Pied Piper

explosion. The baby cried out.

Daphne reached down, unfastened the seat’s restraints and scooped Trudy Kittridge into the safety of her arms.

The first of the children had been recovered.

CHAPTER 68

LaMoia cursed the rain from behind the steering wheel of his rental. It wasn’t simply rain; rain he could handle; rain he was used to. Anyone who had lived in Seattle for fifteen years knew rain on a first-name basis. But this? The sky blackened like someone had thrown a switch and water fell in sheets, like a fire hose aimed at the ground, fell so hard that when it struck the hot pavement, droplets bounced up a foot or more before falling again and converting to a layer of steam.

Water pounded the roof of the car so loudly that LaMoia could not hear the radio.

The downpour cleared the sidewalks. Umbrellas made vain attempts to withhold the deluge; the roadway flooded as gutters roared like rivers. LaMoia saw only a blurred silver film. To turn on the wipers of a parked car was to give his position away.

Through the blur, he saw Boldt running toward his Volvo. He pulled the wagon up close to the building, and the woman he assumed to be Crowley braved the downpour to help Boldt and Daphne get the child seat into the car. Crowley then sprinted to the Taurus, opened the trunk and withdrew a dark overnight bag before scrambling into the front seat.

The only movement on the street came from the windshield wipers of a pair of cars that had double-parked to allow the rain to let up. These double-parked cars in turn blocked others parked legally.

Boldt’s rental edged forward out onto the flooded street, one of the only cars moving.

LaMoia caught another set of wipers moving-this from one of the blocked cars.

Crowley’s Taurus backed up, but then paused as the rain fell even harder.

LaMoia snagged the cell phone as he saw a man wearing a trench coat hurry from the blocked car and pound on the window of the car that was blocking him. This man motioned frantically for the double-parked car to move so he could pull out from his own parking space.

The driver took the hint. The double-parked car rolled.

So did the Taurus.

LaMoia fired up his engine as Crowley’s Taurus backed up and pulled out into the street.

The phone rang through and Boldt’s voice answered, “Brehmer.”

“Can you talk?” LaMoia followed out into the street. Cars that had pulled over were moving again. The cell phone reception was awful.

“She’s smacked up pretty badly,” Boldt told him, attempting to supply identifying features. “Her left eye …” Static sparked loudly in LaMoia’s ear. “A scarf …”

LaMoia interrupted, “We got ourselves a problem, a visitor. You copy that? We’ve got ourselves a stick in the spokes. You there?”

“I’m here.”

“It’s Hale.”

An enormous flash of lightning occurred simultaneously with a crack of thunder that shook the car. The cell phone went dead.

LaMoia turned the wipers to high. Couldn’t see a damn thing.

CHAPTER 69

LaMoia and Hale followed the Taurus in tandem, Hale in the lead in a dark green Jeep Cherokee. The rainstorm remained so strong that LaMoia wouldn’t have recognized his own mother crossing the street, forcing bumper-to-bumper traffic. For LaMoia, the slower the better-both the Jeep and the Taurus stayed close.

Based on nothing concrete, he decided Hale had not noticed him, assuming he would be consumed with following the Taurus and paying little attention to other traffic.

He tried the cell phone again, its red NO SERVICE light pulsing in warning. His attention fixed on the Taurus through a series of turns and one red light he was forced to run, LaMoia tried to figure Hale.

There seemed to him at least two explanations for Hale’s behavior. Either Broole had alerted Hale to SPD’s presence, or Hale had made the same connection to Vincent Chevalier. Unaware of the Pied Piper’s identity, Hale had attached himself to Chevalier like a tic. In turn, he had stumbled onto Crowley.

LaMoia tried the cellular again. The network remained down.

The highway signs suggested Lisa Crowley’s destination was the airport. If Hale so much as attempted an arrest, he would blow Sarah’s chances.

He considered his options and made a difficult decision. Crowley would be alert for anyone entering the airport terminal behind her, but if he arrived ahead of her, he might stay with her.

He asked himself, When the hell have I ever been wrong? He pulled out of his lane and passed both Hale and Crowley. The international airport was the next exit.

CHAPTER 70

Boldt drove to the airport, wife and child in the car, exactly as the Brehmers had planned. His eyes remained divided between the rearview mirror and the traffic in front of them, believing it a good possibility they were being followed. They would make the flight to Houston together for the sake of appearance. From Houston, it was on to Seattle for Daphne and Trudy Kittridge. Boldt intended to return to New Orleans to assist LaMoia in the surveillance of Lisa Crowley, the only link to his daughter.

The recovery of Trudy Kittridge filled him with hope.

Daphne said from the backseat where she held a bottle of formula for the child, “Those injuries are severe, Lou.”

“I know.”

“You hear Chevalier trying to get her to see a doctor? He saw it too. That eye …”

“I know.”

“We need her healthy. If she’s going to lead you back to Sarah-”

“She’ll survive. It’s Hale I’m worried about. A couple phone calls from Hale and we’re either talking a federal invasion led by Flemming, or the Crowleys blowing to Singapore.”

Daphne considered this. “Are you saying Hale’s working for them?” she called out loudly from the backseat, sending the baby into a volley of cries. She settled her down.

“It would explain him playing this solo. It doesn’t fit with Bureau policy, Daffy. He has carried this too far. It has to be explained. If he’s not down here to investigate these people, he’s down here to protect them.”

“He came onto Flemming’s team late in the game.”

“The two have known each other for a long time, have worked together before. Hale could have easily monitored Flemming’s progress in each city and told the Crowleys when to bail out. It would explain their perfect timing.”

Daphne played along. “She gets involved in an injury car accident. That changes things. Flemming is warming to her. I see what you’re saying: At that point either the Crowleys or Chevalier could demand protection. Hale would respond.”

“Which explains his being down here alone. He tells Flemming he’s chasing leads. Flemming buys into it, it’s