I see a couple of people made it to chapter 8. Here's 9 for ya.

Chapter Nine: Manhunt

That afternoon, I interrupted everyone's research when a new thought occurred to me.

"Since they didn't succeed in kidnapping Franny, and now we're being extra careful with her, do you think they might pick another target?"

"Like my mom or Maria or one of the kids?" said Ray.

"Right."

Ray picked up his phone and soon we heard him speaking to his mother. "Ma, are you at home? Is Maria there? Where did she go?"

We waited anxiously.

"Okay, and the kids? ...All right, listen. This is important. I want you to keep the other kids with you and stay in the house. Keep all the doors and windows locked. I'll explain later... Love you, too." He hung up the phone. "Maria took the baby shopping," he told us.

"Oh, boy," I said.

"I know where she usually goes," said Franny. "We can probably find her before she heads home."

"Okay. I'm gonna call Tony, just in case. Then we can go."

"Should we alert your brother in New York?" asked Fraser.

"Nah. The fact that we aren't in contact is what's keeping Paulie safe right now."

We trusted Ray's judgment on that. A few minutes later, he hung up the phone again.

"Okay, Tony's on the alert. Now, I vote at least two of us go looking for Maria, but no more than three. We don't want to make what we're doing obvious. Franny should be one, because she's got the best idea where to look."

"I'll go," I offered.

Ray made a face like he didn't particularly want to send me off with his sister, but he was forcing himself to consider it. "I'd rather it were me or Fraser. Fraser's got that uncanny nose for trouble, and if I'm out with her and we run into Maria, it could be seen as normal family stuff. You... I just see the least reason to send you."

I wasn't sure that was legit, but I didn't say so. "But Fraser doesn't drive."

"Okay, I'll drive. Fraser, you coming or staying?"

I clenched my teeth. Fraser would make an unbiased decision. I wanted him to stay, but not if it meant Franny wouldn't be well-protected.

"I'll send Diefenbaker with you," Fraser decided. "He's good in a crisis, and sometimes less conspicuous than I am, even being a canine. Meanwhile, Ray and I will try to discern where the kidnappers might lie in wait for Maria and attempt to take them by surprise."

"Stay in touch," Ray said. "Don't try anything crazy without backup."

"Understood." Fraser caught Dief's eye. "Go with Ray," he said.

Dief wagged his tail briefly before trotting over to press himself against my leg. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

"My mistake. The other Ray."

Dief made a grumbling sound.

"Oh, come on, Dief baby," said Franny. "I have to put up with him, too."

Dief went to her.

"Whatever," said Ray. "Let's move."

I can't even remember half the stuff Fraser told me when he was breaking down our theories to figure out the kidnappers' next move. What I do remember is us sneaking around the buildings within a block or two of the Vecchio house, trying to find the best vantage point for someone trying to take Maria by surprise on her way home. Fraser wanted to split up, but I didn't like him being alone without a gun. Besides, if I'm honest, he was more likely to spot a suspect than I was, and I wanted to be nearby if he did.

I had last called Vecchio's phone when we got to the area, and he hadn't located Maria yet. Fraser and I walked carefully from one building to another. I felt prepared with my gun in its shoulder holster and my glasses ready in my breast pocket.

"I wonder if the guy I tackled had a backup gun, or if he had to go looking for a local dealer to replace it," I said quietly. "Maybe we should be shaking up snitches about gun runners."

Fraser put up a hand. "Shh."

I froze and listened.

Fraser closed his eyes for a few seconds, then beckoned for me to follow him. He took me inside an apartment building.

"I believe I heard a window opening," he told me. "Third floor, facing the street."

I had learned not to question the pinpoint accuracy of his hearing. I put my glasses on my head, ready to pull them down, and checked my gun before we proceeded to the stairs.

"It's highly unlikely that the kidnappers would rent an apartment here," he said in a hushed voice, "so he would be at a hallway window."

"Maybe it was just a tenant getting some fresh air," I whispered back.

"It is possible," he admitted. "Though the middle of a weekday afternoon is when most of them would be at work."

"So, it's a housewife or something."

"Then why couldn't I hear anything else?"

"Like what?"

"Like an appliance running, a child whining, a TV or radio playing? What housewife remains completely silent? Also..." We had just reached the third floor, and Fraser had paused at the door. He closed his eyes and inhaled a long, slow breath through his nose. "The only smoke smell is stale... no one has smoked on this floor since this morning. In fact, there's a fresh breeze. Whoever it is didn't open the window to smoke."

"Big deal," I said. I don't know why, but I always end up challenging his theories one way or another. Maybe because it annoys me how he can go on a really thin lead and end up being right, but I can go on strong evidence and end up being wrong.

He sniffed again. "And there's something else. Can't you smell it?"

I shook my head. "I'm not a bloodhound."

"Nicotine gum, if I'm not mistaken."

"Oh, come on. You've got to be kidding me."

"I don't kid about kidnappers. I'm going to open the door on three."

I sighed and pulled my glasses down. I nodded to him.

"One... two... three."

He pulled the door open and stepped into the hallway just as my mobile phone rang.

Crap, crap, crap...

While I tried to silence my phone without dropping my gun, I heard Fraser say, "Excuse me..." and then, "Oh, dear" right before he rejoined me in the stairwell.

"Ray, he's armed."

"I figured!" I handed my phone to Fraser and yelled, "Chicago PD! Throw down your weapon!"

To my surprise, I heard a clunk on the floor of the hallway. Tentatively, I pulled the door back toward me. Then I heard the distinct sound of a silenced pistol shot and a sharp cracking as a bullet bit through the door to my left. I'd been duped.

"Throw it down!" I shouted again. I would have returned fire through the door, but I was afraid of inadvertently hurting a tenant.

I could hear Fraser relaying to Ray what was going on. I distinctly heard the words, "Oh, Ray, we're not going to die" in that tone that makes you feel like he thinks you're a kindergartner.

I took a deep breath. I was pretty sure that this guy didn't want to kill us, but there was only one way he could get away: the elevator. We hadn't taken it because we wanted to sneak up on him. He had probably walked over quietly, dropped his gun on the floor, picked it up immediately and fired at me, all to cover his getting into the elevator. I burst out of the stairwell just in time to see the door closing.

"Damn it! Fraser, he's going down!"

We raced down the steps to the ground floor. When we arrived, the elevator was standing open. We ran past it and back outside where I could see a dark figure about to duck around the corner of the building.

I fired my gun at the ground. "Freeze!"

He kept going. I had paused to fire my gun, but Fraser had kept going, so he was ahead of me now, and even in boots he's pretty fast. I had to push hard to keep up. When we rounded the corner, I took a shot at a metal trashcan ahead of the suspect, and he faltered.

"Next one hits you!" I shouted. "Stop and drop your gun!"

He stopped.

"I'd drop the weapon," Fraser said to him calmly. "My friend has missed you twice now on purpose... just as you've missed him twice on purpose. Let's call it even and go along to the station quietly, shall we? Before someone gets hurt."

Slowly, the man set his gun on the ground.

"Okay, step back," I called. When he did as I said, I instructed him to put his hands behind his back and I moved forward to cuff him. I gave him a quick frisking to make sure he didn't have any more weapons on him. I found a utility knife and put it in an evidence bag along with the gun, which seemed to be the twin of the first one I had taken, silencer and all.

Noting the black combat boots he wore, I yanked up his pant leg and was gratified to see a patch of red, scuffed skin. "Gotcha pretty good, didn't I?"

As I was saying this, Fraser lifted my phone to his ear again. "Nothing to worry about," he said cheerfully. "We have a suspect in custody. However, don't cancel the backup. I'm sure his partner is in the vicinity, and we need to find him... Understood."

"What did he say?" I asked.

"He was calling to tell us two things. First, he found Maria."

"Oh, good."

"Second, Lieutenant Welsh called him to say that uniformed police located the Dodge. It was found abandoned outside of town."

"Stolen?"

"Indeed."

I looked at my prisoner, a young-ish dark-haired individual with two days' growth of stubble. "Sounds like your rap sheet's getting longer. Let's go."

Ray wanted to interrogate our prisoner, but Welsh told him he was too close to the case. I handled it instead.

The prisoner had no ID on him, so we had to dig for his identity in our databases. He was keeping his mouth shut while he waited to see whether or not we caught his partner.

"We're going to find out who you are soon," I told him. "If you want to do this the smart way, and I think you do, you need to give us full cooperation all the way. That's the kind of thing judges like to hear. They like to hear things like 'good behavior,' 'full cooperation' and 'helpful information.' If you don't talk before we find your partner—and we will find him, make no mistake—then we're going to be making him the same offer. Now, you may have been the one holding the gun, but you didn't shoot anyone. One marksman to another, I know you were careful not to shoot anyone. I'd be happy to tell the judge that, but you've got to do something for me in return."

While I gave him this speech, I paced around him like a polar bear circling a hole in the ice. "There are a lot of things you can do for me," I said, pulling the empty chair halfway around the table and parking it with its back toward him. I put one foot up on its seat and leaned toward him. "You could give me your name, for a start. Better, you could give me your partner's name. But of course, what we really want to know is who sent you. I'm not stupid; I know this was a hired job. I also know you're thinking of your reputation and that's why you don't want to talk. But guess what? You don't have to give up your client to get your rep ruined. He just has to think you gave him up. We'll figure out who hired you eventually, so do you want him to think you gave him up when you didn't, or do you want to get ahead of the game and help us out? One means high-security prison where your employer can still take out a hit on you, and the other means a lighter sentence in a safer facility with the man who's really responsible going down, too. But either option means you can't be a criminal for hire anymore, so your reputation as one is worthless, anyway. And guess which option has a possibility of you getting out again before you're an old man. Go on, guess."

He glanced at me from time to time while I talked and then stared at the wall. When I let the silence hang for a while, he finally said, "I'll consider everything you said... but I'd like to consult a lawyer before I agree to anything."

This happened all the time, but it was still frustrating. I pushed off the chair. "That's your privilege," I said. "I'll see that you get your phone call."

When I came out of the room, Ray and Fraser came out of the observation room beside it. I shrugged at them. "Couldn't get a damn thing out of him," I said sheepishly. To be honest, I hadn't been quite on my game because it was the first time Ray had observed me interrogating someone, and I was a little too nervous to show him my all-out mode that I had used while impersonating him.

"Eh, he's a pro," Ray said. "You can't expect a signed confession in the first ten minutes."

"He's right," said Fraser. "I thought you did very well."

I figured Fraser was just happy I hadn't threatened the guy with violence. We walked back to the bullpen together.

"Vecchio," called Detective Huey from his desk. "Uniforms just picked up your second guy. They're bringing him in."

Ray's face lifted. "Good news! Now we can play them against each other."

I nodded. "Maybe we'll get further with the other guy." I looked at my watch. "Hey, I know it's early," I said, lowering my voice, "but do you think you could take Franny to supper or something?"

He gave me a weird look.

"It's just that I don't know if she'll be ready to see the guy who grabbed her. And it's not like she can ID him—he was wearing a mask."

"Mm, that's true. I guess I can ask. "Hey, Francesca!"

She looked over from where she was looking through mug shots on her computer screen. "Yeah?"

"They're not letting me do much here; you wanna take a break? Get a bite to eat?"

She looked at him a little suspiciously. "You never offer to take me out," she said.

"Well, I'm offering now. We can celebrate catching those jerks who tried to kidnap you."

"I have a lot more mug shots to go through."

"I can take over," Fraser offered. "That is, if you don't mind my using your computer."

She brightened immediately. "Oh, not at all. Okay, I'll just get my purse."

I smiled at her as she passed. She was happy Fraser was going to use her computer. Happy he'd be touching her stuff. Even happy to have supper with her brother. I might as well be invisible, but I couldn't help smiling because she was happy.

"By the way," Fraser said to Ray, "I noticed Diefenbaker didn't come back with you."

"Oh, well, when we dropped Maria at the house, he insisted on staying," Ray answered. "I think he was making out that he needed to guard her, but I suspect the ulterior motive of getting snacks from the kids."

"Ah. That does sound like him."

More to come... lots and lots more, if the memories keep flooding back. How about some feedback from you? ~Ray K.