“Got it,” Ty said.
“Meanwhile,” Nancy said, “maybe Kelli will find out about this bust some way and just decide to walk away now. She’ll figure out that Isabel was rescued. And with Isabel safe, there’s no reason for her to hang around with Donnie Martin anymore.”
“If she finds out about the bust and if she’s allowed to simply leave,” I said. “Neither of those is automatic-at least not right away.”
She thought about this. “Where else would they be?”
“My guess is if they find out about the bust, they’ll either run past the house on Fortieth-it’s Donnie Martin’s residence-or else they may hightail it to the neighborhood where they’re originally from.”
“Central District?”
I nodded. “Yeah. They might figure that they need to lay low. Someone over there would probably take them in.”
“They wouldn’t take Kelli there, would they?”
I shook my head. “I can’t see why they would. They’d probably just jettison her when they find out what’s happened.” I didn’t want to consider the fact that in the event they decided they didn’t want any witnesses, things could go badly for Kelli. The thought made me shudder.
Nancy nodded, thinking. Then she said, “That makes sense. I’ll tell Ty to alert the East Precinct. We can get-.” Suddenly, my cell phone rang, interrupting her. Caller ID: Doc.
“What’s up?” I said.
“They just pulled up,” Doc said. I turned and whispered to Nancy. “Donnie Martin just drove up to the house on Fortieth.”
Everyone turned to me and froze.
“Who all is there?” I asked Doc.
“Martin, Hollins, Crystal, and Kelli.”
“Outstanding.”
“What?” Nancy said.
“Donnie Martin and DeMichael Hollins plus Crystal Wallace and Kelli.”
“Dude,” Doc said. “They’re moving shopping bags.”
“They’re what?”
“They’re moving shopping bags,” he said.
I turned to Nancy. “They’ve been shopping.”
“Do they seem nervous or alarmed?” I asked Doc.
“No. They’re just standing around talking, shooting the shit.”
I turned to Nancy. “They don’t even seem to know there’s been a raid here. We need to move fast before they put in a phone call and figure it out.”
She nodded. “Got it.”
“Good work, dude,” I said to Doc. “We’ll be right there. If Donnie Martin leaves before we get there, follow ’em. But we’ll be there in under ten minutes.” I hung up.
Nancy put two fingers in her mouth and gave a surprisingly loud whistle. “I need everyone who’s scheduled to take part in the next takedown to assemble here, now!” She shouted. “We have new information. If you’re not involved in the search or the transport of those guys, we need you over here real quick,” she yelled out to the officers.
“Ty! Call in and get these guys some more backup to help process this gang.”
“Right!” Ty said.
Nancy assembled her troops. There were twelve officers in six patrol cars. She pointed to three patrol teams. “We’ll all head out of here north on Brooklyn.”
“We’re in the park,” one of the officers said. “Shall we just shoot through?”
“Absolutely,” Nancy said. “You all use the park if you’re blocked. We’ll all shoot across Sixty-Fifth together. We’ll go in Code 3 until we get to Thirty-Fifth but after Thirty-Fifth, lights only. This is important-I want no sirens east of Thirty-Fifth. Everybody understand?”
The nine men and three women nodded.
“Good. We’ll make two groups.” She pointed to three patrol officer teams. “You, you, and you-approach from the south. Tyrone and I will lead you guys in. Our group will turn on Thirty-Fifth, go down the street and around the block so we can come up on Fortieth from the south. Last guy in, seal off the street. You, you, and you-,” she pointed to the other three patrol teams, “you approach from the north. Come in off Sixty-Fifth and turn right on Fortieth-straight shot in. Last guy in, seal the street off. You guys coming in from the north-you have a shorter way to go, so don’t come around the corner until you see me pulling up. The subject house is only three or four houses from the corner.” She turned to me. “Is that right, Danny?”
“That’s it,” I said.
She turned back to the officers. “I don’t want you getting there ahead of us. We have confirmation that Donnie Martin, DeMichael Hollins, and Crystal Wallace are there, along with another female who is not part of the investigation. And all of you-remember-assume that they’re armed and dangerous. Be careful. Any questions?”
There were none.
“Let’s go,” she said. We all sprinted toward our cars.
Chapter 27
Nancy and Tyrone gave the patrol officers a few seconds to make it back to their cars and get going. Then, the two of them jumped into her silver Crown Vic and burned rubber pulling out-she drove. She hadn’t made it clear where she wanted us. Since we were civilians, most likely she wanted us in the back, safely out of harm’s way. But then again, she hadn’t actually said anything. Since we were parked right behind her, I took off as soon as she left and fell in right on her bumper. I never liked being in the back.
The patrol car that had been blocking traffic onto Brooklyn from the north had already swung out across Sixty-Fifth and stopped, blocking traffic for us. Nancy took advantage of this as she switched on her lights and siren and rounded the corner onto Sixty-Fifth. “Hold on,” I yelled to Toni as we blew around the corner behind her. Six more patrol cars followed, right behind us, all with lights flashing and sirens on. Talk about an adrenaline rush! I hadn’t been “Code 3” since my earliest CID training days. Part of the curriculum was serving six months as an MP-for me, this meant at Fort Lewis near Tacoma. Occasionally, we’d been involved with a chase-usually of a soldier who’d had a little too much fun at one of the local drinking establishments. The MPs on gate detail take a dim view of soldiers who crash through without clearance.
As we hustled eastbound, I noticed that Northeast Sixty-Fifth Street gradually changed character from almost pure residential where we started to almost pure commercial by the time we crossed Twenty-Fifth Avenue Northeast. We picked up speed. Ten blocks later, we slowed again as we reached Thirty-Fifth. It had taken about two minutes to cover the mile between Brooklyn and Thirty-Fifth. As we reached the intersection, I hit the speed dial on my cell phone for Doc. I put it on speakerphone and when he answered, I said, “How we looking?”
“They’re all still inside,” he said.
“Good. We’re only a few blocks away now.”
“I know. I can hear you. You guys gonna turn them sirens off?”
At that moment, Nancy turned her siren off, and everyone else followed suit. I smiled. “How’s that for service?” I asked, as we made the turn southbound on Thirty-Fifth.
“Cool. See you in a minute.”
I watched in the rearview mirror as three patrol cars followed us onto Thirty-Fifth while the other three went straight through the intersection.
“You ready to go get Kelli?” I asked Toni.
She nodded. I saw her hand gripping the door, tightly.
I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder. “She’ll be fine, Toni. Those guys don’t even know we’re coming. They won’t know what hit ’em.”
She nodded. “I hope so. I’ll be glad when it’s over.”
I glanced at her. I don’t think she gets scared-or at least, not to the point where it incapacitates her. I’ve seen her in action plenty of times. Focused? Yep. Pissed off? Sometimes. Scared? Never. That said, having her little sister in a threatening position was clearly getting to her.