Night Watch (Kendra Michaels #4)(33)

SIDI Fusion Lei motorcycle riding boots. Size seven or eight.

She looked up. A woman stood over her, wearing a motorcycle helmet with tinted visor so as to entirely obscure her face. She wore tight jeans and a brown leather jacket, and she held a still-sparking Taser before her.

“You’re hurt. Can you stand?” The woman’s voice echoed from behind the visor.

Kendra shook her head to clear it. “I think so … yes.”

“Then get the hell out of here. You have about three minutes before this wears off.” The woman placed the Taser on the back of the man’s neck and hit him with another blast of electricity. He screamed and twitched again.

The woman turned to Kendra and shrugged. “Maybe a little longer than three minutes.”

“Who—Who are you?”

She ignored the question. “Let me see you stand.”

Slowly and gingerly, Kendra pulled herself up. She struggled to maintain her balance.

“Walk.” She nodded as Kendra took a faltering step. “Now go. Don’t waste time.”

“Who are you,” she repeated.

“For God’s sake.” She was plainly disgusted. “You sound like someone from a Marvel comic book. I’ve heard a lot about you, but nobody told me you were stupid. Well, I may be awesome, but I’m no superhero. I just want to get you the hell out of here before I have to stick around to give this guy another zot. Get moving.”

“I want to know—”

But the woman was already out the door. She paused only long enough to hit the man in the hallway with another jolt from her Taser.

Kendra tried to run to catch up with her, but her wobbly legs and back weren’t allowing it. “Wait!”

The woman was gone.

Kendra looked back at the still-twitching thug in the hall. Probably not a good idea to stick around. She could still remember the sense of panic she had felt when she had been helpless, unable to move.

She moved toward the stairs, gripped the railing, and moved down one step at a time. By the time she reached the second floor, she felt herself getting stronger.

She heard a motorcycle rev outside and roar down the street. Thank you, whoever you are. You may be rude as hell, but I owe you big-time.

She looked up.

There was a sound above her. Her attackers were obviously recovering …

Get out!

She hurried down the rest of the stairs and moved quickly out the front door. She glanced around the parking lot. No one else there as far as she could tell.

She slid into her car and started it.

She could still hear the woman’s voice ringing in her ears. Get the hell out of here …

She got the hell out of there.

She drove a few blocks, and when she was sure that she wasn’t being followed, she voice-dialed Lynch. He answered immediately.

“What’s up?”

She drew a deep breath. “More than I’d like. Two guys just tried to grab me.”

“What?”

“My afternoon consult was a total setup. It was an empty building. They came prepared, complete with hypodermic and barrel for removal.”

Lynch muttered a curse. “Dammit, you could have been killed.”

“They didn’t want to kill me. That would have been easy for them. They wanted to drug me and carry me out of there. I’m telling you, they had it all set up.”

“How did you get away?”

“You’re not going to believe this. I had help from our motorcycle-riding friend from Big Bear.”

He was silent for a long moment. “You’re right. I don’t believe it.”

“I’m still having a tough time believing it myself. Though it was a dose of cold reality when she accused me of being stupid when I started asking her questions instead of doing what she told me to do. She came out of nowhere and laid them out with a stun gun.”

“How long has it been?”

“Just a few minutes.”

“Okay, I’m calling Griffin and the cops and have them go there. Give me the address.”

Kendra gave him the building’s street address. “It was the third floor. I’ll meet them there when they—”

“No. Get someplace safe. Maybe your mother’s house.”

That sounded exactly like what she wanted to do, she thought. And then maybe curl up in bed and put her head under the covers. She couldn’t do it. “I’m going back there.”

“The hell you are.”

“I was there. It happened to me. I can help.” Kendra turned down a side street and pulled up to the curb. “I just pulled over. I’ll wait fifteen minutes before I go back. I’ll hang back from a safe distance, and I won’t go in until I see the squad cars.”

“Just this once, I wish you would—”

“I’ll see you there, Lynch.”

She cut the connection.

*

“I’M NOT SURE ALL THIS WAS really necessary,” Kendra said as she eyed the four cruisers and two unmarked police cars in the office-building parking lot. She stepped toward Special Agent Roland Metcalf who was waiting for her in the parking lot.

Metcalf smiled. “When Kendra Michaels snaps her fingers…”

“Not funny. Cut the sarcasm. Anybody inside?”