33 | THE SEARCH
Tyler shut his eyes and flicked through the images that were neuro-feeding into his brain from Control. “That’s got to be them walking through the parking lot.”
The three figures were quite unmistakable.
“Here they are again, at the northwestern end of the lot,” Sergeant Hutchens said from the driver’s seat. “And after that, nothing. Where did they go?”
“They’re in the mall somewhere. Nowhere else to go.”
“But the entrance cameras didn’t pick them up,” Hutchens said. “Nor did any of the security cameras in the service areas.”
“They’re in the mall,” Tyler said again, certain of it. “These kids know every trick in the book. If anyone can fool a security camera, they can. We’re going in. Get mall security to man the exits while we sweep the mall. Bring in the police to maintain a cordon around the entire area.”
“Mall security,” Agent Amberly said from the rear of the van, handing Tyler a phone. “Duty manager Bruce Gordon.”
Tyler took the phone. “Gordon, my name is Special Agent Tyler from Homeland Security. Here is the situation. We have three fugitives hiding somewhere in the mall. We’re sending you photos and descriptions. One of them may be semiconscious. I want you to move all your security staff immediately to the exits. Circulate the photos to their cell phones. Also make your team aware that my men will be arriving shortly to begin a search. I want every exit covered, including trade and freight entrances. Make sure they can’t get out. Any questions so far?”
Tyler looked casually around at the men in the van, relishing the feeling of power. The go-to guy. The man in charge.
“Okay, Gordon, thank you for your cooperation. We’ll be picking up the feed from your security cameras, but it would help us if you could also watch your monitors closely.”
He handed the cell back to Amberly. “Okay, let’s move in. Handguns only and keep them in your holsters. The kids are not armed, and we don’t want to panic the public. Hutchens, can you assemble the units into search teams? Standard two-by-four.”
Tyler stepped out of the van into the long shadows of the low afternoon sun and stretched, rolling his shoulders around to loosen them up as he waited for the teams to assemble.
It was dark outside. Two hours of searching and nothing. Was it possible that they had slipped through his fingers again? Tyler stood on the mezzanine and looked down over the first-floor shoppers. No. Somewhere in this huge complex, they were hiding. The exits were covered, and the police had an outer cordon around that. There was no way out.
Hutchens appeared at the top of the escalator and jogged over.
“Anything?” Tyler asked.
“Nothing. We’ve been through all the storerooms, warehouses, washrooms, janitors’ closets, everywhere.”
“They’re here somewhere,” Tyler said. “Bring in a dog team; see if they can pick up the scent. Get something personal from their desks at CDD.”
He punched a button on his cell phone. “Gordon, it’s Tyler. Anything suspicious?”
Gordon’s voice sounded a little harassed through the cell phone. “No, sir. I’m closely monitoring every camera in the building myself, and I’ll let you know at once if I see any trace of your three missing agents.”
“Thanks, Gordon,” Tyler said, and rang off.
An uneasy feeling settled in his stomach, as if he’d eaten something that disagreed with him, but that wasn’t it. Something troubled him about that call. He drummed his fingers on the polished wood railing of the mezzanine floor, thinking. How had Gordon known the fugitives were CDD agents? He hadn’t mentioned that, had he?
“We have a positive identification on the girl,” Hutchens said, interrupting his thoughts.
“Where and when?”
“An hour or so ago. A store assistant at Walmart remembers her. Paid cash.”
“What did she buy?”
“Wigs, fake beards, that kind of thing.”
Disguises!
“Send me pictures of the clothes now,” Tyler said, and waited a second or two while Hutchens flashed through images. “Control?”
“Control here.”
“Feed me through the central mall cameras, last two hours, ten-second intervals, two per second.”
“On its way.”
Tyler shut his eyes and waited for the images to arrive. The center of the mall appeared in his vision, and he watched carefully. There! A young couple: a blond male and a female with long black hair, cuddling each other as they walked through the mall. Behind them a male in a Windbreaker and a woolen hat. That had to be Sam.
He traced their progress through the mall, then lost them in a crush of shoppers. He tried a different camera angle, without success. And another.
Where were they?
He alerted his teams and picked up the phone to call Gordon again.