Dead Man's Hand (34 page)

Jimmy handed Dale a covered
Styrofoam
cup.
“
I thought you could use this.
”

“
Thanks
.
”
He
peeled off the lid, sipped
and
felt a little better.
“
What did you tell the Sa
rge?
”

“
I told him you were working the assignment. He
was not impressed and wants to hear about some progress right now.
”

T
hey walked through the crowde
d lobby
and
Dale saw a man in a well-cut
suit
with the sergeant
.

As the detectives entered
the office
, the mayor turned
to them
.
Another visit meant increased urgency and pressure.

“
What do you have now
?
”

Dale knew that the mayor had a minor background in law
enforcement, so he realized that Grant
’
s murder was scary enough, but when cops were also being murdered, it was even worse—especially with possibly two killers hunting people in the city.

“
We have some leads
,
”
Dale said
.
“
There
’
s a lot of circumstantial evidence to follow.
”

“
What about this Watters cha
racter? The sergeant says
that Watters has probably already left the city, maybe even the state and country
,
while
you two go around chasing
theories.
”

“
We are following Watters as well as we can, but as you say, he
might
have fled. We are focusing on those who are here and profited from those deaths.
My team is totally dedicated and focused.
”

What he wanted to say was that Sanders was his prime suspect and they should be concentrating on him.

“
Listen,
”
t
he may
or said in earnest
.
“
I want these cases closed. Pick up Watters, connect him to the murders
and
find t
he cop killer. And do it now
.
”

The detectives were silent again. Dale looked at his sergeant
,
who nodded.

Then the mayor chang
ed his demeanor
.
“
Detective Dayton, whatever you need to help with these investigations is available.
Manpower, money—whatever resource
s
you need.
I
’
ll make sure you have it at your disposal. I have talked to the lieutenant about this and he has assured me that everything possible will be done to bring down the killers. You name it,
D
etective
and
it
’
s yours.
”

“
Yes, sir,
”
Dale and J
immy said
at the same time
.

“
Go get our killers, gentlemen.
”

The sergeant escorted the two detectives out. As they left the office, he w
hispered.
“
Do whatever it takes.
”

Chapter 3
4

Calvin sat in his computer room eating Chinese noodles from a
Styrofoam
container when movement at the corner of the monitor grabbed his attention. The long black hair that had flashed by the screen sent chills through Calvin
’
s body. His gut clenched.

He
quickly sat upright and placed the container on the desk beside the monitor. He
grabbed the remote and maneuvered the joystick, zooming i
n from another angle.
The man was at a distance
and
somewhat hidden. Any other time,
Calvin
wouldn
’
t have warranted a second glance
. But
W
hitney
’
s description
and
the man
’
s actions—continuing to move, circling out wide and returning at irregular intervals from different angles—show
ed
Calvin
the man was scoping the place
.

He
studied the image on the screen. The
hit man
was less carefu
l than he should have been
. So he didn
’
t know about the camera
a
nd thought he was too far away
for detection.

All the cameras were set to record
in a continued cycle
until Calvin changed the digital hard drives. Depending on the
hit man
’
s location, distance, speed and angle of movement, at least one
and
sometimes two or three cameras were recording different views.

Then,
as if understanding he was being watched,
the
hit man
moved away
in haste
, turning from the house and starting to walk down the street, avoiding all of the hidden camera lenses.

Calvin dropped what he was doing. He opened the closet and pulled the larger of the two Kevlar vests out, slip
ping it on over his upper body.

“
Rachel, come on.
”

“
Where are we going?
”

He ignored her question and grabbed her by the arm. He
pulled out
his Harringto
n & Richardson .32
revolver,
the smallest weapon he owned
,
and
raced to the back entrance.

“
Make sure to lock up from the inside when I leave.
”

“
Don
’
t go, Calvin.
”
She held his arm.

“
I
’
ll be right back. Don
’
t forget the secret knock.
”

He turned before she said another word.
He
heard
Rachel locking up again from the inside. She
’
d only open for his knock.

His knee was starting to throb
, but Calvin
caught up with
the
assassin and followed him
on foot through the streets of Vegas.

It had taken Scott
only six minutes to
spot Watters and
realize
that the man had
somehow
identified
him
and was coming after him.
He could play the hunter being hunted
for a few minutes
u
ntil he led Watters somewhere convenient to finish him.

He used the busy Vegas streets and shop windows as mirrors
to position himself for a c
lear shot. He
didn
’
t know the streets as
well as his adversary, but Scott
had years of killing experience to his advantage.

They ducked and dodged inside buildings, crossed back streets and took shortcuts through backyards. The quiet, unoccupied side streets with abandoned buildings were the perfect locations for a pursuit.

But t
hey had been waltzing for a half hour
and
neither
was able to get a clean shot without risk of being exposed to the other.

This was Watters
’
turf
and
some street people might even be watching out for him. Best to retreat and finish the job tomorrow.

At the next corner, Scott
turned and started running at top speed, twisting, dodging, changing sides of the streets, turning one corner, then another, making a full circle, then breaking away in a new direc
tion. H
e knew about Watters
’
weak knee
.
M
aybe with t
he sudden change in speed,
he
cou
ld break free
.

When he was sa
tisfied he
’
d lost Watters,
he
took the service entrance into the hotel
and
rode the elevator to his suite. He swiped his card to unlock his door
and
went to the bathroom, shedding his soaked shirt, cursing the whole way, before using a towel to wipe his sweaty face and body. He returned to the bedroom, threw the towel against the wall
and
without hesitation
studied Watters
’
dossier again.

Watters was a formidable adv
ersary
.
Not many of Scott
’
s targets could find him, let alone pursue him for a half hour and survive.
He
was going to like this game—almost as good as taking out an FBI age
nt
.

He
wouldn
’
t underestimate Watters
again.

Watters had to have spotted him by using cameras at his safe-house.

But k
illing him at close quarters would be tricky.

Scott
knew just what he would do.

Calvin had tried to keep up with the
hit man
when he started
running, but
his knee
forced
him
to quit the
chase long before he was satisfied he knew how his opponent thought
and
thereby how to fight him
.

It tore him apart inside to watch the
hit man
disappear
. Uncatchable. Untraceable. At least for tonight. Calvin took small comfort in having twice eluded the
hit man
and
some pride in keeping their d
eadly match even,
for now
.
The impasse was short-lived.

The only difference in the two men
’
s ideas was that Calvin didn
’
t want the
man dead. He needed answers
.

But this was a true pro
and
he
’
d had years of practice. Calvin would be killed
and
Rachel too if he didn
’
t think of something very clever
, very soon
.

He
got back to his fort
ress
tired
,
his knee
swollen
and
aching
, but he appreciated that his years of hard work staying physically fit had saved his life tonight. He had endured hunting and being hunted and knew that he had given his assassin an impressive battle.

He used the special knock and Rachel opened the door.
H
er eyes were red and swollen.

“
What happened?
”
He rushed inside and locked the door behind him.

Rachel turned without saying a word
and
walked into the next room. Calvin could hear her quiet sobs as she dis
tance
d
herself. He hobbled
after her
and spun
her around.

“
Rachel, what is it? What
’
s wrong?
”

She held a Kleenex to her nose and mouth
and
choked out words through the sniffling and sobs.
“
I didn
’
t know if you were coming back.
”

Calvin
’
s shoulders relaxed
and
he let out a breath. He wrapped his arms around her and squeezed.

Rachel shoved him away.
“
Don
’
t, Calvin. You can
’
t just leave like that without telling me where you
’
re going. I was worried. I was scared.
”

He
could see this wasn
’
t the same woman who had snuck out to talk with her friends
just last night
. With each minute that passed, with them trapped in this hideout, with each news report about another murder
and
now
the face of a man who was stalk
ing their house, this situation became real
and
Rachel was finally seeing the big picture. This was serious.

He didn
’
t know what to say. A slight smile crossed his face.

“
This isn
’
t funny, Calvin.
”

Again she turned and walked away, entering their sleeping quarters.

He chased her.
“
I know. I
’
m sorry. I
’
ve just never seen you worried about me before. It kind of feels good.
”

Without a word, she sat down
on the ed
ge of the cot, staring into dead air
. He sat down beside her
and
again put his arms around her. He could feel her rapid heartbeat pounding against his body. She didn
’
t push away this time
.
I
nstead, she nestled her head against his chest.

“
I
’
m scared.
”

“
I know, baby. I won
’
t let anything happen to you.
”

“
But what if something happens to you? What will I do?
”

“
That won
’
t happen.
”

She stood up.
“
You can
’
t guarantee that.
”

He
got up too
.
“
Nothing is a guarantee in life, Rachel. But you have to trust me.
”

“
You know I trust you, Calvin. We have a history. We share secrets—secrets that could someday haunt us. I don
’
t like the violence in your life
.
I
’
ve seen too much of it. But I
’
ve seen the good in you
and
I want to help you change. You promised our lives would change.
”

“
I did make that promise
and
I intend on keeping it, Rachel. We just have to get through this together. We have to stick together.
”

He smiled at her
and
she returned it. He hugged her and kissed her gently on the lips.

“
Now let
’
s go see what we
’
re up against.
”

She
followed behind as
he
went to his computer to scan the surveillance camera monitors for details of the killer
’
s face, body type
and
style of movement. He cross-referenced the pictures against a database of assassins.
When nothing came up, Calvin sat back in frustra
tion.