Option to Kill nm-3 Read online

  Her expression went blank, then changed. “I don’t want any clothes.”

  He took a knee in front of her. “Lauren, I gave you my word. I only suggested it to save some time. If you want to stay together, that’s okay, but we can’t spend a lot of time in here.”

  Nathan scanned the area. A mother and her daughter were watching from across the aisle. He offered a smile and received two forced smiles in return. He used his eyes to point at the onlookers. Lauren looked at them and wiped her face. He felt bad for making her cry and knew she was embarrassed. He should have known better. Was this parenthood? Walking on eggshells all the time? Weren’t kids supposed to be tough? He cursed inwardly and felt like an idiot. After what this girl had just been through, it was a wonder she could function at all. Lauren was plenty tough, but everyone — especially children — had their breaking points, and she’d just come close.

  He spoke loud enough to be overheard. “Do you see anything you like?”

  The mother and daughter resumed their browsing.

  “I’m sorry I cried.”

  “I shouldn’t have suggested we split up.”

  He felt it. Magnetic and strong. This girl needed a hug. He stayed on one knee and opened his arms. She practically fell into him. He held her head against his shoulder and caught a scent of strawberry. He felt her shudder from another spasm of tears.

  “Lauren, I’m a jerk. I’m not used to being around kids. I’m really sorry about everything.”

  “You’re not a jerk. I think you’re a nice man.”

  “We’re in this together. Just you and me against the world, kiddo.”

  He couldn’t remember the last time he’d hugged a child. Maybe one of Harv’s sons? How long ago was that? Five years?

  “I don’t have anywhere to go. I can’t go home.”

  “We’ll stay together until we sort this out.”

  Lauren looked behind him and tensed.

  A male voice said, “Is everything okay here?”

  Nathan released her and turned.

  A security guard.

  Nathan had asked her not to react, but her instinct was too strong. He couldn’t fault her. He doubted this security guard knew of the Amber Alert or the wreck at Ulric Street, but it was a good bet he knew about the attempted drive-by shooting on Friars Road. Maybe a store employee had summoned this guard. Nathan’s scarred face made him look hard and mean and often drew unwanted attention. What was wrong with people? Hadn’t they ever seen anyone with a giant N carved across his face?

  Nathan held Lauren protectively under his arm.

  “Is everything okay here?” the guard asked again.

  “Yes, we’re both just really tired,” he said.

  “We can’t afford this.” Lauren held out a pantsuit and put on a sad face.

  “Becca, I didn’t say that, exactly. I just said it’s expensive.” He made eye contact with the guard. “I’ve recently been laid off. We have to be careful what we spend.”

  “I hear ya. Y’all have a nice night, folks.”

  “Thank you, sir. We’ll try.”

  The guard turned and walked back toward the escalator. The mother and her teenage daughter had resumed their surveillance. Time to go. The change in clothes would have to wait. He should’ve thought about the consequences of entering a public place like a mall, should’ve thought about all the security cameras. He also should’ve kept a better perimeter and seen the security guard coming.

  He lowered his voice. “Change in plans. We’re leaving, but not quickly. We don’t want to look like we’ve been spooked. Good job with the security guard. Smart thinking.”

  “I forgot I wasn’t supposed to react.”

  “You did fine.”

  Nathan had been in here only a few times but knew there was an exit out to an elevated walkway on the east side of the building. They’d head that way.

  At the landing of the second-floor escalator, he spotted what he needed. “Lauren, see that mannequin up ahead on the right? I want you to pretend to look at the dress it’s wearing, but look for the security guard we just saw. If you see him, form a fist with your right hand for a second.”

  She approached the mannequin, circled it, and touched the material. Her right hand formed a fist, then released.

  Nathan kept his back to the escalator and whispered, “What’s he doing?”

  “He’s talking on a radio.”

  His SIG. The guard must’ve seen the handgun’s outline when Nathan knelt in front of Lauren. How could he have been so careless and sloppy? Every security guard in the mall was probably converging toward Nordstrom. He knew guards weren’t allowed to take direct action against an armed assailant, but they could definitely call for reinforcements in the form of San Diego’s finest.

  How long did they have? Two or three minutes? They could run for it and take their chances, but sprinting through a crowded mall with a security guard pursuing them wouldn’t work. An idea formed — the guard’s handcuffs. If he could remove the flow of information, the rest of the mall’s security guards would be blind.

  He kept his voice low. “Lauren, we’re going to run toward the exit. Stay close.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Ready?”

  Chapter 6

  It all boiled down to timing. Nathan needed to execute a series of precise moves if his plan was going to work. He couldn’t do anything about all the customers present, but he figured their desire to remain uninvolved would render them inert.

  Nathan and Lauren made an all-out sprint toward the east exit.

  “Stop! You’re under arrest!”

  Nathan pretended to lose his footing. He sprawled out on the ground and acted like he’d twisted an ankle.

  “Stay on the ground! Keep your hands away from your body!”

  “Don’t shoot!” Nathan knew the guard didn’t have a gun, but he needed to make his act believable. He assumed a facedown, spread-eagle position on the floor.

  Lauren stopped running and turned around. With the guard still behind him, he gave her a wink. Her expression changed, but he wasn’t sure if she’d play along. She might bolt for the exit without him.

  The guard ran forward and repeated his command to stay on the ground. Nathan turned his head and watched the guard remove the handcuffs. Perfect. In a quick move, he swept his foot and brought the security guard down. An elbow to the guard’s jaw ended the struggle. Nathan hoped he hadn’t broken anything, but he’d clocked the guy pretty hard. Within seconds, he had the guard’s wrists secured around the chrome support of a clothing rack. He grabbed the guard’s radio and tossed it aside.

  Everyone in the immediate area looked startled and frightened. A heavyset man with lousy tattoos looked to be a potential threat, and Nathan decided to keep an eye on him.

  He grabbed Lauren’s hand and ran toward the exit, inwardly cursing at all the cameras that had just recorded his assault on the guard. How long before his and Lauren’s faces were plastered on every television in the city?

  Tattoo Man also moved toward the same exit, paralleling their pace. Just what Nathan needed, a frigging hero. He didn’t want one surveillance source replaced with a new one. He’d have to deal with this. When the guy closed to within ten feet, Nathan pulled his SIG and pointed it at the man’s chest.

  The man raised his inked-up arms. “Hey, man, I don’t want no trouble.”

  “Then get on the ground.”

  “Okay, take it easy.”

  “Please do it now.”

  The big man grunted as he dropped to his knees and flopped onto his belly.

  Without looking back, Nathan tucked his SIG back into his pocket and did his best to cover it with his shirt. Outside the store, he had several options. Going left into the parking garage was out, as that would take them in the wrong direction. An escalator leading down to the first level was directly ahead. So was the entrance to Neiman Marcus, but they couldn’t enter the retailer or go down the escalator without being seen by p
eople inside Nordstrom — including Tattoo Man. Nathan made the decision to stay on the second level and head south along the stores lining the open-air walkway.

  “We’re going to hurry but not run.”

  Nathan spotted the new threat immediately. At the far end of the walkway, another security guard crested the mall’s central escalator and began sprinting toward them. It was a woman.

  “Follow my lead.” He crouched down at a store window and covered the outline of his SIG with his right hand. He lowered his voice to a whisper. “Ignore her, Lauren. We’re just window shopping.”

  There was no mistaking the hard-soled footfalls as the female guard approached. Nathan used the glass to study the shoppers behind him. In the reflection, he saw people on both sides of the elevated walkways freeze and watch the guard race toward Nordstrom. Time seemed to slow as the guard passed directly behind them. Nathan straightened up and watched with the rest of the people until the guard disappeared into Nordstrom. Tattoo Man would tell the newly arriving guard what had happened. He estimated they had less than half a minute to clear the area, unless the new guard took a few seconds to check on her downed comrade. Even that wouldn’t give them much added time.

  “Let’s go.”

  Nathan and Lauren hurried along the walkway toward the central escalator. Along the way, Nathan overheard people talking about what they’d just seen. At every opportunity, he used the glass facades to check for the female guard’s reappearance. So far, so good.

  They hadn’t walked more than halfway to the central escalator when a high-pitched voice echoed down the gauntlet of retail shops.

  “Everyone freeze. Nobody moves!”

  Nathan looked back toward Nordstrom and saw Tattoo Man standing next to the female guard. He stepped away from the glass, made eye contact with Lauren, and nodded toward the right. His message was clear: we’re leaving in that direction. He looked over his shoulder and saw Tattoo Man point at them. Nathan couldn’t hear what was said, but the guard immediately focused on them.

  “You two! Don’t move. You’re both under arrest.”

  Episode Two

  Chapter 7

  They sprinted toward the central escalator.

  “Stop! You’re under arrest!”

  Lauren couldn’t run as fast as he could, so they’d never lose the second guard, even with all the people present. He formulated another plan.

  At the top of the escalator, he said, “Stay behind me.”

  He bounded down the steps, pushing past a father holding his son’s hand. He heard Lauren’s footfalls as she followed. At the bottom, he made a U-turn to the right. Staying out of sight from above, he hugged the support wall and listened for the female guard’s arrival.

  When she stomped down the escalator, Nathan advanced to the landing and caught her by surprise. He could almost read the guard’s thoughts, her expression registering shock at seeing a six foot five, 240-pound man with menacing scars appear out of nowhere. Within seconds, Nathan had her facedown on the concrete with her hands pinned behind her back.

  He started another mental stopwatch, this one for sixty seconds. The guard tried to roll free, so Nathan forced the woman’s arms up, straining her shoulders.

  “Stop resisting. I’m not dangerous, and I’m not going to hurt anyone.”

  “You’re in a world of trouble, buddy.”

  “Tell me about it. I’m going to cuff you. Please don’t resist, or I’ll use stronger force. I have no desire to tear your rotator cuffs. Order everyone to back away and not interfere.”

  “What?”

  Nathan forced the guard’s hands up a little and received a grunt of pain.

  “Okay!” The guard raised her voice. “Everyone back off and don’t interfere.”

  “Bekka, grab the handcuffs from her utility belt.” He didn’t want to use her real name.

  “Where? I don’t see them.”

  “That rounded pouch on her right hip. Unsnap the cover.”

  Lauren pried the holster open and pulled the handcuffs free.

  Twenty seconds.

  Nathan scanned the main walkway. No other guards appeared, but several dozen people had taken notice of the action. Hopefully there weren’t any off-duty cops or service members among them. The sooner Lauren and he got out of here, the better.

  Nathan was skilled in the proper use of handcuffs. In a quick motion, he slapped the sawtoothed side of one bracelet onto the guard’s right wrist. He secured the handcuff snugly but made sure not to overtighten it. He kept a knee on the guard’s back and repeated the procedure on her opposite wrist.

  He kept his voice low to avoid embarrassing the woman. “We’re leaving. If you try to pursue us, I’ll take you down. Without the use of your arms, you’ll go down ugly and lose some teeth, or worse. Do we have an agreement here?”

  The guard nodded tightly.

  Thirty seconds.

  “Order everyone to stay where they are and not to follow us.”

  She took a deep breath and yelled, “Everyone stay where you are! Don’t follow them!”

  Nathan rolled the guard over and unbuckled her utility belt. The belt didn’t have a gun, but it held other nonlethal weapons, plus a radio. It might come in handy, so he took the belt and put it on. Flipping his shirt over it, he heard a disturbance on the second-level walkway. The first guard might’ve recovered enough to reenter the fray. Another giant retail store stood just across the courtyard. Macy’s. Holding Lauren’s hand again, he ran for its entrance.

  Just inside, they almost collided with an elderly woman who must’ve witnessed the takedown. Her face reflected fear.

  Nathan made eye contact and said, “Evening, ma’am.”

  The woman backed up a step as they strode past. As far as he could tell, she was the only person in here who’d seen his restraint of the guard. Nathan knew she’d remain motionless in indecision for a few seconds, possibly longer. Her next move would be to exit the store.

  Nathan spoke quietly to Lauren. “We’re going to walk quickly. Follow my pace.” He detoured to the right through a maze of clothes racks, glass counters, and featureless mannequins. The place looked a lot like Nordstrom, and he hoped its escalator would be in a similar location. Nathan knew it was best to use all three dimensions when evading capture. He looked over his shoulder and didn’t see the elderly woman. A quick scan of his surroundings confirmed no one had focused on them.

  Lauren spoke just above a whisper. “You moved super fast. How do you know all that stuff?”

  He didn’t want to ignore her question, but now wasn’t the time. “We need to find the escalator.” He hadn’t been in here before, but knew the opposite side of the store connected to several multistory parking garages.

  “It’s probably in the middle of the store,” she said.

  “I agree. Good job with the guard back there.”

  “I’m glad you didn’t hurt her.”

  He stole another look behind. All calm. He doubted this window of escape would remain open more than two or three minutes. If SDPD units were closing, they’d surround Macy’s with as many officers as possible, which meant he and Lauren needed to get through here quickly. Everyone in the courtyard had seen them come in here. This isn’t over, he told himself, not by a long shot. Stay focused.

  He spotted the escalator. “There’s our ride.”

  “I see it.”

  He thought about the questions he planned to ask Lauren. Too many things didn’t add up. The three goons he’d shot at Ulric weren’t federal law enforcement officers — unless they were dirty. No respectable deputy US Marshal would attempt a drive-by shooting. Come to think of it, Nathan didn’t believe any deputy US Marshals were dirty. How could the WSP function otherwise?

  So where did that leave things? If they weren’t feds, who were they? And why did they want Lauren alive? But that no longer tracked. If they wanted Lauren alive, why try to gun her down? Maybe losing possession of her had made her worthless, a loose end in need of
elimination. Whatever the case, escaping their immediate situation was only the beginning. This would be over only when Nathan decided it was over. Anyone who tried to murder a young girl was the worst kind of pond scum imaginable, and Nathan planned to sanitize that scum with prejudice.

  They were halfway up the escalator when a loud, high-pitched voice roared through the ground floor. “Everyone freeze! Don’t move!”

  Nathan couldn’t see her, but he recognized the unmistakable voice of the female guard he’d just cuffed. So much for their agreement.

  A few steps above, a pair of college-age women turned, their expressions confused. They both looked at him.

  “Sounds like a robbery,” Nathan said. “Let’s get outta here.”

  The two women hurried up the escalator and ran toward the south exit. He saw other people stare at the running women, but, like so many others tonight, they remained frozen, uncertain what to do. Nathan kept a normal pace, following the building’s exit signs.

  He heard yelling from the ground floor but couldn’t distinguish any intelligible words. The guard was probably asking customers if they’d seen anyone fitting his and Lauren’s descriptions. Since no one had taken any notice of them, he doubted the guard would get any useful info. Still, it wouldn’t be long before the SDPD dispatcher had every available unit converging on this location. They needed to leave this building in a hurry, but not just this building — the entire area.

  Ten seconds later, they were outside the store and mall, crossing a pedestrian bridge toward the parking garage. From every direction, Nathan heard multiple sirens. He couldn’t distinguish the difference between fire, medical, and police, but he knew they would arrive within minutes, maybe seconds.

  Just ahead, a second bridge would take them in the direction of the trolley station, Nathan’s original destination. They hadn’t gone ten steps when he heard the female guard’s voice directly below them.

  “Did anyone see a man and a girl come out here?”

  Nathan lowered his voice to a whisper. “Lie down. She won’t be able to see us.”