David Morrell - The Covenant Of The Flame

Mallory slumped against a desk and shook his head. 'Brother, brother, brother. Okay. So we've got a problem. Fine.' He straightened. 'So we'll fix it. The first thing is, you phone Alexandria Homicide and tell them everything you know.'

Craig stared. 'No, I don't think so.'

'What?'

'I'm not sure getting in touch with them is a good idea. Not yet, at least.'

'I gave you an order!'

'Look, if she's alive… and Tony took a call a while ago that makes me think she is… she's on the run. She's being hunted. If we tell Alexandria Homicide and they start looking for her, whoever wants to kill her will monitor the police radios. The moment they find out where she is, they'll do their damnedest to get to her before the squad cars do.'

'Stop thinking like her boy friend, Craig, and act like a cop. She needs protection, for God's sake!'

'I am thinking like a cop. You know as well as I do! No matter how hard the Alexandria policy try, they can't guarantee her safety anymore than we could! If someone wants to kill you bad enough… and what happened last night proves how determined these people are… nothing can stop them.'

'But you think you can stop them,' Mallory said.

'What I think I can do is bring her in quietly, safely.'

'John Wayne to the rescue.'

'Give me a break,' Craig said. 'Whatever's going on, it's not like anything I've ever come across. These people are vicious. They're organized. They're determined. And they love to play with fire. I don't know why they want to kill her… maybe something they're afraid she knows… but they've proven they'll take down as many people as they have to in order to get at her. The moment she comes out of hiding, if she asks the Alexandria police for help and word gets around, which it's bound to, she's dead. I think Tess has figured that much already. It explains why she decided to avoid the police.'

'You're theorizing.'

'No. Otherwise, Alexandria Homicide wouldn't have called you, wondering what I know that they don't know.'

'Okay.' Mallory debated. 'That makes sense. But you've still got to talk to them. This isn't just a matter of one department cooperating with another. You've got to explain what you think's going on. Otherwise you're concealing information about multiple felonies, and you know what happens to people who do that. You're not a bad guy, all things considered, but that doesn't mean I like you enough to visit you in prison. Pick up that phone.'

'No. Wait. Please. Just give me a few more minutes.'

'What are you hoping? That she'll call you?'

'Right. Then maybe I will have something to tell the Alexandria police. She trusts me. So maybe we can figure out a way to bring her in safely.'

The phone rang on Tony's desk. Before Craig could stand and get to it, Tony picked it up.

'Missing Persons… Just a minute.' Tony extended the phone toward Craig.

'It's her?' Craig asked.

'No. Alexandria Homicide.'

Craig froze.

At once another phone rang, and this time Captain Mallory picked it up. 'Missing Persons. Yeah, you bet. Right away.'

Craig glanced from one phone to the other in bewilderment.

'Better take it,' Mallory said. 'It's a woman, and the way she says your name, it's like she's in trouble and she needs help from God.'

Craig lunged for the phone.

'Tess, is that you?'

At the sound of Craig's voice, Tess felt her knees weaken. Jesus. At last!

After having nervously backed the sleek, black, Porsche 911 from the spacious garage next to Mrs Caudill's mansion, she'd felt naked with fear. Her right hand had trembled as she'd changed gears, driving from the secluded, expensive neighborhood.

She'd passed few cars, but that had only made those few cars more suspicious. There was too great a chance that the killers would have left a sentry in the area. Repeatedly she'd checked her rearview mirror. No one seemed to be following her. But when she left the exclusive neighborhood and increased speed onto a crowded four-lane thoroughfare next to which laundromats, quick-food restaurants, and video stores blighted the area, she realized that in the dense traffic she wouldn't be able to tell if a car pursued her.

Worse, her own car – costly and ostentatious – was a liability. In her youth, she'd overheard her father's conversations on the telephone. Just make sure , he once had said. Whatever car they use, it can't be fancy. It has to blend .

Well, this car certainly didn't blend. Passing drivers in non-luxurious vehicles assessed the Porsche with envy.

Damn, she thought and clutched the purse beside her – the pistol within it – for reassurance. When she saw the telephone booth at the edge of the crowded parking lot of a shopping mall, she braked to a stop beside the booth, hurried from the car, fumbled a credit card from her wallet, grabbed the receiver, and again phoned Craig's office.

'Yes,' she breathed. 'It's me. I tried to call you earlier.'

'I thought that might have been you. Thank God, you're alive. I was so afraid…'

'They burned… They killed my mother .'

'I know, Tess. I'm sorry. You must be… When I see you, I'll try to… I can't make the pain go away, but I'll do my best to share it. What's important now is that you weren't killed as well.'

'Not yet! But they'll keep hunting me! I'm terrified that I'm being followed. What am I going to do? Whoever's after me will watch the local police station. I can't go there, and if I phone the police, I'm afraid the killers will tune in to police broadcasts. I need help!'

'Listen. Don't panic, Tess. I promise. I'll make sure you're protected. Where are you? I hear traffic in the background.'

'I don't… I… On the outskirts of Alexandria. I'm in a phone booth near a shopping mall.'

'Christ, you can't stay there.' Craig coughed. 'Is there any place you can hide until I get to Alexandria?'

She trembled and tried to think.

Tess?'

'I can't involve my former friends. They might get killed. I thought of a movie theater, but with so many people around, in the dark, I wouldn't feel safe. Maybe the library. Maybe a museum. But they're so public I wouldn't feel safe there either.'

'Just a minute. I have to put you on hold. Don't hang up. I'll be right back.'

'No, wait!'

'Tess, it's important. Stay right there.'

She heard a click. Then the line was silent, except for the longdistance static.

Her hands shook.

Hurry! Please!

Furtive, she stared around at the crowded parking lot, at ominous strangers getting out of cars.

Two men stood next to a van and squinted in her direction.

Tess shoved her hand in her purse, grasping the pistol.

The two men rounded the van, about to flank her, but unexpectedly changed direction and walked toward the shopping mall.

Tess exhaled, realizing that they'd simply been admiring the Porsche.

Craig, hurry!

At once his voice was back on the line. ' Tess ?'

' What have you been doing ?' Her voice quavered.

'Look, I'm sorry. I didn't think that would take so long. I needed some information. I'll be on a Trump shuttle that's supposed to land at Washington National Airport at two-oh-seven. How did you get to that shopping mall? Have you got a car?'

'Yes.'

'What kind? I need to recognize it.'

'A Porsche nine-eleven. Black.'

'I have to give you credit. Even if you're scared, you travel in class.'

'Craig, spare me the humor.'

'I'm only trying to keep up your spirits. Okay, if it's business you want, pay attention. There's a Marriott hotel in Crystal City near the airport. As soon as I arrive, I'll grab a taxi and watch for your car at the hotel's entrance. At the latest, I ought to be there by two-thirty.'