said there would be fifty bucks in it for me if I kept an eye out for anyone asking about you. Does that still go?”
Hayes’s grip tightened on the phone. “Hell, yes. Someone was there?”
“This morning. A man and a woman. Lara at the front desk was getting real chummy with them.”
“Did she give them any information?”
“She spun the computer around so they could read it. I think they left happy. When do I get my money?”
Hayes cut the connection.
Shit! Shit! Shit!
He could feel his heart beating hard as the panic jolted through him.
This morning?
And he didn’t have to guess who the woman was. It had to be that bitch, Kendra Michaels.
How much time did he have? He ran over to the window and looked down at the street.
Only to see Kendra Michaels getting into the front seat of that black van parked in front of his apartment building.
That was his answer about how much time he had.
None.
He ran out of his apartment, down the inner staircase exit, and then followed the emergency plan he’d put in place when he’d first moved into this apartment. He’d learned a long time ago when he was working for the Cardinelli crime family to always have a convenient escape route and never leave a car where anyone expected it to be. He’d rigged too many car bombs himself to take that chance. And this situation with those damn FBI agents might be just as explosive.
His Audi was parked on the curb just ahead.
As he dove into the driver’s seat and slammed the door, he could hear other car doors slamming at the front of the apartment building. Those FBI assholes must be starting their assault.
Damn, that had been close.
Justin Hayes stomped on the accelerator as he looked behind him to see if he was being followed. Not yet. But it could happen any minute. One of those people in front of his apartment building had been Kendra Michaels, and she had been bad news from the minute they had run across her after the Randolph killing. There was no way she should have been able to track him to his apartment. For all he knew, she might have put a GPS tracker on his car before the FBI team entered the building.
Maybe not. It didn’t appear as if they’d found this car, and there was still no obvious pursuit. But that didn’t mean he was off the hook. This job should have been so easy and it was turning into pure shit! What was he supposed to do now?
Dietrich.
Hayes shouldn’t have to go through this alone. Dietrich thought he was so smart, let him get him out of this mess. He hesitated for an instant. Dietrich had told him no contact for the next couple of weeks, and he wasn’t a man Hayes ever wanted to go up against. Not that he was afraid of the bastard. Well, maybe a little nervous around him. There were things he’d heard about Dietrich that sent a chill through him. Screw it. He needed help. He punched in Dietrich’s number on his phone.
Dietrich answered in two rings. “You weren’t supposed to phone me. It had better be an emergency, Hayes.”
“Do you call being on the run from the FBI an emergency?” he asked sarcastically. “Kendra Michaels and some other Federal dudes showed up at my place. I just got out of my apartment to my car by the skin of my teeth. They’re probably going through all my stuff right now.”
Silence. “What stuff? You didn’t leave anything that might be awkward for me, did you?”
“Am I stupid? I know what that would mean. You’ve made it clear enough to me. They won’t find anything that would lead anyone to you. But now it’s your turn to help me. I did everything you told me to do and they still found me.”
“That’s because you probably left a trail that a blind person could follow,” Dietrich said harshly. “Well, Michaels isn’t blind any longer. Whatever possessed you to go after her through that glass window? You’d have still been in that factory if I hadn’t yanked you out before the police got there. Mistake after mistake. And now you’re wanting me to save you again?”
“Hell, yes. Why not? You’re the one who told me we had to go after Randolph because we couldn’t be sure he hadn’t already met with Wessler. Now things are all going to hell. You said we’d be partners. But I’m the one who’s