She looked at Hagstrom. His eyes suddenly went cold.
Dead, even.
The tension left his face.
Chilling.
If you have some homicidal skills, buddy, it might be time to break them out.
But Hagstrom did nothing. He stood motionless with that creepy look on his face.
What the hell to do? Just do something. In a blur, Jessie grabbed the bearded guy’s fingers and wrenched them backwards.
Pop-pop-pop-pop!
She broke four fingers of his right hand.
He howled in pain. As he recoiled, Jesse grabbed Hagstrom and pulled him toward her.
“Move! You’re coming with me.”
Hagstrom was still in his odd trance. “Who are you?”
“We’ll exchange LinkedIn invites later. Come on.”
She pulled him down the narrow opening between houses and emerged in the front yard.
BLAMM!
She turned to see that the bearded guy was now unsteadily holding a gun in his left hand.
BLAMM!
He fired again.
She grabbed Hagstrom and pulled him behind a parked jeep. “Where’s your car?”
He pointed to his SUV on the other side of the gun-waving drug dealer. “There.”
“No good. Shit. Okay, follow me. We’re riding out of here on my bike.”
“What?”
“Stay behind the cars. My motorcycle is parked about three spots back.”
Jessie poked her head up and looked through the car windows at her injured attacker. He was still nursing his bloody and broken fingers even as he held the gun in front of him.
“Now!” Jessie whispered. She ducked and ran for her motorcycle. She cast a quick glance back to make sure Hagstrom was following her. He was.
Was she really about to give a lift to a suspected psychotic killer?
It seemed she was.
BLAMM!
The driver’s-side window shattered on a car as they ran past.
Jessie jumped on her motorcycle and Hagstrom hopped on the seat behind her. She started it up and turned hard right to ride away on the sidewalk, using the parked cars to shield them from more gunshots.
BLAMM! BLAMM!
They roared around the corner and Jessie sped away as fast as her bike could take them.
She angled her mirrors to keep a close watch on her passenger. There hadn’t been time to frisk him, but if it looked like he was about to go for a weapon, she was ready to send him flying.
But what in the hell was she going to do with him?
Not her call.
She unhooked her helmet from the console and popped it on.
“Do you have a helmet for me?” Hagstrom shouted over the wind and engine noise.
“No. You’re a purely unexpected guest. Live with it.”
Jessie tapped the switch that turned on the Bluetooth headset built into her helmet.
She voice-dialed the name of someone who she knew wouldn’t be happy to hear from her.
“Hi,” Kendra answered. “Having fun? Is everything okay?”
“Depends on your definition of ‘okay.’ Where are you?”
“Lynch and I are heading to the FBI field office. Griffin was not helpful. We’re still waiting to see what they want to do with Hagstrom. You haven’t lost him, have you?”
Jessie cast a wary glance at the man sharing her motorcycle seat. “No, though you might wish I had.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means our options have suddenly narrowed quite a bit. Hagstrom and I are on our way to the field office.”
“What?” Kendra practically yelled her response.
“Get your ducks in a row. I’m bringing Hagstrom in. We’ll meet you in fifteen minutes.”
CHAPTER
11
“WHAT AM I DOING HERE?” Hagstrom asked as two agents helped him off Jessie’s motorcycle and pushed him toward the front entrance where Lynch was holding open the door. “The FBI? I didn’t do anything.” He jerked his head back at Jessie. “She was the one who was causing all the trouble.” He glared at her. “She almost got me killed. You ought to arrest her.”
“You were eager enough to jump on the back of my bike,” Jessie said as she got off to stand beside Kendra. “That’s called a rescue, not an assault.”
“You broke that guy’s fingers,” he shouted back to her. “He’ll be looking for me as well as you.”
“Then you’d better tell these agents something interesting enough to make them want to protect you.” She turned back to Kendra as Hagstrom disappeared inside the building with the agents and Lynch. “Not exactly brimming with gratitude, is he? It got pretty rough toward the end, he could have bought it.” She wrinkled her nose. “Though he’s right, I was definitely a contributing factor. We were all caught off guard and reacted accordingly.”
“And you broke fingers and indulged in other sundry violence?”
“It seemed to be the thing to do at the time.” She got back on her motorcycle. “I’ll phone and tell you all about it while I’m riding back to my office. I suppose you’re going to take over Hagstrom’s interrogation?”
“Probably not. He’s being taken upstairs to be grilled by one or all of those detectives in Zachary’s fan club. I tend to be a bystander while they vie for attention.”
“And you don’t like it.”
“I want Zachary caught.”
“But not stand by and wait for someone else to do it.” Jessie met her eyes. “Griffin’s nuts to let those clowns have center stage. He’s going to lose you.”
“Zachary has to be caught. Any way that we can make it happen.” She shrugged. “And it gives me time to keep my commitments to my kids. I have phone calls to make, therapies to plan. It’s not as if I haven’t plenty of appointments that aren’t just as important as questioning Hagstrom.”
Jessie shook her head. “He’s going to lose you,” she repeated. “Though I agree Hagstrom might not be worth your while. I was going back and forth about Hagstrom’s potential while I was with him.”
“No?” Her gaze narrowed on Jessie’s face. “Why?”
“The drug connection. He didn’t seem to be strong or clever enough to be Zachary. Yet his background is really promising. Though he could be one of Zachary’s dupes or followers or something. There was something about him…”
“What do you mean?”
“Dead eyes.”
“What?”
“There was a moment or two when he gave me the creeps. But then it was gone, and he was just an ordinary dirt bag. But maybe you should watch him and see if you see what I saw.”
“I will. I just wanted to know your take on him. I’m going up to the interview room after you leave and see if those ace detectives can detect those dead eyes, too.”
“Fine. Are you going to need me anymore right now?”
“Not unless you can dredge up anything more on Hagstrom that won’t put you in the crosshairs.”
“I’ll work on it. Call you from the road.” She roared out of the parking lot.
Kendra smiled as she watched her disappear from view. Then she turned and headed for the front entrance. The dream team would probably be congregating eagerly and heaven forbid she not be on time for the show. They weren’t really her companions of choice, but she was trying to cooperate.
Then her smile faded and then disappeared. It wasn’t really all that amusing.
Dead eyes …
*