“You’re not going to run, Nick.”
She gave him a long look, then nodded as she said, “Very well,” and of course he knew she was lying. She didn’t do it very well.
He said nothing, just rubbed where she’d bitten him and left her room to finish dressing. He realized he’d never been bitten before. Did it qualify as a hickey?
Forty-five minutes later, they were in the Los Angeles field office, in the conference room with the SAC, Special Agent in Charge Gil Rainy. Sherlock said, “Sure the press found out about the murders being based on the first two episodes, but how did they find out about Nick? Not just her name, but that she was homeless.”
“Maybe the murderer himself,” Dane said. “He wants to flush her out, put her in the limelight.”
Delion said, “Already the media idiots-oops, I’m being redundant-have labeled the murderer the Prime-Time Killer. I swear, even if it cost lives, the media would spit it all out, no hesitation at all.”
Rainy said, “I bet they sat around and brainstormed to come up with the cute handle. But, bottom line, the leak isn’t any big deal. The murderer already knows about her so who cares if everyone else does, too? Still, it’s like the media wants to offer her up as the sacrificial goat.”
Savich said, “I called Jimmy Maitland and told him what they showed, asked him to rattle some cages, find out how this happened. The thing is-where did they get the photo of Nick and Dane? To be honest, it seems to me like a plant. I think someone sent the photo in along with specifics.”
“The murderer,” Dane said, and looked over at Nick, who hadn’t said a word. “Who else would have?”
Flynn said, “You’re right. If a reporter had found them, he would have shot some video, not just taken a photo of them, so maybe Dane’s right, it was the murderer.”
Dane said, “Actually, that’s not what’s so bad about all this.” He sat forward as Nick grabbed his arm.
“No, Dane, don’t.”
He ignored her. “Nick was in the homeless shelter in San Francisco because she’s running from something or someone she hasn’t told any of us about. So I think she’s got two people after her, both dangerous. Being on TV was the worst thing that could have happened to her.”
Sherlock said, “Okay, Nick, then it’s time for you to level with us. We’re the Feds. The perfect audience. Flynn and Delion are locals, but they aren’t bad either, what with all the sugar they eat. We will do everything we can for you, count on it. Now talk.”
Nick actually smiled. “Thank you, Sherlock, but I can’t. I just can’t.”
Savich said, “We could lock you up, you know.”
“No, you can’t,” Nick said. “I made a deal with Delion and Dane. Leave me alone. This is over.” Then she simply pushed back her chair and walked out of the room.
“Well, hell,” Dane said, and shoved back his chair to go after her.
“Not to worry,” said Gil Rainy. He spoke into his cell phone. “She won’t get out of the office.”
Flynn said, “But we can’t hold her, can we?”
“Sure,” Delion said. “She’s a material witness, in the flesh.”
They heard some orders, a yell, and furniture crashing over. They ran out of the conference room to see four male agents holding Nick’s arms and hands, trying to protect themselves. That left her the furniture to kick, which she was doing. She’d lost control. She was fighting as if her life depended on it. Dane realized he’d pushed too hard, but he hadn’t felt he’d had a choice.
Delion yelled, “Don’t hurt her, dammit!”
Three chairs lay on their sides, and a computer monitor was hanging off the edge of a desk. An agent grabbed it just in time.
“Give her to me,” Dane said, although he knew she’d try to kill him, too. The agents gladly handed her over. This time she didn’t bite him, she tried to kick him in the groin. He heard Rainy yell, “Hey, not that!” as he quickly turned to the side, just in time, and her knee struck his thigh. He pulled her back against him and closed his arms around her body, pinning her arms to her sides, her legs against his, giving her no leverage at all. But she just wouldn’t stop. She heaved and jerked and didn’t make a sound.
“Hey,” Dane said finally, “anybody got any handcuffs?”
“Don’t you dare, you jerk,” Nick said.
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. “Listen to me, Nick. You are not going to die, at least not in my lifetime. You really might try for a little trust here.” He shook her again. Rainy handed him a pair of cuffs. Dane jerked her arms behind her and cuffed her.
He thought she was going to explode. She kicked and bit and twisted until Sherlock walked right up to her, got in her face, and said, “Stop it, Nick, or I’m going to belt you. The men won’t because you’re a woman. You’re really pushing me here.”
Nick believed her. She got control of herself, but it took a bit of time before the hideous panic subsided. She was white, shaking, her breath coming in gulps. “Don’t hit me, Sherlock,” she said, and just went limp. Sherlock held her up.
“Somebody give me the key to these ridiculous handcuffs.”
One of the agents tossed Sherlock the keys. She opened them up, slipped them off, and rubbed Nick’s wrists. Sherlock said, “Okay, don’t you move or I’ll coldcock you. Now, Nick-”
Dane said, “Her name’s Nicola. At least she told me that much. And she’s a Ph.D.-medieval history.”
Nick lunged for him. Sherlock grabbed her and managed to hold her, as Nick yelled, “You just had to blab it, didn’t you, Dane Carver? I’m going to bite you again really good, when you least expect it, damn your eyes, just like I did this morning when you were half-naked and I bit your shoulder!”
There was complete silence, at least twenty special agents frozen in place, all ears.
Sherlock blinked, eased her hold on Nick, who ran at Dane, her fists up, ready to kill him. He was fast, grabbed her, pulled her back up tightly against his chest, and held her arms against her sides. “This is familiar,” he said, remembering how he’d saved himself in the police station in San Francisco by holding her immobile just this way.
She was still breathing too fast, but at last her muscles were beginning to relax. “I’m not going to let you go just yet. I really would like my body parts intact.”
One of the special agents guffawed. “Hey, Agent Carver, speaking of body parts, let’s see the bite on your shoulder.”
“Ah,” said another agent, “the perils of being an FBI agent. I think Dane should get combat pay.”
Nick growled. At least her breathing was slowing down.
TWENTY-THREE
SAC Gil Rainy assigned two agents to protect Dane and Nick. Old geezers, Gil said, who needed to do something different because they’d just about burned out on bank robbers.
“Old geezers, hell,” Delion said when he met Bo and Lou, neither of them over forty-five. “I’m gonna belt Rainy in the chops.”
It was just after lunch, eaten at a KFC, Nick and Dane each eating only one piece of deep-fried chicken breast, when they headed back to Premier Studios to speak to Frank Pauley. The two special agents, Bo and Lou, were hanging a good ways back.
They were at the corner of Brainard and Loomis when out of nowhere a motorcycle came roaring up to the driver’s side of the car. The rider was dressed in black leather, a helmet covering his head and face. He pulled a gun out of his leather jacket and began shooting. He was fast and smooth. The window exploded. Dane felt glass shower over his head and face, felt the sting of a bullet that came too close to his ear.
“Nick, get down on the floor! Now!”
She was down instantly. The bullet missed her by no more than an inch, and shattered the passenger-side window, spewing glass shards all over her.
“Jesus, keep down!”
Dane jerked the steering wheel to the left, trying to smash the Grand Am into the motorcycle. He nearly managed it, but the bike swerved hard left, then pulled back. Dane jerked out his SIG Sauer and held it in his left
