Wolf Hunt (31 page)

He leapt onto the front hood, opening his
jaws as wide as he could. The woman shrieked and drove off the
road.

He opened the door, dragged her out of the
vehicle, and snapped her neck.

He checked her pockets for money, found none,
and tossed her body off to the side. Somebody would find it
quickly, unless an alligator dragged it away for an evening meal,
but that didn't matter. Ivan would be long gone.

He got in the car and sped off.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Hot Pursuit

"Are you absolutely positive you're not going
to bleed to death?" George asked.

"Look, I promise that if I get ready to bleed
to death, I'll give you a five minute warning, okay? How are your
legs?"

"They hurt."

"Sorry."

"It's okay. I apologize for yelling at
you after you blew open the cage with dynamite. You have to
understand why I'd be stressed out at that particular
moment."

"I do."

George's phone rang again. "I'd better
get that or he's never going to stop calling." He pressed the
"talk" button and placed the phone to his ear. "Yeah,
Ricky?"

"Where have you been? What's going on?"

"Rescue team's dead. Werewolf's still
loose."

"We know. We're tracing him."

"So are we."

"I hear Bateman and Dewey are both trying to
put together a new team. I mean, like, every dogcatcher from here
to New Orleans. From a friend to a friend, George, I'm suggesting
that you get out of the country as soon as you possibly can and
don't look back."

"Sorry, Ricky. We're killing the
werewolf."

"Don't do that! Just stay out of this
now."

"Not going to happen. There'll be bits of fur
for a six-mile stretch of I-75."

"Then we never had this conversation."

"Fair enough. And you're not my friend. I
pissed in your coffee cup twice a week."

"You did what?"

"Okay, that's not true. I never did that.
Take care of yourself, Ricky." George hung up the phone. "He's a
rotten little prick," he said to Lou, "but he deserves to enjoy his
cup of coffee in the morning. How far ahead is Ivan?"

"Looks like about two miles."

"Good." Ivan seemed to be sticking to
the speed limit. George was doing about ten miles faster and
cruising along at eighty miles per hour. Neither of them could
afford to get pulled over by the cops, but George was apparently
more willing to take the risk.

The plan, which was straightforward
and inelegant, was to catch up to whatever car Ivan was driving,
and fling a stick of dynamite at him. Watching that bastard go up
in an explosion would be better than every Fourth of July
celebration George had witnessed in his entire life
combined.

If he had a hostage in the car with him,
they'd use guns instead of explosives. Either way, unless he was in
a bus filled with nuns, orphans, and kittens, that werewolf was
only a few minutes away from death.

They'd discussed the idea of just
following behind him, out of sight, until Ivan was forced to stop
somewhere to get gas. The problem with that plan was that their van
was already getting low on fuel, and they had to assume that he'd
outlast them in that regard. They couldn't afford to lose ten
minutes to get off and refuel. Twenty if there was another frickin'
dog attack.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be more subtle?"
Lou asked. "There are a lot of cars around."

"If we get the opportunity to be subtle,
we'll take it. Otherwise, dynamite out the window."

"All right. I can't say I won't enjoy
it."

George pressed harder on the accelerator,
bringing their speed up to eighty-five. Plenty of other cars were
going that fast. As far as he knew, the cops weren't looking for a
white van that said "Ray's Air Conditioning" on the side, so they'd
be okay until they started flinging explosives.

"He's a mile ahead."

"Cool. Maybe if we're lucky, there'll be a
semi we can hide behind or something."

George pressed down on the accelerator a bit
more, letting their speed creep up to eighty-seven.

"Slow down," Lou said, glancing at the
speedometer. "You're getting too impatient."

"I want him gone."

"So do I. Slow down."

George relented and dropped their speed back
down to eighty-five.

"Do you think he knows we're coming?" Lou
asked.

"I hope so. I don't like the idea of an
ambush, but I do like the idea of him being scared out of his
mind."

"Well, let's not get overconfident. I don't
think we're going to be able to narrow this down to a single car
unless the traffic really clears up, and he knows what we're
driving."

"Believe me, after the way things have gone,
the last thing I am is overconfident."

Lou rolled down his window. Several
sticks of dynamite and a few grenades rested in his lap. Yesterday,
that was a sight that would have made George extremely
uncomfortable. Now it made him happy.

"Shit," he said, as red-and-blue flashing
lights became visible in the rear-view mirror. "Cop."

"I'm not throwing a grenade at him."

George slowed down to seventy and moved into
the far right lane, desperately hoping that the cop was pulling
over somebody else.

The police car drove ahead of the van and
came up behind a brown truck. The truck slowed down and moved into
the right lane. The cop followed him. As the truck pulled off to
the side, George breathed a sigh of relief.

Lou picked up a stick of dynamite. "This
would've been difficult to explain."

"No kidding."

They drove in silence for a couple of
minutes. "Okay, start watching for him."

There were no big trucks or other vans
to hide behind. Since Ivan would've had no way of knowing where
they were, they just had to hope that he wasn't keeping a close
watch on every single vehicle on the road.

"Up there," said Lou, pointing at a small
blue Volkswagen. "Does that look like the back of his head?"

George leaned forward and squinted. "I...I
think so. No, wait, the hair is wrong. It's not him."

George and Lou both surveyed
the cars ahead of them. "He's got to be in one of these. Maybe in
the--
there
! That's
him!" Lou pointed to another small car in the left-hand lane that
was a darker shade of blue than the first.

Yep. Definitely him. "He's on the wrong
side."

"There aren't any windows in the back. You're
gonna have to throw them."

"Aw, shit."

"Get at least a car-length ahead of him so
that when you throw it, it hits the front of his car."

George nodded. The van began to shake,
clearly not having been designed to go this fast.

They passed Ivan's car. Ivan looked over at
George and scowled. George would've expected a grin. Things were
looking up.

"Don't let him see what you're doing," said
George, as Lou pulled the trigger to start the lighter. There were
no cars behind Ivan. No innocent victims.

Keeping the stick of dynamite below
window-level, Lou lit the fuse. George's heart felt like it leapt
into his throat, which managed to be simultaneously a good feeling
and a bad one. Lou passed him the burning stick and grabbed the
steering wheel.

George flung the stick of dynamite out the
window.

It struck Ivan's windshield dead center.

Then bounced off.

The dynamite sailed harmlessly over Ivan's
car then exploded against the pavement behind him. Tires squealed
as a convertible swerved into the other lane.

"Grenade!"

Keeping one hand on the wheel, Lou pulled the
pin out of a grenade and handed it to George. He immediately tossed
it out the window.

It struck the front hood of Ivan's
car, bounced up onto the roof, off the rear, and then exploded in
mid-air.

"Damn it!" George shouted.

Ivan swerved, moving directly behind the
van.

George tilted the side-view mirror. "I can't
see him! Try to throw something out the back!"

"The shelf with all the weapons is in the
way!"

"I know that! Knock it over!"

"It's bolted in place!"

"Fuck!"

George slammed on the brakes. That little car
would fare much worse in a collision than the van.

Ivan swerved to the right, coming up on Lou's
side.

A sign announced that the next exit was half
a mile away.

"Blast the bastard!" George
shouted.

Lou flicked on the lighter again, but
hesitated. There was a minivan up ahead in the right lane, blocking
Ivan's potential escape. "Try to match his speed," Lou said. "He
won't be able to pass us."

The traffic had cleared out behind them.
Apparently the other motorists wished to give some space between
themselves and the explosive-hurling psychos in the white van.

* * *

Ivan couldn't believe this. He'd taken plenty
of risks in his quest for sadistic pleasure, but he'd never
expected George and Lou to reach this level of fanaticism.

He was almost impressed.

* * *

Lou lit the next stick of dynamite. He held
onto it, watching the flame devour the fuse.

"Throw it!"

"Not yet!"

With alarmingly little left of the
fuse, Lou flung the stick of dynamite out the window. It twirled
end-over-end toward Ivan's driver's side window, leaving a trail of
smoke.

It struck the window exactly where Lou wanted
it to hit. Right next to Ivan's goddamn face.

Then it bounced off, hit the road, and rolled
away.

Lou leaned out the window and watched it.

Nothing.

"It was a dud! Son of a bitch!"

"Does he look like he's going to take the
exit?" George asked.

"I can't tell!"

"We're coming right up on it! Make a
call!"

"I think he is! Get behind him!"

George braked. At the last instant, Ivan
swerved into the exit lane, going so fast that George thought he
might careen right off the curve. George followed him.

"Slow down!" Lou shouted.

George braked some more as they drove onto
the highway exit. Ivan's car shot up ahead of them, but that was
better than having the van fly right off the road.

"A dud," Lou muttered. "I can't believe it.
He's one lucky bastard."

"Oh, no. He most certainly is not.
It's just going to be worse for him when we finally catch
him."

Having made it around the curve, George
accelerated to catch up with Ivan. They couldn't let him out of
their sight, in case he decided to bring innocent people into this
again. Nobody else was going to die.

"I'm just going to ram him," said George.
"Knock him right off the road."

Before Lou could protest, George floored the
accelerator again. The van rocketed forward as they pulled onto the
four-lane street. There was a traffic light just ahead, showing
amber.

"Cop!" Lou said.

George instinctively braked. Ivan sped
through the light just before it turned red.

"Don't run it!" Lou warned. "If we have to
waste time with a cop he'll get away completely."

They waited at the light, hoping this
particular police officer was not looking for a white van matching
their description.

It was a long, agonizing red light.

"I can't believe we're doing this," said
George.

"We've got the tracer. We can still find
him."

George impatiently drummed his fingers on the
dashboard.

"Calm down," said Lou. "We're still
good."

"I'm not letting him get away."

"I know. That's not new information."

"I just need to say it."

"That's fine. Talk it out."

The light turned green. George drove through
it, careful not to exceed the speed limit. But how were they
supposed to catch Ivan if they had to obey traffic laws?

"He's not that far ahead," said Lou. "Keep
going straight."

"How are we supposed to throw dynamite around
a place like this?" George asked. "On the highway during a
high-speed chase, we can sort of get away with it, but we can't do
it here. We'll get nabbed for sure."

"He won't want to get out of his car, either.
He's not going to stop around here."

"I hope you're right."

"I am," Lou said. Then he frowned. "Oh, shit,
no, I'm not. He's over there. He's going into that bowling
alley."

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Unleashing the Beast

George was not, in concept, a fan of
bowling. It was pretty much just the same thing over and over, and
the best you could hope for in terms of variety was that somebody
in the other lane might slip and fall on their ass. Still, he
actually found the "sport" kind of fun, and bowling might have been
on his future list of ways to detox from the whole miserable Ivan
experience.

He had a feeling that bowling was going to be
forever tainted for him.

Ivan ran through the front doors of the
bowling alley. He was in human form, but though he'd gotten rid of
most of the blood, it was a human form covered with cuts and holes,
not to mention the fact that he only wore shredded jeans. He
clearly wasn't going inside in an attempt to blend with Uncle
Frank's bowling league.

"What should we take?" Lou asked.

George wasn't certain. They couldn't
just run in there and start lobbing dynamite. "Okay, give me two of
the grenades," George said. "I'm going in there after him, but you
take the van and drive behind the building. My job will be to chase
him out one of the back entrances. When you see him, let him have
it."