Kiss the Girls Page 0,75
yelled, but the sound of my voice was lost in the high-pitched screeching crash, the blaring car horns, the screaming spectators.
I barely missed the lineup of northbound traffic as I jetted off the roof. More horns blared. I was flying through the air with the greatest of ease. The sea wind both cooled and stung my face. It was going to be a crash landing.
I flew into the smoky blue mist that was settling between the Pacific Ocean and the Pacific Coast Highway. I hit the thick branches of a fir tree. As I fell through scraping, scratching tree branches, I knew the Gentleman Caller was going to escape.
Chapter 72
SKIP FORWARD. Cut forward. Spin, fall head over heels forward!
I was badly shaken and bruised from the car crash and fall, but apparently there were no broken bones. A crackerjack EMS team looked me over at the accident site on Highway 1. They wanted to check me into a nearby hospital for tests and observation, but I had other plans for the night.
The Gentleman was running loose. He had commandeered a car heading north. The car had already been found, but not Dr. Rudolph. At least not so far.
When she arrived at the bad scene at the highway, Kate went ballistic. She wanted me to go to the local hospital, too. Agent Cosgrove of the FBI was already there as a patient. We had a heated discussion, but eventually Kate and I caught the last AirWest shuttle out of Monterey. We were headed back to L.A.
I had spoken to Kyle Craig twice already. FBI teams were camped out at Rudolph’s apartment in Los Angeles, but nobody expected the Gentleman to return there. They were searching the place now. I wanted to be there with them. I needed to see exactly how he lived.
On the flight, Kate continued to show concern about my physical condition. She had already developed a top-notch bedside manner, warm and empathetic, but also surprisingly firm with a stubborn patient like myself.
Kate talked to me with her hand cupped lightly under my chin. She was intense. “Alex, you have to go to a hospital as soon as we get to Los Angeles. I’m serious. As you might be able to tell, this isn’t my usual humor-in-the-face-of-adversity approach. You’re going to a hospital as soon as we land. Hey! Are you even listening to me?”
“I’m listening to you, Kate. I also happen to agree with what you’re saying. Basically, that is.”
“Alex, that’s no answer. That’s crap.”
I knew Kate was right, but we didn’t have time for a hospital check-in tonight. Dr. Will Rudolph’s trail was still warm, and maybe we could pick up his scent and nab him in the next few hours. It was a slim chance, but by tomorrow the Gentleman’s trail could be stone-cold.
“You could be bleeding internally, and you wouldn’t even know it,” Kate continued to make her case. “You could die right here in this airplane seat.”
“I’ve got some nasty bruises and contusions, and I ache all over. I’ve got the makings of some first-class scabs up and down my right side, where I made my first couple of bounces. I’ve got to see his apartment before they take it apart, Kate. I have to see how that bastard lives.”
“Half a million or more a year? Trust me. He lives very well,” Kate came back at me. “You, on the other hand, could be in bad shape. Human beings don’t bounce.”
“Ahh, well, black human beings do. We’ve had to learn that special knack for survival. We hit the ground, we bounce right back.”
Kate didn’t laugh at my joke. She folded her arms across her chest and peered out the tiny plane’s window. She was angry with me for the second time in hours. That must mean she cared.
She knew she was right and she wasn’t backing down. I liked the fact that she was concerned for me. We were actually friends. What a fantastic concept for men and women in the nineties. Kate McTiernan and I had become friends during both our times of need. We were in the process of compiling that all-important dossier of shared experiences now. It was some kind of dossier so far.
“I like it that we’re pals,” I finally told Kate in a low, conspiratorial voice. I wasn’t afraid to say cute, dumb things to her, almost the way I talked to my kids.
She didn’t turn away from the window as she spoke. Still pissed off at me. Good