The Memory Collector Part 40

She took a breath. "Ian Kanan."

Ahead in the distance, from the night, a man appeared. He gradually separated from the heavy darkness of the live oaks and walked toward her. She held still, fighting to see beyond the lights.

From the Tahoe, Calder said, "Is it him? Ian?"

"What does he look like?" Vance said.

The man emerged from the shadows and walked toward her. His pace was measured. He spread his arms at his sides, showing he wasn't carrying a weapon. He grew clearer. He walked with the self-possession of a big cat.

It was Gabe.

Her heart ramped up. What was he doing? Where were the cops?

Oh, s.h.i.t. There were no cops.

Gabe walked to the edge of the headlights, thirty yards from her, and stopped. Her teeth were chattering. She felt a swell of fear for him. She bit down to keep from breaking into tears.

It was Sophie's dad, coming unarmed to rescue her. If she hadn't loved him before, in that moment she did.

"It's time. Let's do it," he said.

Jo heard a window going down in the Tahoe. Calder hissed at her. "Ask him where Ian is."

"Where's Ian?' Jo said.

"He'll exchange the stuff when he sees Seth and Misty," Gabe said.

His eyes shone in the headlights. He held her gaze. He had to have a plan. Had to be trying to tell her something.

"Seth and Misty aren't here," Jo said.

"Tell him why," Calder said.

"Riva Calder's in the Tahoe. She wants to see Kanan, and the sample of Slick, before she brings his family to an exchange."

"If Ian doesn't show himself and prove he has the stuff, the deal is off," Calder said.

"Did you hear that?" Jo said.

"I heard." Gabe shielded his eyes from the headlights and called out to the people in the Tahoe. "Let's swap. Me for Dr. Beckett. I'll take you to Kanan."

"What the h.e.l.l is this?" Calder said.

Vance shouted, "He's lying."

"Let Jo go," Gabe said. "Take me instead."

In the distance, floating like a treble note on the air, Jo heard sirens. Vance shouted, "Hear that?"

Murdock said, "It's a trap."

Gabe didn't move. "This is your last chance. If you drive off now, you'll never get what you're after. Let Jo go and I'll take you to Kanan."

Vance shouted, "He's a liar. Let's go."

The sirens grew louder. Jo held on to Gabe's shining gaze. Vance yelled, "Come on," and hit the high beams.

Behind Gabe, she saw a man walking out of the trees. He moved like a gunslinger, swift and sure. The headlights caught the gun barrel that glinted in his hand. The headlights caught his eyes. They shone like blue ice.

* 33 *

Ian Kanan advanced toward Gabe from behind, raising the gun in his hand. And the night turned to havoc.

Jo threw her hands out. "No. Gabe, look out."

Gabe spun. Kanan shouted, "Where are they?"

Through the trees, past the bottom of the Oval on Palm Drive, the flashing lights of a police car spun toward them. Vance jammed the Tahoe into drive.

"The cops," he yelled. "The cops-"

Kanan swung the barrel of the gun toward Jo.

From the dark by the Tahoe, a man said, "Boss, no."

The siren and flashing lights swelled. Calder began shouting. Vance let loose with a stream of incomprehensible drivel, spun the wheel, and jammed his foot on the pedal.

"f.u.c.k, no," Jo said.

She leaped out of the headlights, grabbed the rope around her waist, and threw herself toward the Tahoe. Vance swerved right and bounced onto the curb. Calder shouted at him to stop. He braked, looked toward the cops and back at the man with the gun charging at him through the high beams. And at the dark eyes of the man with dreadlocks who appeared from nowhere outside the driver's window. He jammed the pedal down again.

And ran into a mailbox.

"Drive, no-stop, Christ, what are you doing?" Calder yelled.

The back pa.s.senger door was still open, swinging like a fan. Vance put the Tahoe in reverse. He spun the wheels backing up, and the door flew wide.

Jo held on to the rope. She had to get loose or get back in the vehicle.

Gabe came running. In his right hand he held a huge, sharp Buck knife. He launched himself at Jo, left hand out to grab the rope.

Vance put the Tahoe in drive. Calder yelled, "What the h.e.l.l are you doing? That's Ian!"

Gabe grabbed the rope and swung the knife at it. The vehicle bounced off the curb and accelerated, yanking the rope from Gabe's hand before he could cut it. Jo grabbed the swinging door and held on to it, running alongside the Tahoe. Gabe ran behind her. The Tahoe accelerated. It swerved to the opposite side of the road and sideswiped a parked car.

Through the door Jo saw Murdock. His face was suffused with anger.

"Stop the car," he said.

"Like h.e.l.l," Vance wailed.

The police car reached the Oval and began driving toward them.

"Stop," Murdock said. "Let her go."

But Vance kept his foot down. Murdock seemed to be the only one who realized that if they didn't cut Jo loose, they'd have to stop in a minute to detach her broken body from under the wheels. She held on to the door, feet windmilling and beginning to drag. She couldn't keep up. Vance bounced across the road and over the opposite curb into the gra.s.s in the center of the Oval. Jo clung to the swinging door and jumped, getting her feet back in the vehicle. Five feet away, Gabe sprinted alongside the Tahoe.

"They're everywhere," Vance shouted.

Jo knew that if she fell, she'd die under the wheels or be dragged to death. If Gabe held on to her and fell, they might both die.

He got his fingers on the door. But he couldn't possibly keep up with the acceleration of the SUV. And at this speed, he couldn't cut her loose.

Hanging on to the door, swinging wildly, Jo looked at him. "Get away. Get help. Alec-Stow Lake, he's in the water by the bridge."

The Tahoe swerved and roared off the gra.s.s, bounced onto the road again.

Gabe hung on to the frame with one hand. "Jo..."

"Gabe," she said.

The Tahoe roared forward with a huge surge of power. Gabe's hand was ripped loose from the door frame. She watched him recede from her view.

He kept running, eyes on her. He pointed. To her, to himself. Gonna get you.

Then he veered in another direction, sprinting flat-out for the trees.

Jo pulled herself into the chaotic interior of the vehicle. Vance was hunched over the wheel, racing like a frightened weasel for the exit from campus. Calder was hanging out the pa.s.senger window, looking back for Kanan.

"Did you see him?" Vance said. "This black dude popped up right outside my window with a f.u.c.king gun, the piece was bigger than my head, and-s.h.i.t, did you see him, he was like the Predator or something, all dreadlocks and crazy eyes and f.u.c.k that gun was big. Did you see him?"

Murdock sat fuming in the back seat, breathing hard, looking like he knew he was screwed.

Jo pulled the door closed. Murdock glared at her.

Do not cry, she thought. Do not cover your mouth or indicate that you have a single weakness.

She breathed. "Now do you G.o.dd.a.m.n believe me?"

Vance roared down Palm Drive. A cop car raced past them in the opposite direction. Ahead, more flashing lights spun off the treetops. A stop sign flashed past, and horns smeared in her ears. Vance swerved around the corner onto Campus Drive and headed toward the football stadium, seeking an exit from the campus. Jo held tight to the door handle.

"Without me, you'll never get away with this. It's me plus Misty and Seth-alive and safe-or you don't get Slick," she said. "I'm your ticket."

Gabe ran toward the cross road where he'd parked the 4Runner. The blue Tahoe receded down Palm Drive. All the air in his lungs seemed to go with it. A police car blew past him heading the other way, toward the top of the Oval, lights and siren bawling. He looked back.

So that was Ian Kanan.

Gabe held on to the Buck knife. He saw Diaz running across the Oval. Off to the right, a pickup truck flipped on its headlights.

"Boss," Diaz yelled. "Wait."

The pickup spun its tires and gunned down an access road through the trees after the fleeing Tahoe. Diaz watched it streak away.

He threw his hands in the air. Then he hollered at Gabe, pointing at the pickup. "Quintana, that's Kanan, in my truck. We have to catch him."

The pickup roared down Palm Drive, taillights scoping to red pin-p.r.i.c.ks. Diaz angled across the gra.s.s, caught up with Gabe, and ran alongside him, breathing hard.

"Kanan doesn't know he left you here, does he?" Gabe said.

"No. He can't hold anything in his head for more than about five minutes. He only knows he has to get his family back."

Diaz's pickup turned right onto Campus Drive and disappeared from view.

"Can you call him?" Gabe said.

"Not yet, and even if I could, he wouldn't listen to me. He won't break off chasing the Tahoe. He doesn't want to lose sight of the kidnappers."

"That's smart."

"That's his only chance. If he gets distracted, even for a split second, facts just fade out of his head. It's like the great beyond collects all his thoughts and burns them."

They cut through a copse of live oaks. Gabe took out his keys and flicked the alarm remote. Ahead, the parking lights of the 4Runner flashed.

"I thought I had the hostage-takers," Diaz said. "But the driver of the Tahoe saw me in the wing mirror and hit the gas."

"When does Kanan's phone activate?" Gabe said.

"Ten P.M., but we can't wait till then. If he loses sight of the Tahoe for too long, he'll forget he ever saw it. He'll keep driving and we'll never find him again."

"He found you once."

"That's not the point now."

"What is? What's the rush?" Gabe said.

"He's got a container that's volatile. The nano lab sample, it's in his computer battery. He armed it. It won't stay stable even for forty-five minutes."

"And then?"