Progression Series 13 Out of the Shadows Page 3

  Sandburg threw himself forward, tackling the guy around the waist. The two fell as one, rolling over and over on the unyielding pavement. Blair exhaled a grunt of pain as his left hand burned along the asphalt before the two men came to a stop. Sandburg lay on his back, the assailant beside him, face down on the asphalt. But even as Blair sat up, he realized the attacker was already pushing to his feet, preparing to run again.

  Blair grabbed at him, managing to get a hold on his jacket and on the ski mask. But Blair was still sitting on the ground. The man was standing--giving him the advantage. Drawing his fist back, he hit Blair square in the jaw. Sandburg's head snapped backward and the coppery taste of blood filled his mouth. The man struck Blair again, then jerked out of his grip.

  But as Blair felt backward against the hard pavement, he realized he still held the man's ski mask in his hand. He'd somehow managed to pull it free from his head. Above him, angry eyes glared down at him. Blair blinked up at his attacker...and tried to take in every detail of his face.

  "Damn you!" the man spat out. He raised a fist again. At that moment, the sound of sirens split the night. Seconds later voices called out--angry, worried, drawing closer. The man licked his lips, took one last look at Blair, then ran toward the other end of the parking lot. Slipping around a dumpster, he disappeared down a slight incline and was gone.

  Blair lay back against the asphalt and closed his eyes, his breath coming in harsh gasps. His hand fisted around the ski mask he still held in his hand. It was the first piece of physical evidence they had in the case. Groaning slightly, his left hand and his jaw aching, he managed to get to his feet. He limped slightly as he made his way back to Ryan Collins and the latest victim in the bizarre case.

  As he drew nearer he could hear Ryan's voice, the professor's tone low, comforting. "Help is on the way," he was saying. "Just hold on. Everything will be all right."

  The professor had levered himself out of his chair and now sat on the ground beside the victim. Behind him, the two empty wheelchairs sat side-by-side on the lawn. An ambulance and a police cruiser pulled up just as Blair reached the two men. He looked down at the man Ryan Collins was cradling in his arms--looked into the badly beaten face of Dan Parker.

  /

  /

  /

  Jim Ellison stalked into the hospital emergency room and cocked his head to one side, searching for his partner. Blair's heartbeat reached him an instant later, the rhythm strong and familiar. He followed the sound and found his partner sitting in the waiting room, an ice pack to his jaw, a bandage covering his left hand. He leaned back against the wall behind him, his eyes shut.

  Jim walked over to him and stopped. Crossing his arms over his chest, he glared down at his obstinate partner.

  Blair exhaled a long, weary sigh and, not bothering to open his eyes, said, "Don't glare at me, Jim."

  "What the hell did I tell you about not going after this guy on your own?" Ellison bit out. "I thought we talked about this. I thought you promised me you'd be careful."

  Blair opened his eyes and looked up at Jim, his expression fatigued. "I don't need a lecture, man. I'm too tired for that."

  Jim slid into the seat beside his partner. "Sandburg, he could have killed you."

  "It was instinct. He ran, I chased him."

  "You should have just let him go. He could have had a knife or a gun. Then what would you have done? He-"

  "Okay, okay." Blair held up a hand, stopping Jim's flow of words. "I got it, all right?"

  Jim sighed out in frustration. "I wish I could believe that."

  He closed his eyes and leaned back against his chair, his position mirroring that of his partner. Jim had just dropped Simon off after dinner when the call had come through about the latest assault at Rainier. Tom Brayden had called Jim personally to tell him Brown and Rafe had arrived to handle the details, that Serena was just finishing up her forensics sweep, and that Blair had accompanied Dan Parker to the hospital. Jim hadn't been surprised to hear that Sandburg had gone to Cascade General to be with the injured student, but he hadn't expected Brayden's next statement: "The kid's got guts, Jim--chasing after the attacker like he did..."

  Why am I surprised? Jim asked himself. Did I really expect Blair to be able to stand by and let an attack just happen right under his nose? Expecting him to sit by and do nothing more than call 911 was ridiculous...

  "Let's see what's under that pack," Jim asked softly, sitting forward and turning toward his brooding partner.

  Blair lifted the ice pack away from his face. Purple and black bruising marred the lower left side of his cheek and jaw and his lower lip was cut and a bit swollen. Jim frowned at the damage. "What happened to your hand?" he asked, nodding toward the bandaging.

  "Skinned it on the pavement when I tackled the guy."

  Jim reached out and gently pushed Blair's hand back to his face, covering up the bruising again with the ice pack. "Tell me this was worth it."

  "It was worth it," Blair said, the words surprising the detective. Sandburg tried to smile but then winced, his face obviously protesting the movement. "I managed to pull off the guy's ski mask. I saw his face, Jim. It was fast but I think I can remember enough to do a pretty good composite. But that's not the best part."

  Jim raised an eyebrow. "Give, Sandburg," he said when his partner remained quiet.

  "We still have the ski mask. I turned it into the responding officers. Brayden said he'd get it to Forensics. If there's hair or saliva on that thing, we could get a DNA sample. Then, when we do catch this guy, that mask will nail him."

  "All right, I'll admit that that was good work, in spite of the fact that you still put yourself at undue risk. But you're forgetting one thing," he added, his tone low.

  Blair's brow furrowed. "What's that?"

  "Sandburg, more than likely you just added yourself to this guy's hit list."

  But Blair merely shrugged, his eyes slipping closed again as he leaned his head against the wall behind him. "Hey, better me than another handicapped student or faculty member."

  Jim huffed out a breath of air. He studied his partner, took in the bruised face and bandaged hand. I'm not risking him getting hurt again. He knew that even though Blair was now more than likely a target of this assailant, he would still insist on working nights at Rainier. But Jim was no longer going to let him work alone. If this guy comes after my partner, I'm going to be there to back him up.

  "So, how's Parker?" Jim asked, glancing down the corridor toward the treatment rooms.

  "I don't know. I'm still waiting to hear." Blair sat up suddenly and turned toward Jim. "You still think there's no connection between him and the attacks, right? That this was random?"

  Jim nodded. "I didn't find anything that would suggest these attacks are connected to him in any way. I think what you were afraid would happen did happen--Parker didn't want anyone watching over him and he paid the price because of it."

  Blair frowned, but nodded his head in agreement with Jim's statement. "Hey, Dr. Stoddard's here," he announced suddenly, pushing to his feet and crossing the busy waiting room to where the chancellor stood near the admitting station. Jim followed, keeping close to his partner.

  "Professor!" Blair called out as they drew near.

  Eli turned, his face creasing in concern as he took in Blair's appearance. "Blair, what happened? I heard Dan Parker was attacked. They didn't tell me you were involved, too." Reaching out, he gently pulled the ice pack away from Blair's face, wincing at what he saw there. "Are you all right?"

  "I'm fine. A few bruises."

  Eli sank down a nearby chair and rubbed at his temples with both hands. "This is unbelievable. I should have canceled evening classes the moment this began."

  Blair sat down beside him, one hand reaching out to grip his arm. "Professor, none of this is your fault," he said, his voice insistent. "You can't blame yourself."

  Jim had just opened his mouth to add his own reassurances when the phone in his pocket rang. He
pulled it from inside his jacket and moved a few steps away from the two men as they continued to talk quietly. "Ellison," he said.

  "Jim, it's Henri. I have some bad news." He paused briefly before continuing. "Jack Kelso has been attacked again, this time in his home."

  "What?" Jim shook his head. "Henri, that can't be right. This guy doesn't attack people in their homes. He attacks on campus."

  There was a small pause at the other end of the line and Jim could mentally picture Henri shrugging at Jim's statement. "Apparently, he's changed his MO."

  "How's Jack? Is he okay?"

  "I don't know. He was unconscious when we got here and he looked pretty bad. They just took him away in an ambulance. His neighbors heard the commotion at his place and called it in. Otherwise..." His voice trailed off, but Jim didn't need to hear the rest of the sentence. If not for Jack Kelso's neighbors, the man would now be dead.

  "Listen, Henri, I'm at the hospital right now. I'm going to wait for them to bring Jack in, see how he is. Why don't you go ahead and process the scene. We can discuss whatever you find tomorrow."

  "You got it, Jim."

  Jim closed his phone and turned back to his partner and the chancellor. They still sat side-by-side, the ice pack now forgotten in Blair's lap as the two men conversed in hushed tones.

  "You can't blame yourself," he heard Blair saying again as he walked up and stood before them. Slowly, both men turned to look up at him. "Who was on the phone?" Blair asked.

  Jim hesitated, knowing how this latest news would impact the two men. "It was Detective Brown," he said, using Henri's title for Eli's benefit. "Jack Kelso was attacked again...in his home."

  Blair's eyes widened in stunned surprise. "What? How can that be?"

  "Is he all right?" Eli asked, standing.

  "I don't know. They're bringing him in right now."

  Blair leaned back in his chair, his gaze distant, introspective. "I don't get this," he muttered. "Why would this guy go after Jack again? And how the hell did he know where he lived?"

  "Finding out where he lived would be easy," Jim said. "As for why, maybe Jack saw more than he realized, knew something about this guy that he didn't realize was important." He narrowed his eyes, trying to come up with the best plan of attack. "We need to pull out Jack's statement, go over it line by line, see if we missed anything."

  "We didn't miss anything!" Blair shoved to his feet, throwing the ice pack down into his now vacant seat before pacing past his partner. "There's nothing there, Jim." He turned to face the detective again, his gaze challenging. "You know that. Jack's statement was paper thin."

  "There has to be something there, Sandburg," Jim shot back. "Something that would have made it worth the risk of going after Jack again."

  Blair shook his head adamantly. "That's a dead end and you damn well know it!" He gestured wildly toward the treatment area. "We still don't know how Dan is and now Jack's being brought in, too! And what have we done to stop this? Nothing!"

  "Sandburg!" Jim closed the short distance between them and stared down at his partner. "You think this attitude of yours is helping?"

  Blair let out a long, frustrated breath. "I'm sorry. I'm just having a hard time staying objective here." He ran a shaky hand through his hair. "I feel like all we're doing is waiting around for someone else to get hurt so we can catch a break."

  "And we did catch a break this time. You saw the guy, got his ski mask."

  "Which will only help us if we catch this guy! And we're not going to do that by sitting around, going over Jack's statement again."

  "Do you have an idea, then?" Eli asked from behind them.

  Jim turned toward the chancellor. He had forgotten for a moment that the man was still there, listening to his conversation with Blair.

  Eli crossed to them. "Do you have a plan?" he repeated.

  Jim turned back to his partner and saw something in his eyes. Something he didn't like.... Blair shifted his gaze from Jim to Eli and back again. Whatever was going through Sandburg's mind, Jim was sure he was going to be against it. He could tell it wasn't good by the way his guide was hesitating....

  "We need to set this guy up," Blair said at last, his voice low, confidential. "I could be a decoy and-"

  "Oh, no. Forget it," Jim cut in. "There's no way I'm letting you put yourself in danger like that."

  "You said yourself that I could be a target for this guy," Blair argued. "So instead of waiting for him to come after me, why don't we set up the right circumstances so he can't help but come after me. Only you'll be there to catch him in the act."

  "I don't like it," Eli said from beside Jim.

  Blair turned toward him. "It's just a matter of time before this guy attacks someone else. All I'm suggesting is that we control the circumstances surrounding that attack."

  "It won't work," Jim said.

  "Jim, just listen-"

  "Sandburg, it won't work," Jim said, his voice overriding Blair's. "You aren't handicapped. If this guy goes after you, it won't be up close and personal. He'll go after you from a distance."

  "You mean with a gun," Eli said softly.

  Jim nodded. "Possibly." He turned back to his partner. "There's no way to control that kind of circumstance, Chief. I won't risk you that way."

  "How can you be so sure?" Blair asked.

  "Because this is not a man who wants to get into a physical confrontation with someone who is his equal. He's a coward. That's why he attacks people in wheelchairs."

  "Then put me in a wheelchair," Blair suggested.

  "He's already seen you, Chief. He'll know you're a fake. No, if we're going to do this, we need someone he's already seen, someone the attacker already knows is disabled."

  "Like me."

  All three men turned toward the voice behind them. A blonde-haired man with an immaculately groomed beard and mustache sat in a wheelchair just inside the ER doorway, his strong gaze locked on Jim.

  "If you need a decoy, you should use me," he offered.

  Jim's brow furrowed as he stared at the man. Had they met before?

  "Jim, this is Professor Collins. Ryan Collins," Blair said in way of introduction.

  Jim nodded, realizing this was the man Blair had been escorting to his van each night. I must have seen him around campus, he reasoned as he stepped forward and shook the hand Collins had extended toward him. "I appreciate the offer, Professor, but it's out of the question."

  "I thought you went home, Ryan," Blair inserted.

  "I was going home," Collins explained, "but I felt so awful about Dan. I just had to know if he was going to be okay, so I turned around and came here instead. I know I haven't been at Rainier for very long, but I do feel like a part of that community and I want to help." He looked up at Jim again. "I heard you say that you needed someone that this guys knows is handicapped. Well, I'm sure he saw me with Blair tonight. He knows I'm confined to a wheelchair, which makes me your perfect decoy."

  Jim shook his head. "I just can't-"

  But his words died off as the doors to the emergency room slid open. A gurney was wheeled in, the paramedics shouting stats on the incoming patient as they moved. Jim zeroed in on the man who lay white and still on the stretcher. And as Jack Kelso's bloodied and bruised face came into focus, his jaw clenched.

  He was attacked in his own home. Who knows what this guy is capable of next?

  Jim turned back to the three men behind him, knowing what he had to do. "Okay," he directed to Collins, "but if we do this, we do it by the book." He studied the man before him, sized him up, saw the strength of will that belied his physically-challenged condition. "Are you sure you're up to this, Dr. Collins?"

  "I'm positive," the professor answered without hesitation.

  Jim leaned down and pinned Collins with a firm, no-nonsense glare. Strong, determined, willing--none of those attributes would save the professor if he got too cocky, too sure of himself. "I want you to be absolutely sure of what it is that you're getting yourself i
nto, Dr. Collins. This is no game we're playing here."

  But Ryan met Jim's gaze evenly, an air of quiet confidence in his posture and in the expression on his face. A knowing smile tweaked the corners of Collins' lips. "Oh, but it is a game, Detective," the psychology professor stated. He leaned back in his chair and smiled at Ellison. "And I think it's about time we started playing, don't you?"

  As Jim steered the Ford toward the loft, Blair closed his eyes and rested his head against the passenger window. He'd ridden with Dan to the hospital, leaving his Volvo behind in the parking lot at Rainier. It would remain there until the following day when Jim dropped him off again.

  Dan Parker was going to be all right. He'd suffered a bruised kidney and a broken left arm. He'd regained consciousness before Sandburg and Jim had left the hospital, and had been able to give them a brief description of the attack. It matched Jack Kelso's story and the stories from the victims at UW--a man in a ski mask and gloves stepped from the shadows, pulled him from his chair, and beat him.

  Blair shifted as his mind turned to Jack Kelso. The second beating had been more severe. He had a hairline fracture to his skull and one of his already broken ribs had punctured a lung, causing it to collapse. The doctors were optimistic. Blair planned to call the hospital first thing in the morning to see how he was doing. Maybe Jack will have regained consciousness by then.

  Blair just hoped that their plan to use Ryan Collins as a decoy would work. It was time to take this bastard off the streets. They'd set up a meeting at the station tomorrow afternoon to discuss the details of the arrangement. Blair grimaced to himself as he thought of the stack of waivers Ryan Collins would have to sign. It hadn't been all that long ago since Blair had had to sign the same type of waivers--waivers that had initialized and permitted his partnership with Jim.

  Waivers and legalities and technicalities aside, what Ryan Collins had volunteered to do was nothing short of brilliant. And courageous. And even though it was dangerous, it was also perfect--the perfect ploy, the perfect opportunity to catch the assailant. And, with any luck they would be able to put their plan into motion as soon as tomorrow night.