Allander, but there was no sign of the yellow cab. After spending twenty minutes pulling over and asking people if they'd seen a cab traveling at a high speed, he gave up.
No doubt aware of what had happened on the street behind him, Allander had probably slowed down, turned the corner, and faded into the San Francisco traffic. Few cars were less noticeable than taxis. Since they're everywhere, no one really sees them.
On his way to 280, Jade drove past the street where Allander had hit the little girl. He didn't stop, but he saw that an ambulance had picked her up. He could tell from the strength of her cries that she was going to be okay. Bruised and scared, but okay.
Jade's shoulder was starting to swell from his dive to the floor in Singspiel's, but he did his best to ignore the pain. Removing Sketches of Spain from its CD case, he slid it into the stereo. He tried to calm down as he heard the first notes of the trumpet, but it would take a while. He was too angry with himself.
Another trap had been orchestrated, had been put into play, and had failed. Allander had taken the bait this time, but he had also injured, maybe even killed, Thomas, and in the end, Jade hadn't been able to keep track of him. Allander had played right into his hands, and he had lost him. Everyone had done their jobs except for him.
Even though it was unfair, Jade felt anger at Darby for forcing him to promise to bring Allander in alive. Maybe if he could've shot to kill, it would all be over. It was a lot harder to shoot to wound someone. Jade hadn't had much practice at that.
The drive home was miserable. Jade replayed every second of the evening in his head, thinking of what he could have done differently. He was furious with himself, and more than a little irritated at the complete failure of his backup support. If a helicopter had joined the chase in time, they probably would not have lost Allander.
One thing had become clear-Allander didn't panic on the run, which made sense given the fact he'd been running almost his whole life. Now he would be almost impossible to track down.
Jade pulled down his street and turned into his quiet driveway. The house seemed dead to him as he entered through the garage. Sinking heavily to the couch, he gazed around his dark living room. It had all begun here, with Travers's visit to his house.
Allander's liquid eyes gazed out of the photographs on the walls, taunting Jade with their silent focus. Where was he? Jade wondered. Headed back to his base, no doubt, but where was that? He would wait there for a few days, recovering and plotting his next move. Or maybe he already had it all lined up. He had had time, transportation, access to God knows how many resources.
The light from the setting sun cast horizontal lines through the venetian blinds in the living room. They fell across the books and papers on the floor, the photographs taped to the walls, and on Jade as he sat on the couch.
His eyes closed for a moment and he felt a complete surrender wash over him. It was a new sensation, something he had never felt before. He took his Sig Sauer out from the back of his jeans and laid it on the coffee table.
He held his head in his hands for what seemed like hours, and then he rose to go take a hot shower. As he headed for the hallway, something in the kitchen caught his eye-the red blinking light on the answering machine.
Chapter 55
' All right, kid. The bad news is, we had a slow week here in Falstaff Creek. The good news is, we put two men on your shit assignment. Don't thank me, I'll take payment in beers next weekend. So, let's see who the grand winners are.'
There was a pause as Tony breathed heavily. Jade scrambled to find the map of San Francisco on which he had drawn the circle.
'Okay. Secluded rich houses twenty years old that used to be green in the target area. One: Presidio Heights. 223 Clay, at Clay and Baker. Two: St. Francis Wood. 311 Santa Ana, two blocks from where it crosses St. Francis Boulevard. Three: Sutro Heights. 23 Taos Drive. This one's way up Geary, winding into the park. Almost by the Cliff House.'
Jade scribbled the addresses onto a pad, then marked them on the map with a big red marker. They were all in rich neighborhoods, pretty well spread out through the target area.
'That's all. If you need any more help, be sure you don't call me.'
There was a click and the answering machine shut off, leaving the house quiet. Tony's voice could really fill a room, and now its absence accented the silence of Jade's house.
Jade looked at the three red circles on the map. Sutro Heights- that was where Steve Francis's body had been found, on the edge of Sutro Heights. The house was on a hill by the Cliff House, so if the kid had indeed been parachuting, Allander could have stumbled across him near there.
Jade traced his finger along the route of the car chase. It definitely seemed that Allander had been heading in that direction. At least before Jade had lost him, Allander's path had pointed straight for Sutro Heights.
Charging out to the garage, Jade hopped into his car. He was backing up when he braked suddenly and got out, leaving the engine running. He went back into the house and directly to the living room, where he grabbed his pistol, spun it once around his finger, and jammed it into the back of his jeans.
His car laid tracks as he peeled out backward from his garage. His head smashed into the headrest on his seat as the back of his BMW plowed into a car pulling into his driveway. The other car spun around in a one-eighty, landing halfway on his front lawn. Yanking the pistol from his jeans, Jade stepped out of his car and found himself aiming at Darby's head. She didn't seem to notice.
He lowered the pistol and walked over to her as two dark sedans drove up the street and pulled over on the far side of the road. A sideways glance at his car revealed that it was still drivable. The bumper was loose and the brake lights on the left side were smashed, but with the exception of a few wrinkles in the black metal of the trunk, the body of the car was surprisingly intact.
'They told me… they told me not to come,' Darby said.
For a moment, Jade mistook her shock for drunkenness. Her eyes were glazed and her voice had a foreign flatness to it. But there was an awareness beneath the fog. She always knows what she's doing, Jade thought. Even now.
'Thomas?'
'Don't. They don't know. He's getting… help.' She shook her head and looked around the dark street before her eyes settled on the gun in Jade's hand. 'You're going, aren't you? To my son.'
Jade nodded. The air seemed too thick for words.
Darby reached a trembling hand up to Jade's shoulder. She squeezed it tightly, almost lovingly, then reached across to his necklace. She wound one finger in the thin silver chain, made a fist, and yanked it. The chain broke and dangled from her hand.
'Go,' she said.
Darby felt the chain swinging in her hand as Jade's car backed up and shot down the street, one of the dark sedans following close behind. She lowered her head and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Her shoulders shook with sobs.
Jade raced up 280 all the way to San Francisco and cut across town to Sutro Heights. The FBI tail followed him all the way. He knew they'd wait to see the direction he was headed and then call in backup. Hopefully, he could have a few critical moments alone with Allander before they arrived.
Eventually he pulled off the main street and moved up winding roads into the hills. It was getting hard to keep the road in view as darkness set in, especially around the hairpin turns. He could no longer spot the tail behind him. He heard a helicopter somewhere in the distance, but its noise faded away.
The car almost got stuck on one embankment, the wheels turning listlessly in the dirt for a few seconds before catching and jerking the car ahead. The road cut back and forth up the hill in fierce crisscrosses. Jade strained, his head out the window, to look up, but couldn't see where he was headed.
Finally, he saw a green sign that indicated the turnoff for Taos Drive. Moving off the road, he drove to the
