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When Melanie didn’t show up at the office after procuring the evidence, Patterson and Gilmour began calling her cell. After an hour, they were able to get a location from the cell tower where the last signal pinged. Gilmour knew Melanie had taken the local roads and drove in the direction where her car might possibly be. By the time he arrived, a police car and a tow truck were on the scene.
He got out of his car and approached the officer. He showed him his badge. “This belongs to one of my coworkers. Do you know where she is?” Gilmour looked around for signs of Melanie. Her tote bag and phone were in the front passenger seat. Melanie would never walk away from her personal belongings. Nor would she walk away from an accident.
“No. We got a call saying there was a car blocking the road and there was nobody in it.”
“So you didn’t get the call?”
“Nope. Went to the main board. I was around the corner, so they sent me to respond.” The officer took note that there were personal belongings in the front seat. “Do you recognize those items?”
“Yes. They’re Melanie’s.” He kept looking around for any sign of her or somebody who might have seen her. “Any witnesses?”
The officer pointed to a camera on the light pole. “Waiting for techs to run through the video. Should be another minute.” His phone chimed with a link to the video. Gilmour leaned over the officer’s shoulder and watched in horror as Howell snatched Melanie and shoved her in his car. “Run those plates, would ya?” Gilmour was certain the car belonged to Howell. He made a phone call. “We need an APB for a silver Chrysler minivan. License plate three-five-eight, one-seven-one. Driver may be armed and dangerous, OSI agent Wayne Howell. Suspected abduction of OSI agent, Melanie Drake. Last seen entering entrance of three-sixty-five. May be headed to Prince William Forest area.”
“Copy that.”
Seconds later, he heard the call come over the other officer’s radio. They were on it.
* * *
Wayne Howell was slumped over, a half-conscious bloody heap. By now, the car was surrounded by onlookers and Good Samaritans who were desperately trying to open the car doors. Melanie knew she’d come close to killing him. But then there would be two hearings, one for her and one for him. Killing someone, even in the line of duty, required deep scrutiny during an inquiry. It would go on her record. She looked at the rumpled pile of the impaired psychopath. One knee to the throat would end him. It was tempting, but she didn’t want to be the subject of the investigation. She’d be called to testify, but as a victim. He’d be the criminal justice system’s problem now.
She pulled on the passenger handle, slowly opened the door, and crawled out. Two people helped her stand upright. “Do not let that man get away.”
Two police cruisers pulled up, blocking the car on each side. Questions were bouncing off the sidewalk.
She thanked the people who’d come to her aid. “OSI. Badge is in the back seat.” She was huffing.
One officer wrapped a blanket around her and escorted her to his vehicle. Another officer checked Howell’s pulse. “We’re gonna need a bus,” he shouted to his partner and held up two fingers. He felt Howell’s pulse. It was weak, but steady. He cuffed Howell to the steering wheel just in case.
The first officer handed Melanie a bottle of water. “Are you okay?”
Melanie was shaking. She’d never been in a real fistfight before. She’d learned basic evasive tactics as part of the program, but she’d never expected she would have to use those particular skills. “I will be.” That was one thing she was certain of. She’d finished the water by the time two ambulances arrived.
Melanie told the officer to bag her hands so they could collect Howell’s DNA. His blood would surely give them an excellent sample. She proceeded to give the officer the basic outline of what had happened. He’d abducted her, she’d escaped from one cuff, and “you can see the outcome.” She tilted her head in the direction of Wayne’s car. “The man is a person of interest in an ongoing investigation.” She knew the officer would ask what kind. “We need to call Richard Patterson. He’s SAIC, special agent in charge. I’m sure he’s wondering what happened to me.”
Her certainty was confirmed when she heard the call come over the officer’s radio:
“Attention all units, BOLO silver Chrysler minivan. License plate three-five-eight, one-seven-one. Driver may be armed and dangerous, known as OSI agent Wayne Howell. Suspected abduction of OSI agent, Melanie Drake. Last seen entering three-sixty-five southbound. May be headed to Prince William Forest area.”
“I guess we beat everyone to it,” the officer said wryly. “Speaking of beating. I can’t imagine he was like that when he got to you.”
Melanie grunted. “No. No, he was not.” The officer walked her over to the ambulance. They swabbed the blood from her hands and then administered first aid. She touched the side of her face where she’d hit the steering wheel, right on top of her scar.
The EMT lifted her chin to check the bruise. “You know, you’re lucky.”
As if in a dream, she repeated the words that had been spoken to her as a child. “I know. It could have been worse.” She smiled to herself.
“Very true,” the EMT replied.
Melanie appreciated the swift work of Gilmour and law enforcement to send an alert. She was lucky. She could have been dead before they got there. She insisted she was alright, but the EMT checked her vitals anyway. She watched the men extricate Howell from the car. By the looks of it, she’d probably broken one of his ribs, definitely his nose, given him a concussion, split his lip, and battered his manhood. Physically and mentally. They handcuffed him to a gurney and lifted him into the ambulance. Two police officers accompanied him.
Melanie looked up at the sound of an approaching helicopter. There was a small field on the other side of the interstate where it began to touch down. She spotted Gilmour and Patterson duck their way out and jog toward the underpass. Within a few minutes, they were on the scene.
“Mel! Are you alright?”
“Just a few scrapes and bruises.” She held up her bandaged hands.
The attending officer introduced himself. “Sergeant Kincaid. As they say, you should see the other guy.”
