Chasing Tomorrow
Page 83
The FBI agent took her hand and squeezed it. “Help is on the way. Try to stay calm. You understand I need to leave now?”
“Of course. Go. GO!”
JEAN RIZZO HAMMERED ON the locked door.
“Mrs. Berkeley! Mrs. Berkeley, are you in there?”
A strangled voice came from inside. “Are they here yet?”
“Are who here yet?”
“The ambulance.”
“Ma’am, this is the police. Please open the door.”
“I can’t! I have radiation sickness. You might be contaminated!”
Jean took a deep breath. He knew Bianca Berkeley was a kook but this took the cake. “Open the door, ma’am.”
Slowly, the door opened. Bianca Berkeley flung herself into Jean’s arms, crying hysterically. “Where are they?” she screamed. “She said they’d be here! I don’t have much time left.”
She was clutching her neck.
The emerald choker was gone.
ELIZABETH KENNEDY WALKED SLOWLY but purposefully out of the building. The dark wig still itched, but she no longer cared. Swinging her evening bag, she felt the weight of the Tiffany choker inside and grinned.
Jeff said it couldn’t be done. But I did it.
Now he’ll have to admit I’m the best.
She could see the Metro-North station, just a few yards away.
BIANCA BERKELEY WAS SO hysterical, it took Jean Rizzo some minutes to get the description he needed. Silver dress, dark hair. A large green evening purse.
“That’s where she kept the device. The radiation scanner. It’s Russian intelligence, you see. They’ve used this technique before, because it’s untraceable.”
Jean ran into the street.
THE METRO-NORTH STATION WAS CLOSED.
Elizabeth asked the cop outside, “What’s going on?”
“Bomb threat. They think it’s a hoax but no more trains’ll be running tonight. You’d best get a cab.”
IT WAS PURE CHANCE that he saw her. A flash of silver caught his eye from fifty yards away. She was crossing the street in front of the train station, apparently looking for a cab.
No getaway driver. No partner coming to meet her. She just wanders out into the city without a care in the world.
Tracy was right. The lady had balls.
Putting his head down, Jean quickened his pace. Elizabeth was forty yards away now.
Thirty.
Ten.
A yellow cab pulled up. She leaned in to talk to the driver. Jean ran forward. At the exact same moment another male figure darted toward the cab from the opposite side of the street. The man wore an overcoat and turtleneck sweater and Jean recognized him from the way he ran as one of the guys from Barneys. A split second later, the second man emerged from the shadows—also from Barneys. Also running.