Shadow Man (46 page)

281

here.” I lean into the officer and let him see just how pissed off I am. I whisper, “If this woman gets hurt because you were thinking with your dick, I’ll fucking eat you alive, understand?”

To his credit, the officer’s look of apology appears genuine and ungrudging. He nods.

“What’s the plan, ma’am?” This from Agent Decker, bringing us back to the business at hand.

I push away my anger. “We’re going to keep it simple. One on the roof. One outside the elevator. Two in here with myself and Agent Thorne. The guy on the roof will alert us to anyone coming in from the street. Elevator guy will be able to confirm whether or not that same person exits onto this floor. Those inside are here for the takedown. You have the equipment we’ll need?” I ask Decker.

“Yes, ma’am. Earpieces and throat mikes. Weapons.”

“Including a sniper rifle for the roof work,” says one of the SWAT officers. I nod. “Good. I want to stress: It’s important that you don’t draw attention to yourself. We have evidence that one or both of our unsubs has been tailing me. If either of them suspects anything, they’ll bolt.” I look at each of them. “Any questions?”

They all say no. “Get in position then. Stay alert, but settle in for a long wait.”

43

T
HIS, I THINK,
is indicative of this job I do. It causes my life to be governed by outside influences, to race toward sudden leads. The irony isn’t lost on me. I hate to be forced to do
anything ,
yet I have chosen a profession that does just that on a regular basis. When you are hunting a killer, there is no schedule. The timetable is simple: The longer he is out there, the higher the death count climbs. You go until he’s caught. So I find myself here, sitting in the apartment of a woman who displays her sexual adventures for a living, willing to wait as long as needed in the hopes that either Jack Jr. or his partner will show. I look over at Callie. She is sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table, watching a talk show on TV with Leona while both of them eat popcorn. This is one of the traits Callie has that I love and admire. She can live in the moment, relaxed, and yet spring into action like a whip crack. It’s a talent I have never had.

I look at my watch. It’s now nine-thirty. I check in with the SWAT officer on the roof, who I now know as Bob. “Anything anomalous, Bob?”

His voice crackles in my ear. “Not yet, ma’am.”

I cock an ear, eavesdropping on the conversation between Callie and Leona.

“Let me ask you this, honey-love. What happens when you decide you want a man in your life again?”

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283

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you change the lifestyle you’re living?”

Leona ponders this. “It would depend. Lots of people meet in non-monogamous settings. The odds are against it, but it does happen. I suppose if I didn’t find that, I’d have to wait until I decided to quit before I went looking. I made a promise that I’d never make a huge and sweeping change of my life for a man. Never again.”

“Interesting subset of problems though, don’t you think?”

“It’s unique to the lifestyle I follow, that’s for sure.”

I tune them out. Callie has a voracious interest in what makes others tick. She always has.

This is the schedule. The way it goes. And not just here. Everyone is still working back at the office. Everyone shares the burden and the responsibility. Everyone will share the guilt if he kills again before we catch him. Bob’s voice crackles in my ear, pulling me away from my boredom and musings. “Male, about six feet tall with dark hair, entering the building. Dressed in some kind of uniform. I can’t make it out.”

“Copy that,” the guy at the elevator—Dylan—replies. I look around at Callie and Agents Decker and McCullough. They nod, letting me know they’ve heard. Moments pass.

“Male matching that description just exited the elevator, heading toward the apartment,” Dylan reports. “I confirm uniform, say again, I confirm he is in the uniform of a pest-extermination company.”

“Copy that,” I say. My heart pounds, and the dragon stirs, excited.

“Stay where you are to block possible escape, Dylan.”

“Copy that.”

“Bob, I’ll let you know if he gets past us. I may call on you to take a shot.”

“Copy that. I’m cocked and locked.”

I look at Leona. “It’s him.”

She nods. She looks excited, wired. She doesn’t, I notice, look afraid. A knock comes on the door. I motion to Leona. She walks up to the door and looks through the peephole, one last double-check. Turns to me and shakes her head. She doesn’t know him. I give her a nod.

“Who is it?” she asks.

“ABC Exterminators, ma’am. Sorry for the late hour, but the building owner called us out on an emergency basis. Something about rats. I need to come in and check out your place. It’ll only take a few minutes.”

284

C O D Y M C F A D Y E N

“Um . . . okay. Hold on a moment.”

She looks back at me. I motion her into her bedroom. I pull my weapon, as do Callie, Decker, and McCullough. I hold up a hand, giving a three-count on my fingers. One . . . two . . . on three, I throw the door open wide.

“FBI!” I yell. “FREEZE!”

My gun is about two feet from his face. I get a good look at his eyes and see the emptiness I’d been imagining. He drops the clipboard he was carrying and raises his hands above his head.

“Don’t shoot!” he says. He sounds startled, the way you should with a gun in your face, but something in me feels uneasy, because his eyes aren’t startled at all. They are busy. Looking, weighing, thinking.

“Do
not
move,” I say. “Put your hands behind your head, and get down on your knees!”

He fixes his gaze on me, licks his lips. “Whatever you say . . . Smoky.”

I have a millisecond to be alarmed at his use of my name. He moves like a savage wind, stepping first to one side and then straight into me. His hands move in separate directions, one pushing my gun aside, the other slamming into my face. I am flying backward, seeing stars, and the millisecond passes.

I land on my back on the floor and struggle to get up. I’ve managed to hold on to my gun.

He is still moving, some kind of ultrapractical form of martial arts, all power and uniformly devastating. As with me, he moves into his targets, and all his punches and kicks are short and brutal. It’s not flowery, but it’s effective. I watch as Agent Decker gets elbowed in the jaw, note with dizzy interest that two of his teeth don’t just fall out, they
shoot
out, like two bullets, and then I hear Callie, cold as ice, saying, “Move, and I’ll fucking kill you.”

Everything that had been in motion becomes still. Suspended. Because Callie now has her gun at his forehead. His eyes dart around in rage and then he is being body-tackled by Agent McCullough, and by Dylan as well, who’s arrived from the elevator lobby to join in on the fun.

I register that I am bleeding, and that I am dizzy. Very dizzy.

“Honey-love, are you all right?”

I stand up, staggering. “I’m fine—”

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And then I fall back down. I don’t pass out, but I sit straight down on my ass.

The perp is screaming at me. “You stupid
whore
! Useless cow! You think this means anything? This means nothing! Nothing! I’ll still—”

“Jesus
Christ
!” I yell. “Shut
up
—or I’ll shoot you in the leg. Dylan, McCullough. Book him and gag him, please.”

Dylan grins at me but slaps the cuffs on our guy and takes him out into the hallway to search him and read him his rights.

“How are you now?” Callie asks, concerned.

I shake my head, testing. “Not dizzy anymore. Okay, I think. How’s my face look?”

“He did a number on your lips, honey-love. You have that ‘I don’t use collagen, I just beat my face against a wall’ look.”

This makes me jump to my feet, alarmed. “Decker!”

“Over here. I’m okay.”

I see him standing. He’s using a wall for support. He has a handkerchief against his mouth, which is soaked through with blood.

“Whoa,” I say. “You need to see a doctor.”

“I need to see a dentist,” he moans. “Fucker knocked out two of my teeth.”

“Callie.”

She flips open her cell phone. “Calling the EMTs now, honey-love.”

The door to Leona’s bedroom opens, just a crack. “Is it safe to come out?” she asks, voice quavering. “Is everyone all right?”

I look around at her living room, taking in Decker and his bleeding mouth, the splintered coffee table, and it hits me. Adrenaline doesn’t just shoot through me, it explodes.

“WE GOT HIM!” I yell.

Callie and Decker both jump and stare at me. Callie grins. Decker tries to.

“Everything is fine, Leona,” I say. I look toward the doorway. “Everything is just great.”

I crack my knuckles. My lips ache.

But the dragon is thrashing, roaring, and gnashing her teeth.
Feed me,
she’s hissing.
Let me crunch on his bones
. I lick my upper lip and taste my own blood. That should keep her satisfied for now.