A Fall of Woodcocks (The Birdwatcher Series Book 5) Read online

  “We can sort all that out later. You can disappear before the local cops arrive to take him away if you want. I just want to have him in custody and restrained, I need you for that.”

  “Hod did you find him?” Freeman asked, buying time while he thought about what he should do.

  “Someone put a photograph on the internet. It was a pure fluke that I stayed in the same hotel a few years ago and recognized it.” She sounded pumped up now and he could hear the engine of her car revving as she drove.

  “If you saw it, then the FBI will have seen it too. It won’t take them long to figure out where he is.”

  “I know, that’s why we have to rush. They have the whole country to search but I know the area he is already.”

  “We’ll never get there in time,” he said and then an idea turned in his head. “Unless we had a plane,” he added.

  “I don’t have access to plane,” Sarah said, not while I’m not working.”

  “I might have one,” Freeman said, “Just keeping coming this way. I’ll call you back in a few minutes.”

  “What are you talking about?” Sarah asked.

  “Your turn to trust me,” he said and hung up.

  When he came back into the room inside the station Doug looked at him in surprise.

  “That’s the fastest cup of coffee you’ve ever had,” he said with grin.

  “I need a favor, Doug, a huge one,” Freeman said shutting the door. Doug’s smile dropped as he no doubt saw the seriousness in Freeman’s face.

  “What is it?”

  “I need you to fly me somewhere,” Freeman said.

  “What? Where?”

  “I don’t know...”

  “You don’t know!”

  “I know it’s a six-hour drive away, but someone is on the way here now who knows where it is.”

  “Where what is?” Doug looked confused, “You’re not making any sense!”

  “It’s Sarah Brightwater from the FBI who’s on the way here now. She knows where a killer is holed up and we need to get him as quietly as we can.”

  “This is insane,” Doug replied looking around the room as though he could find sense somewhere else.

  “I know it sounds that way,” Freeman said leaning over to retake his friend’s eye. “But I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t important.” Doug sighed and looked at Freeman for a long time.

  “I thought you said you’d never get in a plane if I was the pilot,” he said, a smile broadening on his face.

  Chapter 20

  The air felt thick as though with high humidity. Pressure inside his head pulsed and Tyler’s eyes felt like they didn’t ever want to open again. A thumping headache made its presence felt as he regained some form of consciousness. Beneath his body he felt the softness of a bed, but he was not fully on it, his feet were dangling, and the side of the bed was pressing on his shins. He opened his eyes to a darkened room, light coming from a door ajar a few feet away to right.

  “Anna?” he recalled her and called her name in what felt like the same instance.

  “I’m here Tyler,” she said, and he felt her hands on his arm. Her voice sounded like she’d been crying. “Are you okay?” she asked.

  “I've felt better,” he said, and then he remembered why he was in such a bad way. He sat up quickly, his movements startling Anna and sending shock waves of pain throughout his body and his head to spinning with dizziness.

  “Tyler, you need to rest!” Anna said.

  “Where’s Spalding?” Tyler said looking around.

  “Is that the man from the FBI you were fighting with?” she asked. Tyler looked at her.

  “He wasn’t the FBI, he’s a killer.” Tyler couldn’t recall escaping from him or killing him. What had happened? He gingerly got his feet and went to the door. “Where are we?” he asked.

  “A hotel in Fort Wayne. Ford Hotel,” Anna replied.

  “What happened to the other guy?” Tyler asked deciding not to look out into the hall but instead using the peephole to have a glance.

  “I tasered him,” Anna said sheepishly. Tyler looked at her in disbelief.

  “You did what?” he couldn’t help but let a smile escape his lips.

  “I had a taser and I used it on him. He was going to kill you!” She sounded like she was defending herself and Tyler put his hands out to placate her as he walked to her.

  “You saved my life?” he said putting his hands on her shoulders and looking into her eyes. She nodded as tears formed. “Thank you so much,” he said and leaning forward kissed her on the forehead. Anna didn’t say anything as he let go of her and went to the bathroom. He wanted to see what state he was in and stood before the mirror. He nodded at the damage. It was bad but he was going to live. The pain would be with him for a few days yet though and it was probably best to lay low completely for that time.

  “How did you get me up to the room?” he asked coming back to the main room now where Anna had put on the light.

  “I booked in and then brought you up the back stairs from the car. You were awake for few minutes. It wasn’t easy but we did it.”

  “How can I thank you?” Tyler asked.

  “I don’t need to be thanked. Clear your name and I’ll be happy.” At that moment he felt sorry for her; how trusting of his persona she was. He looked away and saw Anna’s cell phone on the nightstand and his pity for her turned to anger when he saw what was there. He picked it up and saw the image of him on the bed.

  “What did you do with this picture?” he asked hotly holding it up for her to see as though she might not know what he was talking about. Anna looked at the picture and couldn’t look back at his face.

  “I posted it on the website,” she said so softly he almost didn’t hear her.

  “What!” Tyler shouted. “We need to get out of here, anyone could find out where we are with that picture!”

  “I’m sorry,” she said, “I was angry, I wanted to show people what they’d done to you!”

  “Get the car keys and come on, we need to go. The FBI could be on their way here right now!”

  “I’m sorry Tyler,” Anna wept as she made sure she had the keys on her. Tyler grabbed them from her.

  “I’ll drive,” he said as they hurried out of the room. Tyler couldn’t believe this; he was feeling sick right now and being on the run for a new safe place was the last thing he needed right now. If only she’d not posted that picture they might have been fine.

  They went down in the elevator; Tyler trying to preserve his energy and stem his headache from getting any worse. The car was in an underground car park which was something. They got to it and jumped in.

  “All of our stuff is still at the motel, yes?” he asked. Anna nodded looking scared to answer him. He nodded, “That’s okay. The important thing is that we got out okay.” He gave her a reassuring squeeze on her upper arm. “Thank you again for that.”

  The car came out into the sunlight and Tyler tried to guess what time of day it was. Was it even still the same day Spalding had come at him? That was night time, dark but he wasn’t sure what time it had happened at. He didn’t have much time to think on this though, as just as he pulled out into traffic he made eye contact with a driver pulling into the car park from the street.

  It was Sarah. Her mouth dropped in shock at seeing him and she jammed on the brakes. Tyler didn’t wait around but instead floored the accelerator and sped off.

  “Fuck!” he shouted, and Anna cringed back towards her window.

  “What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.

  “The car that just pulled into the hotel, that was the FBI!” Anna turned to look out the back window. “The gray Chrysler, female driver.” Tyler said. Anna saw the car just nosing out of the hotel driveway as Tyler took a sharp corner fast. “Are they coming?” he asked her.

  “Yes, they were just coming out of the lot.”

  Tyler looked around, his mind working overtime as he thought about what to do. He glanced at the gas d
ial and saw it was in good shape, that was something. Not having any real idea where they were meant he didn’t have an escape destination in mind, or the means to get to one if he did. His head swam but he focused his eyes on the road now. What was Sarah doing out here with only one other agent- her new partner? Why wasn’t there a team to take him in; surely they knew how dangerous he was.

  Tyler’s load lightened a moment as he understood what was going on. Sarah was here practically alone because the FBI didn’t know Tyler was here. She had come to get him. How did she know he was here? Had Spalding told her? No, that didn’t add up, if Spalding knew where they were he would have come for Tyler to finish the job himself. Sarah must have been looking at Anna’s site and somehow knew where he was; that was the only explanation.

  “We need to lose them and then get rid of this car,” he said.

  “This is a rental; I’ll never be able to get another one!” Anna protested.

  “Don’t worry about that. I’ll cover the cost and take the blame when this is all over.” Anna looked behind again and Tyler glanced in the side mirror.

  “Here they come,” she said.

  Tyler weaved in and out of traffic looking for a place to trap Sarah but there weren’t too many cars about, and they flowed along easily enough. He would need to get out of town to have any chance of losing her. Sarah was gaining behind, more used to this fast driving than Tyler was— he usually did his fast traveling on a motorbike; what he wouldn’t give for one of those now.

  That was it that was what he had to do. His eyes cast about for a motor cyclist now and it wasn’t long before he saw one. He came up alongside the leather clad man and slowing leaned out the window and pushed the man hard sending him crashing into a street vendors stalls. At the same moment, Tyler slammed on the brakes and the cars all around and behind him had to jam on to avoid crashing. Sarah’s car was a few back and she too had to stop fast to save herself. Tyler leapt from the car, took up the still running motorbike and took off, calling back simply,

  “Thanks Anna, I’ll take care you later!”

  As he sped down a side alley where no car would be able to follow, Tyler could vaguely hear Sarah’s desperate pleading voice calling out his name.

  Chapter 21

  It took Sarah only a second to realize she’d lost. Tyler had escaped and even if she somehow got this traffic mess cleared up in less than a minute she still didn't have any idea what direction he might have gone at the other end of the maze of alleys he’d gone into on the motorbike. As she looked around she saw the motorcyclist get to his feet and dust himself off; he was fine but hadn’t seemed to notice yet his bike had been stolen.

  “We should get out of here, Sarah,” Freeman’s voice came to her. She turned to him, but he was looking far away down the street most likely expecting to hear sirens any second.

  “He left the girl in the car,” Sarah said as she started to run towards the blue Toyota. It seemed it had taken this long for the girl to get her wits about her and she was only starting to get out of the car as Sarah arrived by her door.

  “Sit back down please,” Sarah said firmly. The girl looked at her.

  “Who the hell are you?” she asked but Sarah could tell she knew.

  “I’m FBI, what were you doing in this car with a wanted fugitive?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about, there wasn’t anyone else in this car.”

  “Then why are you getting out the passenger door?”

  “I wasn’t wearing my belt, I got tossed stopping the car trying to avoid that guy who crashed his bike.” The girl was looking dead ahead, not willing to make eye contact with Sarah.

  “You won’t be doing either him or yourself any favors telling lies,” Sarah warned her. To this the girl made no reply. “What’s your name?”

  “Anna,” she replied after a hesitation.

  “Do you know what Tyler Ford has done?” Sarah was sympathetic now; she knew this girl didn’t believe in Tyler’s guilt. That was why she was so loyal to him.

  “He hasn’t done anything,” Anna shot at her, hot eyes delving into her all of a sudden. “You guys set him up because he knowns something about your boss. You’re all covering it up!”

  “Have you any idea how insane that sounds?” Sarah said getting annoyed now. “Tyler Ford is suspected of a string of murders going back fifteen or more years! He was using you and now thanks to you helping him he is free to kill again!”

  “He’s not a killer!” Anna shouted back. “He’s a good person,” he voice broke here as gushes of tears started to fall. “I saved him from that man who was going to kill him.” Anna said this last part low and while cradling her head in her hands close to her lap.

  “What man?” Sarah asked, suddenly scared.

  “The bog man who tried to kill him, I don’t know who he was.”

  “When you say big, do you mean really tall?” Sarah asked. Anna nodded but didn’t reply. “When was this? Where?” Sarah went on. The first sounds of the sirens was coming now.

  “We have to go Sarah!” Freeman called from the door to their own rental car.

  “That man was Dwight Spalding,” Sarah said to Anna. “Look him up and you’ll see the kind of person Tyler is mixed up with.” Anna looked up at Sarah but didn’t say anything; she looked so very tired and lost and Sarah felt very sorry for this young girl. How was all of this going to affect the rest of her life; especially when she came to understand the truth.

  “He’s not a monster,” Anna said. Sarah was taken aback a moment by these words. For so long she had referred in her mind to Spalding as ’The monster’ that for a moment she thought this was who Anna was referring. Then it dawned that she was speaking of Tyler.

  “I was taken in by Tyler too,” she replied softly, “and for a lot longer than you were. Think yourself lucky to have escaped unharmed.” Sarah looked to Freeman and saw him waving her to come back. She hesitated. How she would like to take Anna down to a police station and ask her all the questions bubbling up in her. But, it wouldn’t be good to be caught up in a police investigation here, about this. She could jeopardize her chances of every coming back to work if they found out she had withheld information like this and set out after Tyler on her own.

  “Stay here until the police talk to you,” she said to Anna. “You’ll be fine.” With that she left the young girl and jogged back to Freeman who had by now taken up the driver’s seat. She jumped into the car.

  “What did you find out?” he asked her as they revered and pulled back out into the traffic going the opposite way.

  “Not much. Seems like Spalding made an attempt at Tyler’s life in the last few days and the young girl save him somehow. Tyler did look pretty beat up in the hose images I saw.”

  “He’s lucky to be still alive,” Freeman agreed.

  “Yes, but she’s distraught. She believes in his innocence; she can’ see who he really is and now she feels abandoned by him.”

  “She’d better off abandoned by the likes of him,” Freeman said. A police car going int he opposite direction towards the scene of the accident passed by with its siren wailing. They didn’t need to hurry, Sarah thought. “What now?” Freeman asked.

  “I don’t know,” she answered. “We missed out chance here, we may not get another one.”

  “Are we going to call this in?” She knew what he wanted to hear but she wasn’t ready to say it.

  “Maybe Anna will talk to them and tell them. She knows more than we do.”

  “Anna is the girl in the car?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “She didn’t talk to you. You think she’d going to talk to them?”

  “They’ll have more time to break her down. She’d start to see things more clearly soon now that she’s away from him.”

  “You hope,” freeman said. She knew he’d seen enough loyal people never break during interrogations in the past.

  “I hope,” Sarah said.

  Chapter 22


  It took the FBI a little longer than Sarah to find out where the hotel room was in which Tyler was pictured asleep and hurt. They didn’t have the good fortune to have been a guest of the place before. They arrived not too long after Tyler had left with Sarah in hot pursuit. Dan Martin was furious when the hotel room was found abandoned. There was the saving grace that they at least knew who was with Tyler now and the hotel car park barrier camera showed they were in the blue Toyota hired by Anna Saskin. They shouldn’t be hard to track down. Dan Martin walked out to the van and told the driver to get going.

  “Where, sir?” came the reply.

  “Just turn right here,” Dan said, “that’s the way they went.” They hadn’t even made the turn when a voice came over the radio.

  “We have the car. It was involved in an accident only two miles from you current location.”

  “Is he there?” Martin asked the radio.

  “Police are on the scene, but no arrests or serious injury reported.”

  “Get us to that site,” Martin told the driver as the details came up on the map screen.

  They came to back of slowly clearing traffic situation and up ahead Martin could see the blue car. It didn’t look like there was anyone in it. He got out himself and approached the police officer directing traffic.

  “Where are the occupants of the blue Toyota,” he asked the man pointing to it. The officer glanced over and shook his head,

  “They were gone when I got here. Witnesses say a guy got out and stole a motorbike and young woman fled the scene.”

  “Isn’t anyone looking for them?” Martin asked.

  “Sure, but it’s not the number one priority for the city today,” the officer said.

  “It should be,” Martin growled.

  “Why?” the officer asked.

  “The man is wanted by the FBI. He’s very dangerous.”

  “This is the first anyone here is hearing about it,” the officer said as he went back to directing the traffic.

  “Have that car sealed for evidence,” Martin said.