Burn Zone

50

DUARTE USED HIS NATURAL SPEED AND DECISIVENESS TO REACH William Floyd before he could react. The ATF agent didn't even bother to draw his pistol. He had his right hand through the open window of the pickup truck and on Floyd's shoulder before Floyd could clearly see who it was assaulting him. With a quick squeeze on the truck's door and the right pressure on his shoulder, Duarte had "Ike" Floyd on the ground and immediately bitching about the treatment.

He just hoped Ike was the guy with the answers. As he patted him down roughly while holding his shoulder and pinning the larger man to the ground, he found a SIG-Sauer.380 tucked in the prone man's waistband. He tilted him and yanked out the pistol.

"We got a lot to talk about."

"Who the hell are you?"

Lina Cirillo had hardly noticed the pickup truck that pulled alongside their little rental Cobalt before Alex Duarte had sprung from the shoebox of a car and yanked the driver out of the truck. Félix Baez never stirred from his deep sleep in the backseat of the small car. She jumped out without waking him.

Now she had her pistol in her hand and rounded the far side of the truck to see Duarte holding down a larger man. As she got closer, her stomach tightened as she realized the man on the ground was William "Ike" Floyd.

Lina came to a stop in front of them and said, "How'd you subdue him so quickly?"

Duarte looked up. "He surprised me; I just reacted." He eased his hold on the prone man and then helped him to a sitting position. "Now we find out what's going on."

She saw the recognition in Floyd's face as he looked up at her. His eyes opened wide as she thought about her options.

Duarte said, "Okay, tell us what you brought out of New Orleans."

Ike looked up at Lina. "Why? The FBI never listened to me before."

Lina heard his bitterness and thought that it might even be justified.

Duarte was more confused. "What's that mean?"

Lina cut in. "Don't worry about it."

Duarte twisted his head to glare at her. "You're still going to keep your source and his information from us? After all we've done?"

"It's not that simple. We…" She stopped when she saw Duarte cock his head and stop paying any attention to her at all. Lina said, "What is it?"

"We're not alone."

"Félix is probably awake."

Duarte was clear in his tone. "No, it's someone else."

Pelly saw the cars stopped under the light in another warehouse's parking lot. His police training and instinct told him to be very careful and not let anyone see his car. There were no other vehicles in the neighborhood this time of night. He pulled the Impala off the road into the small lot of a business wedged in between two large warehouse complexes.

Even from a distance he could see someone move quickly to pull a man from a pickup truck. He left his car, checked his little Beretta and darted closer to the parked cars. Finding cover in the darkness and shrubs, he easily covered the distance between his car and the truck.

He settled near a bush where he could clearly see the two men who were now on the ground.

One was holding the other down.

Then Pelly saw the woman, and it only took a second for him to realize it was Lina, the FBI agent who had seen him clean-shaven. He looked at the men more closely, and then saw the man being subdued was Ike Floyd. What happened to the Ryder rental truck? Whose pickup truck was that?

He lowered his head and started to move to a better position to decide if he had to take action. He scurried along a low line of planted shrubs away from the two parked vehicles to approach at a different angle. He crept closer now, using the cars to cover his approach. The downside was that he lost sight of the people at the cars, too.

Alongside the Cobalt, he started to reach for his Beretta as he peeked around the corner of the car toward the big pickup truck.

The first thing he saw was the barrel of a Glock right in front of his face. And heard a man say, "Don't move."