one more look, then sidled around the corner, disappearing into the dark. He hadn’t told Reegan to wait, which suited him fine. The two of them had a better chance of cornering Silvia. Reegan had no desire to be her punching bag again. The woman knew some impressive defensive moves.
Only the barest hint of light penetrated the alley’s gloom. Reegan used Saul’s quiet shuffling to find his own footing, following as close as he dared. Shadows moved in the alley, scurrying to and fro between a line of dumpsters. Nothing big enough to be Silvia.
He risked a glance at his bracelet, shielding the display so he didn’t become a target in the dark. What he saw made him grasp for Saul, yank him close and whisper in his ear. “We’re right on top of her.”
Saul made no sound, but under Reegan’s fingers, he tensed. He stood still and silent for several seconds before giving a frustrated sigh. “There’s nobody here. She must have ditched the bracelet.”
Reegan uttered the most colorful curses he knew. He turned his bracelet toward the garbage-strewn ground, giving them just light see a rat duck out of sight through a crack in the wall. He shuddered. “Nice. This is going to be fun.” He couldn’t leave the bracelet behind. Not only was it twenty-second century tech, it might come in handy if by some miracle, they picked up Silvia’s trail again.
Saul linked his hands behind his neck, a gesture of frustration Reegan had seen more than once since they’d met, and spun in a circle, peering into the shadows.
Reegan kicked an empty can that had escaped the dumpster. “Now what?”
Saul opened his mouth to answer, but cut himself off. His breath quickened, and he made a discreet signal for Reegan to back up a few feet. Reegan obeyed, adrenaline surging. Nonchalant, he lowered his gaze, pretending to search the ground for the abandoned bracelet.
Silvia was here. Reegan cut his eyes to the industrial bin resting against the building’s wall. Even desperate, he couldn’t imagine the woman he once knew climbing inside to hide. Then Saul lifted a hand, touched his fingers to the fire escape ladder above his head, and the answer clicked.
“Clever girl,” Reegan muttered.
Saul curled his fingers onto the metal. He arched an eyebrow. Ready?
More than ready. Reegan gave a clipped nod.
Faster than Reegan thought possible, Saul swung himself up onto the ladder’s lowest rung. Above them, he heard a shocked gasp, then the clatter of metal as Silvia fled higher on the fire escape.
They hadn’t been on top of her. She’d been on top of them. Reegan felt helpless, watching Saul give chase. Silvia’s desperation kept Saul from closing the distance too quickly, though he was narrowing the gap. Not quick enough for Reegan’s liking. He tapped a command into his bracelet, and thirty feet above, Silvia cried out in pain.
Reegan didn’t feel sorry in the slightest. He focused on her shadowy form, more visible for the stark white T-shirt she wore, and pressed the button again. She doubled over, hugging her right hip just as Saul caught up, vaulting the last steps. The rattle of metal on metal ceased, leaving the night quiet. Reegan could even hear Saul panting.
“Silvia,” he said. “I’m not here to hurt you. Or force you to do anything you don’t want to do. Do you understand?”
Reegan squinted upward. Light from a window just above them brought some details into focus. Silvia’s wild, tangled hair. The way she cupped a hand over the pocket where Reegan had stuffed the bio bracelet. And Saul, who’d lowered himself to a crouch next to her, winded, gaze direct and sincere. “Are you okay?” he asked her.
“Something stung me,” she hissed.
Reegan’s evil glee faded. “That was me. I’m sorry. I needed to slow you down.”
She leaned over the drop, hair forming a curtain around her face. Breathless, she squinted at him, and he realized he’d be little more than a voice in the dark to her. “Who are you?”
“It’s Reegan McNamara. Your guide for the jaunt.” He placed his hands on his hip
s. “You’ve put me in a shitload of trouble, lady.” Saul’s disapproving glare only bolstered his anger. “I’ve been nearly killed three times. Today. Forgive me for not feeling charitable about stinging you.”
“Reegan.”
It would have been easy to fume at the disapproval in Saul’s voice. Reegan pushed his anger down, but had a hard time softening his tone. “Enough of this cat-and-mouse game. You and I need to have a little talk. Somewhere safe, where your goons aren’t trying to kill me. I’m tired, I hurt, and damn it, I’m hungry.”
He listened to the intermittent drip of water for what felt like a year before she answered. “We may have only spoken for a few minutes the other evening, Dr. McNamara, but you seemed like a decent man.”
His rant derailed. “Thank you.”
“I hadn’t taken you for a whiner.”
Saul’s bark of laughter had the odd effect of dissipating Reegan’s anger, rather than exacerbating it.
“What can I say? You bring out the worst in me.” Reegan tempered his tone. “Please come down. I promise that once you hear what I have to say, you’ll stop running.”
Rattling metal heralded their descent. Silvia came first, descending the steps with the gait of an exhausted queen. Saul followed, one arm out, presumably in case she stumbled. The gesture brought a smile to Reegan’s face. Always the gentleman. Silva reached the vertical ladder that led to the ground and swung carefully onto it. “I don’t like heights,” she mumbled.
“Then why did you climb it in the first place?” Placing himself at the bottom rung, he lifted his hands to her waist and guided her to the ground.
She turned, brushing her loose hair off her cheek, and he got his first close-up view of her face since that night in the jaunt room. Haggard and rough around the edges, she nonetheless met his gaze squarely. He risked one of her vicious karate kicks to touch a lock of her hair. “Red is better on you. The blond didn’t fit at all.”
She reacted to the compliment with a wan smile. “I know. It was the only color wig they had in the store, and I needed something quickly.”
Saul jumped the last several rungs, alighting with a cat’s grace on the ground beside them, favoring his left ankle on the landing. “We good?”
“I don’t know. Are we?” Reegan asked Silvia.
She blew on the lock of hair Reegan had touched, lifting it off her face. “I don’t see how there’s anything you can say that will convince me to go back, but I’ll listen.”
“Don’t be so sure.”
Saul herded them toward the mouth of the alley. “We need to move. We’re really not that far from the safe house. It’s possible they could pick up our trail.”
That was all it took to get Silvia moving. “Maybe, although I know they don’t have the trick up their sleeve that Dr. McNamara had.”
“It’s Reegan. And actually, my trick is down your pants.” He waited until she’d fished the bio bracelet from her pocket, then snatched it and fastened it around her wrist before had a chance to pull away. “Don’t take it off again.”
She held up her arm, mouth curled up in distaste. “I feel like a dog.”
The disgusted, defeated tone gave Reegan pause. “You’re not a dog. And if you want me to take it off again once you hear my spiel, we can. In the meantime, I need to know you’re safe and alive.”
“Why?” She stopped in the middle of the alley’s entrance. “So you can take bets on whether it’s Emilio or Stan who delivers me back to Victor?”
Stan had to be Pigtail. Reegan personally thought his own nickname was a better fit. “I never gamble. In fact, I’m risk averse by nature.”
Saul caught his eye above Silvia’s head. “I can understand why.”
Silvia fell silent, hugging herself. The street beyond the alley was still and quiet, but Reegan stopped them before they went any farther. “We need a place to go. Somewhere we’ll be safe. Where they’ll have no chance of finding us.” He cut Saul off as he tried to speak. “I’m sorry, but your office is the first place they’ll look.”
“A hotel?”
“Statistically, they’d probably never find us. But there’s still a remote chance. Any other ideas?”
Silvia looked back and forth between them. “Why don’t we just leave town?”
“Not an option,” Reegan said.
Saul stared into the distance, gaze clouded as he thought. “I might have a place. I can’t guarantee anything, but it’s the safest idea that I have.”
“Since we’re short on options as it is, I’m willing to trust you.” Reegan took Silvia’s arm, giving it a gentle squeeze. “What do you think?”
“You’re asking my opinion?”
Reegan took note of how Saul’s hands fisted at his sides. But he kept his silence, letting Reegan take the lead. He didn’t care for the tone himself, incredulity with a hint of bitterness. It said Silvia didn’t have much say over what happened in her life. “Yes, I’m asking your opinion.”
She looked to Saul, then back to Reegan, studying his expression, a clear challenge in her eyes. She took several seconds to answer, then gave a slow nod. “Then I say we go with your friend here. He looks honest.”
Saul smirked at the unvoiced insult to Reegan and ushered her onto the street. “The car’s up here. Move quickly and quietly. We’re not out of the woods yet.”
Chapter Fourteen
Cammie’s apartment was a third-story walkup in the northeast part of the city.
She hadn’t been a traditional employee since day one. Saul hadn’t even asked for her address until several months into their working relationship. She’d given it without complaint, and he’d recognized the area as a quiet working-class neighborhood with little crime. Satisfied, he hadn’t given her life outside of Kildare Consulting further thought, neglecting to ask if she even had a family.
She’d done all the probing. Been the one who’d taken an active role in his life outside the business. She’d chosen to spend her time with him, and at a time when he desperately needed a friend. What had he given her in return? Hardly anything, in hindsight.
He brought up the rear of their sad little band, trudging up the stairs behind Reegan and Silvia, feeling every minute of lost sleep. He could’ve refused Reegan the sanctuary of Cammie’s apartment. The job had wrapped the second Silvia gave up the chase and agreed to come back with them. More than enough cash remained from Reegan’s retainer to get the pair a decent hotel room, yet he hadn’t hesitated to call Cammie.
His motivations weren’t exactly mysterious. He wanted Reegan. Wanted him for as long as he could have him, and the second they closed the door on the case, the excuse to keep him close would disappear.
“Oh, Saul, I’m so glad you called.”
He lifted his head to find Cammie waving from the third-floor landing. Graduated pots of philodendrons and spider plants lined the white iron railing, draping close to the landing below. A few leaves brushed Saul’s head as he passed and made the final turn in the staircase. No fake ficus trees here. The air held a visceral odor of damp soil and sweet orchid. A painted wooden sign hung off a small hook on her front door. Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.
A mission-style potting bench blocked the other door off the landing. No nosy neighbors. That was a plus. He raised a tired hand in greeting. “Thanks for taking us in, Cammie.”
She was dressed in her usual, down to the sensible brown pumps. “I’d have strung you up by your balls if you hadn’t.”
Silvia stumbled on the last step, muffling a surprised laugh behind her fist. “Oh, Saul. I love her already.”
Cammie steadied Silvia as she gained the landing, then patted her cheek. “What a sweet girl. Saul’s told me all about you and that nasty man. Come inside and have some tea. Have you ever played Clue? If we get a game in, you can be Miss Scarlet.”
Reegan raised his hand. “I love Clue. But only if I get to be Professor Plum. Do you have the interactive or the AI version?”
“I
have the cardboard version, handsome. You’ll find it stimulating enough, I’m sure.” She ushered Reegan and Silvia through the door ahead of her, but blocked Saul’s entrance.
Swallowing a groan, he stood on the landing in a recalcitrant schoolboy slouch while she glared. “What?”
“You look like shit.”
A full year of Cammie’s irreverent mouth, and it still shocked him when she swore. “Jesus, cut me some slack. I’ve had a shitty day, so the look fits.”
“You can tell me all about it over tea. But at the moment you can explain why you smell like beer.”
After everything that had happened, it took a moment to draw the memory forward. Not answering didn’t even cross his mind. “We went to a bar to question someone who’d seen Silvia, and some woman spilled her drink on me.”
Not believing him apparently didn’t cross hers. “Well, go inside and get that shirt off. It’s got to be bothering you.”
“Not really. I’ve been distracted.”
She blocked his way again, chubby arm across the doorway. “If that’s the girl you’ve been looking for, why haven’t you cut them loose?”
If he could sell his soul to be able to get away with a lie, he would’ve. “They’re in trouble. I want to help.”
“Hmm, I bet that’s not all you want.”
He let her have the last word. Inside, Reegan was speaking with Silvia in quiet tones. Her stiff, straight shoulders and pursed lips did a good job of revealing her mood, if not the subject matter of the conversation. Saul stepped close to where they huddled by the kitchen doorway. “Everything okay?”
“Not remotely,” Reegan said without missing a beat. “But I’m working on it.”
Working on what? Getting their stories straight? Exhausted, filthy and on edge, Saul knew how easily his temper could get away from him. He pulled in a steadying breath. “Time to talk.”
“Sure.” The corner of Reegan’s eye twitched. “Because that went so well last time.”