by Loye, Trish
He expelled the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. But he didn’t wait before pulling himself out from under the car. “We’re good. The bomb techs can finish.”
Alyssa’s face was pinched tight as she scanned the crowd from her perch. She had her hands clenched into fists, but her breathing remained steady. He grabbed one of her fists and forced it open, using both his hands to knead her palm and help her force her memories back.
She let out a long breath and finally looked down at him. “I’m good. I want to catch this bitch.”
“You and me both, babe. Keep looking. I’m going to talk to Masters and give your brother an update.”
24
Alyssa kept studying the growing crowd. The bomb had been disabled, but her heart still thundered. They couldn’t let Al Shabah get away again. Zach moved toward the main doors, where Masters stood at the entrance.
Alyssa turned in the other direction. A slim woman in jeans, sweater, and a Yankees ball cap stood two blocks away typing into her phone. She looked up and Alyssa saw the pale skin of her face. Their gazes connected even at that distance and Alyssa’s muscles tensed. It was her.
The woman raised her hand with the phone, as if to show Alyssa she had the power. Alyssa’s heart stopped and her breath froze.
Please let us have found all the bombs.
Al Shabah pulled her hand back down and typed into the phone again.
Alyssa wasted no more time. “I see her!” she yelled as she pulled her Glock from the holster on her calf and jumped down from the car. She sprinted down the sidewalk, weaving in and out of the crowd.
One block left. Reynolds disappeared around the corner. Fuck. Alyssa poured on the speed, pushing people out of her way.
Her earbud came to life. “Alyssa. Talk to me.” It was Zach’s voice.
“It’s her. South on Lexington. Jeans, dark sweater, Yankees ball cap. Cut her off.”
“On it.”
She could hear Zach coordinating the other E.D.G.E. operators to help with the chase. Her feet pounded the pavement and she spun around the corner. Reynolds had crossed the road and now ran on the other sidewalk. Ahead of her were stairs going underground.
“She’s heading for the subway,” Alyssa panted into her radio. Her thighs burned trying to close the distance between them. Reynolds rushed down the steps.
Fuck. She was not going to lose her here. Alyssa made it to the stairs and jumped down four at a time. She leapt over a turnstile and ignored the mutters from the other paying riders. This station had multiple trains running through it in different directions. People bustled everywhere on the open main floor heading for stairways to different platforms to make their train. Spinning in place, Alyssa searched for a running figure.
Where was she?
A flash of a pale face and blonde hair. Alyssa raced to a far set of stairs going down. “The number-four line,” she said into her radio. “I repeat, number four.”
Static crackled back in her ear. Dammit. It would be her luck that she’d found one of the few stations that still had signal problems and dead spots.
“NYPD! Move!” She thrust people aside as she ran. The stairs led to a long platform with a track on either side. A similar platform ran parallel to it beyond another track. A small crowd of people stood at the far end of the platform, their heads all craning as they looked down the track, pointing. Alyssa could just make out Reynolds running into the darkness.
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” she muttered. She called in her position, but again only heard static. The digital sign said the next train was expected in three minutes. She bit her lip.
I can’t let her get away.
She leapt past the people watching and down onto the tracks amidst the garbage and muck. A few members of the crowd gasped.
What the fuck am I doing?
Al Shabah looked back at Alyssa as she ran. And she smiled.
Smiled? Crazy bitch.
Alyssa sprinted harder than she ever had in her life. All her years of running seemed to come down to this moment. She pumped her arms and drove her legs, pounding her feet over the tracks and uneven ground.
She gained on Reynolds.
A thundering sound and vibration echoed up the dark tunnel behind her.
She pushed herself to run faster. Her breath almost a sob. She gained more ground, but the thunder behind her gained as well.
What have I done?
She couldn’t think about that. Unbidden, a memory of Zach smiling came to her. She could do this. She would survive. If only to see that smile again.
She started to look for a door or a way off the track. The next platform wasn’t even in sight. She’d never make it before the train barreled down on her.
“Reynolds!” she screamed. “The train is coming! We have to get off the track!”
Laughter echoed above the noise, barely. The thunder grew overwhelming. A horn blared and she almost fell.
She was going to die.
The train roared by on the track next to hers. Relief swept over her, so palpable that she stumbled. The crashing sound had a rhythmic quality as each car passed her, like a booming heartbeat. The wind of its passing sucked at her.
She kept running. It was a short reprieve, she knew. The thunder lessened as the train disappeared down the track, but it didn’t disappear. Instead, it grew again. She looked for Reynolds ahead of her.
She was gone.
She was gone, and Alyssa could see lights barreling down on her from behind.
* * *
“Where the hell did she go?” Zach asked. He turned on the spot. He’d located the subway station Alyssa had run into, but couldn’t see her. Had she gone to the uptown or downtown side of the tracks? Fuck. Where was she? Horrible scenarios of her being hurt somewhere and waiting for him to help almost overwhelmed him. He hated just standing there.
Jake stood next to him. He spoke into his phone on speaker since their earbuds had stopped working. “Dani, I need you, babe. Where’s Alyssa?”
“I’m tracking her cell now,” Dani said. “The signal’s intermittent. There’s a lot of interference. I’m triangulating her last ping… This can’t be right.”
“Just tell us, Dani,” Zach growled.
Jake laid a hand on his arm and he shook it off. The subway commuters around them eased away from him, giving him lots of room.
“If she’s underground, then the coordinates place her in the middle of the four tunnel heading south.”
“What the— ” Jake said.
“Stop the train,” Zach ordered, starting to run. “I don’t care what you do, Dani, but stop that train.”
“I’m trying,” Dani said.
They raced for the stairs to the number-four line and made it to the platform. “Did you stop it, Dani?” Zach demanded. People crowded the far end of the platform looking down into the dark tunnel.
What the hell did you do, Alyssa?
“Dani, di—”
A vibrating thunder overwhelmed his last words. His heart stopped as an express train zoomed past the platform they stood on and down the tunnel Alyssa had taken.
* * *
Fear seared Alyssa’s thoughts. She had no idea if she should jump to the other track or if that would quicken her death. The third rail separated the tracks and if she accidentally touched it, she’d be killed by the 625 volts running through it.
She kept running, trying to calm her thoughts. She only had seconds.
Where had Reynolds gone? She couldn’t just disappear. Alyssa slowed as she neared the spot where she’d last seen her. All of her instincts screamed to keep running as fast as she could, because death was coming.
Darkness hindered her vision, but she could make out graffiti on the brick walls.
What kind of idiots tagged down here?
She ran up to the wall. Her fingers moved over the rough brick as she jogged down the track. The rumbling of a train grew closer and she increased her speed, her panting
breath harsh in her ears.
“Where did you go, you crazy bitch?”
The thunder of another train approached. She chanced a glance over her shoulder. The headlights shone on her track. It was coming so fast.
Adrenaline spiked and surged through her. She ran.
A dark patch appeared on the wall ahead. She raced forward. An alcove was cut into the wall. She leapt into it. The train roared past. She braced herself against the sucking wind that tried to rip her from her small niche of safety.
The train finally passed.
Her breath shuddered out of her and she dropped to her knees, her legs unable to support her. She focused on breathing.
Alive. She was alive.
She tried her radio again. Static.
Once the train passed, it became dark again. She huddled on her knees, wondering what her next step should be. She’d lost Al Shabah and almost her life in the process. Bitter disappointment surged through her.
As she started to get to her feet, she noticed a sliver of light where the cement floor met the wall. Her hands probed the area and her fingers met cool metal, not brick.
A door.
She couldn’t feel a handle, but she kept searching until she found the crack of the door’s edge. Using her fingernails, she was able to pull the door open. More light rewarded her efforts. It was still dim, but she could just barely see what was beyond the threshold.
A narrow hallway greeted her. She ran down it, leaving the door open behind her, sure this was the path Al Shabah had taken. But how had the woman known this door was here? How much time had she spent studying the subway tunnels?
At the other end of the dark hall was another door. Alyssa pushed this one and it creaked open. Another tunnel, but this one had no track. She jumped the three feet down into it. A thick layer of dust coated everything. The humid, dank air and scurrying sounds made her think of a dried-up sewer line. Lights from somewhere further down the tunnel line allowed her to see. She raised her Glock and approached the light.
An abandoned platform lay ahead. The tiling had been done, but no stairs or escalators led here. No electricity either, from what she could see. Only the lanterns that had been set on the platform allowed her to see in this dusty place. A rolled-up sleeping bag and a camp stove sat beside one of the lanterns.
Beth Reynolds was nowhere in sight.
25
The train thundered past Zach. He stood on the platform beside Jake and, for the first time in his life, he froze. He couldn’t move, couldn’t think. Alyssa was down that tunnel.
Jake told Dani to stop the trains, but Zach didn’t pay attention. A numbness had settled over him, blocking his feelings and slowing his thoughts. He walked to the edge of the platform and dropped down onto the tracks.
“Doc!” Jake yelled behind him. “Dani’s still working.”
Zach didn’t acknowledge him, but pulled out his penlight. He needed to find Alyssa. A sense of urgency thawed the ice around him. He began to jog.
“Zach!”
Footsteps sounded behind him. Jake had followed him. Zach ran faster, not trying to get away from Jake, just trying to get to Alyssa quicker. She might need help, or be lying on the tracks hurt or…
No. He refused to think it. Alyssa was smart and tough. She would have found a way to survive. He pushed his legs to move faster, shining his light along the tracks. Garbage littered the dirt and sludge. Jake kept pace just behind him.
He didn’t see Alyssa ahead. He stretched his legs and increased his pace. He couldn’t help but look on the tracks, his mind conjuring images of Alyssa dead and torn apart by the train. Pain seared through his chest and he ran faster.
“Dani stopped the trains,” Jake said from behind him.
Zach nodded, but didn’t say anything else. She hadn’t stopped the last one. The one that might have k—
No. He moved faster, pumping his legs hard. He wouldn’t think like that. He shone his flashlight off the walls and the tracks ahead. Nothing but dirt and graffiti.
Graffiti?
People came down this far into the tunnel? He slowed, still jogging, but not the desperate sprint of moments before.
“Zach?” Jake asked. “What do you see?” The sharp question reminded him that Jake searched for his sister out here, just as Zach searched for his lover.
“Graffiti,” he said, pointing. “Kids come down here. But why? Why would they tag so far down a tunnel? Unless they have somewhere to hang.” He shone his light over the walls, trusting his innate sense of balance to not let him trip.
His light shone over an alcove in the wall. He ran closer. A metal door hidden inside stood open and waiting. He pulled his weapon and ran inside. At the opposite end of the hall, he paused and listened before chancing a look into the room beyond.
It was an abandoned platform. Alyssa stood where the tracks should be laid, looking down a dark tunnel.
She was safe.
His breath shuddered out of him and he lowered his weapon. He moved toward her compelled by a need to touch her, reassure himself she was alive.
She turned to him. “I lost her.” Bitter anger laced her voice and it stopped him.
His relief drained from him, leaving him in a void for a brief moment before anger sparked a light. “You chased her down a subway tunnel,” he said quietly.
“Not that it did any fucking good.” She scowled at the darkness beyond their lights.
The anger grew. “The trains were still running.”
Something in his voice must have warned her. She looked at him. “You would have done the same.”
“Would I?” he said.
“Doc?” Jake asked. He laid a hand on Zach’s arm. “She’s safe.”
He shrugged off Jake’s arm. “No, she’s not. She’s got a fucking death wish.” He holstered his weapon and looked at this woman he cared too much for. “Are you so desperate to die?”
She took a step back. “No. I was doing my job.”
Zach looked around the dark and empty platform. “Were you really? Where the fuck is Reynolds? Were you chasing her or a fucking figment of your imagination?”
Jake stepped between them. “You’re out of line, Doc.”
Alyssa moved closer. “You think I imagined her? How dare you? You’ve gone too far.”
His anger shattered and fell around him, leaving him empty and exhausted.
“No,” he said heavily. “You have.” He left them standing together and didn’t look back.
* * *
The sun was beginning to set the next day when Jake pulled up in front of her building. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay with you?”
Alyssa shook her head and regretted it, as it set her head throbbing again. The ER doctor had said she’d just had too many knocks this week. She agreed.
“You’ve seen the size of my apartment,” she said. “You’ll be more comfortable at the hotel with your team.” And no matter how much she loved her brother, she wanted to be alone. Though if Zach had asked the same question…
She clenched her jaw. Zach hadn’t asked the question. In fact, she hadn’t seen him since the subway tunnel yesterday evening. She’d been in the hospital for most of the day, giving her statements to the detectives who’d shown up while she’d been examined. She’d been the last one released.
“Besides,” she said, “you have to plan the next step. You have to catch her.”
Jake nodded. “It’ll be a lot easier now that we know who she is. That’s all because of you.”
She brushed aside his words. She hadn’t done enough. “What about Hajjar? Did he talk?”
“Masters released him with the FBI’s apology. Turns out the guy really didn’t know anything about Reynolds’ alter ego. He had concrete alibis for the other bombings. It looks like Reynolds set him up to take the fall by planting traces of C4 in his apartment.”
“And we fell for it because he’s Middle Eastern,” Alyssa said. “Poor guy.”
Jake nodded.
“Yeah, the guy just wanted to go home when he was released.”
The case was almost closed. They didn’t have Al Shabah in custody yet, but she wouldn’t slip away again. Alyssa doubted she’d even make it out of Manhattan.
Alyssa was so exhausted she almost didn’t mind being dismissed once again from the case.
Almost.
She wasn’t officially off the case, but Masters had ordered her to go home and rest. She’d seen the concern in his eyes. It had annoyed her, but she’d understood it. It was only for twenty-four hours, but it was the most critical time for catching any criminal. She hated that she was stuck at home while others tracked down Al Shabah.
Others like Zach.
She expelled her breath harshly. She would not go there right now.
Jake’s frown of concern made her force a smile. “I’m fine,” she said to his unspoken question.
“Lyssa,” he said. “Don’t bullshit me. You haven’t been fine in a long time.”
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. God, she needed a shower. She focused on Jake again.
“You’re right,” she finally admitted.
His eyebrows raised. “Holy shit. Could you repeat that so I can record it on my phone?”
That brought a real smile out. “Never,” she said. “Mom will never believe I said that.”
His grin faded. “I’ve missed you, Lyssa. So has Mom.”
Alyssa didn’t turn away, though she wanted to. “I know. I… I’m going to work harder to deal with the PTSD. I want my life back.”
“Good,” he said. “Family holidays have sucked without someone to tease.”
Something inside her eased. “Come see me before you leave. And go kick Beth Reynolds’ ass.”
She waved to him from the top step of building. Inside, Alyssa unlocked her door and entered her apartment. Dim light came in through the window and she saw the sunlight hitting the Hudson as the sun went down in the west.
She dumped her messenger bag on the floor by the door and unbuckled her holster as she went to the kitchen. She laid her weapon on the counter. She wanted—no, needed, a glass of wine. She didn’t care what the ER doctor had recommended.
