Back at the safe house the next morning, Joe woke up and grinned. Miranda hadn't come running out of the room screaming. He opened the door to give her a hard time and swore. She was gone. He should have realized she was going to. He shouldn't have slipped and said anything.
He dialed the Chief.
"Johnson," he answered.
"She escaped."
"What? Joe, I told you to keep an eye on her."
"I know, but I think she was on to us, so she left."
"We have to find her, if she goes after Tyrone she will get herself killed."
"You know her better than that Chief, she'll be careful."
"Damn her, I'd better go, so I can tell Stratton and the others."
Chief Johnson hung up. He was in California with Chief Stratton, Tyler, Chad, and Cole.
"What's going on Johnson?" Stratton asked him.
"Miranda escaped."
"Why am I not surprised," Tyler grinned. "I knew she wouldn't be down for long."
"We need to find her," Johnson said.
"How?" Tyler asked. "If she is in disguise, or using a false name, you will never find her."
"She will go after Tyrone."
"If she knows where he is at," Tyler pointed out.
"She will find out," Cole spoke up. "She is very resourceful."
"Let's start with her real name and go with that. She couldn't walk here so let's call the bus stations and the airports in Colorado," Johnson said.
The men nodded and headed away to do their jobs.
"Eureka," Tyler shouted a few minutes later, "she bought a bus ticket to Colorado."
"Colorado?" Stratton asked.
"That's where her grandparents live, but why would she go there?" Johnson said.
"Unless she is trying to throw us off her trail," Tyler grinned.
"Probably," Johnson nodded, "let's keep an eye out for her here."
The men agreed, but they didn't know who they would be on the lookout for. Miranda had too many disguises, all they could do was to see if she showed up at the police station. She couldn't possibly know where the decoy was staying.
After Miranda had finished shopping, she headed back to her hotel room, and deciding she was tired she took a nap, she hadn't slept at all night before, so she needed it.
When she awoke, it was getting dark. Realizing she had a lot to do, she grabbed some fruit from the bowl off the counter provided by the hotel and changed into black clothes, black wig, and brown contacts. She holstered her gun, then snuck out of the hotel. She was glad she didn't have to go through a lobby to get out, she would have looked a bit suspicious dressed all in black.
Miranda had purposely chosen a hotel close to Tyrone's home, knowing she could keep an eye on him from there. She hid behind the huge dumpster outside the mansion walls when she saw two big and burly men headed out of a side gate and to the side of the house. They were headed her way, they hadn't seen her, had they? They stopped right in front of the garbage dumpster and pulled out cigarettes.
They lit them and began to smoke.
"It's too bad we have to come out here so the boss can't see us," one of them said.
"Yeah, it's not like we are polluting his home, so, did you get the address?"
"Yes, Tyrone will be happy, now that we know where the detective is hiding, she will be dead soon."
"Yeah, it was stupid they put her in the same hotel room she was staying in before, did they think we were stupid?"
"Obviously, or they thought no one would come looking for her. As soon as Tyrone gets that chip and sells it to Tomori's guy, we will be rolling in money."
"I just hope that he wants it."
"He will man," the other guy said.
The men smoked for a few more minutes as Miranda tried to hold her breath. She hated cigarette smoke. One of the men then put his cigarette out, grinding the butt under his foot. "Come on, we have a deadline. The boss wants her dead tonight."
The other man nodded, put out his cigarette, and followed the other man back inside the walls of the mansion.
Her decoy didn't have a chance. She waited until they disappeared inside before she hurried down the street. She had to get to the hotel before the men came to kill her decoy. She hopped into her car and then called the police.
"SFPD," the dispatcher answered.
"Yes, I would like to report a crime in progress, it is important I talk to someone in charge."
"The Chief is gone for the night, but an FBI agent is here, would you like to speak with him?"
"Yes please," she said.
There was a click then, "Agent Hinton."
"Agent, I need to report a crime that is going to happen."
"What is it, ma'am?"
"I overheard several men talking and they said they were on their way to kill a Detective Dylan. They know where she is staying."
"What is your name ma'am?"
"It doesn't matter, but if I were you I think I would be running along to protect her."
She then hung up and drove to the hotel.
Tyler pulled out his cell phone and dialed Chad.
"Heads up, I just got a tip that several men are headed your way to kill the detective, I'll bring in backup," he said, and hung up, and ran out the door.
Miranda gasped as she saw a limo sitting outside the hotel already as she pulled up. How had they beaten her there? It had to be Tyrone, then she saw several men run around the building. She had to do something, or the decoy would be dead.
She raced around to the back of the hotel, following the men. They were scrambling up the fire escape. She put the silencer on her gun and aimed. She hit one man. He fell to the ground with a thud. The men above him wondered what the noise was, but they didn't see anything because it was too dark, so they kept climbing.
In the distance, Miranda heard sirens, she had to hurry, but the men didn't seem concerned, they had only one goal in mind, and they were going to do it.
She used her silencer and took out each man one by one. All of them were so concerned with their task of climbing that they didn't even see that they were being ambushed. By the time she got to the window, there was only one man left. He turned as he opened the window, and she shot him. She threw him over the edge and opened the window, just as the light flicked on.
A woman in a nightgown stood there, her gun pointed at Miranda.
"Don't shoot," Miranda said. "I'm the good guy, I just took out those goons, but more are headed in the front. I suggest you call your guards to get in here and protect you before you end up dead, the cops are on the way."
The woman nodded, and Miranda ducked back out the window, and slid down the fire escape, then ran into the shadows. She waited until the cops rushed inside before she hurried to her car and getting in, she headed away, the limo racing away in the opposite direction.
Inside the hotel room, the decoy was shaking. The door opened and several officers walked in, including Cole and Chief Stratton.
"Are you okay?" the Chief asked her.
She nodded.
One of the officers walked in then. "Chief, one of the men just found six dead men out back at the bottom of the fire escape, bullets in all of them."
Chief Stratton looked at the decoy.
"Did you kill them?"
"No, of course not," she said in her nasally voice. Cole looked at her and realized how much he missed Miranda. This woman looked like her, but would never be her. His heart ached for her.
"Who killed those men, detective?" the Chief asked.
"Some lady all in black. She came in through my window to tell me that I would be safe."
"What did she look like?"
"Black clothes, black hair, dark eyes," the decoy said.
Cole and the Chief exchanged knowing glances.
"Sir, the coroners are here," one of the other cops said, walking into the room, "and the ambulance."
"We don't need the ambulance," Cole told him.
"Yes sir," the man said and walked back out.
"I suggest we put more men in here," Cole said to the Chief.
"Good, I need to be protected, you didn't tell me that my life would be in so much danger," the decoy whined and sat down on the bed.
"You men can leave now, I'll be okay," she then said snootily, dismissing them.
But she looked up at Cole, "Unless you want to stay," she flirted.
"No," he said, and walked out the door, "I need to see if I can find our mystery shooter."
The Chief grinned as Cole walked out, then he also left. The two men met outside and watched the men being loaded into cop cars or the coroner's van.
"Think that was Miranda?" Cole asked the Chief.
"I know it was. I wonder how she found out where our decoy was at. I wish we could find her, she is the one who needs to be protected."
"Not really," Cole smiled, "she obviously can handle herself, look at all the guys she just took out. I had better go and see if I can find her," he then headed to his car and hopped in. Chief Stratton climbed in with him. "I'm going with you. We need to find Miranda before something else happens."
Cole nodded and pulled out to the street.
"I realized tonight how much I missed her after seeing her decoy. That woman may look like Miranda, but she can't act. Her voice is so whiny, it grates on my nerves."
The Chief laughed.
"I just wish I knew where she was staying so we could protect the bad guys from her," Cole grinned.
Chief Stratton laughed. "You're right, they do need to be protected."
"I can't believe we thought that other woman could take the place of Miranda. "Oh, officer Cole, you can stay if you want," he mimicked, making the Chief chuckle. "I hope she doesn't talk if Tyrone does show up. I don't want her to give herself away."
"I know Cole, you love Miranda, and don't worry, she'll try and take down Tyrone, then we will be able to find her and you can confess your undying love to her," the Chief said.
"I will, in the form of a ring," Cole said as they headed down the street.