All Sandy Jones’s remaining strength seemed to seep from her. She slumped meekly in Gaynor’s grasp, which the other woman slackened only slightly.
‘Just tell me who you are, will you?’ Jones asked hoarsely.
‘I’m Detective Gaynor Jackson of the New York Police Department, and if you don’t behave your goddamned self I’m gonna arrest you for assaulting a police officer, you over-educated sap. Whether Dom likes it or not.’
Jones felt completely beaten. Not for the first time in the last few days. What the hell did this mean? Dom’s girl was a cop? No wonder she had been able to find out about Marion’s condition with such apparent ease.
Abruptly Gaynor let go of Jones altogether. Jones had no feeling at all in her left arm, but when she found that she could move again, she began to back off towards her car. She just wanted to get away from Gaynor.
‘Haven’t you forgotten something?’
Gaynor was pointing to the hold-all, still lying on the pavement. Obscurely Jones found herself hoping her laptop hadn’t been damaged when she’d dropped it. She took a few steps back towards Gaynor, watching her all the while, bent down and picked the bag up.
Her brain was beginning to work again, albeit sluggishly, and she didn’t at all like the thoughts which were flooding it. Her fears for Connie’s safety in the care of a former World Series wrestler and his girlfriend were growing greater by the second.
‘I assume it was no accident that neither you nor Dom thought to mention before that you were a police detective,’ she said.
‘No accident at all.’
She was cool. Jones had to admit that.
‘Some people are inclined to react negatively when they find out you’re a cop,’ Gaynor remarked.
‘Yes. Particularly if those “some people” are on the run, and they’re not even sure who they’re running from, but almost certainly, at this stage any rate, it includes the police.’
Gaynor reached out and put a hand on Jones’s shoulder. Involuntarily Jones flinched away.
‘Look Sandy, Dom and I are a team. I trust him. He trusts me. That comes before my job.’
‘Does it? How can it? I’m a fugitive.’
‘Actually no. And neither is your friend Ed. Not from the law I stand for. I make my own decisions. It’s simple. I dislike people who do bad things. That’s why I became a cop. And if people doing bad things, planting bombs and mowing down innocent women in the street, if they operate from within the various forces that are actually supposed to be upholding the law, protecting innocent men and women, then I dislike them even more. OK?’
‘I don’t know. Maybe you tipped someone off about Connie. I can’t believe Dom told you about her. A cop, for heaven’s sake.’
‘Yep. A cop Dom trusts as much as Marion and Connie trust him.’
‘Well, I don’t trust either of you. I want you to take me to Connie now. I don’t want to leave her.’
‘No, Sandy. Get yourself a flight back to London. Get the hell out of here. Take your friend. And do what you can to find out what lies behind this damned awful business. That’s your strength, Sandy. You told Dom that, didn’t you? You might be running, but I guess it’s the right thing for you to do. Let’s face it, you’re not exactly action woman, are you?’
Jones looked away. She could just make out what she thought must be the tail lights of Ed’s car parked around the corner facing down town. She felt defeated. As if whatever she decided to do next was bound to turn out wrong.
A lone black sedan cruised slowly down Wall Street towards them, its headlamps dimmed. Jones was vaguely aware of it, seeing it only out of the corner of her eye, her mind elsewhere. She really didn’t want to leave Connie behind.
The black sedan coasted to a halt, just a few yards away, right behind Jones’s own borrowed vehicle. Its lights dimmed further and then went out. Jones turned around to get a proper look. Even the windows seemed to be matt black. Jones strained her eyes but still could not see inside, even though the spot where the sedan was now parked was quite brightly lit. It dawned on her that the car’s windows were tinted. Jones glanced towards Gaynor. She was looking at the sedan too. Jones followed her gaze as the driver’s door slowly opened. At first nobody emerged. Jones swung round to look at Gaynor again. She watched as Gaynor slipped her hand inside her jacket. With an increasing sense of horror, it dawned on Jones that Gaynor was probably reaching for a gun.
A noise behind her attracted Jones’s attention back to the sedan. A dark-clothed figure flew out of the car in a kind of somersault and landed flat out on the pavement. Jones thought that only happened in the movies. She hadn’t realized real people did it.
‘Freeze,’ yelled a male voice.
The dark-clothed figure was holding a pistol in both hands, in the regulation police grip, and the pistol was aimed at Jones.
Jones froze. For the second time in just a few minutes. Her gaze was locked on the man on the ground. There was quite enough light for her to be able to clearly see the man’s face. Jones recognized him at once.
She managed to swivel her eyes towards Gaynor without moving her head.
‘You bitch,’ she said, as she watched Gaynor draw her handgun and level it. ‘You’ve set me up.’
‘Don’t be a dork,’ said Gaynor.
Jones realized then that Gaynor was aiming her weapon directly at the man lying on the pavement.
‘Do not even think about it, asshole,’ Gaynor yelled. ‘Pull that trigger, and you’re dead too.’
The man swung his pistol so that it was pointing at Gaynor.
Jones retreated cautiously into a shadow. This was a stalemate, she realized. Gaynor and the man lying on the pavement were now aiming their weapons at each other. Neither of them was looking at Jones any more.
This was her chance to escape, but she couldn’t get to her own vehicle without moving directly into the line of fire. She began to shuffle slowly backwards towards the cross street where Ed was waiting in his neighbour’s car.
‘I’m NYPD,’ she heard Gaynor yell at the top of her voice. ‘Drop your weapon, asshole. Now!’
‘I’m FBI. Drop yours.’
‘Yeah? How do I know you’re FBI? And why would I trust you anyway?’
‘Oh shit,’ said the man lying on the ground.
Jones had backed away almost to the street corner. Hoping that the two adversaries were too engrossed in their battle of nerves to notice, she turned, and began to run full out.
Almost at once she heard a gunshot. Quickly followed by a second shot. Then she thought she heard a scream. She glanced back over her shoulder, but she couldn’t see what was going on. In any case she was in too big a hurry to care much.
She reached Ed and his car within seconds, wrenching open the passenger door and throwing herself and her bag in.
‘Drive,’ she shouted. ‘Just drive.’
Ed stared at her, slack jawed. He looked terrified.
‘I heard shooting,’ he said. ‘What happened back there?’
‘I’ll tell you later.’ Jones shouted even louder, ‘Drive! Now!’
The vehemence with which she delivered the instruction seemed to do the trick. Ed switched on the engine and slammed his right foot on the accelerator. The little car took off with a screech of rubber, hitting the pavement and then bouncing into the middle of the road.
‘Oh fuck, oh fuck,’ said Ed.
Jones glanced back over her shoulder.
‘It’s all right,’ she said, as calmly as she could manage. ‘Just take it steady. There’s nobody on our tail.’
Ed slowed a little.
‘Where am I going?’ he asked suddenly.
‘Anywhere for now, as long as it’s away from here,’ Jones replied, unconsciously echoing what Dom had said after she and Marion had been targeted by the Chevy truck.