The guard laughed after hearing Zhang’s story. “And I thought I was having a lousy day. Sorry to hear that. Any luck so far?”
Zhang shook his head. “Still looking. I’ve got one more street to go. Do you mind if I keep checking?”
“Of course not.”
Zhang smiled. “Thank you, Officer. I’m really sorry if I gave you the wrong impression.”
The guard waved away the apology. “Don’t worry about it. I hope you find that ring.”
“Me too.”
“One last thing.”
“Yes, sir?”
He pointed to the back of the Mercedes. “You’ve got a brake light out. Better get it fixed right away.”
Coltraine, Zhang thought. She must have kicked out the cover panel, broken the bulb. He had never thought to look. “Will do,” he replied.
After the security guard had departed, Zhang put away his gun. He had wasted the last five minutes dealing with the guard. Qin had probably watched the whole interaction from wherever she was hiding at the end of the street.
A thought suddenly occurred to him. What if the figure he had seen hadn’t been Qin after all but Dr. Coltraine?
He slammed the car into drive, raced to the end of the street, turned the corner, searched the area.
He might still be able to find her.
39
SPENCER OPENED THE tracking app, checked the position of the microdots. The blue blips moved steadily, but their geographic location hadn’t varied. Maddy was still in the general vicinity of where she had been when he last checked her location: the Port of Los Angeles.
Spencer’s phone rang. The name on the screen read UNCLE T. He answered. “Hi, Uncle Tony.”
Antonio Vecchio’s tone was matter of fact, all business. “Where are you now, Spencer?”
“Ten minutes from you.”
“Very good. We’re almost there.”
“I had to switch vehicles,” Spencer said. “I’m driving a black Hummer now with military plates. When you see it, don’t be alarmed. It’s just me.”
“You mind telling me just how that happened?”
“They tried to take me down, but I got away.”
“Who tried to take you down?”
“The agents from DARPA who following me.”
“Let me get this straight. You escaped from the military, and you stole their Hummer?”
“Yes.”
Tony laughed. “Sounds like they need to train their boys better. You okay?”
“To be honest,” Spencer confessed, “I’m a little shook up. I’m not used to this, Uncle T. Not at all.”
“It’ll be okay, Spencer. As soon as we find Maddy, we’ll pick her up and put whoever is holding her in the ground.”
“I just want Maddy back, Uncle T. Safe and sound. That’s all.”
“So do I, kid. But I’ve got no problem moving bodies out of my way to make that happen.”
“Me too.”
“What does your screen say? Where is Maddy right now… exactly?”
Spencer placed his fingers on the screen, zoomed in on the location. “It’s a business complex of some sort.”
“You’ll need to be more specific than that.”
“Hang on.” Spencer changed the view, switched from the standard Google map layout to the three-dimensional street view. He followed the street markers, adjusted the orientation, moving it first to the right, then left. “Got it,” he said. “Bandoleer Road. She’s behind a building.”
“Is there a sign?” Tony asked. “Can you see a name?”
Spencer adjusted the angle. “Yes. The company is called Global Steel Drum Manufacturing. But she’s still moving. She might not be there for long.”
“Good enough. It puts us closer. That’s all we need. My men are behind me in a follow car. I’ll pass the information along to them. Once we arrive, we’ll split up and find her.”
“If you find Maddy before I do, and she’s alone and okay, I need you to do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“I need you to find out who took her.”
“Oh, you can count on that.”
“You know me, Uncle T. I’m not a violent person. I’ve never been one to seek revenge. Hell, I’ve never even been in a fight my whole life. But this is different. I can’t let this stand. I’ve tried to focus on Maddy and purge these thoughts of revenge from my mind, but I just can’t. I need to make these people pay for taking her. If that means going to prison for it, so be it. Because if I don’t, I’ll never be able to look her or myself in the eye again. It’s my job to protect her, Uncle T, and right now I can’t help but feel like I’ve failed at that.”
“Listen to me, Spencer,” Vecchio said. “You didn’t bring this fight to them. They brought it to you. What you’re feeling is perfectly normal. But I won’t let you throw your life away. You and Maddy are scientists. That’s what you do. I would never try to tell either of you how to run your lab. But this is what I do, and I’m really fucking good at it. So, you need to keep your attention focused on where it will serve you best, which is getting your wife back in one piece. As for the revenge part, I’ll be your channel for that. I mean no disrespect by this Spencer, so don’t take it the wrong way, but you’re not cut out for revenge. I am. You wouldn’t survive one night in prison. Me, I’d own the place by morning. You have nothing to worry about. I’ll see to it that whoever took Maddy pays for it. You need to be good with that, otherwise this whole thing will eat you alive and you’ll never be the same again. You and Maddy deserve a long, happy life together, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure you have it. Okay?”
Spencer was silent for a moment, then spoke. “Okay, Uncle T. Thank you.”
“Forget about it. Now get your ass down here. We’re five minutes out.”
“I’m on my way.”
40
QIN WATCHED THE Mercedes turn the corner, followed shortly by a second vehicle. This had to be Chang’s men. She expected the driver to exit his vehicle, walk up to Zhang’s door, engage him in brief conversation, then unload his weapon into him. Instead, the street lit up with the yellow service lights of an unmarked security patrol vehicle. She had seen the metal signs affixed to light stands in the area, indicating the business complex was frequently patrolled. Observing the interaction between the two men would be a pointless exercise. If Zhang shot the guard dead, she wanted no part of the cleanup. He would have to deal with that on his own. Instead, she took advantage of the distraction the guard’s sudden appearance offered and doubled back the way she had come. After placing a suitable distance between her partner and the security guard, she reentered the same laneway in which she had encountered the young man hiding behind the refuse bin. Something about their exchange hadn’t felt right. She had rationalized it away by projecting her own experiences into the standoff. In hindsight, that had been a mistake. She should have pushed him further, found some way to convince him to let her enter the yard and have a look around, but she hadn’t. Now she felt like a fool. She had walked straight into the damn tripwire, heard the cans fall, then realized what she had done. The kid was smart, as smart as she had been when she lived on the street, and had proven it by setting off a crude but effective alarm. The question was why. She had walked further down the laneway before and not encountered the tripwire. Which meant only one thing. As soon as she had left, he’d set the trap. He wanted to be sure that if she returned, the clattering cans would inform him of her presence. He hadn’t reacted to her when she had told him she was looking for Dr. Coltraine, even after referring to her by name. In retrospect, that made sense. Even if he was hiding her, for whatever bizarre reason, he would never permit her to invade his space.
Enough.
If he was inside with the dog, one of two things was about to happen. Either they would stay out of her way while she conducted a deep sweep of the property in the event Dr. Coltraine was hiding somewhere in the yard without their knowledge, or she wou
ld kill them both if they objected or tried to stop her. She had more important things to be concerned with now than the welfare of a street kid and his dog, namely Chang and his men.
Weapon drawn, silencer pointed straight ahead, Qin approached the Dumpster cautiously. She turned quickly when she reached the garbage container, ready to take the shot, but found only the gate leading into the yard. The latch offered a faint squeak when lifted. When neither the dog nor the teen responded to the intrusion, she slipped silently into the back lot of the manufacturing facility.
Steel drums of every shape and size formed a maze-like path. Navigating the yard was going to be more challenging than she had thought. The drums were stacked at irregular heights, which made obtaining an unobstructed sightline impossible. She would have to wind her way through the yard and follow every pathway to its termination point. Just as she had begun to clear the yard, a rattling chain caught her attention.
Qin spun around, swung the weapon in the direction of the noise, then slowly made her way through the yard until she located its source.
A row of steel drums ran the length of one side of the yard, behind which stood a rusty shipping container, its door slightly ajar. A light breeze moved the chain, causing it to clatter against the metal entrance door. Inside the immense metal box, lamplight danced.
She had found the street kids’ home.
Qin threw open the door and burst inside.
Empty.
A plastic camping lantern provided the source of the light. Its subdued glow barely illuminated the large, dark space. Qin picked up the lantern, moved about the container, checked out the kid’s meager belongings. The open first aid kit immediately caught her eye. She lowered the lantern, panned the light across the floor. White cotton balls lay scattered across the plywood floor. Some reflected the light. Others did not.
Qin knelt, touched the spent dark cotton balls, rubbed her fingertips together, recognized the unmistakable tackiness.
Blood.
There were only three possible explanations for the presence of fresh blood and an open first aid kit in the kids’ home. Either he or the dog had been hurt or the blood belonged to Dr. Coltraine. Instinct informed her it was the latter. This was proof Coltraine had been hit and that at least one of the rounds had found her when she’d made the leap from the boat lift to the rooftop of the adjoining building.
A feeling of elation swept through her.
Qin extended the lantern and left the shipping container. She followed the blood trail out the door and through the labyrinth of steel drums. When she reached the back of the yard, she cursed. She had reached a dead end.
Impossible.
The blood had to lead somewhere.
She raised the lantern, spotted the bloody fingerprints, then pushed on the fence board.
The board moved.
Coltraine, the teen and the dog had escaped through here.
Qin set down the lantern, moved the boards aside, slipped through the narrow opening into the neighboring yard, then stopped and listened.
In the distance.
Shuffling footsteps.
Muffled conversation.
A dog panting.
She raised her weapon and followed the sounds through the darkness.
41
JORDAN CROSSED THE marsh and reached the location where minutes ago she had seen a sudden flash of light, then stopped and listened.
All quiet.
The eight-foot-high chainlink fence in front of her swayed when she pushed it. Its center most post swung freely above the ground. Jordan pulled hard on the bottom of the fence, lifted off the ground, raised it over her head, slipped underneath, and entered the yard.
She drew her weapon and quickly cleared the area, glancing around each stack of steel drums before taking the next step, ready to slip back behind the drums and use them as cover if needed. When she had wound her way through the yard and reached the entrance gate at the rear of the building, she removed her flashlight from her belt, clicked it on and panned the grounds. In front of the gate stood a Dumpster. The area was church quiet.
The Indian chief had motioned that Maddy had come this way. Jordan scanned the area with the flashlight once again.
Jingle… jingle… jingle…
Jordan listened. She zeroed in on the chiming sound, followed it, rounded several stacks of steel drums, found the source. A length of chain tapped lightly against the side of a large shipping container; its door slightly ajar.
Jordan pointed her weapon at the door, stood safely to the side of it, then eased it open.
Empty.
Someone had been living in here.
Wooden pallets had been stacked to form a bed. A tattered wool blanket and pillow lay atop the platform. At the foot of the bed, an unwashed plastic bowl explained the musty smell of canned dog food. On the floor of the container, Jordan found the used cotton balls soaked with blood. She closed her eyes, concentrated, waited for the vision to present itself.
Maddy… the teen treating her wound… the dog at his side.
She had been here.
She was injured.
Now she was gone. They were gone. But where?
Jordan exited the container and followed a circuitous trail around stacks of steel drums until she reached a dead end at the back of the yard.
Unlike the chainlink barrier which bordered the back of the property, this fence was comprised of six-foot-high wooden planks nailed side by side to a bottom and top rail. The two planks in front of her swayed slightly. Jordan looked down and found two bent nails lying on the ground below the bottom rail. They appeared to have been purposely removed to facilitate easy manipulation of the planks. To the right of the boards, an inexpensive plastic camping lantern rested atop a steel drum. Its waning light flickered. This must have been the light source she had seen for just an instant from the roadway opposite the marsh.
Someone had carried the lantern here, then left it behind, still turned on.
Only one reason for doing that made any sense. Whoever had used it had passed through this yard into the next and did not wish to be seen.
Jordan placed her hand on the boards, felt for a latent energy signature, found it.
It was the same psychic signature she had experienced in the marina where she had found the body of the night watchman, Raymond Bodine.
The woman.
She had been here.
So too had Maddy.
Jordan pushed the fence boards aside, squeezed through. She needed to find Maddy before the woman did. She stepped around a stack of broken shipping pallets, accidentally shouldering one as she did. The stack wobbled, creaked, nearly fell over.
Thwup!
For a split second, Jordan heard the rushing sound of the bullet as it whizzed past her head and ricocheted off the top pallet, splintering the wood. She took cover behind the stack, then peered out to locate the position of the shooter.
There.
The far end of the yard.
Three hundred yards from her current position.
The woman.
Jordan watched as she raised her weapon, took aim once more, prepared to fire.
“Federal agent!” Jordan yelled out. “Drop your weapon!”
A second bullet followed the first. It, too, missed its mark.
Jordan stepped out from behind the pallet stack, leveled her gun in the woman’s direction, prepared to return fire.
She was gone.
Jordan took chase, moving quickly through the yard.
42
MADDY, BULLET AND Eddy moved through the abandoned pallet manufacturing company store yard as fast as Maddy’s injured leg would permit. She heard her cousin call out from behind them. She stopped, turned, yelled. “Jordan?”
Bullet grabbed her arm, pulled her toward him. “Are you nuts? Keep moving!”
“You don’t understand. I know that voice. That’s my cousin. She’s an FBI agent. We’re okay now.”
“The hell
we are! We’re not stopping for nothing or nobody until I get to the phone booth, call my friends, and someone picks us up. Then we’ll get you to the real cops and the medical attention you need. Now let’s move!”
Maddy reluctantly shuffled along behind Bullet. “What do you mean, real cops?”
Bullet scoffed. “Federal agent, my ass. You don’t believe that for a second, do you? That’s the same bitch who shot you and probably would have shot me if I hadn’t gotten rid of her.”
“But…”
“No buts,” Bullet insisted. “Let’s go. Besides, I know how to mess her up big time.”
“What are you going to do?”
“This.” Bullet turned sharply, then toppled several stacks of wooden pallets behind them, effectively blocking the winding route they had just travelled through the yard. “There,” he said. “That’ll hold her off for a minute. I may be half blind, but I know this yard like the back of my hand. She doesn’t. There’s only one route to take to get out of this yard, and I just cut it off.” He pointed, then walked ahead. “Come on. This way.”
When they reached the gate to the yard, Maddy took out the gun. “We don’t have to run,” she said. “I can find a place to hide. The minute she shows herself, I’ll shoot her. Trust me, I won’t miss.”
Nemesis: A Jordan Quest FBI Thriller Page 14
