Out of the Shadows (Falcon) (30 page)

“Cut the ties on his hands,” Brody commanded.

“Stop this,” Chavez screamed. “You cannot murder me in cold blood.”

“You’ve killed thousands in cold blood. Why
should I treat you any differently?”

“You American’s don’t work this way.”

“Bullshit.” Brody stepped closer. “You think I’m going to let you slip through diplomatic immunity to go back and terrorize the villagers again? To steal their children, rob them of common decency?” Brody slipped a bullet into the chamber. “Not a chance, Chavez.”

Brody raised his pistol and
shot Chavez between the eyes. Chavez flew backward and lay sprawled on the ground. A.J. kicked him over and said, “Good riddance, you scum.”

The
y got back in the car and headed for the hospital Kate had been taken to. Jake called Frank and told him what had gone down so arrangements could be made for someone to dispose of the body.

***

Frank, Vince, Brody and A.J. waited at the hospital. All were thankful A.J. only suffered from the effects of a tranquilizer. Mac, Tony, Doug, and Jake were cleaning up the mess at the hotel and making sure the reception between the two presidents went off perfectly.

They had waited over three hours when Kate’s father entered the waiting room. “What’s her condition?” he asked, tossing his suit jacket in the chair next to Frank. “Have they said anything yet?”

Vince stepped over and put his hand on Retired Admiral Carl Stone’s shoulder to comfort him. “She’s in surgery. That’s all we know.”

“How bad is it
, Vince?”

The Director of the CIA
lowered his head and scrubbed his hand down his face. “Not good.”

Carl
staggered until A.J. helped him to a nearby plastic chair. “I can’t believe it.” Carl’s voice cracked with emotion. “I never wanted her in this business. I wanted her married, safe at home producing grandchildren.” He lifted his head and let it rest against the wall behind him.

“That’s not the career path she chose,” Vince said. “And she’s damn good at what she does.”

“I don’t doubt that for a minute. She doesn’t know how to be less than the very best.”

“Maybe that’s something she got from you, sir,” Brody said. “She’s your only child. My guess is she wanted you to be proud of her in some way.”

“Proud, my God. I just wanted her to be my daughter. I didn’t want her to save the world.”

Brody shrugged. “Do you think Kate knows that?”

“If she makes it out of this, I swear she’ll never touch another gun.”

Still covered in blood and half crazy, Brody fought to keep from bus
ting into the operating room and demanding someone tell him what the hell was going on. However, he knew that wouldn’t be smart. Patience had never been his strong suit.

In the lobby of
the hospital, neither Frank nor Vince had said anything to him about disciplinary actions. But it was sure to come up. His career was over with Falcon, and the CIA could easily put him before a Judicial Council for kidnapping a federal agent.

Brody felt
numb to all that. He didn’t care. If Kate walked out of this hospital, the rest of this shit didn’t mean anything.

Just as he stood to stretch his back, the doctor walked throug
h the double doors. As he swiped off his surgical cap he stopped and stared at those waiting.

By his sober expression i
t didn’t look good.

“She’s out of surgery,” he began. “But she’s not out of danger.”

“Can I see her,” Carl asked, eagerly approaching the doctor. “I’m her father.”

“No, not until she’s stable. It
’s too risky right now. They’re taking her to ICU on the third floor. There’s a waiting room there. You can see her through a glass partition. Only one person at a time. Hospital policy.”

Carl reached out his hand to the doctor. “Thank you very much. I’m sure you did everything you could.”

“She took two bullets. One to the left lung, the other directly to the heart. So she’s far from out of the woods yet, gentlemen. If you’re people of faith, now is the time to start praying.”

Brody hadn’t stopped s
ince the first bullet had pieced her flesh.

***

Nine hours later, Brody had the chance to see Kate. Even through the glass, he felt her energy calling to him. He longed to cradle her in his arms, to brush her hair and rock her softly so she’d sleep better.

Tears of sadness coursed down his face and he leaned his forehead against the hard, cold glass. She was so close and y
et far, far away. He wanted her. He needed her. His heart cried out for her touch.

He wouldn’
t get the chance. Her father had said that after the five minute visitation limit everyone had to leave. She was his daughter, and he controlled what happened from here on out.

Brody had vehemently complained, but her father’s angry words had targeted him the strongest. He accused them all of being violent men and responsible for Kate’s injuries, perhaps her death. Carl Stone’s words shredded Brody’s insides.
Kate’s dad didn’t know Brody was the real reason she lay in the hospital with a very fragile hold on life.

Chavez’s bullet
s had done a brutal job on Kate’s small body, and there was no one to blame but him. Had he left her alone, she’d be home safe and sound, instead of barely clinging to life.

The nurse touched his arm. “I’m sorry, sir. Your time is up.”

Brody pressed against the glass in an effort to imprint her face forever in his memory. He’d never forget what she looked like as long as he lived. Brody walked to the waiting room where Carl stood in the corner alone. Of medium height and weight, the admiral still looked like a formidable guy. What he said, he meant.

Brody want
ed to go to him and drop to his knees and beg to stay. To wait and see if Kate was going to be okay, to have a chance to tell her how much he loved her. But the stubborn mask on Stone’s face told Brody that would be a waste of time.

Frank put his hand on Brody’s shoulder
, and they all stepped into the elevator, leaving Kate alone to fight for her life.

“I bribed the nurse,” Frank said, gruffly. “I gave her a
thousand dollars to call with updates.”

Vince raised his head. “Which nurse? The cute black one?”

Frank and Vince exchanged surprised glances. “I gave her fourteen hundred dollars to keep me updated,” Vince said.

A.J. snorted. “Well, at least we’ll know what’s going on.” A.J. rubbed his arm and said, “Am I the only one who thinks Carl Stone is a dickhead.”

A unanimous
no
filled the elevator.

They reached the hospital lobby and
Vince spoke first. “I don’t intend to file charges against you, Brody. I don’t like your methods, but you saved a lot of lives.”

“Maybe,” Brody said, looking at the elevator door. “Kate may not make it.”

“Let’s all hope and pray she does. We’ll all keep in touch so we can share information.”

Vince left
, and Brody watched him step through the revolving door to the outside. “Brody,” Frank said. “Of all my agents you’re the least patient, the most hair-brained and the most unpredictable.”

Brody lowered his head. Firing time. “I know, and I understand.”

“You understand what?” Frank asked. His normal scowl deepened.

“I don’t blame you for firing me.”

“I’m not going to fire you. I know Kate is seriously injured, and she might not make it. But A.J. is alive. The presidents of both the US and Mexico are alive, and a lot of dirty people were taken down.”

“All I know is Kate...”

“I know that’s where your heart is. But let’s wait and see. You have to believe she’ll make it. Take one step at a time, Brody.”

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT

Three Months Later

Kate sat at her nice
but boring desk job and sorted papers. She was close to exploding. She’d been out of the hospital over two months and heard nothing from Brody.

Her father had taken on the persona of a mother hen and insisted she move back home with him until she was better. She’d been cleared for work a month ago, but sitting at the office wasn’t her idea of real work.

When she woke up at the hospital, she’d expected Brody to be there waiting, but he wasn’t. Only her father greeted her. The disappointment had stunned her. All this time she thought she and Brody had something special.

Apparently not.

She’d tried calling him, but he wasn’t taking her calls. So, after numerous attempts she gave up and decided to immerse herself in her work.

That didn’t help
because a desk job bored her to death. She’d just met with her supervisor and insisted he either put her back on assignment, or she’d quit. He finally agreed to return her weapon and badge.

Jim Taylor with the FBI came over to her desk
wearing a visitor’s badge. They had known each other for years, even worked together on a few assignments.

Tossing a police mug shot on her desk, he settled back in a chair.
“Don’t you have a guy in federal custody who claims to have witnessed a murder fifteen years ago in Texas?”

Glancing down, she puckered her lips.
“You mean Eugene Barlow?”

“Yeah, that’s the guy.”

“What about him? We didn’t put much stake in his statement because he’s a druggie, and his very long rap sheet ranges from petty assault to armed robbery to forgery.”

“We got a guy who claims Barlow is telling the truth and he knows where the body is buried.” Taylor
stood and turned to leave. “Want to go for a ride? I’m going to check it out.”

“God
, yes. Take me away,” Kate said, grabbing her jacket and heading for the door.

They drove for an hour and fifteen minutes before turning off 35W
. They cruised through the small town of Cleburne and on to the little town of Long Horn, population 3,241.

Taylor met up with two other agents. He got out of t
he car only to return within minutes. As he slid behind the wheel, he said, “It’s up here, close to an old abandoned mill.”

As the car pulled up
, Kate saw that the ME and the local police had been at work. A perimeter had been cordoned off by yellow tape. A large, blue canopy covered the excavation site.

As they approached
, the stench of decayed flesh slammed into Kate. No one who ever smelled a rotting corpse could forget the stench.

T
he skeletal remains lay on a black, unzipped body bag. The ME carefully traced the corpse with a magnifying glass.

A policeman approached, “Can I help you?”

Taylor flashed his badge, his neck stretching to see behind
the officer. “We’re the ones who called in the tip.” Taylor thumbed toward her. “This is CIA Kate Stone. One of her prisoners gave up the information.”

“Well, we don’t know much. The body is going to the forensic lab in Fort Worth.”

Kate spotted something. “Excuse me,” she said, stepping under the police tape. “Can I have a word?” Kate called out.

The ME looked up. “Who are you?”

“My guy witnessed the murder,” Kate said. “What is that black thing next to those rags?”

“It looks like an old lunch box.”

Kate pulled a pair of latex gloves out of the tissue box and asked, “Have you ID’d the body yet.” Lifting the box carefully, she set it on a nearby portable table.

“No, just that it’s a male in his mid to early
forties. At first I thought the cause of death was by asphyxia. Then I noticed this clean cut on the spinal column. This man was likely stabbed to death.”

Kate released the two hinges that kept the box close
d and shoved back the lid. It quickly became evident the article was indeed a lunchbox of some sort. There were moldy bits of food still wrapped in plastic along with a rotted Twinkie and a rusted thermos.

Kate started to remove the
gloves, and leave when a pocket watch fell from the examining table to the ground. Kate picked it up, brushed off the dirt, and flipped the lid open.

Her
breathing stopped and her eyes widened.

***
 

Two weeks later Kate walked into Falcon Securities and approached a very pretty young woman who smiled and asked if she could help her.

“Is Brody Hawke here?”

Blond tinted brows pulled together. “Who wants to know?”

“Kate Stone, CIA.”

“One moment, please.”

Kate didn’t expect Brody to be sitting in an office, but she knew Frank would see her, and she’d learn all she needed from him. And she was right. Frank walked out of his office and offered her a big hug.

“Come in, Kate,” Frank said. “It’s wonderful to see you up and around.”