Part 39 (1/2)

47.

The handcuffs were inescapable, the patrol car's doors were modified to open only from the outside, and the steel grill between me and the front seat was solid. I had no options, no way to save Olivia. The hopelessness was nearly overwhelming. It threatened to defeat all thought. I fought it as I had fought madness in the hospital. I had to keep my mind clear. There had to be a way.

I said, ”How did you guys know where I was?”

Neither of the cops replied.

”Somebody tipped you off, right? It's the only way you could have known. You need to stop and think about who could do that. I told you these guys have already cruised by her apartment twice tonight. They spotted me. They're the ones who called it in. They wanted to get me out of the way. They could have come after me themselves, but they knew I'd be trouble. Think about it. They're using you. They're murderers, and they're using you.”

The driver said, ”I hate it when they won't shut up.”

The pa.s.senger said, ”Yeah.”

”You don't want me to shut up. You need to listen. If you don't, you'll always regret it. Olivia Soto is in her apartment. She didn't answer the intercom because I told her not to respond to anyone but me. She has taken a lot of money from these people. It's dirty money. They want it back, and they'll torture her to find out where it is.”

The driver said, ”This one is creative.”

The pa.s.senger said nothing.

I said, ”Why would I care so much about it if it wasn't true? I'm not asking you to let me go. I'm not even asking you to turn around. Just call it in. Get another squad car over there as soon as you can. I'm not asking for me. This is about her. Please. I'm begging you.”

Neither of them said anything. The patrol car slowed and stopped at a red light at McLaughlin. I stared forward through the steel grid behind the officers, looking at the street ahead without really seeing it. I fought against the desperation. I had to stay calm. There had to be a way.

A vehicle approached the intersection on the other side. At first it didn't register with me, but then I realized it was a black Lincoln Navigator.

”There they are!” I said. ”That's them, over there. The Navigator, like I said. Look at the mud. Look at the license plate. It's just like I told you, 5DB. They're going back to Olivia's apartment. Please, you have to stop them.”

The light changed. The Navigator rolled past us. The patrol car went ahead, the two policemen saying nothing.

After we had traveled another half a block, the one in the pa.s.senger seat said, ”Couldn't hurt.”

”Oh, all right,” said the driver.

We made a fast U-turn. The pa.s.senger reached forward and flipped a switch. I saw the flas.h.i.+ng blue and red of the squad car's emergency lights reflected in the side windows of parked cars as we sped by. Then he lifted the radio handset and advised their dispatcher that they were about to stop a suspicious vehicle.

”Thank you,” I said. ”Thank you.”

They said nothing as we caught up with the Navigator four blocks away from Olivia's street. We pulled up very close behind it. The Navigator stopped at the curb.

”Listen,” I said. ”There will be at least two of them, and they're armed and very dangerous. Be careful.”

”Just sit there and shut up,” said the driver, getting out.

I watched through the front winds.h.i.+eld as he and his partner approached the Navigator, one of them walking in the street and the other on the sidewalk at the pa.s.senger side. They had both unsnapped their holsters. They each moved forward slowly with one hand on their holstered sidearm and a flashlight in the other, aimed at the SUV. I kept thinking they should have drawn their weapons.

The rear pa.s.senger side door opened. I saw one person get out of the vehicle. It was a small person, maybe a woman, although I couldn't tell for sure in the darkness. The patrolman on the sidewalk seemed alert and suspicious. The person seemed to speak to him. The patrolman seemed to relax. He took his hand off his sidearm. I heard him raise his voice. Although I couldn't make out what he said, his partner immediately relaxed as well, also removing his hand from his weapon. The cop on the sidewalk appeared to exchange a few more words with the person standing there, then he and his partner both turned and started walking back toward the patrol car.

When they were about midway between the Navigator and their car, the two front doors of the SUV opened. Both of the policemen heard it and started to turn, but they were too slow. There were two muzzle flashes, one from each of the men who had emerged from the Navigator. Both of the cops went down. The two men from the Navigator walked forward and stood over them. One of the men, the one who had emerged from the pa.s.senger side, fired once more into the bodies of each of the fallen policemen.

They spoke to each other for a few seconds, then they both looked toward the car. I ducked behind the front seat. Since the patrolmen had closed their doors, the overhead light was off. I didn't think the murderers had seen me, but it was possible. I raised my head a little and peeked forward past the driver's-side headrest. One of them was walking toward the car. His gun was in his hand. I ducked again, sliding all the way down onto the floorboard between the front and rear seats, as low as I could go. The front door opened. The light above came on. I waited for the shot.

Instead, I heard a few metallic noises, and then the door closed and the light went off again. A few seconds later, I heard the Navigator engine start. I rose up to peer out through the winds.h.i.+eld just as they drove off.

I rolled onto my back on the rear seat and began kicking at the gla.s.s in the side door. I kicked with both feet at once, slamming the gla.s.s again and again with my heels. At first it seemed unbreakable, but after a couple of minutes, a spiderweb of cracks appeared.

From the front seat, I heard my cell phone's ringtone. It had to be Olivia, calling me on speed dial, knowing they were outside her apartment and counting on me to come.

I kicked harder. The phone stopped ringing. I kicked and kicked, and finally the top part of the gla.s.s gave way. The bottom pieces of the window held on stubbornly. It took another minute to clear them. I rose to my knees on the backseat, stuck my head and upper body out of the window, and pushed with my legs. With my hands cuffed behind my back, there was no way to avoid a hard fall onto the street.

A sharp spike of pain shot out from my cracked ribs, but I rose to my feet as quickly as I could and ran to the fallen patrolmen. Even in the darkness it was obvious each of them had been shot in the head. I turned around and knelt beside the closest one, facing away from him. With my cuffed hands behind my back, working only by touch, I felt for his pants pocket. I figured the keys would be in the right front. I was wrong. I stood and moved to the other side of the body. I knelt again and found another pocket, then pushed the fingers of my right hand in and touched the keys.

I made myself go slowly, drawing the keys out with my fingertips. When they were free of his pocket, they fell to the pavement. Groaning with frustration, I sat on the pavement and felt around blindly until I found them. It took nearly two minutes to select the proper key, fit it into the cuffs behind my back, and turn it.

Freed of the restraints at last, I ran back to the patrol car. I got in and used another key from the cop's pocket to start the engine. The emergency lights were still flas.h.i.+ng as I burned rubber pulling away from the curb, heading for Olivia.

Reaching for the radio handset, I noticed the dashboard video memory chip was gone. So that was why the guy had come over to the car. I lifted the radio handset and spoke into it.

”My name is Malcolm Cutter,” I said. ”There are two officers down. I think they're dead.”

The female dispatcher replied. ”Repeat that.”

”Two policemen have been shot by men driving a black Navigator. They're in the middle of the block on Was.h.i.+ngton, near McLaughlin.”

”Who is this?”

”My name is Malcolm Cutter. They were bringing me in to the station. They stopped a black Navigator with a license-plate number that begins with 5DB. A muddy black Lincoln Navigator. The people in the Navigator shot them.”

”You're saying police officers were shot?”

”That's right.”

”Are you on the radio in their squad car?”

”That's right. I'm going after the shooters.”

”You're driving a patrol car?”

”Yes. I just pa.s.sed Lincoln on Was.h.i.+ngton.”

”Sir, you need to stop the vehicle now and wait for officers to arrive at your location. Where are the officers who were shot? Did you say Was.h.i.+ngton near McLaughlin?”