The Adamas Blueprint

CHAPTER 30

The commuter parking lot had eight rows parallel to the building, with four lanes connecting each row. A hedge-lined central divider split the 1500-foot-long rows, leaving only one way between the two halves. Entrances to the lot were on either side, as well as in front of the building she was in and to the street bordering the far side.

In the fourth row, about 300 feet to Erica’s left, Kevin crouched behind the sports car, the bag of food spilled at his feet. Kaplan, the burly one, edged one row toward the building and continued moving in Kevin’s direction. Barnett circled around the other way with the fluid motions of a practiced hunter.

“Are they still there?”

“Yes,” Erica said. “Stay down.”

She searched the lot for other people. There had to be someone left. There! To her far right were a couple of stragglers walking toward the stadium. Then she realized they would be of no use. Even if she could get their attention, what could they possibly do to help?

“Kevin. I’m going to hang up and call the police.”

“No,” he whispered. “There isn’t time. They’ll find me before the police get here. You have to tell me where they are so I can get back to the truck.”

He was right. If she hung up, Kevin would have no way of knowing where they were. As long as they didn’t know she was up in the office spying on them, she and Kevin had an advantage.

“Where are they?” he said. “Why didn’t they just run over and get me?”

“Five days ago you shot at them. Would you take a chance on running at someone with a gun?”

“Good point. Only one problem. The gun’s in the truck.”

“I was afraid of that,” Erica said. “Okay, start moving toward the back of the blue car, and when I tell you, run to the next row.”

“Okay.”

He scooted to the back of the car, which was flush with the open space of the next row, and began to peer around the corner.

“Don’t do that!” Erica said. “Keep your head down. Let me be your eyes. I’ll tell you when it’s okay.”

The parking spaces in each row were offset. It looked to Erica like it would be difficult to see between cars beyond more than one row. As long as Kevin kept ahead of them, he had a chance.

Barnett nodded to Kaplan and they raced to the next row, only one away from Kevin’s.

“Now!” Erica said.

With a gait that would have been comical in any other situation, Kevin scuttled like a crab to the next row. Kaplan ducked behind a sedan and Barnett stood behind a minivan. Then Barnett flattened himself on the ground.

“Kevin! Barnett’s trying to look under the cars for your feet.” Kevin was almost to the next row. “Get behind the tire of that green car you’re coming to.”

Kevin ran the last few feet and huddled against the green car beside its front tire.

“What’s he doing…”

“Shh! He’s only about fifty feet from you now. He’s still down.” Barnett’s head rose into view. “Now he’s getting up. I don’t think he saw you. No, he’s pointing to the left of you and peeking around the minivan toward his partner.” Suddenly, Kaplan began running toward the back of the lot. Erica heard Kevin curse under his breath. “Move back!” she yelled.

Kevin edged toward the open part of the row.

“No! I mean in between the two cars in your row.”

Kevin turned and reached the point between the two cars just as Kaplan entered the open drive five cars to the left. If Kevin had still been at the front of the car, Kaplan surely would have seen him. Instead, Kaplan kept his head down, running toward the far end of the lot.

“What’s he doing?” Erica said.

Kevin whispered a reply. “I heard Barnett yell something about the truck. That thing is so huge he must have seen it. They’re trying to cut me off.”

The cellular phone was slick in Kevin’s hand. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans.

“Erica, if anything happens to me, call 911, and then get out of there.”

“Nothing’s going to happen. Now just be quiet. Kaplan’s to the row just before the truck now. That’s about three rows past you. Barnett’s still two rows back toward me. He’s moving now. He’s looking between each pair of cars. Kaplan’s doing the same thing.”

“How far down the row are they?”

“I think Kaplan’s too far from you to see you if you stay down. But Barnett will see you. He’s six cars to the east, but he’s not moving as slowly now. He’ll see you in a few seconds unless you go behind the red car.”

The red car was a Chevy sedan behind the green Mazda he was next to. He scurried behind it so that the Chevy and Mazda were between him and Barnett. His heart pounded as he listened to Erica give the play by play.

“Five cars now. Four cars. Three cars. Two cars. One. He’s right behind you. Okay, he’s past.” She waited a few seconds. “You can talk now.”

“This isn’t working,” Kevin said. “A few more times looking under cars and they’re going to see where I am. The driver’s window on this green Mazda is open. It has a fold down back seat. If I can get in, I can crawl into the trunk through the back seat and hide there until they leave. Keep me posted if they get near me.”

“Okay,” said Erica.

With his back to the Chevy, he slid around to the opposite side until he was at the driver’s door of the Mazda. The Mazda’s window was only half open. He tried the door handle, but it was locked. Looking through the window, he could see the passenger door’s lock release was on the inside of the door, next to the handle. It would be the same for the driver’s door.

“Erica,” he said, “I’m going to have to stand up to get to the lock release. Are they looking this way?”

“No. Another car entered the lot on the other side from you. It’s a Jeep. They’re both looking at it. It’s going slowly, on the other side of the divider near the back entrance.”

Good, Kevin thought. It was a perfect distraction. They were both looking away from him. He stood, trying to keep his head behind the car’s door pillar. He snaked his arm through the window opening and felt the velour cloth of the door’s interior. He reached forward. His fingers ran over the nubby plastic of the area surrounding the lock and then rested on the smooth contour of the lock mechanism. He pushed it forward and heard the whine of the locks. A red indicator on the passenger lock appeared.

Kevin pulled his arm out and bent down again.

“It’s unlocked. I’m going to open the door now. Am I clear?”

“They’re both about fifty feet from you, and facing the other way, but they may turn around any minute. You’d better do it now.”

As he lifted the door handle and popped the door open, the shriek of a car alarm rent the air.

Even from the enclosed office, Erica could hear the alarm easily. Through the phone, it was piercing. She yanked the phone away from her ear instinctively.

Kevin fell backwards in surprise, and Erica could see him drop the phone. Barnett and Kaplan were already running in his direction. In his attempt to get away from the green car, Kevin scrambled around the corner directly into Barnett’s vision.

Erica felt helpless as she saw Kevin stand and look around desperately and then begin running away from Barnett.

“The Jeep!” she screamed at the window. “Get help from the people in the Jeep!”

As if on command, Kevin veered, heading in a direction that would cut off the slowly moving car. Barnett followed, but Kaplan ran toward the brown Taurus sedan they had arrived in.

Not knowing what else to do, Erica hung up the phone and dialed 911.

Kevin had never run faster in his life, glad he had lost those 30 extra pounds from high school. If he had still been as heavy as he used to, he would have been winded by now, and Barnett and Kaplan would be on top of him. As it was, his long legs were giving him a slight lead.

A sidewalk split the parking lot in half. He leaped over a row of hedges lining the sidewalk and leaped again into the other side of the lot where the Jeep was cruising, looking for a spot. He could see the passengers now, four of them, all adults. They weren’t even looking in his direction, apparently ignoring the car alarm.

When he crashed into the hood of the car, it screeched to a halt. The driver yelled at him.

“What the hell are you doing?”

Kevin ran around to the driver’s door. “Please, sir, you’ve got to help me. These two guys are after me. They say they’re the police, but they’re not.”

The driver, along with the other passengers, stared at him incredulously. Through the window, Kevin could see Barnett approaching the Jeep.

He knew he must have sounded as if he were raving, so he tried to calm his voice. Still, he must have sounded like a lunatic. “Please let me in!”

“Freeze!” Barnett was pointing a gun at him from the front of the Jeep. He circled slowly around, keeping the gun trained on Kevin.

With his left hand, Barnett withdrew a wallet from his jacket and flashed a badge at the occupants. “Virginia State Police. This man’s wanted for car theft.”

“He’s lying!” Kevin said. “Look at his badge. He’s not a policeman.”

The Jeep’s passengers, however, were not about to question a policeman apprehending a crazed criminal. Especially when the cop was holding a gun. They said nothing.

“That car alarm you hear,” Barnett said, “was the result of this suspect attempting to break in to a vehicle. We caught him in the act, and now he’s trying to get away.”

Kaplan stopped the Taurus in front of the Jeep and got out. He walked around, pulling handcuffs from his pocket.

Kevin knew it was no use trying to get help from these people. He didn’t resist as Kaplan pushed him against the Jeep, patted him down, handcuffed him, and led him to the car. Barnett rounded the car to get in. In the distance, Kevin heard sirens.

“You’re not going to wait for the Blacksburg police, Barnett?” Kevin said, sneering the name.

Kaplan shoved Kevin into the back seat. The man who had called himself Barnett six days ago slammed the door and looked back at Kevin from the front seat, his hollow gray eyes smiling. “Allow me to introduce myself, Mr. Hamilton. My name is David Lobec.”

Erica bounded down the staircase two steps at a time. To get the police’s attention quickly, she’d told them that somebody had been shot in the commuter parking lot during a fight. When she was convinced that the police were coming, she hung up and ran for the stairs, stopping only to retrieve her mace from the lab.

She got to the first floor and burst into the hallway, her lungs burning. She ran through the outer door, squinting as she stepped into the sun, and stopped.

To her right, the Jeep was slowly moving toward the main campus.. To her left, the flashing lights of a police car were visible cresting the hill. She quickly scanned the rest of the parking lot, but there was no sign of the brown Taurus.

They were gone.