Edge of Mercy (A Kate Reid Novel Book 11), Robin Mahle [freenovel24 .txt] 📗

the desk. “He’s over here. He’s alive and there’s a girl here too. Where’s the medic?”

“Right behind us.” Perez leaned out of the doorway. “Aqui. Aqui.” (In here.) “La prisa!” (Hurry).

Two medics rushed inside.

Walsh pointed down behind the desk. “Here. Come quick.” He looked at Kate who held Nick in her arms. “Come on, Kate. Let them help.” He tried to help her up, but she wasn’t budging. “Kate, let them do their jobs. You have to move.”

She carefully pulled out her arm from under Nick’s head and took Walsh’s hand. “Okay. It was him. Bishop. He was here and he did this. I know he did.”

Walsh nodded. “Let’s worry about Nick and this girl here first, okay.”

“No. He’ll get away. Levi, we have to find him. If we don’t go now, he’ll vanish. I won’t let that happen.”

Walsh turned to Fisher with pleading eyes.

Fisher nodded. “Go. Find the son of a bitch.”

“I’ll go with them,” Perez said.

“I need you here. Please. I need someone to translate.” Fisher picked up the radio. “Duncan, what’s your location?”

“We’re passing the marketplace now. Did you find him?”

“We did. He’s hurt. Just get here as fast as you can.” Fisher turned back to Walsh, but he and Kate were already out the door.

Kate angrily wiped away her tears as she hurried north. “He has to be going this direction. If he turned back, he’d run into too many people. He’s going this way.”

“Kate, just take it easy, okay? I know you’re pissed. So am I, but we need to have cool heads. We need to be smart and understand Bishop’s endgame.”

“His endgame is to kill as many people as he can before we catch him. That’s his endgame. Now he knows we’re here and that we’re coming for him.”

“Then let’s try to think logically about this. Where would he go? Much farther and we’ll be out of the worst of the quake zone. He won’t find anyone who needs help.”

Kate began to think of Agent Surrey and how he approached situations. Walsh was right in that she needed to think clearly. Bishop was running out of options. He could opt for self-preservation and hitch a ride and they would never find him again. Or, he would do as she believed, and try to prove he was smarter than they were. He always believed he was smarter than everyone else because he was allowed to get away with anything, including murder.

She considered Surrey. He would be methodical and study every angle. There wasn’t time for that approach, but maybe she could use his process to a degree. “Patterns.” Just as she so often found, there were patterns to every killer’s operation.

“What do you mean?” Walsh asked.

“The one thing I always try to find is patterns. Surrey did the same thing in Denver, but he was better; more precise.”

“What are you saying, Kate? What do you want to do here?”

“Bishop has had help since the beginning.”

“We know that,” Walsh replied.

“Right, but what if he was on his own? Like he is right now. His mommy won’t be able to get him out of this one. He’s looked to her to bail him out of every problem he’s had. What will he do without her help?”

“Run for the hills? I mean, I’m not sure where you’re going with this and we’re running out of time.”

“I know. I just—I’m just trying to figure this out in my head,” Kate replied. “Bishop doesn’t know anything else besides acting on his impulses. And I think his impulses are telling him he might as well do what he can because there’s no turning back. His pattern of behavior suggests finding victims who are hurt or dying and need his help.”

“Gotcha so far. Go on,” Walsh replied.

Her eyes sparked with an idea. “The homeless. I saw several encampments on our way here. That’s where he’ll go. It’s the only place left where he’ll find desperate and defenseless people. Those are the ones he thrives on. That is his pattern of behavior.”

Walsh smiled and picked up his radio. “Fisher, tell me Scarborough’s been taken to a hospital?”

“He’s on his way now. He was alert enough to tell us where Bishop injected him. We don’t know what he was given, but they have managed to stabilize him and on arrival, they’ll run tests for every substance they can.”

“Tell them to look for something Bishop could’ve stolen from one of the medical stations,” Kate said to Walsh.

“Hey, have them check what the med stations have. Reid is certain Bishop would’ve lifted something from there.”

“Got it. What’s the plan? Where are you two?”

“We need a car. We feel confident Bishop will take refuge inside a homeless encampment. He’ll have plenty of victims to choose from and no one will give a damn.”

“I’d say she’s on the money. We’ll head your way,” Fisher replied.

Walsh looked around. “We’re standing in front of a small grocer’s market.”

“Be there as fast as we can.”

Perez was behind the wheel of the SUV as he traversed the streets, careful to avoid raising alarms. The National Guard didn’t take well to cars speeding around areas where people still searched for their loved ones.

Fisher was in the front passenger seat and turned back to Kate. “There’s still time. We won’t let him leave this city, Reid. I’ll be damned if I let that happen.”

“Who’s with Nick right now?” she asked.

Perez peered through the rearview window. “I trust Gutierrez with my life. He will ensure your agent’s safety. And he is in the care of one of the best doctors in the country.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to be there with him?” Duncan placed her hand on Kate’s shoulder.

“No. I can’t. I have to be here to help find him. I know Bishop. I know this is where he’ll be.”

“You seem to have been right the first time, Agent Reid,” Perez began. “I will not doubt your word this time.”

Perez pointed to the right. “This one here. This is the