The Victim (21 page)

He told the technician to print all the images of all the footage at that second and stick them in a manila envelope for him. He would be back later to pick it up.

Then Parkman ran out of the building, heading for his rental car. Waller was after Sarah and they were both downtown somewhere. He was new to Toronto, but he knew Waller was focused on the area where he lost Sarah last night. He would drive his rental to Yonge Street and then call Waller to find out where he was. Waller would tell him too, once he knew what Parkman had discovered.

Attempted murder of an American citizen, and the security footage at the mall would verify it.

Waller was finished.

Parkman smiled.

Chapter 27

Sarah saw his forehead first. He had leaned out of a parking garage across the street. A moment later, she saw a yoga studio on the second floor of a building on the other side of the parking lot in front of her.

She stopped in front of a bum sitting on the sidewalk, her back to the Rapturites. The cell phone battery slipped inside the back of the phone easily. She powered it up and called Detective Waller’s number. She put the phone on speaker and told him she was downtown and about to be followed by two of the white-faced guys.

“Where are you?” he asked in his husky, heavy voice.

“I don’t know exactly. I’m not from this area. I think I’m on Church Street. I was on Jarvis. But I’ll leave the battery in the cell. Triangulate its signal. You’ll find me across the street in the yoga studio. But hurry. I don’t want to use your gun on these guys and I don’t want to be touched by them.”

“I’m five minutes away. I have men closer.”

“Find the phone, you find me.”

“I’ll call it in on my way over.”

“Bye, Waller. Can’t talk anymore, but I won’t turn the phone off.”

Sarah bent and proffered the cell phone to the bum.

“Here, take this.”

“For me?” he asked.

“Yeah. Just don’t turn it off for at least five minutes. Can you do that?”

“Why?” he asked. “Am I in trouble?”

She needed to go and she had no idea what kind of explanation a street bum would need. She tried a version of the truth.

“There are men with white faces following me so they can Rapture me. This cell phone signal is beaming up to the cell towers, telling the people who are going to stop the fight for Armageddon from happening. Beings from the Other Side are involved. This is important to the future lives of many. Can you handle this?”

His eyes widened. He nodded slowly, looking at the phone as if it were a bar of gold.

“I’ll protect it,” he said as she moved away.

She dodged through cars and vans in the full parking lot, hurrying to the far corner where she could cross the street and enter the yoga studio.

She had no idea what would happen next. All she had was Vivian’s note and a hope that surpassed her instinct of self-preservation.

She would live if she did exactly what Vivian told her to do.

At least she hoped so.

Simon and Philip stepped from the garage into the afternoon sun. The heat hit Simon right away. He wavered on his feet, but it didn’t matter. His target was close. They were almost done. Nothing would get in his way this time. Matthew had told him so.

They ran across the street when there was a break in traffic and approached the vagrant Sarah had stopped in front of.

He took a quick look to see where Sarah was going and saw her enter the front doors of a yoga studio between a men’s fitting store and a restaurant.

He turned back to the vagrant.

“What did that woman give you?” he asked.

“Nothing,” the man said as he moved a hand along the back of his dog.

“Don’t lie to us. We saw her give you something.” Then he had a thought. “It’s a matter of national security.”

“What?” the man said. “She didn’t say anything about that. This cell phone is to help track the white-faced guys—”

Simon reached down and snatched the phone out of the man’s hand.

“Hey!” the vagrant yelled. “You can’t do that.”

Simon turned toward the traffic. A long semi flatbed was passing them. He tossed the phone onto the back of the truck.

“Sorry. Misunderstanding. You can have your phone back, if you can get it.”

Simon took off after Sarah with Philip on his heels. The vagrant shouted about end times as Simon and Philip ran through the parking lot Sarah had just traversed.

He has no idea how right he is.

Aaron got the text from Benjamin that Sarah had stopped to talk to a bum on the sidewalk. She handed him something and took off through a parking lot. He couldn’t handle it anymore and called him.

“Yeah?” Benjamin said as he answered his phone.

“Where is she now?”

“No idea.”

“What? How could you have no idea? You were the closest to her.”

“She stopped and talked to this bum. Then she gave him something and ran away—”

“Where are you exactly?”

“Near the corner of Church Street and Colborne.”

“I’m on my way but tell me what else happened.”

“I stayed back. About two blocks away when she stopped. After handing the bum something, she ran off to the right through a parking lot. I lost sight of her but thought I’d pick her up again when I got to the bum.”

“And?”

“When I started running, two guys ran across the street and talked to the same bum.”

“What? Those are probably the guys that are after her.”

“One of them grabbed what looked like a cell phone from the bum and tossed it onto a truck that was going by. Then they ran in the same direction Sarah had gone.”

Aaron was running now, the wind making it hard to hear on the phone.

“What else?” he shouted.

“When I got to the corner, the two guys that stopped at the bum were gone too.”

“I see you. I’m a block up. Text Alex and Daniel to join us.”

Aaron ran the rest of the block, passing two sets of foot patrol cops on the way, but neither paid any attention.

He got to Benjamin and put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. Seconds later, Alex and Daniel joined them.

“What do we do?” Benjamin asked.

“We find Sarah,” Aaron said.

“I know. But how?”

Daniel stepped inside their circle. “How about calling the police? There seems to be quite a few down here today. If it’s the same guys from the mall massacre, then Sarah’s in more trouble than we can probably help her with.”

Aaron frowned.

“Maybe he’s right,” Benjamin said. “Did you read what the witnesses said? All those guys had to do was touch someone and they died.”

“We can’t call the cops,” Aaron said between breaths.

“I hope this isn’t a recurrence of last year,” Benjamin said. “Doing it all on your own shit.”

Aaron frowned at him. “No. Sarah talked to the cops in the back of the dojo. I overheard her talking to a cop named Parkman. She said she trusted him. When she was talking to Parkman, she told him to watch out for Waller.”

“Who is this Waller guy?” Alex asked.

“He’s the guy all over the news the last few days looking for Sarah, claiming she had something to do with the killings at the Allandale Centre. At least that’s how it sounds.”

“Okay, then it’s solved,” Daniel said. “We don’t call the cops. We call this Parkman dude.”

Aaron told his three-man team to spread out and look around the area for any sign of Sarah or the two thugs as pulled his cell phone out and dialed the police, hoping they could transfer him to a cop named Parkman.

Then he remembered something else Sarah said. She would buy Parkman a box of toothpicks when this was all over.

The police operator picked up.

“Hello,” Aaron said. “I’m looking for a cop by the name of Parkman who is up from America and who may be assisting on a case with Detective Waller. He’s the one who loves toothpicks. It’s regarding Sarah Roberts.”

Chapter 28

Parkman’s phone buzzed in his pocket.

“Yeah?”

“Hi, it’s dispatch. I got a guy on the phone who said he has information on Sarah Roberts and he said he would only talk to you.”

“Put him through.” Parkman exited the Gardiner Expressway and started north on Yonge Street. There was a click, silence, and then an open line with traffic going by in the background.

“Hello, Parkman?”

“Yeah, you got him.”

“How do I know it’s you?”

“Who is this?”

“No, it doesn’t work like that. Figure out a way to prove to me you’re Parkman, Sarah’s friend, then I’ll tell you why I called.”

“You asked for Parkman, right?”

“Yeah.”

“They put you through to me. That’s not good enough for you?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Sarah said she couldn’t trust the cops. I have a history of the same thing. I don’t care who the fuck they put me through to. All I want to know is if you’re Parkman. If you are, Sarah’s in trouble and needs your help.”

“I know she’s in trouble. That’s why I’m downtown Toronto driving around, trying to find her.”

“Along with a thousand other cops.”

“I’m seeing that,” Parkman said as a second pair of officers in uniform walked by his car.

“You’re still not saying anything to prove you’re Parkman.”

“What do you want me to say? Shit, just tell me what’s going on.”

“No deal. I’m hanging up unless you talk fast.”

“Okay, hold up. I’ve known Sarah since she got away from her kidnapper about four or five years ago. She has friends who just died.” Parkman choked up for a second, and then continued. He talked fast, rambling on about everything from Sarah’s parents to Europe and his helping her in Budapest. He finished with his love of toothpicks and her always teasing him about them.

“That’ll work,” the caller said. “I’m Aaron Stevens. A friend.”

“How do
you
know what I said was the truth?”

“No time for that, Parkman. Sarah’s in trouble.”

“Geez, sorry.”

“We followed her—”

“Who followed her?”

“Just listen. No wait, where are you?”

Parkman strained to see the sign coming up. “I’m on Yonge and … King Street.”

“Turn right on King.”

“Why?”

“I’m directing you to where we are.”

“Good timing. I was just about to go through this intersection.”

“When you hit Church Street, turn right again. You’ll see us on the side of the street before Colborne. We’ll watch for you. What are you driving?”

“A red Chrysler 300.”

“Okay. You’re about a minute away.”

Parkman ended the call and hit the gas. He turned at Church and saw them right away. He parked in the lot beside them, got out, locked the car, checked that his weapon was secure and stepped up to the foursome.

“You the one who called?”

“Yeah, Aaron,” he held out his hand. “Alex, Daniel and Benjamin.”

Each man shook.

“Now,” Parkman said. “Start from the beginning.”

Aaron told him about Sarah training with him in the back of the dojo and how she got a message from her sister. He covered everything, right up until his decision to follow her and protect her with the help of his trusted instructors. But they lost her at this exact spot.

“What did the note say? That’s how you find Sarah.”

“I didn’t memorize it. It told her that Esmerelda was dead. The rest was something about her running into a yoga studio. We argued a little about that. I said why not run into a dojo or a police station. Why a yoga studio?”

Parkman did a full scan of the area and stopped when he saw a yoga studio on the other side of the parking lot.

“How long ago did you lose her?” he said as he walked away.

“At least ten minutes now. Maybe fifteen.”

“And you didn’t think to try the
yoga
studio over there.”

“Oh shit, didn’t see it.”

All five men sprinted across the parking lot.

Chapter 29

Sarah ran through the front doors of the building and stopped to see how close the two Rapturites were. They had paused to talk to the vagrant on the sidewalk. She wondered if they’d found the cell phone, turned it off or destroyed it.