Deadlock

68

As Lock stared at the scene before him, through the fog emerged the President and the First Lady, their arms around each other and their eldest daughter. Lock put a hand on the cruiser to steady himself, wiped the dust from his mouth and took a big gulp of fresh air. They were safe.

Ty clamped a hand on his shoulder. ‘Good shooting, brother.’

Lock glanced round. ‘Thanks.’

They stayed there for a few more minutes, until they heard the first Emergency Medical Service ambulances approaching.

Lock straightened up. ‘Let’s go see if we can find her.’

Together, they roamed the streets for close to an hour. There was no sign of Chance, and the shocked state of most people didn’t help matters.

Rounding the corner on to California Street, Lock caught sight of Carrie reporting live to camera. He waited for her to finish, admiring her quiet composure in the middle of all the chaos.

She threw her arms round his neck when she saw him. ‘You OK?’

‘Yeah, but one of ’em got away.’

‘Jesus, Ryan, will you switch off for two seconds? That’s not what I asked you.’

‘I’ll switch off when she’s found. I had her right in my sights too. I just couldn’t pull the trigger.’

‘Because she was a woman?’

Lock looked straight into Carrie’s eyes. ‘Because she was pregnant. I was aiming dead centre.’

Carrie smoothed her hands across his face, and kissed him softly on the lips. ‘You did the right thing.’

‘But if I’d taken the shot everyone inside the car would have been OK. Have you had any word on how they are yet?’

‘Shaken up real bad, but OK. No word yet on the daughter.’ She hesitated. ‘We’ve also had a report of a multiple homicide over in Oakland. Mom, Dad, two kids. All with their throats cut. Think that had anything to do with Reaper and his daughter?’

‘Sounds like their work.’ Lock took a deep breath and turned towards Ty. ‘Let’s keep looking.’

As he leaned in to kiss Carrie, he swayed, his legs almost folding beneath him. Carrie and Ty caught him between them.

‘I’m fine,’ he said, brushing off their help.

Carrie pointed behind them where an EMS ambulance was parked, the two-man crew taking a brief water break.

‘I got it,’ said Ty, jogging towards them.

‘You need to take care of yourself, Ryan,’ Carrie said. ‘Please, for my sake?’

‘OK,’ Lock said, sighing. ‘But if they give me the all-clear we keep looking for Chance. We’re not safe yet.’

One of the paramedics headed back over with Ty. ‘Sit down on the kerb for me, sir.’

Lock sat, his head in his hands. He was dog-tired.

The paramedic began to run through the usual checks.

‘We’re looking for someone who got lost in the crowd,’ Lock said.

‘Open your eyes for me,’ said the paramedic, checking out Lock’s pupil dilation.

‘White woman. Mid twenties. Blonde hair. She was wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, sneakers. They were white as well.’

‘Could you look up for me?’ the paramedic said.

‘And she was pregnant. Maybe, I dunno, about four months. Not huge, but enough of a bump to be noticeable.’

‘Couple of tattoos? Kind of messed-up ones?’

Lock made eye contact. ‘Yeah. Where’d you see her?’

‘See her? We just dropped her off at St Francis. She said she was having a miscarriage. I tried to take a look at her, but she freaked out. I think she might have just been in shock. But better safe than sorry with someone in that condition, right?’

Elbowing the paramedic aside, Lock jumped to his feet. Carrie was standing by the mini-van, Ty at her side. Exhaustion forgotten, he ran over to them. ‘Quick, where’d they take the President and his family?’

Carrie thought for a moment. ‘St Francis. Why?’

‘Because we have to get over there — now!’