Sharkey could hear Manuel telling Javier to give the baby back to Consuela. Javier reluctantly gave the baby back to her.
“Now,” Manuel said, “you sit there,” pointing the gun at a chair. Javier held up his hands and backed into the chair and sat down.
“Vasquez is on his way over. He’s truly angry. For two cents I’d just shoot you and get it over before he gets here.”
Javier’s eyes were closed, and he sat motionless.
Consuela sat in the bedroom with Mateo in her arms singing softly in Spanish.
Javier’s eyes opened. “He’s mine you know. If you leave without me, the real father of that baby, you will be charged with kidnapping along with Vasquez.”
“I should shoot you now and be done with it, you traitor.”
“No, I was the damn fool to go along with a deal that I should have had the will power to refuse and the gumption to stand up to and be a man. Now I don’t care if you shoot me, because Vasquez’s plan is at an end. The two of you will be pulverized in the American justice system. Everything that matters to me, except my son, is gone. He has family here and they will take good care of him.”
Jenny took a crowbar and when the woman left the room was able to open the bedroom window. She waited to see if the woman returned. Then she slid the window open, crawled in, and closed it again.
Jenny kept to the back of the room in the shadows and watched as the woman put the baby in the crib. She walked back to the door then stopped. Looking out into the living room she seemed to be listening to what was being said.
* * *
As Vasquez approached Consuela’s house, he was upset that things were not going smoothly. It made him worry. Worrying made him pay attention to the surroundings. He saw a police cruiser with a light bar on top quietly tucked back into a driveway, trying to stay out of sight. As he approached the house he slowed down and saw suspicious movement on the street.
Cruz saw a car slow down in front of the house and then accelerate suddenly. He called Sharkey and was told to take him alive. “I’ll have dispatch alert the others. Don’t lose him.”
“Roger that. He pulled out and followed the car onto Roosevelt Boulevard. The car accelerated over the speed limit. Cruz turned on his overhead lights and pursued him through two red lights. He radioed in the license plate and asked for assistance from any car in the vicinity. Vasquez’s car took a sharp right, off of Roosevelt and onto Kennedy Drive, then a left onto Flagler Ave.
“He’s heading for U.S. One.”
“Roger that. We’re setting the roadblock now,” an officer said.
Cruz told the officer, “They want him alive. That’s an order from Sharkey.”
As the car turned onto South Roosevelt it accelerated again then went into a skid, stopping just short of the blockade.
Vasquez pulled open the car door and left at a run. A group of officers ran in pursuit of him.
“Stop,” one yelled. He kept running onto the beach. When he hit the soft sand, he slowed down with the exertion, but tried to run on.
He turned to look back just as an officer was gaining on him. He suddenly stopped, grabbed his chest, and fell face forward into the sand. He was quickly covered by uniformed officers.
“Get the ambulance in here now.”
Cruz ran to Vasquez’s side. He felt for a pulse. “He’s still alive but his pulse is erratic. We need a medic now. Sharkey want’s him alive. He’s having trouble breathing. The fall may have knocked the wind out of him.”
Officer Pete Long stood above Vasquez. “He okay?”
Dylan Striker ran to the man along with Mike Logan.
“Let’s get an IV hooked up. Let’s move now. The pulse is gone.” He started artificial respiration.
“Move now,” Dylan said. “I’m losing him.”
Cruz called Sharkey. “Suspect is down, taken to hospital, but he suffered an apparent heart attack running on the beach. We may lose him.”
“Okay, I’ll be there shortly.”
* * *
Back at the house Sharkey asked, “Okay, I’m going in. Jenny, what’s happening in the bedroom?”
“The woman is moving towards the door. The baby’s in the crib on the other side of the room.”
“Any sign of the seven-year-old?”
“No. She appears to be alone in the room I’m in.”
“Roger that. Stay low until it’s clear.”
Sharkey checked in with the other officers.
“Back entry covered.”
“Stand by,” Sharkey said. He walked up to the door and knocked, then stood to the side of the door. The door was ajar, and Sharkey opened it all the way with his foot.
“Freeze,” Sharkey commanded.
Manuel was in motion and continued to turn just in time to see Consuela standing in the doorway without the baby. She stepped forward. Seeing movement, Manuel swung around towards the movement. He pointed the gun at the doorway just as Javier lunged out of his chair to protect Consuela. The bullet caught Javier in the side.
Manuel stopped, dropped the gun, and raised his hands in surrender.
Consuela turned back into the room and picked up the baby. “This is my baby.” She sat down in the chair and began rocking the baby and crying.
Jenny came out of the shadows and walked over to Consuela.
She put an arm around Consuela. “It’s all right now. No one is going to hurt you or the precious baby.” The woman didn’t seem to notice her.
“Clear,” Jenny said into her radio.
Back in the living room Sharkey cuffed Manuel and gave him over to an
