Blindside (Michael Bennett)

by James Patterson

  Latki moaned, then coughed, but kept moving. He pulled the handle on his door and almost fell out into the bushes. One of the hinges on his door snapped and the door fell onto the torn-up grass almost on top of him.

  I reached across and unhooked Natalie’s seat belt. She opened her door easily, got out, then turned and reached back to make sure I got out of the car as well. She may have been scared, but she wasn’t clueless. I appreciated that.

  I stepped out on shaky legs. Natalie grabbed me under the arm and helped me stand. I turned to her and said, “Go with Father Marty, right now.”

  It was as if saying his name made him appear. He kneeled down and quickly checked Latki, who waved him off.

  Father Marty said, “You both need to run. I’ll see if I can delay those men.” From what I’d told him earlier, he’d figured out who was in the other car.

  I said, “We’ll run, but you can’t confront these men. They’re not like us. They won’t listen to reason. They don’t care about your standing in the church or if this is holy ground. You and Latki need to get out of here, too.”

  Father Marty nodded, then shoved me toward the church to get me moving. My ankle and knee felt like someone had hit them with a hammer. But I followed Natalie as she urged me along, just as Father Marty and Latki trotted roughly off in the opposite direction, away from the church and hopefully to safety.

  Each step was agony. I knew I wasn’t in shock because I rationally considered what a torn meniscus or damaged ankle might mean in the long run. I didn’t want Chrissy pushing me in a wheelchair before she graduated from Harvard.

  Then I had an idea and was able to pick up the pace a little bit. I didn’t have a gun and I didn’t have backup, so I had to use our only advantage. I’d been here before and knew the terrain. These two Dutchmen had gotten in a surprise blow, but I knew not to underestimate them.

  With my new burst of energy, Natalie was having a hard time keeping up with me now as we raced through the church and past the altar. I had a little difficulty remembering the exact path to the hidden corridor Father Marty had shown me earlier that day, but after some turns and a couple of fruitless shoves against the wall, I found the right panel. I shoved it hard, and the entryway to the hidden corridor opened. When Natalie hesitated, I pulled her into the tight passage. There was no time to be subtle.

  We hustled down the narrow hallway, as dark as it had been the last time I’d traversed it. My knee started to scream at me again. I had a hop-limp in my run now, but it wasn’t much farther. I could hear Natalie taking deep breaths. The stress and accident had taken a lot out of both of us. I hoped it was having the same effect on the men chasing us.

  Natalie said, “I hate enclosed spaces. I’m having a hard time catching my breath.”

  “You and me both. But we can’t stop now.”

  We finally came to the long sequence of steps that I knew would lead us to the bottom of the hill. The stairway was even darker here and Natalie hesitated.

  I didn’t have time to argue as I gently pulled her along. I held her hand the entire descent. Finally we were at the base of the stairs.

  I burst through the last door into the darkness of the Estonian night.

  Standing by the open door, I froze when I heard something.

  The Dutch killers were in the corridor and still chasing us.

  CHAPTER 84

  CHRISTOPH SPRAWLED IN the smashed Volkswagen for a few more moments. All he heard were the sounds of metal creaking and something sizzling on the hot engine block. He could feel his toes and his fingers and move his head. He called it a win. When he’d driven along the street leading to the church and seen Bennett and Natalie getting into the car by the curb, something inside him had snapped.

  He’d wanted—no, needed—to see them dead. He’d never experienced this feeling. Not naked, premeditated murderous urges.

  He and Ollie were slow to move. He saw Natalie and Bennett struggle out of the other car. He tried his door, but it was jammed shut. There was nothing he could do. Christoph screamed in frustration and slammed his shoulder against the door. Finally it started to give.

  Ollie stirred next to him. Then he seemed to snap into alertness. His first words were “Are you insane? You could’ve killed us.”

  Christoph’s eyes were fixed on Bennett. “Get moving. They’ll escape if we don’t get to them now.”

  As soon as Christoph stepped out onto the sidewalk, his legs gave way for a moment. He had to steady himself on the car.

  On the other side of the vehicle, Ollie managed to stand up, and he took a moment to check himself. He said, “My ribs are cracked. It hurts like a son of a bitch. Satisfied?”

  Christoph had almost tuned him out completely. He marched toward the priest, now trying to move quickly away from the church with a young man.

  Ollie caught up to Christoph and put a hand on his shoulder. He had to wheeze for a moment because he was having difficulty breathing. “I’m not about to threaten a priest,” he said. “We know they’re in the church. We’ll figure out where they went.” With some effort, Ollie managed to turn him toward the front door of the church.

  Inside, without any pews to look under, they were quickly able to tell that no one was inside the nave.

  Ollie, walking along slowly because of his injuries, said, “Back here and toward the offices.”

  Christoph followed his partner down a long hallway. Ollie mumbled, “This place is built on a hill. I’ll bet there’s a way to get downstairs and out the back.”

  Christoph grumbled and pulled out his knife. He didn’t want to be surprised by this cop again.

  CHAPTER 85

  THERE WAS ALMOST no light at the bottom of the hill behind the church. I was startled when I looked straight up and saw the night filled with stars. It wasn’t easy to see any constellations in New York. On the other hand, I would know where to get help in New York. Help I could trust.

  We were outside but not safe. When we reached a narrow road, we broke into a jog. I kept looking over my shoulder at the church sitting up on the hill. I didn’t know what to expect: someone shooting at us from the top or someone chasing us along the road.

  We had to walk back up two flights of concrete stairs built into the hillside to get to the main streets of the surrounding neighborhood. This was our best chance to disappear.

  Natalie said, “I recognize the area. We’re in Sikupilli.”

  “Is that good or bad?”

  “I just know where we are. There’s a lake and a park just over there. There should be some thick bushes. Somewhere we can hide.”

  I liked the way she was thinking.

  At the top of the stairs, I didn’t see a park. I didn’t see much of anything except a few houses. There was almost no traffic at this time of night.

  I hurried Natalie along, desperately looking for the park or anyplace else we could hide. I was ready to hunker down for the night and see if we couldn’t find some help in the light of day.

  Then Natalie pointed. “Over there. Pae Park. And look, Pae Järv.” She was excited now.

  I said, “What does järv mean?”

  “It means lake. There’s a big lake in the park. See that bridge? If we cross it, there should be plenty of places to hide.”

  I studied the bridge for a moment. It was about twenty-five feet off the water and built for pedestrian traffic.

  We’d come this far. It was as good a plan as any.

  It took longer than I’d thought to reach the bridge. Natalie didn’t look tired, but she was scared. I was, too.

  We rested for a moment, looking across the bridge. Was there another way out of the park or across the lake? I didn’t want to get stranded with our only way out blocked by a killer.

  Then I heard a gunshot, and a bullet pinged off the rail of the bridge. A second later, I heard the report from the pistol. This time I didn’t need to prod Natalie to move. She sprinted across the bridge with me following her. Another shot rang out behind us. />
  About halfway across the bridge, near a red support beam, we paused. I’ll admit I needed to catch my breath. But I also wanted to see if both of the killers were chasing us. We might have a chance to overpower one of them.

  I looked back down the length of the bridge, and standing a few feet in was the Dutchman I had escaped from. Christoph. Even in the faint light from the neighboring streets, I could see him clearly enough. He stood there like some kind of specter with a pistol in his right hand, dangling by his side, and what I thought might be that Gerber knife in his left. He no longer looked like an underwear model, all neat and groomed. Now he looked like a crazy person. His shirt was covered in dried blood, hair whipped out in every direction, and I thought I could see bruises covering his face. He just stood there, staring at us. If he was trying to look creepy, it worked.

  In an attempt to stall, I yelled to him, “Impressive. You found us.”

  The tall Dutchman called out, “A child could see where the church’s basement should be. Many old buildings here in Tallinn have elaborate back exits.”

  “If I surrender, will you let the girl go free?” I didn’t like the smile that crept over the tall Dutchman’s face.

  He raised his right arm and aimed the pistol. There was nowhere to hide on the bridge. If we started running, he’d have a clear shot at our backs.

  I looked over the railing into the water. This part of the lake was more of a canal with a slight current. It was a longer drop than I’d prefer. But I would’ve preferred no one was shooting at us.

  A bullet struck the giant support beam a few feet from us. I felt the shot through the handrail. I heard Natalie gasp.

  I turned her to face me and said, “Can you swim?”

  “What?”

  I raised my voice like it was going to help. “Can you swim?”

  “Yes. I mean—”

  I didn’t have time to hear any explanations. I took Natalie by the arms and said quickly, “Don’t look back this way, no matter what happens.”

  Then I threw her off the side of the bridge.

  CHAPTER 86

  ON THE BRIDGE, I had my doubts. If we got out of this, I knew I’d have a lot of explaining to do to Natalie. I hadn’t had time to go into the fact that I was afraid we were too isolated for anyone to hear the shots. Christoph had lost all reason and was just intent on killing us. And I hadn’t had any other choice but to throw her into the lake.

  I looked over the side of the bridge and felt a little twinge of vertigo. But I had to focus. I had to think. That might be the only advantage I had over Christoph. His brains had to be scrambled.

  The problem was that the only thing I could think about was my family. Maybe it was because I was reconciling the fact that I was about to be confronted by an angry man with both a gun and a knife. And I was absolutely defenseless. That gave me an instant flash of all of my children’s faces. I could see Mary Catherine. Maeve. And even my crusty old grandfather.

  I shook my head to clear my thoughts. I needed to buy time for Natalie to get away. I heard her shout something from the water, but I didn’t look over the railing again. Now I was focused solely on Christoph. And he appeared to be concentrating completely on me.

  Not only did I want to stall, I also needed to get nearer to Christoph. My only chance was to engage him up close. Preferably after he ran out of bullets and somehow lost the knife. Sometimes you don’t get to choose the exact time and place of a fight.

  I held up my hands and started to walk toward him very slowly. I called out, “Okay, I’ll come with you.”

  I kept walking, desperately praying that Christoph wouldn’t just raise his right arm and shoot me.

  As I got closer, I could tell he was confused.

  Natalie screamed something from the water.

  Christoph casually looked over the railing, raised the pistol, and fired three times into the dark water.

  There was no way he could clearly see where she was. But I was scared by the fact that she’d stopped screaming.

  I picked up my pace with my arms still in the air. The thought of that girl being shot by this jerk infuriated me. I’d like to say that I had been counting his shots. The best I could think was he had fired six times. But I couldn’t be sure exactly how many rounds his pistol held. If it was a single-stack 9mm he’d be down to at best two shots now, at worst five.

  When I was within twenty steps of Christoph, I made up my mind. This was going to be a fight. I didn’t care if I ended up with five bullets in me. I was going to stop this asshole.

  Ollie shouted from a field near the approach to the bridge.

  Christoph answered him in Dutch. I didn’t follow it exactly. Then I saw Ollie sprint toward the banks of the lake. Christoph had told him to get Natalie.

  Ollie’s gait was off. It almost looked like he was skipping the way he moved, favoring his left side. He’d been injured somehow. Probably the car crash. That was information I might be able to use later.

  I continued to march slowly toward Christoph. I wanted his attention on me and not Natalie. I came to a stop with my hands still raised.

  We were only five feet apart.

  CHAPTER 87

  CHRISTOPH WAS STILL trying to understand the anger he was feeling. He didn’t just want these two dead. He wanted to do it himself, up close. Everything was boiling over now. And instead of fighting it, Christoph embraced it. Maybe this was what he should have been doing all along, going wild instead of trying to suppress his instincts.

  His thoughts of rage beat through his brain like a drum. If Henry complained about anything they did tonight, he might have to go, too. Henry wasn’t so dangerous on his own. He had to hire muscle. Christoph and Ollie were muscle. Without them, he was defenseless. Sure, Henry was trending toward being a psycho. He liked to think of himself as a crime lord. Some kind of drug kingpin. But the fault in his reasoning had to do with surrounding himself with nerds. A true kingpin has to be tough on his own. You never know when someone will try to rise up through the ranks and snatch the throne.

  In Henry’s case, there was no one to threaten his power. The computer people he hired wanted nothing to do with violence. Most of them wanted very little to do with other people. That gave Henry a false sense of superiority and security.

  But Henry could wait until later. Now Christoph had to deal with Natalie and this infuriating cop. Bennett had tossed the girl from the bridge into the lake. Christoph admired that kind of thinking. Doing the unexpected. Taking risks. That’s what Christoph and Ollie needed to do more.

  He’d sent Ollie down to the bank to grab the girl. That meant he could keep his attention trained on Bennett.

  Bennett had his hands raised and was walking toward him slowly. Christoph didn’t trust him. But this was falling in line with his own plan. He wanted to see the cop up close. Preferably, he’d use his knife. Instead of one jab to the throat, he’d take a few practice slashes, then take an ear or cut off his nose. Maybe make it last a little while. Then move on to cutting off something more delicate.

  He knew Ollie would argue against that. He just wanted to take both of them to the area in Kopli Liinid with all the new houses. A lot of concrete was poured every day; there was always someplace convenient to leave a body or evidence they never wanted found. Having two people walk to the site would be much easier than carrying their bodies, and it would leave less blood everywhere they went. Christoph hated cleaning blood out of the car. And he’d done it more than most people.

  All that ran through his brain as Bennett kept walking toward him slowly, his hands clearly empty and up over his head. He didn’t blame the cop for surrendering. The guy had been through a lot. Maybe he’d realized there was nowhere else to run. At least not in Estonia.

  Christoph was about to warn him to freeze in place when the cop came to a stop on his own.

  Now they were only about a meter and a half apart.

  CHAPTER 88

  AS WE FACED each other on the bridge, Chri
stoph stared me down, then gave me a little grin. I’d seen it before. He was showing me he was in charge. He had won. I have no idea why these idiots think something is over before it’s even started.

  I glanced over the side of the bridge into the lake. I heard or thought I could still hear Natalie, but I really couldn’t see anything in the darkness of the lake. I tried to gauge where the slovenly hit man, Ollie, was on the bank, but I had to deal with a younger, fit, armed killer right in front of me.

  The first thing out of Christoph’s mouth surprised me.

  He said, “Why did you throw the girl off the bridge?”

  “She’s so light I thought she could fly.” Right now I was willing to say anything to buy a few more seconds for Natalie to escape. The problem was I had no idea where she or the other killer were. It had been quiet for too long.

  I needed to do something. Fast. I also wanted to make Christoph scream. I was hoping that might bring his partner away from the lake and back to the bridge. It was a lot of speculation on my part.

  I kept watching the Dutchman. He seemed pretty confident. Natalie’s blow across his face and my full-body block hadn’t seemed to slow him down too much. Sure, his nose still leaked a little blood. It was clearly broken and almost flat against his face, but that wasn’t affecting his reflexes. At least not that I could see.

  Then I realized he was waiting just like me. He was waiting to hear Ollie call up and say he had caught the girl. That wasn’t going to fly with me. I’d taken all the abuse I wanted to take.

  Christoph finally turned his head and looked toward the bank, hoping to see his partner. His gun was still in front of him, pointed right at my stomach, and the knife was gripped at the ready by his hip. It wasn’t a long look, but it was enough.