Chapter
13

Three cop cars, all with flashing lights atop them, are on us now.

I feel numb. I am out of Briggs for the first time in five years. If they catch me, I will never get out again. Never. I know that. There is no second chance here. My fingers curl around the gun. The metal feels oddly warm and comforting.

The police cruisers spread out in a V formation.

I turn to Philip. “It’s over, isn’t it?”

“You willing to risk your life?”

“What life?”

He nods. “Point the damn gun at me, David. Keep it up where they can see it.”

I do so. The gun feels heavy now. My hand shakes. The adrenaline—from the fight with Sumner, from Curly’s attack, from this makeshift escape plan—seems to be ebbing away. Philip hits the accelerator. The police cruisers stay right with us.

“What now?” I ask.

“Wait.”

“For what?”

As though on cue, the car phone rings again. Philip’s face is a stern mask. Before he answers it, he says, “Remember you’re a desperate man. Act it.”

I nod.

Philip picks up the phone and says a shaky hello. A voice immediately says, “Your son is safe, Warden. He managed to untie himself and break the door down.”

“Who the hell am I talking to?” Philip asks. His voice is brusque and hostile.

There is a moment of hesitation on the other line. “I’m, uh…this is—”

Again Philip’s voice booms. “I asked who the hell this is.”

“I’m Detective Wayne Semsey—”

“Semsey, how old are you?”

“Sir?”

“I mean, have you always been an incompetent moron or is this a relatively new thing?”

“I don’t understand—”

Philip glances over at me. “I have a desperate inmate holding a gun against my ear. Can you appreciate that, Semsey?”

I press the gun against his ear.

“Uh, yes, sir.”

“So tell me, Semsey. Do you think the wisest course of action is to upset the inmate?”

“No—”

“Then why the hell are those cruisers riding up my ass?”

Philip gives me the smallest of nods. I take my cue. “Give me that!” I shout, grabbing the phone from him. I try to sound crazed, on edge. It doesn’t take much for me to get there. “I’m not in a chatty mood,” I scream, spitting out the words, trying to sound as menacing as possible, “so listen up. I’ll give you ten seconds. I won’t even count. Ten seconds. If I see a cop anywhere near us after that, I’m going to put a bullet in the warden’s head and drive myself. Do you hear what I’m saying?”

Philip adds, “Jesus, David, for God’s sake, you don’t want to do that.”

I worry he’s overselling it, but he’s not.

On the phone, I hear Semsey say, “Whoa whoa, David, let’s all slow down here a minute, okay?”

“Semsey?”

“What?”

“I’m serving a life sentence. I kill the warden, I become the most popular guy in Briggs. You understand me?”

“Of course, David. Of course. They’re dropping back right now. Look.”

I do. The squad cars are giving us distance.

“I don’t want them dropping back. I want them all the way gone.”

Semsey gives me the soothing voice. “Listen, David. Can I call you David? That’s okay, right?”

I fire the gun through the back window. Philip raises a surprised eyebrow. “The next one goes between the warden’s eyes.”

Philip gets fully into character: “Jesus, no. Semsey, listen to him!”

Semsey’s words turn into a panic sputter. “Okay, okay, hold up, David. They’re stopping. See? I promise. Look out the back window. Take a look. We can still make this right, David. No one has gotten hurt yet. Let’s talk it out, okay?”

“What’s your phone number?” I ask.

“What?”

“It says NO CALLER ID. I’m going to hang up now. I’ll call you back in five minutes with my demands. What’s your number?”

Semsey gives it to me.

“Okay, get paper and pen ready. I’ll call back.”

“I already have paper and pen, David. Why don’t you just tell me now? I’m sure we can work—”

“Keep back and nobody gets hurt,” I say. “If I even sense a cop car, this ends with a bullet in his brain.”

I hang up the phone and look over at Philip. “How long will that buy us?” I ask.

“No more than five minutes. They’re probably getting a copter airborne now. They’ll be able to keep surveillance on us from the air.”

“Any ideas?” I ask.

Philip thinks about it a moment. “There’s a big factory outlet center up ahead in a few miles. It has an underground garage. We’ll be out of sight for maybe ten seconds. You can jump out then without them seeing you. There’s a Hyatt attached to it. They used to have a taxi stand, but I don’t know if it’s still there with Ubers or whatever. From there, well, you’re on your own. It’s the best I can do. There’s a train and bus station a mile away, if you want to try that.”

I don’t like it. “When they see us go underground, won’t they know what’s up?”

“I don’t know, to be honest.”

I look behind me. I don’t see any cop cars, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. I open the window and stick my head out. No sign of any helicopter. No copter sound yet either. I could call Semsey back and make more threats about staying away so that maybe they won’t see us going into the mall. But would that work? I don’t know. Police aren’t magicians. We think that when we watch them on TV, but we do have time. The helicopter isn’t in the air yet. If they were using long-range surveillance—telescopes, cameras, whatever—they take time to set up. The same with getting some kind of location lock on either Adam’s or Philip’s mobile phone.

I have time. But not a lot of it.

“How far out are we from that underground garage?” I ask.

“Maybe three, four minutes.”

An idea comes to me. It’s not a perfect idea by any stretch, but my father the beat cop, who worried about my obsessive need for perfection, used to quote Voltaire to me: “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.” I’m not even sure this idea would qualify as good, but it’s all I got.

I still have the car window open. Now we both hear the sound of a copter.

“Shit,” Philip says.

“Give me your wallet, Philip.”

“You have a plan?”

“Keep heading for the underground garage. I’m going to get out there. I’ll have stolen your wallet. Tell them you only had like twenty dollars. Adam should say the same. They’ll put traces on your credit card, but I’ll use the cash.”

“Okay,” he says.

“I’m going to call Semsey back on your cell phone and start making crazy demands.”

“Then what?”

“We go into the underground garage while I’m talking to him. I’ll get out quickly, like you didn’t even stop. The only difference is, I’m going to keep your phone with me so I can keep talking to him.”

Philip nods, seeing where I’m going with this. “They’ll think you’re still in the car.”

“Right. You keep driving. The copter is above us, but they won’t be able to see me get out. If I keep talking, they may still think I’m with you. Drive as far away as you can. In exactly ten minutes, I’ll hang up. Find another underground area—is there another mall like this? Or some kind of office complex?”

“Why?”

“You drive though. Then you stall a few seconds. Pretend I made you stop there and that’s where I ran off.”

“Meanwhile you’ll be here,” Philip says.

“Exactly.”

“Then I pull out of the underground area and signal to them that you’re gone. I can’t call because you took my phone.”

“Right.”

“So they go searching for you there, not here.”

“Yes.”

Philip mulls it over. “Hell, it might work.”

“You think so?”

“No, not really.” He glances at me. “This distraction won’t last long, David.”

“I know.”

“Get on the first train or bus or whatever. You any good with the survivalist stuff?”

“Not really.”

“The woods would be a good place to hide. They’ll send dogs, but they can’t be everywhere. Don’t visit your father. I know you’ll want to, but they’ll have the place covered. Same with your ex-wife’s or sister-in-law’s. All relatives. You can’t rely on anyone close to you. They’ll be watched.”

I have no one close to me anymore, but I get his point.

“I’ll talk to your dad. I’ll tell him I believe you—that you didn’t do it.”

“Do you believe that?”

Philip lets out a deep breath as he makes a right at the exit sign for the Lamy Outlet Center. “Yeah, David, I do.”

“How bad is he, Philip?”

“Bad. But he’ll know the truth. I promise you that.”

I check behind me. Still no cop cars. Now or never. My pockets are stuffed—Adam’s phone, Adam’s wallet, Philip’s wallet, the cash they gave me.

“One more thing,” Philip says.

“What?”

“Leave the gun behind.”

“Why?”

“You plan on using it?”

“No, but—”

“Then leave it behind. If you’re armed, they’ll be much more likely to not bring you in alive.”

“I don’t want to be brought in alive,” I say. “And why would I leave the gun behind? Who’s going to buy that? They’ll know you were involved.”

“David…”

But there is no time to debate this anymore. I pick up the mobile phone and call Semsey’s number. He picks up immediately.

“I’m glad you called back, David. You guys okay?”

“We are both fine,” I say. “For now. But I need a way out of here. Some transportation, for starters.”

“Okay, David, sure.” Semsey spoke with the we’re-in-this-together-pal voice. He sounds calmer now, more in control. The five minutes have helped him. “We can try to arrange that.”

“Not try,” I snap.

We have reached the Lamy Outlet Center. Philip veers to the left. We start down toward the parking garage. I grab the car door handle and get ready.

“I want it done. No excuses.”

Philip adds for Semsey’s listening pleasure, “David, put down the gun. He’ll do what you want.”

“I need a helicopter,” I tell Semsey. “Fully fueled.”

Dialogue straight from an old TV show. But Semsey seems okay with it. He plays his role: “That might take a few hours, David.”

“Bullshit. You have a copter in the air. You think I’m stupid?”

“That’s not ours. It’s probably a traffic copter. Or maybe a commuter. You can’t expect us to shut down—”

“You’re lying.”

“Look, let’s stay calm.”

“I want that copter away from us. Now.”

“I have a guy calling the closest airports now, David.”

“And I want my own helicopter. With fuel and a pilot. And the pilot better be unarmed.”

Philip nods up ahead. I’m ready.

“Okay, David, no problem. But you have to give us a little time.”

Philip stops the car. I pull the handle, open the door, roll out. As soon as I hit the pavement, Philip drives off. It all happens in a matter of two, three seconds tops. I crouch down and hide behind a gray Hyundai as I say, “How much time?” to Semsey without missing a beat. “I don’t want to shoot the warden.”

“Nobody wants that.”

“But you’re forcing my hand. This is all bullshit. Maybe I’ll shoot him in the leg. Just so you know I’m serious.”

“No, David, look, we know you’re serious. That’s why we’ve been keeping our distance. Just be reasonable, okay? We can make this work.”

I dart between cars, heading toward the entrance to the mall. No suspicious cars have followed us in. No suspicious people are in the area. “Listen, Semsey, here is exactly what I want.”

I enter the lower lobby of the mall and take the up escalator.

I’m free. For now.