Forced to Kill

“Hector.”

“Which one is Hector?”

“You shot him. He was upstairs.”

He re-taped Julio’s mouth and returned to the offices. He motioned with his head for Grangeland to follow.

When they were out of earshot she said, “Nathan, that woman needs emergency care. She’s probably in shock.”

“At the risk of sounding callous, she’s not in any immediate danger.”

“Not in any immediate danger?”

Harv stepped forward. “Easy, Grangeland. We’re not trying to be insensitive, but Nate’s right. She looks bad, but her wounds aren’t life threatening.”

Her expression softened. “I’m sorry, Nathan. I didn’t mean it like that.”

“I know you didn’t.”

“I’m just really pissed off right now.”

“It’s okay. I am too.”

“They haven’t given her anything to eat or drink for two days. Those fucking assholes.”

He couldn’t recall ever hearing her curse before. She did it well. “Don’t worry. Those fucking assholes are going to wish they were never born soon enough. Look, I know it’s a crappy deal, but she needs to be debriefed. We can’t take her to a hospital. Her wounds can’t be explained as anything other than intentional. The police will get involved. She may have vital information on Montez’s operation or his whereabouts. We’ll formulate our next moves based on what we learn from her and those mutts out there.”

“She’s worried sick about her daughters.”

“That’s where you come in. Find the bathroom and clean her up as best you can. Do you have a travel bag in the sedan?”

“My clothes should fit her okay.”

“Harv, give Grangeland your keys.” He turned toward her. “There’s an overnight bag in Harv’s trunk with a shirt for me. There’s also a green trauma bag. You know how to administer O-two?”

“It’s been awhile, but yes.”

“When you get back, wrap her torso up with gauze.”

Grangeland looked toward the woman for a moment, then left the warehouse.

Nathan pointed toward the bound men. “I’m turning them over to Cantrell. It won’t break my heart seeing them under the CIA’s special care for a spell. But before we turn them over, we need the ringleader to make contact with Montez. We need to make sure the guy who usually contacts Montez makes the call. It might raise suspicion otherwise.”

“Do we know which one it is?”

“We will soon enough.”

“Let’s hope he’s not the stiff with the machine gun,” Harv said.

“Cantrell?”

“I think it’s fair to assume she didn’t know about this warehouse or we would’ve been intercepted. This gives the CIA more than they had an hour ago. A lot more.”

“Let’s use this time to update Holly,” he said.

She answered after the first ring.

“We’re okay,” Nathan said quickly. It took about two minutes to update her and answer some questions.

“What’s your next move?” she asked.

“We’re heading down to San Diego. With a little luck this will be over in the next few hours.”

“Be careful. Call me again?”

“Will do.”

Grangeland returned with the bags. Harv walked over and locked the front door behind her.

“Make Ms. Dalton as comfortable as possible,” Nathan said. “Don’t ask any questions until I’m present. If she offers anything, write it down. We’ll give you a few minutes. We’re in a time sensitive situation.”

She picked up the trauma bag.

“Hang on.” He unzipped the bag and grabbed a handful of sterile pads and a roll of two-inch micro-pore tape. “Okay, you’re good to go.”

She hesitated. “She’s pretty freaked and wants to get outta here.”

“It could be an act. She could be a spook, a trained operations officer.”

“With two young daughters?”

“I’ll admit it’s unlikely, but we can’t rule it out yet.”

“Nate,” Harv said, “if she’s a spook, she won’t tell us anything.”

“Let me try,” Grangeland offered.

“She’ll be a lot more comfortable with Grangeland present,” Harv said. “But if she is a spook, it won’t make any difference.”

Nathan looked at Grangeland. “Okay, but don’t ask her any questions until we’re present. Bandage her torso, get her on O-two, and take her blood pressure. You know the routine. Let her know you’re going to take care of her and that we’re going to find her daughters.” He nodded toward the office. “We’ll be right there.”

She looked like she wanted to object, but didn’t.

Nathan dug through Harv’s overnight bag, found a T-shirt, and pulled it on. “We need to control our guests’ bleeding with pressure bandages.”

“Wouldn’t break my heart to watch them bleed out.”

“Me either, but we need pee-pee boy alive. He’s been to the safe house.”

“Pee-pee boy?”

He shrugged.

Harv squinted in thought.

“What?”

“Why San Diego?”

“I don’t follow.”

“The safe house. Why San Diego and not Chicago or Baltimore, or any other city?”

“That’s a good question.”

“There’s got to be a reason.”

“No doubt there is.” He pointed toward the mercenaries. “They might know.”

“Think the safe house confession was bogus?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. You?”

“Unless he’s the best actor I’ve ever seen, I’d say no, but he may not know why it’s in San Diego. Ms. Dalton might.”

“We really need to talk to her.” He looked toward the offices.

“Nate, I feel I need to voice something. Are we being fair to Ms. Dalton? Keeping her here like this?”

He looked down. Maybe Harv was right. Had he lost sight of the big picture? Was catching Montez worth prolonging this woman’s suffering, even for a brief period? Her wounds were superficial compared to what Montez could’ve done. Minor, really, but if she wasn’t a hardened operations officer, this had to be a horrifying experience. Perhaps his desire to see Montez eliminated had become horse blinders. No. He knew his core motivation, and it wasn’t revenge. He wanted to get Montez, but also wanted to save Nichole Dalton’s daughters. Given their current situation, questioning Nichole was the best way-maybe the only way.

“Thanks, Harv. I needed to hear that. I’m okay. Are you?”

“Yeah, but Grangeland’s right. She needs medical attention, preferably a plastic surgeon. Since we can’t involve regular EMS channels, I have an idea. Do you remember that security system we installed for Doug Reavie a few years back?”

“The plastic surgeon in Rancho Bernardo?”

“We’re pretty good friends. I think he’ll fix her up if we offer to cover his out-of-pocket costs. For something like this, he’ll want to use his surgical suite, so we might have to shell out a few thousand bucks.”