Shiver

rate hit turbocharge. Covering the mouthpiece, he said urgently to Sanders, “We’re going to need more than street cops on this. Get somebody else on another radio, call somebody higher up the food chain. Get SWAT over there, maybe even the FBI. ASAP.”
    “We don’t have another radio. Anyway, 911’s the best I can do.” Sanders’s shrug brought a string of curses to the tip of Danny’s tongue. He swallowed them as counterproductive. “Can’t let anyone know we’re involved here. Too much at stake.”
    “Trey, are you almost here?” Tyler’s frightened question riveted Danny’s attention again before he could do more than shoot Sanders a lethal look. On the GPS, the route calculator snaked an arrow south, then east. “They cut Mrs. Menifee’s arm. With their knife. There’s blood everywhere. Tears are coming down her face.”
    Tyler sounded like he might have tears coming down his face, too. Danny’s gut clenched.
    “Are you back under the bed?” he asked fiercely.
    A few soft footsteps followed by a slithering sound gave him his answer.
    “I am now.”
    “ Stay there. ” Beside him, Groves was telling whoever was onthe other end of the radio to call 911. God in heaven, glaciers moved faster than these guys.
    “We’ll be there real soon,” he said to Tyler, trying to sound as calm and steady as he didn’t feel. “We’re coming just as fast as we can.” Covering up the mouthpiece again, he looked at Sanders. “We’re going to 237 Clark. Now. ”
    “No can do,” Sanders replied. They were nearing the expressway interchange. Danny could tell that by the giant streetlights that he could see clustered together maybe a block to the west. Once they were on that, there was no turning back: they would be on a one-way ride over the mighty Mississippi. “Not our mission. You know that.”
    Danny shot him a look that promised death as soon as he could deliver it. “You listen to me, you son of a bitch. I told her everything. The woman in the truck. Veith and the Zetas get their hands on her, she’ll sing like a bird, I guarantee it. Where the safe houses are. Who I’m fingering. The whole deal.”
    Beside him, Groves was still talking to whoever was on the radio, patiently walking them through the situation. According to the arrow on the GPS, the Taurus was only about five miles from 237 Clark.
    Sanders’s expression turned ugly. “You’re lying.”
    “You want to take the chance? That I didn’t tell her something ? Hell, man, they’re torturing a woman as we speak. Somebody doesn’t stop them, they’re going to kill a four-year-old kid. While we drive away, listening on the goddamned phone. ” By the end, it was a barely muted roar. He pointed at the GPS. “We’re five miles away. Go. ”
    “Trey?”
    Danny took a deep breath and uncovered the mouthpiece. “I’m here, Tyler. We’re coming to get you. Sit tight.” He slid his palm over the mouthpiece again. Fear for the kid—and his mother—made him so antsy he could feel nerves jumping under his skin. Under other conditions, he would have shot the asshole driving if he’d had to and commandeered the car. “She heard me talking to you on the phone, Sanders. She knows your name. She was sitting right beside me when I called you. Think about it: you know it’s true.”
    “Fuck.” Sanders’s face reddened as anger infused it. The look he sent Danny was as murderous as Danny felt. At that moment they reached the next intersection, where the GPS arrow pointed left. Looking like he was ready to explode, Sanders cut the wheel sharply and went left on what felt like two wheels.
    Thank you, God.
    “I’m scared,” Tyler whispered.
    Danny knew the feeling; he was scared, too. “I know you are. Nothing bad’s going to happen to you, I promise. We’ll be there real soon.” Cold sweat slid down his spine as he prayed he could deliver on that promise.
    “This is a mistake,” Sanders said. “I fucking know it.”
    “They’re going to kill a kid,” Danny shot back, his palm over the mouthpiece again.
    All of a sudden Mrs. Menifee screamed like an animal being slaughtered. Even through the phone, the sound was so loud and shrill and full of pain and terror that it filled the car. When thescream cut off, abruptly like it was deliberately stopped, Danny found that he was holding his breath.
    “You hear that?” he asked Sanders fiercely. Even as the other man’s jaw set, Danny heard Tyler whimpering. Please God let them