Risky Shot by Kathleen Brooks Page B

note here to call Agent Edwards with any information that comes in on the case.”
    “Thank you so much. I can finish my motion now.” She hung up and sagged against the payphone. There was an APB out on her car. Good thing she changed plates. She looked down at the pad and knew the risk was worth it. She had just gotten another name, Judge Dick LeMaster. The only way that Order would be signed so fast is if LeMaster was involved with Agent Edwards and GTH.
    The next three days were far less productive. She learned nothing from following Agent Edwards. She decided to leave the car at the hotel and walk around town some to think. Her thoughts kept coming back to the men in black, as she liked to call them. Who did they work for? Each time she saw them, Chad and an investigator from GTH were there. But she didn’t know the other men. Maybe it was time to learn more about them. She walked into the center of town and swiped her metro card. Dressed as a man again, she carried a gym bag and basketball into the subway. She took a seat on the train and waited to see what, if anything, happened. At the next stop three men in black got on the train. One was the firm investigator. Dani sat bobbing her head as if listening to music and watched as they walked by. She glanced at them as they made their way down the train. Any women with dark hair received a tap on the shoulder and a stare down. Dani tried not to show her relief. It was clear they didn’t know what she looked like aside from height and hair color.
    The tight knot in her stomach relaxed slightly. When the train stopped, the two unknown men in black got out. Yet the investigator remained on the train. Harnessing her courage, Dani strolled out with her basketball under her arm and her big black glasses perched on her nose. The hood of her sweatshirt was negligently tossed over her tobogganed head and she had sagged her pants looking like a regular street baller to anyone that might have noticed.
    She followed the men up the stairs and onto Eighth Avenue. They turned around and she willed herself not to stop in her tracks. She stared ahead of them and kept her pace slow and steady.
    “It’s just some kid,” she heard one of them say.
    “She has to be around her somewhere. She didn’t get off when we got on. Either she got off here or she’s still on the train.”
    “I still don’t understand what the Senator wants with her, do you?”
    “No, but who cares. He told us to get this bitch, so we will.”
    “What have they found out about the other one?”
    “They haven’t looked. Figured this one would be easier to find.”
    The first man grunted, “Doesn’t appear to be so.”
    “That’s why the Senator is getting so mad. She’s been spotted so many times, yet we can’t catch her. Come on, let’s circle back around and see if we can find her.” They turned down a side street and Dani kept walking.
    “Dammit to Hell and back,” she said under her breath. Police were looking for her, an FBI agent was involved, a Judge, and now a Senator.
     
    Two nights later she lay in her lumpy bed at the roach motel and stared at the map. She had narrowed the men in black to an office near a building that housed the New York State Congressmen when they were home. The Senator involved was either Bruce or Tamlin, but there was no way for her to tell which one.
    Her rent was almost up and she couldn’t decide if she should stay here for one more week. Her funds were getting dangerously low. Since the awesome roach hotel didn’t have any curtains, she cursed when cars came into the parking lot lighting her room up as if it was mid-day. When the third car pulled up, she got curious and looked out the window.
    “Shit!” She jumped down from the wobbly chair and tugged on a pair of jeans. She grabbed her cosmetic bag, costume kit, and an empty bag. She ran to the miniscule bathroom and scooped as much into the empty bag as she could. She managed to snag a sweatshirt with a