Braden shook his head. “No. Tell them to stay on the perimeter unless they see her coming their way.”
Mick frowned. “We going to take her by ourselves? I thought you said she was slippery.”
He nodded. “Sheisslippery. That’s why I want you to stay here and keep an eye on the monitors. Tell me if you see anything strange.”
“Where are you going?” Mick asked, but Braden was already out of the surveillance van and closing the door behind him.
Braden crossed M Street and walked toward the fancy apartment complex Dreya had broken into. She’d just slipped through the sliding glass door and would need a few minutes to disable the security system. After that, she’d move fast, but he instinctively knew where she’d come out, so there wasn’t any need to go up to the condo when he could wait for her here.
He strode over the perfectly manicured lawn until he was directly under the apartment Dreya was in, then hid in the shadows of the hedges and waited. Mick would think Braden was insane for thinking he could outwit Dreya and claim to know which way she’d choose to flee from the scene of one of her crimes. But after all these years studying her file and verbally jousting with her over an interview table, he had a pretty good feel for exactly who she was and what she’d do in any given situation.
Maybe it was arrogance talking, or maybe he was just listening to what his gut was telling him. He almost laughed. Listening to his gut and doing things by instinct weren’t things he was too familiar with these days, but somewhere out there, Tommy was probably smiling down at him.
Braden was still thinking fondly of his old partner when he heard a buzzing sound above him. He looked up and saw Dreya zipping down the side of the building so fast that he thought for a moment she was falling. But then the buzzing sound grew louder, and her descent began to slow. That’s when he caught sight of the ultrathin cable trailing the side of the building. Dreya was using a descender that mountain climbers used, albeit ten times faster than any sane climber would have tried.
A split second later, Dreya touched down on the ground with barely a sound. She stood there, glancing around cautiously. Even though West End was one of the busier parts of DC at night, it was still after three in the morning. The chances of someone seeing her—other than him, of course—were slim to none. As he watched, Dreya tilted her face to the sky, as if she was sniffing the air. That would be silly, but that’s what it seemed like.
After a moment, she disengaged the descender handle from the steel line with quick, confident movements. She was dressed all in black, from her snug-fitting catsuit to her soft ballet-like slippers and gloves, making it easy for her to blend in with the shadows. Whenever he’d brought her to the station for questioning, she’d been wearing some trendy pantsuit or pretty dress. He’d figured that was because she’d known he was going to bring her in and she wanted to look all professional and respectable to throw off the ADA.
Now, Braden realized she’d been dressed like that before to hide the fact that she had a body that would put a gymnast to shame. If someone saw how incredibly fit she really was, they might seriously think she was a woman who climbed buildings for a living. Then again, maybe she dressed like that while at the police station because she didn’t want every man in the place tripping over their tongues when they looked at her.
Then he caught sight of the canvas bag she had slung over her shoulder. It looked fuller than it had been before she’d entered the apartment, reminding him once again that Dreya was much more than just a beautiful woman.
Braden stepped out from the shadows of the hedge where he’d been waiting. “Nice night for a break-in, Ms. Clark. But wouldn’t it have been easier to take the elevator like everyone else?”
* * *
Dreya didn’t need to turn around to know it was Braden Hayes behind her, but she spun anyway. She’d talked to the detective enough times to recognize that deep, sexy voice. Damn, he was even more handsome than she remembered.
Why the hell hadn’t she heard or smelled him? Even the tingle she usually felt along the back of her neck whenever someone was behind her had been strangely absent. Her freaky senses were always on high alert during a job. Why hadn’t they warned her that he was there?
She tensed, waiting for him to pull his gun, but he didn’t. He wasn’t backed by a squad of uniformed police officers either. Her heart still pounded. Hayes had been after her for a long time but had never gotten close to pinning anything on her, not even when she’d stolen that diamond from Thorn. Now he was standing five feet away, and she was carrying a stolen piece in her bag.
She was so screwed.
Her gums suddenly ached, like her fangs were trying to come out. A second later, her fingertips tingled as her claws tried to extend. She sure as hell couldn’t let that happen, not in front of Hayes.
Biting back a growl, she whirled around and took off running.
When she didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing her run, she could make Usain Bolt look like a sloth. And right then, she sure as heck wasn’t concerned about Hayes seeing how fast she was. It wasn’t like he’d be able to get anyone to believe she could accelerate faster than a Ferrari. Hell, he’d be too embarrassed to tell anyone he couldn’t catch her.
She ran around the side of the apartment building she’d just broken into, then turned onto the sidewalk that ran along M Street, slowing as she headed toward Twenty-Sixth Street. There were a few cars out even at this hour of the night, and she didn’t want to freak them out, seeing her blaze past them like a cheetah.
She hadn’t planned on this being her escape route. She’d parked her bike in the parking lot of a big grocery chain a block from her target in the other direction. She could have headed straight for it and made it there in less than a minute, but if she had, Hayes would have seen what she was driving and had every cop in the city after her in minutes.
Instead, she’d run in the opposite direction, hoping Hayes would direct all police pursuit this way. All she would have to do is make a left on Twenty-Sixth, another left on Pennsylvania, then veer onto L Street, making a great big square and bringing her almost to the same place she’d started. It would take a few minutes longer, but it would be worth it.
On the downside, she wouldn’t be able to go to her apartment, which meant that everything in it, as well as all the stuff at her jewelry shop over in Foggy Bottom, were lost to her forever. That sucked, but after running off to Canada a couple of months ago, she’d finally realized that all thestuffshe had surrounded herself with for years didn’t mean nearly as much to her as it once had.
Her canvas bag thumped rhythmically against her back as she ran down Pennsylvania, reminding her of the fragile piece of Jeff Koons art. If she were smart, she would have tossed theBalloon Dog (Blue)piece before she got caught with it. But she couldn’t dump it. The thing was too beautiful. And it wasn’t like she could climb a building and tuck it in a corner somewhere, not without being seen. So she took the risk and held onto it.
She was still running all her escape plans through her head as she reached the grocery store parking lot and found her bike where she’d left it, leaning on its kickstand in the shadows beside the store. She didn’t waste a lot of time looking around. If the cops had been there, the area would have been awash in flashing blue lights.
Dreya climbed on her Ninja, ignoring the helmet attached to the rear seat as she straddled the powerful engine and leaned forward to slip the key into the ignition switch between the handle bars. Being on her bike always relaxed her. Once she was moving on this thing, nobody was catching her.
She reached out with her right hand and thumbed the start switch, but instead of the aggressive growl she was used to hearing when she cranked her bike, she didn’t hear anything at all. She frowned at the ignition, checking to make sure she’d turned the switch all the way to the on position. She had. She thumbed the start switch again, but still nothing.
She was leaning over to see if maybe a cable had been pulled off one of the spark plugs when she felt a tingling sensation run up her spine and settle at the base of her neck. It wasn’t exactly the sensation she got when she was in serious danger, but her freaky side was definitely trying to tell her something.
