Before the agent could provide any further description, the boy’s eyes went wide. He dropped his game controller and pointed toward the bathroom, where the faucet could still be heard running. He was barely able to speak. “She’s in there.”
Raines immediately drew his weapon and advanced swiftly toward the bathroom door. “Skylar Drummond, this is Homeland Security. Come out now.” There was no response. The agent checked the door handle and confirmed it was locked. “Open the door. I won’t ask again.” Getting no reply, he kicked in the door. Wham! The door splintered readily.
He rushed inside the small bathroom; a window above the toilet was open. Peering out, he saw that one of the exterior metal security bars had completely rusted, allowing Skylar to bend it just enough to squeeze by. There was, however, no way in hell his 6’3”, 220-pound frame was ever going to make it through, no matter what kind of shape he was in. He caught sight of Skylar as she ran out of the alley. “Son of a bitch!” Raines raced back into the store.
Skylar barreled out of the alley onto Sixty-Eighth Street, where she carefully peered around a wall of plywood surrounding a construction site plastered with posters for upcoming movies she would never see based on graphic novels she had never heard of. She didn’t know how Homeland had found her, but realized they probably had dozens of agents out there looking for her. Skylar was also vaguely aware of the vast number of security cameras around the city. She knew she had to be more careful. But when opportunity presented itself, she wasn’t about to hesitate.
A cab pulled over halfway down the block next to a petite woman attempting to carry shopping bags from various retailers. Fortunately for Skylar, the load was too much for the shopper. By the time the woman had given up trying to carry her haul all at once, intending to place her bounty into the cab several bags at a time, Skylar had already slipped into the cab, shut the door, and instructed the driver to hit the gas. As the cab sped away, the shopper raised the middle finger of her right hand and yelled at the top of her ample lungs, “Selfish bitch!”
CHAPTER 73
Harmony House, Woodbury, New Jersey, May 27, 8:09 p.m.
The Department of Homeland Security was back to square one, which meant Michael Barnes was, too. But he was calm by comparison. In fact, as the Harmony House security director received updates from his two men in the vicinity, Barnes enjoyed learning of Raines’s outbursts. It meant he was an amateur. Had he even half the patience or experience Michael Barnes did, Agent Raines would have asked one simple question: Why had the doctor gone to a bird shop, of all places? Why not a hair salon or a bank branch or a fast-food restaurant? The answer was simple: Edward Parks had a thing for birds.
Michael Barnes was now sure of one thing: Skylar Drummond didn’t know where Eddie Parks was. She had made an educated guess, and a good one at that. Because New York City had only three listings for bird shops. With only two left, Barnes had a fifty-fifty shot of guessing which one Skylar Drummond was going to next. He liked his odds, and placed his bet.
CHAPTER 74
Upper East Side, New York City, May 27, 8:16 p.m.
Lutz drove with reckless abandon. Hirsch navigated for him. By sheer luck, they made every traffic light en route to East Eighty-Seventh Street. Good fortune, it seemed, was on their side.
They arrived outside Flight in just under seven minutes, less than half the time it should have taken. The two security specialists bolted from their double-parked car and raced to the bird store’s entrance.
To find the doors locked. The lights were off. According to the sign listing the store’s hours, they had closed at eight o’clock. Hirsch peered in the storefront window as Lutz banged on the door loudly. The birds inside shrieked, but nothing else moved. There was no one there.
They quickly doubled back to their vehicle, hoping for similar luck with the traffic lights as they raced to the last bird shop on their list.
CHAPTER 75
Give ’Em the Bird, New York City, May 27, 8:33 p.m.
Skylar arrived first. She banged on the windows of Give ’Em the Bird, whose door was also locked. It, too, had closed at eight. “Is anybody in there?” She banged some more, but still there was no answer. Skylar was losing faith. She was on a wild-goose chase and knew it. The longer she delayed turning herself in, the longer it would take to find Eddie. Who was she kidding?
“There is nobody in there, but there is somebody in here.” Skylar spun around to see Eddie looking at her through the open passenger’s-side window of a late-model Volkswagen Jetta.
“Eddie!” Her joy was pure and unbridled. Skylar rushed to him, kneeling beside the car’s open window. She instinctively reached out to touch his arm, which made Eddie flinch. Skylar quickly withdrew her hand as if to apologize for encroaching on his physical space. She knew better than to attempt physical contact, but just couldn’t stop herself.
Eddie then did something Skylar could not have expected. He awkwardly reached out and hesitantly touched her arm. For only the briefest moment. It was all he could manage. But he wanted her to know that he wanted to touch her, too.
The enormity of the gesture wasn’t lost on Skylar. It was more than she was ever able to elicit from her little brother. Try and try as she might, as a teenager, she was never able to help Christopher feel comfortable enough to initiate any contact. Skylar took a moment to find just the right thing to say, certain that it was the most physical contact Eddie had ever initiated in his life. “Thank you.”
Eddie looked at her inquisitively. “For what?”
She answered with her eyes. For taking a chance. With her. Right then. In the middle of all this. For extending himself. And validating her belief in him. For comforting her as best he could. “For being okay.”
“I am okay, Skylar.”
She couldn’t stop smiling. “I can see that.”
“You’re crying.”
She nodded. “Happy tears.”
“How can you tell the difference between happy tears and unhappy tears?”
“You have to look at the rest of the person’s face. If they’re smiling, they’re happy tears.” She used her hand to wipe her cheeks.
The bearded man in the driver’s seat couldn’t stop from beaming, either. He was immediately taken with the one person Eddie liked more than birds. “You must be Skylar.”
“Who are you?” There was an edge in her voice. Her protective instincts were up, like a mother who was talking to the stranger who’d just invited her child into his car.
Eddie answered for his new friend. “He is Rupert Kreitenberg, who loves birds more than people.”
Rupert tried to allay Skylar’s understandable concern. “Eddie came into my shop and started talking to the birds. I’ve never seen anything like it. After a while, we started talking, and he explained how he got separated from you. I didn’t think I should leave him alone, so I was going to take him back to Harmony House.”
She studied him suspiciously. “It’s a hell of a favor to do for someone you just met.”
He nodded, understanding her skepticism. “I’ve never done anything this nice for anyone in my life.”
Eddie interrupted, making his BUZZER sound.
Kreitenberg smiled and continued. “I’ve also never met anyone quite like Eddie.”
Skylar softened, smiling briefly. She knew the feeling. “Most people haven’t.” She studied the man, who genuinely seemed harmless. “Mind if I get in?”
“By all means.” He unlocked his doors so that Skylar could get into the back seat, where there was birdseed all over the seat and floor. “You’ll have to excuse the mess.”
Skylar climbed in, using her hand to sweep off the seat. “What mess?”
He smiled at her in the rearview mirror. “So where would you like to go?”
CHAPTER 76
Gloria Pruitt’s House, Parsippany, New Jersey, May 27, 9:28 p.m.
Nurse Gloria’s legs were tired, particularly her feet. Her heels throbbed. So did her knees, which typically swelled a good inch during the workday. A nurse’s job was to be on her feet, and by the end of an eight-hour shift, Gloria’s were ready to call it quits. She was still quite curious as to the whereabouts of Eddie Parks, but had decided not to stick her nose where it didn’t belong. The head of security had given her an answer, and that was supposed to be good enough.