Run to Ground(17)
“Gordon,” Hugh soothed, shifting so he blocked an impatient-looking Blessard from Schwartz’s view. Theo marveled at Hugh’s seemingly endless supply of patience. “We don’t want to step on your rights. All we need to do is to go in, get Romanowski, and then we’ll be off your property. Mrs. Lee was injured in that robbery. With the suspect walking free, she’s terrified all the time. We need to bring in the guy who hurt her, so she can sleep at night. Don’t you think Mrs. Lee deserves that?”
Schwartz’s rigid posture softened slightly, and Theo felt everyone’s tension ease. “Yeah,” Schwartz mumbled. “I barely know the guy. I’d never hurt an innocent like that, not for money.”
“We know, Gordon.” Hugh reached through the gate and squeezed Schwartz’s rounded shoulder. “We’re on the same side—the side of justice.”
Theo clenched his jaw, holding back a sardonic snort at the cheesy graphic-novel dialogue. The side of justice? He was going to give Hugh so much shit for that later.
“You’re just going to go in, grab Romanowski, and leave?” Schwartz repeated, still sounding wary but much more compliant than he had just a few short minutes before. Cheesy or not, Hugh’s superhero speech was working.
“That’s it.” Hugh held Schwartz’s gaze steadily. “First, though, would you agree to letting our explosives dog take a sniff around, just for the safety of our officers?”
His shoulders jerking back into his earlier tense posture, Schwartz shot a furious glare toward Viggy and snarled, “No dog. No way. I know how you people work. You’ll come in here, into my house, and plant evidence against me. No one’s coming in.” His hand jerked slightly, and Theo had his gun holster unsnapped before he even paused to think. He wasn’t the only one who’d noticed the threat. Theo saw that Blessard had his TASER drawn, holding it behind his left hip, out of Schwartz’s view.
Hugh hadn’t made a move toward his weapon. “How about this, Gordon. Why don’t we let the dog go first? At the entrance to each room, we’ll have the dog check things out, but we won’t go in until we get an all clear. That way, we couldn’t plant anything, even if we wanted to, and our guys will be safe from any explosions. Romanowski doesn’t want us to bring him in. Who knows what he’s doing right now. I need to keep my friends safe, just like you want to keep your friends safe. Sound like a plan?”
Even before Schwartz reached reluctantly for the lock on the gate, Theo knew that Hugh had succeeded in talking him into letting them on his property. Giving a cowering Viggy a sideways glance, Theo felt his stomach begin to burn. Everyone’s safety depended on their ragtag team of two.
They were so screwed.
Chapter 6
Five Days Earlier
The boys looked startling enough with their new buzz cuts, like junior military recruits, but Dee was the real shocker. Jules kept glancing in the rearview mirror of their new-to-them SUV, unable to keep her eyes off the small stranger in the backseat. Dee had the same problem. At the garage/car exchange/new-identity pickup, disappearance expert Dennis had given Dee a makeover and a pocket mirror, and her eyes had been fixed on her reflection ever since.
“You okay, Dee?” Jules asked, starting to get uneasy about the mesmerized silence behind her.
“Yes.” Her eyes didn’t move from the mirror.
“Do you like your new look?”
“I love it,” Dee breathed. “I look so…different.”
She did. Her long, blond curls were now a dark brown, cut in a pixie that made her blue eyes look huge. The fake pageant glamour was gone, replaced by a normal, cute little girl. She’d also changed out of her school uniform into a pair of jeans and a T-shirt.
“We look like real sisters now, too.”
Jules shifted so she could see part of her own face in the rearview mirror. Her hair was the same color as Dee’s, but Dennis had cut it so it went just past her shoulders. He’d also given her cute bangs. Except for the way Jules’s blue eyes were narrow and tilted up at the corners rather than round, she and Dee did look a lot alike.
“We’ve always been real sisters, D,” Jules said teasingly as she passed a semi.
“I know,” Dee said to her mirror. “But now we really look like sisters.”
“J-Ju.” Sam’s abrupt tone made her tense. “C-c-c…”
Glancing behind her, she knew what he was going to say even before he could force it out.
“C-cops.”
The Highway Patrol car was right behind her. Even though she knew the cruise control was set at two miles per hour below the speed limit, she still had to resist the urge to slam on the brakes.