Lee Nez 2 - Blood Retribution

by David

  Stopping beside a wire fence that formed a property line between houses, Elka was able to safely roll down her window. She watched in her rearview mirror as Bridgets vehicle approached.

  Bridget pulled up even with Elka, stopped, and rolled down the passenger-side window so they could talk. "Nez never showed up," Bridget said quickly. "I could tell he hadn't been there for several days. Maybe I can track him down after we take care of your priority target. I read Nez's mail and got the FBI woman's new address."

  A white van with no markings came out to the street from a driveway across the street, and the man behind the wheel watched them curiously. "The government must know I'm in the area, because they just increased security on Rogers, so let's continue this back at my place. I'm staying at 7800 Montgomery NE in Albuquerque, apartment 1017. Follow me if you want, just remember to break off if you spot a tail. If we get separated, maintain strict security—no calls, just E-mail."

  Elka rolled up her window and signaled Bridget to move on. Once the girl's car was down the street, Elka looked over and saw that the man in the van had pulled into the street and was driving away. Elka continued east, circled the block, then drove back to the main road, moving slow so that Bridget could keep her in sight. Soon Elka saw Bridget's vehicle about a quarter mile back.

  Anger boiled inside her. Bridget had just lied to her. The American girl had been looking in her direction while speaking, but she'd never made eye contact. A sure sign when dealing with Bridget. Maybe she just didn't have the guts to kill someone, even when big money was involved'. Overall, Bridget's loyalty was questionable at best. It had only been the promise of money that had kept the girl from running off once they'd separated to come to the U.S. Relying on Bridget from this point on would be a mistake.

  She'd driven less than a mile farther when blue and red lights began flashing from the dashboard of a black SUV coming up fast behind her. Elka noted a speed-limit sign on the right side of the road which read 25, then looked down at her speedometer. "Shit. I'm only going a little over thirty."

  Taking a deep breath, Elka slowed and pulled over to the graveled shoulder of the road. Above her to the right were the high banks of an irrigation ditch that probably functioned as an flood levee, and beyond that trees and a few houses. The sun was high enough that it wouldn't be shining directly into her side window—one less worry.

  In her rearview mirror she could see only one uniformed officer in the shiny vehicle and he was on the radio, probably calling in the tag number of her rented car. Farther back down the road she noticed that Bridget had pulled over to the side. Bridget was an excellent thief, but still hadn't had very much training in tradecraft. Staying in the area under these circumstances wasn't a very good move.

  Bridget hadn't really bonded to the family in the six months she'd been around. That alone made her an undependable ally. But after the loss of Jochen and the others, she'd really needed the girl's help to complete this final act of retribution. Maybe now that Bridget had missed out on Nez, for whatever the reason, she'd have the incentive to do her part in the next phase of the operation. After all, partial payment for her services was bound to look better to Bridget than coming out of this empty-handed. If there was one thing Bridget knew, it was the value of money.

  Elka removed the pistol from her purse and placed it under the seat. She sat up slightly, adjusted her hair, then practiced an apologetic smile. She could pass for thirty, was in excellent shape, and had on a tight turtleneck sweater. Men often gave her a second or third look, so chances were that she'd be able to charm the man into a warning if she flirted.

  She hoped her change in hair color and colored contact lenses had altered her appearance enough that he wouldn't recognize who she really was despite her German accent. It was doubtful that a cop from a small town would have looked closely at any flyers, assuming they'd been distributed in the area in the first place.

  Elka watched the officer in the side mirror. He was writing a ticket attached to a small clipboard as he approached, which also meant he couldn't quickly draw his sidearm. Careless and complacent. Her weapon was within reach, less than two seconds away. If she had to shoot, he'd eat a bullet by the time he realized she even had a gun.

  "Good morning, ma'am." The fortyish black-haired man smiled from behind the dark glasses. "Please turn off your engine." His gaze went quickly from her face to her breasts, then back up. A microphone on his uniform front, below the left epaulet, was connected to a tape recorder in his pocket, and his gold badge indicated that he was a member of the Corrales Police Department. "Driver's license, please."

  She handed him the phony operator's license, which was for the state of Rhode Island. In her experience, it was easier to fake a document that was most likely unfamiliar to the person who'd be examining it.

  "You're a long way from home, Mrs. Henderson," the officer said, looking at the license casually before placing it beneath the clamp on his clipboard.

  "I just love your beautiful state, and the people have been so friendly. Was I speeding? The speed limit is thirty-five, isn't it?" She smiled widely, taking off her sunglasses for a moment so he could see her beautiful brown contact lenses. Putting them back on, she unfastened her seat belt and turned toward the door, parting her legs slightly.

  "It's twenty-five, Mrs. Henderson. But you're obviously not from around here, so I'm going to give you a warning—this time." He looked at her again, very closely, his eyes narrowing. His mouth opened slightly, and she saw his arms tense up as he realized his hands were full. He knew who she was!

  Elka reached down below the seat with her right hand slowly and he followed the motion with his eyes instead of watching where her left arm was going.

  She grabbed the back of his collar with her left hand and slammed his throat against the window frame. She held him there, pinned against the car. He gagged, eyes bulging and arms thrashing about as he tried to grab his pistol. His uniform cap fell onto her lap. With the heel of her right hand she jabbed upward, catching him under the chin and snapping his head back. There was a mushy crunch.

  She supported the officer with her left hand to keep him from slumping down as a vehicle with a woman and an infant in a car seat passed by. Hopefully it would look obscene rather than deadly. Behind her she could see Bridget's car still beside the road, but the street was clear otherwise.

  With her left hand still on his collar, Elka lowered him as far as she could before letting him drop to the ground. Quickly she opened the door, picked up the dead officer by the leather belt and collar, and shoved him onto the backseat. Her sunblock would give her a few minutes' protection, but here beside the road in broad daylight, being seen by a passerby was potentially as dangerous as direct sunlight.

  Already feeling heat on her hands, Elka grabbed the police officer's clipboard, which held her driver's license and the ticket he was writing. She scanned the ground around her car. Spotting his pen, she picked it up quickly and jumped back into her vehicle. When she tossed the clipboard onto the seat beside her she could see a flyer beneath the ticket he'd started to write. The flyer, in color, included a close-up photo of her at the Dallas airport.

  Rolling up the window and thinking how glad she was that she'd learned to read people so well, she glanced over and saw Bridget passing by slowly, staring, her eyes wide open. "Keep going," Elka mouthed, motioning with her hand to urge her along.

  Bridget picked up speed and drove on. Elka started the engine, checked behind the police vehicle for oncoming traffic, then pulled out quickly, accelerating nearly to the speed limit.

  She had to do something about the dead officer in the back right away. If any taller vehicle, like a truck, passed by and the driver or a passenger looked down, the body on the backseat would be clearly visible.

  Elka slowed and took a side road—another residential street in a nearly rural area with houses on large lots. At the next intersection she turned again, looking for a spot where one of the large, old trees shaded the ro
ad. She drove on past several upper-middle-class houses with green fields around them, then passed over a large irrigation ditch. Two large trees—she thought they might be cottonwoods—were on either side of the road. Pulling over to the right, Elka parked in the shade.

  Getting out quickly, she reached in the back and rolled the dead officer's body onto the floorboards, then spread her extra jacket over him as much as possible, covering his upper torso. It would have to do. She still had at least another twenty-minute drive through the city back to her apartment, and traffic was heavy with many people still on their way to work. If anyone came up and looked in, they'd spot the body immediately. It was too risky. She'd have to dump the dead policeman.

  Elka cursed her luck and decided to head away from the city. Bridget would be waiting at the apartment when she finally caught up to her, assuming the girl didn't bail on her now. But it was quickly becoming clear that she'd have to think of a whole new strategy—and maybe a new target as well—to get what she wanted.

  CHAPTER 15

  « ^ »

  Lee had done the driving for the past two hours. He looked away from morning rush-hour freeway traffic toward the horizon, then checked his watch. The sun was rising above the Manzano Mountains and Diane was just stirring on the seat beside him.

  The ring of Diane's phone woke her up completely and she answered it with a surly voice. "Good morning, sir," she said, mouthing the word "Logan" and sitting up, her tone changing in an instant. "We've made some major breakthroughs but I'm still in transit. I could give you a summary now and E-mail the rest in two hours."

  Listening to her supervisor's response, Diane looked around, quickly orienting herself by noting the relative distance from their location to the Sandias and Manzanos. The closer the Sandias, the closer to Albuquerque. Then she saw the downtown area several miles to the north. "We're about ten minutes out of the city." Listening again, she nodded, then glanced over at Lee again. "Meet at the Truman gate again? We can be there in…"

  "Fifteen," Lee said.

  "Fifteen minutes if the traffic down Gibson cooperates," she replied. "Yes, sir, we'll be there."

  "What's so urgent?" Lee asked as soon as she hung up.

  "That vampire woman, Elka, may have killed a Corrales cop. It all happened about an hour ago, apparently." Diane looked closely at a van Lee was passing as he moved toward the left-hand lane on the freeway. The Gibson exit was only a few minutes farther north.

  "Full vampires can't take more than a few minutes in the sun, even with major sunblock. What the hell is she doing outside this time of day?"

  Fifteen minutes later Lee and Diane sat down in folding chairs across the table from SAC Logan in the same guardhouse they'd visited before. Traffic was moving along slowly outside, predictable this time of day, but it was just a dull rumble with the door closed.

  "Okay, here's what happened this morning. A Corrales police officer in an unmarked vehicle pulled over a female in a Chevy sedan just after 9 a.m. The officer called his dispatcher, gave his location, then waited until the plate was run. It's an airport rental. Then dispatch lost contact with the officer. Backup was sent, and the officer's vehicle was found, but nothing else—no cop, no speeder."

  "There must have been a witness or else a video camera in the officer's vehicle," Diane offered.

  "Exactly. The investigating cop played back the video and from the description I heard the woman driver broke the cop's neck with her bare hands, then just threw him into the backseat. She picked up his clipboard and pen, then drove off in a hurry. And, get this—she looked back at the unmarked SUV and the camera got a good shot of her. It looks like Elka, though she was wearing dark glasses and maybe a wig. The woman must be as strong as hell to do what she did."

  Lee nodded, noting silently that Elka had left her car for only a few seconds. "Anything else?"

  "Apparently another sedan drove past just after the perp threw the cop's body in the backseat. It slowed for a second, but was waved on by Elka. The officers are trying to get a tag number on that vehicle," Logan added.

  "That's it?" Diane asked.

  "Just about. The Corrales police got a call about fifteen minutes after the officer's vehicle was located. Another civilian who had apparently passed by just before the officer was killed, or during the attack, saw the officer with his head inside the perp's driver-side window. He was behaving strangely, according to the witness," Logan concluded.

  Diane nodded. "You suppose Elka will be going after the drivers who saw her kill the Corrales cop? Or at least the second one who must have gotten a good look at her."

  "While driving around with a body in the back of her car?" Lee shook his head. "I think Elka will want to get rid of the body and the car instead of worrying about a witness."

  "Maybe she'll just toss the body into a trash bin or an irrigation ditch."

  "She's obviously a pro, and knows the consequences of taking out a police officer. She'll go to ground as quickly as she can if she has any common sense. We're getting bulletins and color photos out now, and the entire state has been alerted, especially up and down the valley," Logan said. He reached into his jacket and pulled out two full-color flyers, giving one to each of them.

  "The ex-CIA man, Rogers. He's been told?" Lee asked, looking at the photo of the vampire woman casually.

  "Yes, almost immediately. And if the IDs from the motel staff where Rogers was staying in Los Alamos are accurate, Elka was even a guest there until all the extra security arrived and the ex-spook moved out. They remembered her accent, which tipped the scale on a positive ID," Logan said. "I've already been in contact with the Secret Service but you two watch your backs as well. We just don't know for certain where she'll strike next."

  "Everyone knows to be especially vigilant at night?" Diane added, glancing over at Lee.

  "Yes, but it didn't help the Corrales cop that much, did it?" Logan crossed his arms across his chest. "Now tell me what you were up to last night that has Officer Hawk smelling like a gym locker."

  Bridget was driving south, now across the river in Albuquerque's North Valley. Elka had killed a policeman—a very stupid thing to do for any number of reasons. Usually Elka was very smooth with men, so the only reason Bridget could think of for killing the officer was that Elka had been identified.

  To make matters worse, Bridget knew that many American police units carried video cameras. The Corrales officer's vehicle had probably had one as well. If she hadn't thought of this and taken the videotape when she fled the scene, Elka—and anyone associated with her—would become the object of an intense statewide search.

  It would be too risky going to Elka's apartment now. If Elka's photo had been shown on TV, one of the tenants or the rental-office clerk might lead the police to the apartment she'd rented on Montgomery Avenue.

  She couldn't go near Elka now without making certain it was safe. Getting caught would mean going to jail, and in the lockup she'd have no access to sunblock. The first time she was forced outside, she'd go up in flames like a 105-pound Fourth of July sparkler. The real problem was that Elka's survival instincts were taking second place to her desire for revenge, but she wouldn't be pulled into that kind of craziness. Her own safety and well-being were tops on her list. Retribution at any cost was nothing short of suicidal and Bridget wanted no part of that.

  She pulled over into one of the parking spaces beside a restaurant on Fourth Street and turned off the engine. No sense in wasting gas while she evaluated the situation. As Bridget replayed her meeting with Elka and the killing of the officer over in her mind, she suddenly realized that her own vehicle would probably show up in the tape as well. It would be dangerous to assume her vehicle tag hadn't been recorded. She had to get rid of the vehicle immediately, or at least switch plates.

  But she was a vampire, and even in the minute or less it would take to get into somebody's car or remove the rear plate, she could burn to a crisp. She'd be better off finding some quiet, shady spot where she co
uld park among other vehicles. An apartment complex would do fine, one with carports. She'd just have to make sure she didn't get somebody else's spot and attract attention.

  Then Bridget remembered Agent Lopez's address—an apartment. It was worth a look. A new plan started to form in her mind as she started the car engine.

  Less than an hour later Diane and Lee arrived at her apartment in the small complex in Albuquerque's Northeast Heights, weary, hungry, and both in need of a bath.

  Diane climbed out of the car quickly, moving ahead of Lee a few feet to unlock the door. As he followed her up the sidewalk he took the opportunity to look around, especially alert for Elka now. Ahead on the sidewalk a young man in a business suit was carrying an infant strapped into a car seat as his wife, girlfriend, or whatever hurried along behind him, digging through her purse and grumbling about the car keys. She was wearing one of those real-estate-agent jackets, so it wasn't hard to guess where she worked.

  In one of the parking slots beneath the facility's carport a pretty blonde who either was ditching high school or looked young for her age was putting on lipstick in the rear-view mirror of her car. The girl glanced over and smiled, then went back to the makeup. He didn't remember having seen her before, but maybe it was because he and Diane were usually elsewhere by this time of the morning.

  "You need a shower more than me, so I go first," Diane said, taking a quick look around her apartment when they stepped in to make sure it hadn't been disturbed.

  "You first? Where is the logic in that? I thought Logan was going to spray me with disinfectant." Lee chuckled as he closed and locked the door. It smelled a little musty in here, but at least he knew they were relatively safe.

  Diane kicked off her shoes, removed her jacket, then started to unbutton her blouse. Looking up, she saw Lee watching and turned red. "Sorry, still not used to having a man around," she mumbled, then walked into the bedroom.