“You can see yourself out,” Josie said to Lauren, who was standing in the middle of the room, perfectly composed.
“Not so fast,” Lauren said. “Do you think Tim’s on his way to his hideaway?”
“It’s possible, but I don’t know. This is how we find out.” Josie opened the door.
“Let’s go, then. I’m coming with.”
“Absolutely not. It might be dangerous.” She certainly hoped it would be. She left the room and trotted down the stairs, pausing at the bottom to take out her gun and check the magazine, as if there was going to be a shootout in the alley.
Lauren ran down the stairs behind her. “I’m coming with. We can take the Lexus.”
“We can’t take the Lexus. And you’re not coming with.”
“Why can’t we take my car?” Lauren asked.
She followed Josie into the alley. Tim’s Jeep had already disappeared. Josie was moving fast, not caring if Lauren kept up.
“We can’t take your Lexus because your brother knows the car and we’re more likely to be spotted.”
“Of course. I hadn’t thought about that.” They turned the corner onto the street. “What kind of car do you drive?”
Josie tried to remember what shape her car was in. Last year it would likely have underwear and empties strewn about, but those days seemed to be over. She stopped outside her car and looked at Lauren.
“It’s right here.” Josie unlocked the passenger door of the Corolla and threw fast food bags off the passenger seat.
Lauren looked surprised at the car, as if Josie should have been driving an Aston Martin.
“You really can’t come, and I have no time to argue about it,” Josie said, knowing she’d already lost the argument.
Lauren climbed into the car as Josie got into her seat. “Then let’s go. I’m paying the bills, I decide whether to go or not.”
Josie rubbed her face briskly. Things were feeling a little twirly in her head, with too many thoughts rushing forward. It didn’t help she’d been three seconds away from orgasm not five minutes before. She felt like she could literally jump out of her skin.
“This car is nondescript. Perfect for following someone,” she said.
“I stand corrected,” Lauren said. Josie thought she detected a brief smile before Lauren looked politely at her.
Josie frowned when she pulled her cell phone and iPad out of her bag. “Why the hell didn’t my phone ring? I’ve got two messages on it.” She listened to the first before starting the car and pulling out into traffic. “Fucking Nigel.”
“What do you mean?” Lauren said. Josie was keeping one eye on the road while punching something up on the iPad.
“Nigel’s in the car that was parked in front. He relieved Stan midday. Now he’s behind Tim. I’m going to pull him off.” A map displayed on the tablet showed Tim’s car. It was stationary. “Looks like Tim’s pulled into the 7-Eleven on Clybourn.”
“Why would you call him back? Isn’t he doing what he’s supposed to?”
Josie hesitated. Nigel was doing what he was supposed to be doing, but he wasn’t doing what Josie wanted him to be doing. She hadn’t called him from the observation post when Tim pulled out of his garage, so he must have seen him leave on his computer. She hoped he hadn’t yet called Stan.
“I need to take the lead on this,” she said, looking squarely at Lauren before turning back to the road. “And I need for you to be behind me. I’m concerned what will happen if multiple cars show up where Tim’s holding your parents. It’s better for him to form up with Stan and we decide how to proceed.”
Lauren looked at her skeptically. “Doesn’t it make sense to have more people there? What if Tim goes berserk?”
“We don’t even know he’s going to where your parents are. He might be picking up beer and some nachos for another night at the coach house. Can I count on you?”
Lauren nodded. Josie stabbed at her phone.
“Nigel. It’s Harper. Where are you?”
“Parked behind the subject at the 7-Eleven.” Nigel had a high, squeaky voice that annoyed the hell out of her. She’d met him briefly earlier in the day. He was sturdy, almost plump, with a five o’clock shadow at noon. The squeaky voice seemed to come from a ventriloquist.
“Good job,” Josie said. “I’m a couple of blocks away and have him up on the computer.”
“I have him on the pad as well.” Nigel sounded a little defensive.
“Yeah? Well, I need you to head back to the post. I’ll get Stan and Tommy there and Stan can tell you what to do. We need to organize this, Nigel. I’ll stay on him until I hear from Stan.”
“That doesn’t sound right,” he said.
Josie became impatient. “Doing what I say is what sounds right. Plus, I’ve got the client here with me.” Lauren gave her a regal smile and nod.
Nigel hesitated before saying, “Okay. But if he’s headed out of town, don’t do anything stupid. I’ll call Stan now.”
“You do that, buddy. Harper out.”
Lauren raised an eyebrow. “Harper out?”
“That’s the way we talk.” Lauren seemed determined to keep irritating her. It seemed she was damned good at it. “Get used to it.”
Josie was coming up on Tim’s location when she saw his Jeep pull out of the 7-Eleven and drive north. She fell back so there were at least two cars between them.
“I think he’s headed out of town,” Lauren said.
“Has he been strange like this his whole life?” Josie had compassion for Lauren because of her own fucked-up family. But as bad as her father was, Tim Wade was worse.
“He made my life hell when I was young,” Lauren said, still staring out her window. “But his behavior never reached this level of crazy. Putting me through the paces with all those embarrassing assignments was very much his style. But kidnapping? Cutting off my father’s finger? I’ve never seen him like this.”
Josie stayed on Tim as he headed north on Clybourn and turned toward the expressway entrance on Fullerton. She watched with one eye as the tracker fed his location to her pad.
“This might be it,” Josie said, her voice tinged with excitement. “I think he’s getting on the Kennedy.”
“Shouldn’t you call Stan?” Lauren asked.
Josie’s phone rang as Lauren spoke. It was Stan. She wondered how much trouble Nigel was in. Or her, for that matter.
“Harper, what the fuck are you doing? You’re like your old man with this Lone Wolf crap.”
“I’m on the tail of our subject, Stan. I’d call that doing my job. And it’s a good thing I am. It looks like he’s headed out of the city.”
“Fuck me,” Stan said. He sounded stressed again. She hoped he wasn’t going to have a heart attack. “Okay, we’re on our way. Nigel’s fifteen minutes behind you, instead of ahead of you like he should have been. I’m coming from home, Tommy was sound asleep. He’ll bring up the rear.”
Stan disconnected. Comparing her to her father was a low blow. They should be thankful she was on the job. She tried to focus on tracking Tim, but she didn’t feel entirely in control of her emotions. But who cared? She had people to save. This was what she lived for.
She glanced down at the tracker and saw Tim entering the expressway. She felt another pump of adrenaline enter her system. She picked up her pace as she followed him onto the ramp, less concerned he’d notice her in the sea of cars on the Kennedy. He crossed over to the left lanes to stay on the interstate going northwest, headed toward the airport.
“Do you have any guesses as to where he might be headed?” Josie asked. “He could be going to rural Illinois, maybe up to Wisconsin.”
Lauren turned to her. “No, we don’t have any special family spots in the Midwest. Our vacations mostly consisted of me and Tim being sent to expensive camps while my parents snuck away on their own. They were inseparable.”
Josie looked at her perfectly composed face. She felt hypersensitive, as if she could feel everything aroun
d her; the straining engine, the wind whistling through a gap in her window, her own undiluted energy and racing thoughts. It was visceral. Lauren kept her thoughts to herself, but Josie was about to explode. She couldn’t not talk.
“Are you okay?” she said, taking Lauren’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “I know you want this over with. We’ll take care of it, I promise you.” Lauren didn’t respond, but Josie hardly paused before her compressed thoughts came tumbling out.
“You’ve got a great team working for you. I thought Tommy and Nigel were wimps, but they’re not. I shouldn’t assume anything about anyone. You, for example. A person might think you were a bit uptight and reserved until they got to know you better. Then they’d see what I see—a beautiful, sensuous woman who is anything but reserved.”
Lauren looked at her sideways, a puzzled look on her face.
“And me. I know a lot of people think I’m deranged because of the way I acted last fall. But I’m not insane, I’m ill. That’s what my doctor keeps saying, anyway. You should meet her sometime. Her name’s Greta and she’s like a grandmother with an Austrian accent, very nice and nurturing until bang! She hits me over the head with something that makes me cry. Did I just say that out loud? I don’t like to cry. As a general rule I’m against crying, though I know a lot of people are all for it. For me it’s a nuisance. I think crying is highly overrated.”
Josie was hunched over the steering wheel. She paused for the briefest of moments.
“I see Greta twice a week because my illness needs to be ‘managed,’ a term I really hate. There’s about a hundred things I’m supposed to be doing at all times to manage it. It’s impossible to keep up.”
“You’re not doing any of them, are you?” Lauren said.
“Not true! I’m in good shape. My thinking’s sharp, my energy strong.” She looked at Lauren, who was staring out the window again. “I can see you’re worried. That’s why I didn’t want you to come. I mean, it might be dangerous, sure, but all the anticipation, the worry, that’s the hard part. I remember once when I was on the gang squad, before I made detective, and we were staked out waiting for a big drug deal to happen on the West Side. There was all kinds of backup in place, but I was getting sick with worry about how I would perform. Once the thing itself happened, I slipped into automatic pilot and did what I was trained to do. But you’re not trained, which is why you’ll be staying in the car, no argument.”
Lauren turned and gave her a thin smile before turning back to the passenger window. Josie looked at a passing mileage sign. “We’re headed toward Rockford. I’m surprised your brother took them out this far. I thought he had them in some nondescript ’burb. My dad’s very thorough and he’s not a nice guy either. But I have to say, he hasn’t kidnapped or maimed anyone, at least to my knowledge. He’s a run-of-the mill racist, narrow-minded, homophobic bastard. A cop’s cop. I can’t believe I used to look up to him, that I followed him into law enforcement. Though truth be told, I never wanted to do anything else. I still don’t. Having to leave the department was the worst thing that ever happened to me.”
Josie continued to talk until Lauren finally told her to shut up. She bounced in her seat instead. They’d long since cleared city traffic and fallen back, keeping a close eye on the tracker. Stan periodically checked in. They were in western Illinois, where the flat Midwestern land gave way to rolling hills, dairy farms, and more cornfields. When they pulled off the interstate onto State Highway 20, Stan called again.
“Josie, we’re two-lane now. You have to fall back farther.”
“Copy that. How far back are you?”
“Ten to fifteen minutes. Use caution if he turns into a driveway or dirt road or whatever. Drive by and then circle back. If the tracker says he’s stopped, hold your position until we arrive.”
“Acknowledged.” Josie disconnected and glanced at the tracker. Tim was a steady hundred yards ahead of her, his car lights occasionally visible as they traveled the twisting roads and surprisingly steep hills. It was fully dark out. She was going out of her mind sitting in the car.
“Looks like he’s turned off 20,” Lauren said.
Josie could see he’d turned onto a county road. She stayed far back as she followed him.
Josie handed the iPad to Lauren. “Keep on eye on this and tell me if he turns or stops.”
“What, do you think I’d keep that information to myself?” Lauren asked. She seemed a bit insulted.
“Don’t be sensitive.” Josie said. “We don’t have time for sensitive.” She put her foot harder on the accelerator.
Lauren appeared pensive. “Did I tell you Tim was arrested for animal cruelty when he was a kid? It’s such a classic marker for a disturbed personality, but my parents refused to see it.”
Josie looked at Lauren. She couldn’t sense any resentment or anger.
“Didn’t your parents do anything about Tim beating you?”
Lauren’s cocked her head to one side. “Did I say he beat me? That makes it sound like a chronic thing. Really, it was a couple of times when he was wound up and out of control. It wasn’t that bad.”
“Is that what your parents told you?”
“What?” Lauren said.
“That it wasn’t that bad,” Josie said. “Children will believe that and you know it’s bullshit.”
Lauren handed the iPad back to her. “Something’s happening.”
Josie could see Tim had turned north on what looked like a very small road. A moment later the tracker stopped.
Josie took the coordinates from the iPad and transferred them to the GPS screen stuck to her dashboard with a suction cup. She wanted to be sure of the route.
“Continue one hundred yards west,” the computer said. She sounded like Judi Dench.
Josie slowed as she drew close, peering out the window for a dirt road to come into range of her headlights. She was almost upon it before she could see it. “You have arrived at your destination,” Judi said.
“What are we going to do?” Lauren said. “Has Stan told you yet?”
Josie grabbed a flashlight and handcuffs from the glove compartment and took her gun out of its holster. She had the door open and one leg on the ground. “I don’t know what Stan’s going to do. I’m going to go find your parents.” She started to get out. “And if you don’t stay in the car, I’ll shoot you.”
Lauren looked frustrated. “You can’t go up there on your own. I don’t think you should go up there at all.”
“What?” Josie said. “Why?”
“I don’t think you’re entirely well,” she said.
Josie closed her door with a soft but emphatic push. “I’m fine. Stay in the car. You can tell Stan where I am when he gets here.”
She trotted toward the dirt road, her heart pounding. The dark was nearly absolute, something she never saw in the city. Never dark, never quiet. She could hear her own rapid breathing. The narrow road climbed and Josie followed it as best she could in the pitch black. She could sense the trees on either side, and twice she found herself headed into a ditch as the road curved. She didn’t dare use the flashlight for fear Tim would see.
After a five-minute hike the road leveled off. Her breath now sounded labored. She took a moment to rest and assess what she was seeing. Straight ahead was a small house, with light leaking out around the frames of the windows. There was no sign of Tim’s Jeep. Josie approached the house as silently as possible, holding her gun in front of her. As she got closer she could see the windows were boarded up, the light pushing past where the plywood didn’t quite meet the frame. It was enough light for Josie to see where she was going if she stayed close to the house. She crept to the rear to see what the exit situation was. Tim’s Jeep was parked on the scrabbly lawn behind the house. There was a door and two windows in the back of the house. These windows were also boarded up, but the door hung open. She could see a huge padlock dangling open at the door, used, no doubt, to lock the house from the outside. A weak light fell upon t
he lawn. Josie crouched and peeked through a slice of the window not covered by plywood.
She tried to control her breathing, which sounded like ocean surf in her ears. She could see the enclosed back porch and beyond that a brightly lit kitchen. John and Helen Wade sat at the kitchen table while Tim poured them a cup of coffee and sat down to join them. It looked like they were settling in for a long chat, but for the frightened look on John’s and Helen’s sallow faces.
Josie thought she had about fifteen minutes or so to make things happen before Stan and company arrived. She stepped back and scooped up a handful of gravel that had settled around the base of the house and threw it against the screen door. Then she flattened herself behind the door that was open.
She heard the scrape of a chair and a clumping step approaching. The screen opened outward, and as soon as Tim cleared it Josie stepped out and raised her gun.
“Stop right there, Mr. Wade. Don’t move an inch or I’ll shoot you.”
Tim turned to her. Josie thought she’d never seen such a shocked look on a face. But a half second later he closed the distance between them and kicked her in the ribs. He was wearing heavy boots. She hadn’t even seen him start his move. The pain was unbelievable and Josie fell to the ground, clutching her side. She raised her gun hand to hold him off, but he pounced on her before she could aim, landing flat on top of her, crushing her rib and holding her gun arm to the ground. For a slender guy he felt dense, strong. Josie struggled beneath him, unable to move enough to fight. As he reached for the gun, lifting enough off her to give her room, she brought her knee up hard and caught him square in the balls. Tim cried out and rolled off her, grabbing himself in the classic pose of man at his most vulnerable. Josie didn’t let the opportunity pass. Her head was pounding from the great flood of adrenaline rushing through her, but she felt as sharp as she’d ever been. She grabbed her gun and paid him back with a solid kick in the ribs. There was no way she’d lose to Tim. It wasn’t possible.
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