by Roy Johansen
Kendra tilted her side-view mirror down so she could see the motorcyclist on her side. “This one, too. Major artillery, by the looks of it.”
The rider next to Jessie sharply pointed to the side of the road, indicating for her to pull over.
Jessie put on an extra burst of speed, leaving the riders slightly behind. She reached under her jacket, pulled out a small handgun, and placed it barrel-down in a cup holder.
Kendra stared at it. “What are you doing with that?”
“Depends on what they do.”
Kendra moistened her lips. “Got one for me?”
Jessie gave her a sideways glance. “I didn’t think you liked guns all that much.”
“I don’t. But desperate times…”
“I’m good with guns. My uncle in Texas taught me,” Adrian piped up from the back. “I’ll take one.”
“Forget it,” Jessie said. “No more guns, at least none that are handy. Both of you just stay down.” She turned to Kendra. “If I ask you to take the wheel, grab it.”
“From over here?”
“Keep us in a straight line, no matter what happens. We’re not slowing down for anything.”
“Not even that?” Adrian said, pointing out Jessie’s window.
The rider had a submachine gun aimed at her head.
Jessie spun the wheel hard left, and the rider swerved into the opposing lane. She stepped hard on the accelerator.
“They both have guns out now.” Kendra looked into her side-view. “Looks like Uzis.”
Jessie nodded. “Mini Uzi carbines with forty-round mags. Matching.”
“Gotta like murderous thugs who know how to coordinate accessories,” Kendra murmured.
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT! A barrage of gunfire pounded the back windshield, which in seconds became a translucent white.
But the glass was still intact.
“What the hell?” Adrian glared in astonishment up at the window.
“Bulletproof glass all around,” Jessie said.
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT! Another hail of bullets hit the back windshield.
“Bulletproof?” Kendra looked at the window. “Just another day at the office for you?”
“Not quite. I sometimes use this vehicle when I’m working as bodyguard, and it makes the client feel safer. But each pane is only rated for five shots. That back one’s already taken a couple dozen.”
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT! The rear passenger side window exploded in another gunfire bombardment. Adrian cut loose with a distinctively girlish scream.
The rider, with gun still extended before him, pulled closer to Kendra’s window.
Kendra slid up slightly and unlocked her door. She gripped the handle and nodded to Jessie.
Jessie nodded back.
The motorcycle’s roar filled her ears, and its shadow slowly moved across her dash…
“Now!”
Kendra pulled the handle back, swiveled in her seat, and kicked the door open.
It struck the motorcycle, catapulting the rider over his handlebars. He hit the pavement in a heap. His gun went flying, and the motorcycle spun crazily on its side on the pavement, its motor still roaring.
“One down,” Jessie said. “Now if we can just—”
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
The back windshield finally gave way, falling apart in several large chunks.
The remaining rider raced behind them, his Uzi now fortified by an even larger ammo clip.
“Sixty fresh rounds,” Jessie said, looking at the rearview mirror. “He’s coming to play.”
Jessie grabbed her handgun from the cup holder.
Kendra looked at it and shook her head. “What good is that going to be against a machine gun?”
“It’s not going against a machine gun. It’s going against one flesh-and-blood man. Big difference.”
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
The SUV shook and a low grating sound roared in their ears.
“He’s going for the tires,” Jessie said. “They’re run-flats, but they aren’t bulletproof.”
Kendra listened as the vehicle shook even more violently and loose tread flapped on the roadway. “The left rear tire is shredded.”
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
“There goes the right.” Kendra looked at the desolate highway ahead. “Nobody for miles. We’re on our own out here.”
“I know. We have to do something fast.”
“Got any ideas?”
“One. Hang on. And stay down.”
Jessie cut the wheel hard right, and the back rims fishtailed across the pavement in a shower of sparks. She stepped on the accelerator. They were now facing the rider, charging toward each other as if in a medieval joust.
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
Bullets sprayed across the front windshield and grille. Before Kendra could recover, she was jolted by a different sound.
BLAM-BLAM-BLAM-BLAM!
Jessie’s left arm was protruding from the window, and she was returning fire on the motorcyclist. As two of her shots appeared to make contact, his body jerked and twisted, but he managed to stay on the bike. He cut across the car’s right side and fired again, this time toward the shattered rear passenger side window.
RAT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT-AT!
Jessie spun off the road, kicked open her door, and jumped out. She took a position behind the bullet-riddled hood and took aim.
But the rider wasn’t coming back.
The motorcycle sped off into the distance, back in the direction from which it had come.
Kendra straightened in her seat and turned see the rider, about half a mile down the road, stop to allow his limping partner to climb on behind him. The motorcycle sped away with the two men.
Kendra looked down to the backseat. “You’re safe now, Adrian.”
No answer.
Oh, God.
Adrian.
Jessie stood up and walked toward her. “What is it?”
Kendra jumped out of the car and threw open the rear door. “Help me.”
Adrian was a bloody mess. Kendra could see he’d been shot at least twice, once in the head and once in the chest. He wasn’t breathing.
Kendra tore open his shirt and started chest compressions.
Jessie grabbed her arm. “Kendra…”
“Do you have towels or any kind of clothing in the trunk? We need to get pressure on these wounds.”
“It’s too late.”
Kendra pushed his chest with the heels of her hands. “One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand…”
“Kendra…”
Tears stung her eyes. “We have to try. He was so scared. He said he’d do whatever I wanted him to do. I promised I’d take care of him. Help me!”
Jessie reached down to stop her. “Stop it. The back of his head is gone.” Jessie looked down the highway, where the motorcycle had disappeared into the rippling waves of heat. “Adrian is who they wanted. They didn’t care about the two of us at all.”
Kendra finally backed away from Adrian’s body. Her hands and sleeves were covered with blood. “He was right to run,” she said numbly. “If we hadn’t found him, he’d still be alive.”
“You don’t know that. They could have found him on their own.”
“He was scared out of his mind. He was making mistake after mistake. He was just waiting for someone to save him. Then we found him and told him what he wanted to hear.”
Jessie grabbed Kendra’s lapels and leaned close. “He was a scumbag. He helped them take Dee, remember? He made the choice to get mixed up with those people. What did he think was going to happen?”
“I don’t know. He said he didn’t think they’d hurt her. Maybe it was the truth.” Kendra looked down at Adrian’s bullet-ridden body. “Whatever he thought was going to happen, it wasn’t this,” she said hoarsely. “He didn’t bargain for this.”
* * *
“You’re lucky to be alive.”
> Kendra nodded and turned to face Kelland. It had been over two hours since Adrian’s death and the scene was now swarming with police cars, uniformed officers, and a van from the San Bernardino County Medical Examiner’s Office. Kelland had just arrived with a few agents from the FBI L.A. regional office.
“Adrian wasn’t so lucky.” Kendra gestured toward Jessie’s bullet-ridden SUV. “He’s still in there.”
“I know. But at least you and Jessie are safe.”
“We’re no closer to finding Dee than we were before.”
“I wouldn’t say that. He told you where and when he was approached by this Arthur character. We already have our Denver office tracking down every bit of security camera video around his hotel there, including the coffee shops. We’ll turn something up.” He nodded at the wrecked motorcycle down the road, which was now surrounded by bright orange pylons. Jessie was standing over the bike, taking photos with her cell phone. “Were you able to get anything from that?”
Kendra shook her head. “The VIN has been removed, and there’s no plate. The make and model are rare enough around here that we may still be able to track ownership, particularly since it may have been purchased at the same time as an identical model with the exact same option package. The bike is clean, too clean to have been ridden very far. So it was brought here in a covered vehicle, probably a truck. The other bike is probably back in it now. You might check freeway cams for a truck like that.”
“I thought of that. I’ll get right on it.”
“Of course you will. You know what you’re doing.” Her lips twisted bitterly. “I was so cocky before, wasn’t I? I was just happy that we’d caught Adrian and had a chance to find Dee. You should have slapped me down instead of being that polite.”
“No, I shouldn’t. I like the idea that you were that excited. Every now and then something happens that makes this job worthwhile. You were having one of those moments. You did a good job, and it could have gone either way.”
“That’s very generous of you.” She was no longer listening. Her gaze had returned to the SUV, where they were preparing to extract Adrian’s body. She was visualizing that last sight of his broken, torn body after she’d tried to save him.
But she hadn’t been able to save him. She’d failed him. And in failing him, she’d also failed Dee.
And she didn’t want to see that bloody failure again no matter what Kelland said about her doing such a “good” job. She turned on her heel. “Look, I’ll give you a full statement later. Could we borrow one of your vehicles? I’ve got to get out of here.”
He looked startled. “Where are you going?”
“I’m not really sure.” She was walking toward Jessie. “Just away from here.”
* * *
“You’re too quiet.” Jessie glanced at Kendra’s face when they were almost back to her house. “You haven’t spoken more than two sentences since we got on the road. No one is blaming us. We did the best we could.”
“That’s what Kelland said. It wasn’t good enough.”
“And there was no way you could have kept that promise to Adrian. So stop blaming yourself. If you want to blame anyone, I’m here and I’m the one who was forcing Adrian into going to the FBI.”
“Which is what you should have done,” she said wearily. “And I realize that everything you said about what Adrian did was true. I was angry with him, too. But for that little while, I thought we could turn it around. I thought that maybe all this horror surrounding Dee could be erased. That if I gave him my word, Adrian would miraculously remember how much he cared about Dee and do whatever he could to save her. I wanted that so much, Jessie.”
“I know you did,” Jessie said gently. “But miracles are few and far between.”
“And those people who took Dee are damn smart. Look how they found Adrian and twisted his life to suit their purpose. Nothing we could do to stop that from happening. They seem to know what they’re doing every minute and plug up every hole we find.”
“We’ll find others. Tomorrow we’ll go down to the FBI office and make our statements, and Kelland might already have a breakthrough.”
Kendra nodded. “Lord, I hope he does. But those bastards sure aren’t in any hurry. They have to see we’re pulling out all the stops to find them. Why wouldn’t they want to negotiate quickly so that they could get away with the loot?”
“Maybe they will after what happened today. We didn’t make it easy for them.” They’d reached her house, and she pulled into the driveway and turned off the FBI van. She added grimly, “Until then all we can do is to keep on searching and hope for a break that will stir them to move their asses.”
* * *
Next Day
9:45 A.M.
Kendra’s phone rang just as she and Jessie were leaving the house to go to the FBI field office.
“Have you left yet or are you near a TV?” Kelland asked when she picked up.
“We were walking out the door.” She tensed. “Why? Something to do with Dee? Is it bad?”
“It depends on how you look at it. As far as I’m concerned, it might be a nightmare. Hell, but I’m probably scaring you. It’s about Dee, but it’s not about her being hurt or killed. Just turn on the TV and see what’s all over the news. I’ll talk to you later about what it might mean to the case.” He cut the connection.
“TV news,” she said over her shoulder to Jessie as she ran over to the set and grabbed the remote. “Something about Dee.”
“Of course I’m sincere,” a good-looking young man who looked to be somewhere in his twenties was saying to the group of reporters and TV journalists surrounding him. Kendra saw the name NOAH CALDERON—SILICON VALLEY below the shot. “Why would I have called you all here to my headquarters if I didn’t want to spread the word so that I could bring my good friend Delilah safely back home?”
He was staring directly into the cameras. “I’ve been in touch with law enforcement, and I’m worried that they don’t seem to have any clues. I thought it might be better to go to the people who love her most to see what they can do to help her. That’s why I’m offering five million dollars to anyone who can secure the safe return of Delilah Winter. I’m also offering the services of my own company for the search.”
His expression was sober, but his voice was intent and very persuasive as he said softly, “Come on, all of you out there, I’m offering you a lot of money. But what I’m really offering you is the opportunity to save Delilah whose music has meant so much to all of us over the years. Who could resist that? My phone lines will be staffed twenty-four hours a day. Now let me hear from you.”
Kendra was aware that Jessie was muttering a curse as the rest of the interview was drowned by the journalists’ onslaught of questions. She pressed the MUTE button. “You’re not pleased. Neither was Kelland. Why not?” She frowned. “Noah Calderon…I’ve heard of him.”
“Of course you have. Everyone’s heard of Calderon.” Jessie made a face. “Or maybe not you. You may be the only one on the planet who isn’t involved with social networking.”
“I don’t have the time.” She looked back at the face of the man on the screen. “But I’ve heard he’s some kind of billionaire, isn’t he?”
“He made his first billion at the age of twenty-one creating Hookup, which is still the most popular dating site in the world. He followed up with Friendz, the social network now used by a fifth of the world’s population including almost everyone you’ve ever known.”
“He seems very appealing. Why did he make you so angry?”
“Because he could be getting set to cause us a big headache. Look, Calderon can be appealing, and that little speech he gave, coupled with the millions he’s tossing out, will make everyone want to run out and save Dee.”
“And that’s what they should be wanting to do. Even if they don’t find her, this might be the way we get those kidnappers’ attention.”
“Possibly. But when you turn hundreds or thousands of detectives an
d wannabe investigators from all over the world loose on a single case with that much money and notoriety involved, they’ll get in the way. From accidentally destroying evidence to interfering with a ransom delivery, it will increase the threat. I don’t like it.”
“I didn’t think about that.” But Kendra could see the difficulties now. “Could you explain to Calderon and get him to cancel the reward?”
“Not a chance. He’s probably liking the idea of being a hero who saves the day. He’s made his decision and he won’t back down. Noah Calderon believes he’s smarter and knows better than almost anyone who walks the earth. Why else would he be a billionaire with the whole world fawning over him?”
“But he’s a friend of Dee’s?”
“They were an item a few years ago. They were both superstars in their own fields, but evidently there wasn’t much else there to hold them together. They came from completely different backgrounds, and that probably initially attracted them to each other.” She shrugged. “Dee spent most of her childhood in a mobile home or on a TV soundstage. Noah was a trust-fund baby whose parents traveled the world and left him in the hands of servants most of the time. He went to school in England for a few years and then quit when his website took off. The only thing they had in common was the fact that they barely knew their parents and were both aware that’s the way their parents wanted it.”
“That could be a strong bond.”
Jessie nodded. “Evidently not strong enough. But Dee told me when they broke up it was amicable, and he was dating some Parisian supermodel two weeks later. He even still sends flowers to Dee’s concerts.”
“Including this one. Five million will pay for a very fancy bouquet.”
She made a face. “Maybe he liked her even better than I thought. It’s hard not to like Dee, and they both lived in a world I’d never want to inhabit. It could be I don’t understand the rituals.”
Kendra nodded. “You know them far better than I do.” She turned off the TV and turned toward the door. “I’ll call Kelland back while I’m on the road. Though I’m certain he’s going to tell me exactly what you did.” She shrugged. “Too bad. I thought for a moment it might be good news.”
