James Grippando - Born to Run

“I told you I did.”

President Keyes nodded, turning very serious. “The truth is that my worst fears have been realized.”

“How so?”

“Frank Madera killed Phil Grayson.”

Harry’s mouth fell open. “How do you know?”

“He just confessed to me. He said he’s going to turn himself in to the FBI immediately.”

“I can’t believe this.”

“Think about it. Frank was in Florida when Phil died. He was head of his security detail. He had access to and control over everything Phil did, everyone he saw, everything he ate, everything he drank. It’s entirely plausible that he overmedicated Phil, so to speak, which caused the heart attack.”

Harry took a moment. “That’s a lot of information you just gathered from a half-minute phone conversation.”

“Much of it is deduction on my part.”

“I don’t understand the motive. Why would Frank Madera kill the vice president?”

“Like I mentioned to you before, Phil had his thing with Chloe Sparks when she worked for him. Things were heating up between the two of them again. Don’t quote me on this, but it’s beginning to sound to me like some kind of deadly vice president, Secret Service agent, girl-gone-wild triangle.” The president glanced at the television, then back at Harry. “And this Demetri character seems to have figured it all out.”

“Incredible,” said Harry.

“Incredible, yes,” said the president, wondering how much of the story Harry was really buying. “And yet entirely plausible.”

The telephone rang in the FBI command center. It was another star-69 return call from Demetri. Andie answered on the second ring.

“Do you have protection for Sofia yet?”

Andie hesitated. The worst thing for any negotiator was to be caught in a lie, but she could tell from Demetri’s tone that there was only one acceptable answer.

“Yes,” she said.

“Good girl. Let me speak to her.”

“She’s not with me.”

“You said you had her, liar!”

“No, you asked if I had protection for her, and we do.”

“Don’t play word games with me! Where is she?”

“Everything’s cool, all right? I’m going to follow up right now and prove it to you. I can call you back in ten minutes with an update.”

“You’ve got five minutes, and counting, to put Sofia on the line. Or I start shooting.”

He hung up on her.

Andie’s hand trembled, but not for long. As quickly as she could, she dialed Theo’s number.

Theo couldn’t hear his cell phone ring over the sounding alarm, but he felt the vibration in his pocket. He kept running, leading Sofia by the hand.

Theo had backtracked halfway out of the dark alley when he thought he’d heard reinforcements coming. His only choice was to push onward, and in a blind alley, that meant breaking through the mom-and-pop grocery store. A single gunshot to the door lock had done the trick-and triggered the alarm.

“Keep moving!” said Theo.

An orange beacon swirled overhead, and a shrill pulsating alarm assaulted their ears as they raced up the aisle and past the bread and cereal. Sofia was keeping pace, just barely, as Theo pulled, more than led, her past the checkout lanes and to the entrance doors.

“Stand back!”

Sofia ducked as Theo fired a shot at the sliding glass door, shattering it into thousands of pellets of safety glass that scattered across the floor. Theo grabbed Sofia, and together they ran through the busted door and out into the parking lot.

A police siren sounded a few blocks away. Theo stopped and faced Sofia, a hand on each of her shoulders, as he tried to talk sense into her. “We should stay right here and let the police find us.”

“No!”

“That’s the safest thing.”

“If Demetri thinks I turned myself in to the police, he will never listen to me. And then I’m no help to your friend or those other hostages.”

The siren was getting closer, and the old woman had a point. Some folks were raised to trust cops, but Theo hadn’t grown up in that neighborhood.

“This way,” he said.

He led her across the parking lot to the street. A pizza delivery car was rounding the corner. Theo threw himself down in the middle of the lane, flat on his back, as if he were dead.

“Flag him down! I’m hurt and I need to go to the hospital.”

“You’re hurt?”

“Just do it!”

Sofia waved her arms at the approaching set of headlights. Theo watched with eyes wide open and his ear to the pavement. The delivery car didn’t seem to be slowing down. Sofia waved more frantically. The car only sped up, and when it was close enough for Theo to read the spoof license plate-DRIVE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT-Theo rolled into the gutter. The car zipped past him, a split second away from turning him into roadkill.

“Asshole!” said Theo-though he knew that in Miami he was lucky if the guy didn’t back up and try to kill him on the second pass.

Theo jumped to his feet, grabbed Sofia by the hand, and led her across the street. The siren blared even louder, and Theo could see flashing police beacons in the intersection up the street. No way would the cops arrive at the scene of a break-in and ignore the black guy standing on the sidewalk. They needed to get out of sight and fast. Just then, Theo noticed a second pizza delivery car parked outside the strip mall.

“The pizza joint!” said Theo.

They hurried across the parking lot to the little storefront pizza parlor. The sign in the window said OPEN TILL 4 A.M., and they’d just made it. A bell chimed as Theo yanked the door open, and they ducked inside. Behind the counter, an old man was tossing a giant Frisbee of dough high into the air, singing along to “Saturday in the Park” by Chicago.

Theo walked up as if nothing had happened. “Medium pepperoni, two Cokes, one with extra ice, and the key to your bathroom.”

“Takeout only,” he said. “Dining area’s closed.”

“No problem, dude.”

Theo glanced out the parlor window and saw police cars pulling up to the grocery store across the street. “We really need to use the bathroom.”

“They’re in the back.”

“Perfect,” said Theo.

“You’ll need a key.”

“Even better,” said Sofia.

“Men’s or women’s?”

They answered simultaneously, Sofia saying “Men’s” and Theo saying “Women’s.”

The pizza chef looked at the two of them as if they were the strangest couple he’d ever seen, and he handed over both keys. Theo led Sofia into the men’s room and locked the door. It was a small room with a pedestal sink and a single toilet. Sofia put the lid down on the toilet and took a seat. Theo checked his cell and found a missed call from Andie. He dialed her back.

Andie said, “I have three minutes to get Sofia on the line with her ex-husband.”

“You’re in luck,” said Theo. “She’s right here with me.”

“Thank God. Stay on the line, I’m going to do a three-way. Oh, one other thing, I’m going to identify you as Agent Knight. You’re Sofia’s assigned bodyguard.”

“Sofia says he won’t trust her if he thinks she’s with the cops.”

“Just trust me on this. No time to explain. Can you put your cell phone on speaker?”

Theo laid the phone on the sink and hit the speaker feature.

“How’s that?” he said.

“Good,” she said. “Sofia, this is Agent Henning. Can you hear me?”

“Yes,” she said weakly.

“You’ll need to speak up. I’m going to do a three-way conversation with you, me, and Demetri. I have about fifteen seconds to coach you, so listen to what I’m saying. You cannot promise him anything. You should ask him to surrender, and that’s it. If things start to go badly, I will drop you from the call. Understood?”