Michael Prescott - In Dark Places

His face twisted. "I don't want to be better. When did you ever hear me complain about what I am? I been straight with you, Doc. I told you I like the silence 'n' violence. I like putting this old world into a world of hurt. You hear me? I made myself what I am. My parents didn't make me. Society didn't make me. I made me. I made Justin Hanover Gray. That's who the fuck I am. You never listened 'cause you didn't want to. You got your own motherfuckin' agenda . Wanna neuter me like a stray puppy? Declaw this cat? Ain't never gonna happen. I am the bad seed, Doc Robin. Deal with it."

"I never understood," she whispered, speaking only to herself.

There was no hope of reaching him. There never had been.

Hammond and Banner were standing near the wreckage of the car when Lewinsky returned from a trip to the D-chief's sedan.

"Okay," Lewinsky said, "it just came over the MDT." The Mobile Data Terminal was installed under the dashboard of every LAPD car. "A Hollywood unit is code six at Brand's house. They found Wolper there, by the way."

"Detective Wolper? In the house?"

"On the property. I don't know what's up with that. But another Hollywood car cruising the area found what could be the stolen Firebird."

"Could be?"

"License plate doesn't match. They ran the plate to a residence in Inglewood. Inglewood PD is on their way to talk to the owner."

Someone's cell phone started to ring. They ignored it.

"Gray could've switched plates," Banner said.

"I know that, Phil," Hammond snapped. "We all know it."

Banner was undeterred. "Gray could've ambushed Brand and driven off with him. Maybe he followed him from the video place in Hollywood."

"You think?" Hammond asked, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

"I'm just pointing out"

"The fucking obvious. Good work, Columbo. What would we do without you?"

"Maybe I should stick to media relations."

"Maybe you should."

"You want me to get Susy Chen on the phone to cover this?"

"Shut up."

"It's a terrific story, Chief. Not only does the LAPD fail to find Gray, they actually let him kidnap and kill one of their own. I'll bet the public is feeling real safe now."

"You heard the chief," Lewinsky said. "Shut up."

Banner threw him a hard look. "Hey, that's original, Carl."

"You don't have to be such a goddamn prick. We need to work together and figure a way out of this shit."

"We wouldn't be in this shit in the first place if"

"Don't say it," Hammond barked, "or you're back on traffic duty. And whose fucking phone is that, anyway?"

They looked at each other, then at the car.

"Shit," Hammond said.

He went around to the passenger side and fished the ringing cell phone out of Brand's windbreaker. He took a breath and pressed the OK button to accept the call.

"Yeah?" he said, wondering if he should try to sound like Brand or what.

No one was there. But there was no dial tone, either. He listened closely, the phone against his ear, his free hand blocking out the traffic noise.

Faintly he heard a man's voice, raised in an angry rant.

" amp; a whole new wrinkle for me. You know, I never did the nasty with them girls I snatched. Was always too looped to get it up. Ain't looped now."

He knew that voice. He'd heard it on news clips of Justin Gray's trial, which had been playing on the local news all night.

Lewinsky and Banner had reached him. "Who is it?" Lewinsky asked softly.

Hammond cupped the phone with his hand. "Gray."

Banner blinked. "You're shitting me."

"Yeah, that's right, Phil. April fool." Hammond checked the phone's LCD readout. "Brand's got caller ID. We can find out who placed this call."

Lewinsky had his pad out. "Give me the number. I'll do it."

Hammond listened again as Lewinsky moved away to use his cell phone, but now the only sounds on the line were distant, indecipherable noises. He heard a new voice raised in a shout. A female voice.

"Someone's with him," Hammond said. "A woman."

Banner shook his head. "Another victim. This is getting better and better."

Hammond turned to him. "You just don't fucking get it, do you? This is our break. We trace the call and we know where he is. Right now, in real time."

"Brand's still dead," Banner said morosely. "It's still a royal fuckup."

"Brand died in the performance of his duties. He's a goddamn hero. He led us directly to the whereabouts of the city's most wanted man and saved untold lives. Jesus, Phil, get with the program."

Lewinsky finished his call. "The call is being made from a cell phoneand it's assigned to Robin Cameron."

Hammond stared at him. "The shrink? Jesus."

"Maybe she's the one he's got with him," Banner said.

"Thanks, Phil, that never would've occurred to me." Hammond looked at Lewinsky. "Can we trace the call?"

"To the nearest transmission tower."

"We need a warrant?"

"Not if her service provider will cooperate. I've got RHD working it now. They'll call me when they get anything."

Hammond motioned to Banner. "Go tell these A-cars to get ready to rumble. We get a fix on this location, we're rolling."

Banner shifted his stance nervously. "Isn't that someone else's job? I mean, we're admin. Not, you know amp;"

"Not real cops? We're real cops tonight."

Banner, looking unhappy, headed toward the squad cars. Lewinsky's phone chirped. He answered, making brief affirmative noises and scribbling on his pad.

"RHD came through," he said to Hammond. "The call's being routed through a cell tower at South Central Avenue and Fourteenth Street. That's only a few blocks north of the freeway."

"The old commercial district," Hammond said. "Factories and warehouses."

"Right. Five minutes from here. We good to go?"

Hammond hesitated only a moment. "Let's do it. Let's nail this son of a bitch."

"I never understood.'" Gray mimicked her, his voice raised in a falsetto. "You bet you didn't. You never got me at all."

He chuckled, an ugly sound.

"All that shit about my daddy burning me and belting mefuck, yeah, he did, 'cause I was always shoplifting and setting fires and ripping off his cash. Okay, he wasn't no A-one parent. And my mama was a dumb ugly cow who never opened her mouth 'cept to stuff it with cheeseburgers and fries. They were a pair of low cards I drew, but fuck it all, I still don't blame them for the way I turned out. You're the one who's into the blame game. Me, I know my childhood sucked, and now I get to make other people's lives suck. Seems fair, don't it? What goes around, comes around. And now it's coming around to you, Doc. You and Meg."

Robin pulled Meg closer. "Don't do this, Justin, please."

"You don't tell me what to do, Doc-aroo. I'm the one running this show."

"Take me if you want, but not Meg"

"Shut up."

"Please, not Meg"

"I said, shut the fuck up !"

He struck her hard across the face, a ringing blow that sent her reeling backward into one of the old crates strewn on the floor. She fell on it, and the crate shattered, throwing up white whorls of dust.

In the passenger seat of his sedan, Hammond was on the dashboard radio.

"We're code two to the scene. Request Air Support at Central Avenue and Fourteenth. Have reason to believe the fugitive Justin Gray is in the vicinity. Tell ASTRO to look for a green late-model Volkswagen. Hold on." He turned to Lewinsky in the backseat. "How big a coverage area for the cell tower?"

"An urban sector's maybe one or two city blocks, that's all."

He spoke into the microphone again. "We're looking at a radius of one to two blocks."

"Roger that," the dispatcher said. "Air Fourteen en route, ETA two minutes."