“Everyone, eyes open! Find Raven.” McElroy grabbed Duncan’s shoulder, gripping it harder than he realized. “Replay the feeds for Zetas Five and Four. He’s got to be there somewhere.”
Duncan started with Five’s view first, picking it up fifteen seconds before Raven would make his turn. The target was walking at the same pace as before, moving around those who had stopped in the road, and getting out of the way of those moving faster than him. Then, just before he reached the intersection—
“Play that back,” McElroy said.
Duncan did as ordered and McElroy studied the screen.
“Look there,” Duncan said. “He hesitated.”
Indeed, Raven had. It had been only for a second, but it was a definite hesitation. Why would he…
McElroy’s breath caught in his throat as a possibility occurred to him.
It can’t be, he thought. To Duncan, he said, “What time did he pause?”
Duncan checked his computer screen. “6:06:17.”
“And when did Hawk get taken down?”
Another check. “6:06:15.”
Shit.
“What happens when he gets to the corner?”
Duncan started the video again. Right before Raven arrived at the corner, he reached up, grabbed the top of his jacket, and started to pull.
“What’s he doing?” McElroy asked, more to himself than anyone.
Duncan replied by switching over to the recorded footage from Zeta Four. The area that Four had been tasked to cover ranged from the corner to where the road angled slightly right about fifty feet before the restaurant. This, unfortunately, meant there was a section of dead space, about three or four feet in length, right at the corner — if one kept tucked to the wall.
Apparently Raven had.
He should have appeared immediately on screen, but there was no one there.
“Where the hell is he?” McElroy said.
Duncan seemed flustered. “I don’t know…he should be—”
Before Duncan could complete his sentence, someone appeared down near the end of the street for a fraction of a second before heading back onto the other road. Duncan stopped the video, rewound several frames, and zoomed in.
Raven.
“He must’ve taken his jacket off when we grabbed Hawk,” Duncan said, surprised. “But how could he know?”
The digital tag had keyed in on Raven’s jacket — its material, color, size — and that’s what each of the other surveillance rigs would pick up on. Without it, the spotters would have to make their own visual identification until a new tag was created.
Feeling his gut clench again, McElroy keyed his mic. “Raven is on the loose, heading east on Rue de la Huchette. All teams move in to intercept!”
The feeds from the spotters’ cameras began bouncing up and down, as the men hustled to reposition themselves so they could try to get eyes once more on Raven and assist the grab team.
McElroy barely maintained composure as he waited for someone to spot the target.
Finally, Zeta Three called in. “I’m on Huchette, east to Rue Saint-Jacques. I don’t see him anywhere.”
“He must have made it out already,” McElroy said. “Everyone fan out. Check taxis, buses, pedestrians. He’s got to be out there. We can’t let him slip through.”
But after five minutes of no further sightings, McElroy feared his instincts had been correct.
After ten, he knew it.
Raven was gone.
Chapter Two
Even the tensest situations, the sound of Deuce’s voice was reassuring. At that very moment, he was shouting breathlessly in Alexandra Poe’s wireless earpiece.
“Look alive,” he said. “He’s coming your way!”
“Good,” Alex whispered.
Barely a second later, she heard Charlie Wright’s footsteps pounding toward her down the alleyway. He was repeating something under his breath like a mantra, his tone panicked, but she couldn’t make out the words.
Then a second set of footsteps entered the far end of the alley — Deuce, his ragged breaths still in her ear as he followed Wright, cutting off any potential retreat. Wright must have heard him, too, because the mutterings became louder and more frantic. “Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God. Oh, God.”
It wasn’t the most original plea Alex had ever heard, but people like Wright weren’t exactly known for their creativity.
She waited until he’d closed the distance between them to a couple dozen feet, then she stepped out from behind the Dumpster and pointed her Taser at him.
“Hold it right there, Charlie.”
“Holy shit!” Wright cried.
He was big man who wouldn’t have looked out of place on the front line of a football team, so stopping wasn’t exactly a simple thing. He tried to skid to a halt, but stumbled over his own feet and fell onto the cracked asphalt.
Alex shoved her Taser into its holster as she rushed over, and then jumped onto his back, straddling him before he even had the chance to roll over. Grabbing his arms, she pulled them toward her so she could cuff his wrists with a plastic zip tie, but he suddenly shoved upward and tried to stand.
Out of sheer instinct, Alex threw an arm around his neck so she wouldn’t fall off. He clawed at it, gasping for air, and twisted around in a circle until he was able to knock her to the ground.
With a thick splash, she landed half in, half out of a muddy, water-filled pothole, groaning in pain as her left butt cheek hit the jagged edge of the pavement.
“Jesus!”
As Wright started to run again, she pushed herself back to her feet, and grabbed for her Taser, only to find that her holster was empty. The weapon must have fallen out during the rodeo ride on Wright’s back.
She scanned the ground, looking for the familiar shape.
“Dude,” Deuce yelled, “for chrissakes, stop! You are not doing yourself any favors!” He slowed as he came abreast of Alex. “You all right?”
“Fine,” she said, waving him on. “Just go get him!”
Deuce nodded and took off after Wright.
As Alex whipped around, still looking for her Taser, her gaze settled on the pothole she’d fallen into.
“No,” she said, hoping her instinct was wrong.
Crouching next to it, she plopped her already muddied hand into the water. A moment later, she closed her eyes and scrunched her face. “Son of a…”
She pulled the waterlogged Taser out of the puddle, and angrily shoved the now useless weapon into its holster, this time snapping the restraining strap into place. Then she lit out after Deuce and Wright.
Both men were out of sight, but she could hear Deuce still breathing heavily in her earpiece.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Turn left…at the end of the alley.”
“You still on him?”
“Ten-four.”
Maps. Directions. Layout. These were things Alex had a particular talent for. Study a map for a few moments and it would be committed to memory. So she knew it would only be a couple more minutes before Wright reached Norris Boulevard, the main drag in this little Maryland burg.
Not exactly the most discreet place for a takedown, but what choice did they have?
When she reached the end of the alley and turned left, she could see both Wright and Deuce ahead. A part of her had hoped Wright would be kneeling on the ground, out of breath, but the big man was still running, albeit at a much slower pace. Deuce, leaner and in better shape, had closed to within fifty feet of him and had his Taser out.
“Stop!” Deuce called out. “Right now!”
Ignoring the pain in her gluteus maximus, Alex sprinted down the road in a burst of speed faster than even her partner could achieve, but she was still a half block back when Wright suddenly turned and lunged toward Deuce.