Eric Hurwitz was way better at evading a tail than Jeremy expected.

  They'd been pursuing him through the streets from a few car lengths behind, and it became obvious pretty quickly that he'd noticed them following him. In fact, Jeremy would have sworn he'd been trained. As soon as possible, he'd gotten on the highway and taken a few aggressive weaves through traffic, using every truck he could find to try and lock Jeremy into a wall of heavy traffic. More than once, Jeremy almost missed him taking an exit, and as soon as he'd followed Hurwitz down, the man changed lanes and went right back onto the highway.

  "Man, fuck this guy," Maddie grumbled.

  "This is pretty normal. Just be glad no one's shootin' or crashin' into shit yet."

  "Was that common?"

  "No, thank God. If it was, I'd've left sooner."

  The chase continued, street by street, totally unknown to the typical Vancouver traffic. Just Hurwitz in his sedan with his bag of groceries, and Jeremy and Maddie in pursuit in Lani's much nicer and sportier car. If it were the open road, Jeremy could overtake him in an instant, but there was just too much civilian traffic in the way.

  Hurwitz is a civilian too. For now. Don't jump the gun yet.

  "He's not givin' up, is he?"

  Jeremy shook his head. "I can't actually pull him over 'cause we aren't supposed to be here, and he can't shake me. It's a goddamn stalemate."

  "Well he ain't supposed to be here either, right?"

  He felt like punching himself. "Shit, why didn't I think of that?"

  "You fuckin' said it, bro," Maddie pointed out, confused. "I'm just repeating you."

  "Yeah, but..." He shrugged. "Fuck it. Hang on."

  He gunned the engine. On the next off-ramp, he made his move. Sliding into the shoulder, they sped along past traffic, ignoring the angry onlookers, catching up with Hurwitz in a heartbeat. As soon as they got close, Jeremy flicked on the lights carefully embedded around the upper windshield of Lani's car.

  Hurwitz didn't give them any trouble. They followed him a block away and into a busy retail parking lot, parking at the far end. Jeremy got out, Maddie only a few steps behind. They approached the car, with Jeremy's hand itching towards his gun. Please don't be another fuckin' psychopath.

  He knocked on the window. It slid down.

  "Eric Hurwitz?"

  The man nodded, staring straight ahead. "Is there a problem, officer?"

  "Look at me, man."

  He did, and his eyes immediately widened in recognition.

  "Good. We can drop the fuckin' formalities."

  "I don't want any trouble," he said quickly.

  "I've been lookin' for you. We tried to contact your place of work, but they said you were on an 'unexpected sabbatical'."

  He nodded. "That's right."

  "Let me be clear. I'm not lookin' for you. I don't care about you at all. Far as I'm concerned, you tell me what I want to know and you can go home as if nothin' happened. No strings attached. Sound good?"

  "Sure."

  "I'm lookin' for a woman named Jackie Nossinger. Heard of her?"

  Hurwitz shook his head. "No, I haven't."

  Fuck. He doesn't look like he's lying… maybe she used a different name. "Older lady, about fifty seven, short-ish brown hair. Always wears it up. Tough-as-nails. Probably still fit, even though she had a pretty quiet job recently as a small town sheriff. Ringing any bells?"

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  He gulped and nodded slowly.

  "I need to find her. Help me out, you never hear from me again."

  "I don't know where she is."

  Jeremy sighed audibly. "That's not the answer I wanted, Mr. Hurwitz."

  "Honestly!" he added frantically. "I haven't seen her in weeks!"

  "Weeks," Jeremy repeated pointedly. "But she was missin', presumed dead months ago. Care to explain?"

  He gulped again. "I… uhh…"

  "Look, Eric," Maddie cut in unexpectedly. "I get it, you're protectin' someone. Would it make a difference if we told you we're on the same side?"

  "...Why are there sides?" he asked. "How did I get dragged into this?"

  "Who dragged you in?" asked Jeremy.

  "I mean, I wanted to. I…" He shook his head. "I shouldn't tell you any of this."

  "Eric, we're not here officially," said Maddie. "I'm on vacation, celebrating my re-election, and he's here as my escort."

  "Your escort?" said Jeremy, rounding on her.

  "You ain't handsome enough to pass off as my boyfriend."

  Jeremy shook his head. "Point is, Hurwitz, this isn't for the fuckin' feds. I'm just lookin' for my friend. So whoever you're protectin', they stay protected. Fair?"

  He shook his head. "I can't do that."

  Time to play all the cards, I guess. "It's your daughter, right?"

  Right on the money. "...How did you know that?"

  "It's my job to know this shit, man. I need to talk to Rachel, and I'm gonna find her one way or another. It's a matter of fuckin' time. If I found you, you don't think I can find her?"

  He shrugged. "She's a lot smarter than I am."

  "Yeah, but I got the weight of the entire fuckin' FBI behind me. No one outruns us forever."

  "You don't know what you're up against," he said, with a touch of pride.

  "Let me guess, she told you about what she can do. Magic, right?"

  Hurwitz looked even more surprised than when he'd named his daughter. "...You already know about that?"

  Maddie laughed. "Eric, the quicker you assume we know everything, the easier this goes for you."

  Jeremy tried to soften his tone. "I get it. You're tryin' to protect your daughter. Can you trust me that I don't mean her any harm?"

  The man hesitated. "You got kids?"

  "...No. Never really thought about it."

  He nodded. "Then you really don't get it."

  "What's not to get?" said Maddie with a shrug. "You'd die to protect her. We don't want to hurt her though, we just want to talk."

  "I wasn't there for her growing up," he continued, as if she hadn't spoken. "I mean, I was in touch, but she mostly just grew up with her mom. We never married, and after a while we just knew it was over. But then I get a call, out of the blue twelve years later from my ex. She tells me that Rachel's in trouble, and that they both need me."

  He glanced up at them, hand still clutching the steering wheel of the car. "And I didn't wait a moment. I left my whole life behind, and I don't regret a second of it. But my daughter's in real danger. So when I see a man world-famous for trying to hunt her and her friends down, what am I gonna do?"

  "...Be contumacious?" suggested Maddie.

  Jeremy glanced at her. "McDonough again?"

  "Man loves his thesaurus."

  "The fuck does that even mean?"

  "Means recalcitrant."

  "...The fuck does that mean?"

  "Aren't we getting away from the point here?" she said, nodding at the bemused Hurwitz.

  Jeremy turned back to the man. "I'm gonna make you an offer, and it's the best one you're gonna get. See, if I found you, I can find everyone else. Just you is more than enough to take back to my chief and authorize a full fuckin' sweep of this city. Trust me, with the pressure on the Rallsburg case, it ain't hard to swing that. Between us and the Canadians, we'll be a goddamn invading army if we have to, just to find your daughter and bring her in, because we don't have a single witness otherwise."

  "Or?" he asked nervously.

  "Or you take me to see her. Just me—"

  "Hey!" Maddie interjected indignantly.

  "Just me," Jeremy repeated firmly. "No tricks. We talk, any location she likes. I get my answers and I leave. You guys get to stay in hiding. Trust me, the Bureau ain't gonna find you after that. We're good at burying people who don't want to be found."

  "Burying in a good way," Maddie added quickly.

  "You mean like witness protection?" asked Hurwitz. "Is that a possibility?"

  "Well not exactly, since you're not gonna be witnesses. I'm assumin' you don't want to appear in any court."

  "Right."

  "It'll be off the books, just how you like it." Might be tough to pull off, but I think Lani can probably cover it for me. He'd know how to slip records into the system unannounced. Assumin' it's even possible… but that's not my problem. I just gotta convince Hurwitz it is.

  Hurwitz stared straight ahead for a long while, considering. Maddie was glancing around nervously at passerby. A few people wandered near as they crossed the lot, heading for the fast food places across the street or returning from it. No one had listened in on them, but with the police lights off it didn't look like a traffic stop anymore. He wondered how much they looked like a random drug buy. A retail parking lot was common enough.

  If some civvie calls us in right now, I'm gonna be pissed.

  "...Just you," he said, finally.

  Maddie opened her mouth to protest again, but Jeremy shook his head. She stopped mid-breath. "Good. You drive."

  "Huh?"

  Jeremy walked around to the passenger side of his car and opened the door, taking a seat. He leaned out of the window and tossed the keys to Maddie. "I'll call you later. Go see the sights or somethin'."

  Maddie glared at him. "You owe me for this, bro."

  "I'll send you a postcard." He nodded at the dumbstruck Hurwitz. "Well?"