Concrete Evidence (44 page)

Jake, Marco, Daisy, and Erica were alone in the cavernous train station.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY-
S
EVEN

“
A
N AGENT WAS POSITIONED
at Medical Center station,” Pratt said. “As soon as he heard Kesling was moving toward the Bethesda station, he took a chance and caught the next train. He was in the end car, and we caught a lucky break—Kesling jumped in the last car—the same one the agent was already on. When Delgado switched cars and made contact, the agent couldn’t radio without blowing cover, so he opened his mic.”

Lee was at the keyboard, frantically trying to hack into the Metro security-camera system. “Is Erica okay?” he asked.

“Delgado and Novak took a girl hostage and are using the girl to control Kesling.” He held up a hand as he received more information. “They’re getting off at Van Ness.”

His fingers flew over the keyboard. In seconds, he opened the Van Ness camera feed.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t see you do this, Scott.”

He ignored the agent and watched as a train pulled into the station. Only the doors on the rear car opened, telling him the FBI was in contact with the train operator. Three people stepped onto the platform, one of them carrying a small girl.

“He’s got a gun to her back,” he said, pointing to the grainy scene as Novak pushed Erica toward the escalator.

“The agent on board said both men have guns.”

The escalator was broken. Sweat broke out on Lee’s brow as he watched the foursome slowly climb the stairs. They paused, and Jake pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Erica. A phone? They spoke for a moment; then she held the item to her ear.

His stomach dropped when his cell suddenly rang.

D
AISY CRIED FOR HER MOTHER
, and Marco shook her. “Shut up.”

Erica reached for her. “Please, let me carry Daisy.”

“No,” Jake said, pressing the gun into her spine. “Get moving.”

She approached the escalator to the mezzanine level, which was broken and wondered if it had been shut down to slow their progress out of the station. Was the FBI on the next level?

Jake held out her cell phone. “Call your boyfriend. Tell him to meet you at the DuPont Circle Starbucks in twenty minutes with cash and a car.”

“He won’t do it. He thinks I’m working for you.”

“He’ll do it.”

“How are we going to get to DuPont Circle in twenty minutes?”

“Call.”

She dialed while Jake prodded her up the stairs. If the mezzanine was also empty, Marco would realize the station had been evacuated because the FBI knew they had taken Daisy hostage.

“Erica?” Lee said, his voice an urgent plea.

She stopped and closed her eyes, the sound of his voice ripping through her. “Lee.”

“Move,” Jake said.

She didn’t dare take another step. She was terrified of what Marco would do when he discovered the next level was empty. “I’m innocent,” she said into the phone.

“I know,” Lee said. “I’ve always known. Listen, the FBI has snipers at the top of the street-level escalators. If you can, get yourself and the girl out of the way.”

How did he know what was going on?

Jake reached for the phone, “Put it on speaker.”

She jerked away from him and said into the phone, “I love y—”

Marco ripped the phone from her hands and spoke to Lee. “We need a car, and we need money. Meet us in front of the DuPont Circle Starbucks in twenty minutes. For every minute you’re late, Erica loses a finger. Tell anyone and she’s dead.” He closed the phone and threw it onto the empty train tracks below. “That should keep him and the FBI busy. Stupid fucks.”

“We aren’t going to DuPont Circle?” Erica asked, stalling.

Jake shoved her up the stairs. “Hell no.” The station was eerily quiet. The mezzanine level was empty and all the faregates open.

“What the fuck?” Marco said, looking around. “Where is everyone?”

Jake grabbed her hair and pulled her head backward. Her scalp burned with pain. “How the fuck did you do it?” He ripped open her shirt, then twisted her arm behind her back. “Are you wearing a wire?”

“No.” She couldn’t help it, she whimpered in pain.

Daisy began to scream, her yells echoing in the vast empty space.

“You stupid fuckwit,” Marco snarled at Jake. “She set us up.”

“How did they know to evacuate the station?” Jake asked as he twisted the bun at the nape of her neck and tightened his grip on her arm, ratcheting up the pain by slow, intense degrees.

She sucked a breath and managed to say, “The kid with the headphones. On the train. I think he’s FBI.”

He threw her down.

She hit her chin on the floor and tasted more blood.

“The punk must’ve already been on the train when she boarded,” Jake said.

“Fuck. We’re trapped down here.”

Jake and Marco couldn’t see her hands as she climbed on all fours to get up. She pulled the heart-shaped rock from her bag and held it in her palm so it wouldn’t be obvious to either man. Her middle finger fit within the V of the heart, giving her a firm grip on the smooth stone.

Jake yanked her to her feet, then pulled her back against his chest. Pressing the gun to her temple, he bit her earlobe.

She took shallow breaths as they inched toward the long escalator to street level. They passed through the open faregates and reached the bank of escalators, all of which were stopped.

A voice came over the public-address system: “Jake Novak, Marco Delgado, Erica Kesling, release the girl and climb the escalator with your hands up. Every exit is blocked, and armed agents are in the tunnels.”

Jake tightened his grip around her waist. “They think you’re one of us, Cream Puff. Your only hope now is to flee with Marco and me to Mexico.”

She jerked away from him. “No!”

He slapped her across the cheek so hard she spun in a circle and nearly dropped the rock.

Marco tucked his gun in his waistband and held Daisy against his chest in a two-handed grip. “We’ll go up single file, the
chica
in the lead.”

The bastard intended to use Daisy as a shield.

Jake took his position behind her. He groped her breasts, then ran the barrel of the gun across her temple. He slipped the weapon into her mouth. “This is what I wanted to do to you when I realized you were screwing Scott. I saved your life in Mexico, but you fucked
him
.”

The gun tasted like blood and fear, and a strange acceptance settled over her. The nightmare was over. Her breathing slowed, evened out. She closed her eyes and waited for Jake to squeeze the trigger.

She hoped Lee had heard her say she loved him, and wished she’d said the words more—to him, to her mother. Had she ever told her mother she loved her? Needed her? Or had she locked that part of her away when her father died? Another regret. One among thousands.

Daisy screamed, a loud shriek that echoed throughout the empty station, and Erica’s eyes flew open. Marco held the girl high in a rough grip, blocking his head, preventing a clear line of sight from above as he stepped onto the escalator.

Almost without thought, she jerked her head backward, dislodging the barrel from her mouth and head butting Jake in the nose. She pulled her trowel from her back pocket and sliced behind her, catching Jake across his thigh; then she shifted forward and slammed the heart-shaped rock into the base of Marco’s skull.

Jake yanked her arm, whirling her around. She jabbed the trowel deep into his belly. He took a step backward, shock on his face, and she twisted toward Marco, who had staggered forward and dropped Daisy. He swung around to face her. She kicked him in the head and used the momentum of the spin to smash the rock into Jake’s jaw. He teetered but managed to stay on his feet.

Her head jerked back. Marco’s fingers had slithered into her bun. He twisted the knot of hair. She yanked the trowel from Jake’s belly and stabbed backward over her shoulder toward Marco’s head while shifting her weight and kicking Jake in his wounded gut. Trowel and foot met their targets at the same moment.

Painful yells eclipsed Daisy’s hysterical cries.

Jake doubled over. Erica turned to see she’d opened Marco’s face from eye to chin. Blood seeped between his fingers. She slammed the rock into his neck, trying to shove him aside so she could get to Daisy, who lay at the bottom of the escalator, screaming.

He didn’t budge. Instead, his fist caught her ear. She rocked backward as pain exploded in her skull.

He reached for the gun at his waistband.

She kicked out and dislodged the weapon, which clattered to the floor. The force of her blow sent him backward. Daisy screamed louder as he wobbled above her.

Erica dropped the trowel and grabbed his shirt, catching him just before he fell. She pulled him closer and rammed her knee into his crotch, then shoved him away from the escalator, away from Daisy.

Daisy’s eyes widened as they fixed on something over Erica’s shoulder. Erica turned. Jake’s face was ashen. With one hand, he held his stomach; the other still held the gun, which he slowly lifted.

She stood directly in front of Daisy. One shot could kill them both. She flung herself to the side to draw the gun away. The barrel followed the arc of her body.

A shot exploded through the hollow station. The sound reverberated for several long moments, then faded into utter silence.

Both men crumpled to the ground.

It took her a moment to realize the shots had come from above and were simultaneous.

She crawled toward Daisy as men and women in flak jackets flooded the top of the escalator. She hugged the little girl, whose screams had given her strength to take on Jake and Marco. “You were so brave. So brave,” she murmured to the girl. “Your mommy will be here soon. She’ll be so proud of you.”

In moments, an FBI agent stood above her. The woman tried to take Daisy from her arms, but the girl clung to her and cried harder.

“Can’t we wait for her mother?” Erica asked.

The agent nodded.

Several minutes later, Daisy’s mother arrived. She dropped to her knees and hugged both Daisy and Erica at the same time. “Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for saving my baby.”

She passed Daisy into her mother’s fierce grip, then faced the undercover FBI agent who had been on the train. She held out her hands, and, as she expected, he cuffed her.

C
HAPTER
F
ORTY-
E
IGHT

L
EE WATCHED THE AFTERMATH
at the Metro station in shock. He was winded, drained; his body ached as though he’d fought the armed drug dealers along with her. “I need to be there.”

“You can’t talk to her until she’s been debriefed,” Agent Prick said.

“Sonofabitch!” JT said, pointing to the monitor. “She’s been cuffed.”

“We have a warrant for her arrest. We were waiting until after Novak and Delgado contacted her to serve it.”

Lee didn’t hesitate. He spun and punched the agent with a hook to the cheek, dropping the man to the floor.