COLLATERAL CASUALTIES (The Kate Huntington mystery series) (32 page)

            She tucked her head under his chin. He stroked her curls for a few minutes.

            “You know that Serenity Prayer my daddy used to recite?” he whispered. Her head nodded against his chest. “I think I’m gonna rephrase it. Control what you can, accept what you can’t, and enjoy the hell outta life in the meantime.”

            She pulled back slightly so she could look up at him. “Amen.” She smiled, then snuggled against him again.

            He tightened his arms around her. Silently he prayed that God would either protect them or allow them to die together.

            A profound sense of peace enveloped him. He suspected that was God’s answer.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

            Despite being on guard duty half the night, Lilly and Rose were both up by six. Rose got the coffee maker going while Lilly located mugs and spoons. Rob came out of one of the bedrooms, his nose high in the air, sniffing. Rose flashed him a grin and pointed toward the now-full pot.

            They sat down at the table with their coffee. Lilly took a sip and groaned in pleasure.

            Rob chuckled. “Beats the hell out of that instant swill we had at the cabin, doesn’t it?” He breathed in the fragrant steam from his own cup.

            “You rested enough to take Rob to get his wife’s car?” Rose asked Lilly.

            “Sure.”

            Rose took a healthy swig from her mug, then got up to make breakfast for them. By the time the others surfaced, Lilly and Rob were in Sue’s car, headed to Kate and Skip’s house where Liz’s Camry had been sitting for the past few days.

            Rob was wishing he’d brought a second cup of coffee with him. He had a niggling feeling that he’d forgotten something, but his brain wasn’t awake enough to figure out what. Suddenly it dawned on him. He checked his pants’ pockets. Sure enough he’d left his disposable phones back at the house.

            He patted his jacket pockets. Wait, he had one after all.

            He took it out and held it up. “Were you given any of these?”

            Lilly glanced over. “Yeah. I’ve only got a couple left.”

            “Let me have one.”

            She took one hand off the wheel to fish a phone out of the front pocket of her jeans.

            It took Rob a few minutes of playing with the phones to figure out how to program speed-dial numbers into them. He handed hers back to her. “Mine’s now number one on your phone and vice versa. We’re getting low on these though. So we should avoid calling each other unless we have to.”

            Lilly nodded. “You drive your wife’s car around Towson for awhile. I’ll follow you. When I’m sure nobody’s tailing us, I’ll flash my lights instead of calling. If you see me turn off, I’ve spotted a tail and I’m trying to draw him off of you. That’s when I might have to call you, once I’ve dumped the tail.”

            “Sounds like a plan.” Rob slipped his own phone back into his jacket pocket.

            Once again nobody seemed to be watching the house. Lilly went over Liz’s car with Dolph’s debugging device. When she pronounced it clean, Rob climbed in.

            They had only gone a few blocks when he glanced up in his rearview mirror. Lilly was turning right. The car following her also turned right.

            Rob drove on down York Road in the beginnings of rush-hour traffic. Three blocks later, he realized the black Taurus behind him looked disturbingly familiar.

~~~~~~~

            Skip had just donned his freshly laundered shirt and walked into the living room when Rose yelled, “Lilly’s lost Rob.”

            Dolph jumped up from the table where he’d been surfing the web on his laptop. “My car.” He bolted for the kitchen door.

            “How’d she lose him?” Skip called back over his shoulder as they raced across the backyard.

            “She drew off a tail. His phone must’ve fallen out of his pocket. She tried to call him. It rang from the floor of her car.”

            Skip glanced back at Rose, and then skidded to a stop. Kate was bringing up the rear. “You need to–”

            Kate cut him off. “I’ve got Liz’s car phone number.”

            Skip grabbed her hand. They ran for Dolph’s car the next block over.

            Kate and Rose scrambled into the back as Skip jumped into the passenger seat. Dolph started the engine and took off.

            Kate turned on her regular phone just long enough to retrieve Liz’s car phone number. She punched it into a throwaway cell and put it on speaker.

            It rang once, then they heard Rob’s scared voice. “Hello?”

            “Where are you?” Dolph yelled.

            “Not sure exactly. A few blocks from York Road. I’ve got a tail. I’ve been trying to lose him.”

            Kate held the phone out between the front seats so they could all hear better.

            “Get back to York Road as soon as you safely can,” Skip said. “The car following you, what’s it look like?”

            “Black Taurus. I think it’s the one that was outside my building yesterday.”

            “Do you know where the sixth precinct police station is?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Head in that direction as soon as you can.”

            Skip pulled out one of his own throwaways. “What’s Judith’s cell number?” He punched in the number Dolph rattled off.

            “Ander–”

            “This is Skip Canfield. Rob Franklin’s in danger. He and his bodyguard got separated. He’s being followed by some of the bad–”

            “Where are you, Canfield? You need to turn yourself in.”

            “Damn it, Judith! Listen! If these guys get their hands on Rob not only will he die but five other people will be in serious danger. He’s headed toward the police station in a dark blue Camry. Car following him is a black Taurus. If you catch the driver of that car, he might lead us to who’s trying to kill us.”

            Dolph had turned onto the Baltimore Beltway. He laid on his horn as he wove in and out of the heavy morning traffic.

            “I shouldn’t have sent him. I should’ve gone,” Rose muttered from the backseat as she punched in Lilly’s number on her phone.

            “I’m on York Road again.” Rob’s voice was a little steadier. “About five blocks from Bosley Avenue.”

            “North on York,” Rose barked into her phone. “Five blocks from Bosley.”

            Skip repeated Rob’s location to Judith, then said, “Damn, I think my battery’s dying.” He turned his phone off so it couldn’t be traced.

            He reached back and gave Kate’s shoulder a squeeze. Her knuckles were white where she was gripping her phone.

            Rose was still muttering to herself. Her eyes were wide, her face pale. Skip had never seen her quite so scared.

            “I think I see Lilly coming up behind the Taurus,” Rob’s voice came from the phone.

            “Does the guy know you’ve spotted him?” Skip asked.

            “Not sure. I’m turning onto Bosley now.”

            Dolph veered off the Beltway onto the Towson exit, then pulled over to the shoulder and slammed on the brakes. “Out, Skip.”

            He jumped out. Dolph took off. Skip watched as the car careened around the corner at the end of the ramp, just seconds before the light turned red.

~~~~~~~

            With a heavy hand on the horn, Dolph plowed a path through Towson’s rush-hour traffic. As he approached the police station on Susquehanna Avenue, they saw chaos up ahead. The Camry was sitting in the middle of the road. Cars coming the opposite way were forced to creep around the driver’s door hanging open into their lane. The Taurus was effectively blocked in, but so was Lilly, in Sue’s car behind it.

            Two uniformed officers approached the Taurus. One rapped on the passenger’s window, one hand on his gun butt. The second officer headed around the back of the car to the driver’s side.

            The passenger door flew open. A dark blur took off down the sidewalk, the uniform right behind. Lilly jumped out and bolted after them.

            An impatient driver inched forward in the opposite lane. His bumper nudged the Camry’s door shut. The driver accelerated.

            The instant he was past, the Taurus cut over into that lane. The officer approaching the driver’s door jumped back to avoid being run over. The Taurus veered around the Camry and took off.

            The occupants of Dolph’s car piled out. They ran for the police station.

            Rob was standing just inside the doors. Judith Anderson stood next to him.

            Kate threw her arms around him. The next moment, he was dragging her out of the way when Lilly and a uniformed officer pushed through the doors, a struggling Hispanic man between them.

            Judith nodded to the uniform. He yanked hard on his prisoner’s arm. The man settled down and allowed himself to be led away.

            Judith stepped over to Lilly and slapped handcuffs on one of her wrists. “Lilly Pendleton, you’re under arrest for assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon.” She started reciting the Miranda warning as she cuffed the other wrist.

            “Somebody got a phone?” Rob asked. Kate handed him the one still in her hand.

            “Don’t say anything until Maribeth Benson shows up,” Rob told Lilly as he punched in his office number. “She’ll try to get you out on bail today.”

            Dolph grabbed Judith’s arm. “Don’t put her in a cell unless you want her death on your conscience. These guys chasing Rob tends to prove my story, don’t you think?”

            Judith pulled her arm loose. “Get away from me, Dolph, before I arrest the lot of you for obstruction of justice.”

            “I mean it, Judith. Don’t let
anybody
get near her.”

            She shoved him aside and started to lead her prisoner away.

            “I’m sorry I screwed up,” Lilly said over her shoulder, a stricken look on her face. “I–”

            Judith pushed her through the door into the back of the station.

~~~~~~~

            One of Skip’s two remaining phones rang.

            “Where are you?” Rose said.

            “Parking lot behind the Lexus dealer. Is Rob okay?”

            “Yeah. Be there in ten.”

            Skip stared at the phone for a beat after disconnecting. That was cryptic, even for Rose.

            When she arrived in Sue’s car, Skip said, “Move over, partner. Lemme drive.”

            Rose looked resistant for a moment, but then got out without saying anything and walked around the car.

            Skip settled into the driver’s seat, shoving it as far back as it would go. “They catch the guys in the Taurus?”

            “One of them. Driver got away. Anderson arrested Lilly.”

            “Shit.”

            “Rob’s got somebody arranging bail.”

            Skip gripped the steering wheel.
Have to figure out a way to make things right for her when this is over.

            He glanced over at Rose. She was staring morosely out the window.

           
Great! My operative’s locked up because of me, and my partner’s doubting herself.

            They were halfway back to Catonsville before Rose spoke again. “I shouldn’t have sent him.”

           
Thank you Lord, she’s gonna talk about it!

            Hiding his relief, he shrugged. “Natural thing to do since it was his wife’s car.”

            “You know damn well I shouldn’t have sent him. I should’ve gone myself.”

            “Hindsight’s twenty-twenty. Besides, the general doesn’t leave the command center to run an errand.”

            Rose shot him a startled look. “The general?”

            Skip grinned. His eyes on the road, he said, “Don’t let it go to your head. But yeah, in this situation, you’re the natural one to lead us. And you’re doing a great job, by the way.”

            Rose stared out her window again. “I should’ve sent Claude or Manny.”

            “Shoulda, woulda, coulda. Damn it, Rose, will you stop with the guilt. I feel guilty. Kate feels guilty. Lilly feels guilty. We’re fuckin’ drowning in guilt here.”

            Rose turned and stared at him for a beat. Then she flashed a quick grin. “You left Dolph out. I think he’s feeling guilty for scaring the crap outta Sue.”

            Skip threw his head back and laughed.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

            When Kate let Skip and Rose in the back door of the Catonsville safe house, Dolph was sitting at the table, checking news sites on his laptop.

            Kate was holding a steaming mug. “Sue found some herbal tea in a cabinet. Thought it might settle our nerves. You want some?”

            Rose shuddered.

            Dolph snickered and returned his attention to the online version of the
Washington Post
. He was ignoring the cup sitting at his elbow. A small headline caught his eye. He sat up straighter. “Whoa, Nellie, what have we here? Short article in the
Post
. The president of Colombia has postponed his state visit, citing poor health.”

            “Yeah, wouldn’t exactly be good for his health to get assassinated,” Kate said.

            Dolph read the article out loud. It didn’t give many details.

            “So we can assume the feds stopped the assassination plot,” Skip said. “How do we find out if Delgado’s been neutralized? That’s not likely to make it into the news.”

            “I think it’s time to call the FBI,” Rob said. “I need another phone.”

            Kate dug around in the bottom of her purse. She finally came up with one and handed it to him. He went into the living room to make the call.

            “I want to call Judith,” Dolph said. “See if she got anything out of her prisoner.”