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The spanner had slowed her down too much, Cami acknowledged reluctantly. The few seconds that would have given her any hope of keeping up had passed her by. Not only was running any distance not her thing, but she was carrying a heavy laptop bag with a state-of-the-art machine inside, and also, wearing Docs. Not designed for long distance running.
Before she went any further, she needed to try and use her smarts here, if any could be found.
He'd been a slim guy, strong, but not all. She had the utmost confidence that if he genuinely was racing out into the big wide world, then longer-legged Connor would catch him. But what if he wasn't?
If he wasn’t planning on fleeing the premises on foot, the other option would be via a vehicle, surely? As a motor mechanic, his mind would immediately focus on cars.
And once behind the wheel of his chosen ride, Cami had no doubt that he would be able to leave them in his dust. But she could see the boundary fence through that door. There were no cars behind there in the direction he’d fled. There wasn’t even any room for cars in that narrow alley. Therefore, if he was going to try and use a vehicle, he would have to leave via the side parking lot entrance. So, that was what she needed to look out for.
Cami turned and bolted the other way, racing past the sounds of grinding and drilling and banging, dodging an arc of sparks from a man intent on his welding. Everyone was so focused on their jobs, and the noise was so deafening, that none of them had noticed they had a fleeing fugitive in their own workspace.
A few looked up when she ran past, but they didn't look too bothered and, of course, she didn't stop to explain.
As she reached the entrance door, Cami paused to get her breath back. She was gasping and struggling to tug the strap of her bag high enough to carry it comfortably, but she wasn't out of breath enough that she couldn't take stock of the situation.
Where was Connor now?
She couldn't see him, although she knew he would be headed in the direction she had seen the mechanic take. But she was convinced that Mario had a sneaky maneuver in mind and that he would have doubled back.
Surely, he could not have just vanished?
Cami didn't have time to work it out. There was no way she could let this guy get away. Not from Connor. Not from her. But she could do something to help prevent the likelihood of escape, and that was to try and disable the cars he might use. Cami knew what car repair places were like. Once the vehicles had reached a drivable stage, they would be test driven.
If they were smart cars, she could disable them. That was her first thought. If only they were all smart cars! But then, she impatiently discarded that ridiculous idea. Smart or not, he might choose any car. She couldn't rely on tech alone to help her now. Now, logic itself had to be used, and she needed to start thinking in a less theoretical and more practical way.
In any repair shop, she knew it was common that cars would usually be left in the lot with the keys inside. The workers' personal vehicles were probably left in exactly the same state.
She betted that Mario was going to try and dodge Connor, get to one of the cars, jump in, fire the engine up, and speed away. There was a way to bypass this if she was quick. She could simply make sure that the cars could not, in fact, be started immediately.
Now realizing the urgency of her mission, Cami forced her legs to move again in their heavy Docs, and she sprinted down to the area where the cars were parked.
She now saw that the side exit was easy to access, and it led into the backstreets of this area, where she was sure he could disappear.
Cami paused, looking around for any sign of him, and planning how she could do this.
She might be totally wrong about this, but if she was right, she didn't want to sabotage these vehicles. In any case, she wouldn’t have a clue how. All she needed to do was create a delay.
And she thought she knew how she could do that.
Swiftly, she moved from car to car. As she'd expected, they all had the keys inside. She ripped them from the ignition, and put them under the passenger seat, out of sight. That would create enough of a delay for a surprised fugitive from justice, who'd expected to just be able to jump into a car, twist the key, and speed away.
Car by car she worked, knowing it might be pointless and that even now, Connor might be chasing this man through the backstreets of Boston.
But she kept going. What else could she do?
When she'd finished and she was sure that every drivable car had a delay in its engine starting, she quickly jogged away from the parking yard.
At that moment, she saw Connor, framed in the large entrance door, looking frustrated. She sprinted over to him.
"He got away," he said, sounding defeated. "I lost him in the back of the building. I've been looking for him since then, but he's gone."
Cami was about to reply when she saw something unbelievable. From a high window, easily ten feet above the ground, a slim figure scrambled out. He lowered himself down, dangling for a moment by his hands. And then, he dropped lithely to the ground.
Connor swore loudly, speeding over toward him with the demeanor of a man who knew he was too far away to stand a chance. The figure was already bolting into the parking lot. Undoubtedly, it was Mario.
“He’s going to get away! It’s too late!” It was rare that Cami heard an actual note of panic in her partner’s voice, but it was there now as he turned to look at their unmarked, parked too far away and on a different side of the building.
“Just wait. Wait a minute! I did something to slow him down. If you run, you can catch him. Promise!”
