Oh, God. It wasn’t fair. He’d only been on the force for three years and he’d been married less than a year. His wife, Gail, was expecting their first child in April. It just wasn’t fair that he wouldn’t get to see their child born.
“Please,” he said. His voice was hoarse over the grip that compressed his larynx.
The driver’s brown eyes were bloodshot and intense. He blinked and seemed to see Weber for the first time. “You a cop?”
The man’s voice was as hoarse as Weber’s. “Yeah. Look man, you don’t want to do this. I can get you a doctor. You’re hurt bad.”
“Shut up for a second. You alone?” The man’s eyes shifted toward Weber’s patrol car.
“Yes, but I’ve checked in and reported your plates. If I don’t call back in soon they’ll come looking.”
“Give it a rest, all right? No one’s going to check on you for hours. What are you doing here?”
“Someone reported a body. I thought you were dead.”
“Well, they were probably closer than you know.”
The pressure on his neck eased, but the gun barrel didn’t move. “Come on, man. Put the gun down. I’m not here to hurt you. Let me call you a doctor.”
“Thanks, but I’ll have to decline. Look, I’m not going to shoot you or anything, but you know if I put my gun down you’re going to try to arrest me.”
“No, I....”
“Please, cut the bullshit. I’ll give you a chance. I don’t want to hurt you at all and I haven’t done anything that the police are after me for.”
“Then put the gun....”
“Shut up already, you’re getting boring. Look, there’s someone else’s life in jeopardy and I can’t take the time to explain. If you give me any grief, I’ll cripple you and then go on about my business. Do you believe me?”
Weber met his gaze. His eyes were cold. Icy death lurked there. This was not a man to fuck with.
“I understand,” Weber said.
“Good. Raise your hands to where I can see them, and then back up.”
Weber raised his arms horizontal to the ground and took three slow steps backwards. The door to the Jeep opened and the man stepped out. The sights of the Colt never left Weber’s middle. His pants were as tattered as his coat and in places raw flesh gleamed wetly through tears in the material.
“Mister, you ought to let me get you to a doctor.” It was fucking amazing that this guy was ambulatory.
“Are you an Ollie, officer?”
“What? No, my name’s Weber. Carl Weber.”
“I meant as in Stone, Oliver Stone.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“Never mind. Look, I want you to take off your gun belt and radio. Then slide it under your vehicle.”
Moving slowly, Weber complied. He unclipped his microphone and shoved it with his gun and utility belt about halfway under his cruiser.
“Good, now step to the back of your vehicle.”
Weber backed up, relaxing his arms to his side now that he was weaponless. Without taking the gun sights off him, the man opened the door to his cruiser, killed the motor, and removed the keys. He leaned in farther, gripped the microphone, and yanked it out of the radio.
Standing, he tossed the broken microphone to Weber and jingled the keys. “As long as you don’t go for your gun while I’m still in sight, I’ll drop these at the other end of the alley. Don’t worry about calling in the report. It’s your job, but by the time you do, I’ll have changed vehicles and will be moving on. I don’t anticipate being here any longer than I have to and I won’t be breaking any laws.”
Not knowing what else to say and still half afraid the man was going to shoot him, Weber nodded.
The man’s features grew suddenly tired and lost all sign of menace. He returned the heavy Colt to a shoulder holster, turned, and walked back to his vehicle.
Weber watched him until he reached the end of the alley. There he stopped and dropped the keys in the snow, turned left, and was gone.
***
John drove east as soon as he was away from the cop. There was still no contact from Caitlin. He checked his watch and found it was nearly noon. As much as it burned to have her in Holdren’s power, he was going to have to be patient.
He turned into Citadel and cruised the mall’s open-air parking lot until he spotted another Jeep Cherokee that was the same model and color as his rental. He parked as close as he could and got out.
He took a screwdriver from the bag in the back of the Jeep and quickly removed his license plates from both the front and rear of the Jeep. He took another moment to ensure no one was watching, and then removed the plates from an old Ford Taurus that was parked next to him, and replaced them with his plates. Then he went to the other Jeep and exchanged the Taurus’s plates for the Jeep’s plates.
Ten minutes from the time he’d entered the parking lot, he left with new plates that would show up on any police check as belonging to a local citizen who, hopefully, wasn’t wanted for any crimes. With luck, neither of the other drivers would notice the switch for a couple of days since they hadn’t had personalized plates. Since the police would look for a Jeep Cherokee first and then at the plates, they probably wouldn’t notice his plates on the Taurus. The only glitch would be if a cop ran the plates
