Cross Country (Alex Cross 14)

A deep shudder went through Adanne and then she began to sob. She was saying something; maybe it was a prayer. I couldn’t make out the words or even the language she was speaking.

“I need to talk to your commander,” I said to the patrolman standing with us.

“About what?”

“CIA,” was what I said next.

The policeman opened his mouth again, but I cut him off. “Just get your commander. Get him over here right now.”

As he walked away, I spoke softly against Adanne’s forehead. “I’m here. You’re not alone.” She continued to sob in my arms, shivering like she was freezing cold in the ninety-degree heat.

I watched the commander approac

h, a tall, broad-backed man in a dark suit. I couldn’t hear anything over the fire crew and the hiss of water jets, but I didn’t need to.

I knew his face—the flat nose, those round cheeks, that idiotic Mike Tyson squint of his. The last time I’d seen it, he had been dangling me out a hotel window.

Chapter 105

“ADANNE, LISTEN TO me!” I was already pushing her back toward the car. “It’s not safe for us here. We have to go right now. That man, the policeman, he almost killed me at my hotel.”

She nodded and seemed to understand, and then we were walking quietly. I got her up the block to her car and into the passenger seat. “We have to go.”

When I reached the driver’s side, I could see the police commander through the windshield. He’d picked his way through the knot of emergency vehicles in front of the house. Then he broke into a run, heading straight for us. Two other men came running with him. I thought that I recognized one of them as the other man who’d come into my hotel room and tried to scare me out of the country.

“Adanne, fasten your seat belt! We have to get out of here. Right now!”

I put the car in reverse and checked over my shoulder. The intersection behind me was too busy; I couldn’t wait for the traffic to clear, though.

So I changed my mind.

I shifted into drive and drove right at the approaching cops. I began to blare the horn, hitting the wheel again and again.

Adanne’s car was only a little Ford Escort, but I caught the cops off guard. I floored it and stayed the course directly at the men. The “commander” didn’t budge from his path.

At the last second, I braked hard, but I still struck him. His eyes looked huge with fear—probably the same way mine did when I was hanging out that hotel window.

Now I threw the small car sharply in reverse. He took one of the windshield wipers with him as he flew off and rolled into the street.

I backed all the way up to the corner and spun the wheel hard to face the other direction. A horn blared as an Audi wagon clipped the car, nearly shearing off the rear bumper.

I picked a direction arbitrarily and punched those four cylinders for all they were worth.

“Where are we going?” Adanne sat up a little straighter, almost like she was coming out of a trance.

“Into the city,” I told her.

If there was one thing Lagos might be good for, it was crowds we could get lost in.

Chapter 106

“ADANNE?” I REACHED over and held on to her shoulder. “We have to get away from here. The policeman back there—when I was staying in Lagos—he nearly killed me. I’m sure it’s the same man. It’s all connected somehow, it has to be.”

Adanne didn’t argue with me. She just nodded and pointed to the right.

“Turn here for the Mainland Bridge. It’s the best way, Alex. We’ll go through Benin.”

“Hold on tight, brace yourself!”