middle of the street, he was able to take in the crowd milling around the Watergate Complex.
“Where would you go? Where would you go?” Mac muttered as he scanned the crowd. “You wouldn’t hang out in the crowd; you’d be looking to get away. You wouldn’t draw attention to yourself. You’d be casual, walking, trying to look normal, but … averting your eyes.” He turned away from the Watergate Complex and looked on the other side of the street.
“What are you looking for, Mac?” Wire asked.
“For someone not watching what’s going on here,” Mac answered scanning back to the north on Virginia. “They’re walking away slowly, casually and trying to avoid attention.”
“Like that man,” Wire pointed to the opposite side of Virginia Avenue, to the south, a man fifty yards away.
* * *
Kristoff had his hands in his pockets and was walking south down Virginia Avenue, two blocks from his car now.
Two blocks from escaping.
Two blocks from retirement.
He took one last look back. McRyan was staring at him.
* * *
“Kristoff!” Mac barked as he took off at a full sprint, Sig Sauer in his right hand. Wire was right behind him.
* * *
Kristoff sprinted straight south down Virginia Avenue behind the fire trucks now parked on both sides of the street, the firemen in the process of connecting hoses to the fire hydrants and pumper trucks. He unzipped his coat and pulled the Walther out of his waistline and when he got to the last of the fire trucks he ducked behind the front of the truck and brought up the gun.
* * *
The first bullet hit a tree behind Mac but the sound of the bullet was unmistakable to him as he ducked between two fire trucks as two more shots ricocheted off the steel of the fire rigs.
“Suppressor!” Mac yelled back at Wire.
“Get down! Get down!” Wire yelled to the confused firemen seeing people with weapons drawn. Mac pointed to his St. Paul Badge on his belt. In the melee, a cop looked like a cop, DC or St. Paul.
“There he goes! There he goes!” Mac heard numerous voices scream. He peeked back around the edge of the fire truck and saw Kristoff running again, a block ahead. Mac gave chase with Wire right on his six.
* * *
Kristoff couldn’t continue straight, he veered left behind a large office building and into a small open air parking lot between the building and a church. The lot was full of parked cars. As he reached the last car in the lot, he ducked behind to check back.
He was a little over a block from his car now. He just needed to slow down the pursuit and get lost between the buildings.
* * *
Mac saw Kristoff dart into the parking lot. He ran to the edge of the large building and Wire pulled right up behind him. He crouched down and peeked around the corner. Two shots hit the building.
“That fucking suppressor, I can’t get a bead on him,” Mac groaned.
Wire saw the car twenty feet in front of them. “Cover me,” she said. “You should be able to get a fix on him if he fires.”
“You sure?” Mac asked, looking back at Wire who was crouched down behind him.
She nodded, “Yes.”
“Go,” Mac whispered and peeked back left around the corner.
Wire, down in a crouch, ran for the rear of the car. Even with the suppressor on Kristoff’s weapon, Mac got a fix. He zeroed in and fired twice.
* * *
McRyan’s second shot caught the top of his right arm. Kristoff winced in pain as he turned away and ran underneath a grouping of trees and across the opening for an entrance to underground parking for another building. He turned the corner around the building and sprinted across H Street and turned left onto Twenty-Fourth Street. He took the key fob out of his left pant pocket.
* * *
“He’s running again!” Mac said as loudly as he dared and he and Wire gave chase, but a little cautiously now as they worked their way through a grouping of trees. They quickly zigzagged their way from tree to tree covering each other and then both of them spread apart and ran across the opening for the parking garage and came to H Street.
“Now where?” Mac asked urgently.
“He’ll want a car,” Wire answered and pointed to the right. “Cars are parked on Twenty-Fourth.”
Mac started jogging, his weapon up in front, staying close to the building on the corner of H and Twenty-Fourth,