I made chicken sounds and did wing flaps.
'Hunh,' Lula said. 'Smart-ass. What makes you so brave all of a sudden?'
For starters, every move I made in the Cayenne was tracked at
RangeMan Central. And if that wasn't enough, I suspected I was being followed. Ranger and Morelli always ran neck and neck in the vote of no confidence race. The only difference being in the level of sneakiness. Ranger always won out on sneaky. When there's a code-red danger alert, Morelli rants and raves and tries to lock me away. Ranger just assigns a goon to watch over me.
Sometimes the goons are visible. Sometimes the goons are invisible. Whatever the state of visibility, they stick to me like glue, preferring death to the hideous task of informing Ranger they've lost me.
I turned and looked out the window in time to see Ranger pull away in the big bad truck. A shiny black SUV with tinted windows was left idling at curbside behind the Cayenne. That's what makes me so brave,' I said.
'Hunh,' Lula said, following my eyes to the SUV. 'I knew that.'
Lula and I left the bonds office and climbed into the Cayenne.
'I thought we'd drive past Pancek's house first,' I said. 'See if he's returned.'
'Are you gonna try to lose the SUV?'
'I can't lose the SUV as long as I'm in this car. It's hooked into a
GPS tracking system.'
'I bet there's a way to disable it,' Lula said. This is one of
Rangers personal cars, and I bet there's times Ranger doesn't want anyone to know where he's going.'
I'd had the same thought, but for now I didn't want to disable the system. And I didn't want to lose my bodyguard. I had the flak vest and sweatshirt in the back seat and Ranger's loaded gun in my purse. I thought I was relatively safe until Junkman made his third hit, but I wasn't taking unnecessary chances.
I glanced back at the SUV. 'To tell you the truth, I'm happy to have the added protection.'
'I hear you,' Lula said.
I drove a block down Hamilton, left-turned into the Burg, and followed the maze of streets that led to Canter. I didn't see the blue
Honda Civic parked anywhere near Pancek's apartment. I parked two houses down, put my Kevlar vest on under the sweatshirt, got out of the car, and walked to Pancek's door. I rang the bell. No answer. I rang two more times and returned to the car.
'No luck,' I told Lula.
'Are we going back to Newark?'
'Not today. Ranger told me where I can find Rodriguez. I thought I'd go after him while I have an escort.'
'On the one hand, that sounds good,' Lula said. 'Like, we got some help if we need it. On the other hand, if we screw up we got a witness laughing his ass off.'
Lula had a point. 'Maybe we won't screw up.'
1 just hope it's not Tank back there. I wouldn't mind taking Tank home with me someday, and it would put a crimp in my plans to embarrass myself with a lame bust.'
The SUV was half a block back. Too far for us to see its occupants. We were debating the embarrassment potential when my phone rang.
'Where are you?' Sally wanted to know. 'We've been waiting for twenty minutes.'
'Waiting?'
'You were supposed to meet us to get your dress fitted for the wedding.'
`Crap. I forgot.'