Дэвид Балдаччи - Daylight

“I confirmed that she was dead and then kicked the crap out of the guy who’d been sent there to finish me off. And then I broke out of the room. That’s when the cops showed up and almost shot me.”

“You’re covered in her blood, you know. They checked you for wounds and found none.”

“My arm has twin bruises about the size of Rhode Island. What do you call that?”

“So you beat this guy up and he just ran off? Doesn’t seem likely.”

“Why, because I’m a girl? Give me a two-by-four and I’ll show you how hard I can hit.”

“I’ll take your word for it. You know, we could have put all of you in a giant evidence bag. We’re going to need to take those clothes and run swabs all over you.”

“I’m surprised you haven’t done that yet.”

“We need the suits to paper it first. Don’t want you running around screaming about your Fourth Amendment rights being violated, do we, Ms. FBI Agent?”

She calmed and studied him, sensing an opportunity. “You have two exceptions to the Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and seizure, at least with respect to my situation.”

Barnes watched her closely, suddenly looking intrigued. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

“Plain view, which the blood on me obviously is.”

“And the other?”

“Search incident to a lawful arrest with a condition being the preservation of evidence. Again, a condition my situation meets perfectly. I won’t charge you for either one of those. It’s on the house. Fed to local cop. Want to return the favor?”

Barnes sat up straighter and his confrontational look slowly dissipated. “So, what case you working, Agent Pine?”

“It’s a long story.”

“What was that name again at the FBI?”

“Eddie Laredo. So now you believe me?”

Barnes stood. “You said you were a cop and I gave you the chance to prove it. Plain view and incident to with all necessary criteria laid out just like it is on the detective’s exam? You passed with flying colors. Only a cop’s going to know that stuff.”

He left and was gone far longer than a minute. Pine had actually put her head down on the table and fallen asleep. Whatever they had used on her to knock her out had really kicked her ass.

She woke up when the door opened.

“Well, well, so we meet again.”

FBI Special Agent Eddie Laredo looked down at her, an incredulous grin on his face.

As Pine looked up at him, she was both extraordinarily happy to see him, but also wanted to strangle him just to wipe the smirk off his features.

It might have been a very good thing that she was bolted to the floor.

This sounds like some serious crap you’re involved in,” said Laredo as he drove Pine back to Newark where her car was. It was late the following morning, and Pine had spent much of the ride filling Laredo in on what had happened.

Pine had given her statement to the NYPD, turned over her clothes for evidence, had photos taken of the blood spatter on her body, and then been released. They had given her blue hospital scrubs and flip-flops in place of her clothes, and she had left the precinct with Laredo.

“Story of my life, Eddie.”

“And this CID guy you’re working with?”

“John Puller, yeah.”

“You talked to him?”

“I haven’t talked to anyone, other than Carol Blum on your phone.”

“All this pushback you’ve been getting from the locals and the feds, that’s really troublesome, Atlee.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“And this lowlife Tony Vincenzo playing with the big boys in that penthouse? How does that make sense?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they like to keep the foot soldiers happy. Hell, it’s probably empty except when they let the riffraff come up to play. But it is bizarre.”

“Well, I wish you luck. Sounds like you’re going to need it.”

He dropped her at her car, where Blum was going to meet her.

As Laredo pulled away, Blum drove up in an Uber. She got out, walked over, and gave Pine a hug.

When Blum stepped back, Pine saw the other woman’s strained features. “I’m fine, Carol, I really am.”

“I know,” Blum said in a hushed voice. “But it was close, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” she conceded.

She held up a spare set of car keys for the rental. “Now, let’s get you back to the hotel and cleaned up.”

They drove back to the hotel and Pine did just as Blum had suggested. The hot water took off the blood and grime. She stood in the shower for at least thirty minutes, letting both the stink and another woman’s blood flow off her. As she watched the red swirl down the drain, she leaned her forehead against the tile of the shower wall and started to sob. She wasn’t sure why — no, maybe part of her did know.

Lindsey Axilrod played me like a fiddle. And Sheila Weathers is dead because of it.

She toweled off, dried her hair, and changed into fresh clothes after throwing the scrubs and flip-flops into the trash.

Starving, she took the elevator down to the lobby and walked into the hotel restaurant, where she ordered coffee and a sandwich. She pulled out her phone to check her messages. There were three from Puller in her mailbox.

She quickly called him. “Everything okay?”

“I guess it didn’t warrant the national news pipeline,” he said.

“What are you talking about?”

Puller filled her in on the attack at his apartment.

“Oh my God. How did you get out of that alive?”

“My cat alerted me.”

“Wait a minute, you have a cat?”

“AWOL. He sensed them before I did. Not sure how, but I pay attention when he gets riled. So when they came in, I wasn’t there. I was waiting outside my apartment with flashbangs and my M11s. Got the jump on them. But some reinforcements showed up and they all got away.”

“Thank God for AWOL.”

“I’ve been trying to get ahold of you,” he said.

Her coffee and sandwich arrived, and she took a sip of her drink. “You got a few minutes? I had my own little adventure.” She filled him in on what had happened to her the previous night.

“You’re lucky to be alive, too,” he said.

“I know.”

“So this Lindsey Axilrod was a setup?”

“Yes.”

“I gave you her name. So this is on me.”

“You had no idea. I’m normally suspicious of everyone, but Axilrod played it just right. She put me off my guard with her dumb-girl routine, and letting me think I was leading her around, when it was actually the reverse. I can tell you I’m never getting into another Uber again.”

“So the odds are very good that Axilrod does not show up for work today.”

“And I highly doubt we’ll find her at home, but I’m going to check there anyway.”

“I can send you the address. I have it in my files.”

“How did your ‘attack’ plan go?”

“I met with him yesterday, drove home, and got ambushed. I have no idea if the two events are connected. I hope they’re not, because that would suggest a mole inside the Army at a pretty high level.”

“I think Teddy Vincenzo was spot-on when he said his son was in way over his head.”

“The son might not even be alive at this point,” noted Puller.

“If not, there goes my only lead to Ito. So what’s your next move?”

“I should wait for my command to get back to me. But I don’t think I will. I don’t like it when people come to my home and shoot it up. I take that personally.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Somebody must have seen something last night. It’s not like they were bothering to keep quiet; they brought full artillery. What about you?”