Nodding, Bullard opened his hand, where he had a device with a USB port already attached to a cell phone. Holding out his other hand, she gave him the flash drive, which he immediately plugged in and copied the file onto the phone, which he sent off to cloud storage. Once he disconnected it, he handed the drive back to her. “That way you can give the detective the original,” he said.
“And the copy you have works?”
He checked it, and they heard the doctor’s voice immediately, saying that she was supposed to die, even using her name. Bullard’s face was grim.
She just shrugged, clearly disturbed by the sound of the man’s voice. “That asshole ruined my life,” she said. “I really don’t want him to get off too easy. Fifty years in prison sounds about right.”
Bullard chuckled and led her out to the waiting room, where the detective waited for her. She handed over the flash drive. The detective looked at it, frowned, and said, “Are you sure it’s on here?”
Bullard said, “I have a copy right here.” A moment later the recording played.
His face grim, the detective said, “We can get him with this,” then looked at Leia. “Anything else?”
“Not that I can think of right now,” she said, suddenly feeling really tired.
“Okay,” he said. “Now I just need to locate him.”
“He flew into New York this morning,” Bullard said.
At that, the detective looked at him in surprise. “He did?”
“Yes, and he lives in Chelsea,” she said. “At least he did before.”
“He still does.”
“So I can leave, right?” she asked, her briefcase now heavy with the extra cash. She didn’t know that she wanted to leave it here at this bank either. She had a different account that she could access with her cards, and, not knowing where she would end up, she decided just taking the cash was best. She wouldn’t need the safe deposit box anymore.
“No. Actually I’d like you to stay at least twenty-four hours.”
But Bullard said, “You can have her here until our flight leaves tomorrow morning,” he said. “Other than that, we’re gone.”
The three of them walked outside, and she smiled at Bullard. “Can we leave now, or at least go shopping, maybe get a couple outfits?”
“Sure.” Bullard moved her along the sidewalk with purpose.
Just then, a shot rang out.
Bullard already moved Leia into an alcove, as the wall where he’d been standing was hit with a bullet that had swung past his head. The detective was down, taking refuge behind a vehicle and stared at them.
“What do you want to bet that’s your doctor?” Bullard said, looking at the detective, who was already swearing. He had his phone out, calling for backup. Bullard glanced at the bank, then at her, and asked, “Does he know about this recording?”
“Maybe the first detective told Leo about the evidence. Maybe that’s why that detective is dead. Otherwise, who else would say anything?” she said. Bullard tilted his head. “We could have been followed, I guess,” she added. “Or maybe somebody in the bank saw me hand it over.” Sirens filled the air soon afterward, but Bullard wouldn’t let her move yet. She looked at him and said, “Leo’s still trying to kill me, isn’t he?”
“He’s trying to kill anybody associated with this mess,” he said, “and then he’ll try to run.”
“We’ll lock down the airports,” the detective said. “We have to make sure we get him this time.”
“You think?” she said, shaking her head. “Nobody gave a shit before.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Bullard said. “We’re leaving, and we’re leaving now.” He looked at the detective. “Are you okay here?”
“Yes,” he said, “but don’t leave now. That shooter’s out there, just waiting for us to make a move.”
“My men are here now,” Bullard said, and just then a big Hummer rolled up and parked in the middle of the street. He quickly hustled Leia into the back seat. She dove into the back, panicked at the idea that the shooter was still out there.
Fallon was driving. “Are you guys okay?”
“We are. Where is the rest of the team?”
“They’re looking for the shooter,” he said. “I’m getting you back to the hotel.”
“Do you think Leo did it himself?” she asked.
“No,” Bullard said. “He’s hired somebody else to do all his dirty work so far. He likes to kill on one level in a medical setting, but this is more like taking out the garbage to him.”
“How about we take out his garbage?” she snapped.
“I’m all for it,” Bullard said. “We’ve just got to catch the bastard.”
She looked at Fallon. “Thanks for the pickup.”
He grinned. “Not a problem.”
“You didn’t see him when you were out there, did you?” Bullard asked Fallon.
“Actually I think I did,” he said, then held up his phone. “Is this him?”
She looked at a picture of her nemesis and felt almost faint. “That’s him,” she whispered.
“Yeah, he was at the hotel.”
She stared at him. “How would he know we were there?”
“It wouldn’t be hard,” Bullard said. “We pretty well put out a bulletin that you were coming back.”
“Jesus!” She stared at him. “Did you use me as bait?”
“We used all of us as bait,” he said. “What we had to do was make sure he showed his hand.”
“Well, he did,” she snapped, “but he could have killed somebody out there.”
“Well, let’s hope he comes a little closer to try again,” he said, his voice hard.
She sank back into the soft upholstery of the back seat. “Where are we going now?”
“We’ll return to the hotel,” he said. “You want to catch this guy, right?”
“Yes, you’re damn right, I do,” she snapped. “I suppose you were making all these plans while I was sleeping.”
“Yep,” he said, “some of them anyway. A lot of it depended on what kind of tricks this guy would pull.”
“How do we know that the shooter didn’t get away and isn’t coming after us now?”
Just then Fallon’s phone went off, and he tossed it to Bullard, who answered it to hear Kano’s voice. “Kano, what’s up?” Bullard said, putting it on Speakerphone.
“Shooter’s dead,” he said.
“Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that,” Bullard said, but he had a big fat grin in his face.
Leia stared at him in shock. “You enjoy this, don’t you?”
“I love bringing down assholes,” he said. “I told you that he won’t bother you again.”
*
Bullard meant it too. He’d watched her completely not care about the money in her safe deposit box, other than the fact that it could buy her safety. He understood that. The fact that she wouldn’t ever have to worry about funds again wasn’t something that had registered yet. He had money galore. The thing about money was what you could do with it. And everybody else just seemed to hold it. He smiled as he listened to Kano give him the details.