Patterson, James - Alex Cross 2 - Kiss the Girls

CHAPTER 110.

I CHOSE the same general direction that Sampson and I had come in. It was definitely one way out of the woods, and it might be the route Casanova and Will Rudolph would take. I hated leaving Sampson and the women, but there was no other choice, no other way.

I stuck the Clock into my shoulder holster and I started to run. Faster and faster as my legs began to work again, remembered how to run fast.

A trail of fresh blood on leaves led a few yards into the thick undergrowth. One of them was bleeding heavily. I hoped he would die soon. I was on the right trail, anyway.

Vines and thorny bushes tore at my arms and legs as I moved through the densely overgrown thicket. The leafy branches whipped across my face.

I didn't care about being whipped.

I ran for what must have been a mile, or seemed like it. I was perspiring, and searing pains ripped through my chest. My head felt as hot as the engine of an overheated car. Every footstep seemed heavier than the last.

For all I knew, I was putting distance between myself and the two of them. Or maybe they were right behind me? Maybe they had watched me come out? Trailed me? Circled around behind me? Two on one wasn't how I wanted this to go down.

I looked for more signs of blood or torn clothing. Some sign that they had been through here. My lungs were on fire now, and I was soaked with perspiration. My legs ached and were tightening up.

I had a flashback, a rush of images. I was running with Marcus Daniels in my arms, in Washington, D.C. I saw the poor little boy's face again now. I remembered hearing Sampson scream in shock and pain back at the house. I saw Naomi's face.

Something was up ahead two men were running. One of them was holding his shoulder. Was it Casanova? Or the Gentleman? Didn't really matter I wanted both of them. Wouldn't settle for less.

The wounded monster showed no signs of slowing. He knew I was bearing down on him, and he unleashed a blood-curdling yell. It reminded me that he was an unpredictable madman of the highest order. The scream “Yaaaaahhhhhh!” echoed through the fir woods like the howl of a wild animal.

Then another primal scream. “Yaaaaahhhhhh!” It was the other madman.

Twinning, I thought. They were both natural animals. They couldn't survive anymore without each other.

The sudden sound of gunfire caught me off guard. A chip flew off the bark of a pine tree and whipped past my head. It came within an inch or two of cutting me down, killing me on the spot. One of the monsters had turned around that fast, fired off a shot.

I crouched behind the tree that had taken a bullet for me. I peered out through leafy branches. I couldn't see either of them up ahead. I waited. Counted off the seconds. Tried to get my heart to start again. Which one of them had fired the shot? Which one was wounded?

They had been near a crest of a steep hill in the woods. Had they gone over the top? If they had, were they waiting for me on the other side?

I slowly moved out from the safe cover of the tree and looked around.

It was eerie and quiet again. No screams. No gunshots. No one seemed to be there. What the hell were they up to? I had just learned something new about them, though. I had another clue to go on. I'd seen something important a moment ago.

I sprinted to the balding crest of the hill up ahead. Nothing! My heart sank, fell a million miles into the abyss. Had they gotten away?

After all this?

I kept running. I couldn't let this abomination happen. I wouldn't let the monsters go free.

Alex Cross 2 - Kiss the Girls

CHAPTER 111.

I THOUGHT I KNEW the direction to the state highway, and I headed that way. I had my second wind, or maybe my third, and ran more easily now.

Alex the Pathfinder.

Maybe two hundred yards ahead of me, I spotted them again. Then I saw a familiar flash of gray: a curling ribbon of highway. I could make out a few white-shingled buildings and ancient-looking telephone lines.

A highway. The way for them to escape.

The two of them were running in the direction of a shambling roadhouse.

They still wore their death masks. That told me Casanova was in charge. The natural leader. He loved his masks. They represented who he believed he really was: a dark god. Free to do whatever he chose.

Superior to the rest of us.

A red-and-blue neon sign blinked Trail Dust on the road-house roof. It was one of those country gin mills that got good customer traffic all day. The monsters were heading that way.

Casanova and the Gentleman Caller climbed into a late-model blue pickup truck parked in the lot. Busy tavern lots were a good place to park a car inconspicuously. I knew that as a detective. I raced across the state road toward the roadhouse.

A man with long, frizzy red hair was just climbing into his Plymouth Duster in the parking area. He wore a wrinkled Coca-Cola workshirt, and had a bulky brown bag shoved under one arm. Liquid groceries.

“Police.” I flashed my badge a foot from his lightly bearded chin. “I have to take your car!” I had my pistol out, ready for trouble if it came at me. I was definitely taking the car.

“Jesus Christ, man. This here's my girlfriend's car,” he drawled rapidly. His eyes stayed on the Glock. He handed over the car keys.

I pointed back toward where I'd come from. "Call the police right now.

The missing women are back there, maybe a mile and a half. Tell them there's an officer down! Tell them it's Casanova's hideaway."

I jumped into the Duster, and was doing forty before I got out of the parking lot. In the rearview mirror I could see the man with the six-pack still staring at me. I wanted to call Kyle Craig myself and have him send help, but I couldn't stop now, couldn't lose Casanova and his friend.

The dark blue pickup headed toward Chapel Hill ... where Casanova had tried to kill Kate, where he had originally kidnapped her. Was that his home base, after all? Was he someone from the University of North Carolina? Another doctor? Someone we had never even heard of? Not only was that possible, it was likely.

I closed to within four car lengths of them inside the city limits. No way to tell if they knew I was there. Probably they did. Chapel Hill's version of rush hour was in progress. Franklin Street was a narrow winding stream of traffic rolling slowly alongside the tree-lined campus.

Up ahead I could see the funky Varsity Theatre, where Wick Sachs had gone to a foreign movie with a woman named Suzanne Wellsley. It had been adultery, nothing more, nothing less. Dr. Wick Sachs had been set up by Casanova and Will Rudolph. Sachs had made a perfect suspect in the case. The local pornographer. Casanova had known all about him. How was that?

I was close to getting them now; I could feel it. I had to think like that. They caught a red light at the corner of Franklin and Columbia.

Students wearing ratty T-shirts with Champion and Nike and Bass Ale logos jaywalked between the stopped cars. Shaquille O'Neal's “I Know I Got Skillz” played loudly from somebody's radio.

I waited a few seconds after the stoplight turned red with a noisy click-click sound. Then I went for the whole enchilada. Ready or not, here I come.

Alex Cross 2 - Kiss the Girls

CHAPTER 112.

I SLID OUT of the Duster and ran in a low crouch down the middle of Franklin Street. The Clock was out, but held flat against my leg to be less conspicuous. Nobody panic and scream now. Let this go right one time.

The two of them must have spotted the trailing Duster earlier. I'd figured as much. As soon as I hit the street, they threw themselves out of opposite sides of the pickup.

One turned and fired off three quick shots. Pop. Pop. Pop. Only one of them had a gun out. Something clicked inside my head again: I remembered a quick scene from the woods. A connection made. A flash of recognition.