“They said it’ll be twenty to thirty minutes,” she said as the sales rep returned with a large smile on his face.
“The check cleared with no problem,” he said. “Is everything to your satisfaction?”
“Yes, thanks.”
The sales rep put on his coat and escorted them to the front door, helping Kevin carry the laser. They placed it gently on the cement outside the building under the awning to protect the laser from the rain, which was now coming down in sheets. The sales rep locked the door.
“I’m sorry I can’t let you wait inside,” he said.
“That’s all right,” Erica said. “You’ve done enough already. Our cab will be here soon.”
The sales rep looked curious and then shrugged. The circumstances were rather strange, Erica thought. But the money seemed to quiet him, and he climbed into his car.
A minute after the sales rep drove away, a Taurus turned onto Greenmont. Erica didn’t pay much attention to it; it was probably an employee returning from dinner for some late night work at one of the other offices on the block. She was about to ask Kevin where they were going to go when the Taurus suddenly veered into the LuminOptics parking lot.
“Oh shit!” Kevin said almost under his breath. The next word was shouted. “Run!”
Erica’s stomach dropped when she realized Kevin’s terror. Kevin grabbed her hand and sprinted toward the far end of the parking lot, the downpour drenching them almost immediately. The Taurus drove straight at them as if it were going to run them down. Kevin and Erica tried angling away from the chain link fence separating them from the parking lot next door, but the Taurus skidded to a stop ten feet in front of them, blocking the only way out of the enclosed lot.
A smiling man with perfectly coiffed black hair lowered the passenger window. In the driver’s seat sat a beefy younger man with a crewcut. Her focus left the black-haired man’s grinning face when he lifted a pistol above the window sill.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Hamilton,” he said. “You can’t know how happy I am to see you.”
CHAPTER 23
Kevin couldn’t believe he was seeing them again. But his eyes weren’t deceiving him. In the car before him were Barnett and Kaplan, the fake policemen from Houston.
“I can tell you are surprised, Mr. Hamilton,” Barnett said. “We will have plenty of time to answer your questions.” His gaze shifted to Erica. “And I’m glad I finally get to meet Miss Jensen. You know, you both had us worried for a while. The trick with your credit cards was quite ingenious. I will be interested to find out whose idea that was. Now, please open the back door slowly and climb in.”
Kevin looked at Erica with dismay. If he tried something stupid, like charging them, he’d only get shot. He was about to tell Erica to do what the man said when an engine roared from his left.
He turned in time to see his dad’s truck hurtling toward the Taurus from behind. In the next second, as he and Erica scrambled to get back, the pickup smashed into the Taurus, collapsing its trunk and catapulting it into the chain link fence twenty feet to their right. The Taurus hit the fence straight on and careened backward, coming to rest about five feet from the fence, its engine stalled.
They wasted no time and ran to the truck. Even with such a heavy impact, only minor damage showed on the truck’s front bumper. Murray was already opening the passenger door.
“Hurry!” he yelled.
Erica got in first, then Kevin.
“Nick, the glove compartment! My gun!”
Kevin opened it and found a Glock 17 in a leather holster. He hesitated and then saw groggy movement behind the Taurus’ limp airbags. Quickly, he unsnapped the holster and drew the Glock. His dad was heading toward the parking lot exit.
“Wait! The laser! Dad, we need to go back!”
His dad threw him a surprised glance. “What are you talking about?”
“The company entrance. We have to go back.” When he saw that his dad wasn’t turning the wheel, he yelled. “Go back!”
“I must be nuts,” Murray said. He yanked the wheel around and headed back to the LuminOptics front door, where the boxed laser was still sitting. As they screeched to a halt, Kevin glanced back at the Taurus. Shit! He could hear the engine beginning to crank. The passenger door opened. The man he knew only as Barnett climbed out. Blood streamed down his face.
“Dad! Put the truck between that package and the car.”
Murray pulled the truck’s front up to the awning, its left side to the Taurus, and Kevin jumped out of the truck.
“Everybody use this door.”
Erica and Murray followed him. Just as they did, he heard the pop of a pistol. Kevin chambered a round.
“Get down!” He rose above the truck’s bed and fired three quick shots in the direction of the Taurus to give them some cover.
“Erica, help dad put the laser in the back of the cab. I’ll try and slow them down.”
He scooted to the back of the Chevy and peered around to see Barnett getting back in the Taurus. Even with the trunk shortened by half, it was moving. The rear suspension had obviously come through the impact unscathed. He couldn’t let them get any closer, and he sure as hell didn’t want a second car chase in as many days, especially not with this lumbering Chevy truck.
Kevin propped his right wrist in his left hand and sighted carefully through the notch on the Glock’s barrel, letting the old habits come back. Even through the rain, the Taurus’ right rear tire was sharply in focus as it came in his direction and then blurred as he focused on the Glock’s front sight. Gently, he squeezed the trigger.
The right rear tire blew out with a satisfying pop, sending the Taurus spinning to the right. Kevin quickly repeated the motions, but the car was now moving much more wildly. This time it took two shots to take out the left rear tire.
Kevin turned to see his dad and Erica maneuvering the box into the cab’s rear storage area. They’d be finished any second.
He’d kept the Glock pointed at the Taurus and now saw its passengers scrambling out the other side. He realized that he’d unconsciously kept count of his bullets, just as he used to. He’d fired six. If his dad had a full clip in there, there should be 5 rounds left.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw first his dad and then Erica crawl into the truck cab. Kevin fired two more rounds and bolted for the open door. He dove, pulling the door shut behind him.
“Go!”
He stayed on the floor as his dad backed up ten feet and then slammed the truck into Drive. Bullets plinked into the driver’s side of the truck and then the rear as they raced toward the parking lot exit farthest from the gunmen.
The truck veered crazily to the left as it sped onto the road, its rear end sliding to the right on the slick pavement. Kevin sat up in the seat. He could see his dad fighting to bring the Chevy under control, steering into the skid.
The truck’s nose shifted back to the right, pointing them straight at a shallow drainage ditch running along the opposite side of the road. But Murray was no longer attempting to turn the wheel. His hands rested almost lazily on the bottom arc.
Trying to avoid plunging into the ditch head on, Kevin reached across and knocked the wheel counterclockwise. The truck again veered to the left, all six tires skidding. The Chevy tilted sideways, sending mud spraying to their right, and came to a rest with its right tires at the bottom of the ditch.
Kevin was about to yell at his father when he saw Erica’s bloodstained left hand.
“He’s been shot,” Erica said. “Left side, no visible exit wound.”
“Shit!” Kevin said, crawling over the back of the seat so he could get to his father. Then he remembered the gunmen. Barnett and Kaplan were still out there.