Page 11 of So Lethal (Faith Bold #22)

“We’ve got Highway Patrol watching for his vehicle too,” Ferris told the two federal agents. “Won’t help much if he’s in a friend’s vehicle, but we did confirm he hasn’t rented a vehicle, so he’d have to be in a stolen vehicle or catch a ride.”

Very little of that was helpful, but Faith got the sense Ferris was more comfortable thinking out loud.

She didn’t mind so much, but she was very upset about the fact that their suspect was almost certainly in the wind.

The San Francisco Bay Area was a major transportation hub on the West Coast. In San Jose alone, there was an international airport, multiple major highways and different rail lines that could take Dr. Crane anywhere he wanted to go.

With the APB forwarded to every agency in the area including the TSA, it was unlikely that Dr. Crane could escape using public transportation if he was still in the area, but like Ferris pointed out, all he needed was to find someone willing to give him a ride, and he’d be in the clear.

What truly worried Faith was that he was already gone.

If he left straight from his office, then two hours was enough time for him to get to San Jose International Airport, buy a ticket on the first international flight, and be in the air before Faith and Michael even realized he was gone.

She looked out of the window and frowned at the darkening sky. He could even potentially have landed already if his flight was a hop to Tijuana or Vancouver.

Michael handed her a cup of coffee. “Stuff’s actually pretty good. I guess there’s a major coffee chain headquartered in Berkeley that donates coffee to the police departments in the area.”

The three FBI agents were at the San Jose PD South Precinct—Ferris’s home turf.

After putting out the APB, there was nothing to do but wait and hope.

Dr. Crane had no friends in the area, and he was estranged from his family.

Who also weren’t in the area. His now-former employees all said that he was a fair boss but very introverted and difficult to talk to.

None of them had spent any time with him outside of work.

A search of his home had been equally unhelpful.

He hadn’t emptied the place, but if there was anything incriminating, he’d made sure to take that with him.

They found a ransacked room with clothing strewn about and furniture that was of middling quality, none of which had hidden compartments or holes cut into the upholstery were evidence might have been stashed.

Faith sipped her coffee too quickly and snarled through the burn.

Turk pricked his ears up and glanced at her.

When he confirmed that Faith wasn’t in danger, he closed his eyes and resumed his nap.

Faith was rarely upset with her dog, but it bothered her immensely at times like these that Turk couldn’t understand abstract concepts well enough to realize that their damned suspect was gone and had quite possibly gotten away with murder.

Michael’s hands closed around hers. “Why don’t we put the coffee down before we get really mad and throw it at your partner’s face.”

Faith surprised herself by being able to chuckle. She set the cup down and shook her head. “It’s just annoying. I keep going back over our encounter with him, but I can’t see how we missed anything.”

“We didn’t miss anything. We suspected it was him, and it looks like we were right.”

“Yeah, and then we let him get away.”

“What else could we have done? We didn’t have enough to arrest him. We had a barebones suspicion. That wouldn’t hold up in any court of law. You know, I love you, Faith, but you have a bad habit of blaming yourself for things outside of your control.”

Faith’s lips thinned at the callback to her session with Dr. Keraya. “We could have staked out the clinic,” she replied. “We could have waited to see how Dr. Crane would react to our accusation. We could have done further research in the car. If we’d done that, we would have seen him flee.”

Michael lowered his eyes. “Okay. Can’t argue with that. But don’t beat yourself up. Everyone makes mistakes.”

“When we make mistakes, innocent people die, Michael.”

“I doubt like hell he’s going to kill anyone else. He’s going to lay low under an assumed name for the rest of his life, probably not in the United States.”

“Then innocent people don’t receive justice!” Faith snapped. “Stop trying to cheer me up!”

Michael looked like he wanted to say something else, but he thought better of it. Instead, he picked up Faith’s coffee and said, “If I hand this back to you, will you throw it in my face?”

Faith sighed and took the coffee. She sipped more carefully this time, and the warmth of the brew relaxed her slightly. “You know, I really wish you could turn off the schtick every now and then,” she complained. “I like it most of the time, but this is serious.”

“It’s always serious, and you brood more than Batman. You need a lighthearted, wisecracking sidekick to balance you out.”

“I have Turk.”

“Ouch. So I’m chopped liver, I guess.”

“You’re something,” she said drily.

Ferris pumped his fist in the air and cheered, pulling the attention of all three FBI agents to him. He grinned at the trio and said, “Crane popped at the Amtrak station on Monterey Boulevard. Amtrak’s holding the train for us so we can pick him up.”

Faith’s irritation evaporated. She offered a cheer of her own and joined the others as they rushed to Ferris’s cruiser. Ferris called dispatch as he jogged, calling for more officers to meet them at the station and cordon off the area.

“We’ll have nine units there within seven minutes,” he told them.

“That long?” Faith asked.

“Well, for all nine of them, yes. We’ll have two units there in one minute.”

“Why wouldn’t you lead with that?”

“I don’t know! Fine! We’ll have a bunch of cops there soon. Happy?”

“You two related, by any chance?” Michael asked.

“Go to hell,” Ferris and Faith said together, to Michael’s great amusement.

Faith rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t manage to be upset right now. They had found the bastard! He had tried to run, but he hadn’t run fast enough.

They reached the Amtrak Station five minutes later. Three other cruisers were there, but none of the officers had gone inside yet.

Ferris took the words out of Faith’s mouth when he said, “What the hell are you all doing? We have a multiple murder suspect in there! Get off your asses and go arrest him!”

The waiting officers leaped into action, but Faith, Turk, and Michael were several steps ahead of them by now. Faith tried not to let anxiety overwhelm her. Damn it, if those assholes lost him again, I swear to God, I’ll kill them.

She breathed a sigh of relief when she jogged onto the platform and saw Dr. Crane arguing with Amtrak employees and station security officers. “Go get him, boy!”

Turk leaped forward, barking loudly. Dr. Crane’s eyes snapped toward him, and his face went white as a sheet. He pulled an object from his pocket that reminded Faith of a ray gun from fifties comics and pointed it at Turk.

“Hey!” she called, drawing her weapon. “Shoot my dog, and I shoot you!”

He pulled the trigger, but no bullet or laser left the small dish at the end of the barrel.

Whatever he’d done was enough to incapacitate Turk, though.

He yelped and dropped to the ground, whining and rubbing his ears on the platform.

He got up and tried to continue but stumbled and fell to his side.

The blood drained from Faith’s cheeks. “Turk! Hey!”

She snarled and aimed at Crane, but he was already running.

He’d forced his way onto the train and was now moving toward the back, shoving passengers aside.

Security ran after him, but he had a good head start, and with all due respect to the hardworking security officers, they all seemed very out of shape.

Michael came to a stop by Faith, but she waved him onward. “He’s on the train! Go after him!”

Michael nodded and continued pursuit while Faith tended to Turk. He was on his feet again, still shaking his head and wobbling a little. She dropped to his side and held his eyes to hers. “Hey, boy. Are you all right?”

Turk blinked and dipped his head in acknowledgment. His eyes were clear but showed amazement. It was rare that anyone managed to take him down, and never from a distance like that. No doubt he was just as surprised as Faith was.

“Is everything all right?” Ferris asked, joining them with his officers. “Are you hit?”

“No, I’m fine,” Faith said. “The suspect had some sort of acoustic pistol that disabled Turk. Michael’s pursuing him on the train.”

Ferris looked up and swore. “He’s going out the back. He’s going to try to hop the fence at the end of the yard and escape to the parking lot.”

“Head him off,” Faith said. “Secure his vehicle and put patrol units at every cross street near the station. I’ll head to the back of the train.” She rubbed Turk’s cheeks. “Stay here, boy. Okay? Stay.”

Turk didn’t look happy to hear that instruction, but he stayed put as Faith sprinted down the length of the platform toward the train. She leaped off of the platform and rolled to her feet when she landed.

The Amtrak train had seven passenger cars. Faith looked through the windows of each one as she ran but didn’t see anyone. When she reached the last car, she found Michael on his hands and knees with his head in between his arms.

“Michael!” she cried, dropping to the ground. “Are you okay?”

“Got me with a flashlight,” Michael mumbled. “Ugh. Bastard.”

Faith moved his hands away from his head. There was an ugly bruise above his left temple. The Amtrak security officers staggered out of the last car, huffing and puffing with exhaustion. “Did you see what way he ran?” she asked Michael.

Michael pointed to his right. The opposite direction from where the police had gone. She sighed. “Of course. I’ll continue pursuit.” She turned to the security officers. “Take him back to the station and administer first aid.”

The security officers looked profoundly relieved that they didn’t have to chase anyone anymore. “We’ll take care of him.”

With Michael in good hands—well, in hands, anyway, Faith ran across the tracks and called Ferris over her radio. "Be advised, the suspect has fled on foot and is moving east. Repeat, he is moving east."

Ferris’s reply matched Faith’s own attitude. “Son of a bitch! He duped us!”

“Send units after me,” she said. “He injured my partner. He is to be considered dangerous and possibly armed.”

She jumped over the fence at the end of the train station and nearly landed on top of Dr. Crane. He was hiding in the ditch on the other side of the fence, covering himself with branches for concealment.

“Son of a bitch!” he cried out.

He leaped to his feet, but Faith drove a knee into his groin and dropped him right back to the ground. He lunged for her legs, and she kicked her way out of his grasp and drew her weapon. “Don’t give me a reason, asshole!”

Dr. Crane sighed and rolled his eyes. He put his hands up and said, “Fine. You got me. Goddamn it.”

“On your knees!”

Dr. Crane complied.

“Hands on top of your head!”

He moved his hands and didn’t resist further as Faith handcuffed him. She holstered her weapon and pulled him to a sitting position against the fence. “You’re in a lot of trouble.”

“You don’t say,” Dr. Crane said drily.

Faith pulled out her radio. “Suspect in custody. We’re just outside the east fence.”

“Hell yeah!” Ferris cheered. “Damned good job, agent!”

“Thank you, Detective. Can you do me a favor and send a cruiser to pick him up?”

“They’re already on their way.”

“Thanks.”

She put her radio back and hauled Dr. Crane to his feet. “All right, asshole. Let’s go have a nice little talk.”