Chase

by Sidney Bristol

  “Is the car reinforced or something?” She eyed a few holes way too close to where she’d been sitting.

  “These older models were tough.” Gabriel drew his gun and placed his hand on the trunk.

  Why did he need a gun to open the trunk?

  She pulled her pistol out of her waistband and waited for what he would do next. He inhaled, the sound loud in the quiet space, and yanked the lid up, pointing his gun at whatever was inside.

  Nikki stepped up beside him, offering additional cover.

  A man lay in the fetal position, a gunshot wound on his arm. Blood leaked sluggishly from the injury, soaked up by the upholstery. He wore the mismatched fatigues of one of Wilson’s men and dog tags that had seen better days. His eyes snapped open and he lunged out of the GTO.

  Gabriel stepped back and the man tumbled out of the car onto the concrete floor.

  “What the hell?” she blurted, keeping her eyes trained on their prisoner.

  The man swayed on all fours and spat blood.

  “Get up.” Gabriel grabbed the man by his shoulder and hauled him to his feet. “Stand against that wall.”

  The man dragged his feet, not even motivated by the press of Gabriel’s gun to the back of his neck. In a few seconds Gabriel had him positioned against the far wall.

  “I am David Swiss.” He rattled off a string of numbers.

  She didn’t dare take her gaze off the former soldier.

  David Swiss? As in the very man whose family they’d visited that morning?

  “Saw him come in the side door of the shop, figured I’d do his family a favor,” Gabriel said.

  David continued to stare impassively at the floor. He clenched his jaw. Holding back pain? Or he didn’t like them talking about his mother?

  “There’s some handcuffs in the glove box. Grab them for me?” Gabriel asked.

  “Sure thing.” Nikki walked backward to the car, sat down in the driver’s seat, and glanced away just long enough to pop the glove box and snag two sets of cuffs.

  Gabriel took the handcuffs from her. She didn’t begrudge him this task. He had at least a good twenty pounds of muscle on the smaller man. Judging by the gauntness of his cheeks, time with the militia hadn’t treated David too well.

  He approached slowly. David was a puzzle. Something wasn’t right, and not just his wounds or fashion choices. There was something off.

  Gabriel hesitated less than two feet away. David took the opportunity and swung with his uninjured right arm. Gabriel dropped the cuffs, but kept his gun in hand. He caught David’s arm, kicked his leg out from under him, and shoved David to the ground, face first, bending his arm behind his back.

  “I will not hesitate to shoot you.” Gabriel spoke with deadly calm, gun pressed to the back of David’s skull. “Cuff him.”

  Nikki moved in, grabbed the cuffs, and slapped them around David’s wrists.

  “If you don’t cooperate I’ll hogtie you with the cuffs, understand?” Gabriel said.

  Nikki backed up, but didn’t allow herself to relax. David Swiss was still a very real threat without his hands and injured, if he was what they thought he was.

  Gabriel hoisted David up to sit with his back against the wall.

  “There. Now, care to tell me why you’re working with a terrorist like Bradley Wilson?” Gabriel asked.

  David did not deign to reply.

  “Come on, man, you’re facing a long time in prison if you can’t give me one hell of a reason why you’re doing this.” Gabriel put his weapon away and held his hands out.

  Nikki had conducted all manner of official FBI interviews, but nothing like this. In the field, messy interrogations were out of her league. Why the hell had he thought this was a good idea?

  “Your mother know where you are?” Gabriel asked.

  “Don’t talk about her,” David snarled. He drew his legs up and Gabriel pulled his Desert Eagle just as fast.

  “Take it easy. Your mother’s worried about you, David. If I were you—”

  “Fuck you! What kind of American turns traitor?” David’s face flushed red, his brow furrowed.

  “Traitor? Me? You’re the one attacking civilians.” This time Gabriel didn’t put his weapon away.

  “Yeah, civilians helping ISIS.” David’s lip curled in disgust.

  For a moment both Nikki and Gabriel stared at the man. The accusation didn’t make a single ounce of sense.

  “What do you think we’re doing?” Nikki asked. She wanted to crawl inside his head and understand him. What made him throw his allegiance in with Wilson? How did this whole thing seem to work?

  “You’re working with the enemy. When the people back home find out,” he shook his head, “you’re going to wish you’d never been born.”

  “Where do you think you are?” Gabriel asked.

  “Where’d you take me?” David glanced between them. His color was sickly, and the scars across his neck were enough to make her wince at how much they’d hurt.

  “What city were we in when you attacked us?” Nikki asked.

  “Kobani. We’re taking it back from you.”

  Gabriel turned slightly toward her.

  Kobani was in Syria. Half a world away from Miami, Florida. What the hell was going on?

  David shoved to his feet and rushed Gabriel, hitting him shoulder first in the stomach. The momentum carried both men back against the GTO. Nikki closed the distance, but David threw himself sideways, into her. They went crashing to the ground, him on top of her. His weight drove the air out of her lungs and her head hit the concrete hard enough to jar her teeth.

  Gabriel roared something and pulled David off her. He threw the man up against the wall, gun shoved up under David’s jaw.

  “Nikki?” Gabriel said with clenched teeth.

  “I’m okay.” She winced as she got to her feet and recovered her gun.

  “Give me those other handcuffs. You, down on your knees.” Gabriel backed up, but didn’t decrease the pressure he applied with the gun.

  David never once flinched. He slowly lowered to his knees and waited.

  She snagged the second set of cuffs, larger than the ones around David’s wrists, and fastened them one around each ankle with the chain looped between his hands, effectively hogtying the man.

  “You aren’t going anywhere,” Gabriel said to David. He pressed his hand to Nikki’s back, urging her toward the small side door. They stepped out into the evening air. It was deceptively calm, maybe even pleasant.

  “What was that?” she asked in a whisper.

  “Are you okay?” Gabriel’s hand gently cupped her cheek. He peered at her head, but it was too dark to see anything.

  “I’m going to have the worst headache known to man soon. What happened back there?”

  He ignored her question and pulled her in close, tucking her head under his chin, and gently hugged her. She leaned against him, inhaling the scent of smoke and everything awful they’d survived tonight. She’d never again wear the training days shirt and have good memories. Not after tonight.

  “Something’s knocked loose in that man’s head. He’s going to hurt himself or us.”

  Gabriel’s voice rumbled against her ear. Holding on to him was such a guilty pleasure. She’d forgotten what it was like after an op, how the reality that she could have easily lost him always slapped her in the face.

  She stepped back and tried to clear her head. The situation was even more complicated than a bunch of gun-toting militiamen with an agenda.

  “We can’t continue to question him. He’s not right. If he thinks we’re actually in Syria . . .” She shook her head, unwilling to believe such an absurd lie.

  “You’re right. We can’t trust anything he says. Here. Inside the house in the fridge is a stash of medicine. We need a tranq.” Gabriel handed her his keys.

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  “Watch him. Whatever he did before now, it was some bad shit. I don’t want him getting loose
here, especially if he thinks he’s in unfriendly territory.”

  “Okay.”

  Nikki let herself into the pink house while Gabriel returned to the garage. The furniture was sparse, livable but not comfortable. There was no decoration that spoke of personality. At least until she looked in the fridge. It was stocked with medical supplies. Lots of them.

  Nikki read through the handful of bottles and picked one she recognized as a weak sedative. She ripped open the packaging on a new syringe and needle before drawing a small dose. This was a risk. They had no way of knowing what else was in his system, if anything. Adding to that potential cocktail could risk his life, but David had already proven he was willing to attack and kill others. When it came down to it, Nikki was going to protect civilians from him first.

  She returned to the garage. David sat where they’d left him, and Gabriel crouched at his feet. The two men were having some sort of stare-off.

  “The bullet went straight through him,” Gabriel announced.

  “Hold him.” Nikki examined the syringe to make sure there were no air bubbles.

  Gabriel grabbed David and pinned him to the wall with his knee. Nikki used Gabriel’s belt knife without asking and sliced away David’s sleeve. His veins were protruding, probably due to the adrenaline keeping him going. She inserted the needle and injected the clear liquid.

  They stepped back and watched David, who glared at them.

  “What’s next?” she asked Gabriel. Process was out of the window.

  “He needs a hospital. I know someone who can help us get him there.”

  David spat empty threats and profanity, sometimes in languages other than English, but eventually the drugs won out and he slumped over sideways.

  Gabriel pulled out his cell phone and hit a single button.

  “Hey, Matt, it’s Gabriel. Got a favor to ask of you. Two actually.”

  Nikki relaxed. She didn’t like the idea of holding a veteran who was already confused and out of it like a prisoner. Whatever David Swiss’s sins were, they didn’t merit that.

  Her head throbbed. With David out cold and Gabriel arranging everything else, she headed back inside the house to study the contents of the fridge and pick her own solution.

  “This should help.” Gabriel reached over her shoulder and plucked a bottle from the top row.

  She didn’t say it, but not having to make the choice herself was a relief. Her head was really starting to protest all the abuse today. She was tough, but there were limits to what her body could take.

  “Thanks.”

  Gabriel popped the top, doled out three white pills for her, and snagged a plastic cup from on top of the fridge. She leaned against the counter, content to let him do this. He poured her a glass of water from the tap and held it and the pills out for her. Some girls wanted roses, she swooned for a healthy dose of painkillers.

  She downed all three in one swallow, then drank the whole glass of water. Gabriel remained almost toe to toe with her until she set the cup down. The moment it was out of her hand, he yanked at the straps keeping her bulletproof vest on. He stripped her out of it, tossing the heavy, constricting garment on the floor. His followed suit. A moment later he squeezed her to him, burying his face in her still-damp hair. She gripped him tight and wished he didn’t smell of smoke and death.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Gabriel ran his hand over the Skyline’s hood. It wasn’t every day he let someone else drive his creation, but the GTO was in some serious need of repair. Plus, he was going to need speed.

  “The only thing legal about that car is that you switched the driver’s seat.” Matt crossed his arms and eyed the car.

  “Yeah, never could get used to driving it on the other side.” Gabriel pocketed the keys.

  “Do I want to know?” Nikki stood in the side entrance, arms wrapped around herself. The meds from earlier had hit her pretty hard, but she insisted the pain was gone.

  “The Skyline.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “They never sold them in America, so the driver’s side was on the right when I got it.”

  She shook her head.

  “There’s a bag of clothes and stuff in the passenger seat.” Matt glanced over his shoulder at the EMTs. He’d done them a solid and led a disguised med van to their safe house to pick up David Swiss and bring Gabriel a new ride. The EMTs were busy getting their new charge strapped down and his vitals recorded. “I also pulled more info on Swiss. Let me know if I can help.”

  “Keep an eye on Classic Rides?” Nikki pushed off the door frame and strolled closer. She was a little worse for wear, but Gabriel was there for her to lean on if she needed it.

  He eyed her, surprised by the request. Was she getting the bigger picture? Or did she understand that if Aiden lost the garage, he was likely to jump even farther off the rails than Julian?

  “I already do that.” Matt shrugged. “Perps think we’re just looking for a chance to bust these guys, but it’s cover enough to watch over things.”

  “Watch it closer. Wilson could try to make it a symbol or something to his people. Classic Rides would be more valuable than the Shop, and losing that could hurt the ongoing investigation here.” She looked to Gabriel, who nodded, appreciating her breadth of thought.

  What he wouldn’t give for her to be their handler. An agent like her could make a lot more happen, not that CJ and Kathy hadn’t done their best. But their last name wasn’t Gage. Nikki might not like it, but other agents gave her preferential treatment on the off chance that doing otherwise might draw the stink eye of her father. And Deputy Director Gage was a man better left uncrossed.

  “Right. Looks like my ride is ready to leave. You guys need anything else, just call.” Matt glanced between the two of them, but neither Gabriel nor Nikki extended an offer to stay.

  “Later, Matt.” Gabriel offered his hand and slapped palms with the pretty-boy detective.

  “See you.” Matt waved at Nikki, strode to the passenger side of the van, and climbed in.

  Gabriel could only hope that their neighbors were fast asleep and unaware of their late-night activity.

  The large vehicle rolled forward and onto the quiet street. Gabriel followed on foot and locked the gate after them before retrieving his bag and the folder of information on Swiss from the Skyline’s trunk. Nikki was nowhere to be seen, which hopefully meant she was inside, taking it easy.

  He hated that their job put her in danger, but he couldn’t deny that both this morning and tonight, she’d handled herself as well as any of his crew. The only difference was that she didn’t love him.

  Not like he loved her.

  And she could be carrying his child.

  He stuffed that thought back into the mental closet it came out of. Thinking like that was only going to distract him. They had a lot on their plates.

  Nikki sat curled up on the sofa, one of the spare tablets perched on her thigh. He couldn’t remember if she’d left hers in the GTO or if it had wound up left at the Shop. Doubtless, there would be dozens of things that cropped up as casualties of losing the warehouse. The loss hurt. In the beginning, the warehouse was where he’d gone to acclimate, to figure himself out, at least until the Classic Rides garage became home. The two facilities represented two of his primary identities.

  The spy and the man.

  Tonight, Wilson’s people had taken out their covert headquarters, effectively scattering them to the wind. But they’d come back. Their crew was made of stronger stuff.

  Nikki frowned at the tablet screen and scrolled through pages of what appeared to be photocopies of handwritten notes.

  “Here’s what Matt gave us.” Gabriel pulled the report folder out of his bag and joined her on the sofa.

  “Why didn’t we see this when Emery pulled his information?” Her frown lines deepened.

  “Because this isn’t in his police record.” He flipped to the first page. Nikki gasped and reached for the folder, but he pulled it from her fingers.

 
“How did he get David’s VA file? Emery hasn’t been granted access yet.”

  “I don’t want to know.” He spread the file open on the coffee table. They bent over the pages, scanning and turning them. There was more jargon and acronyms than he could wade through, but the big picture was plain. “Okay, so what we know. David Swiss was discharged after a gunshot wound to the neck. He suffers extreme PTSD. Look, he’s been admitted eight times. This doesn’t look good.”

  Gabriel flipped to the handwritten notes some doctor had made regarding David’s time in the hospital. He tracked each line with his finger, the sense of dread increasing with every word.

  “What if . . . what if the others are like this?” Nikki asked.

  It was the question he hadn’t voiced out loud. Not since the moment in the garage when it clicked and he realized they were dealing with a person who wasn’t rooted in reality. At least not this one. If Wilson had a group of veterans who thought they were still in the Middle East in an active war zone, there was no telling what they would do. They would see every person on the street as a possible enemy—not as Americans. How deep did the delusions go? And what if there were some who were completely aware of what they were doing and actively encouraged the fabled reality?

  There was nothing good about what they were discovering. The more answers they uncovered, the messier and more disgusting the situation became. These men, who had given so much, were being manipulated and used to further one sick bastard’s plan for self-gratification.

  “This is making my head hurt,” Nikki announced after half an hour of going through the doctor’s chicken scratch.

  “Then let’s be done.” He flipped the folder shut. There was only so much they could do tonight, and he wasn’t about to let Nikki burn herself out.

  “Hold on. I need to recap everything.” She cradled her head in her hands. “Wilson presents his movement as pro-American, motivating the civilians to awareness by using random acts of violence. Because that’s a great idea.”

  Gabriel took her hand. He liked even the touch of sarcasm in her tone. It sure wasn’t professional. Just one more crack in her ice-queen act. The real woman under all those layers of protection was just as vibrant as he remembered.