Tess Gerritsen - Whistleblower

Courage.

In the pale light of dawn, Savitch stood outside Jack Zuckerman’s house. Through the fingers of morning mist, Savitch studied the curtained windows, trying to picture the inhabitants within. He wondered who they were, in which room they slept, and whether Catherine Weaver was among them.

He’d find out soon.

He pocketed the black address book he’d taken from the woman’s apartment. The name C. Zuckerman and this Pacific Heights address had been written on the inside front cover. Then the Zuckerman had been crossed out and replaced with Weaver. She was a divorcee, he concluded. Under Z, he’d found a prominent listing for a man named Jack, with various phone numbers and addresses, both foreign and domestic. Her ex-husband, he’d confirmed, after a brief chat with another name listed in the book. Pumping strangers for information was a simple matter. All it took was an air of authority and a cop’s ID. The same ID he was planning to use now.

He gave the house one final perusal, taking in the manicured lawns and shrubbery, the trellis with its vines of winter-dormant wisteria. A successful man, this Jack Zuckerman. Savitch had always admired men of wealth. He gave his jacket a final tug to assure himself that the shoulder holster was concealed. Then he crossed the street to the front porch and rang the doorbell.

At first light, Cathy awakened. It wasn’t a gentle return but a startling jerk back to consciousness. She was instantly aware that she was not in her own bed and that something was terribly wrong. It took her a few seconds to remember exactly what it was. And when she did remember, the sense of urgency was so compelling she rose at once from bed and began to dress in the semidarkness. Have to be ready to run…

The creak of floorboards in the next room told her that Victor was awake as well, probably planning his moves for the day. She rummaged through the closet, searching for things he might need in his flight. All she came up with was a zippered nylon bag and a raincoat. She searched the dresser next and found a few men’s socks. She also found a collection of women’s underwear. Damn Jack and all his women, she thought with sudden irritation and slammed the drawer shut. The thud was still resonating in the room when another sound echoed through the house.

The doorbell was ringing.

It was only seven o’clock, too early for visitors or deliverymen. Suddenly her door swung open. She turned to see Victor, his face etched with tension.

“What should we do?” she asked.

“Get ready to leave. Fast.”

“There’s a back door-”

“Let’s go.”

They hurried along the hall and had almost reached the top of the stairs when they heard Jack’s sleepy voice below, grumbling: “I’m coming, dammit! Stop that racket, I’m coming!”

The doorbell rang again.

“Don’t answer it!” hissed Cathy. “Not yet-”

Jack had already opened the door. Instantly Victor snatched Cathy back up the hall, out of sight. They froze with their backs against the wall, listening to the voices below.

“Yeah,” they heard Jack say. “I’m Jack Zuckerman. And who are you?”

The visitor’s voice was soft. They could tell only that it was a man.

“Is that so?” said Jack, his voice suddenly edged with panic. “You’re with the FBI, you say? And what on earth would the FBI want with my ex-wife? ”

Cathy’s gaze flew to Victor. She read the frantic message in his eyes: Which way out?

She pointed toward the bedroom at the end of the hall. He nodded. Together they tiptoed along the carpet, all the time aware that one misstep, one loud creak, might be enough to alert the agent downstairs.

“Where’s your warrant?” they heard Jack demand of the visitor. “Hey, wait a minute! You can’t just barge in here without a court order or something!”

No time left! thought Cathy in panic as she slipped into the last room. They closed the door behind them.

“The window!” she whispered.

“You mean jump?”

“No.” She hurried across the room and gingerly eased the window open. “There’s a trellis!”

He glanced down dubiously at the tangled vines of wisteria. “Are you sure it’ll hold us?”

“I know it will,” she said, swinging her leg over the sill. “I caught one of Jack’s blondes hanging off it one night. And believe me, she was a big girl.” She glanced down at the ground far below and felt a sudden wave of nausea as the old fear of heights washed through her. “God,” she muttered. “Why do we always seem to be hanging out of windows?”

From somewhere in the house came Jack’s outraged shout: “You can’t go up there! You haven’t shown me your warrant!”

“ Move! ” snapped Victor.

Cathy lowered herself onto the trellis. Branches clawed her face as she scrambled down the vine. An instant after she landed on the dew-soaked grass, Victor dropped beside her.

At once they were on their feet and sprinting for the cover of shrubbery. Just as they rolled behind the azalea bushes, they heard a second-floor window slide open, and then Jack’s voice complaining loudly: “I know my rights! This is an illegal search! I’m going to call my lawyer!”

Don’t let him see us! prayed Cathy, burrowing frantically into the bush. She felt Victor’s body curl around her back, his arms pulling her tightly to him, his breath hot and ragged against her neck. For an eternity they lay shivering in the grass as mist swirled around them.

“You see?” they heard Jack say. “There’s no one here but me. Or would you like to check the garage?”

The window slid shut.

Victor gave Cathy a little push. “Go,” he whispered. “The end of the hedge. We’ll run from there.”

On hands and knees she crawled along the row of azalea bushes. Her soaked jeans were icy and her palms scratched and bleeding, but she was too numbed by terror to feel any pain. All her attention was focused on moving forward. Victor was crawling close behind her. When she felt him bump up against her hip, it occurred to her what a ridiculous view he had, her rump swaying practically under his nose.

She reached the last bush and stopped to shove a handful of tangled hair off her face. “That house next?” she asked.

“Go for it!”

They both took off like scared rabbits, dashing across the twenty yards of lawn between houses. Once they reached the cover of the next house, they didn’t stop. They kept running, past parked cars and early-morning pedestrians. Five blocks later, they ducked into a coffee shop. Through the front window, they glanced out at the street, watching for signs of pursuit. All they saw was the typical Monday morning bustle: the stop-and-go traffic, the passersby bundled up in scarves and overcoats.

From the grill behind them came the hiss and sizzle of bacon. The smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted from the counter burner. The aromas were almost painful; they reminded Cathy that she and Victor probably had a total of forty dollars between them. Damn it, why hadn’t she begged, borrowed or stolen some cash from Jack?

“What now?” she asked, half hoping he’d suggest blowing the rest of their cash on breakfast.

He scanned the street. “Let’s go on.”

“Where?”

“Hickey’s studio.”

“Oh.” She sighed. Another long walk, and all on an empty stomach.

Outside, a car passed by bearing the bumper sticker: Today is the First Day of the Rest of Your Life.

Lord, I hope it gets better than this, she thought. Then she followed Victor out the door and into the morning chill.

Field Supervisor Larry Dafoe was sitting at his desk, pumping away at his executive power chair. Upper body strength, he always said, was the key to success as a man. Bulk out those muscles pull! fill out that size forty-four jacket pull! and what you got was a pair of shoulders that’d impress any woman, intimidate any rival. And with this snazzy 700-buck model, you didn’t even have to get out of your chair.