Chapter Fourteen: Truncated Successes
Megan looked over at Don. The lead agent looked pallid and determined but something was missing. She had never seen him do this without furiously chewing a stick of gum.
Two teams of federal agents had surrounded the single story home in North Inglewood, last know address of Ricardo Estevez. Don had paused at the side of the house and spoke into his headset.
"Team one in place."
David's voice answered through the tiny earpiece.
"Team two in place."
God help Ricardo Estevez if they found what they were after in his house.
"Team two, this is Alpha leader – you're a go."
"Team one – let's move, move, move!"
With a single swift motion, they busted the front door down and stormed the residence.
"FBI, Warrant!"
The backdoor flew open and the second team entered.
Each agent called out "Clear" from their respective locations around the house.
The place was empty.
Colby looked at Megan as if to say 'now what?'.
Don slammed his fist into the wall in frustration. This was hopeless. Time was running out and they had nothing. No one was here and it looked like no one planned on coming back. The two teams proceeded with their search, but Don knew they wouldn't uncover anything that would help him find Charlie.
David has walked out of the building and was standing in the yard talking on his cell phone. As the rest of the team approached, David waved them over.
"That was the lab. We've got another hit."
Don felt his heart jump into this throat.
"Location?"
David headed for the truck.
"Yeah, I'll tell you on the way."
Colby took the drivers seat and hit the gas before all four doors had been closed.
"Where to?"
"St. Francis Medical Center."
"Compton? What's at St. Francis?"
"Jerry Devolto."
"What do we know about his guy?"
"Well, according to the lab, all that blood in Charlie's office……Well, most of it isn't his. Just what was concentrated behind the desk. The tests confirm that the blood and hair on the broken paperweight belongs to Estevez, but most of it belongs to this Devolto. He's an ex-con, DNA on file. A clean record since his release, but a violent offender. They sent out a new BOLO for Devolto to area hospitals, assuming he might require medical attention and they got a call back from St. Francis less than five minutes later. A man fitting Devolto's description is sitting in their suture room waiting to have an eight inch gash in his forearm sewn up. He said he was mugged. Claimed the guy had a knife."
Don clenched his teeth.
"A knife, or a sterling silver letter opener?"
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The twelve mile trip from Inglewood to Compton took all of ten minutes with Colby driving, emergency lights and siren blasting. As the truck came to a stop outside the emergency entrance to St. Francis Medical Center, David turned and addressed the team.
"Security is ready to apprehend him if he tries to leave, but they are waiting for us. Don?"
"I'm okay. I want to talk to him before I kill him. Let's go."
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"What the hell do you mean he hasn't come back?"
Sandoval's voice exploded outside the door and startled Charlie out of a fitful attempt to rest. He could hear the discussion going on in the garage.
"I sent him to get his arm looked at about three hours ago and he hasn't come back. I thought you'd want to know."
"Go get him."
"What?"
"Hank, go. Find him….now."
The door to Charlie's prison opened a few moments later and he squeezed his eyes shut trying to look relaxed.
Ricks ineffectual attempt at a whisper filled the small room.
"He's still out. He doesn't look so good. I think maybe he's in shock. Did you see how he was shaking?"
As the door closed back, Charlie could hear the conversation continue as they made no effort to suppress the volume of their voices.
"It doesn't matter. He'll be dead soon anyway."
"What, you givin' up?"
"Even if they can manage to arrange Diego's release, the FBI needs to suffer for what they have done. Not just to my family, but to my establishment. They took one of mine and I will take one of theirs. I selected this one because he is also the lead agent's brother…that was an unexpected bonus that I could not help but exploit."
"I thought the point was to give Diego a get out of jail free card."
"If it can be done. I love my brother and this is what I am willing to do for him. But I also lost over two hundred million dollars. I want his freedom. I will settle for retribution."
"Yeah, well…as long as you pay me, you can do whatever the hell you want to. Pay me enough and I'll do it for you."
"Just keep an eye on him, but please restrain yourself. I need him alive until I know there is no chance of getting Diego back."
"Right….hands off, eyes open."
Charlie struggled to control the despair that was rising in his chest.
They are going to kill you. Don will not be able to save you. Nobody can. No matter what Don does, they are still going to kill you.
His whole body ached and he had to concentrate hard to keep from being sick. The agony that seared through his arm when it had been broken, re-amplified and was now threatening to overwhelm him. Charlie fought off the waves of nausea and tried to lift his head to get a better look around the room. His vision clouded over and great white fireworks seemed to go off in front of his eyes.
NO, NO, NO. You will not do this Eppes. Passing out is not an option! They are going to kill you! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?
Charlie put his head down, breathed slowly and waited for his vision to clear. Then he tried again, slower this time.
Better…good. Okay, Charlie. Look around. What do you see…. Door, desk, filing cabinet, chair, window.
Window?
A small window, the kind that pushed out, not up, was placed not so conveniently adjacent to the six and a half foot ceiling on the office. Charlie could see this wasn't going to be easy and his captors must have figured it to be impossible since they hadn't even bothered to pull the window shut. Charlie tried to pull himself to his feet, holding his breath.
You have to Move! Pain or Death. Come on Charlie. Nobody is going to save you, but you. GET UP!
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Authors Notes: Please continue to let me know what you think. Your comments have been very encouraging. If you don't want to post a comment, please send me a private email. I seriously want honest opinions about my writing.
Next Chapter: Lucrative Failure (Things are about to get ugly, so brace yourselves!)
