“Let’s check it out.”
Tarkoff dodged an approaching taxi and jogged across 23rd, approaching from the left as Curtis came up behind her.
“Police,” Curtis yelled. “Don’t move. Get down on the ground!”
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Vail turned to Underwood, her eyes wide, her pulse racing. She kept driving, leaning forward in her seat, listening for any clues as to what was happening.
“Is it her?”
Tarkoff’s voice.
“No,” Curtis said. “Goddammit. Sonofabitch.” Into the handset: “Not her, Karen. She’s got the tracking device in her jacket pocket but it’s not Jasmine.”
She beat me at my own game.
“Karen, you hear me?”
“Yeah, I got it. Thomas and I are on our way to a place that may have meaning to her. Where she killed before. Rackonelli.”
“Rackonelli. That was somewhere on the outskirts of Georgetown. A park?”
“We’re trying to get an address. Soon as we have it, I’ll send it to you.”
Underwood disconnected the call—but Vail’s phone rang almost immediately. He held up the Samsung. “Someone named Oliver Aldrich.”
Vail whipped her head toward him so hard it popped. “What?”
He showed her the screen. “Oliver Aldrich.”
“Aldrich was killed by—” She stopped. “Answer it.”
A familiar voice came through the speakers. Smooth, cold, unemotional. “Hello, Karen.”
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Marcks.”
He chuckled. “You don’t sound happy to hear from me.”
“I’ve got more important matters to deal with. And unless you can give me your daughter’s whereabouts, you’re wasting my time.”
“My daughter?” His voice got deeper. “I’m going to kill her. Then I’m going to kill you.”
“Good luck trying to find her. I’m looking for her, too.”
He snorted. “I know exactly where she is.”
Vail turned slowly to face Underwood. “You do?”
“She’s in the car right in front of me. And I completely understand why you’ve got ‘more important matters to deal with.’ Looks like she’s got your son.”
“Where are you?” She leaned closer to the speaker. “Marcks! Where are you?”
“He hung up,” Underwood said. “I’m sorry.”
Vail cursed under her breath then told him to call Hurdle.
“Got something for me?” Hurdle asked.
“Yeah,” she said, “a new number. Get Stingray on it.”
Underwood read it off to him.
“Belongs to a phone Marcks is using—but do not engage him. He’s following Jasmine. If we play this right, we’ll get them both.”
“Hope you’re right. Hurdle out.”
Makes two of us. Vail pointed at the Samsung. “Get back to DiCarlo, see if she’s got that twenty.”
Underwood made the call but kept it off Bluetooth. “No, this is Tom Underwood. Agent Vail’s driving. You have the location?” He listened a moment. “Yeah, that’s the one.” He waited, exchanged a glance with Vail, then slapped his thigh. “That’s it,” he said into the phone. “Got it.” Another beat, then, “We’re on our way, we’re pretty close.”
As he hung up, Vail said, “Text it to Curtis, Robby, and Hurdle.”
She sat up in her seat and accelerated.
“Keep it under control,” Underwood said calmly as he tried to tap out the message. His finger kept flying off the keyboard with each bump and jerk of the car. “We need to get there in one piece.”
“I’m going to kill that bitch, Thomas.”
“I understand,” he said as he hit “send.” “And I’d feel the same way. But—”
“Unless someone gets there before me.” Someone named Roscoe Lee Marcks.
“You’re not listening, Karen,” he said with the even firmness of a father imparting wisdom to his daughter. “Let justice take its course. Jasmine needs to stand trial and be properly convicted of the murders we’d wrongly pinned on Marcks.”
“With what evidence? Do you have her admission on tape? ’Cause I sure don’t. And unless I’m missing something, I don’t see much of a case. You want justice, it’s gonna have to come some other way.”
“Can’t say I like the sound of this.”
“You’ll like it even less when she walks out of the courtroom with a ‘case dismissed’ smile plastered all over her face.”
“Promise me you’ll show restraint. Let the system do its job. I have faith.”
She gave him a quick glance. “This isn’t one of your TV shows, Thomas. Not every case ends happily ever after. Did you forget what it’s like out there?”
“No. Did you?”
Touché. Vail took a breath. Shit, I’ve been spending too much time with black operators, where there are no rules other than accomplishing the mission. But this isn’t that.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m just—very upset.”
Underwood seemed to accept that because he did not reply.
“But Thomas. I’m telling you now. If she … if she hurts my son, everything goes out the window.”
“Including your career?”
Vail did not hesitate. “Including my career.”
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