Hell's Corner

CHAPTER 69

Only they couldn’t find Sykes. He had not returned from the break and none of his crew knew where he was. They searched the park and the adjacent areas.

Stone got on his cell phone and reported this to Ashburn, along with what they had found out from Judy Donohue.

Ashburn said, “I’ll get a BOLO out on him ASAP. He couldn’t have gotten far.”

Stone put his phone away and looked at Chapman. “I don’t like how this is shaking out.”

“Meaning they always seem to be one step ahead?”

“Meaning I’m feeling manipulated again.”

“He might have seen Donohue slip away to come and talk to us and panicked. Why don’t we get in the car and start doing a grid search? Maybe he’s somewhere hoofing it on foot.”

They drove out and turned onto Pennsylvania Avenue on the east side of the White House. They had gone two blocks when it happened.

The sound of the shot wasn’t muffled. It could be heard clearly above the ordinary sounds of the city. People in the streets started running for cover and screaming.

The traffic stopped and horns started blaring.

Stone and Chapman jumped from the car and raced forward.

They heard a siren drawing near.

They ran from car to car, peering inside.

The siren grew louder. Then another one joined it.

Chapman looked behind her. Two cop cars were cutting through the traffic heading their way. Stone saw this too and picked up his pace. He reached in his jacket for his gun. Chapman accelerated on the other side of the line of stalled traffic and mimicked his movements. They finally reached the obstacle in the road — two cars in a fender bender that Stone sensed was much more. An older man was leaning against the car in front looking very shaken and scared. As Stone looked down he could see the man had vomited on the street.

As he approached, Stone held up his badge and called out, “Sir, what’s wrong?”

The older man pointed at the car behind his, where the two bumpers were locked together. Stone checked the license plate of this car. Government issue. His spirits sank. He peered inside the car. “Damn.”

Chapman was looking in from the passenger window. “Good God.”

The two cop cars screeched to a stop and men in blue jumped out. They saw Stone and Chapman holding their weapons and pulled their own.

“Police!” they cried out, their guns aimed at the pair.

Stone and Chapman held up their badges high so the cops could see them.

Stone barked, “Federal agents. Got a homicide here. FBI just put a BOLO out on this guy. But somebody got to him first.”

The cops crept forward, checked Stone’s creds and looked in the car.

Sykes was lying back against the driver’s seat. The windshield was cracked. There was a hole burned into his forehead from the shot. Blood and brain matter were splattered around the car’s interior from the exit wound.

It was no wonder the other driver had thrown up after seeing this, thought Stone.

Chapman saw the cell phone on the front seat. Using a handkerchief, she scooped it up and checked the call log. “He got a call ten minutes ago. From a blocked phone. Maybe the techs can dig it out.”

Stone nodded, looking around. “Right. Okay, he got the call, made a run for it.”

Chapman added, “They set him up. Knew somehow he’d have to take this route. Lined the shot up.”

Stone was now looking straight ahead, searching for where the shot had probably come from.

One of the cops said, “What do you need us to do?”

Stone kept looking while he talked. “Call in backup and secure the crime scene.”

He pulled his phone and called Ashburn, filling her in.

A string of expletives exploded over the phone. Having sufficiently vented, Ashburn said, “I’m sending reinforcements right now. We’ll coordinate with D.C. Metro.”

Stone clicked off. “Cavalry’s coming.”

“How do you want to break down the search?” Chapman asked.

A woman who’d been standing on the sidewalk came running up to them. She was about twenty, with kneeless jeans and an iPhone clutched in her right hand and a shopping bag in her left.

“Sir? Ma’am?”

They turned to her. She pointed to a building farther down the street. “I was looking up at that building as I was walking and I saw a flash of light. Then I heard the car crash. I think that’s where… where it came from.”

Stone said quickly, “Could you tell which floor?”

The woman looked at the building, silently counting. “Sixth. At least I think.”

They could hear other sirens coming as the backup flew toward them. Stone yelled to the two cops first on the scene to follow him and Chapman. As they ran toward the building he pulled out his phone and let Ashburn know about this development, giving her the address.

Stone put his gun away and ran as fast as he could, his gaze darting up to the sixth floor, waiting for another flash of light to appear.