The Kiss after Midnight (The Midnight Trilogy) (15 page)

He crawled slowly, constantly looking around him. The police sirens drew closer. He put the rucksack and his laptop in the rear seat and crawled into the driver’s seat and started the engine. He was trying to catch his breath when he heard heavy footsteps and Annabel jumped into the car.

Just then, police vehicles arrived from all directions. He heard more gunshots and saw the men behind the SUVs fire at the police cars. One of the cars, caught in a rain of bullets, crashed into the curb and somersaulted before exploding.

Tobias peeled out, and the RPM counter reached the red line almost immediately.

Tom ruffled his head continuously as he swiveled in his chair. He stared at the board in front of him, shifting his gaze between the photo cutouts of Juan and Antonio. Their temperament couldn’t be more different. Juan was a man with ethics and some semblance of compassion, a businessman who took only the measures he believed necessary. The other was a man of sadistic undertones, someone who took pleasure in enforcing his power and authority at the expense of those around him—even loved ones. Tom had read about a case where Antonio allegedly served up his second cousin to a powerful Colombian cartel in exchange for a larger slice of its high-profile customer base. That he had never been convicted of any major crimes was baffling. As he looked at cutouts of the other three men believed to also report directly to Juan, he paused on Jorge Huerta.

Widely depicted as a sophisticated and eloquent man, Jorge gave Tom plenty to think about. He wondered if he was—as many in the Organized Crime Unit had suggested—the actual brains of the organization, the cog that turned the machine. As he looked deeper into The Dominguez Organization, he started to see a pattern: Jorge was the only member who freely communicated with the heads of the other major drug cartels, usually with his protégé, Eduardo Ramírez, by his side.

Jorge’s importance to the family became clearer the more Tom looked into their history. He was the cash cow, the man who brought in the big business. If Antonio was important to Juan because of their family ties, Jorge was important because he held everything together.

Given the rumors of Tobias’ having damning evidence against Juan, Tom believed it would make sense to have Jorge dispatched to find him. In Antonio, Tom saw a man whose vanity and sense of self-preservation outweighed his common sense, someone he thought he could outwit. In Jorge, however, he saw a man of great efficiency and panache. A worthy adversary who could make Tobias and Annabel disappear without much fuss.

He rose and approached the board, studying Antonio’s face. Deep in his gut, he didn’t believe Tobias to be guilty of anything but meeting the wrong woman. While his superiors were as intent on uncovering the possible conspiracy involving Juan as they were on apprehending Tobias, he only wanted to see the fall of Antonio. He considered him to be nothing more than a sadist and a sociopath who used his position of power in the drug world to carry out acts of cruelty and possibly the murder of his girlfriend.

A frantic Emma burst through the door of his office. “There’s been a major shootout at Champion Parking Garage. Over twenty people are dead, including two cops.” Tom grimaced. “Police have sealed off the area, but no one’s been arrested yet.”

Tom rushed to his desk and picked up his badge and gun. “Tobias?”

“Seen fleeing the scene. Two SUVs involved in the gunfight gave chase”

Tom ran down the corridor. “How did this happen? Who are the other perps?”

‘We don’t know yet. The choppers are scouring the area,’ she said as they ran down the stairs.

“You mean we lost them?”

“They won’t get far. They were last seen driving off in a silver Maserati.”

Tom’s cell rang as he stepped out of the federal building. He saw Wheeler’s name on the caller ID. “Deputy!”

“Talk to me, Saddle,” Wheeler said.

“I’m on my way there now, sir.” He got into the passenger side of an Audi sedan. “I’ll brief you once I’m there.”

“This isn’t good, Tom. Automatic gunfire in the middle of a busy street in broad daylight? It won’t do at all. Make sure you find these sons of bitches.”

“Will do, sir.” He ended the call and fastened his seat belt.

Emma backed the car out of the parking spot, turned on the siren and sped down the road.

“So has anyone spotted them since they left the parking garage?” Tom asked.

Emma took a sharp left and shook her head. Tom unclipped his gun and stared at it for a moment before putting it back into place, the chamber full.

***

The V8 engine of the Maserati roared as Tobias sped through the streets of New York. He constantly checked his rearview mirror, and his heart pounded faster and faster. With her seat retracted as far as it would go, Annabel reloaded most of her weapons, wiping trailing eye shadow from her face.

“Go left,” she shouted suddenly. Tobias slammed on the brakes and turned the wheel, almost jumping the curb. He sped up Park Avenue, ignoring the screams of pedestrians and still checking behind him every few seconds.

“Slow down,” Annabel said. “And take the next left.”

He didn’t comply.

Annabel dropped the guns to the floor and glared at him. “Tobias, slow down!”

He slammed his foot on the brakes, reducing their speed to just over 35.

“We need another car,” Annabel said. “They’ll be looking for us in this one.”

Tobias slowed down further and took a left onto East Thirty-second Street without speaking.

“You okay?” Annabel asked.

“What the hell was that? Shooting machine guns in the middle of the street? What’re you trying to do, start World War III?”

She leaned toward him, a scowl on her face. “We’re alive, aren’t we? I did what I had to.”

“And you don’t care that all those people died?”

She bent down and continued inspecting her guns.

“Oh, just great,” he said. “Just do what you always do. You never want to talk about anything. What woman does that? It’s like you have no emotions. Who the hell are you?”

“So I just saved your life and that’s all you have to say to me?”

They drove on in silence for a few miles, turning onto street after street whenever they heard sirens in the distance. Tobias wondered if they were actually driving in a loop, but he continued to follow Annabel’s instructions.

She leaned forward as they approached a particular road to their left. Tobias slowed the car down and waited to see what she would say. She tugged at her hair before speaking. “Turn left here.”

Tobias looked at her.

She took a deep breath and sat back in her seat. “Look, Tobias, I’m broken up about those people that died, I really am. But what can we do now? If Juan’s men take us, they won’t just kill us—they’ll probably keep cutting us open and healing the wounds until our body gives in. Is that what you want?”

When Annabel abruptly shouted for him to stop, Tobias slammed his hand on the steering wheel.

He stared at her dumbfounded.

“Stop,” she repeated.

He pulled to the curb. “Why exactly are we stopping?”

Annabel waved him to silence. She gently opened her door halfway.

“What? What’re you looking at?”

She put her finger to her mouth and opened the door further. Tobias saw a black Mustang facing them on the other side of the street. He couldn’t be certain of the model, but it appeared to be a ’69. He looked at Annabel and saw that her attention was focused on a dark-skinned man standing beside the car in a red T-shirt and speaking on his cell. The man held a shopping bag, and two more were on the ground beside the Mustang.

“Oh,” Tobias said. “I see what—” Annabel pushed the door open the rest of the way upon seeing the man deactivate the car’s alarm. She threw the rucksack over her shoulder and drew her gun. “Don’t move,” she said to the man. He dropped his cell to the ground and thrust his hands over his head.

Annabel frowned at a young couple watching her from the opposite side of the street. When they ran off, she turned back to the man. “Stamp on your phone.”

The man hesitated.

“Do it now.”

The man repeatedly stamped on the phone, applying more pressure each time.

“That’s enough.”

Tobias grabbed his laptop from the back of the car and approached. Annabel held out her hand to the man, and he promptly gave her the keys.

Annabel walked toward the driver’s door. “Take him into the house and cuff him to something,” she said to Tobias.

He gave her a questioning look.

“Now!”

He pulled out his Glock and pointed it at the man. “Which one’s yours?”

The man pointed at a four-story apartment building about five steps away. Tobias gestured for him to go in.

“Use this on him, too,” Annabel added and threw him a roll of duct tape.

Tobias followed the man up the front steps to a first-floor flat. “Who do you live with?” he asked.

“It’s just me,” the man said with scared eyes. “I’ve got a little girl, you know. She lost her mother last year. She’ll be coming with my sister-in-law later today. Please, if not for me, just spare my life for her. I’m all she’s got.”

Tobias felt a chill run up his spine. He couldn’t believe some of the things he’d done in the past few days: helping to hold people in an ambulance hostage, hijacking a car at gunpoint and now stealing another car—and again at gunpoint. “I’m not gonna hurt you. Now move.”

Inside the apartment, Tobias noticed a radiator in the corridor. “Over there,” he said. The man walked forward and sat on the floor without protest.

After handcuffing him and gagging him with the duct tape, Tobias walked toward a large bookshelf where a cordless phone sat in its cradle. He followed the cradle’s wire to a wall socket a few feet away. He pulled it out of the wall and kicked the socket a few times.

When a loud car horn rang in his ears, he knew it was Annabel. He knelt in front of the man. “Now, I won’t hurt you, but in return, you can’t say anything to the police. Nod if you understand.”

The man nodded repeatedly.

“Okay.” Tobias pulled the key to the handcuffs from his pocket. “I’ll leave the keys on the kitchen table so your sister-in-law can free you.”

The man nodded rapidly, and Tobias ran out of the house. Annabel was sticking her head out the window.

“I’m coming, I’m coming,” he said.

“What the hell were you doing in there?”

He started to answer but stopped when she frowned. He turned sharply to see an SUV approaching at high speed, another one approaching in the distance. “Get behind those cans,” she shouted, pointing at two large garbage cans beside the building he’d just come out of. She darted forward, pulling out the MPA at the same time. Tobias watched with his mouth open as she opened fire on the SUV ahead of her. The bullets shattered the windshield and dislodged the hood.

He ran forward to get a better look, but as he did, the car spun around, crashed into a nearby car and exploded. Windows from a nearby building shattered, and a tree caught fire. Tobias watched in horror as a man nearby flew backward as a result of the blast but sighed when he saw him stand up unscathed. He ran forward, but just then Annabel did a 180-degree turn as the second SUV closed in. She slowed down, leaned over and opened the passenger door.

After he jumped in, Annabel picked up speed again, continuously looking in the rearview mirror. After catching his breath, he laughed ecstatically. “That was fucking insane. You’re like Superwoman.”

She looked at him and managed a narrow smile. “Thanks.”

“How did they find us, do you think?”

“They must have been following us. That’s all I can think of.”

He looked back to see that the SUV was speeding up considerably. As he turned back to the road ahead, he felt the car rumble, accompanied by a loud thud. Seconds later, the passenger-side mirror shattered, and more thuds followed. Only then did he realize it was gunfire.

Annabel swerved and took a sharp left and then a right, the SUV still hot on their heels. The gunfire had grown heavier, smashing the windows of parked cars and nearby apartments. Annabel planted her hand on the horn and overtook cars in their way despite having little room to maneuver.

“Fuck,” Tobias shouted. “What’re we going to do?”

Annabel took another sharp left, this time almost hitting an oncoming car. Hearing the car’s brakes screech, Tobias looked back to see it stopped in the middle of the road and its driver being riddled with bullets that came from their pursuer’s vehicle. The SUV made the left turn and continued to follow them. They had reintroduced chaos to the streets of New York.

Annabel pulled out her cell phone and made a call via speed dial. “We’re in trouble,” she said after a moment. “I’m gonna need your help.” She listened for a few seconds. “Fine, I’ll meet you there.”

“Who was that?” Tobias asked.

She looked backward and Tobias did the same. The SUV was getting closer. “You’re gonna have to stall them,” she said. His eyes widened. She grabbed the MPA and put it in his hand. “You’re gonna have to use this.”

“But—”

“Please, Tobias, not now. Just squeeze the trigger and fire like I showed you.”

More bullets struck the car. An alarm went off on the dashboard, startling both of them.

“What was that?” Tobias asked.

“I don’t know, but we won’t be able to find out if you don’t start shooting.” She took a sudden right.

Tobias took a deep breath and opened fire on the SUV, causing the driver to swerve. Someone fired back with semiautomatic bullets, and Tobias jerked his head back inside the car. He took several deep breaths before firing again. The SUV’s hood was now riddled with holes, and it lost some ground.

Just then a Dodge Charger appeared to their right, its tires screeching wildly. Tobias saw two men in the front seat, one with dark hair and the other with long gray hair. “That’s the guy,” he shouted, “the man in the café.”

Annabel turned to look at the car as it pulled onto the street behind them and saw the silver-haired man pull out a double-barrel shotgun. She swerved to the opposite lane and drove through oncoming traffic, horns continuously blasting at them.