Near Miss

He grabbed them, made his way onto the roof, and crawled to a position from where he could survey the street. He used available light mode first and scanned as far as he could in either direction. Nothing stood out. He then switched to night vision and paid special attention to the areas where little light reached.

His gaze stopped on a person crouched behind a car near the end of the block, who was leaning out just far enough for a sliver of their body to glow green in the binoculars.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

He watched the figure for a few moments, waiting for the person to move. But whoever it was just peered down the street toward Sarah’s house.

Ed crawled back until there was no chance he’d be seen, and called Sarah.

“The police are all set,” she said, “just waiting for my go ahead.”

He told her what he’d seen.

“I’ll send a few officers in on foot first,” she said.

“Good idea.”

Ed moved back to his former position and trained the binoculars on the lurker. Soon, two of London’s finest came around the corner on the same side of the street the lurker was hiding. A moment after that, two more appeared at the corner on the opposite side.

Hearing the steps, the lurker dropped to the ground and scooted under the car. This did not fool the officers. They surrounded the vehicle, then one of them shouted something Ed couldn’t make out.

After a moment, an arm appeared from under the car, then the lurker’s head and shoulders. As soon as the officers saw that the suspect — who appeared to be a man — was unarmed, they rushed in and yanked him to his feet.

Ed called Sarah. “Send in the rest of the troops.”

When he rejoined her downstairs, a policeman was with her.

“Ed, this is Chief Superintendent Rogers,” Sarah said. “Chief Superintendent, this is Ed Rawls. The Chief Superintendent is in charge of the officers who will be watching the house.”

“Thank you for coming,” Ed said. “What’s happening with the person you apprehended down the street?”

“He is outside,” Rogers said. “Dame Deerfield thought you might wish to speak to him.”

“Very much.”

“This way.”

The lurker was in the back seat of a police car, eyes wide in fear. He was younger than Ed had expected, much younger — no more than eighteen or nineteen.

Rogers nodded at one of the waiting officers, who opened the door, and pulled the lurker out.

“Please, this is some kind of mistake,” the kid said. “I haven’t done anything wrong!”

“Then why did you hide under the car when the police arrived?” Ed asked.

The kid blinked, confused by Ed’s American accent or the fact that he wasn’t wearing a uniform or both. “I–I didn’t know it was the police. I just heard them coming toward me.”

“And your first instinct was to hide. Why?”

The kid looked away, clearly not wanting to answer.

“What’s your name?” Ed asked.

“Christopher. Christopher Bedford.”

“Christopher, the more you cooperate, the easier things will go for you.”

Ed’s words obviously had the opposite effect from what he intended as the blood drained from the kid’s face. “I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“If that’s the case, then just tell us what—”

“Christopher?” a female voice called from across the street.

A young woman about the same age as Christopher ran to the police car. “What happened?” She turned to Rogers. “Why are you holding him?”

“You know this lad?” Rogers asked.

“Yes. He’s my... my friend.”

Ed instantly understood what was going on here. But before he could say anything, a man stepped out of a house across the street, took in the scene, then called, “Caroline, what’s going on? Why are the police here?”

The girl took a step away from the car. “It’s nothing.” She shot Ed and Rogers a quick look, pleading for them not to say anything, then she turned and jogged across the street.

To Christopher, Ed said, “I take it her parents don’t know about the two of you.”

Christopher shook his head.

“I’ll let you handle this,” Ed said to Rogers and then returned to the house.

He was glad it was a false alarm, but for some reason that made him feel more concerned rather than less.

“How about a drink?” Sarah said.

“How about more than one?”

A man on a rooftop, three blocks down from the house where Ed Rawls was staying, lowered his binoculars and called the preprogrammed number on his phone.

“I’ve scouted the location,” he reported.

“Your assessment?” the Sarge asked.

“It’s not worth the trouble.”

“Explain.”

“I don’t know who this guy is, but he must have friends in high places. He’s got at least twenty Metropolitan Police officers protecting this place. Maybe you could get to him, but I wouldn’t bet on your chances of getting away after.”

“You’re sure?”

“It’s my job to be sure. Feel free to hire someone else to check it out if you want, but the answer is not going to be any different.”

“Dammit,” the Sarge spat. “All right. I’ll have the second half of your payment wired to your account.”

“Pleasure doing business with you.”

Chapter 60