After a long time, Jack Till came back and leaned on the roof of the car beside her. “If they followed us off the ramp, I didn’t see them.”
He got into the car, took out his cell phone and dialed a number. The phone rang several times before someone answered. “Jay?” he said. “Yeah. I know it is. I thought I should call now, before you go to sleep. I’ve got her with me.” There was a pause. “Soledad. It’s a couple of hours south of San Francisco. We’re driving in.” He listened for several seconds, then said, “We should be there tonight. I want to take her to your office in the morning. From there it’s an easy drive to the DA’s. Can you be there to let us in about seven A.M.?” He listened. “Thanks. And Jay? Don’t tell anybody we’re coming, even if it’s your favorite cop or your lifelong friend in the DA’s office.” He listened. “I know you’re not stupid, but I had to say it. Thanks.” He put away the phone.
“Who was that?”
“Eric’s lawyer. He’s been with me on this. He wanted me to tell you that he’s grateful that you’re coming with me.”
“How about Eric? Have you talked to him?”
“I was there when he got out on bail. He was happy to hear that you were alive, but he doesn’t know that I’ve found you. Jay will try to keep it quiet until you’re there.”
“Will I see him?”
“I don’t know. If you want to, we can try to arrange something.”
“Maybe it’s not such a good idea. I’ll think about it.”
“Ready to let me drive for a while?”
“Okay.” As she got out and began to walk around to the passenger side of the car, there was the loud growl of an engine near the front of the building. Ann instinctively ducked low and crouched in front of the grille. Till had been getting out of the passenger seat, and he kept going and left the door open for Ann. He stepped to the next parked car and stood sideways with his hand inside his coat.
The car’s tires squealed as it came into the lot and past them, came to a quick stop and rocked forward on its shock absorbers. The doors swung open and four young girls got out, laughing loudly at something that had been said inside the car. A moment later a second car’s tires squealed as it made the turn into the lot and then stopped beside the first car. This one’s doors opened and three boys got out.
Jack Till stood close to Ann Donnelly, guided her into the car and slammed the door shut. As he did, he heard another car’s engine come to life on the far side of the building and accelerate onto the street.
Till got into the driver’s side and pulled the car to the edge of the lot. He noticed a sign on the street, placed so that drivers would see it after they took the exit from Highway 101. It said G15. Under it was King City, 12. He pulled out to the right.
“Why are you going that way?”
“If somebody is following us, it’s time to make them show themselves.”
26
I CAN’T BELIEVE IT,” Sylvie exclaimed. “She was actually out of the car, standing up where I could see her perfectly, and I couldn’t get a shot at her.”
“We can’t open up with two carloads of kids standing around watching us do it. We’ve got to have them someplace where there aren’t witnesses.”
“I know that, Paul.”
Paul refused even to look at her. His eyes were on the rearview mirror. She sensed that she had made a mistake.
“There,” he said. “Duck down.”
She slid on the seat so her head was below the window. Paul leaned to the side over her to stay low. After a few seconds, he sat up, fastened his seat belt, and pulled away from the Laundromat where he had parked, and onto the street. “This is good,” he said. “I thought he’d turn the other way to get back on the freeway.”
“Well, he’s not. Where’s he going?”
“He’s taking the back roads. Get ready and maybe there will be a stretch where we can take them before King City.”
Sylvie pulled her hair back into a ponytail and put a rubber band on it to keep it from blowing around if she opened a window. She took her pistol out of her purse and set it on her lap, then began to prepare herself.
This stupid job was turning into an endurance test. It made her cranky and made Paul silent and withdrawn. This was all just temporary, an unpleasant few days. Now maybe she could end it. If she could just get a clear shot at that woman, the job would be over. Paul would drive away, find a place where they could ditch this car, and then take her home.
She leaned close to Paul and stared at the dashboard. “Do you think you can catch them here?”
“We’ve got twelve minutes, maybe only ten if we’re going to speed up to catch them on this stretch of road. Let’s hope it’s dark and empty ahead.” Paul seemed absorbed in his driving, moving beyond the glow of light from the gas stations and the street lamps, and into the dark countryside. They passed a few houses set at increasing intervals, each one slightly smaller than the last, until they passed a couple that had sides of gray weathered boards and windows that had been broken out years ago. The land in this part of the state had once been divided into small farms, but farms were enormous now, all owned by corporations instead of people.
Sylvie gazed ahead at the red taillights in the distance, then looked back for headlights. “There doesn’t seem to be anybody behind us.”
Paul didn’t respond to the hint. He stared ahead at the taillights, but she could detect no increase in his speed.
She held her gun the way he had taught her, with her finger alongside the trigger guard and her thumb where it could feel the safety. She flicked it off, then on again. “Honey, I’d like to take them on this highway. I’m ready to do it now.”
“So am I. But I don’t want them to see us coming. I’ve got to stay back while the road is straight and try to catch them on the curves, where they can’t see us.”
“Come on. If we catch them, then they’ll be dead, and it won’t matter if they saw us.”
“They’ll speed up.”
“Then they’ll be more likely to lose control and die.”
“So will we.”
“I’m willing to bet my life on you. I’ve done it before.”
Paul turned to look at her, and his expression was amused—not exactly fooled by the flattery, but enjoying it. “All right. We’ll give it a try.”
She could feel the car begin to accelerate, and she pressed her back against the backrest as they built up speed. When the car went over a slight rise in the road, it became almost airborne for a second, rising up on its springs and then sitting down again. When there was a dip, the car skipped over the first part and bounced into the upward incline. Sylvie watched the broken yellow line in the center of the road, the dashes looking shorter and quicker every second, until they looked almost solid.
Sylvie stared ahead as the other car went into a curve to the left, and she was glad she had coaxed Paul into making a move. The timing was just about the way he had wanted: He could speed toward them unseen on the curve, and come out practically on top of them. “I’m ready,” she said.
They went into the curve to the left, and Paul held the car to the inside of the lane, his left tires over the dividing line. Sylvie could feel the centrifugal force trying to push the car outward into the black stands of trees to her right. Her seat belt tightened on her and kept her from sliding into the door.
Paul brought the car well into the curve, but then Sylvie saw light ahead on the trees. “Someone’s coming the other way.”
She only had time to say it when she saw the headlights coming at them, and then they flashed past, and she heard a long blare of the horn, the Doppler effect taking it higher on the scale as the two speeding cars diverged. “God!” she muttered. The curve seemed to her to become more severe, but then they were out of it again, going straight. The taillights of Till’s rental car were directly ahead, only a couple of hundred feet away. “Beautiful, baby,” she said.