While Jamie and Lindsay were preparing to go undercover at the pharmacy, Mac decided to try something else in case that did not work. He sat at his computer and thought about what he wanted to say and typed it in a memo. He would give Jennifer Walsh a statement if the bit at the pharmacy did not work. He knew he could drive that guy to make a mistake that would lead to his capture. That was his intent and he knew Jennifer would be all too happy to publish it.
Soon, the plan was in motion and Lindsay and Jamie were in the pharmacy. Jamie was behind the counter and Lindsay was working a front cash register as though she were a new trainee. Mac was sitting across the street in a police issue car. He knew no one would think it was a police car. It was an old green car and looked like anything but what a police officer would be driving. Mac did not think it smelled like anything he wanted to drive either.
Jamie stood at the pharmacy counter and put prescriptions in bags while the pharmacist filled them. She thought this was not too bad. She had to make sure she got the right name on the bag but that was not too hard. She just had to check the tags and the labels on the bottles. Of course, she had the regular tech helping her too. She also took prescriptions from people and made sure the birthdate was right.
Lindsay was straightening shelves since there was no one to check out at the time. She was wearing a red smock so that she would look like she belonged there. She watched the door every time someone came in but she had not seen anyone who looked like their suspect. Jamie had not seen anyone who looked like him either.
Finally, at around 11 am, when everyone was considering giving up, Wayne Bryant walked into the pharmacy. Mac glared at the man as he walked in. "He's in," Jamie said into the wire.
"I saw him," Mac replied. "Just let him get comfortable."
Jamie watched the man without seeming to. He was in the line to pick up a prescription. Lindsay positioned herself so she could see him as well. Bryant had his hands in his pockets and was looking around him and shifting from one foot to the other. "He looks nervous," Jamie said quietly.
"He probably is," Mac said. "He must know that his picture is all over the city."
As Bryant got closer to the counter, Jamie moved away from her position so that she could get around to help capture him. Suddenly, he was looking right at her and then he looked around behind him. Then he turned and ran. "He's running!" Jamie exclaimed. "Freeze!"
Lindsay sprang into action as she saw Wayne Bryant running toward the door of the pharmacy. "N.Y.P.D.!" she yelled. "Stop!"
Mac got out of the car across the street and headed that way. He saw Bryant come out of the store in a dead run. "Freeze! Police!" Mac yelled.
Bryant was startled by that but he kept running. He turned down the next alley and kept running. Mac was coming down that side of the street now, and Jamie and Lindsay had come out of the pharmacy. "He went down that alley!" Mac yelled. He turned down the alley and could see Bryant going toward the other end at surprising speed. He called it in to the other officers who were waiting.
Bryant went around the corner of the alley and went to the left. Mac came to the end of the alley and almost slid as he was going around the corner, and then he saw that there was a truck coming down the alley. The truck blew its horn loudly and Mac had to go back into the other alley while the truck went by. Jamie and Lindsay got up to Mac by the time the truck got by and they all went back into the alley. Of course, Wayne Bryant was nowhere in sight but Danny was coming from the other end of the alley.
"No one came out this end!" Danny said.
Mac looked around at the truck that had passed by them. "He may be under that truck!" he said.
Lindsay and Danny went after the truck which was not traveling too fast. Danny called backup to stop the truck if it got out of the alley. Mac and Jamie stayed at the other end of the alley to see if Bryant had ducked into some place down there. There was a red door in the side of the old building. Mac got on one side and Jamie on the other. He reached for the door knob and it was not locked. He jerked the door open and they looked inside with their weapons ready. There was a man in the room inside which looked like a utility room for some sort of factory.
The man threw his hands up. "What is this?" he asked. "There's nothing here to steal."
Mac showed the man his badge. "Did you see someone come in here a few minutes ago?" he asked.
"I just came in here."
Mac and Jamie went on through the utility room and out into the main part of the factory which looked like it was a tool factory. Mac did not think he had ever seen so many hammers in one place. He moved over to the person who was working at the table in front of them. "Did you see someone come running through here?" he asked.
The man stared at him a moment. "I did see someone come through a few minutes ago," he said.
"Did he have brown hair? He was wearing a brown shirt and jeans?"
"Yeah. He ran out there."
The man pointed to the other part of the factory. Mac frowned and looked at Jamie. "He could be anywhere in there," he said. "Or he could have already gone out the other side."
Mac called for backup to come to the front of the factory they were in. "He may have already gone out but we don't know," he said.
Mac and Jamie went on out into the factory. "He could be pretending to be a worker in here too," Mac said. "Let's spread out and be careful."
Mac moved to his left and began looking down the aisles, but they were much too long for him to see all the way to the other end. He moved on down a few aisles and then he saw a man coming that way who did not look at all happy. "What are you doing?" he asked. "You can't be in here with a weapon."
Mac showed him his badge. "Have you seen a man in here who doesn't work here?" he asked. "Someone came in here that we were chasing."
"I haven't seen anyone except you."
"Well, I'm not leaving until I know he's not in here, so get out of my way."
Mac went around the man and went on down the aisle and looked down each parallel aisle as he went. To say it was noisy in there would have been an understatement. Mac thought his ears would be ringing by the time he got out of that place. He could see that most of the people were wearing earplugs. He could hear why they were doing that.
Jamie was going around the other way doing much the same as Mac was doing but she had not seen Bryant either. She had paid close attention to the people who were standing at the tables working. None of them bore any resemblance to Wayne Bryant.
Mac moved on around to another area of the factory where the finished products were stored. He could see large boxes full of hammers and any other kind of tool one could think of. He moved on around the large metal shelf which went all the way up to the ceiling almost and had boxes stacked in it. It was much quieter here because of the boxes and the sound could not bounce around so much. Mac listened as he moved slowly into the aisle that went do between the shelves.
Jamie was coming around the end of the tables when she saw some movement in one of the shelves where Mac was walking down the aisle. She tried to yell to warn Mac but he could not hear her over all the noise…
Mac kept walking down the aisle he was in and suddenly, he heard something above his head. He backed up fast and saw that a box was turning over to fall off the shelf over him. He gasped as he saw wrenches starting to fall from the box. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as he jumped to get out of the way. He felt the wrenches hit his legs as he crashed to the concrete floor. He lay there a moment feeling a little stunned but he saw that Wayne Bryant was running toward the other end of the shelf and jumped off that end and went out a door that was on that end. "Hey!" Mac yelled. He tried to get up fast, but his muscles protested that move as they were sore from being pelted by about a hundred wrenches. He got up and had to limp over to the door. He got the door open but he did not see Bryant anywhere.
Mac grimaced as Jamie came up behind him. "Are you alright?" she asked. "I saw what was happening and tried to yell at you but you couldn't hear me."
"I'll be alright," Mac said but one of his knees was very sore as were his shins too. As a matter of fact, they seemed to be getting sorer by the minute.
Jamie went out into the alley and Mac went out there too although he knew he was not going to be chasing anyone right now. He stood there and waited while Jamie looked around, but she did not see the man. "He's gone," she said.
Mac shook his head. "How did he evade us like that?" he asked.
"I don't know, but he seems to like injuring people. First, Don and now, you."
Mac grimaced. He wondered if he could walk back to that pharmacy but he did not have to. He would let Danny bring the Avalanche and pick him up. He supposed he would have to go to the ER and let them see about his legs. He knew they were not broken but they were sure sore with bruises. He would call Jennifer Walsh when he got out of the ER and tell her his plan. He was sure she would eat up a story like that.
Danny soon came around in the Avalanche. "We looked everywhere," he said. "He's nowhere to be found."
"Yeah, and he will be even more wary now," Mac said. He started to climb up into the Avalanche and thought he would not make it. His muscles did not want to do such a thing but he made it anyway. "Take me to the ER."
Danny closed the door and went around as Lindsay was getting back into the Avalanche. Jamie would stay with the others and case the area to see if anyone had seen that guy. It would be another long day…