inextricably attached itself to the pain in my shoulder. The alliance that was formed was executing a battle plan that included a full-scale invasion of every nerve ending between the two points. While something in the way of a nice analgesic sounded like a good idea, considering the source of the ache, I wasn’t sure that it would do any good.
“What seems to be the problem?” he asked my friend, taking on a concerned tone.
“Ignore him,” I offered, wincing as I turned my head. “He’s always like this. Have you heard anything about Detective Deckert’s condition?”
“Not yet, but we can check on him,” he told me.
“We’d appreciate it.”
“So how long are we gonna sit here?” Ben interjected.
“We’re getting ready to transport you both to the hospital in just a few minutes,” he told us.
“Guess I’d better call Felicity,” I said aloud.
“Sucks to be you,” Ben told me.
“Thanks,” I gave him a sarcastic retort as I sent my right hand toward my coat pocket only to realize that I no longer had one. “Dammit! My cell phone was in my coat. Do you still have yours?”
“Yeah,” he said as he nodded at me. “I think so. Lemme see…”
He began to gingerly slip his gauze-wrapped hand into his own coat pocket while looking over at the paramedic who was making some notes on a clipboard. “So what’s the holdup?”
“The police are doing a little crowd control right now,” he answered without looking up.
“Crowd?” I asked.
“Well, not really a crowd,” he explained. “But we got a few onlookers, and one of them has a vehicle blocking the street.”
“Roads gettin' that bad?” Ben asked.
“Yes and no,” he answered, holding his hand out and giving a little side to side wiggle. “This guy’s got a big van, and he’s having a little trouble turning it around.”
“How hard can that be?” Ben spat. “What’s he like a moron or something?”
“Ben!” I admonished.
“He seemed like a nice enough guy,” the paramedic shrugged. “A little weird, but hey, live and let live.”
“Weird how?” Ben asked.
“You know,” he returned. “One of those religious types. When I walked by, he was saying something about the Lord and consuming a fire or something like that.”
The combination of words caused a twinge in my brain, so I mentally sifted through the various Bible verses I’d committed to memory over the years.
“Was it something like, ‘For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God,’” I said aloud. My words were slow and even. A slight note of fear rode in the crest of my voice as I finished.
“Yeah, that was it,” the paramedic confirmed.
I looked across the aisle at Ben. “Deuteronomy four, twenty-four.”
My friend was already rising as he spoke, “Tell me this asshole isn’t tall with white hair.”
“Yeah.” He was nodding vigorously. “Did you see him out there or something?”
“You stay here, Rowan,” Ben ordered as he started to push past the paramedic.
“Detective Storm, I think you should…” he began to object.
“Save it,” Ben shot back.
I spoke up. “Ben, you’re in no shape to do this.”
He had already eased the ambulance door open and was peering out the narrow gap.
“Goddammit,” he muttered. “I can’t see ‘im. You got a radio?”
“No, sorry,” the paramedic answered.
“Shit!” Ben spat again and then turned to him. “Okay. Get out there and tell the first coppers you see to stop that van. Tell ‘em it’s on my authority and that there might be an armed suspect in the vehicle. Got me?”
“Yeah, but what’s going on?”
“I ain’t got time to explain it,” my friend returned with an impatient bite in his voice. “Now get out there and do what I told you to do.”
The paramedic didn’t argue, and Ben pressed himself back against the built-in cabinets of equipment and supplies to make room for him to exit. Ben caught the door with his hand and continued to hold it slightly open so he could watch what was happening.
“Do you really think that it’s Porter?” I asked.
I had already stood up and moved over next to him, but I couldn’t get any kind of a vantage point where I could see anything more than a small sliver of the street and the house next door to the one from which we’d escaped.
“Somebody torched that house while we were in it, Row,” he offered. “The door at the top of the stairs was blocked by somethin’, I’m sure of it. And besides, the friggin’ place went up too quick. Way too quick. My money would be on Porter.”
“But if it IS him then that would mean he had to have followed us here from Randy and Nancy’s place.” I tossed out the observation.
“Yeah, prob’ly,” he agreed.
My voice began to ramp up in pitch, audibly noting my panic. “But that would mean he knows where Felicity is…”
“Calm down!” Ben shot back, stopping me before I could implode. “Mandalay is with Felicity. She’s safe. Besides, if the fucker followed us here then he’s obviously leavin’ her alone and comin’ after you.”
His logic headed off my sudden run toward hysteria and brought me back down to a controlled level of fear. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Okay. You’re right.”
“There they go,” he muttered as he pushed the door open a few more inches and cocked his head to the side.
I winced as a sharp pain burrowed into my shoulder and culminated in a grating ache throughout the joint. It felt something akin to a knife blade-or perhaps an ice pick-being thrust directly into the bone.
“It’s him,” I said aloud.
Ben glanced back at me, “ Twilight Zone?”
I nodded. “Yeah. Twilight Zone. It’s him.”
His lips formed a grim frown; he nodded at me and then looked back out the gap in the door. “Jeezus H. Christ!” he exclaimed almost immediately, slamming the door completely open and leaping out the back of the vehicle. “Stay here!”
I could hear the roar of an engine being gunned as I followed Ben out the opening, completely ignoring his command. My brain was beginning to adjust to my uncorrected vision, and while detail was still muddy, I could easily make out the white panel van as it backed toward us with a quick lurch. The rear corner of the vehicle slammed hard into the police cruiser that was sitting diagonally in the center of the street no more than forty feet away from us. The high-pitched tone of metal deeply creasing blended with the hard sound of the crash and the hailstorm rattle of broken glass as it spilled onto the street from the car’s headlight.
Out of reflex I jumped backward as the patrol vehicle moved several feet toward us and rocked up at one corner. Toward the front of the sedan, a uniformed officer lay in a heap on the slush-covered pavement as if thoughtlessly tossed aside. I could only assume that he had been hit by the van and that was what had prompted Ben to reveal his presence.
The familiar sound of a handgun popping nearby combined with the simultaneous metallic thump of the rounds impacting the side of the panel van. The handful of onlookers who had gathered on the perimeter were now screaming and scattering from the scene. The firefighters and paramedics in the immediate area ducked for cover near rescue vehicles.
The driver’s side of the large van was angled toward me, and I stood there mesmerized by sudden slow motion that affected the scene. I could hear my own measured breathing echoing in my ears as the cacophony surrounding me became a muted background roar. There was a tingle in the back of my head, and my face felt hot and flushed. I looked up from the prone officer and turned my head to stare coldly at the open sliding door on the cab of the van. I didn’t need my glasses to recognize the face staring back at me nor to see the hatred burning in
