by Aimée Thurlo
“So either we’ve been misdirected, or it’s just plain bad luck. Why don’t we check out Sam’s Auto?”
“Where are you now?”
“Two blocks to the northeast,” Lee answered. “I’ll keep circling and come down the street from the north. Just stay where you are.”
“Okay.”
Lee remained observant, not wanting to miss a single clue. He passed an auto paint shop with a large bay door, but it was open and he could see a panel truck, masked and ready for painting. Wrong make and model for their quarry.
He was half a block away when the cell phone rang again. “The dummy moved. She may have spotted me,” Diane said breathlessly.
Lee looked ahead, but Diane wasn’t where he’d left her. “Where are you?”
“I’m beside the west wall of the building south of the alley, behind a tree. I’m watching the back door of the restaurant.”
“Stay where you …”
“There she goes, Lee. It’s Marci, and she’s running east down the alley. I’m going after her.”
“Watch out for an ambush. I’m south of your location. I’ll head east at the next street and parallel you.” Lee’s heart was pumping overtime now. He didn’t know if Marci was a diversion, leading them away from Tanner inside the restaurant, or racing to get their escape vehicle. “Diane, stop where you are now, and keep an eye on the back of that restaurant. She might be trying to lead us away from Tanner. I can catch Marci a lot faster, and then go back as soon as I have her. Tanner won’t be coming outside in the full sun.”
He stepped on the gas, screeched around the corner, then pulled up beside the curb. Sam’s Auto was just two buildings down, across the street, and the big garage was right in front of him. Someone was crossing the gap between buildings, running down the alley, east.
Lee sprinted across the street toward the big metal building. “Diane, I’m heading toward Sam’s garage. I didn’t see any side doors, but there may be an exit in the back. Can you see it from where you are?”
There was a pause of about five seconds. “Yes, Marci just went in through a small door. Need backup?”
“Not yet. Can you move closer to the restaurant? If Tanner is still inside, he might find a way to cover himself with a tarp or something and run out the front.”
“Right. I’ll check the main entrance, then come around back again. You know, we could use a third set of eyes.”
“You don’t suppose we got lucky and Charles followed us again?” Lee had slowed his approach to the garage, wanting to make sure that Marci didn’t come out the front if he went to check the back.
“I’ll give him a call.”
Lee hung up, then put the device on vibrate and fastened it to his belt. He brought out his pistol and stopped in the gravel driveway, watching the front of the faded green, corrugated metal structure. Closer now, he could see that the chain in front was threaded through two large eye bolts, but not padlocked. That was all there was holding the doors shut at the moment. The gap between the two doors was less than an inch at most, and he couldn’t see more than a few feet inside. Lee noticed the glint of glass, or chrome, but he couldn’t be sure without getting closer.
He walked over to the left side, but couldn’t see anyone, so he crossed back to the right. Still alone, Lee stood in front of the doors and listened. Faint footsteps crunched in the gravel inside the garage. No surprise, he already knew Marci was there. Lee holstered his pistol and stepped to the left, wanting to make sure she couldn’t peek out between the doors and see him.
A car door slammed inside the garage, and the engine started up with a roar. Uncertain whether to run to the side or step back, Lee hesitated a second too long. The doors burst open and a large pickup with two people inside sent sheet metal and wood flying in all directions, catching Lee in the right shoulder as he dove to the left.
The impact knocked him sideways even more. He ducked his left shoulder and head, rolling over and coming to his feet, but the momentum propelled him farther, into a forced run he couldn’t control for another ten feet. Finally, Lee managed to come to a stop and turn around.
The pickup, camper shell atop, was roaring up the street, heading east. The sound of another racing vehicle, coming up from the west, made Lee spin around.
Reinforcements. Charles Alderete, in his SUV, roared past Lee at high speed. The man looked in his direction a split second, but didn’t slow down. He continued in pursuit of Tanner.
“Wait for us!” Diane yelled from behind the garage, running up from the north side. She stopped beside Lee, and they watched Charles skid around the corner in hot pursuit of the pickup.
“Crap!” Diane exclaimed. “We figured Tanner was in the restaurant, not the garage. All we would have needed was a few more minutes and we might have had them both.”
Lee felt moisture on his shoulder, which, he realized, was also warming up. He looked down and saw his jacket had been torn open, revealing a jagged cut oozing blood. It was starting to steam.
“Get inside!” Diane grabbed his other arm and pulled him toward the open garage.
Lee cooperated. In a few more seconds the skin would have begun to burn. Sunblock didn’t work where flesh was exposed like that. Now, in the shade, the burning sensation stopped. “I’ll be okay in a few minutes. Get somebody besides Charles onto Tanner’s trail.” He turned and noticed the gold Toyota Corolla in the back of the big garage. Beside it was a motorcycle, an old Harley atop a canvas drop cloth. An open box of mechanic’s tools was sitting within reach of the Harley, and Lee saw a blue and white plastic cooler on the ground against the wall. A Coors beer bottle was atop it, open and half empty. That was a bad sign. Nobody he knew left beer behind.
Diane already had her cell out, but while she spoke she didn’t take her eyes off Lee. Soon, the bleeding stopped and his wound began to close. He reached into his pocket, found his plastic bottle of sunblock, and started to apply it to the new skin.
“I’ll get the pickup,” she said. “Keys?”
“In my left jacket pocket.”
She reached in, feeling around, her hand shaking slightly. “Quit almost getting killed, Lee. That scares the hell out of me.”
“I apologize. Don’t want you to get upset.”
“Don’t patronize me, you jerk!” She located the keys, jabbed him in the ribs, then ran off to retrieve the truck.
Lee walked over to take a closer look at the Toyota and the rear of the garage, an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach that had remained since spotting the unfinished beer. Inside the Toyota, sprawled across the backseat, was a big black man in jeans and a bloody T-shirt. He’d been stabbed in the chest and, from the angle of his head, had his neck broken before being stuffed into the little car. A medical examiner would be able to tell what had killed the guy, but there was no doubt who’d killed him. Lee made the call while waiting for Diane.
CHAPTER 16
“Where was Charles?” Lee asked as he drove east. They’d just received a radio call from FPD Dispatch reporting Charles’s vehicle in pursuit of Tanner’s, racing through a nearby neighborhood.
Diane—who’d unhooked the mannequins and placed them on the floorboards in back, their usefulness ended—had insisted Lee drive so she could use the cell phone and radio more effectively. The emotion she’d shown earlier had quickly been replaced by the coolness she always reserved for crisis situations. “Charles said he lost us earlier on East Main, so he was circling, trying to track us down. I gave him our location.”
“He could get killed, chasing them like that. The body count is continuing to rise. Tanner has nothing to lose.”
“I’m not so sure, not with Marci in the truck with him. He might have a death wish, but I doubt he’d want to take his childhood sweetheart with him. She was probably around when he killed the Harley owner, but notice, Lee, how he left her out of the parking garage ambush.”
He nodded. “The chilling life of a vampire … and the woman who loves him. Do you remem
ber an old TV soap opera called Dark Shadows?” Lee said with a wry smile.
“I was a little kid then, but, sure, I sneaked a few shows when my mom wasn’t around. It came on after school. I’m surprised to hear you ever watched soap operas, Lee.”
“Not macho enough? Hey, a vampire, even a half vampire, doesn’t normally have much to do during the daytime. It was a slow, difficult time for me. Annie had died, I’d tracked down and killed the skinwalkers who’d done it, then I was forced to change my identity again and go into hiding. TV gave me an escape mechanism for several years. I even followed a game show or two.”
Diane sat there awhile, quiet, but searching, as he was, for any indication where Charles or Tanner may have gone. After a while, she looked over. “You kid around so you won’t have to take your life too seriously, don’t you?”
“Yeah, being a cop, you do a lot of that too,” he said. “We get to see the worst of human nature on a daily basis. It’ll eat you up inside if you don’t find a way to let off steam. We need humor just to get by.”
“One day at a time, partner. And right now we have to find Tanner and his lady friend before they kill someone else—which might be Charles, if he doesn’t have an accident first.”
Diane’s cell phone rang. “Charles? Oh, Victor.” She turned to look at Lee.
“Yes, we were converging on that garage a short time ago and almost got run down when Tanner and the woman crashed through the doors in that pickup. They killed another civilian, but you’ve probably heard about that already. We’re trying to find Tanner now before they ditch the truck.”
Lee knew they’d been correct about Victor Wayne. He’d been forced to wait for his reinforcements before going to the old Walker restaurant and they’d beaten him to the punch. If they’d all been able to work together Tanner might be out of circulation by now. Lee listened to Diane, who told Victor which area they were searching, but nothing else, and she didn’t mention Charles Alderete at all. After another minute, she ended the call.
“I got the gist of the conversation. You think Dr. Wayne and his people will search the same area?”
Diane shrugged. “He was vague about that. He’s kinda pissed right now. Probably angry that something hinky went down at the apartment complex where he’s staying, and that we didn’t tell him we knew about the restaurant. But, hey, he didn’t tell us he knew.”
Lee nodded. “You need to keep trying to reach Charles,” he said, and saw her dialing. “Is it ringing?”
Diane nodded. “Yeah, but I can’t get him to answer.”
“He’s not used to high-speed pursuit, and he may not want to risk taking his eyes off the road. Or the phone may be out of his reach—like it slid across the seat in a sharp turn. Just keep trying.”
Lee stayed in touch with the other agencies via radio. Local officers had lost track of Tanner and Charles, but were able to tell him what direction they’d been headed. He picked up the pace.
Several minutes went by, then Diane cursed and put away her cell phone. “Just got through. Charles lost him, Lee. Tanner apparently turned onto a side road during a few moments when Charles had to slow for traffic. He’s circling around, trying to pick up the trail again.”
Lee drove to the area she mentioned to help in the search. After fifteen minutes of driving up and down paved and graveled roads in the newly developed upper-middle-class residential area, checking down alleys and scrutinizing pickups with camper shells, Diane finally motioned for Lee to pull over.
“Let’s get some local officers to continue working the area. I’m going to set up a meet with Charles,” Diane said.
After removing their disguises and switching back to an unmarked Bureau sedan—minus the mannequins now—they found Charles parked at a gas station, checking under the hood of his rented SUV while refueling. When he saw them pull up, he looked over, shaking his head. “I thought I could get close enough to do something, but he was able to maintain at least a quarter-mile lead. I had some hairy moments running stoplights and stuff, and finally lost him. If I’d have had your car instead of this top-heavy monster, I could have had a shot. Now, if we’d been out in the sticks …”
“Charles, you lost him. Leave it at that.” Diane got out of the car and walked around to the front of Charles’s big vehicle. Lee exited as well and stood in the shade of the pump island, a few steps from their car.
“I should have stayed on your tail like I did at the beginning. If I hadn’t lost track of you guys earlier, I’d have been there to back you up when you found Tanner and that woman. Who is she, anyway?”
Diane ignored the question.
Charles looked over at Lee for an answer.
“Elvira?” Lee offered, straight-faced.
Diane barely avoided a chuckle while Lee strolled casually toward Charles’s open driver’s side window.
“Our first priority is getting Tanner, and we appreciate what you’ve done so far. But you’re going to get killed if you keep it up. Go home, Charles,” Diane said quietly.
“You know I can’t do that.”
“Yeah, I know,” Diane replied with a sigh. Lee walked back toward their car, and nodded that it was time to leave.
“Where you going now?” Charles called out.
“We’ve got two killers to track down, Diane said. She climbed into the car, Lee started the engine, and they drove away.
A half mile down the road, Diane turned to Lee. “You grabbed his keys, right?”
“Not permanently. I put them in his ashtray,” Lee said. He slowed, then made a right turn. At the next block, he turned right again.
“Were you making sure we’d be able to ditch him?”
“Not exactly. I want to turn the tables and follow him for a while.”
“Why?”
“I think he knows where Tanner went. You notice that thing he does when he’s lying? With his eyes?”
“Yeah,” Diane replied. “You’re right. But if he knows where Tanner is, why didn’t he just move in and try to take him out before dark? Or have us do it for him?”
“I believe Charles will let us know what he’s got planned—eventually. My guess is that he wants to see Victor get a little justice of his own too, and he’s waiting things out. But we need to make him think he’s free to set it all up. We’ll follow, but as far back as possible. Get those binoculars, the gas station is just around the corner. I hope he hasn’t found the keys already.”
Lee stopped as soon as he saw Charles’s rented sport utility vehicle, still beside the pump. The man was at the pay window.
“Maybe he didn’t find the keys yet,” Diane said.
They watched as Charles walked nonchalantly back to the SUV, took a cursory look around, then climbed inside. A second later he drove off.
They waited until Charles pulled out into traffic before coming up to the intersection. A light changed to their left, and oncoming vehicles kept them from coming out immediately, but fortunately Charles was still in sight when they got out into the flow again.
Diane lowered the binoculars for a moment as the road got bumpy near an intersection. “He’s using his cell phone. Wonder who he’s calling?”
“Well, he still has two hours and”—Lee checked his watch—
“twenty minutes, approximately, until sundown. So assuming he knows where Tanner is, he’s going to have to make a move soon if he wants sunshine on the side of the good guys.”
“I’m going to get some FPD officers involved. We don’t want to lose Charles now. Any suggestions?”
Lee nodded. “Shannon and Esterbrook. They’ve been working on this from the moment Tanner hit town. Just make sure they don’t tip off Victor and his crew.”
Diane nodded and flipped open her cell phone as Lee slowed for a four-way stop. They still had Charles well in sight, so Lee wasn’t worried.
As Lee stopped, being the first vehicle at the intersection, he checked both ways. A yellow car was coming up from the right, but Lee could see the sporty Ca
maro starting to slow. Lee drove forward, but suddenly the Camaro accelerated, the driver honked, and the vehicle raced into the intersection.
“Shit.” Lee slammed on the brakes, but it was too late. They slid and clipped the left rear fender of the Camaro as it shot by.
“What the hell?” Diane looked up, startled by the jolt.
The driver of the Camaro jumped out, along with three equally oversized companions. It took a few seconds because the vehicle was a two-door, but from the team jackets it was obvious the group was comprised of local high school athletes, either football players or wrestlers.
“You hit my car, asswipe!” the red-haired driver yelled from behind an equally flushed face. “You better be fucking insuredi”
Lee took his eyes off the approaching teens. Charles’s car was turning down a side street. In another few seconds, they’d lose sight of him.
“Screw it, Lee, we gotta stick with Charles,” Diane said. She reached over and hit the emergency lights for just a second.
“Crap, Louie! He’s a cop!” one of the teens yelled. The young men stopped in their tracks.
Lee hit the gas, whipping through the intersection. He raced to the next block, turned sharply, and stared down the empty road. “Where’d he go?”
They hurried to the next intersection and Lee slowed again. He looked left, and Diane to the right. “Not this way,” she yelled, then reached down and punched out a number on her cell phone, quickly reporting the accident and location while Lee continued to search.
“Not this way either. He might be circling, or maybe he spotted us when we hit the Camaro.” Lee decided to take the turn to the left, but after another block without finding Charles’s sport utility vehicle, he knew they’d lost him.
Still searching as he drove, Lee looked over at Diane. “Sorry. If those kids hadn’t decided to run the stop sign at the last second … shall we put out a bulletin on Charles?”
“Yeah.” She made the call while Lee continued to cruise up and down the neighborhood. After ten minutes they arrived at a busy artery and entered traffic.