Ambush (Michael Bennett 11)

“You haven’t seen anyone unusual?”

“A woman like that walked out with Jules a little while ago. She’s a talent agent.”

“Keep everyone in here. She’s dangerous. She has a gun. Help should be coming any minute.”

When he just stared at me again, I said, “Do you understand what I’m saying, Carter?”

This time he nodded.

I was running back down the hallway looking for turnoffs. I found one door that was unlocked and led me into a series of storage rooms and hallways that ran in several directions.

I pulled my badge from my back pocket and held it up to a guy carrying a pole with lights on it. I shouted, “NYPD. Have you seen a woman come this way?”

The guy was stunned, like most people are when confronted by an anxious cop. But he managed to get out, “She went down this way and was asking how to get into the main office.”

“How do you get in there?”

“End of this hallway, to your left. Heavy door that’s usually locked.”

I was off to the races again. I was beginning to feel panic. I didn’t want this woman to get away. I thought of Father Alonzo. I wanted to sit and comfort my daughter. And God knows what my grandfather was going through.

I came to the door, and sure enough, it was locked. I had no time to waste. I lifted my left foot and threw my whole body behind a kick. I felt the door shake and the frame crack. I hit it again, and it opened at an odd angle as one of the hinges came loose.

I burst into the bright hallway and immediately startled a woman carrying an armload of papers. She jumped back, and they fluttered to the ground in every direction.

“NYPD. Has anyone you don’t know come through here?”

The woman shook her head. “Not that I noticed.”

As I started to move past her, she said, “What’s wrong? Is it a terrorist? What should we do?”

I took a moment. “Just stay in your office. No one should bother you. Where’s the exit?”

She pointed me down the hallway that led to the lobby.

I sprinted ahead toward an astonishing view of the East River.

Chapter 91

The receptionist, a young woman with a bright smile and blond curly hair, turned to me with a questioning look.

Before she could say anything, I held up my badge and said, “NYPD. Did anyone come through the lobby?” I worked hard to keep my voice even, but I needed answers.

The young woman just stared at me for a moment, then said, “Yes. A woman I didn’t know came from—”

Facing the receptionist, I didn’t even register the sound of the gunshot behind me. And that’s how I had a view of her face virtually exploding in front of me as a bullet struck her just above the nose.

The impact cut her off midsentence and made her stumble back against the decorative wallpaper. As she tumbled to the carpet, she left a smear of blood on the wall.

I leaped to one side, looking for any cover I could find. I knew the bullet had been meant for me, and the shot gave me a general idea of where the assassin was hiding—behind a column near the front door, with the wide bay window behind her.

I rolled to a stop behind the counter where the young woman had been standing. Her blue eyes were wide open and seemed to stare at me.

Another person I’d failed to protect from this killer.

I was behind the counter and hoped it was thick enough to stop a bullet. I peeked around it once and could see the reflection of the assassin, crouched behind the column, in the window. Her long hair flowed down her back. Behind her was a tranquil view of a park with the river beyond it. A tour boat slowly passing by.

I called out, “It’s time to give it up. You’ve got nowhere to run, and I’m no longer a sitting duck.”