Cold Read

by Renee Joiner

  Her consciousness dropped back in her body, and she spun around to grab Daniel by the shoulders. He tensed for a moment, his eyes alive as he met hers. “I saw it—the truck. I know where to go.”

  He gulped, which seemed strange to her, and then merely nodded. Then, they both made a dash for the car.

  “My god. This is the neighborhood he used to live in? Why would he—”

  “I don’t know,” Tasia interjected. But I looked through his eyes, Daniel. We’re in the right place. Trust me on this.”

  “I’m driving into a retirement village, and you’re questioning my trust? You cut me deep.” He leaned to the right as they turned into another street. It was as quiet as ever, but Tasia couldn’t help but notice that the area was slightly busier. “God, if your hunch is true, it means we can lay a trap for this guy. We can figure out where he’s keeping them all. We can save Sarah!” He was more spirited than ever. For once, she shared the sentiment. The composition of her vision had been more detailed than it’s ever been. They could already feel the end approaching, and they were both eager to welcome it.

  “Head to the dog park. It’s central to the area. It happened there.”

  “How the hell is he setting a truck ablaze in the middle of a dog park?”

  “The same way you can try and be inconspicuous about anything in a neighborhood this quiet—until such time as you’re not. This guy has been stealing equipment and farm implements for weeks now. I think he can manage to park a truck in the middle of a lawn before setting it on fire. But he’ll draw attention. That part I can’t figure out.”

  “Well, diversions work best in the public eye, where everyone is looking, but no one can see. I’m thinking he hopes it will throw us off of his trail. Ah! Here we are.”

  “Daniel,” Tasia started nervously. There’s a red haze hanging between the trees.

  “Wh—?” His breath fell short as his head snapped around. “Shit... Oh shit!” He jumped out, and she followed.

  Twilight had fallen around them, and they were rushing between the dark boles of trees until they finally reached a clearing. In the middle stood the elusive Chevy that had sparked discourse among several unrelated people in their mystery. It stood there, silently enduring the lashing tongues of fire that were creeping up on its sides.

  “No!” Daniel shouted before charging toward the site. Tasia felt her heart hammer against her chest, anxious as to what he planned on doing. She tried keeping up. He swiftly climbed out of his jacket, trying to beat down the flames surrounding the driver’s door. The car had been dowsed in gasoline to help the fire along, and his efforts were almost redundant as the fire spread to where he had just extinguished it. For a moment, he almost seemed to have won, opening a chance for him to yank the door open. No sooner had he done that than the scarlet menace rushed inward, forcing him out before he could take a look inside.

  “Daniel! Stop it. It’s over.” It was too hot. In a matter of seconds, the car had become a raging inferno. To their dismay, they watched as the entire interior was set ablaze, and all its contents were consumed like so much kindle.

  If their culprit was looking to throw them off his trail, he had just succeeded in doing so.

  Ten

  Shadow Eyes

  The arson had caused a commotion in the neighborhood. To control the spread, the fire department had been dispatched to make short work of the flames. Both Tasia and Daniel were allowed to hang around—perks of being FBI. After being doused, the blackened wreckage stood like a chilling reminder of their failure. Hoping against hope, Daniel again looked inside to find any scrap of evidence that had survived the fire. Sadly, nothing could be distinguished in the charred mess. The fire had burned too fast and too hot, taking anything that they may have been able to use along with it.

  Following his attempt to salvage evidence for their case, Daniel’s shirt was drenched with sweat, clinging tightly to his frame. Her heart had nearly stopped when she had witnessed him charging toward the fire. She feared that her premonition about his death was closer to resolution than she had first envisioned.

  “How did he know we were coming? How the hell did he know that we were looking for the truck?” The anger in his voice was undeniable. Tasia had no doubt that, if given the chance, Daniel wouldn’t waste time in making an example of Max Pearce. More than once, he had rambled his name to himself, thinking that Tasia wouldn’t hear him. But she listened to the vehemence lace his tone with every mention of the name. He made it clear that he was convinced Max was their kidnapper. Tasia had a hard time doubting the suspicion herself, especially with the mounting body of evidence that connected Max to recent events.

  “I need to get to the bottom of this before it drives me fucking insane. I’m going to go around and coax any info that I can from the crowd.” He stalked off, not bothering to ask her what her role would be in his absence. She wasn’t certain what to do. This had been their last lead, and, in her mind, a miraculous intervention would be the only thing to bring them on track again.

  Miracles, it seemed, arrived at inopportune moments. Staring into the wreckage, she was startled when it disappeared. She shifted position, finding her observing the scene from a different vantage point. What the—

  Blinking rapidly to dispel lunacy, the scene returned to normal. In those brief instances, she didn’t process the phenomenon until, unexpectedly, it happened again. This time, she was sure she wasn’t imagining what she was looking at. Her own back turned toward herself, looking out across the clearing where firefighters waded around the police officers who were busy gathering reports.

  It lasted ever so briefly before she spun around, her eyes darting around wildly. It took her a moment to figure out, but she finally deduced that she had another vision. Only this time, it was more immediate. Whatever magic was at work, she was sure that she had looked at herself through the eyes of a kidnapper. Wherever he was, she could not pinpoint him among the crowd of gathered people.

  Her own vision faded again, and she was looking at herself again from a different angle, with more distance between them. Her mind scrambled to pinpoint the subtleties to narrow down the exact position. Still, soon her altered perspective faded and left her cursing under her breath as her head whipped in the direction. Again, she saw no one. Where are you?

  There was no sign of anyone suspicious. No sign of a culprit skulking around. She gritted her teeth in frustration. The entire experience sent chills through her body. He was watching, somewhere from the shadows, and being brazen about it. From her position, she was sure she would spot him in his indiscriminate voyeurism. Still, he had either fallen flat on the floor or jumped into a hole every time she looked across her shoulder.

  She had just settled her nerves when it happened a final time. The direction had shifted entirely. He was standing among the crowd of cops and firefighters at the edge of the clearing. From the corner of his eye, she then saw Daniel.

  The shock catapulted her consciousness back in her own mind, leaving her fraught with apprehension as she looked over to where Daniel stood. If she saw that she did, it meant a moment of death was imminent. And with him standing so close to Daniel...

  She didn’t finish the thought. Fearing the worst, she barreled her friend’s way, hoping to get him out before something befell him. Running towards the gathering of people, she noticed the large fire truck looming over them. It stood at a slight angle on the uneven ground, and the more she took in, the more urgency drove her steps. The horror unfolded slowly as she watched the top ladder tilt to the side, dragging the attached telescopic boom with it. She ran faster as she heard the terrifying screech of grinding metal and popping screws, screaming at the crowd to move away from the fire truck. The ladder’s weight lent a downward swing to the motion, and it swooped down with increasing momentum toward Daniel standing right underneath. She was too late.

  The crowd reacted, giving way, right before she heard the loud crash of the ladder. She pushed her way through the peop
le, seeing the broken pieces, looking at the scene in denial. After a few short breaths, she finally registered that no one was pinched beneath it. Right next to the fallen ladder lay two men, one of whom was Daniel. She rushed over.

  “Oh my god, are you okay?” she exclaimed.

  “Yeah...yeah, I am. Just hit my head coming down, but it missed.” Both of them looked to the side to see the smiling eyes of a firefighter peeking beneath his helmet. Smiling eyes, yet mischievous, Tasia mused.

  “That sure was a close one,” the man said.

  “Geez, buddy, I don’t even know how to say thanks. I owe you one,” Daniel offered.

  The man laughed and said, “No problem. I’ll keep you to it.” He walked away. Around them, other firefighters were assessing the damage.

  “Hey Rob!” one of them shouted. “Come check this out....”

  Tasia turned her attention back to Daniel, helping him to his feet. He winced slightly, and she gathered it was because of the hard-knock from the fall.

  “You’re white as a sheet,” he commented. Another thought crossed his mind, and she saw his eyes spark with realization. “Did you... see....?”

  “I didn’t foresee this, no. Not exactly. But something else drew my attention here, and that’s when I saw the danger you were in.”

  “Tell me,” he asked curiously, standing upright, seeming to forget the pain he felt.

  “He’s here, Daniel,” she said in hushed tones. “I can’t find him, but he’s here. He was looking at me, watching from afar. I saw it all through his eyes. They were visions, and they were more immediate if they were even visions at all. The only thing I could do was see it as some warning. Then I saw him looking at you.”

  He was alert. Even if in vain, he looked around, scoping out anyone who stood out from the officials gathered. “Damn him!” he grumbled. “Let’s get back to the car. I need to report this and get my people to coordinate with Riverport PD to establish reconnaissance.”

  As they started walking, their attention was inadvertently drawn to a loud conversation between two firefighters.

  “I don’t understand how this is even fucking possible,” one of the men remarked, sounding exasperated.

  “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. These screws and bolts on this end were loosened. Look, they’re gone, and I checked, there’s nothing in the holes. They didn’t snap or break. They’re just gone.”

  “Why the hell would someone do that, Rob? It makes no sense!” the man shouted,

  “Do I look like someone who would know the idiot that did this? Jesus. We’re just lucky we didn’t have this thing extended in an emergency. Whoever was climbing would’ve plummeted down.”

  “You’re telling me that this was deliberate?” the man shouted in disbelief. “Who could have gotten up there without us seeing?”

  Tasia and Daniel couldn’t help but eavesdrop. She turned to look at him, and he kept a stalwart expression before gently nudging her along.

  When they were both in the vehicle, with doors closed, silence hung in the air between them as what they had just heard sink in. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “If you’re thinking that someone tried to off me, then yes. And if what you told me was anything worth going by, then it means the stakes have been raised. It means that he knows we’re on his trail.”

  As if by some cosmic alignment, his phone started ringing. His brow furrowed as he considered the unsaved number flashing on the display. In a matter of seconds, his face drained of color, and his trembling hand picked up the phone, swiping to answer before bringing it to his ear. He was quiet on his end. Tasia knew without knowing that only one person could get that reaction out of him.

  “For a smart man, you make stupid mistakes, Agent Cordeiro.” Tasia jumped as she realized he had switched the call to the loudspeaker. She felt her stomach turn as she gauged the baleful intent behind every word.

  “What games are you playing?” Daniel responded, seething as he tried to compose himself.

  “I wasn’t playing any games, you fool. I merely made my demands. Your only job was to meet them. Instead, you chose to take the covert route of seeking me out.” He snickered menacingly. “Did you really think you could chase shadows when you had no light by which to see them? You went in blind with this misbegotten investigation of yours. You succeeded only in wasting my time along with your own. You were the one playing games.”

  “You’ll pay for this. Tell me where they—”

  “I’m not the one who will be paying anything. Let me try and get this through your thick skull. Get the money! Or your sister will be paying with her life.”

  “Oh my god,” Tasia whispered, bringing her hand to her mouth. As a rusalka, she was more than familiar with the motivations of men. Susceptible as men were to their powers, rusalkas had spent millennia perfecting their understanding of them and the emotional nuances that shaped their actions and their words. Pride, envy, lust, anger — all were malleable through their influence. But cruelty made men volatile and dangerous. From the man’s voice, cruelty was the instigator to more than just his decisions. It was a part of his very character.

  “No! Please. I’ll get you what you want. Please, just don’t hurt her.”

  “Then you’d better hurry up, Agent Cordeiro. If you truly care about your family, then I suggest you stop trying to track me. And just to make sure you don’t think of fooling around again, I’d keep a close eye on that pretty little friend of yours. Depending on how I’d feel after this exchange, I might just decide to find myself some new sport.”

  “Why are you doing this?” he asked, his voice shaky.

  “Why, Agent Cordeiro, you owe me, remember? Or have you forgotten? You can now see this as a life for a life. I told you I’d keep you to that.” The line went dead before either of them could respond.

  It floored both of them.

  “The fireman that rescued you....” Tasia rasped. Her throat dry from the shock.

  “It was him,” he acknowledged. “You were right. He was there.”

  Eleven

  Reflections on Angels

  Back at the FBI precinct, Daniel had the agents on the run. He had started barking orders on stepping in, and anyone who sat around began to comply with his demands. His behavior left Tasia, confused. She had expected him to be raw after the threats on his sister’s life. Quite the contrary, a fire had been lit within his spirit, and he was proving himself to be the tactical combatant.

  “Mortgages,” he had said. It was a comment out of the blue. Once they’d settled and he had a task team digging up everything on Max Pearce’s financials, he finally proceeded to explain. “I think that the property of his mother, their childhood home, was mortgaged up to the hilt. With his mother dead, I’m almost certain that he became the property’s inheritor, receiving all the debt his mother had accumulated on outstanding back payments. I’m thinking it was a final parting gift from the bitch after she made a prompt exit into the afterlife.”

  “But, I don’t understand. His sister helped him to escape but stayed behind herself. Wouldn’t she have inherited?” she asked.

  “No. Not if it was legally solidified. And I can bet you that woman didn’t have a surviving will and testament. She would want to have as little on record as possible. And with Maxwell being the eldest, he still endured the backlash from his mother from beyond the grave. No wonder he messed up.”

  “Daniel, I want us to slow down just a second. Back in the car, you were not yourself. If I didn’t know any better, I’d have said that you’d look about ready to concede to his demands and pay the ransom.”

  “In the moment, after everything that we experienced, I was strongly considering it. But I cannot let that asshole get off the hook so easily. As desperate as I felt, I’m starting to believe he’s even more so. He wouldn’t be making the ballsy moves that he is if he wasn’t. I’ll do anything to get my sister back, but he’s a threat.” He regarded her seriously then.

/>   Funny, she thought, he didn’t seem all that desperate to me. “So, when you confirm all of this, what does it mean?”

  “It means we’re getting closer to him. We can track his credit footprint ever since he left the house and maybe narrow down where he might be hiding now. I want to put him into a vice-grip. I want him to understand that no matter what decision he makes, he’ll be cornered when all of this is resolved, even if he thinks he may have won. I’ll have his money ready as a contingency, but I’ll lay a trap for him to claim victory.” With that, he turned on his heel. “I want you to go home straight away. Keep safe. I don’t want you getting up to anything where I can’t protect you.” It was the first time he addressed her with anything resembling pure affection, and she was left speechless as he walked away.

  Actually, that is not what I intended to do at all. Tasia had something different in mind as she left the FBI office. For now, Daniel seemed to have a plan. He was zealously devoted to the action he was taking. If anything, it was precisely the fire she hoped to stoke within him. For now, he wouldn’t leave the building, she knew. That meant he was safe. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been walking out. Doing so, she couldn’t help but think how wrongly she had been estimating him throughout the past couple of days. Friends, they may be, but she really didn’t know him half as well as she thought she did. Then again, as the last few days have made glaringly obvious, she didn’t seem to know herself either. She wondered if any rusalka did. Her kind was so very entrenched in what they were.