Kicking It(114)

Behind me, three sets of blue lights throbbed in the growing darkness. Well, that’s just peachy. The lights grew brighter as the cops drew closer until they completely filled my rear window. “You’re driving Impalas and I have a tank of a Hummer; what exactly are you going to do?”

Apparently just follow me and hope I pull over. Well, I would as soon as the silver sedan did. Which meant we made a nasty gang of cars flying down the quiet road at breakneck speeds.

Finally the sedan made an abrupt right. I’d been waiting for the move but it still left me wrenching the steering wheel. The Hummer shuddered as it slid into the turn, at least one tire losing contact with the ground. Oh, you really turn on a dime, don’t you? Just don’t flip.

It didn’t.

I swung it back on the road, still following the silver sedan. Behind me, two of the cops made the turn. I wasn’t sure what happened to the third, but I imagined he’d be joining us soon.

The sedan pulled into the vacant parking lot of a golf course, but even though his car stopped, he didn’t get out. I gave him points for picking a public place to stop—if you think someone is a crazy killer you shouldn’t lead them to your house—but I took away points for it being empty. The clubhouse ahead of me was dark, the course and parking lot lit only by security lighting. I put the Hummer in park but I didn’t cut the engine.

Behind me, the two remaining cop cars skidded to a halt and the officers poured out hot, guns out and ready for action. They barricaded themselves behind their open doors as four guns pointed at the Hummer.

I pulled my ID and badge out of my pocket, unrolled my window and held both my hands—one open to prove I was unarmed and one holding my badge—out of the car.

“I’m MCIB,” I yelled through the window and hoped they could hear it over their adrenaline. “I’m unarmed and I’m coming out. Don’t shoot.” I double-checked that my weapons were hidden under spells and then twisted my arm so I could open the Hummer from the outside, never letting my hands leave the cops’ views. No one shot up my door, so I took that as a good sign and slid out of the vehicle.

Still no shots, but the cops still had their guns drawn.

“I’m Magic Crimes Investigation Bureau,” I told them again and they looked from one to the other. Finally one of the older men made a waving motion and his partner ran forward, his gun still out but at least pointed at the ground and not me. When he reached me he held out his hand and I handed him my credentials.

“She’s legit,” he said after studying the badge and ID extensively.

With his announcement the other cops dropped and holstered their guns; they kept them unsnapped though, as if they expected to need to draw fast again soon. I ignored the implication.

“So he’s a suspect?” one officer asked, pointing at the idling silver sedan.

“Actually, a victim, but I don’t think he realizes that fact yet.” Still, I’d learned a long time ago not to allow a victim carrying an unknown spell to wander around unobserved. You could tie up a case only to discover a new problem had spawned. “He needs to go to a magical containment ward at the hospital.”

The cop glanced from me to the sedan before shrugging and approaching the car. The driver didn’t immediately unroll the window let alone get out. It took the officer knocking on his window twice before the man finally cracked it. The man then went on a too-fast diatribe about how I was a psychotic murderer. I didn’t bother listening beyond the fact that his name was Justin. Sometime during the panicked retelling, the third police car arrived. They seemed more than a little confused by the scene, but didn’t stay long once it was obvious there would be no more car chases and no firefights.

“Sir, please get out of the car,” the officer told the still frantic man.

He refused at first, but like most good, law-abiding people, did as the officer requested. I watched the proceeding idly. As long as Justin made it to a secured location where he’d not only be safe from the magic that I’d seen infect him but everyone else would be safe as well, then my job was done. The police could take it from this point. I had other things I needed to do. Like interview my suspect.

Pushing away from the hood of the Hummer, I turned to go but something caught in the corner of my eye.

What the hell?

I scanned the shadow pooling around the sedan, the man, the cop. There were enough lights in the parking lot that shadows were short, but the man’s shadow appeared to be growing. I squinted. It also appeared to be boiling. Shit.

“Get him out of the shadow,” I yelled, launching myself into a full-out run.