CHAPTER TWENTY

Teri’s distinctive hair was hidden under her Spurs baseball cap and the large hot pink sunglasses dwarfed her features. She sat under a pavilion reserved for large parties. The massive concrete pillars supported a poured concrete roof. She guessed it had been built in the thirties as it bore the unmistakable stamp of that era.

It was relatively cool in the shade. She watched a family with two small excited boys waiting for their turn to ride on the train.

She felt disconnected and unafraid. In some neat compartment of her mind, Teri thought she should be terrified, but she couldn’t bring it to the forefront.

It might have been all those years in front of the camera where she’d put aside her personal feelings to promote whatever product the sponsor was trying to sell. Or it could have been the recent years in advertising when she put on a smile and greeted clients who were so impressed with themselves because Teri Slaughter, former model was their account manager.

Absolutely! Teri Slaughter could pull this off.

She glanced at her watch. She moistened her dry lips and phoned the kidnapper.

“Where are you?” she asked.

“What do you mean? Where the hell are you? You better live up to your end of the bargain, or else. . .”

“Or else what?”

“If you don’t watch your step the little nun won’t make it through this adventure.”

“I plan to give you the money. I’m waiting for you. Get on the train. Sister Clem will sit in the front of the car and you will sit in the back. At the next station Sister Clem will get off and I’ll get on with the money.”

“How do I know you’ll hand over the money?”

“Because you could always grab Clem again or one of the other nuns. I’m tired of running. I just want this to be over. I want you to take the money and go away.”

The kidnapper expelled a dry hiss. “No problem. I’m glad you realize that we can reach out and touch your little nun friends any time we want.” He chuckled to himself. “You know we can always take out the little nun in Maine if you don’t cooperate?”

A shiver that should have registered on the Richter Scale rocked Teri. She cleared her throat to hide the fact that he’d gotten to her. “I do realize that,” she said. “When Clem steps off the train the money is all yours.” She disconnected and waited. Soon, she heard the train whistle. She took a deep breath and sat motionless, on alert. They’re here.

A few seconds later she identified Clem sitting in the front of the first train car.

Clem gripped the railing and stared straight ahead. She appeared to be terrified. Clem looked as fearful as Teri should have felt.

Two very dangerous men were sandwiched into the rear seat of the same car. One was the man she’d seen outside the nun’s apartment and the other was Frank Altman, the man who killed Colin.

Now I’m frightened.

Teri stood up. She walked slowly toward the train. Several passengers boarded while others disembarked. Children shrieked in high pitched voices while their parents scrambled to collect their belongings. Surely they wouldn’t murder her with so many witnesses.

“Hi Clem,” she said.

“Oh, Bernie, you’ve got to get away from here,” Clem said. “These men are dangerous.”

“I promised to give them something they want.”

“No, just get away from me,” Clem insisted. “You can go to the police.”

“This will never end, Clem. I have to make them stop.”

“No!” Clem raised her voice. “No, you don’t. If you go with them, they’ll kill you and then they’ll come and kill me too. I saw their faces and I can identify them.” Clem grasped Teri’s arm. “If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for me.”

“It’s my sister, Clem.” Teri drew a shaky breath. “He said he’d kill her.”

“Your sister, the model?” Clem looked confused.

“Clem, I’m Teri. My sister is Bernadette, the nun. I’ve been masquerading as her because I saw the men who killed my boyfriend.” Teri watched Clem struggle to understand. “I’m sorry for the deception, but I’ve got to go now. If I don’t hold up my end of the bargain, they’ll go after the real Sister Bernie. Please go and get the police. Stay safe.”

Clem gazed at Teri, shaking her head. “Aren’t you angry that they killed your boyfriend?”

As Teri stood staring at Clem, a shaft of pain replaced the fear that had moved her to such rash action. “Yes, I am.” Teri glanced back at the two men at the rear of the car. “Clem, I left a package under the pavilion. It’s on the seat by the ticket booth. Please take it to Father Conlyn. Tell him it’s for the scholarship fund. Get going!” She gave Clem a gentle shove and slid onto the seat. She turned to the men and raised the blue bag before placing it on the seat beside her.

Clem gripped the brown paper grocery bag wrapped in tape with both hands and watched Teri as the train lurched into motion.

As the train gathered momentum, Clem saw two men running across the grass toward the station.

#

Angel spotted Sister Clem standing under the Pavilion. He raced toward her with Arturo on his heels.

“Sister Clem! Where’s Teri?”

Clem had both arms wrapped around a brown paper package. She pointed, wordlessly, to the tail end of the train as it snaked away.

Angel stared open-mouthed at the plume of steam rising from the smokestack to punctuate the blue sky above the park.

“There are two men in the car with her. I’m afraid they’ll kill her.”

Angel experienced a crushing sensation in his chest. “I hope you’re wrong.”

He ran to a golf cart driven by two park employees and flashed his badge. The uniformed men ceded the motorized vehicle and stepped back. Angel motioned Arturo inside and took off, skidding gravel. He stared through the bug-spattered plastic windshield at the end of the caboose engaging in a desperate slow-motion pursuit of the woman he loved.

Angel kept his foot floored on the pedal, grinding down on it in a vain attempt to give it speed.

Arturo sat patiently. “Relax, son. You can’t make this cart go any faster and you’re giving me motion sickness.”

“Why, Pop? Why would she go after these guys by herself? She knows how dangerous they are.”

“Women, son.” Arturo shook his head. “We’re not allowed to know what they think.”

Angel gritted his teeth and slammed his open palm against the steering wheel. He checked his weapon and made sure he had a spare clip filled with bullets. “Pop, when we get to the next stop, I’m going to be looking for Teri. If she’s there and not in danger, I’ll make her return with us, I’ll sacrifice the arrest. If he’s holding her, I’ll have to figure it out as we go. Whatever happens, Pop, I don’t want you to get in the way. If we can get her, great, but if not, I want you to take cover and stay safe.” He handed his father the back-up gun from his ankle holster.

Stoically, Arturo tucked the weapon in his jacket pocket. “Don’t worry about me, son.” Arturo pointed his finger at Angel. “But, if anything happens to you, your mama would make me wish I was dead...so take good care of Isabel Garcia’s oldest son.”

“Sure, Pop.”

#

The train slowed as it approached the station above the main entrance to the San Antonio Zoo. Teri let all the other passengers disembark before she stepped out of the train car. The two men stood a few feet away, squinting at her in the bright sunlight. Teri steeled herself for whatever was to come.

She walked toward them. “I’m Teri Slaughter,” she said.

“I know who you are,” the taller man said. He was the one she’d seen outside the nun’s apartment. The other man was shorter, not more than five foot six or seven, and much stockier. She’d seen him before, when she’d been hiding in Colin’s closet. This was Frank Altman, Colin’s murderer. He glowered at Teri from under the brim of a brown felt hat. Definitely not a San Antonio hat.

“Here you go,” Teri said. She hurled the bag as far beyond the men’s reach as possible.

They turned, watching the bag arc in the air and tumble down the side of the ridge. The ridge was criss-crossed with well-worn walking paths and small quaint shops.

Teri made a break for the trail. She ran as fast as she could on the rough, hard packed dirt trail. She sprinted around a young couple struggling with a collapsible stroller. She ran and kept running, her breath burning in her lungs. She didn’t stop to look back lest she trip over a root or rough place in the trail.

Keep running!

#

Angel slowed the cart when he caught up to the train at the top of the ridge above Brackenridge Park. He saw Teri. She had her blue nylon bag and was talking to two men at the next train station.

“Those men are killers,” Angel said under his breath. “They don’t know you, Pop. I want you to get out like any other tourist and if I can distract them, you grab Teri and take cover.”

“Do my best, son.” Arturo gazed intently at the two men.

Angel stopped the cart and sprang out. Teri had disappeared, but he recognized the man Teri’s drawing identified as Hugo Ludwig and the other, shorter man, Frank Altman. He watched them struggling to reach something that appeared to be just out of reach.

“Teri ran down that way,” Arturo said, pointing to the trail.

Angel called Tolliver and waited for him to answer.

“Where the hell are you, Garcia?” Tolliver’s voice boomed over the line.

“I’m at the top of the ridge at Brackenridge Park and the kidnappers are here. Can you spare some back up?”

“Right behind you, Detective.” He hung up.

Angel glanced at his father and nodded toward the foot path leading down the side of the ridge.

Arturo gave his son a meaningful glare and strode quickly down the path.

Ludwig reached for something. It was Teri’s blue bag. He hung onto an oak sapling growing out over the cliff and fished the bag back to the top of the ridge. When he got it close enough, he swung back onto firmer ground. His hawk-like face was red from the exertion.

He unzipped the bag and gritted his teeth together, screaming at Altman in rage as he spilled Teri’s clothing out onto the pavement. There was the lacy nightgown lying in the dirt.

Angel couldn’t help but smile when he realized he wasn’t the only man to be infuriated by Teri Slaughter today.

The sound of a siren split the air.

“That’s Garcia, the cop,” Ludwig shouted. Altman pulled a nine millimeter from his jacket.

“Get down!” Angel yelled as the people milling about screamed and ran in all directions. A bullet whizzed by his head as he jumped behind a concrete pillar. He waited a second before he stepped out. He fired his weapon and Altman fell to the ground. Ludwig ran down the path behind Arturo.

A police cruiser skidded to a halt and Tolliver emerged with two of his men.

“That’s your man, Frank Altman, Sergeant. Ludwig got away.” Angel ran full tilt, in pursuit of Altman, his father and Teri.

“Wait a damned minute here, Garcia,” Tolliver called after him.

The rest was lost as Angel raced down the hill, hoping Teri was somewhere ahead, hoping Hugo Ludwig didn’t catch up to her or Arturo before he did.

#