Chapter 20 : Dig deeper
Chris came closer to Clara and whispered to her what was about to happen, so she could help with her mates.
"I need you to explain to them what is about to happen. For you to be safe you have to follow my colleague here." She showed Rourke who waved at her, as if he was trying to tell her that he will do their and her mates no harm. "Listen to everything he says, he will take you all to a safe place while we apprehend Diego."
"But what about our ninos he's keeping?"
"He's keeping your kids?!"
"Yes so we work for him…"
"Where are they?"
"Not so far… Maybe two or three houses after this one, the one with a big cadena in the garden."
Street and Chris shared a look. They knew what to do.
"26-David to 20-David, do you copy?"
"Yeah Street, what's up? Something interesting in the ceiling? The house is empty. How could we have missed this guy?"
"He escaped thanks to a tunnel in the ceiling. We found here 12 people assembling guns and rifles. Diego is at his kid's school. His little boy is sick but he's probably on his way back. The school is not far away according Carla here."
"Carla?" Hondo asked, confused.
"Carla is one the hostage here."
"Ok, copy. Get these people out of here, Deac will catch the kid with Barry, while Rhokker and I and Luca and Kotonin will take Diego down."
"But there's another problem boss. " It was Chris talking this time. "Diego is holding hostage the kids of these people. Another house, just around the corner."
Rhokker and Hondo remained silent for a moment and nodded at each other. "This is 50-David. O'Rourke, Chen, you go with Street and Alonso and free the kids. Tan and Barry, you get those people outside and hide them in a safe place. Then, you bring the kids to the same place. The others, stick to the original plan. Time to roll and quickly!"
Hondo ended the conversation with a simple "Roll people". Chris, Street, O'Rourke and Chan shared a nod.
"Carla, this is my colleagues, Victor and Theodore. They're gonna help you get out of here while I go with my other colleagues to save your kids. Listen to them and in less time than you think, you all be reunited with your children."
"Thank you." Chris smiled and nodded. She turned to O'Rourke, Street and Chen. She was already focused on her next mission. They walked for five minutes before reaching the house with the big oak tree as Carla had told her. Easy, it was the only house with a massive tree in its garden. Two huge men were keeping the door. Chris took the lead, she was the oldest member of SWAT among them.
"O'Rourke, you're with me. Street, Chen, you go backwards and enter the house while we take care of the hitmen."
The three nodded in agreement and deployed around the house. As soon as Chris lost sight of Street and Chen, she nodded at O'Rourke. Time to roll. They ran discreetly towards the house and hid behind a bush. They waited for some seconds for the men to turn their heads and they came into play. Shots were fired. Right in the chest before the hitmen could shot at them. They felt on the ground.
"Check. Both dead." O'Rourke concluded as he knelt to take the pulse of the two men lying on the floor. Chris hear gunshots inside the house. Without thinking, O'Rourke stood up and followed Chris who entered the house.
"Clear!"
"Clear!"
They continued to check on every room on the house. Street and Chen were nowhere to be found. Chris could feel the stress getting out of her. She heard gunshots before entering the house. She was positive about this and it scared her. What happened here? She checked all the rooms on the first floor. In the stairs, two bodies were lying. Other hitmen. Chen and Street should have gone this way. As she raised her head to check the stairs, she saw Street at the top on the stairs holding two little kids in his arms. Chen was right behind him holding hands with five others children.
Chris grinned at them. She was reassured.
"Everyone is here! Tan, you hear me, you can bring the parents in the house. It's all cleared."
Street climbed down the stairs, smiling at Chris. "Told you everything would be OK." She hated this feeling growing in her but right away, she admired him. She shouldn't have but she was. He was reassuring the kids, hugging them while they were bringing them to their moms and dads. He was so good with children and she surprised herself to think about the wonderful dad he would do.
By chance, Tan and Barry entered the house at the same moment and the yells of the parents and kids being finally reunited. Saved by the bell! "20-David, 50-David, we got everyone here!"
"Copy, 24- David. 30-David will join you as he has the kid. Stay here with 22-David, time to catch Diego!"
"Copy boss." She hung up and joined the team. "Hondo, Rhokker, Kotonin and Luca are taking care of Diego. Deac will soon be here with Diego's son. Mission not over, need to keep all these people safe." She showed the parents and kids with her chin.
Each one placed strategically in the house to look after the people they had to protect. A few minutes later, they heard a knocking on the door. It was Deac bringing the little boy in the house. He was holding him strongly against him. As he released the kid, this latter felt puzzled, lost.
"Where am I?"
"Safe, kiddo. Don't worry." A woman ran as soon as she heard the sound of the voice of the little boy. "Francesco?"
"Mom?" In less than a minute, she was hugging him. "Thanks for saving my little boy."
Chris looked for Carla as Deac took her spot to check on the street. "Carla? Can we talk?"
"Yes of course."
"You knew that Francisco was the son of one of your coworkers?"
"I didn't… But when I think of it, Diego used to be harder on Rosa… I should have known…Que idiota!"
"Don't blame yourself…" As she was ended her sentence, her radio rang. "24-David, do you copy?"
"Yeah Hondo, you got the package?"
"Wrapped and in the car!"
[…]
At the headquarters, everyone was buzzing. Catching Diego was a very big thing. Lynch and Hicks were already on their move to the interrogation room. Hondo joined them on their way to Diego.
"Come with you, if you agree. Rhokker would like to join us too."
"Yes, but at first you two stay on the other side of the one-way mirror while Hicks and I try to break him. Then you come and finish him."
The rest of the teams came closer to listen to the conversation. Lynch turned to them. "And you all go in debrief room and write everything that had happened there. We need all the elements!"
Hicks approved Lynch's words with a nod. "We will talk about this after we interviewed Diego. Meanwhile take some moments to rest. Good job to all of you."
Hicks, Lynch, Hondo and Rhokker vanished letting 20 and 50-David Squads in the corridor. "Time to take some rest for me, will do my debrief later, really need to sleep right now." O'Rourke announced.
"Same for me!" Barry concluded.
"Need to evacuate my energy!" Tan told in a hurry. "Who's with me?"
Kotonin and Luca raised their hands up, immediately followed by Street and Chen. "What about you Chris? You come with us?"
"No thanks. I've things to do. But have fun." She walked away, being careful not to be followed. Street kept looking at her, leaving.
"You seem worried, Bro."
"Yeah… She's so tired working on this case. She doesn't even take time to relax… She does nothing except reading again this damned file to find clues… She won't find any so she'll be even angrier at her because she thinks everything that had happened is her fault…"
Tan remained silent for a while and put his hand over Street's shoulder. "You want to talk to her? We can wait for you while…"
"No need, she won't listen. She listens nobody when she's like this… Will talk to her later, maybe tonight when we'll be debriefed…"
Tan looked at Street leaving the HQ, abashed. He knew seeing Chris like this hurt him hard. Even if he will tell that aloud. "Ready to run 10 miles guys? I'm gonna crush you."
"This is me who's gonna crush you all." Kotonin answered.
"Are you kidding? I'm the best at running. The last one pays the dinner!" Tan proposed.
"Deal!" Chen shouted.
Tan came closer to Street and embraced him. "Let's go Street, I'm gonna beat you like you have never been beaten."
Street smiled to him. "In your dream! Prepare your eyes to cry!" And before he could speak Street had started running in first place.
[…]
Hondo and Rhokker entered the room behind the one-way mirror and looked at Lynch and Hicks in the other room with Diego. Both were nervous. They knew Diego's confession was essential for catching Karlsson. He could help to bring down all the little networks Karlsson had created, which will force the man to get out of his hideouts.
Hicks and Lynch shared a look before starting. They were aware of the risks, of the stakes. Better be good to get all the information they needed. And after several years to work together, several years of fights, they had been developing a kind of connivance which generally caused sparks in the interrogation room.
"So Diego, what have you to tell us? It'd be better if you talk you know…" Lynch went first. She loved to the one starting the talking. Diego crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, Mister is not the talkative type. Love the challenge!"
She put in front of him a series of pictures taken by the different police departments of the LA counties who followed him over the past few months. Diego swallowed hard but tried to remain motionless.
"These pics are very interesting. Sorry if I'm wrong, but the man in all of them really looks like you. So either you've got a hell of a doppelganger in the area or you are in such a mess you should hurry to talk to us to save your damned ass."
"Tell us what we want to hear and maybe we could help you and your son… You don't want your kid to end up in social services, right?"
"Are you threatening me?"
"Oohhhh, so the boy can talk. Good to know." Lynch getting more and more sarcastic made Hondo and Rhokker smile. This woman could sometimes be a pain in their ass but she was unbeatable when it came to interviewing suspects.
"Just speaking the truth Diego. I know you want to be faithful to your school friend who had promised you whatever he did. But right now, he's not here, he's hiding God knows where and you're alone. I don't know why you chose to follow Karlsson's path. You must have your reasons and I'd be grateful to hear them. But right now all I want is to arrest your friend who's causing too much troubles in my area. So speak."
"Better for lil Diego, you know." Lynch finished. She didn't like to use kids to keep pressure but sometimes it was necessary. Hicks gave her a dark look.
Diego lowered his head. "Don't speak about my boy."
"I won't if you were willing to cooperate. Give us Karlsson and your son will be safe." Lynch continued.
Diego muted again. Hicks and Lynch exchanged a look. Time was running out. A lawyer could arrive at any moment. "We're asking nicely, you should seize the opportunity. Life in jail is nothing but idyllic. Think about your son, what is he gonna think of his daddy when he will grow up?" Hicks temporized Lynch's words to try to break Diego.
"What if I give you his accounting books? Would I be free? "
Lynch smiled. They did it. But just at this moment a lawyer opened the door of the interrogation room. "Mr. Salazar won't say a word anymore. Unless we talk about it before. If you can give us a few minutes in private."
Lynch and Hicks got out of the room and joined Rhokker and Hondo in the other room. They had cut the audio from the interrogation room. They could only see Diego talking with his lawyer. He seemed upset. The tone of the conversation looked like it was stormy.
"This damned lawyer arrived right at the moment he was about to speak." Lynch was angry.
"He will, he's not a bad guy. In my opinion, he only did this for the money. Look at how we broke him easily." Hicks interrupted her.
"Still the guy ran a gun traffic and had illegal workers in his ceiling. He might not be dangerous, he remains a threat." Hondo talked with calm.
"He better gives us the names and books so we can catch this Karlsson once for all. I'm tired of this dude!"
Rhokker was expressing the feelings of everyone at SWAT. It had been almost 8 months since Jim had been hit and as long since they had been starting to run after the guy.
They heard a knock on the door as they were talking about the latest progress of the case. "Come in!" Hicks's big voice surprised them all.
"My client is ready to talk to you."