“Your Officer Moore. Good idea, Lee. She probably knows all the pickup spots.”

  Though she wasn’t supposed to be available until afternoon, they were able to schedule a quick meet with Officer Moore at a coffee shop after Glover stopped at a Jeep dealership, then went into a waiting room while the vehicle was being serviced. Another officer was watching the shop and would contact them once Glover got ready to leave.

  Lee and Diane had just sat down at a rear booth when Andrea came in. She was wearing sunglasses and took them off to look around the room. She was dressed in a sleeveless knit top, jeans, and a short, shaggy hair style that was infinitely practical. Andy looked more like a high school student than an experienced cop. The small leather purse she carried and her metallic gray lipstick just added to that image.

  “That her?” Diane whispered. “She looks so young and …”

  “Naïve? Wait till she opens her mouth,” Lee said, then waved enough to catch her attention.

  “Hi guys,” Officer Moore called back cheerfully, playing the role of civilian to the other patrons who’d noticed her.

  Lee looked at Diane, then rolled his eyes. “Forgot. We’re not cops at the moment. That was probably just for show.”

  Andrea walked over casually and both Lee and Diane scooted around. She eased in beside Diane, who, like Lee, had removed her cap. “Wish you’d been on my team when I was working the street, girl. You’d have attracted all the johns and all I would have had to do was Mirandize them and slap on the cuffs.”

  Diane held out her hand. “I’m Diane Lopez. Shall I take that as a compliment?”

  “Nothing but. Call me Andy, Diane. You guys order yet? The cinnamon rolls in this joint are to die for.” Andrea sat her purse on the cushion beside her, then winked at Lee. “Good to see you again. Think we’re going to nail—” She stopped speaking as the waiter came up, holding laminated menus.

  “Here for lunch, folks?” the young man with curly red hair asked, beaming a smile that flashed briefly on Lee, but then switched back and forth between the women.

  Lee waited a few seconds, then decided to buy some time for the ladies to think it over. “For me, just coffee and one of those highly recommended cinnamon rolls.”

  “Mocha, cappuccino, latte, frappuccino, espresso?”

  “Just coffee. The kind your grandfather would drink—with cream.”

  “I’ll have to check … just kidding. We call it ‘cowboy coffee’ here, sir. Tall, white mug—thick and black. Best in the city,” the waiter said with a chuckle.

  “Espresso for me, and a cinnamon roll, too, I guess,” Diane added.

  “Yeah, me, too, what she’s having. Screw the diet,” Andrea said.

  “Whatever diet you ladies are on is definitely working,” the waiter said. “I’ll be right back with your order.”

  Fifteen minutes later, after agreeing on their tactics, they finished up their brunch. Lee and Diane would continue to track Glover’s movements, taking turns at the lead so he would be less likely to notice a particular vehicle. Andrea was going to arrange for backup cars, so they could switch in the afternoon if necessary. She was also going to get a GPS for them, a small unit they could place on Glover’s Jeep the next time the opportunity arose. He’d already checked the Jeep for bugs earlier and, if his routine held, wouldn’t be doing it again today. They’d have to remove the unit later, of course.

  Officer Moore was sliding out of the booth when the cell phone hooked to her jeans began to buzz. She brought the phone to her ear, then nodded at Lee and Diane. “He’s at the counter now, and the mechanic just drove the Jeep out of the stall.”

  They’d paid when their orders arrived, so Diane and Lee had no reason to wait around. “Stay in touch,” Diane said, nodding to Andrea.

  Lee looked at Officer Moore’s chest and saw her tense up. “Better add a vest, Andrea. Before tonight.”

  “Oh, right. Thought for a moment you were doing some comparison shopping.”

  Diane shook her head. “I should have made the suggestion myself. Glover’s a shooter.”

  Officer Moore looked back at Lee. “Something happen I don’t know about?”

  “Trust us on this, Andy.” Lee looked her in the eyes. If Glover was still carrying the .45 and the AP rounds, the vest wouldn’t be of much use. But he might have switched to a smaller, easily concealed pistol with regular sights for around town.

  Andrea held his gaze, then nodded.

  “Gotta go, Lee,” Diane said, moving toward the door.

  He followed, putting on his cap and sunglasses before stepping outside. The Jeep dealer was only a half block down the street. They could tell Glover hadn’t left yet because the Jeep was still outside the stall, beside the garage’s office.

  “Take the lead,” Lee called out to Diane, who’d already reached the SUV. He headed toward the pickup—his ride for the next few hours.

  Glover stopped a few miles farther west on Central at a local gun shop. Lee had been into that store on several occasions, mainly for extra ammunition for his various weapons, and knew that the proprietor was ex-military and had a good reputation. Unless Glover had already made an earlier purchase and had a background check completed, he couldn’t be picking up a firearm.

  Ammunition, however, was available just by submitting an ID, though at this place, he knew AP ammo wouldn’t be sold to a non-officer. Lee’s best guess was that Glover was here to get some conventional rounds for his .45 or whatever he had in his current armory. Diane would be able to get SAC Logan to confirm that later.

  Glover was inside for an hour, longer than expected, so Diane, who was closest, reported immediately when he came out. “Glover’s carrying a small bag, so we can rule out rifle and shotgun. From the way he’s using two hands, it’s relatively heavy. Several boxes of ammo, maybe.”

  “He’s expecting another encounter with us, so that would be my guess.”

  The rest of the day was spent tracking Glover all over the city. He had lunch at a downtown Fourth Street café, roamed around the city shopping, and now was on his second hour at a sports bar. Lee would have been bored stiff if it hadn’t been so important to stay alert. Glover had already proven himself to be dangerously unpredictable.

  As Lee sat there in the dark, across the street from the sports bar—a hot spot for prostitution according to Andy—his cell phone buzzed. It was Diane, who was in the bar’s parking lot, also watching.

  “Lee, I just got a report from Officer Rodriguez. This afternoon Sully took the camera gear to his house and hauled it all inside. Rodriguez got a look through binoculars, and said that Sully seemed to be messing with the lights and a camera, reading manuals, stuff like that. Getting to know the equipment.”

  “The bastard is anticipating his directing career. I’ve got mixed feelings about the missing kid. One part of me is hoping to find young Klein tonight, and the other is praying that Klein’s elsewhere, safe and far away from sickos like Glover or Sully.”

  “Yeah, Lee. But I’d rather find him tonight under these bad circumstances than discover his body three months from now in a shallow grave.”

  “Yeah. It just really pisses me off.”

  “Well, at least you got a chance to place that GPS on the Jeep. It’ll help us track Glover when he delivers the hooker to Sully.”

  “And we can turn it on and off by remote, which means that if Glover just does a signal search without a visual, he won’t find it at all.” Lee stretched and yawned. He’d had lunch from the car seat, picked up when Glover had gone into a clothing store, and the truck still smelled like french fries. It was 7:00 P.M. now, and he was getting hungry again.

  “Lee. One of those new-model VW Bugs just pulled up. Yellow, with a really young-looking female driver. Suppose this is the hooker Glover is pimping for Sully?”

  “I see the car. Andy said this was a common pickup spot for prostitutes. Let’s see if her outfit gives us any clues.”

  The young woman, dressed in sprayed-on pale blue satin pants and a short-length jeans jacket, walked into the sports bar’s side entrance.

  Lee’s phone indicated another caller. He put Diane on hold.

  “Glover’s got a visitor. This must be the girl,” Officer Moore said in a whisper. She’d been inside, across the room from Glover, for an hour now. “She came right over, recognized him immediately. God, she’s young looking. If she’s legal now, she probably didn’t start out that way.”

  “This has got to be the girl he’s getting for Sully. Give us a heads-up when they start to leave,” he answered.

  Lee switched back to Diane, then noted two men standing by her car door. They must have approached while he was watching the hooker.

  He could hear her voice over the open line. “Fuck off, assholes. My boyfriend is inside, and if you’re still hanging around when he comes out, he’ll kick your balls up into your kidneys.”

  Shit! Lee knew Diane was tough, but if one of those losers decided to get rough she’d have to fight, and that was bound to create a lot of noise and attention. If Glover saw and recognized her …

  Lee stepped down out of the pickup, stuck the phone in his pocket, and jogged across the street, moving in from the back of Diane’s SUV and, at the same time, remaining some distance from the sports bar. They’d have to depend on Andy for a few moments until they could get rid of the troublemakers.

  Diane wouldn’t get out, but she was also remaining quiet. Under normal circumstances, screaming and yelling helped a woman in trouble, but she also knew the consequences a ruckus would have for them. She’d scooted across the seat from the driver’s window, and when one of the thugs reached for the door handle, she kicked. Lee, coming up from the back, heard a curse and the guy jumped back, holding his hand. The other man, standing beside him but out of reach of Diane, laughed.

  “Walk away, guys,” Lee said, loud enough to be heard by just the troublemakers. He sneaked a glance at the bar and nobody was outside, not yet.

  The man who’d laughed glanced over and saw Lee less than twenty feet away. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a knife. “You the fucking boyfriend?”

  Diane, who’d lost their attention when Lee arrived, whipped open the door, slamming the idiot with the knife. The blade flew out of his hand and clattered across the pavement. “Let’s take these dorks out fast, Lee,” she said, jumping out.

  Lee was already moving. He grabbed dork number one, the guy with the injured wrist, by the collar and belt, then threw him over the hood of the SUV. The guy hit hard, like someone sliding face-first into third base. Unfortunately for him it was asphalt, not loose dirt.

  Diane met the remaining guy—without the knife now—as he was rushing in, catching him in the groin with her heel. The force knocked her backward, but unlike her opponent, she kept her balance. The disabled man groaned, then fell to his knees and rolled over, gasping for breath.

  Lee took a step forward, noting out of the corner of his eye that the man he’d just bounced across the pavement was crawling away. “You guys want some more action?”

  The attacker Diane had kicked, his face pale and his hands hovering around his groin in a defensive gesture, shook his head and mumbled.

  “Let’s just shoot them and get it over with,” Diane said, bringing out her pistol.

  “Okay. Why not?” Lee agreed, showing his pistol but not removing it from his belt.

  Groin forgotten, the injured man struggled to his feet and tried to raise his hands. “No, no. Don’t shoot. We’ll go.”

  “Put your hands down, asshole. Then pick up your buddy and get lost. I haven’t shot anyone all day now, and I’m getting real jumpy,” Diane said, shaking her pistol slightly.

  The man never looked back. Staggering over to his friend, he helped him up, then the two dragged themselves over to a bright red Mustang.

  Diane and Lee watched as the car raced to the far end of the parking lot, then, tires squealing, pulled out into the street and roared away.

  “Damn. Now what?” Lee reached for his phone, realizing it was vibrating, and remembered cutting Andy off.

  “Where the hell you guys been? Glover just left,” Officer Moore whispered harshly through the receiver. “And now the girl is getting into her yellow Bug.”

  Lee turned around to look and so did Diane. Glover’s Jeep was pulling out of the parking lot and the Volkswagen was moving in that direction.

  “I’m on Glover,” Diane said, jumping into the SUV.

  “No. Take the girl, Diane. I’ve got the GPS, remember? I’ll find Glover,” he said. Then he jogged away toward his pickup, remembering Andy was still on the line. “I’ll ask Diane to get in touch, Andy. You can help her track the girl. Glover is still the priority target for me, and I have the GPS to help me out.”

  “Understood, Lee,” Andy said. “I’m on my way to my unit now.”

  Lee reached the curb, saw an opening in traffic, and raced across to his pickup. Once he was heading in the direction Glover had gone, east, Lee realized that Diane was ahead of him. That meant that the hooker must have been going in Glover’s direction, as well. Maybe she was following him to the meet with Sully.

  A quick call to Diane confirmed his suspicions. She’d heard from Officer Rodriguez, who’d reported that Sully had placed his camera gear in his own vehicle and was now heading north from his mountain home.

  Hanging up, Lee increased his speed. Within ten minutes he’d passed Diane and located the yellow VW, which stood out clearly. Even a nonvampire would have had a hard time losing that car at night.

  Confirming with the GPS display on the seat beside him that Glover was enroute to I-40, Lee realized that he should avoid passing the Bug as long as the girl continued to follow Glover. No sense in pointing out that he was following Glover, too.

  The caravan of five vehicles—only the first two close to each other—entered the interstate, then continued east into Tijeras Canyon. As expected, Glover turned south onto Highway 337, and the VW followed. Traffic was much lighter here, so Lee made a decision and called Diane.

  “I’m going to stick with Glover, but if he and the girl end up at the same location with Sully, we can’t all hang around. Have you heard anything new on Sully?”

  “Rodriguez said that Sully had stopped off the road just across from that FAC development. He’s just waiting there, apparently.”

  “Glover is less than five minutes away from that location, if my timing is anywhere near right. If he stops for Sully and we all pass by, Glover is bound to at least notice you and me,” Lee pointed out.

  “You stop before the FAC road, Lee, and I’ll pass on by and pull off farther south. I’ll ask Andrea to continue and cover the back road into the development, the one we took the other night when we lost the motorcycle. We’ll have every exit covered.”

  “So what about Rodriguez?” Lee asked.

  “He should continue to watch Sully, don’t you think? We know he’s going to be hooking up with the girl, and that might lead us to the kidnapped boy … hopefully,” Diane said.

  “Good. I’ll contact Rodriguez.”

  Lee couldn’t keep a continual eye on Glover because of the forest and the twisting highway, but most of the time at least he had the VW in sight. When it slowed and pulled off the highway to the left, Lee killed his lights and moved off to the right side of the road.

  He could see the big billboard advertising the FAC housing development, and, across the highway, the three suspect cars they’d been following for the past half hour.

  Diane passed by, not slowing down or showing any interest at all in the vehicles.

  Taking out his binoculars, Lee watched as the girl stepped out of the yellow car and strolled over to Sully’s car window. Less than a minute passed before the girl walked back to her car. Sully then got out and walked over to Glover’s Jeep.

  Officer Moore drove by just then. Lee watched as Glover handed Sully a small boxlike object, then Sully walked back to his car. Immediately Glover turned out onto the highway, heading in the same direction as Diane and Andy. That left Sully and the girl.

  Lee picked up the phone and quickly called Officer Rodriguez. “Felix, change of plans. Glover is coming your way. Follow, but keep enough distance between you to avoid getting made. My guess is that he’s going home. His part in this should be done for the night. I’ll take Sully.”

  Lee then quickly punched the number to reach Diane. “New plan. I’ll follow Sully—Rodriguez is going to take Glover. As soon as Glover passes you, come back north. If the girl doesn’t go with Sully, let her go. Just have Andrea stand by and continue to watch the roads in case Sully tries some fancy footwork. You and I should concentrate on Sully and the girl. My guess is that they’re going to meet at one of the houses in the development. We can’t afford to lose them, so be aware that they could disappear in a heartbeat if they end up ducking into one of those double garages.”

  “I get you. Glover hooked them up and, if Sully liked what he saw, he and the girl are going someplace around here to do their thing. But tonight, with luck, it’ll be much more than that,” Diane responded. “Okay, gotta call Andy.” She hung up.

  Lee watched as Sully started his car and drove across the highway into the housing development. If the VW followed …

  CHAPTER 16

  It did, and Lee notified Diane as he pulled out onto the highway. Fifteen seconds later, he made the turn into the development’s main road. Ahead he could see the VW as the vehicle came out of a low spot in the road. The girl was following Sully, who was just ahead.

  They continued past several homes, some occupied and others at various stages of construction. Lee had seen all of them the night before. Tonight he’d probably learn where Glover had been last night.

  The road formed a big flat ellipse, like a paper clip, and at the far curve was the model home. That’s where Sully pulled in. Either he’d been given a remote, or somebody was inside and had seen him drive up, because the double garage door opened immediately. Lee, who’d been driving without headlights since he’d entered the housing development, came to a stop several lots away beside a sign that read FOR SALE.