Robert Crais - Chasing Darkness

We double-timed it out to the parking lot. Marx coordinated the roll through a SWAT plus-one as we trotted toward a surveillance van the size of a taco truck. The plus-one was a hard-looking guy with a blond crew cut. He glanced at Pike between orders.

“Aren’t you Joe Pike?”

Pike nodded.

“You coming with us?”

Pike nodded again.

“Cool. I admire your work.”

But when we reached the van, Munson stopped Pike.

“This is as far as you go.”

I said, “He’s part of this, too.”

Marx considered Pike, then shook his head.

“We don’t need more civilians. Sorry, Pike, but this is it.”

The plus-one seemed disappointed.

“Bummer.”

I shrugged at Joe.

“Don’t sweat it, man. I’ll see you on the other side.”

Pike stared at me for a moment, then the corner of his mouth twitched.

“I’ll see you.”

Pike trotted away toward his Jeep as Marx waved me into the van.

“We gotta get you wired up. Get in there.”

The van was walled with racks of surveillance equipment, recording devices, tools, and an ice chest so old the plastic was mildewed. Jonna and Bastilla were already inside. The space grew crowded as everyone piled aboard, and Kilane didn’t like it.

“Jesus Christ, just sell tickets, why don’t you?”

Jonna blinked at me.

“Are we going to ride together?”

“Looks like.”

“Good. I’d like that.”

Marx wedged his way up front with the driver, and we pulled out as soon as the door was closed.

Kilane fitted a wire microphone under Jonna’s shirt as Bastilla asked her questions, like did Levy ever check her for mikes or feel up her boobs or search her. Jonna told her no, he never had, and seemed uninterested in what Kilane was doing.

I said, “You scared?”

Bastilla glanced over, irritated.

“Say something encouraging.”

Jonna ignored her, and made a little shrug.

“I’m always scared.”

“You hide it well.”

“I know. I just look this way.”

“Lift your arm, Jonna.”

Jonna lifted her arm, but her attention was on me.

“I was thinking about what you said, how you never saw it coming. How does that make you feel?”

I realized why she had stared at me in the interview room and now wanted me in the van with her. She knew how I felt because she probably felt the same way.

“It made me feel like he owned me.”

“Yvonne was a prostitute.”

I nodded, not knowing what else to do.

“Do you have sibs?”

“No. I’m an only.”

“Oh. That’s too bad.”

Jonna fell silent after that as Kilane finished his work and lowered the shirt. He turned to a bank of equipment and pulled on a headset.

“How’s that feel?”

“Okay.”

The tech raised a thumb. The mike was transmitting well. He pulled off the headset, then went to work strapping a similar mike to my chest.

Jonna looked around at the cramped quarters.

“Can I see how it feels when I move?”

“Sure.”

Jonna twisted from side to side, then crabbed to the back of the van. Kilane, the plus-one, and I scrunched out of her way. She twisted some more, then stood as best she could with the low ceiling.

“Feels okay.”

She waddled forward, but lost her balance and stumbled into the equipment rack. She made an oofing sound, tangled herself in a box of tools and wire, but managed to stay upright.

“I’m okay. Can you see it poking my shirt?”

Kilane laughed.

“Kid, your own mama couldn’t see that mike.”

Marx put away his phone, then climbed out of the passenger seat to join us. He glanced at me, but studied Jonna.

“We’re ten minutes out. You remember what we talked about?”

“Sure.”

“All you have to do is be visible. If Levy sees you and believes you’re alone, he’ll be more likely to stop. Once he’s out of the car, you go into the house. Cole will carry the ball.”

“I know.”

Marx waved toward the equipment.

“We’ll be able to hear everything you say. If you try to warn him, our deal goes out the window.”

“I’m not going to warn him.”

“So you know. We have your statement on tape now. We might not be able to convict Levy with it, but we’ll sure as hell go after you. Get back in the house. An officer will be inside to take care of you.”

“If I wanted to warn him I wouldn’t have agreed to do this. Relax.”

The plus-one laughed, but Marx ignored him.

“Something else I want you to know. Your safety is my number one concern. You won’t be able to see them, but we’ll have three sniper teams watching every move Levy makes. We will be watching him. If he shows a weapon or makes a threatening move toward you, we will put him down. We won’t give him a chance to hurt you.”

“Everyone will be watching him.”

“You can count on it.”

“I am.”

I patted her leg. The woman had committed murder with a cold-blooded obsession that had bought her a ticket to the psych ward, but I patted her leg. When I realized what I was doing, I stopped.

They let us out of the van in a Rite Aid parking lot in Hollywood not far from La Brea. Two men in civilian clothes who were probably D-team tactical operators were waiting in a green Chevy TrailBlazer.

Marx said, “That’s your ride. We’ll see you on the other side.”

The TrailBlazer barreled up La Brea, then onto the residential streets twisting up into Runyon Canyon. Jonna did not seem nervous. She made a soft, breathy whistle, singing to herself. Da-da-daa, da-da-daa. Staring at nothing and singing until we reached the house.

THE SWAT planners had made a good choice. The house was an old canyon cabin isolated by a curve in the road. It had probably been built in the twenties as a hunting lodge and later expanded, but it hadn’t been maintained in years. Jonna’s white Neon was parked beside it. The man who brought it was inside the house, where Jonna would wait until Levy was spotted. When the surveillance elements identified Levy, they would radio the man in the house. Then it was up to Jonna. All she had to do was let Levy see her so he would know she was present. Once Jonna was safely back inside the house, the rest would be up to me.

They dropped us by the Neon, then quickly drove away.

I said, “Don’t look around for the surveillance teams. You won’t see them, but someone might see you looking for them.”

“What happens if he doesn’t come?”

“We’ll be bored. You’d better get in the house. If he sees me out here with you, we’re screwed.”

I waited until she was inside, then moved into a gnarled clump of scrub oak on the opposite side of her car. If Levy stopped anywhere at the front of the house, I would be able to approach him without being seen. I wanted to surprise him.

I settled in to wait. Levy would come or not. Might be ten minutes, or never. The occasional car passed without slowing. Local residents. Construction workers. First-time hikers trying to find the park who took the wrong turn. None of them was Levy. I listened to thrushes and mockingbirds. None of them was Levy, either.

The trees whispered behind me, followed by a voice that wasn’t much louder.

Pike said, “Good spot.”

He settled onto the earth beside me.

I said, “Marx is really pissed right now. I’m wired.”

“You think I’m trusting someone else to cover your back?”

We fell silent. Marx would be cursing. He would be livid, but the blond plus-one would be trying not to laugh.

Jonna Hill stepped out of the house eight minutes later and went to the Neon. That was my signal and also the bait. A brown Dodge sedan crept around the curve, slowing to look. Levy was hunched over the wheel. He slowed even more when he saw Jonna, and stopped in the middle of the street. His head swiveled, searching the area.