Extreme Measures (14 page)

“Doesn’t need to be for me to enjoy looking at her. So this Agent Prescott, he the one who took you down the first time?”

How could the guy remember the details of Stuart’s arrest? Or know any of them? He’d only told one person. Stuart’s train of thought derailed. Damn. He’d told Arlin. Now the question was how much had Arlin told Billy Chambers?

“His name is Giles. Matt Giles not Prescott.” Stuart shifted the conversation. “I guess Erin decided neither his name nor our family name was good enough for her anymore.”

Billy cackled. “She done went underground, hiding out like she’s on some sort of TV movie of the week.”

“Look, you weren’t sent here for a kill. Get lost before the Marshalls find you.” The threat hung heavy in the air. Stuart wasn’t above placing an anonymous call.

Though he hesitated for a moment, Billy finally chuckled again. “You wouldn’t draw any attention to me because you’ll be in the spotlight, too.”

“But you only know one way to get out of Attica. If they take me back, I can escape again, and this time, I’ll make sure Arlin keeps his mouth shut. So if you want a real good head start, you’ll get the hell out of here because the next call I make is to the boys in blue.”

Billy fell quiet, obviously considering Stuart’s words. “I know how to find your sister.”

The ace got Stuart’s attention. “I’m listening.”

“Her little neighbor has given me some pretty good information. What if I bring her to you? We’ll be square then?”

“More than square. But I’ll come to you.” He needed to keep the upper hand, let Chambers be the one to wait and wonder when the axe was going to fall. The bastard had to know that an escaped convicted rarely remained free. “How soon until you can get my sister?”

“She’s only a phone call away.”

Time ticked by so slowly Erin thought she was going to crawl out of her skin. Searching for ways to keep herself occupied, she took another shower. Paced. Dried her hair. Paced some more. The cops outside the door knocked, offered her something to eat again, and she refused. Her stomach wouldn’t tolerate any food. It was barely keeping down the water she knew she needed to drink.

She tugged a purple t-shirt over her head and yanked it down over the waistband of her low-rise jeans. Noticing her trembling hands, she held them aloft. They continued to shake, and goose bumps popped up along her forearms.

A low trilling sound drew her attention to her purse. Frowning, she crossed the carpeted floor on bare feet. Matt had taken her cell phone so what in the world…? Her thoughts squelched when she dug into the main compartment of her purse and discovered the flip phone she used for business only. It vibrated against her palm as she removed it.

Only Sara had the number as Erin had wanted to keep her personal life separate from her business life. Not that she’d actually had much of a social life. Diverting her concentration back to the phone, she stared at the caller’s number. It looked vaguely familiar, with a local area code, but most numbers she had stored in her other phone’s memory. So her caller wasn’t identified. Still…it could be important.

Going with her instinct, she opened the fold. “Hello?”

“Erin, is that you?” Hal’s timid voice made her knees go weak.

“Hal, thank God you’re safe, but how did you get this number? Never mind. It doesn’t matter. Where are you? I’ll let the police know, and they can go get you.”

“Well, that would be nice, Erin, but it’s a little too late for your friend to be rescued.”

Panic ripped through her, and Erin sank onto the floor, the phone clutched tightly in her hand. It was the same voice she’d heard earlier. Somehow he’d gotten this number. No, not somehow. He’d found Sara. Hal would have known how to find her. He’d called her before when he couldn’t find Erin.

Calling upon every ounce of strength she had, Erin pulled her fist away from her mouth and responded. “There’s no need to hurt him. He’s not a part of this.”

“You don’t think so?” A guttural laugh made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. “He’s a witness, Erin, and your brother might be sloppy enough to leave witnesses behind, but me? Well, that’s just not something I do. Like that little friend of yours. Her name was Sara, right? It doesn’t matter. She won’t be telling any tales out of school.”

“Please.” Her stomach twisted into a million knots, but she couldn’t focus on what had already happened. There was nothing she could do to help Sara, but Hal was still alive. She might as well have been pleading to a brick wall, but she had to try. “It’s me you want. Let him go and…” The words stalled in her throat, but she forced them out. “And I’ll come to you.”

“And here your brother thought this would be difficult. He just doesn’t have any imagination. I tell you what. You get your pretty little ass in a cab and get on down to East Bay Street. I’ll call you back in ten minutes. If you’re not in the cab by then…” He let the sentence trail off.

Erin scrambled to her feet and began the frantic search for anything she could use as a weapon. “I need more time than that. I’m in a hotel with cops outside my door. I have to get past them.” She dumped out the contents of her purse, located a sharp-pointed nail file, a small can of hairspray, and clippers which she stuffed in the pockets of her jeans. As an afterthought, she snagged her keys. The alarm connected to the ring could help alert someone to her whereabouts.

“That sounds like a personal problem to me, sweet thing. Ten minutes.”

The old woman’s body lay crumpled on the kitchen floor, blood running into her eyes and nose. A large gash on her forehead gave clear indication to cause of death. Matt knelt down next to her. He heard footsteps behind him, soft-soled shoes on the blood-spattered linoleum.

The police assured him the woman hadn’t been in the house when they’d checked it out. He didn’t doubt it. Billy Chambers would know enough to hide when he heard sirens or caught a flash of a badge.

“The coroner’s on his way, but we’re guessing time of death occurred within the last two hours. The body’s still warm.”

Matt tried to listen to the fresh-faced cop supplying the details, but he kept seeing the inmate photo of Billy Chambers that Jacob had sent to his phone. Picturing the man here, his meaty hands gripping the old woman so tightly she probably couldn’t have screamed if she’d wanted to.

His jaw snapped. If the woman had only been dead a couple of hours, Chambers might still be nearby, in hiding. Matt’s head jerked up, and he excused himself to head to the terrace.

His steps wooden, he jumped the divider separating the terraces the two apartments and tried the knob on Erin’s back door. It didn’t turn. Using his elbow, he broke one of the glass panels and reached through to release the security lock.

Everything looked as pristine as she’d left it. Not a dish in the sink or a pillow out of place. If anyone had been in there, they’d been extra careful not to touch anything.

His .9 mm drawn, he searched the apartment room by room, checking underneath the beds and in the closets until finally satisfied that no one was there.

“Agent Giles?”

He whirled, his gun still at the ready. The uniformed officer with the captain’s bars on his shirt held up one hand. “Sorry, but we’ve been tracking Hal Wimberley’s cell phone since you first called us with the number. We just got a hit. It just pinged off a tower near East Bay Street three minutes ago.”

Matt holstered his weapon and snapped the leather strap into place. “Where’s that?”

“Downtown.”

“How big is the zone area?” Matt retraced his steps to the back door.

“About half a mile, give or take.” The captain fell into step behind him. “The call didn’t go through so we didn’t get much more than the one quick blip.”

“I’ll see if our IT department can get us more information. Thanks.” His call to the tech division went through swiftly, but still not fast enough for Matt. He’d made it back to the car before the gruff voice of the computer tech came back on the line.

“Okay, sir. Looks like the last call made was about three minutes ago to an unregistered cell number so it must be a pay as you go phone. Cell towers at East Bay Street and Calhoun Street picked up the outgoing call.”

Matt lowered the phone and gave the cop his attention. “What’s at East Bay and Calhoun…?” His gaze dropped to the name plate. “Captain Samuels?”

Samuels frowned. “Well, there’s a business complex on one side, and a little up the road on Calhoun is the Charleston Public Library.”

Matt shook his head. “He wouldn’t choose a library. Chambers will want open spaces, a way to see who’s coming at him. The book shelves in a library afford too many shielding opportunities for police. He wouldn’t take that risk. How many offices are in the complex?”

“Not sure. It’s a big building. I’d say close to 6,000 square feet. I’ll get you the leasing information.”

“Our tech can do it.” He relayed the information and waited impatiently while the computer genius rattled off a list of businesses located inside the complex. Twelve. And any one of them Billy Chambers could have commandeered.

Did he have hostages now besides Hal, or had he thrown away the scared little man for a full office? More hostages meant more leverage, but it still wouldn’t get Erin to him.

“I’m going to need the number that Wimberly’s cell phone called.” Matt wrote down the information, thanked both the tech for his help, and headed to his car. “If Hal Wimberly is still alive, he won’t be for long, not with all of those business people in that building. They’ll give him more leverage than one man.” And a man who wasn’t very much of a threat at that.

“We’ll get SWAT over to the building.”

“Not yet. I don’t want to spook him. Just get your guys on standby. I’ll let you know when.” Behind the wheel, he dialed Hal Wimberley’s number.

Billy Chambers answered on the first ring, saying nothing other than, “Yeah?”

“You’re wasting your time, Chambers. You’re not getting anywhere near Erin Prescott.”

“Really? Then how come I know she’s on her way to see me right now?”

Chapter Eleven

It had been easier to slip away from the police officers than she’d thought. All she’d had to do was tell them she didn’t want their protection, that she needed to find Matt. They had no reason to hold her, and Erin had dashed to the front lobby of the hotel and was in the back seat of a cab within seven minutes of Billy Chambers’ call. But she felt no relief.

She hadn’t won anything. Instead, she’d only ensured her death. If Billy Chambers didn’t intend to kill her, it was only because he was waiting for Stuart. And she didn’t even try to fool herself into thinking she could convince her brother to let her go or turn himself in. Not after seeing the picture.

Stuart had harbored a grudge against her far too long for one conversation to make amends. This trip was merely a means to an end for him, a stop on his way to freedom, or maybe a final act before his own life was taken. For a moment, though, she wondered how different his life would be if he’d walked away from the drugs instead of saying yes.

How many lives would his sobriety have saved? Would she still be married to Matt? The question formed a lump in her throat. She’d watched her marriage decay after the death of her parents. No, not watched, helped. She did nothing to try to save it, had neglected her vows until there was nothing left for Matt to do but walk away.

For so long she’d blamed him for not giving Stuart a chance, for not helping her when she needed him the most. For being an FBI agent instead of just her husband. Now, she saw what her eyes wouldn’t see back then.

Matt’s years of service had given him more wisdom into the mind of criminals than she could ever hope to have. He’d known there would be no reasoning with Stuart, that no DA would go easy on him when he had the blood of two innocent lives on his hands. Drug rehab wouldn’t have worked for someone who clearly wasn’t interested in breaking cocaine’s hold.

Her eyes stung with tears. She wished she’d left Matt a note, taken the time to say goodbye. Told him she’d never stopped loving him. One of the tears slipped down her cheek, and she knuckled it away.

If she was going to die, she wouldn’t do it in tears. Stuart would have to take his pound of flesh without seeing her fear. She wouldn’t give him that luxury.

The cell phone rang again, and she answered it immediately, her heart lurching. “Yes?”

“What in the hell are you doing?” Matt’s voice, both panicked and angry, boomed in her ear. “Get back to the hotel now, Erin.”

She gripped the phone so tightly it creaked. “I wish I could.” Now that she could hear his voice, she could tell him everything she’d wanted to, let him know how much his desire to protect her meant to her. But the words stuck in her throat, and the tears began to fall in earnest.

“You can! Are you driving?”

“No.” She forced the one word out.

“In a taxi?”

“Yes.”

“Then give the phone to the driver.”

“Matt, don’t. There’s nothing you can do here.”

“Did Chambers tell you Hal was alive? If he still is, he won’t be much longer. Guys like him don’t let witnesses live, Erin. He didn’t let Hal’s mother live. That was what the call was about earlier. The police found her on her kitchen floor. She’s been dead for a couple of hours which means Hal isn’t far behind. Chambers is cleaning up, getting things ready for your brother.”

Pain sliced her heart. Hal would be defenseless without his mother. He wouldn’t have anyone to stand up for him, protect him. “I have to do this for him. He would do the same for me.”

“Dying isn’t noble.” He shot back the response in a furious growl, but Erin recognized the full-on horror behind the words. Matt’s terror was so palpable she could almost reach out and touch it.

“I never claimed it was, but protecting those you love is just something you do. You, of all people, know that.”

“We protect; we don’t go on suicide missions. And that’s what this is. The moment you get to East Bay Street, you’re as good as dead.”

“How did you know about East Bay Street?” Erin held her breath. Did he know where she was going? Was there a chance he could get to her, to Hal, before something happened?