The Law of Motion (Law Series) (63 page)

I tapped my earpiece when it beeped. "Yes, Tink. How do the cameras look out here?"

"You look handsome as ever, Adrian...at least, that's what Chance tells me," she snorted, "but Jack beats you, hands down. I'm diggin' the sunglasses, boys."

I grinned, looking over at Jackson, who was shaking his head and fighting a smile, but blushing forty shades of red. "I do believe you embarrassed the Southern gentleman, Tink."

             
"Yes, yes, yes," she snickered, and I could hear her typing. "Cameras look good. They've got a sweet setup up here. I should tell you I've only got one blind spot. It's the end of the block, but that should be fine, because Ross should be able to see that corner from her position."

My eyes shot across the street to where Ross was nodding slowly.

"Any familiar faces, Tawny?" I asked over the earpiece.

"Nope, not yet, but I'm looking the crowd over now, next the corners outside, and then across the street." Her voice sounded distracted, but I recognized it from when she would draw. She would concentrate on several things at once. "We might not know the guy not yet, but I'm still looking for any of his flunkies."

"Keep me posted," I told them, continuing to scan the crowd.

She went on, for a solid ten minutes, before she let the team ask questions on the changes, she unsurprisingly handled them smoothly. Some were interesting questions, others about nothing, but I found myself watching her, and then scanning the crowd, only to allow my eyes to fall back to her again. By the time she announced that the young man up front and center had the last question, I noticed that my girl's stance had frozen. Completely.

Her mouth set was locked; her hands were shaking as she reached to the small of her back slowly. She was use to her gun being there at all times, and she missed the safety of it , it looked like her knees were about to buckle.

"Something's wrong," Kristen whispered to me in her earpiece. "Look at her, and look where she's staring, Adrian. She’s reaching for a gun that isn’t there."

"I know," I said with a nod, trying to find patience for that last question asked—some inane fucking thing about profits and losses, and would this change in power be beneficial.

When she answered the question, I could tell something wasn't right with her, because she stumbled through it.

"Meeting is over, but I want to thank you for coming," Kristen rushed out walking to the stand, immediately trying to turn Alyssa around, but she wouldn't move.

"Alyssa, what is it?" she asked her as I walked to them.

"Baby, you okay?" I asked her, trying my damnedest to make her look at me.

Maybe I wasn't really
expecting anything to happen in an employee only event that didn’t happen in the one mixed with media, but I was wrong. Of all the names I expected to hear her say, it sure as fuck wasn't the one she barely squeaked out.

"He’s here, with Windsor ," she breathed, her eyes staring at the glass wall and door separating the press room from the street. Not just staring, but it looked like she was fucking
 
hypnotized.

             
"I'm going to kill that motherfucker," I hissed, looking around, as I placed a hand on Chance's shoulder.

"Oh-shit, oh-shit, oh-shit," Tink whispered in my ear. "She's right. He's
 
right there.
"

"What?" my father asked her, but I was already on it.

"Fucking talk to me now! All of you!" I growled, trying to look around the scattering employees and onlookers. I turned to Alyssa, making sure she actually saw me. "Baby, we've got you," I told her, but in the earpiece, I wanted answers yesterday. "Tink, talk to me. Where the fuck are they?"

"Across the street. Under the awning..."

"Ross, Jackson..."

"Already on it," Ross muttered, making her way down the block.

“Dad take her and Kristen upstairs.” I instructed as I watched the events outside, Jackson strolled slowly to the crosswalk, acting casual, but as I started to take off, my father grabbed the front of my shirt.

"You bring that fucking son of a bitch...
to me
!" he snarled, his eyes on fire. "Go, Adrian. He doesn't get away..."

"No!" Alyssa gasped, looking up at me, and then my dad.

"I've got you, Chance," he said, trying to soothe her, but I knew she wouldn't be okay until I got back. "Go, Son. They haven’t even moved. They have no fear. Give em’ a lesson," he commanded. From his reaction, I could tell Alyssa was scaring him.

I glanced up, looking for Macon, but he was already there. "They go straight upstairs. No one goes in, no one fucking comes out!" I gestured to my father, Kristen, and Alyssa—my poor girl was just about to shake to death. Part of me knew she was having flashes of captivity, and most likely not just the recent one and this was when she needed me most—and Macon nodded, looking like an angry giant. With one last lingering touch down my girl's arm, I took off.

"I'm gonna need you, Tink," I stated, forgoing all crosswalks and darting around the remaining members of the exiting employees, who by now had noticed something was going on.

"I'm already in the Department of Transportation website. We're gonna use the red light cameras, Adrian, but the asshole hasn't moved. He's just..."

"Staring," I hissed, finally getting my first real glimpse at Terry Windsor and his friend.

He was leaning casually against the brick wall of a small cafe across the street. He was thin, with dark hair and a scar across his chin—all things that Doc had made sure she drew to perfection, so that we would recognize him. His partner I was barely able to make out. The asshole had hidden himself in the shade of the cafe's awning. The worst part of looking at him was knowing for a fucking fact that he'd taken Juan and my girl, that he wanted to kill her. It made me sick. It made me murderous, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on them.

When I turned to follow his line of sight, I could've snapped right there in front of the press and civilians. He was just glaring at Alyssa through the glass of the press room wall, as my father, Kristen, and Macon guided her out and up towards the elevators of Neil Tower.

To my left, Ross was making her way down the sidewalk, and to my right, Jackson had just crossed to the corner, turning towards us.

The asshole finally broke his eyes away from the front of the building, looking up at me, to his right, and then his left, but it was Ross that got his attention. It wasn't all that surprising that she got his attention. She was just about the same size as Alyssa, with a bit shorter hair.

"Hey,
 
pal
," she sneered, walking a little faster. "Rumor has it you’re one of the guys that took my kid!" Her smile didn't come anywhere near her eyes. "You like taking kids and roughing up women? Come on, give me a go, why don't ya?"

Windsor stood up straight with wide eyes, the other guy remained slinking along the wall when he realized he was being closed in on. Just before Ross could get to him, he backed up two steps and bolted for the alleyway with Windsor behind him. When we broke through the other end, the big guy was already gone, but we did catch the thin frame of Terry Windsor.

" Forget him, J, take the other street! See if we can't corral him," I commanded, pointing for him to go the other way.

Ross and I took off, giving chase.

"If he turns, you gotta tell me, man," Jackson breathed as he ran.

"We're heading west up this alley, and he's a fast little slime ball," Ross told him as we dodged dumpsters and piles of garbage.

Ross took a quick right, cutting across a parking lot; it looked like he was heading for a small park.

"North, J," I panted, running as fast as I could. "He's head towards the park."

"Yes, sir. I'll cut up."

"Adrian," Tink said in my earpiece.

"Go ahead," I grunted, hurdling a flower planter to enter and landing next to some picnic tables. I could still see the asshole ahead of me, pushing women and little kids out of his way to get through.

"Dario isn't far from you. He wants to know where you want him. He and Hunter were on their way back to the tower, and they want to help you get that asshole."

"Heading northwest through the park. I need him ahead of me. He needs to cut him off!"

Terry exited the park, taking a left into another alleyway between two rather tall buildings.

"We just crossed Pine," Ross panted. "He's trying to lose us in the apartments, Tink."

"I see him," Tink replied, and I could see what the little pixie was trying to do; she was manipulating the lights so that traffic would slow him down.

We crossed one more street, and I was almost hit by a taxi as we continued down another shaded alley. In fact, I had to slide across the hood of it just to keep from getting clipped. Just as we came out on a fairly busy street, an SUV came out of nowhere, just barely catching Windsor's leg and causing him to roll in the street, but the fucker launched to his feet and kept running.

"Damnit!" the driver growled, and when I ran by, I saw that it was Dario.

"Keep going, keep going!" I snapped, gesturing for him to go around the block, because the truck wouldn't fit down the alleys.

My legs and lungs were on fire, but I pushed on, because ahead, I could see a dead end. I thought we had him, until he dove for the fire escape and scrambled his ass up.

"He's going up!" Ross and I yelled.

Ross rattled off the address as we passed the front of the building.

I jumped up and grabbed the ladder, reaching for her and practically throwing her at it, but she took it all in stride and hurried up to the first level, with me right behind.

"Jackson," Tink called over the radio. "Take the building you're next to, climb to the roof. You should only be three buildings away from them. Maybe you can catch him in the middle."

"On it," he answered her.

"Harris," Macon crackled in. "We're where we need to be. And we're good, just...get a hit in for me, will ya?"

"Got to fucking catch his ass first, Mack," I growled, looking up to see Windsor clamber over the roof wall. "If we can get a clear shot, I'm gonna shoot is feet off so he can't run any-fucking-more."

I heard chuckles from Mack and Tink, and breathless snorts from Jackson and Ross. We were running out of steam and places for Terry to go.

"Then...I'm gonna get creative…”  I sneered, looking up at Ross as she pulled me up onto the roof.

"Keep him in a cell for
three days?" Ross asked.

"At least," I grunted, catching a glimpse of the little fucker jumping to the next roof. "Damnit," I growled, shaking my head. "Jackson, he's heading your way, man."

"I see him," he whispered, but I heard him grunt hard. "Fuck, that was close! I'm getting too old for this shit..." he mumbled. "Jumping buildings, chasing assholes, and a partridge in a pear tree..."

Ross laughed, slamming into the far roof wall when we reached the other side. "He's right there," she whispered, pointing to the next building. And I see J. We've trapped him in the building between us."

I pulled my Glock, but I didn't have a shot. I was too far away.

"J, we need to get onto that roof at the same time. You got one more jump in you?" I asked him over the headset.

"Yeah, on three, bro," he huffed, taking a deep breath. "One..."

I backed up, trying to get the best spot to jump over. "Two..."

"Three!" we yelled together, and I took off, leaping at the last possible second in order to make it to the next rooftop.

Jackson and I both landed with a grunt, but my tired legs gave out and I rolled once, before standing back up. We were able to both converge on Windsor, who was looking over the side of the building.

"By all means, jump," Jackson panted, pulling out his gun, flipping off the safety, and arming it with swift, practiced movements. "It makes shit a helluva lot easier on us."

I pulled back the hammer on my gun with a loud click, and Windsor's eyes shot to mine. "On your knees, asshole," I snarled, taking another slow step towards him.

The jackass wasn't even scared. He had two guns aimed at him, by two men that outweighed him by at least forty pounds each, not to mention were several inches taller than him, but the fucker smiled. 
He fucking smiled
. It was slow and creepy as he backed up against the wall of the roof.

"You think this is fucking funny?" I snapped, but he ignored me, looking once more over the edge of the building.

"I really hope he jumps. For his sake," Jackson snorted, still catching his breath. "I do not envy what you'll do to him."

"I haven't decided yet," I chuckled stiffly, my lungs still feeling like they were filled with lead. My legs were shaking as he turned again to look over the side of the building.

"And that's where you've made your first mistake," Terry finally spoke, turning to face me. "You should have killed me when you had the chance, but now...I'll still get to finish what 
I
 started. I have a job, and that also includes with 
Miss Marshall
."