“What?” he asked, shaking his head. “I don’t… who?”
“His name is Toby Martins,” Agent Won said. “He has a history of harassment, drug use, and even assault – a couple of arrests in the local area, too. He’s been at it for years. And he’s a local at the diner, apparently.”
A deep frown came across Justin’s forehead. “This is the first I’m hearing about this,” he said. “Toby didn’t declare any criminal record on his application.”
“You didn’t do a background check?” Laura asked.
“Well,” Justin said. A look of slight panic was coming over his face. “I mean, I’m not the only person responsible for hiring, and…”
“Never mind,” Laura snapped, cutting him off. “You can reassess your company policies later. Where is he? Is he on shift now?”
“Uh,” Justin said, glancing towards the factory floor again. “I think his shift just ended. He would have just punched out.”
Laura swore. “Come with us, right now!”
She rushed out into the reception area again with Agent Won at her side and Justin only just behind them. She ushered Justin ahead, directing him towards the punch clock she had glimpsed inside the locker room. It was a newer electronic system and, beside it, all the timecards were set up along the wall.
Justin moved with dexterity to the right card, grabbing it out and reading the printed numbers on it. He checked his watch right afterwards. “Seven sixteen,” he read. “This was less than two minutes ago. He’s probably still in the parking lot!”
That was all Laura needed to hear.
“Car make and model?” she shouted over her shoulder, already springing towards the door.
“I don’t know exactly – it’s a brown truck with a dented bumper,” Justin called back, his voice disappearing as she built up to full speed through the reception area and out into the lot.
There were still plenty of cars out there. Still people moving towards them and driving away, although the influx of arriving employees had stopped. The lateness of the leaving shift meant that many of the spots closer to the door were now empty, with the new arrivals not having been able to park in them. There was a brown truck, right up ahead of them, towards the back of the empty area – like he’d been one of the last to arrive for the last shift.
And there was a man walking right up to the door with his keys held out in his hand.
“Hey!” Laura yelled, still rushing towards him. “Toby Martins!”
He glanced at her, confirming her suspicions that he was indeed the man they were after. He was balding, probably in his fifties, a little overweight. A little greasy. His face was round and white in the gathering gloom, catching the streetlights above the lot. He stared at her for a split second, and in that moment, she saw two things: one, that he understood well enough they were law enforcement, and two, he wasn’t going to hang around to see what they wanted.
He cleared the last of the distance to his truck, unlocked it, and jumped into the driver’s seat without bothering with a seatbelt.
He was going to try to get away.
Laura gritted her teeth and put on another burst of speed, but she could already see that it was too late. “Stop! FBI!” she shouted, even though she knew realistically that that almost never worked. Actually, it seemed like people were more likely to run from her whenever she told them who she was. But then that was probably because she had a knack for yelling it at people who were actually guilty.
The engine of the truck started. Laura knew this wasn’t going to work. She wasn’t some kind of athlete, even if she kept in shape enough for the average chase. She wasn’t going to be able to chase down a truck. She peeled off to the side, making for where they had parked their rental car, expecting Agent Won to follow.
When she glanced over her shoulder a moment later, he was still heading right for the truck.
Laura swore in her head again, with no breath to actually utter it out loud. She reached the car and fumbled for the door, wrenching it open and throwing herself inside. The truck was squealing out of the parking lot already, and a glance in her rearview mirror as she started the engine and threw the car into reverse showed her Agent Won just narrowly avoiding getting hit by it.
Laura had no time even to shake her head – she had to go. She roared backwards, throwing the car back into drive to speed after him, taking the shortest possible route to the parking lot exit instead of following in the burned rubber he’d already laid down. Agent Won appeared to be trying to give chase on foot, so she ignored him. She had to. There was no time to stop and let him get into the car. He’d already made his choice.
Laura made it to the exit only a few moments after the truck did, but he was moving fast on the road already, putting his foot all the way down and disregarding any street signs or limits. Laura turned onto the road after him and put her own foot to the floor, gripping the steering wheel tightly. She couldn’t be afraid to go fast now. She was going to have to catch him, and that meant keeping up with the turns he took, staying on his tail for as long as she had to before he was in cuffs.
Past the parking lot and the factory, they quickly descended into a less populated area. It was only a small town, after all, and the factory was on the outskirts – no doubt planned that way to avoid an eyesore that might put off the tourists. The streetlights petered out, plunging Laura into darkness with only her own headlights and those of the truck to show her the way. She focused on keeping him ahead, taking turn after turn just as he did, not letting him pull away from her.
It was tight. He didn’t bother with normal road safety, turning at the last minute every time, forcing her to also wrench the steering wheel hard and shoot after him down increasingly small rural roads, out away from the town now. She had no idea where she was. In the darkness, things loomed up out of nowhere – fence posts alongside the road, large boulders probably set there as markers, hedges, a barrier that told her they were most likely back alongside the sea. She glanced at her GPS to confirm it, and –
He was gone. Where had he gone?!
Laura glanced around in a panic, looking for the telltale sign of headlights, but she could see none. She checked all of her mirrors, slowing down, looking through her windows desperately. Nothing. He must have taken a quick turn and she’d lost him while she was looking away, concentrating on the screen.
Laura swore vehemently for what felt like the fifteenth time and grabbed for her phone, feeling a shot of pain right across her head even before she’d managed to fully rationalize that she needed to call Waters and get an APB –
Flashing lights. Blinking from one side to the other of a sign. A warning. Laura’s vision expanded from that one spot of darkness, and she saw more: the barriers down over the crossing, stopping anyone from just driving on through. Tracks. Railroad tracks. There was a train coming.
And there was a brown truck parked in front of the flashing lights.
Laura blinked, realizing she was looking at her phone again. She braked hard, checking the GPS: there was a railroad track across the left side of the map, opposite to the direction of the water, and she’d just passed a turning that appeared to go all the way towards it.
She hit reverse again, zooming back to the trail – little more than a bumpy passage between two fields, with high hedges on both sides obscuring her sight and almost making the turnoff invisible – and took it, powering ahead once more.
There was still no time to lose. The train would go through the crossing; the barriers would open. She had to get to him before that, and she still couldn’t see –
She took a slight bend in the track, and up ahead she saw them. Blinking lights. The crossing.
Laura gunned it until she was right on the truck, seeing the driver’s side door open in the beam of her headlights. He knew she was on him. He stumbled out and almost fell, dragging himself back to his feet and trying to run, trying to make it across the field. But he was overweight, unfit. Laura was quicker.
She leapt out of her car, drawing her gun the moment she hit the ground and pointing it at his shambling figure. “Freeze, or I’ll shoot!” she warned, grabbing her torch with the other hand in case he didn’t stop, in case she needed to chase him across the dark fields.
He stopped.
He turned, bringing his hands up above his head, looking at her with an expression she’d seen many times. The fear, regret, and panic of being caught and knowing there was no longer any way out.
She had him now.
She pulled her handcuffs out of her belt, stepping towards him with the gun still held steady just in case he got any more ideas. This time, when she reached for her cell phone, it was going to be to call it in – and get Agent Won to prepare at the precinct to bring Martins in.