Michael Connelly: The Overlook

“Maxwell may have already gone in through the back,” he told Walling. “I’m going to come in from the alley.”

“You know,” Walling said, “maybe he’s not going to hurt him. He’ll pick him up and talk to him, judge for himself if he saw enough at the overlook that he’d be a threat.”

Bosch shook his head.

“No way. Maxwell’s got to know that once the cesium was found, his plan was going down the toilet. He’s got to take action against all threats. First the witness, then Alicia Kent.”

“Alicia Kent? You think he’d make a move against her? This whole thing is because of her.”

“Doesn’t matter now. Survival instincts take over now and she’s a threat. It goes with the territory. You cross the big line to be with her. You cross it again to save your-”

Bosch stopped talking as a sudden realization thudded in his chest. He cursed out loud and pinned the accelerator as they came out of the Cahuenga Pass. He cut across three lanes of Highland Avenue in front of the Hollywood Bowl and made a screeching U-turn in front of oncoming traffic. He punched it, and the car fishtailed wildly as he headed toward the southbound entrance to the Hollywood Freeway. Rachel grabbed the dashboard and a door handle to hold on.

“Harry, what are you doing? This is the wrong way!”

He flicked on the siren and the blue lights that flashed in the front grille and back window of the car. He yelled his response to Walling.

“Mitford is a misdirection. This is the right way. Who is the greater threat to Maxwell?”

“Alicia?”

“You bet and now’s the best shot he has of getting her out of Tactical. Everybody’s up in that alley with the cesium.”

The freeway was moving pretty well and the siren helped open it up further. Bosch figured Maxwell could have already gotten to downtown, depending on what kind of traffic he encountered.

Rachel opened her phone and started punching in numbers. She tried number after number but no one was answering.

“I can’t get anybody,” she yelled.

“Where’s TIU?”

Walling didn’t hesitate.

“On Broadway. You know where the Million Dollar Theater is? Same building. Entrance on Third.”

Bosch flicked off the siren and opened his phone. He called his partner and Ferras answered right away.

“Ignacio, where are you?”

“Just got back to the office. Forensics worked the car for-”

“Listen to me. Drop what you’re doing and meet me at the Third Street entrance to the Million Dollar Theater building. You know where that is?”

“What’s going on?”

“Do you know where the Million Dollar Theater is?”

“Yeah, I know where it is.”

“Meet me there at the Third Street entrance. I’ll explain when I get there.”

He closed the phone and hit the siren again.

THE NEXT TEN MINUTES took ten hours. Bosch moved in and out of traffic and finally reached the Broadway exit in downtown. He killed the siren as he made the turn and headed down the hill toward their destination. They were three blocks away.

The Million Dollar Theater was built in a time when the movie business showed itself off in magnificent theater palaces that lined Broadway downtown. But it had been decades since a first-run film had been projected on a screen there. Its ornate façade had been covered by a lighted marquee that for a time announced religious revivals instead of movies. Now the theater waited unused for renovation and redemption while above it a once-grand office building was twelve stories of midgrade office space and residential lofts.

“Good place for a secret unit to have a secret office,” Bosch said as the building came into sight. “Nobody would’ve guessed.”

Walling didn’t respond. She was trying to make another call. She then slapped the phone closed in frustration.

“I can’t even get our secretary. She always takes lunch after one so there will be somebody in the office when the agents go to lunch earlier.”

“Where exactly is the squad and where would Alicia Kent be in there?”

“We have the whole seventh floor. There’s a lounge room with a couch and a TV. They put her in there so she could watch TV.”

“How many in the squad?”

“Eight agents, the secretary and an office manager. The office manager just went out on maternity leave and the secretary must be at lunch. I hope. But they wouldn’t have left Alicia Kent alone. It’s against policy. Somebody had to have stayed there with her.”

Bosch turned right on Third and immediately pulled to the curb. Ignacio Ferras was already there, leaning casually against his Volvo station wagon. In front of it was another parked car. A federal cruiser. Bosch and Walling got out. Bosch approached Ferras, and Walling went to look inside the fed car.

“Have you seen Maxwell?” Bosch asked.

“Who?”

“Agent Maxwell. The guy we put on the floor at the Kent house this morning.”

“No, I haven’t seen anybody. What-”

“It’s his car,” Walling said as she joined them.

“Ignacio, this is Agent Walling.”

“Call me Iggy.”

“Rachel.”

They shook hands.

“Okay, then he’s gotta be up there,” Bosch said. “How many stairwells?”

“Three,” Walling said. “But he’ll use the one that comes out by his car.”

She pointed to a pair of double steel doors near the corner of the building. Bosch headed over that way to see if they were locked. Ferras and Walling followed.

“What is going on?” Ferras asked.

“Maxwell is our shooter,” Bosch said. “He is up-”

“What?”

Bosch checked the exit doors. There was no outside handle or knob. He turned to Ferras.

“Look, there’s not a lot of time. Trust me, Maxwell is our guy and he’s in this building to take out Alicia Kent. We’re-”

“What is she doing here?”

“The FBI has a location here. She’s here. No more questions, okay? Just listen. Agent Walling and I are going up in the elevator. I want you out here by this door. If Maxwell comes out, you take him down. You understand? You take him down.”

“Got it.”

“Good. Call for backup. We’re going up.”

Bosch reached over and tapped Ferras on the cheek.

“And stay frosty.”

They left Ferras there and headed through the building’s main entrance. There was no lobby to speak of, just an elevator. It opened at the push of the button and Walling used a key card to engage the seven button. They started going up.

“Something tells me you’re never going to call him Iggy,” Walling said.

Bosch ignored the comment but thought of something to ask.

“Does this thing have a bell or a tone that sounds when it reaches the floor?”

“I can’t remem-I think it does… yes, definitely.”

“Great. We’ll be sitting ducks.”

Bosch pulled his Kimber out of its holster and chambered a round. Walling did the same with her weapon. Bosch pushed Walling to one side of the elevator while he took the other. He raised his gun. The elevator finally reached seven and there was a soft bell tone from outside. The door began to slide open, exposing Bosch first.

No one was there.

Rachel pointed to the left, signaling that the offices were to the left after they exited the elevator. Bosch lowered himself into a combat crouch and stepped out, his gun up and ready.

Again, no one was there.

He started moving to his left. Rachel came out and moved with him on his right flank. They came to a loft-style office with two rows of cubicles-the squad room-and three private rooms that had been built free-standing in the open floor plan. There were large racks of electronic equipment between the cubicles, and every desk had two computer screens on it. It looked like the whole place could be packed up and moved at a moment’s notice.