Page 28 of Nobody's Hero
‘You never said.’
‘I didn’t want to wake you.’
‘Why stop us now, though?’
‘We’ve just passed a turnpike. The next one isn’t for twenty miles. Nowhere for us to run. Or maybe we’ve crossed into a more friendly jurisdiction.’
‘You’d better pull over then.’
‘Guess I’d better.’
‘But as we don’t know what this is, you’d better keep the engine running.’
Koenig hadn’t needed to be told that.
Chapter 27
Koenig pulled onto what the Brits called the hard shoulder. The BMW tucked in behind him. Koenig stopped. So did the BMW.
‘If I say go, you go,’ Draper said. ‘You put your foot down and we get the hell out of here. I’m not getting whacked because you don’t understand an asshole with a gun is dangerous.’
‘Cops here aren’t armed,’ Koenig said.
‘And cops back home aren’t supposed to moonlight as bounty hunters.’
‘Fair point.’
Koenig watched the BMW in the rearview mirror. There was a woman in the passenger seat. She was making a call. He couldn’t tell if she was using a cell or a police radio. She said something to the man in the driver’s seat, then opened the door. She approached Koenig’s side of the Jag. Touched the trunk as she did. An old cop trick. Put her prints on the car in case something went wrong. Proved she’d been there.
She had shoulder-length black hair tied back in a ponytail. She wore black trousers, a white blouse and a navy blue blazer. Her hands were empty. She wasn’t carrying a bag. If she had a gun, it was tucked into her waist at the back. She knocked on the window. Koenig lowered it.
‘How are you doing?’ she said.
‘Very well, thank you. Yourself?’
‘Can’t complain.’
‘We’ll be on our way then,’ Koenig said.
The woman reached into her inside pocket and produced a thin black wallet. She flipped it open and held it out. ‘My name’s Chief Superintendent Danielle Brown. Do you know why I’ve stopped you?’
‘You’ve forgotten already?’ Koenig said. ‘It was only thirty seconds ago. I’d see a brain doctor if I were you.’
‘Do you want to try again, sir?’
‘Our Jag has a free doughnuts sign in the rear window?’
‘You’d better tell him, Chief Superintendent Brown,’ Draper said. ‘He can keep this bullshit up all day.’
‘I have some questions for you both,’ she said. ‘How about we start with an easy one? What are your names? The truth, please.’
‘My name’s Ben,’ Koenig said. ‘I’m an amateur bum, but I’m hoping to go professional next year. This is Jen. She used to torture people for the CIA but says she doesn’t any more.’
Draper glowered at him.
‘You won’t get into heaven if you lie to police officers, Jen. It’s in the rules. Anyway, she knows exactly who we are. Isn’t that right, Chief Superintendent Brown?’
She nodded. No hesitation. ‘Please, call me Danielle,’ she said.