Authors: Iris Johansen
“Where?”
“Not unless you promise me that you won’t go until after dark, when you at least have a chance of not being seen.”
“No problem. I assure you that we don’t want interference either. Where?”
“When you get over there, drive north on Mission Gorge Road. Just after you pass marker 6, it’s down the hill on the left.”
Kendra pulled out her phone and tapped in the instructions. “You’re positive about this?”
“Yes. I thought I might be going back out there myself, so I was careful to remember exactly where it was. Warning. It still won’t be easy making your way down that hill.”
“Just as long as we find that bag at the bottom of the slope.” She turned and moved back toward her car. “Otherwise, you can expect another visit from us.”
Mission Trails Regional Park
San Diego County
THE SUN HAD JUST SET OVER
the arid expanse of land just east of the city. The Mission Trails Regional Park was over five thousand square acres, and was popular among hikers and campers. And, apparently, Robert Schultz.
“This probably isn’t one of your better ideas,” Beth said, as they exited the I-8 freeway. “Rooting around in an unfamiliar wilderness area after dark, searching for a bag of stolen evidence. And what color did he say the bag was?”
“Black.”
“Of course it is.”
“I’ll actually be happy if it’s hard to spot.”
“Happy?”
“It would improve the chances of that bag’s still being there and not having been picked up by a curious hiker.”
“And what are the chances of that CEO being totally full of it?”
“I believed him. He knows we can make things uncomfortable for him in a very public way. The threat of public exposure is clearly what has motivated him to make all the decisions he has.”
Beth gazed at the dense foliage that suddenly lined the roadside. “Right now, I’m wishing he had made a few different decisions.”
“I just hope that when we find that bag, there’s something there that makes all this worthwhile. I’m beginning to have my doubts.”
“A gift from Eric Colby … What could it be?”
“I don’t know. It was important to him that I look inside the houseboat myself. He had faith I would see and recognize it, whatever it was. When I went there and didn’t come up with anything, I was afraid he might have overestimated me.”
“That’s not likely. He underestimates you. That’s how you got him in the first place.”
She grimaced. “But he’s had years to prepare for the rematch.”
“It won’t make any difference.” Beth hesitated before continuing. “I’ve been reading up on the Eric Colby case and how you finally got him.”
“A little light reading before bedtime.”
Beth shrugged. “I only had to read it, you had to go through it. You actually hid underneath the bodies of his victims and waited for him to walk past. I can’t imagine how terrifying that must have been. Then you fractured his skull with a rock.”
“That’s right.”
She hesitated. “If you had it to do over again, would you have…” Her voice trailed off.
“… would I have finished him off?”
“Yes.”
Kendra drove in silence for a moment. “I could have done that very easily. The FBI chief you met yesterday, Griffin, thinks I’m feeling guilty for not killing Colby when I had the chance. He thinks that’s why I’m so obsessed with him. The truth is … Given the information I had at the time, I would have done the same thing all over again. I had every reason to think he could never hurt anyone ever again.”
“But with the information you have now?”
“Now … I don’t know.” She thought for a moment. “Sheila Hunter would certainly be alive if I’d finished him off. Just another swing or two with that rock would have done it. When I thought he’d been put to death at San Quentin four months ago, I have to admit that I felt relieved. I have mixed feelings about capital punishment, but it felt good to think that Eric Colby was no longer walking the Earth.”
“I completely understand,” Beth said thoughtfully. “There are monsters out there, and some of them have given up the right to share the planet with us.”
“If you listen to the FBI and the cops, Colby has already been wiped from the face of the Earth.” She glanced at Beth. “Which is why I appreciate your believing in me. I’ve given you very little reason to think that I’m right and everyone else is wrong. I’ve made a few mistakes since you came on the scene. And yet, here you are. Thank you, Beth.”
“And I haven’t made any mistakes since you guys got me out of that institution? We’re only human. We learn every day. I believe you said something like that to me once.”
“And I’ve had more experience than you. I should have listened to my own philosophical advice instead of getting so intense and emotional. This Colby business has gotten me completely off track.”
“You’re not off track as long as it leads to Colby. And you’ve earned my loyalty and support.” She smiled. “Of course, I may be cursing you when we’re wandering around that hillside in the dark.”
Kendra stiffened as her gaze lifted to the rearview mirror. “We may have a more immediate problem. We’re being followed.”
“Shit.” Beth instinctively glanced back over her shoulder. “Are you sure?”
“I wasn’t sure.” She moistened her lips. “I didn’t want to be sure. I thought it could be my imagination because Schultz was paranoid about being followed. I was going to give it until we made that last turn to decide.” She nodded at the headlights in the mirror. “There it is. Brown Chevy. Maybe a Caprice.”
“How long has it been following?”
“I’m not certain. Whoever is driving is very good.” Her hands tightened on the steering wheel. “A long time. Maybe since the time we left the condo.”
“Then no park rangers like Schultz thought were following him.”
“No park rangers.”
Beth looked back again. “Colby?” she whispered.
That was what Kendra had been thinking. “Possibly.” Her heart was beating hard. “We know he might be watching me. Maybe he’s decided to take the next step.” Was the car getting closer? “Damn, I wish you weren’t along.”
“Don’t
say
that,” Beth said. “You only want me along if everything is sunny and safe? I’m in this for the long haul. There’s moonlight. Slow down after you take the next curve and I’ll try to get a glimpse of the driver when he comes around the curve.”
“The headlights will—”
“Just try.”
Kendra pressed the accelerator and sped to the next curve. When she rounded the curve, she slowed. She saw the lights before the Caprice made the turn. How would Beth be able to see anything once—”
Then the Caprice made the turn at high speed.
It was almost on top of them!
“Go!” Beth said.
Kendra was already tearing down the road, leaving the Caprice behind.
“I told you that you wouldn’t be able to see with those headlights glaring at us.”
“But I did.” Beth said, looking behind her. “I wasn’t sure either, but I found out something. I couldn’t make out any of the details of the driver’s appearance.” She paused. “But I was able to see shapes.
Two
shapes. There are at least two people in that car. Maybe more. I couldn’t make out anything about the backseat.” She glanced back at Kendra. “Would Colby be traveling with anyone?”
Kendra shook her head. Relief was pouring through her. “He’s a loner.”
“Then it’s not Colby.”
“No.” Not Colby. No confrontation yet. She glanced up at the rearview mirror. “But whoever they are have stepped up their speed. They don’t want to lose us.”
“Not rangers, not Colby. Care to guess who—”
“No time for guessing.” Kendra weighed her options. Confronting the people in the car was out of the question, especially since she had no idea with whom they were dealing. Giving them the slip also wouldn’t be easy, either, on this somewhat isolated road.
Beth squinted at the small roadside sign ahead. “This is marker six.”
Kendra pressed hard on the accelerator. “Whoever they are, I don’t want to lead them to that bag. We’ll double back as soon as we figure out how to lose them.”
“Any idea how to do that?”
“I’m working on it.”
Kendra poured on another burst of speed, putting a bend in the road between them and their tail. The Caprice was hanging back about a quarter of a mile now, but she’d stretched the gap slightly. She looked ahead, searching … There was a small mobile-home park on the right, and beyond that, nothing.
“Hang on,” she said. “This is going to be a little rough.”
Kendra cut the wheel hard right and spun into the trailer-park entrance. She gave the accelerator another jolt. Her wheels kicked up a cloud of dirt and gravel as they sped toward the back of the park. She braked hard and cut the lights.
Silence.
A few seconds later, the Caprice roared past the entrance.
Kendra drew a deep breath and turned toward Beth. “It won’t take them long to realize what we did. They’ll be back.”
“So what’s the plan?”
“You’re acting as if I have one. I’m reacting purely on instinct. We’ll stay off the road and work our way down the hill from here. We can get back to the marker in just a few minutes.”
They threw open the doors and ran the length of the trailer park. They climbed a chain-link fence and worked their way down a steep hillside until they hit the relatively level desert floor.
Kendra motioned back toward the winding road. “This way.”
Beth cursed as the low branches scratched her face and caught in her hair. “Not so fast. Where did that moonlight go? It’s pitch-black now. I can’t see my hand in front of my face. I’m getting mauled here.”
“It’s okay. Just follow me.
Kendra darted in and out of the bushes and low trees, leading Beth over a clump of boulders that took them past the curve in the road above.
Beth grabbed Kendra’s arm to steady herself. “I can’t see, dammit. Did that surgery give you night vision, too?”
“Hardly.” Kendra was breathing hard, too. “You probably see better than I do.”
“Then how are you doing this?”
“Instinct. The air around objects feels differently to my hands and face. And there are aural differences when you’re faced with something as opposed to open air. Ask any blind person. It’s called acoustic wayfinding. It usually only comes in handy for me these days when I get up for glass of water in the middle of the night.”
“It’s obvious I’ve never developed that instinct.” She was looking around her. “But I think my eyes are getting used to the dark.”
“Good. Believe me, that works better.”
“How much farther?”
Kendra glanced up at the road. “We should start looking after another hundred yards or so. Be careful, it looks like there’s cactus on the ground here.”
They made a wide arc around a clump of cactus plants and pushed on, running alongside the hill that led up to the road fifty feet above.
“Damn.” Kendra pointed to the jagged hillside. “I hate to say it, but that bag could have gotten snagged anywhere on the way down.”
“Hey, I’ve got an idea. Let’s wait until Schultz gets back into town, and we’ll make him climb for it.”
“No time. And remember, you’re the one who wanted to play detective.”
“Don’t remind me. You know, I could be playing darts in a central California biker bar right now. More comfortable and less dangerous.”
“We both could be. After this is over, I say we—” Kendra stopped in the middle of the path.
Beth stopped with her. “What is it?”
“Get down,” Kendra whispered.
They crouched behind a large boulder. Kendra looked up. “Did you see that?”
“I didn’t see anything.”
“Look!” Kendra pointed to a pair of headlights gliding to a stop on the roadside above. The lights stayed on while two men climbed out of the car and looked down.
Kendra and Beth held their breaths and watched the men for a long moment.
“Who in the hell are these guys?” Beth whispered.
Kendra shook her head. The men were still only shadow figures. “I think the tall one is using binoculars. I don’t see a night-vision glow on them, so I think we’re okay.”
Almost simultaneously, bright flashlights powered on in the men’s hands. The high-wattage beams played across the hillside and darted over the brush where Kendra and Beth had been just moments before.
Kendra and Beth retreated behind a cluster of desert shrubs and watched as the flashlights continued to play over the area.
Kendra stiffened. “There it is.”
“What?”
She peered into the darkness. “I think I saw the bag. One of the flashlight beams went right over it.”
“Show me where.”
Kendra pointed to a spot at the bottom of the hill, about twenty yards from where they were hiding. Now that she knew where to look, she could see a reflection from the flashlight beams on the shiny black plastic. “It’s there.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.”
At that moment, both men suddenly started down the hill.
“Shit,” Kendra said.
“Go get the bag,” Beth said.
“Are you crazy?”
Beth nodded toward the men, who were half sliding down the steep hill. “They’re using their flashlights to light their way down. Go now. I’ll meet you back at the car.”
“And what about those very determined guys who will try to intercept me?”
“Just get the bag and get out of here. They won’t be coming after us.”
“How do you know?”
“See you back at the car.” She disappeared into the bushes.
Kendra tried to stop her, but Beth was already sprinting toward the hill, several yards away from where the two men were still descending. What in hell was she thinking?
But one glance told Kendra that Beth was right about the men’s being focused on climbing down the hill. Now was her chance.
She sprinted toward the spot where the flashlight beam had briefly illuminated the bag’s shiny-plastic surface. Nothing but scrub brush and ground-cactus plants. Had it been just a trick of the light?
No. There it was!
She bent low and moved swiftly toward the bag.
She could hear curses and the sound of the men above her half sliding down the hill.