CHAPTER 43

MACE HEARD the car long before she saw it.

She checked her side mirror. Black sedan, tinted glass, big motor, and the rear passenger-side window easing down. Never a good scenario, especially in this part of D.C.

She hit the throttle and the Ducati leapt forward, but the sedan still muscled up closer. She saw the gun muzzle with a suppressor can through the slit of the open window. The shooter took aim through the scope on his sniper rifle while his partner handled the wheel with an expert touch. The crosshairs settled on Mace’s helmet and the man’s finger closed on the trigger. Sensing that the shooter had drawn his bead, Mace was about to jump the curb when there was a squeal of rubber. Another car flew between the sedan and Mace, and banged against the big car.

The man fired right at the instant the collision occurred and his shot got screwed. Instead of the round drilling a black hole in Mace’s head, the driver’s-side window of the car between Mace and the shooter exploded, with glass fragments propelled outward like tiny meteors.

Mace recognized the car that had saved her. “Roy!” she screamed.

The shooter cursed and fired again while his partner slammed the sedan into the smaller Audi. Roy ducked down as the second round zipped over his head and shattered the passenger window. He cut the wheel hard to the left and the Audi punched the sedan’s front fender at just the right angle to send the bigger car into a counterclockwise spin. The shooter pulled his rifle back and closed the window while the driver tried to steer the car out of the spin.

Roy hit the gas and the Audi pulled next to Mace. Roy looked at her through the open window.

“I’ve got your back,” he said gamely, glassy debris in his hair, his eyes wide with adrenaline and fear.

Mace lifted her visor and yelled, “Are you nuts!”

“Apparently, yeah,” he said a little breathlessly.

“What the hell are you doing here?”

“Like I just said, watching your back.”

“They could’ve killed you.”

“But they didn’t. Right?”

Mace checked their six.

The sedan had pulled out of the spin and was bearing down on both of them, its eight cylinders popping.

“Well, here they come again.”

Roy looked behind him. “Oh, shit. Now what?”

Mace shouted, “Follow me, Roy.”

CHAPTER 44

THE DUCATI hit ninety on a straight strip of road and then Mace decelerated and leaned into the turn at sixty. The battered Audi barely made the cut, its left rear taking out a line of trash cans on the curb, catapulting days-old garbage in all directions as Roy fought the wheel and finally righted the slide and fell in behind her ride.

Mace flicked her gaze in the mirror and saw the sedan take the turn while barely slowing. Her mind galloped as her observations roared into deductions. Pro driver. So probably pro shooter in the rear seat. She didn’t want to find out how good he was. The third shot would not be all that charming for her or Roy.

Mace’s knowledge of the area served her well. Whenever she saw the sedan edging up on Roy, she would rip down a side street, forcing the bigger car to fall back a bit. They did this dodge and dart for three more blocks while passing bandits doing business, but not a single blue working the streets that Mace could see.

Lazy asses!

She had no choice but to go for it. Up ahead was the church parking lot. She spied two cruisers still at the hoodle. She leaned into the turn, hit the lot, went fully airborne over a speed bump, and soared right at the twin rides of D.C.’s finest. She braked hard, almost laying the Ducati down, but the rear wheel tread fought the torque and held to the asphalt. The Audi torched the pavement with burned rubber as Roy smashed down on the brakes. Before Mace even got her helmet off or Roy leapt from his car, the cops were out, frozen in classic firing stances, gun muzzles aimed at Roy’s and Mace’s foreheads.

“Hands on your heads, fingers interlocked, and down on your knees. Now!” screamed one of them.

With slight panic Mace noticed that Tony and his rookie were not among this group. He must’ve gotten a call and left. She studied the four cops aligned against her. All men, all big, all looking pissed off. And she didn’t know a single one. She glanced at Roy, who was taking a step forward, gallantly trying to put his body between her and them. She stopped his gallantry by driving her elbow in his side and pushing him behind her. She knew the look in the cops’ eyes. She’d had it herself plenty of times. They were one second and one wrong move from unloading with double taps to the head and heart. Even shitty shooters couldn’t miss at this distance, and she doubted any of them were bad shots.

“Hands on your head and fingers interlocked, Roy,” she hissed. “And get on your knees. Now!”

They both dropped to the asphalt as the blues approached cautiously, firing lines and trigger fingers still set.

“Some guys in a car tried to kill us,” barked Roy.

It was at this moment that Mace noticed the silence. No big sedan, no thumping V-8, no gun muzzle with a can pointed her way. Silence.

“What guys?” said one of the cops skeptically.

“In a big black sedan. It was chasing us.”

The cop looked around. “I don’t see a damned thing other than you two.”

Another one pointed out, “All I ever saw were you and the chick on the bike coming at us hard.”

“I was here about thirty minutes ago,” said Mace. “I was talking to Tony Drake. He was parked here at the hoodle with an egg named Francie.”

“You a cop?” asked one of them.

“Used to be. Tony can vouch for me.”

The first cop shook his head. “We got here about ten minutes ago. And I don’t know any Tony Drake. Or a Francie.”

Roy started to get up. “Look, this is crazy.”

“Stay down!” roared the second cop. His pistol was aimed right at Roy’s skull.

“He’s staying down,” snapped Mace. “He’s not going anywhere. No sudden moves. We’re both cool. We’ve got no weapons.”

“We’ll see about that,” said the first cop, as he holstered his gun and pulled cuffs from his belt. “You two look like you got stuff that would concern me. So you don’t mind me searching you and your vehicles?”

Roy eyed the cuffs and said indignantly, “Where the hell are you coming from? We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“This is a stop, Roy, not a contact,” said Mace. “We are definitely not free to go.”

The other cop eyed Mace. “What, are you his lawyer?”

“Other way around, actually.”

“You said you were a cop. Do I know you?”

Mace started to say something but then stopped. These guys might be part of the thirty percent who believed she was dirty.

“Don’t think so.”

The first cop was looking at the damage to the Audi. “You hit something, mister.”

“How about that sedan and two big-ass rifle rounds?” snapped Roy.

“Right, the sedan,” the cop said sarcastically. He nodded to his partner, who snapped the cuffs on Roy first, then Mace.

“Have either of you been drinking?” asked the first cop.

“For God’s sakes!” yelled Roy. “They were trying to kill us. We came to you for help and all we’re getting is hassled and cuffed.”

“Shut up!” snapped Mace.

“In case you didn’t figure it out, you’re both under arrest,” said the second cop.

“What’s the damn charge?” exclaimed Roy.

“How about disturbing the peace, reckless endangerment, and assault on a police officer for starters? I thought you two were going to run right into us.”

“That is bullshit! Look at my damn car. They shot out the windows. They were trying to kill us! Or at least her. What the hell did you want us to do? Now, can you take the damn cuffs off?” Roy pulled his arms free of the cop’s hold.