Close Encounters Read online

  She heard a car coming fast down an adjacent street. It raced across her field of vision going south, as if the street were a drag strip. A delivery truck turned at the corner and came toward her. Another car sped by, following the first. The presence of life was actually reassuring, but without a hat and gloves, Carol was cold and eager to get back home.

  At the corner Max meandered right. Carol thought to check him, then decided to give him two more blocks before retracing their steps.

  Suddenly Max perked up, his sensitive hearing more attuned to sounds than hers was. He slowly began to trot, lengthening the leash from the retractable unit that Carol held, headed for the corner just twenty-five feet away. She quickly pushed a button that prevented the cord from unwinding further.

  “No, Max,” Carol commanded when it seemed the dog would take yet another unexpected path.

  Max held up for a moment at the sound of her voice, but he was now clearly distracted. Finally, he stopped near the curb, prepared to relieve himself.

  “Thank you,” Carol murmured caustically. She waited patiently, forcing herself not to think about how cold she was. Her hands especially were getting stiff and numb.

  The dog was hardly done when he let out a halfhearted bark and stood alertly, listening.

  “Forget it,” Carol said, tugging gently on the cord. “We’re going home.”

  Max had other ideas.

  He suddenly lurched forward, pulling Carol with him and straining against the leash.

  “I said no…”

  The dog rounded the corner. Construction scaffolding ran along most of the block, indicating that renovation work was in progress on the facades of the old tenements. While the scaffolding allowed for normal pedestrian traffic beneath it, it produced deep shadows on the sidewalk.

  Trying to control the dog claimed Carol’s attention, and it was several seconds before she became aware that they were not alone.

  Like phantoms, two men suddenly emerged ahead of them, startling her. They were dressed all in black, in bulky North Face parkas. One wore a knit ski hat, the other a leather baseball cap. Their footsteps were silent in athletic sports shoes. Their faces were almost hidden by the high necks of their coats, and one was talking urgently into a cell phone—fast, and in words she didn’t understand. Max stiffened as they approached, but the two men didn’t even appear to notice them. They made her nervous nonetheless.

  Just ahead, a car turned the corner and rolled into the street, its headlights off. Carol pulled on Max’s leash and jumped when she heard what sounded like cap pistols somewhere to her left. The two men were even with her now. Carol tried to pull Max back and turn around. The taller of the two men, the one wearing the baseball cap, looked over his shoulder in the direction of the shots. He saw the car. He reached under his coat and withdrew a gun… and Max began to bark.

  Carol froze at the sight of the weapon. Her stomach churned into a tight knot of fear. She felt trapped by the two men, who made no attempt to hide their guns. The first man stared openly at her, his dark eyes and well-shaped mouth devoid of warmth.

  “Shut the fuckin’ dog up,” the taller man hissed.

  “Forget the bitch…” the other said.

  Max barked louder.

  The man pointed the gun and something metallic clinked on his wrist near the handle of his weapon. “I said shut him up!”

  “Don’t…” Carol pleaded, reaching down to grab Max around the neck as he strained to be let loose and continued to bark.

  There was a sudden light pop. Max yelped sharply and his body jerked against her. The man grabbed her and dragged her roughly to him as Max fell motionless to the ground.

  Lee screeched his cruiser to a stop, and he and Barbara jumped out. They found the rest of the undercover team in action and rushed forward, prepared to join them if necessary. Squad cars had been positioned to block off vehicular entry and exit from the area. A SWAT team in full gear was already inside the staked-out building, and more police carefully searched the perimeters. High-beam headlights crisscrossed in eerie brilliance, making the street look like a landing field for alien craft.

  Lee and Barbara were approached by several undercover officers.

  “Where’s our man?” Lee asked briskly.

  “Tino’s out and okay. Minor injuries. He held his own before we came in. The ghost was right on the money. Came up with two of Willey’s posse before they broke…”

  “Gunshot exchange?”

  “Some, but all for show. They just wanted to get the fuck out.”

  “What about Willey?”

  “We’re not sure yet. He might have slipped out. A lot of what we got are minor players. All the young ones we’re not going to be able to hold for long.”

  “I’m not surprised,” Lee said, glancing around to appraise the situation.

  “Was Mario anywhere?” Barbara asked.

  The team leader shook his head. “Not that we could tell.”

  “Okay, where are we now?” Lee interrupted.

  He listened to the officer’s account of what had gone down, but he was more concerned with why. In the almost twenty years that he’d been in undercover, nine of them active on the streets, only a handful of operations had gone wrong. In all that time they’d lost only three officers. Three too many, but that was part of the job and part of the risk.

  Barbara confirmed that no one had seen their informant, Mario. Suddenly they all heard gunfire. Everyone responded reflexively by pulling out their semiautomatics, ready to take cover.

  An officer shouted from the sidewalk. “Out the back! We think we got him cornered.”

  Barbara rushed over to Lee. “Let’s take a look.”

  Lee hesitated. “No, let the others go. Willey’s not dumb. He wouldn’t do something so obvious. I say let’s check out the opposite direction.”

  Barbara got back into the car next to him, her impatience showing as she shook her head. “He might still be inside. He knows we’re not going to take a chance ’cause there’re families in the building.”

  “Right. But I don’t think he’s going to hang around to find out. Willey’s out of there.”

  “What about Mario?”

  “We’ll figure out what went wrong later, Barb.”

  Lee maneuvered his vehicle around several cars and headed down the street. As he neared the corner he and Barbara heard police action to their left, and the barking of a dog to their right.

  “Willey’s got pit bulls,” Barbara reminded him.

  “I know, but…” Lee let it hang.

  He turned the corner, moving slowly, headlights off. The dog continued to bark, but Lee couldn’t tell where the animal was. Then there was an angry command, followed several seconds later by a pop and a short yelp. The barking stopped.

  “I see something,” Barbara said, pointing toward the corner.

  Lee squinted in the direction she indicated. He nodded. “Yeah, I see…”

  When they were almost to the far corner, the shadows began to move. Quickly Lee got on the speaker system.

  “Police… step forward…”

  He stopped the car and waited. He knew there were two people standing under a construction canopy. Barbara released the security strap on her automatic and cautiously opened her door.

  “Take it easy…” Lee said, about to open his own door.

  Suddenly there were two shots. One splintered the glass on the passenger side of the car.

  “Dammit!” Barbara uttered, trying to duck back inside the car and half falling to the ground behind the still-open door.

  Two more shots followed, creating bursts of sparks on the sidewalk where the gunmen stood. As Lee also took cover, one of the shrouded figures broke and ran for the corner. There was no opportunity to get off even a warning shot as the fleeing figure quickly disappeared.

  “Police! Put the gun down!”

  Two more pops pierced the night.

  Another police car turned onto the street behind them. Lee go
t out his weapon. Standing between the door and the frame of his car, he leveled his gun at the assailant in the dark and fired. There was a return of fire yet again, and Barbara joined in. A moment later a body fell forward, slumping to the ground. Another figure raced out of the darkness and rushed for the corner. Several officers took off on foot after the fleeing figure, while Lee and Barbara stayed focused on the fallen victim. With guns drawn and pointed, shouting commands and with backup behind them, Lee and Barbara approached the suspect.

  Barbara reached the sidewalk first, but her attention was diverted to another form on the ground. “It’s a dog,” she said. “It’s dead.”

  Lee lowered his gun and squatted next to the bleeding body. The victim’s hands were empty, and instinct told him that he would not find a weapon nearby.

  “Who did we get?” one of his men asked.

  “Is it one of Willey’s men?” Barbara asked, as she and several other undercover officers hurried forward with their guns drawn and aimed.

  For the moment Lee was speechless. He watched the slow spread of a small circle of blood beneath the prone body. He reached out to check for a pulse. “It’s… a woman. Black. She’s alive.”

  Someone ran a flashlight beam along the ground, first over the dead dog and then over the woman’s dark form.

  Lee glanced briefly at the dead animal. He saw the leash on the ground, its lead still attached to the collar. His gaze returned to the woman, to a face drawn in pain. He stared into dark eyes that blinked at him in bewilderment. His stomach muscles tensed violently.

  He was momentarily transfixed by the woman’s confusion. It was a blank disorientation that pulled him up short and made him catch his own breath. And it registered very quickly that his twenty years of hands-on street experience had not prepared him for this moment.

  “Oh, shit,” Barbara said succinctly, voicing exactly what Lee was feeling.

  Chapter Two

  SHE WASN’T DEAD.

  She could feel her heart beating too fast. There was a terrible burning in her breast, as if she’d been kicked very suddenly and very sharply and something inside of her had torn. The pain seemed to be spreading outward. And it hurt to breathe. A draft seemed to have found a way inside her body and was freezing her, one inch at a time. She couldn’t move. There was something wet on her skin, beneath her jacket and sweater. Sticky and warm. Every time she breathed it felt like someone was driving a knife deep into her chest.

  What in God’s name has happened?

  Carol couldn’t figure out why she was on the ground. Or where Max was. Or why this white man, dressed in dark blue, was bending over her. She couldn’t see his face very well, and the details blurred as he kept moving. It made her dizzy and nauseous.

  He held a gun in his hand, pointed at her.

  Oh, my God… Carol thought, helpless to protect herself. They’re going to kill me.

  For a terrible moment there was not a sound except her own moans as nearly a dozen men stood staring down at her. Then one man touched her, roughly running his hand up and down her legs, her arms. He searched through her pockets and pulled out her keys and ID folder, passing them to the man who had reached her first.

  “She’s clean.”

  “My… dog…” Carol tried to say, but no one was listening.

  “I don’t believe this…” an officer said, finally breaking past their immobility.

  Someone’s belt radio squawked to life. Lee holstered his gun and searched for his cellular to call in a request for a medical unit. The others turned their attention back to their own business and walked away from the woman.

  But not Lee. He watched as she drew a deep, shuddering breath. She tried to focus her eyes, tried to talk.

  “What?” Lee frowned and leaned closer to hear.

  “Mmmmaax…”

  “Max? Don’t worry about Max. Stay still,” Lee ordered her. “You’re going to be okay.”

  She was agitated, trying to sit up even though the effort was costing her tremendous pain.

  “No, no… don’t move. You just lie still.” He put his hand out to force her to be still. Her coat was wet with blood, and it smeared on his hand.

  “Lieutenant? Any change of orders?”

  He made a fist of his bloody hand. “Check with Sergeant Sheridan and Detective Woods.”

  “I don’t get it,” Barbara said just behind Lee. “What the hell happened? Where did she come from? Who is she?”

  Lee had already asked himself those questions and had no answers. He only hoped for now that the woman didn’t die.

  Barbara leaned over the victim. “What’s your name? Can you hear me?” she asked loudly.

  “Caro—”

  “Carol,” Lee finished for her.

  Carol nodded and closed her eyes, exhausted.

  “Carol? Is that it? The ambulance is on the way, Carol. Okay?” Barbara turned to Lee. “She’s probably a lookout,” she murmured before walking away to converse with several of her colleagues.

  Lee kept his opinion to himself. There was nothing about the woman that would connect her to the dealers they’d had under surveillance for nearly six months. She wasn’t even dressed properly for the cold, which suggested she hadn’t intended to be outside for very long. She carried no beeper or cellular, and she did have identification. Street crews on drug deals did not carry ID.

  Lee flipped open her ID folder and grabbed the arm of a passing officer.

  “Let me use your light.”

  “Sure.” The officer pulled a small flashlight off his utility belt, twisted it on, and handed it to Lee.

  Lee shone the light on the plastic sleeves. There was a medical insurance card, so she must have a job somewhere. An ATM bank card. Membership cards to MoMA and the Studio Museum in Harlem. A driver’s license. He stared at the square image digitized on the card. A smiling young black woman with shoulder-length hair that framed her face.

  Carol Taggart. She lived only a few blocks away.

  Lee closed the folder and glanced at the dead dog, then back to the woman, a clammy sweat breaking out as he considered the implications of what he’d discovered. He was relieved when he spotted the ambulance. He signaled his position and the vehicle pulled to a stop.

  Lee stood aside and watched the emergency team go swiftly through its routine, checking her response and vital signs, determining the seriousness of her injuries. Then they strapped Carol onto a back board and transferred her to the ambulance.

  “Max…” Carol cried out when she realized she was being moved. She reached out to grab Lee’s hand but couldn’t hold on. He made no attempt to respond.

  “Max? Who’s Max?” the attendant asked as he pulled her arm free of the jacket she wore. “You got someone else out there?”

  Lee merely shook his head.

  The EM worker spoke to Carol. “Don’t worry about Max. These guys are taking care of him.” He signaled to his partner to speed things up and turned to Lee. “Anybody coming with her?”

  “Yeah,” Lee said. He beckoned to one of his men. “You go along. Get a statement if you can. Find out what the doctors have to say. Call back if anything important comes up. Someone will relieve you as soon as we’re finished here.”

  He watched as the officer climbed into the back of the ambulance.

  “Her name is Carol Taggart,” Lee informed the paramedics. “I’ll have someone get the rest of her information to you ASAP.”

  “Right. Someone’s got to notify the family…”

  The door was slammed shut and locked, and the vehicle drove away.

  Lee turned around, viewing the men and equipment as if from a distance. He felt oddly detached, fully aware of what had happened but feeling as if it had happened to someone else. As if he had stepped out of his skin to be a witness.

  His men reported that they’d apprehended six suspects, but none of them was Earl Willey or Mario.

  “I called in the crime scene unit to seal this off,” Barbara said, falling into
step next to Lee. “The captain’s on the way.”

  He nodded, not particularly surprised. Everyone’s first consideration after establishing that no officer had been hurt was to ascertain whether there had been a misuse of firearms.

  “What are we going to tell him?” Barbara asked.

  “The truth,” Lee said caustically.

  “Right,” she said. “Right after I make sure my ass isn’t on the line.”

  Lee thought of the black woman in the ambulance and knew there were bound to be repercussions. It could get messy.

  He turned his attention thoughtfully to Detective Barbara Peña, always focused and coolheaded. Even after eight years of working with her, Lee was still struck by how beautiful she was. That someone with her looks would want to hide them under a police uniform had never made sense to him. On the other hand, inside she was something else. Every time Barbara opened her mouth, what came out was the slang of Fourth Avenue, Brooklyn, somewhere around Sunset Park. She had the built-in defense mechanisms of a person who had grown up on the streets, and she took no shit from anybody.

  Again and again she had proved she was good at her job. Except that she got into bed with it, people said behind her back. But Barbara could hold her own, and gave as good as she got. She was known as “Barbwire” in the department. There were other nicknames that were not as affectionate, but she knew nothing of them. And she was willing to take the same risks everyone else did.

  “The good news is that all of our people are okay, and we got the buy money back,” Barbara commented.

  “And the bad news…” Lee prompted.

  “Willey got away and we don’t know what happened with Mario, right?”

  He quirked the corner of his mouth. Barbara was one of the best partners he’d ever worked with, but she didn’t think the same way he did.

  “Right,” Lee answered.

  “Looks like a clean chest entry, back side exit. Not a lot of external bleeding…”

  The attendant once again checked Carol’s blood pressure, listened to her pulse with a stethoscope, looked into her eyes and kept talking to her.