The Big Bad Wolf (Alex Cross 9)

“Maybe we should take him at the house. You think?” He bit into his apple again. “Alex?”

I shook my head. “I can’t do it, Ned. Not to his family.”

“Okay. Just asking, buddy.”

We waited. A little past nine, Brendan Connolly finally came out the front door of the house. He walked to a silver Porsche Boxster parked in the circular driveway. He had on a blue suit, carried a black gym bag. He was whistling.

“Scumbag!” Mahoney whispered. Then he spoke into his two-way: “This is Alpha One . . . we have Sphinx leaving the house. He’s getting into a Porsche. Prepare to converge. Vehicle license is V6T-81K.”

We heard back immediately. “This is Braves One . . . we have Sphinx in full sight too. We’ve got him covered. He’s ours.”

Then, “Braves Three in place at second intersect. We’re waiting on him.”

“Should be about ten to fifteen seconds. He’s heading down the street. Making a right.”

I spoke very calmly to Mahoney. “I want to take him down, Ned.”

He looked straight ahead through the windshield. Didn’t answer me. But he didn’t say no.

I watched the Porsche proceed at a normal speed to the next cross street. The Boxster eased into the turn. And then Brendan Connolly ran!

“Oh, boy,” said Mahoney, and tossed away his apple.

Chapter 107

A MESSAGE CAME OVER the shortwave. “Suspect is going southeast. He must have seen us!”

I gunned our car in the direction the Porsche had disappeared. I managed to get the sedan up to sixty-five on the narrow, winding street lined with gated McMansions. I still couldn’t see the silver Porsche up ahead.

“I’m heading east,” I said into the two-way. “I’ll take a chance he’s trying to get to the highway.” I didn’t know what else to do. I passed several cars coming the other way on the quiet street. A couple of drivers sat on their horns. That’s what I would have done too. I was going seventy-five miles an hour in a residential area.

“I see him!” Mahoney yelled.

I stepped down hard on the gas. I was finally making up some ground. I spotted a blue sedan approaching the Porsche from the east. It was Braves Two. We had Brendan Connolly from two sides. Now the question was whether or not he’d give up.

Suddenly the Porsche shot right off the road and into a thicket of bushes that rose higher than the car’s roof. The Porsche tilted forward, then disappeared down a steep slope.

I didn’t slow down until the last second, then I braked hard and went into a controlled shudder and spin.

“Jesus Christ!” Mahoney shouted from the passenger seat.

“Thought you were HRT,” I said.

Mahoney laughed. “All right then, partner! Let’s go get the bad guy!”

I steered the sedan through the bushes and found myself on a steep hill dotted with large rocks and trees. When the first branches cleared, I still had limited vision because of all the other trees. Then I saw the Porsche smack into a midsize oak and carom to one side. The car slid sideways another fifty feet before it finally stopped.

Sphinx was down.

Let’s go get the bad guy!

Chapter 108

MAHONEY AND I WANTED Sphinx, and it was personal with me, maybe with both of us. I let our sedan roll another fifty or sixty yards. Then I braked and the car stopped. Mahoney and I jumped out. We almost slid down the steep hill, which was slippery with mud.

“Crazy son of a bitch!” Ned Mahoney shouted, as we stumbled ahead.

“What choice did he have? He had to run.”