Page 107 of Night Hawk
“Yeah, sure, but he said he’d rather go to prison than let Ursula take the kid.” Hibbard got a smug grin on his face. “But she didn’t let it go. She secretly met with Jason. Problem was, he found out what she was doing. He wasn’t disgusted or anything. He wanted a cut. Just eighteen years old, and she let him work with her. Then he gets arrested.” Hibbard shook his head. “Rader has a fit. Says he’s got cancer and has only a few months to live, so he’s going to rat her out to the cops. So she had him killed too.”
“Why didn’t she take the things in the garage that implicated her?” Blake asked.
“You’ll have to ask her. All I know is she had him snuffed out before he could squeal, and she hired a high-priced lawyer for her kid.”
Trent rested his hands on the table and stared at them for a moment. He was going to change direction. Clay could feel it from Trent’s body language. Blake must have too, as he leaned back and looked like he was giving the floor to Trent.
“She the one who’s been trying to kill Agent Long and Clay Byrd?” Trent asked.
“Her boyfriend, yeah. Not her.”
“Boyfriend?”
“Sharkey. They been shacking up for years.”
So Sharkey had been trying to kill them. Clay curled his fingers. Thankfully he was in jail right now as this creep would be soon, and Toni was no longer in danger.
“Why did she want to kill them?” Trent asked.
“Another thing you’re gonna have to ask her.”
“Don’t worry, I will when we bring her in.”
Hibbard scoffed. “Like you’ll find her.”
“We will.” Trent sounded so confident, but locating Ursula would be a challenge. “Because you’re going to tell us exactly where she is.”
26
Toni drove the compact car while the woman rode in the backseat and held her gun to Toni’s neck. She wanted to slam on the brakes and force the woman forward, but she couldn’t. Not without taking the risk of getting her head blown off.
She glanced in the rearview mirror, trying to get a good look at the woman’s face. Impossible. A big floppy hat hid it in shadows. Toni had gotten a look at the woman’s wrinkled hand with age spots, suggesting she was older.
“Why won’t you tell me who you are?” Toni tried again.
“There’s plenty of time for that. Just keep your focus on the road.”
They wound along the Rogue River, the area mostly forested with very few residences or businesses.
“Where are we going?” Toni asked.
“If I have to tell you to shut up one more time, I’ll shut you up right on the spot.” She jabbed the cold steel of her gun into Toni’s neck. “Permanently.”
Toni doubted she’d actually fire right now as the car would crash, but Toni wouldn’t put it past this woman to hold a grudge and end her life the moment they stopped. Toni needed to quit wasting time on identifying the woman and figure out how to escape. But how? The woman had tossed Toni’s phone out the window as they’d driven off the hotel’s property. She doubted anyone had seen them leave. They were too busy looking at the burning hotel.
And even if they did, this was a rental car. No way this woman used her real name for the rental agreement, keeping her identity a secret.
“Make a right at the next corner,” she said.
Toni memorized the woman’s voice. Just in case Toni got away, and this woman was arrested, Toni could pick her out in a voice lineup.
She sounded a bit manly. Deep and gravelly. Hoarse sounding. And she had a hint of an accent. Just a hint. Russian maybe.Russian.Someone in the investigation was of Russian descent.
Wait. No. Couldn’t be.
Clay’s phone rang. He didn’t want to be disturbed, not when Hibbard was about to tell them where to find Ursula, but it was Drake. “What’s up?”
“You talk to Toni?”
