“Where’s he going?” Misty asked.

  Since Daeng had no idea, he didn’t answer.

  They watched as Steve turned down another street. When they reached the intersection, they turned, too.

  All they could see ahead of them was empty road.

  HOLT WAS BEHIND the wheel, while Teig was on his radio, filling in Central.

  “Not sure if it’s two or three,” he said. “We think the Camry the woman and the man are in is following another car driven by a male alone. A BMW. He passed by us a few seconds before they did. I was able to get pictures of all three.”

  “Send them to me,” Central said, as if this was the first thing that should have happened.

  Teig retrieved his phone and sent the images in a single e-mail. “You should have them any second,” he said as the message left.

  There was a pause. “All right. I’m going to see what I can find out from here.”

  “What do you want us to do? Follow or capture?”

  “Do they know you’ve made them?”

  Teig hesitated. “Uh, yes.”

  “Then just following is out of the question, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Teig, do not lose them.”

  “We won’t.”

  Teig replaced the radio in its harness and looked down the road. The Camry was about three quarters of a block away, the BMW still in front of it.

  “Don’t worry about being seen,” he told Holt. “Close in.”

  As Holt increased their speed, the BMW turned onto a new road. As soon as the Camry reached the intersection, it turned, too.

  That cinched it. They had to be together.

  For the next several minutes, Teig and Holt zigzagged through the neighborhood as the others tried to lose them, but that was a contest the Camry could never win.

  Suddenly the BMW, which had been driving only fast enough for the Camry to keep up with it, zoomed ahead and took a turn. It was several seconds before the Camry and the Audi followed suit.

  “Looks like the other guy took off,” Holt said.

  The BMW was nowhere in sight.

  Smart man, Teig thought.

  “Do we stay on the Camry or go try to find him?” Holt asked.

  “The Camry,” Teig ordered.

  DAENG CHECKED THE mirror again. The Audi had moved in close, and was now a mere half car length behind them.

  Daeng kept taking turns, hoping they’d catch a break, but so far that hadn’t happened.

  “You doing okay?” he asked Misty.

  “Not really,” she said. She had one hand still on the dash, while the other was now gripping the handle above the door.

  He hoped whatever Howard had in mind was going to work, but he knew he couldn’t count on it, and needed to come up with his own solution. Shooting the other driver would have been the easiest thing. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a weapon.

  No, he realized. That wasn’t exactly true.

  There was always the Camry itself. What he needed to do was create the opportunity for the Audi to come alongside. If he did it right, a quick whip of the wheel would send the other vehicle smashing into a parked car.

  He eased back on the accelerator a bit.

  “Come on,” he whispered as he looked in the mirror. “Come take a look.”

  TEIG KNEW IT was almost over.

  Without the BMW to guide it, the Camry was starting to slow, the driver no doubt realizing he didn’t have a chance. If Teig really wanted to, he could have Holt bump the back corner of the Toyota and spin it out right now. The only drawbacks were potential injuries or deaths. Orders were to bring at least one of them in alive.

  If they could get around front, they could cut off the Camry. That should do the trick.

  He scanned past the other car at the road ahead. Another intersection was coming up, and after that the street widened a bit. The perfect place to perform a takedown.

  He explained to Holt what he wanted to do.

  “WHAT ARE YOU waiting for? Come on,” Daeng said. His gaze bounced from the mirror to the road and back.

  “What are you talking about?” Misty asked.

  As they passed through the next intersection, Daeng glanced over, intending to reassure her. But the car racing down the intersecting road stopped him from saying anything.

  TEIG SETTLED BACK in his seat as they approached the intersection. From the holster rig under his shoulder, he removed his gun, and popped out the mag to double-check the load as he always did before going into action.

  The mag had just cleared the end of the grip when he spotted something out of the corner of his eye.

  It was large and black and moving much too fast.

  He started to turn to take a better look.

  THE SOUND OF the impact was loud and jarring.

  Misty looked around. “What was that?”

  “Our diversion,” Daeng said as he slammed on the brakes.

  Leaving the engine running, he scrambled out of the Camry, Misty only seconds behind him.

  “That’s…that’s Steve’s car,” she said.

  Indeed it was. Daeng had seen the BMW come down the intersecting road. Howard had timed his run perfectly, T-boning into the side of the Audi and pushing it clear out of the intersection, onto the curb.

  Daeng ran toward the accident, scanning the two German sedans. No way either of them would ever be driven again.

  In the smashed front cab of the Audi, he could see the two men jammed together, unconscious or dead. Which meant, at least for the moment, he didn’t need to worry about them, so he angled straight for the BMW.

  He found Howard slumped against his seatbelt, a deflating airbag draped on his lap. Daeng tried to jerk open the driver’s door, but it had been bent in the accident and wouldn’t budge. He tried the door behind it. This one popped open right away, so he crawled in and reached around the seat, feeling Howard’s neck for a pulse.

  It was there. Strong and steady.

  He crawled over the seat and shook Howard’s shoulder. “Hey, Steve. Wake up.” No response. “Steve, come on. Can you hear me? Wake up. We’ve got to get you out of here.”

  He heard the front passenger door open, and looked back to see Misty sticking her head in.

  “Is he dead?” she asked.

  “No.”

  “Oh, thank God.”

  A fat guy in a faded Guns N’ Roses T-shirt jogged up behind Misty. “Hey, is that guy all right?”

  Misty, sounding surprisingly in control, said, “We’re checking him now.”

  “Steve, it’s time to wake up,” Daeng said, tapping Howard’s cheeks.

  Howard started to blink.

  “He came out of nowhere,” the overweight rocker said. “Whacked right into those other guys.”

  “Maybe you should go check on them,” Daeng suggested.

  “There’s somebody already over there.”

  “They could probably use some help,” Misty said. “We’ve got this one here.”

  The man hesitated, then nodded. “Yeah. I’ll see what’s going on.”

  Misty leaned back into the cab. “Are you okay?” she asked Howard.

  “Not my best day,” he said, wincing. “But I’ll be fine.”

  Daeng did a quick check for broken bones, but found nothing obvious. “We need to get out of here before any others show up. You think you can move?”

  Howard nodded once. “Yeah. I just…need some help.”

  Daeng unlatched the seat belt, and helped Howard climb across the seats. Once they were out, Daeng and Misty got on either side of him and headed for Misty’s car.

  “Should you be doing that?” It was the same guy as before. “He probably shouldn’t move until the EMTs get here. He might have internal injuries, you know. Don’t you watch TV?”

  Misty replied before Daeng had a chance. “I’m a nurse,” she said. “I’ve already checked him over. I think it’s best to get him to the hospital as soon as possible.”

  “You’re a nurse? Shouldn’t you take a look at these other two also?”

  “Let me help with this one first, and I’ll be right there.”

  As soon as they’d left the man behind, Daeng whispered, “Nice improvising.”

  “Thanks,” she said, sounding like she couldn’t quite believe what she’d done.

  They got Howard into the backseat of the Camry, and started to get into the front.

  “The files,” Howard said, his voice weak. “In my trunk.”

  The files from the safe at Peter’s apartment. They hadn’t had time to dispose of them.

  Daeng looked at Misty. “Are they important?”

  “It wouldn’t be good if anyone found them, if that’s what you mean.”

  “Okay. I’ll be right back.”

  Racing back toward the accident, Daeng could hear sirens approaching, no more than a minute or two away.

  “Hey, what happened to that nurse?” the onlooker asked. “Thought she said she’d be right back.”

  “The other guy started bleeding. She’s taking care of that first.”

  Mr. Guns N’ Roses didn’t look completely convinced. “Well, she’d better hurry. I don’t think these other two are doing so well.”

  “I’ll let her know.”

  At the BMW, Daeng leaned in through the passenger door, pulled the key fob out of the ignition, and pushed the button to open the trunk. When nothing happened, Daeng guessed that the electric system had been disabled in the accident, and used the actual key to unlock the trunk. The files had spilled out of the bag, so he had to waste several valuable seconds shoving them back in. As he turned for the Camry, his gaze lingered on the Audi for a moment, wondering if he should try to find the phone the man had used to take their pictures. The piercing siren only blocks away made up his mind for him, and he sprinted the rest of the way back to Misty’s car.

  When he got there, he saw she was in the back with Howard, so he climbed in behind the wheel and dropped the bag in the front passenger seat.

  “Everyone ready?” he asked.

  Misty snorted a laugh.

  He took that as a good sign as he shifted into Drive and sped away.

  Chapter Seventeen

  SAN FRANCISCO

  “WHAT?”

  If Helen Cho hadn’t already been on her feet, she would have shot up as she’d yelled into the phone.

  “They hadn’t expected to find anyone,” Central said. “The recon team was just there double-checking that there wasn’t any evidence missed from yesterday that might ID the intruders.”

  “And who authorized that?”

  A pause. “I did.”

  “Why would you do that?”

  “The client has made it very clear that they want these people found. I thought in the confusion yesterday something might have been overlooked. It’s standard procedure.”

  Helen seethed. Great, another O & O standard procedure. She bit back a response that would have been unproductive. Central wasn’t the one to argue the point with. That would be Stone.

  She took a moment to regain her composure, and asked, “How are your men?”

  “Alive, but both will be in the hospital for a while.”

  “What about local authorities? Have you been able to contain the situation?”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’ve spun the accident as being the result of road rage. It jibes with what witnesses reported seeing, so it was an easy sell. Once our men regain consciousness, they’ll be briefed before they can make statements to the police.”

  “Any leads on the car that hit them?”

  “The vehicle is registered to a corporation that doesn’t exist. It’s in police custody, but it’s my understanding they have yet to check for prints. I have a person in place who will forward that information to me as soon as that happens.”

  Helen could hear a few keyboard clicks over the line.

  “We do have photos of all three suspects,” Central said.

  “You do?” Here, at least, was some good news. “E-mail those to me right now.”

  “I should probably check with—”

  “You should probably check with no one. Send them now!”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Helen stormed back to her desk, woke up her computer, and waited for the e-mail. As soon as it arrived, she opened the three attached files.

  The first image was of a Caucasian man behind the wheel of a BMW, the same BMW that had apparently caused the accident. The second was of another male, this one Asian. He was driving the Camry. The third was the Camry’s passenger, a woman.

  Helen stared at the screen. She had met this woman before.

  “Shit,” she said under her breath.

  “Ma’am?” Central said.

  “Nothing.”

  “Have you opened the files?”

  “Yes.”

  “According to witnesses, the woman claimed to be a nurse. She and the Asian male helped the BMW’s driver out of his car and over to theirs. While she stayed with the injured man, the other one returned to the BMW and retrieved a bag from its trunk before they left.” Another click of a key. “I went ahead and ran the plate on the Camry, and came back with the name Misty Blake. The picture on the driver’s license issued to that name matches the woman in the picture I just sent you. I have an address, and will be dispatching a team there momentarily. I should have more answers for you very soon.”

  “Have you reported any of this to the client?”

  Central was silent for a moment. “Not yet.”

  Good, Helen thought. At least something was still in her control.

  “Have your team stand down,” she said.

  “I’m sorry?”

  “You heard me. Tell them to stand down.”

  “But…the woman. We should—”

  “You should do as ordered. Or would you like to be relieved?”

  “No, ma’am. How would you like me to proceed, then?”

  “As far as O & O is concerned, this project is closed,” Helen told him. “You will cease all surveillance, seal the records, and forward no more information to the client. Any inquiries from the client should be directed to me. Is that understood?”

  “Are you going to tell this to Director Stone, or should I?”

  “You will tell him. You will also tell him to get on a plane and be in my office first thing tomorrow morning. Got it?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  She could tell he was eager to get off the line, so she said, “If there is anything else I should know about, tell me now, because if I find out you’ve kept something from me, your job isn’t the only thing you’re going to need to worry about.”

  “No, ma’am. I believe that’s it.”

  She let him hang on the line for several seconds before she said, “All right. Good. Please keep me posted on the condition of your men.”

  “Of course.”

  Helen set her phone down on the desk, and looked once more at the image of the woman on her monitor.

  Misty Blake. Helen had never known her last name. To her, the woman had only been Misty, Peter’s executive assistant.

  She had no idea what the hell was going on, but she knew she needed to get a handle on it. She also knew that Peter would have wanted her to protect Misty, so that’s where she decided to start.

  She turned to her computer, found Misty’s record, and set about making the woman disappear.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ISLA DE CERVANTES

  THE SUN HAD just set when Quinn’s plane landed at St. Renard’s International Airport. He hurried through Customs and grabbed the first available cab. When it finally pulled up in front of the hospital compound, he didn’t even wait until it came to a full stop before throwing open the door and jumping out.

  It took all of his will not to run through the corridors as he made his way to Orlando’s room. Reaching her door, he paused to catch his breath and then stepped inside.

  He wasn’t sure what he’d expected to find, but it wasn’t seeing Orlando lying in bed, her eyes closed, and looking exactly as she had when he’d left. He stopped a few feet in, perplexed.

  Liz was sitting in a chair next to the bed. She twisted around when she heard him enter, then jumped up and rushed over.

  “I…I thought…” Quinn stammered. “I mean, Nate said she was awake.”

  His sister put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “She was.”

  He looked past her at the bed again. “But…”

  “She’s asleep. Normal sleep. Not like before.”

  He relaxed a little. “Did she say anything?”

  A gentle smile graced Liz’s lips. “Not much. Just that she was thirsty.”

  “That’s it?”

  Liz started to turn him toward the door. “Why don’t we talk in the hall?”

  He glanced at Orlando, not wanting to leave in case she opened her eyes again.

  “We’ll be right outside,” Liz assured him.

  With extreme reluctance, he followed his sister into the corridor. As soon as the door was closed, he said, “Dr. Montero said she wasn’t going to wake for three days at least.”

  “Her vital signs were improving, so he eased back on what they were using to keep her under.”

  “You could’ve told me that. I would have come back sooner.”

  She grasped his bicep. “Jake, look at me. If I had known, I would’ve called you, but we only found out he’d done that after she opened her eyes the first time.”

  “How many times has she been awake?”

  “Two more times since Nate called you.”

  Two more times Orlando had seen he wasn’t there. “What’s Dr. Montero saying now?”

  “He’s cautiously optimistic.”

  “That tells me nothing.” Quinn spun around as if he might spot Montero standing nearby. “I want to talk to him. Where is he? I need to know exactly how she is.”

  As his voice grew louder, a nurse at a station down the hall looked up. With a frown, she patted the air, gesturing for him to lower his volume.