* * *
He had to move swiftly, Cameron thought.
Head toward Celia’s neighborhood.
Stay off the main streets. If Luke was heading toward the fireworks factory, he would not be doing it stupidly. The way he’d been brought up was close to the training of a guerrilla fighter according to what Cameron had learned about the boy. Luke would find out his destination, discover how to get there, then proceed in a way that would not endanger Catherine.
That meant alleys and side streets.
But Cameron had no time to go on the usual hunt. He had to get back to Catherine.
And he had to find Luke quickly.
He tried to reach out and locate him.
Nothing.
He had touched the boy’s mind once on that mountainside when he had first met him. Once was usually enough to locate him and go in again.
Usually. There was nothing usual about Catherine’s son. He had sensed signs in the boy that were definitely above and beyond the ordinary.
Concentrate …
There he was. He had him. Luke’s mind was not as clean and singing as Catherine’s, but he was better than nine-tenths of the people Cameron encountered, and he had the same crystal sharpness. And that sharpness was leveled at Catherine.
“She should have taken me with her.” Rage. Indignation. Fear. Not for himself but for Catherine. “I explained it to her. Why didn’t she listen?” Then the emphasis shifted. Find the fireworks factory. It should still be several blocks away. He had checked the address in Celia’s phone book before slipping out of the house.
Keep off the main streets. He didn’t see why anyone would be interested in him but he’d been taught by that bastard, Rakovac, to never take anything for granted.
And to never be sure that you weren’t someone’s next target.
Target.
He was feeling a tenseness between his shoulder blades.
He glanced over his shoulder.
A dark-haired man in a yellow Windbreaker jacket and scarlet baseball cap was a block behind him. He was moving fast and with purpose.
Luke didn’t like it. See if he had reason to worry. He cut down the next street and started trotting.
He took another glance behind him.
The man in the yellow jacket had just rounded the corner.
Luke could feel his heart jump.
Lose him. He couldn’t lead the man to Catherine.
He turned into an alley near an all-night movie theater and began to run.
Cameron kept in close contact though there was little to monitor. During these first frantic minutes, he wouldn’t be able to control Luke, and he had to wait until he could insert guidance without letting him know that it was being done. The kid was doing well. The last thing he wanted was for Luke to go into shock and throw him off with Kadmus’s man on his heels.
But the man was gaining, and he had to get Luke away from him.
Luke didn’t know the streets, alleys, and general terrain, but Cameron did. There should be another alley in the next block, and if Luke took it, he’d pass a six-foot cedar fence bordering the backyard of a butcher shop. Time to take control.
* * *
Luke’s breath was coming in harsh pants as he ran down the street. Why couldn’t he get away? He had no doubt that man in the yellow jacket was after him. And he had seen him talking into a cell phone. That meant he could expect one or more of the man’s scumbag buddies to be after him, too.
Maybe he should double back to that movie theater and slip inside and go out the back exit. No. Maybe not.
No, definitely not.
Where, then? Right or left at the next corner.
Right.
He turned right and quickened his pace. He saw a small alley in the middle of the block. He might have to take it.
Yellow jacket was gaining on him again.
Take the alley.
That seemed right, he could only rely on instinct.
He turned down the alley.
* * *
“Ellis says he just got a visual on Luke Ling,” Brasden said as he turned to Kadmus. “He said the kid was on Clement Street and heading east.”
“Is he sure it’s Ling’s kid?” Kadmus could feel his excitement rise. “Is he following him?”
“Yes. He said there was no missing the closeness to the photograph. He said to alert the rest of the team that the kid’s wearing a blue sweatshirt, jeans, and tennis shoes.” He grimaced. “But the boy saw him and took off. Ellis is right behind him.”
“He can’t lose him. I’ll castrate the bastard if he screws this up.” He pushed back his chair from the table in the bar where he’d been waiting for word. And what a good word it was, he thought with fierce pleasure. Everything was coming together. He was right on Ling’s heels, and with any luck, he’d be gathering in her brat to use to negotiate. What a fool she was to let him run around and right into Kadmus’s hands. But she wouldn’t have let him go far, so the circle must be narrowing even more.
He moved toward the door. “Let’s go, Brasden. We’ll head for the place where Ellis spotted the boy and I’ll make my call to Catherine Ling. We’ll be able to zero in on her when she picks up.” He chuckled. “And I may have ammunition by that time that will make her cave even before I get my hands on her.”
“She’ll know that we’ll be able to find her within five or ten minutes,” Brasden said. “She might not pick up.”
“But she will. She wants to take me down as much as I do her. It’s only a question of who will get there first. And if the boy’s not with her, she’ll be worried. That gives me an edge.” He glanced at Brasden. “I always have the edge. You knew that when you first came to work for me. You seem to have lost that realization somewhere along the way.”
“And you seem to have forgotten that you’re now in a vulnerable position with me.”
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten.” He smiled blandly. “I’ll have to attend to that problem right after I deal with Ling and her son.”
* * *
The alley was pitch-dark.
Luke’s heart was pounding, his lungs struggling for air as he ran. He could see the brightly lit cross street up ahead.
No yellow jacket yet.
He was passing a cedar fence.
Go over it.
He slowed, uncertain.
Better to go on to the street?
No, go over it, then double back to the street where he’d entered the alley. It might catch the hunter off guard and let him lose him.
He veered to the side and began to climb the cedar fence.
The soles of his tennis shoes dug into the wood as he shinnied over the fence and jumped to the ground on the other side.
He knelt there, listening.
Running footsteps, muttered curses.
Then the steps passed on down the alley.
Get up, move. Take advantage of the moment of confusion. Yellow jacket might come back and check on the fence.