He glanced right to see the tall woman returning fire, covering them now. Mac popped out from behind the truck and into the middle of West Seventh and fired the rest of his clip at the back of the panel van, shattering the back windows, but the van kept going. Mac looked right and saw Double Frank and Sally kneeling over Lich. “Dick!”
“He’s hit in the left shoulder.”
“I’m okay,” Lich groaned bitterly. “Go get those fuckers.”
Mac turned his attention back south and watched the van and Suburban turn left onto Smith Avenue. He started for the Yukon, reaching in his pocket for his keys when an Acadia pulled alongside him. The tall brunette was driving. “Get in! Get in!”
Mac jumped in. “They turned left on Smith.”
The woman accelerated down West Seventh and turned hard left onto Smith Avenue. “What’s your name?” Mac asked, sliding another clip into his Sig.
“Dara Wire.”
Smith Avenue started a gradual turn to the left when they saw it. “There’s the Suburban,” Mac said. It was two blocks ahead. The panel van was not in sight.
Wire pulled up a half block behind the Suburban. “I make two bodies inside, in the passenger seats on the right side,” she said, sliding a fresh clip into her gun.
Mac was up and out the passenger door. He was taking no chances now. “In the Suburban! Put you’re your hands out where I can see them!” he ordered. There was no movement. “Put them out now!”
Again there was no movement.
Mac looked left over to Wire. She nodded and started moving forward towards the left side of the Suburban while Mac moved more slowly towards the right side, gun up. Then Wire saw a flame coming out from the gas cap.
“Back! Get Back! Get Back!”
The Suburban exploded into a fireball.
McRyan and Wire turned away from the explosion. Once they retreated their way to the Acadia, Mac reached in his pocket for his cell phone and immediately called it in, reporting that the panel van probably was proceeding south across the High Bridge towards West St. Paul but they didn’t really know for sure, there was more than one directional option from their location.
As they waited for a patrol unit, Mac looked Wire over. She knew her business. “You took out our third man at McCormick’s, didn’t you?”
Wire snorted. McRyan had figured things out quick. “You’ve been over the scene there?”
Mac nodded as he holstered his Sig.
“Were you able to get an ID off of him? He wasn’t carrying anything on him and we had to get out of there before I could do anything further.”
Mac shook his head, but his answer surprised her. “Maybe once you describe him to me, Ms. Wire, we can, because by the time I got there, the body was gone.”
Wire’s mouth dropped open. “Come again?”
“Gone. There was no body inside, just a big pool of blood, but without a body.”
“That can’t be,” Wire insisted. “When I left he had three holes in him, left shoulder and two in the upper left chest. He had a pulse and was breathing but unconscious. There was no way he walked out of there. No way. No way. NO WAY.”
Mac considered the answer and agreed. “Based on the pool of blood he left behind, I’d say you’re right, he didn’t leave on his own.”
“I knew people were coming.”
“Those people took him then.” Then Mac tacked in a different direction. “So if you’re working for the Judge, you’re ex-something, right?”
Wire nodded. “FBI.”
“Thought so,” Mac answered. “Thanks for the cover back there.”
“Right back at you,” Wire replied. “I saw it in your eyes when we were approaching you on the sidewalk in front of the bar.”
“I saw the windows going down on the Suburban and then the panel van door was sliding open and given what had already happened tonight …” Mac shrugged. “It had the look and feel of a hit.” He paused for a moment and then looked Wire in the eye. “How in the hell did they know you were going to be there?”
“How did they know Montgomery was going to be at Sebastian’s? How did they know we were going to be at the bar? Why did they kill Stroudt? I’m looking for answers to all of these questions,” Wire declared.
Mac picked up her drift, “I’m beginning to understand why you were leery of coming in. Someone is on you, somehow.”
Wire nodded.
“Well ya got an ally now, Dara Wire. After the last