Fugitive Trackdown

TWO

Terrified, Claire tried to lie still, but she couldn’t control the fear that shook her body. She jammed her fist in her mouth, but it only softened her crying a bit. She closed her eyes and said a prayer as the bullets continued to strike the front door and the window next to it. She cringed beneath Adam as the shattered glass hit the floor.

When would it stop? Surely they had to run out of ammunition at some point.

Adam pressed his mouth to her ear and whispered, “Don’t be afraid. You’re going to be all right. They should get tired of this soon.”

She didn’t respond but wondered if he really meant it or if he was only trying to comfort her.

Then just as suddenly as it had started, the shooting stopped. Neither Adam nor Claire moved for a minute or two. Then he slowly raised his head, cocked it to the side and frowned as he listened. “Do you think they’re gone?” she asked.

“Maybe,” he said. “I’m going to get up and check. Don’t move until I get back.”

He crawled away from where she lay to the front door and stopped as he pulled his gun from its holster. Then slowly he reached up, grasped the door knob and pulled the door open. He waited, as if expecting a bullet to strike, but nothing happened. After a minute he crawled out onto the porch and disappeared from her view.

The eerie silence sent new chills through Claire. She listened for any sounds outside but heard nothing. The minutes ticked by without Adam’s return, and a feeling of panic began to grow in her mind.

Had their attackers left? If so, where was Adam, and why didn’t he come back? A new fear flashed in her mind. What if they had knocked him out? Or worse yet, stabbed him, and he was lying in the yard bleeding to death.

The more she imagined what was happening outside, the more frightened she became. She had to find out where he was.

She crawled to the front door and hesitated a moment before she pushed up on her good leg and peeked out. No sign of Adam. Taking a deep breath, she hobbled onto the front porch and leaned against the railing.

Which way would he have gone? Earlier, Peter’s car had been parked on the left side of the house, and she faced in that direction. Holding on to the railing, she hopped on her good foot until she’d reached the far end of the porch, but she couldn’t see around the edge of the house. She leaned over the banister and tried to peer around the side of the cabin, but it was no use. Before she could straighten up, a hand clamped down on her shoulder. She screamed and whirled to face her attacker.

* * *

Adam reached out and grabbed for Claire as she toppled backward, but she slipped from his grasp and hit the porch with a loud thump. Still holding his gun, he leaned over and glared down at her. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Claire grabbed her ankle, massaged it with both hands and gulped a deep breath. He couldn’t tell if it was fear or anger behind the look in her flashing eyes. “I was coming to check on you. I was afraid they’d killed you or something.”

He tried not to smile at her remark, but it was impossible to keep a straight face. His mouth twitched from a frown into a grin, and he cocked an eyebrow. “Or something? Is that worse than being killed?”

The teasing tone of his voice appeared to pacify her some, and a small smile pulled at the corner of her mouth. She rolled her eyes and swatted at the hand he held out to help her up. “Never mind that. I was coming to check on you.”

“Then I suppose I should thank you, but I believe I told you to stay where you were until I returned.”

She nodded. “Yes, you did, but I’m sure you remember I’ve never been very good at taking orders.”

He stuck his gun back in his holster and shook his head. “No, you never have been.” He squatted down beside her, and his gaze raked her. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Are they gone?”

He nodded. “It looks like it. We can leave now.”

She sat up and stared at him. “Do you think Peter and James came back?”

“I suspect they were the ones. Who else would want to shoot us? But this makes no sense. James Lester doesn’t have a history of violence. Why now?”

Claire’s face warmed, and she stared down at her clasped hands. “It could be because of what I told them.”

He leaned closer. “And what was that?”

She took a deep breath. “That my father knew Peter had killed a man and that he was involved in some illegal activities. And I was going to see that he was brought to justice.”

Adam’s eyes grew large, and his mouth gaped open. “Why would you tell him such a thing?”

“Because it’s true, and I intend to do it.”

“But, Claire, he was going to kill you because of it, and it looks like they came back to finish the job.”

“Maybe they just wanted to scare us. At any rate, they might have gotten tired, or maybe they ran out of ammunition, or they thought no one could have lived through such a barrage. Who knows? But whatever the reason, they’re gone now.”

Adam sighed, reached down and picked her up again. “We’re not going to figure it out right now, so we’d better get you to that hospital. Hopefully this time we can get to the car.”

She stiffened as his arms tightened around her. “I really don’t need to go to a hospital. If you’ll just take me home...”

“Save your breath, Claire,” he interrupted. “We’re going to the hospital to see what a doctor says. And from the looks of things, you’re in no condition to argue with me.”

She clamped her lips together and glared at him as he carried her down the porch steps. He glanced around once more before he headed through the forest.

She didn’t say anything as he plodded through the thick growth of the woods and ducked under low-hanging branches, but he couldn’t help thinking about how close she had come to death tonight. If he hadn’t been there, she would now be lying next to the cabin with a bullet in her head.

Adam’s arms tightened around her at the thought. She shifted in his arms, and he loosened his grip. She didn’t have to say the words aloud. It was almost as if he could read her mind. She might be grateful to him for saving her life, but she would never forgive him for what he’d done. The best thing he could do was go home after she got medical attention and chalk Claire Walker up to one more mistake he’d made in the past.

* * *

Claire sat on the edge of the exam table and stared down at the elastic compression bandage on her ankle. A pair of crutches leaned against the edge of the table.

A knock on the wall outside the curtained-off exam cubicle caught her attention and she straightened. “Who is it?”

“Claire, may I come in?” Adam called out.

“Yes.”

He pushed the curtain aside and stepped into the small exam area.

“The doctor says you can leave now. Are you ready to go?”

She sighed and nodded. “I guess so.”

He frowned at the resignation in her voice and stepped closer. “What’s the matter?”

She pointed at the bandage and then the crutches. “How am I going to be able to go after Peter Willis if I can’t even walk on my own for at least thirty-six hours?”

He raised his eyebrows and shook his head. “I’d say catching up to Willis is the least of your worries right now. Try to remember you’re lucky to be alive.”

He walked across the room toward her and reached out to help her down from the table. She pulled back and grabbed for the crutches. “I can handle this.”

He raised his hands and backed away. “Okay, if you say so.”

Claire leaned on the crutches as she slid off the table onto her good leg and then slipped the crutches under her arms. Holding her injured ankle up, she took a step toward the door. “See,” she said, “I can do it by myself.”

He stepped around her and opened the door. “Yeah, I know. You always were an independent kid.”

Her knuckles turned white as she tightened her grip on the crutches. “I’m not a kid anymore, Adam.”

“I know,” he said. “But this decision you made about going after a bail jumper doesn’t sound too adult to me.”

“Sometimes life can cause you to take desperate measures.” She pushed past him and into the hall.

He followed behind as she slowly made her way out of the ER and into the parking lot. Outside the ER door he stepped up beside her and pointed toward his car, which sat underneath one of the streetlights. “I moved the car from the entrance to that spot over there after I got you inside. If you’ll wait here, I’ll go get it so you won’t have to walk with your crutches.”

“No need for that. I can make it,” she said. She took a deep breath and headed toward the car.

“I don’t mind, Claire.”

“I know, but I need the practice of using these crutches.”

He sighed. “Whatever you say.”

She kept her eye on the car as she inched her way toward it. It hadn’t seemed so far when she’d first spotted it, but the distance seemed to grow with each step. When she finally reached the car, he held the door for her to climb inside before he closed it and went around to the driver’s side.

He glanced at her, but she pretended not to notice and preoccupied herself with finding the radio station she wanted. When she’d settled on one, she turned up the volume and leaned back in her seat. The sound of a Christian rock song filled the car.

Adam didn’t say anything until he pulled onto Highway 61 and headed back toward Memphis. Then he reached over and turned the volume down. “Not much traffic tonight.”

“No, but the casinos in the area are probably filled,” she said.

“I guess so.” When she didn’t answer, he shook his head. “So much for small talk,” he muttered under his breath.

After a few minutes Claire reached over and turned the music up louder than before. After a few minutes she glanced over at him. Every time the drumbeat boomed, he winced. As he rubbed the back of his neck and exhaled, Claire directed an innocent look at him. “Too loud?”

“A bit,” he said. She reached over and turned it down some. After a few minutes he twisted the knob to silence the roar of the rock band. “I didn’t tell you I called the local police while you were being examined. They sent an officer to the hospital, and I gave him a rundown on everything that happened at the cabin tonight. I had the license number for the car James was driving, and he said he could find out Peter Willis’s. They have a BOLO alert out on the two cars and will let me know if they find them.”

Claire swiveled in her seat to face him. “Good. Did you tell him my car was on the road back of the cabin?”

“Yes. I told him we’d go back sometime tomorrow to pick it up.”

“Good.” She turned up the volume on the radio, closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat.

He sighed and turned it back down. “Claire, I need to talk to you.”

“About what?”

“I’ve been thinking. It might be better if you went to Jessica’s house tonight instead of going home.”

She sat up straight and faced him. “Why would I want to do that?”

“Because the doctor said you need to stay off your foot as much as possible, and you need to be on those crutches for at least thirty-six hours. Jessica can help you out, and she wants to.”

She narrowed her eyes and stared at him. “And how do you know that?”

“Because I called her and told her what happened. She wants you to go there instead of going home tonight.”

Claire rolled her eyes and leaned against the headrest. “That’s just great. Now I get to listen to my best friend tell me how dumb it was for me to think I could bring a bail jumper in by myself.”

Adam shook his head. “She wouldn’t do that. She’s concerned that you could have been killed tonight.”

She sighed and reached down to rub her ankle. “I guess it would be better if I had someone with me tonight. So take me to your sister’s apartment, and then you can go home.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything for a few moments. Then he darted a glance at her. “Jessica said she’s hardly heard from you since your father’s funeral. Why haven’t you been in touch with us?”

She shrugged. “For the past few weeks I’ve been going over my father’s business affairs. It seems he owed a lot of penalties to the courts because of bail jumpers, and he wasn’t getting a lot of new business. I’ve been trying to figure out how I can save his company. I thought even if I couldn’t, I would see that Peter Willis was brought in.”

“It sounds like you might stay in Memphis. What about your librarian job back in Nashville?”

“I’ve taken a leave of absence for the remainder of the semester. I thought I could spend the time taking care of all the loose ends with my father’s business, but I didn’t know how bad things really were for him.”

Her words startled him, and he glanced in her direction. “What do you mean?”

She sighed. “It seems business hadn’t been too good lately, and he had a lot of clients jump bail. Besides, that new bail bond business in Memphis has given everybody else some stiff competition.”

“You mean the Bond Squad?”

“Yes. Do you know them?”

He nodded. “Yeah. They’re the ones who hired me to go after James.”

“That figures,” she snarled. “They can afford to hire the best bounty hunters.”

He grinned and glanced at her. “So you admit I’m the best at what I do.”

She let out a sarcastic chuckle. “Don’t flatter yourself. I wasn’t talking about you personally. I meant your family’s business. It just happens to be the oldest bounty hunter group in the city, and maybe in the state.”

He laughed and shook his head. “The term bounty hunter makes people think about some reality show you might see on TV. That’s why we call ourselves a fugitive recovery group.”

Her eyebrows arched and she chuckled. “Well, call it whatever you want, mister. But you’re still a bounty hunter as far as I’m concerned. I don’t think your great-grandfather who started the business had any problem with the term.”

“I’m sure he didn’t.” He smiled. “But things have changed since the days when he hunted bail jumpers up and down the Mississippi River. One thing about him, though, he had a philosophy that has been an inspiration to all of us.”

“‘A man must answer for the crimes laid against him,’” she said. “That’s what he always said after taking someone into custody, wasn’t it?”

He darted a surprised glance in her direction. “How did you know that?”

“I ought to know it. I’ve heard Jessica say it plenty of times. Anyway, I’m glad your business is doing well even if mine isn’t.”

“Claire, I’m sorry things weren’t going well for your father before his death, but I meant it when I said I wished you had come to us. If not to me, then Jessica or Lucas. You know we’ve always thought of you as family.”

She turned and stared at him. “Really? Somehow I always got the impression you’d rather I wasn’t around.”

He squirmed in the seat and straightened his back. “I’m sorry if I made you feel that way.”

“It really doesn’t matter now. I must have seemed like a silly little girl to you with my crush on my best friend’s big brother, but that’s all in the past. Let’s just drop the conversation. All right?”

“Sure. If that’s what you want. I’ll take you to Jessica’s, then...” He stopped midsentence and stared in the rearview mirror. “I think we’ve got a problem.”

“What kind of problem?”

“I think we’re being followed.”

Claire looked over her shoulder and out the back window. “You mean by that car behind us?”

“Yeah. They’ve stayed right with us for several miles.”

“Can you tell if it’s one of the cars that Peter and James were driving?”

He squinted and stared into the rearview mirror. “Their headlights are too bright. I can’t tell anything about the car.”

“What should we do?”

“Let’s make sure they’re really after us.” Adam glanced at the dashboard as he let up on the accelerator. The car’s speed dropped by twenty miles per hour. “Now we’ll see if he’s really tailing us. If not, he’ll pass.”

He watched for a few minutes, but the car made no effort to pass. He dropped the speed lower, but the vehicle remained several car lengths behind them. Claire glanced back and then to Adam. “He’s still there.”

“I know.” Adam pushed the accelerator down, and the car sped away from the headlights that shone through the rear window of his car. As if on cue, the driver behind accelerated and kept the same distance between them. “Seems like he’s going to hang with us.”

Claire’s eyes grew wide. “What now?”

“Try again.” He slowed almost to a crawl, but the car still didn’t pass. Then without warning, he floored the accelerator, and the car leaped forward.

Claire screamed and gripped the sides of her seat. Adam cast one glance at her before he hunched over the steering wheel and roared toward the lights of Memphis that were just coming into view.

THREE

Claire stared wide-eyed at the speedometer as it inched higher and then looked at Adam. The reflections from the streetlights they roared past cast an eerie glow across his face that sent cold chills up her spine. He glanced in the rearview mirror, and the muscle in his jaw flexed. She turned her head to stare out the back window and swallowed the fear that rose in her throat. The other vehicle sped through the night perhaps two car lengths behind.

Ahead, the lights of Memphis beckoned as they approached the turnoff that would take them toward the eastern part of the city. She bit down on her bottom lip as the tires squealed and they barreled along the exit and onto the city’s loop highway.

The car shook, and she wondered how Adam could remain in control of the speeding car, but he appeared to be having no problem. Even this late at night heavy traffic rolled along the expressway. Adam wove in and out of the cars as if they were on a racetrack. Another glance to the rear told her that the other car hadn’t given up the chase.

Finally she could keep silent no longer. “Have you been able to tell if the car looks like either of the ones James and Peter were driving?”

He shook his head. “I still can’t tell, but it has to be somebody connected to what happened earlier tonight. Hang on. I’m going to get off this highway.”

Claire gasped as the car swerved along the next exit and roared down Poplar Avenue headed east. Claire looked behind, but the car wasn’t in view. Traffic was lighter on this street, but that could be expected at eleven o’clock on a weeknight. Adam didn’t slow the car as he wedged his way into a line of traffic in the right-hand lane. Then the lights of another car flashed in the distance, and Claire wondered if they’d been spotted amid the vehicles that moved down the street.

“I think he’s behind us again,” she said.

Adam didn’t reply. Instead he made a sharp right turn into the parking lot of an all-night discount store. A flashing sign next to the street advertised a midnight sale, and the area around the store was filled with cars and people standing in line waiting to get inside.

He drove into the parking lot, found a spot between two cars and pulled in. He quickly killed the engine and turned off the lights. From where they sat they had a good view of the street. Several cars drove by, and then one sped by in the direction they’d been traveling.

Adam exhaled a deep breath. “That looks like the car Peter was driving.”

“Do you think we’ve lost them?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know, but I hope so. I don’t want them finding their way to Jessica’s apartment.”

With their followers out of sight, Adam started the car again and pulled back onto the street headed toward the interstate they’d been on minutes before. Thirty minutes later he pulled into the midtown apartment complex where his sister lived.

Claire let out a sigh of relief when they parked. “You did a great job of losing whoever was chasing us. In fact, you’ve done a good job of everything tonight. Thank you for helping me.”

He looped his arm over the steering wheel and swiveled in the seat to face her. “The things I’ve done tonight require the skills I’ve picked up from the work I do. It’s not easy bringing fugitives back to face the court. If they wanted to go to jail, they wouldn’t have run away to start with. I hope what you’ve seen tonight has shown you how foolish it was for you to think you could bring Peter Willis in.”

His words stung, and she fought back tears. “I’m glad to see nothing’s changed with you. I’ve always been foolish as far as you’re concerned. Now you’ll have one more thing to add to your long list of complaints about me.”

She pushed the car door opened and tried to step out onto the pavement, but he reached out and grabbed her by the arm. “What do you think you’re doing?”

“I’m going to Jessica’s apartment.”

He shook his head. “Wait a minute, Claire. You need some help.”

Before she could protest, he’d jumped from the car and walked around to the open passenger door. He reached into the backseat and grabbed her crutches. Then taking her by the arm, he helped her to her feet and positioned the crutches in place.

Claire braced herself on the supports and took a tentative step, but she staggered. Adam’s hand grasped her arm. She tried to jerk free of his grip, but it was no use. She sighed in resignation. “Okay, you win. These are a bit harder to maneuver than I thought.”

He didn’t say anything but tightened his hold on her as they slowly made their way into the building and to Jessica’s apartment. They stopped outside the door, and Adam pushed the buzzer. The door flew open right away, and Jessica stood there, her dark hair tumbling around her shoulders and her eyebrows pulled down in a worried frown.

“Where have you two been? I’ve nearly gone out of my mind waiting.”

She pulled Claire into the apartment and helped her to the sofa where she dropped down with a groan. “We had a little problem getting here,” Claire said.

Jessica looked at Adam. “What happened?”

“I had to lose a tail. I didn’t want to bring him straight here.”

Claire propped a sofa pillow behind her back and frowned at Adam. “It’s a wonder we got here alive at all the way you were driving.” She turned to Jessica. “Don’t be surprised if your brother decides to take up stock car racing. He’s got all the skills.”

Jessica’s eyes grew wide, and she looked from her brother back to Claire. “What are you talking about?”

Adam waved his had in dismissal. “Claire’s exaggerating. I had to outrun a car, so I had to move fast.”