Debra Webb - Depraved (Faces of Evil Book 10)

by Unknown

  Focus, Jess.

  At the door she hesitated only for a second. “Going in,” Jess murmured for the benefit of Hayes and Harper.

  Weapon drawn, Jess pushed open the door.

  Harper moved in from the back door.

  “Kitchen is clear,” echoed across the communication link.

  Jess stalled in the living room.

  “Living and dining rooms are clear,” Lori said next.

  Jess heard Harper call the all clear in the rest of the house, but she didn’t move.

  Spears wasn’t here.

  Was it possible he had been apprehended?

  “You’ve got company.” Hayes’s voice resonated in the earpiece Jess wore.

  Jess turned to the door. “Is it Spears?”

  “Looks like a fed,” Hayes said. “Female. She is armed and coming in.”

  The door burst open and Agent Vicki Hancock surveyed the room. “What the hell are you up to, Harris?”

  “Following up on a lead,” Jess said, annoyed at the idea that Gant or Dan or both had Hancock following her. “What’re you doing here?”

  “Following orders.” Hancock holstered her weapon. “Gant instructed me to keep an eye on you.”

  “Has Spears been caught?” If not, Gant was misusing resources, in Jess’s opinion.

  “Nope. He killed the driver and abandoned the FedEx van. They lost him.”

  “Dammit.” Where the hell was he? Unless someone spotted him or he stole another vehicle… he could get away.

  “He’s going to get away,” Lori said, echoing Jess’s thought, her voice uncharacteristically thin.

  Before Jess could reassure Lori, her cell clanged that old-fashioned ringtone. She tugged it from her bag and checked the screen. George Louis. Why on earth would her landlord be calling?

  Had Spears showed up at her apartment? It wouldn’t be the first time a killer had showed up at her place.

  “It’s my landlord,” she said in answer to the expectant gazes focused on her. “George? Is everything all right?” Jess held her breath. Part of her wanted so desperately to hear him say Eric Spears was having tea while he waited for her.

  “I’m sorry to bother you,” George said, “but I wasn’t sure what to do. That terrible killer is all over the news and they were talking about you, too. I wasn’t sure if I should bother you or not.”

  Jess reached for patience. “What’s wrong, George?”

  “A box was delivered to your door a while ago. I didn’t think anything of it until I saw on the news where that awful Eric Spears had stolen a FedEx van.”

  Jess’s heart banged against her sternum. “Did a FedEx van deliver the box?”

  “Yes. Yes,” George said. “It was one of those smaller vehicles like I saw on the news. Oh my, I don’t know what to do.”

  “Is anyone there besides you, George?”

  “No. No. I didn’t see the driver and the van is gone. It was a while ago when it was here. I saw the box at your door and then the news and…”

  “Don’t go near the box, George. I’m on my way.” Jess ended the call. “Sergeant,” she said to Harper, “we need the bomb squad at my apartment as quickly as possible.”

  “Making the call now,” Harper said.

  Jess’s phone vibrated. She jumped, almost dropped it, before glaring at it. What now? Her heart seemed to stop as she read a new message from Spears.

  I’m cutting this game short. Perhaps we’ll meet again one day. By the way, Dan sends his love. Too bad you couldn’t be here, too.

  Oh God. Fear coursed through Jess’s body. “Dan is with him.” She lifted her gaze to Lori’s. “We need to find him.”

  Before it was too late.

  25

  Channel Six Studios, Birmingham, 3:00 p.m.

  Dan parked at the curb in front of Gina’s station. His surveillance detail eased into the spot directly behind his rental. He stopped at the driver’s side door. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”

  “We’ll be waiting, Chief,” the BPD officer driving assured him.

  Dan headed for the station’s main entrance. Gina had called and needed to see him immediately. She’d received a package with Helen Harris’s music box inside as well as a note from Spears. Dan wanted to see it first, before he called Jess or Gant. If this was something else to hurt Jess, he wasn’t sure he ever wanted her to see it. And if it was a trap he didn’t want Jess anywhere near this station.

  Eric Spears had hurt her enough.

  “Dan!”

  He stopped short of the entrance and scanned the small parking area to the right of the building. Gina waved to him from behind the wheel of one of the station’s news vans. He changed course and hustled over to where she waited.

  “What’s going on?” She was the station’s top reporter, maybe she had received a call since they spoke that couldn’t wait.

  “Jess called. She wants us to bring the music box to her.”

  “Jess? When did you speak to her? Where is she?” Had Jess told Gina about the music box? Possibly. They were friends. Right now Jess was supposed to be at the office, out of Spears’s reach.

  “She’s at the apartment. We have to hurry, Dan. Hop in.”

  “Damn it.” He didn’t know why he’d expected Jess to listen. She had her way of doing things. He doubted that was ever going to change. Dan rounded the hood and climbed into the passenger seat. Gina hit the accelerator. The van rocketed out of the parking slot and away from the building.

  “Did she say what she was doing at the apartment?” Dan clicked his seatbelt into place and checked the side mirror to see if his surveillance detail was following. The BPD cruiser remained parked behind his rental. He’d have to call and let them know where he was. He turned back to Gina. “Why is she at the apartment?”

  Gina stared straight ahead as she merged into traffic. Her profile was rigid, her face pale.

  “You need to tell me what’s going on, Gina.” If Jess was in trouble— “Nice to see you again, Dan.” Eric Spears leaned out of the shadows in the back of the van, his weapon settling against the back of Gina’s head.

  Gina gasped. “I’m so sorry, Dan.” Tears slid down her face.

  His hand went to the weapon at his waist.

  “Now, now, Chief, let’s play nice. I would hate to spew the lovely lady’s brains all over the windshield.”

  Dan stilled. He didn’t bother asking the bastard what he wanted. He knew the answer. Whatever he had planned he could forget about Dan cooperating. No way in hell.

  “Let’s take a little drive, shall we?”

  Gina sobbed quietly, her hands clutching the steering wheel.

  Dan thought of grabbing the wheel and crashing the van the way he had his SUV when Amanda Brownfield had tried to take him hostage, but Spears had his weapon jammed into Gina’s skull. Dan couldn’t risk her life. It was one thing to risk his own, but he wouldn’t do that to her.

  “This is between you and me, Spears. Let Gina go.”

  “I think not. Remove the weapon from your waist with your left hand and place it on the floor between the seats.”

  Dan reached for the weapon. Once he turned over his weapon—

  “Think carefully, Dan. Ms. Coleman’s life rests in your hands.”

  Dan lowered his weapon to the floor. Spears covered it with one leather-clad foot and dragged it away.

  “You have my weapon. Let Gina go and let’s finish this.”

  “What’s the old saying?” Spears taunted.

  He chuckled, the sound made Dan want to reach back and rip off his head.

  “Ah, yes,” Spears went on. “Be careful what you wish for, you might just get it. Your friend Mr. Corlew said you wanted a meeting. Welcome to the game, Dan.”

  Corlew had sent the message to Spears, but he’d never received a response.

  Until now.

  26

  3:20 p.m.

  “Any idea where we’re headed?” Lori asked.

  Jess and her team h
ad loaded up in their respective vehicles and headed back toward Birmingham proper. She tried to think. Where would he take Dan? Worry and fear tightened her belly. They could be anywhere. “I should call Gant.”

  The clang of her cell startled her. She still had it clutched in her hand. Buddy calling. Jess forced a calm she didn’t feel. “Hey.” As hard as she tried to sound steady, the word shook. She cleared her throat. “What’s up?”

  “I’m not exactly sure, but I think Dan’s in trouble.”

  More of that cold, stinging fear rushed through her veins. “I think he’s with Spears.” Jess bit down on her trembling lips. Jesus Christ she had to do something.

  “That might explain what just happened,” Buddy mused. “I followed him from BPD headquarters to the Channel Six Studios. He got into a news van with Gina Coleman. I’m tailing them now.”

  Relief so profound that Jess could hardly breathe flooded her. “You’re following them?”

  “Well, I was following you. That’s what Danny boy ordered me to do, but that Agent Hancock got all up in my face and threatened to kick my ass and then sic Gant on me if I didn’t back off. She said she was your shadow today. So I decided to follow Dan.”

  “Where are you?” Jess worked hard at keeping the tears from flowing and making her look like a fool.

  “We just merged onto Tallapoosa Street from I-20.”

  “We’re headed to Tallapoosa Street,” she instructed Lori.

  Lori passed the word to Harper and asked him to pass it along to Hancock who was bringing up the rear of this caravan.

  “Stay on them, Buddy,” Jess urged. Inside, she struggled with the next move. Did she risk Dan and Gina’s safety by informing Gant of what they suspected was going down? “Did you get a visual on Spears?”

  “Negative. Gina was already in the van when Dan got to the station. I can’t say who’s in there with them.”

  By the way, Dan sends his love.

  Spears was with them. Jess didn’t need a visual ID. “He’s in there. About five minutes ago Spears sent me a text suggesting Dan was with him.”

  “This could get ugly fast, kid.”

  Buddy was right. “I’m putting you on speaker, Buddy.” Jess tapped the screen. “Lori, call Gant and tell him… Spears has taken two hostages.”

  “We just took a right on East Lake Boulevard,” Buddy spoke up. “Oh, hell. I know where this joker is going. He’s headed to the East Side Heliport.”

  “Can he rent transport there?”

  “East Side is a private heliport,” Lori explained as she waited for her call to be answered. “He’s either hired someone to get him out of here or he’s planning to steal a helicopter.”

  “I’m backing way off,” Buddy warned. “I don’t want him to spot me.”

  Worry twisted inside Jess. “Don’t lose them, Buddy.”

  Lori repeated the situation to Gant, the words tightening the vise of fear around Jess’s chest.

  Lori ended her call. “They’re thirty minutes out.”

  Jess felt her hopes plummeting. Thirty minutes was a lifetime. “We’re not waiting. Buddy, give me a rendezvous point.”

  “There’s a gray building before you reach East Side Heliport. Meet me on the north end.”

  Jess ended the call. She sat very still, the life she and Dan had planned spinning past her eyes. Spears was beyond the point of no return.

  He had nothing to lose.

  Fifteen agonizing minutes later, Jess and her team, including Hancock, had reached Buddy’s location and linked him into their communications.

  Ever the prepared PI, Buddy had binoculars and all sorts of gear in a backpack.

  “They entered the building two minutes ago,” he said, bringing Jess up to speed. “Spears has a weapon. I didn’t see anyone else. I think he’s on his own.”

  “The heliport manager says there’s no one on site today.” Lori slid her phone into her back pocket. “He’s en route with a key card for access.”

  “Heads up.” Harper’s voice came across the communications link Jess and her team were still using. “Another vehicle just arrived.”

  Harper had taken a position on the roof of the building where they waited. Hayes was inching his way toward the heliport headquarters.

  Jess waited, blood roaring in her ears.

  “One man,” Harper said. “Caucasian. Blond hair. Thirty maybe. He’s wearing a flight suit. I’m guessing he’s the pilot Spears hired.”

  “Gant and the others are still ten minutes out,” Hancock said. “We need to sit tight until backup arrives.”

  “That’s a good idea, Agent Hancock,” Jess said. “You sit tight. My team is going in.”

  “Gant’s orders are to stay put until he gets here. You can’t go in,” Hancock argued. “It’s too dangerous, Harris.”

  Jess looked her straight in the eye. “Watch me.”

  “Have it your way.” Hancock shrugged. “I guess I’ll just have to go with you.”

  It wasn’t until they split up and started moving in that Jess realized she was still wearing her vest. Just as well, she decided. Saved her the time of dragging it on again.

  “There’s an entrance on the west end.” Hayes voice sounded over the communications link.

  “It’ll be locked,” Lori said. “The owner is five or so minutes away.”

  “Give me a minute to get there,” Buddy said, his voice resonating across the link, “and I’ll take care of that for you.”

  “Exigent circumstances,” Hancock said when Jess glanced at her to see if she was going to challenge Buddy’s offer.

  Jess knew she liked this woman.

  Hayes was waiting at the west entrance when Jess and the others arrived.

  Buddy dragged the pack off his back and did a little scrounging around inside. He pulled out an electronic keycard decoder and tucked the card into the slot. Ten seconds later the lock disengaged.

  If there was an alarm… Jess held her breath.

  When the silence stretched on, they moved in.

  The building was two stories. Harper, Buddy, and Hayes took the first floor.

  Jess headed for the stairwell. Lori slipped ahead of her at the door and moved up the stairs first.

  The stairs seemed to go on forever. By the time they reached the second floor, Jess’s heart was pounding even harder. Lori cracked open the door and checked the corridor. Somewhere on this floor would be the access to the rooftop helipad.

  The sound of raised voices echoed and then a scream rang out in the unbearable silence.

  Gina.

  Moving swiftly and quietly, Lori led the push toward the sound.

  At the door marked roof access, Hancock took a look and then opened the door.

  Gina lay on the floor at the bottom of the stairs. When she looked up, Jess pressed a finger to her lips. Gina had taken a hell of a tumble, but she was conscious and there was no blood. Thank God. Jess pointed to Lori and then to Gina.

  Judging by the look Lori gave her she wasn’t too pleased with the order to take care of Gina. There was no time to debate the decision.

  Jess and Hancock moved up the stairs. At the door leading to the roof they paused to take stock of the situation.

  “Chet and Hayes are on the way up.” Lori’s voice echoed in Jess’s ear.

  Jess eased the roof door open and had a look.

  Spears had his weapon trained on Dan. Next to Dan, the pilot’s hands were in the air. Jess imagined he’d wished a thousand times over that he hadn’t taken this call. Jess held perfectly still. All three of the men were no more than ten yards away. If Spears glanced to his right he would spot Jess.

  “I’ll be sure to check on Jess and the baby,” Spears was saying to Dan. “I’ll drop by the lovely house you purchased and say hello.” Spears shrugged. “I can be a very patient man. Perhaps I’ll wait until the child is old enough to watch before killing Jess.”

  “You’d better shoot me now, you son of a bitch.” Dan moved toward him.
>
  Jess held her breath.

  Spears took aim. “Good bye, Chief of Police Burnett.”

  “Drop your weapon, Spears,” Jess shouted as she moved out the door and onto the roof. She quieted the emotions churning inside her and stopped, feet apart, weapon aimed at her target.

  Spears smiled. “Oh, this is too perfect.”

  In the distance sirens wailed.

  “Drop your weapon, Spears, or I will shoot,” Jess repeated.

  “You heard her, Spears.” Hancock moved into position next to Jess. “Drop that weapon or you’re a dead man.”

  Spears exhaled a dramatic sigh. “So here we are, Jess, at the end of our game.” He didn’t have to face her. His profile showed enough of his arrogant smile. “Any last words to say to the man you love?”

  Jess stared down the sight of her Glock. She took a deep breath, released half of it. “Do you want pizza or Chinese for dinner?”

  Before Spears could reply or make a move Jess pulled the trigger.

  The bullet slammed into his brain just above his right ear and he dropped to the tarmac.

  The blast from the discharge seemed to go on forever. After that the only sound was the wail of sirens growing closer and closer.

  Dan was suddenly next to her, urging her to lower her weapon. Jess stared into his eyes and whatever strength had kept her steady vanished. She fell into Dan’s arms and pressed her cheek to his chest. She needed to feel his heart beating.

  The roof was suddenly crawling with cops, but all Jess could hear was Dan’s voice whispering reassurances.

  It was over.

  Eric Spears was dead.

  27

  9911 Conroy Road, 10:30 p.m.

  “What do you suppose they’re talking about out there?” Lil giggled and sipped her wine. “Maybe how lucky they are to have two beautiful, sexy ladies like us?”