door inward and peered down the hall to the right. No one was in the field of view. As the door opened wide enough for her body, she yanked the door open, slid to the right and turned in one motion, tensing her muscles for flight.
When she saw the two men, she almost ran, but then she realized they were wearing dark blue maintenance uniforms and both had on tool belts. They turned at the sound of the door hitting her back. One was about Kevin’s height, blond, and had a gap where a tooth should have been. The other was about five inches shorter, with dark hair and a pug nose. Neither of them was the one who had ambushed them in Dallas, the man with the black hair and steely gray eyes. Both smiled when they saw her. The taller one spoke with a heavy Virginia accent.
“Excuse me, Miss. We’re looking for Dr. Haber. He said he was going to be in one of these labs, but we can’t find him.”
Erica let out the breath she didn’t know she’d been holding.
“Miss?” the man repeated.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m not really familiar with this building.”
“I thought he said 519, but…”
A door opened beyond the two maintenance men, and a pudgy, bald man stepped out.
“Thank god your here,” he said in a thick German accent. “I was in the back of the lab, but I thought I heard knocking. The air conditioning is completely broken now. Come. The equipment will be ruined soon otherwise.”
“I think we found him,” said the blond, and the two men followed Dr. Haber into the lab.
Erica retreated into the office and closed the door, chiding herself for being so foolish. The phone rang. Kevin had told her to answer Ted’s phone in case it was him. If it was somebody else, she could just take a message and let the person think it was an answering service.
“Hello?” she said.
Kevin’s voice answered. “Hey, it’s me. I had a hell of a time just getting some food.”
“What happened?”
“I’ll tell you when I get up there.”
“Where are you?”
“I’m in the truck. Ted’s cell phone was here, so I thought I’d put it to good use. I’ve been looking for a parking spot for the last ten minutes. Can you see one from up there?”
Erica smiled and went to the window, scanning the parking lot for a second. There he was. The huge dualie was slowly turning a corner and heading up the fourth row from the building.
“Yeah, I see one. You’ll have to go up the next row and come over to the other side of the lot. It’s almost at the back. I think you’ll be able to fit.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
After a few more instructions, Kevin found the spot.
“Thanks,” he said as he opened the truck door. “This is kind of cool. I’ve never used a cell phone before.” He waved and began walking toward the building.
“Can you see me?” she said, waving back.
“Sure. The fourth window from the right.”
“I’m glad you’re back.”
“Hungry?”
“That’s not the only reason.”
“Oh really?”
“That’s not what I meant. Where were you?”
He held up a white bag and pointed at it. “You’re the reason I’m late.”
“Me?”
“I made sure and checked the order after I came out of the drive-through. They messed yours up and I had to go back in and wait to get it right.” He was about halfway to the building. Another car pulled into the parking lot.
“That was awfully thoughtful of…” Erica froze. The car, a brown Taurus, stopped about seventy-five feet from Kevin and its occupants got out. Both were dressed in suits, the driver a beefy guy with a crew cut, the passenger with jet black hair and sunglasses. They were far away, but she thought of the moment in Dallas when another Taurus had stopped in front of them in that rainy LuminOptics parking lot. Even though it seemed impossible, she had no doubt. It was them.
“Kevin!” she yelled. “Get down!”
His bewildered voice replied. “What? What are you talking about?”
“Oh my god! It’s them! Barnett and Kaplan! Get down before they see you.”
“Shit!” Kevin dropped to his knees behind a blue sports car, but it was too late. They saw him. Barnett and Kaplan crouched down, drew guns from their jackets, and began creeping toward Kevin.
CHAPTER 30
The commuter parking lot had eight rows parallel to the building, with four lanes connecting each row. A hedge-lined central divider split the 1500-foot-long rows, leaving only one way between the two halves. Entrances to the lot were on either side, as well as in front of the building she was in and to the street bordering the far side.
In the fourth row, about 300 feet to Erica’s left, Kevin crouched behind the sports car, the bag of food spilled at his feet. Kaplan, the burly one, edged one row toward the building and continued moving in Kevin’s direction. Barnett circled around the other way with the fluid motions of a practiced hunter.
“Are they still there?”
“Yes,” Erica said. “Stay down.”
She searched the lot for other people. There had to be someone left. There! To her far right were a couple of stragglers walking toward the stadium. Then she realized they would be of no use. Even if she could get their attention, what could they possibly do to help?
“Kevin. I’m going to hang up and call the police.”
“No,” he whispered. “There isn’t time. They’ll find me before the police get here. You have to tell me where they are so I can get back to the truck.”
He was right. If she hung up, Kevin would have no way of knowing where they were. As long as they didn’t know she was up in the office spying on them, she and Kevin had an advantage.
“Where are they?” he said. “Why didn’t they just run over and get me?”
“Five days ago you shot at them. Would you take a chance on running at someone with a gun?”
“Good point. Only one problem. The gun’s in the truck.”
“I was afraid of that,” Erica said. “Okay, start moving toward the back of the blue car, and when I tell you, run to the next row.”
“Okay.”
He scooted to the back of the car, which was flush with the open space of the next row, and began to peer around the corner.
“Don’t do that!” Erica said. “Keep your head down. Let me be your eyes. I’ll tell you when it’s okay.”
The parking spaces in each row were offset. It looked to Erica like it would be difficult to see between cars beyond more than one row. As long as Kevin kept ahead of them, he had a chance.
Barnett nodded to Kaplan and they raced to the next row, only one away from Kevin’s.
“Now!” Erica said.
With a gait that would have been comical in any other situation, Kevin scuttled like a crab to the next row. Kaplan ducked behind a sedan and Barnett stood behind a minivan. Then Barnett flattened himself on the ground.
“Kevin! Barnett’s trying to look under the cars for your feet.” Kevin was almost to the next row. “Get behind the tire of that green car you’re coming to.”
Kevin ran the last few feet and huddled against the green car beside its front tire.
