“Did they not have guards on him?”
“Medical personnel gets an all-access pass.”
“Shit!” So the only solid lead we got left is Drake.”
“Looks that way, sir.”
“Interview the nurses on duty today and see if you get something.”
“Way ahead of you, sir.”
“Alright, I am sending tactical there to sweep the hospital and lock it down. Keep me posted, Lobos.” He hangs up.
I step to the Nurses station where six female nurses are waiting to be interviewed, some with an annoyed expression. All of them either Caucasian or Hispanic. No Asians and none of them named Yuriko Oyama. “Where’s the rest of your staff, Janet?”
She crosses her arms and rolls her eyes. “This is it, officer.”
“So, there’s no woman named Yuriko Oyama on your staff?”
Her brow furrows. “Officer, I’ve worked in this hospital for 20 years. I know my nurses. So I can tell you with one hundred percent certainty that there is no Yuriko Oyama on our staff.”
Shit, I walked right by the assassin.
“Munroe put out an APB on a Yuriko Oyama Asian female roughly about 5’5, 5’6 black hair dressed in red nurse’s scrubs.”
She yanks her cell off her belt. “Sure thing, Lobos.”
Janet does the same over the PA system.
I hear chatter on a walkie sitting on the desk. “Is that your hospital’s security talking?”
“Yes.”
“I need to borrow that.” She hands me the walkie. “This is Detective Devora Lobos of the Tampa Police Department. Have you guys found Yuriko yet?”
“That’s a big negative.”
“Should you come across her, do not apprehend. Hold your position and notify me. Do not, I repeat, do not approach her. Only engage if she leaves you no other choice. This woman is highly trained and extremely dangerous. I can’t stress that enough, you copy?”
“That is a 10-4, Detective.”
“Over and out.”
You can stress to renta-a-cops over and over how dangerous a suspect is, but you always have that one who is infected with hero syndrome. I hear an army of sirens outside. I nod at Munroe. “Let’s go brief the troops.”
SWAT officers meet me at the front entrance with several K9 officers in tow. “Angela, I want you and your boys to sweep this entire hospital with the dogs. Stay frosty. This lady is a highly trained agent with the CIA. She will not hesitate to rock and roll. Try to bring her in alive, but if that’s not possible, then put her down. I want patrol officers to secure the outside perimeter. Munroe, you go with Bravo, and I will join Alpha team.”
The teams split off, and we take the ground floor, and they take the upper floors.
***
We cleared every room in this hospital and not a trace of the assassin except where the dogs found her abandoned scrubs in the parking garage garbage bin along with a black-haired wig. My LT walks up to me. “I think it’s time you and Drake had a chat again, Lobos.”
I throw my cigarette on the ground and stamp it out. “I couldn’t agree more. I think Yuriko Oyama, if that is her real name, is an agent like him.”
“Did I mention I hate this case, Lobos?”
“Me too, but all we can do is work it.” I turn and head back inside.
Chapter 27
We step into Drake’s room, and he glances over his shoulder. “Detective and Agent Munroe. How nice to see the both of you.” his voice hoarse.
I place my hands on my hips “What do you know about Yuriko Oyama?”
He lowers his head. “Ah, the Angel of Mercy.”
“Is she like you? Combat drugs and brainwashing?”
He turns and shrugs. “Yes, except for the brainwashing. She never needed it because the lady was already off her nut.”
“Why in the hell didn’t you mention her earlier?” Munroe barks.
“I was detoxing from a powerful mind-altering drug, so do forgive me if my memory was a little bolloxed.”
The door opens, and an older man in a black pinstripe suit steps in the room along with the chief of police. My brow furrows. “Chief, who is this?”
“Lobos, this is the Deputy Director of the FBI Dalton Rhodes.”
He extends his hand. “Nice to meet you, Detective. Your chief has brought me up to speed on this case, and we at the bureau greatly appreciate you gaining Agent Drake’s cooperation.”
I don’t like where this is going.
“Thank you. We were just discussing Yuriko Oyama, aka the Angel of Mercy, as Drake calls her.”
He glances at Drake and back at Munroe and me. “I see. The CIA is involved, so now this has become an FBI matter.”
“Excuse me, sir,” I say.
“Detective, do I have to spell it out for you? This is no longer your case. Full responsibility for this case now falls to Special Agent Sarah Munroe.”
“With all due respect, sir, I think it’s wrong to cut Detective Lobos out of the investigation.”
“Seeing how she let herself be so easily compromised during this investigation, I think it is exactly the right course of action. Surely you saw how she lied to the country and what a disgrace she made of herself?”
“Now that’s not fair. They had the ammo to rig the game against her.”
He turns
