Chapter Five

It took ten solid minutes for Sarah to get her head in the game when she got to the clinic. It was the little girl who asked if her mommy was going to be okay that snapped her out of her euphoric haze. David Sloane sure could pack a punch.

“Lady, my mommy is crying.”

“Show me.” Sarah gently clasped the little girl’s hand and let her lead her to the hole in the back of the clinic to where the young woman was leaning against the outside wall. She was holding a toddler and she was wiping tears off her face. It was clear that it had taken a Hurculean effort to get to this point.

“Good Girl Rosa, you found someone,” she gasped. The woman turned to Sarah. “Gringa?”

“Yes, I’m an American,” Sarah responded in Spanish. “I’m a nurse.” She pulled the little boy from the young mother’s arms. Then she saw the problem. Her shoulder was dislocated, and from the way she was standing, there was something wrong with her leg or foot.

“Let me go inside and see if there is someone strong who can carry you inside,” Sarah said. Arnie might have been a drunk and a druggie, but at least he’d had a strong back. Of course he needed to be forced to help out.

Asshole.

“Give me Alejandro,” the woman demanded softly.

“Let me help you sit down.” Sarah eased her to the ground, and then arranged for the toddler to sit on his mother’s lap.

“Thank you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

She ducked back into the broken part of the clinic wall. She followed the noise to one of the curtained areas. She found bedlam. There was a teenage boy on a gurney, and a doctor whose hands were wrist deep in his chest. A woman was crying in the corner. There was a small family huddled in the corner, a woman was in the middle, sobbing. The oldest man was clearly stopping her from going to the boy on the operating table.

The three other aid workers were assisting the doctor. Somebody needed to get the family out of the makeshift room, so the task fell to Sarah.

“Please, come with me.” She blocked the view from the family. The man that Sarah suspected to be the boy’s father threw her a grateful look. He guided his wife out of the curtained cubicle and the two younger men followed. She guided them to the makeshift waiting room, that contained a semblance of a couch.

“Have a seat. I want to assure you that Doctor Fredericks is one of the best doctors I’ve ever worked with.” She just didn’t know why he was in a full-blown open chest operation in the clinic and hadn’t had the teenager sent to the hospital. It had to be really bad.

“My baby fell on a spike when he was helping move debris,” the woman moaned. “He was trying to help.”

Sarah crouched down in front of her and grabbed her hands. “As soon as I can, I’ll find out what is going on.”

“Bless you.”

“In the meantime, there is a woman who is hurt and needs help. She’s outside and I need assistance bringing her into the clinic.”

“Roberto and Esteban will help,” she said tiredly. She nodded to the two older boys who stood at attention.

“Thank you,” Sarah said and stood up. She motioned to the young men. “Follow me.”

“Mama. Mama. Mama wake up.” Sarah heard Rosa’s shrill voice clearly, and sped up. She ducked through the hole in the wall and found the woman passed out. Alejandro was crawling away in the dirt, she scooped him up. Sarah turned to the two young men.

“Can you pick her up and follow me? Rosa, take my hand. We’re going to get your Mama inside and take care of her. It’s going to be all right.”

“What’s wrong with her? Why did she go to sleep?”

“She’s tired, Honey.” Sarah watched as the boys carefully picked up the woman. She led the way through the hole. She knew there were more gurneys next to the makeshift operating room, so that was where she guided them.

When she got there, she found all of them occupied.

Damn!

“We’re going to take her to the sofa where your mom and dad are, okay?” It was either Estaban or Roberto who nodded. As soon as their parents saw them carrying the unconscious woman, they got up so that she could be placed on the couch.

“Give him to me,” the older woman said, holding her hands out for Alejandro. Sarah passed over the toddler. She then bent over and checked the young mother’s pulse, which was strong. That was when the woman started to rouse.

“What happened?” she asked.

“You fainted.” Sarah explained.

She looked around frantically, then relaxed as she spied her children, then she gasped with pain.

“Hold still,” Sarah admonished. “I’m going to get you into a triage room as soon one is available and we will get you fixed up.” The front door of the clinic opened, and she saw a big man helping a smaller man. The smaller man was holding a compress to his head. It was going to be a busy day.

* * *

Dr. Fredericks finally staggered out of the area where he had been working on Angel. Sarah had arranged for an ambulance to be waiting to transfer the teenager to the hospital. The doctor said there was a good chance that the teenager would survive, barring any infection.

Rosa, Alejandro and their mother, Lisa, were currently huddled in a corner. Sarah had put her shoulder back in its socket and put a cast on her ankle. Lisa explained that her husband had died in the earthquake and she was now waiting for her in-laws to come and pick her up. There were scant supplies, but Sarah had managed to find juice boxes for both of the children, and she handed over the bananas and biscuits that David had forced her to take from the hotel.

When she took a much needed break, Sarah cuddled little Alejandro. His dark brown eyes and wavy hair made her think of David as a child. Then she started to think of what a child of theirs would look like.

Tears welled, but she forced them back. The last time she had thought of dreams like that had been with Matt, and look where that had gotten her. She kissed the top of the little boy’s head and handed him back to his mother.

* * *

“Where is he?” David asked again, his voice low, deadly.

The man who had been slouched at the break table shot up and saluted.

“He left yesterday after you and the governor did, we haven’t heard from him since.”

“Gather every other officer in this building, and have them in the warden’s office in three minutes.”

“But the warden’s office is locked,” the man protested.

“It won’t be for long.”

David turned and walked down the hallway and up the stairs back to the warden’s office. The damn building felt like a ghost town. It had taken him ten minutes to find the one ass clown in the break room.

The administrative building, which was separate from the rest of the prison, was still intact after the earthquake. For fuck’s sake, the guard at the gate had let David in, believing him when he had shown his military ID. At least the fencing around the perimeter was back up. There were also armed guards in the two towers that were still intact, but he hadn’t seen anyone walking the prison yard.

When he got to the door of the warden’s office, he saw a man standing outside looking as pissed off as David was feeling. He looked up when he heard David arrive.

“Don’t bother knocking, he’s not here.”

“I know.” David gave the door a considering look. Damn it. It would normally be a piece of cake if his leg wasn’t still bothering him. Still. He was sick of this shit. He braced and lifted his leg and kicked. Fuck! That hurt. But the door gave way, and he strode through into the office.

“Guess you wanted in.” The man chuckled.

“Guess so.” David turned on the light, strode around the desk, and started opening desk drawers. Every single one of them was unlocked. For this alone, the man needed to be fired. “Why are you here?” David asked the man.

“To quit.”

“Why?”

“It’s wrong just to leave a job. My supervisor isn’t here. So I was going to tell the warden.”

Interesting.

“Yeah, but why do you want to quit?”

“Because the warden and his men are useless,” he said vehemently.

“Don’t quit just yet. I need your help.” David found the drawer with the personnel files. He found the warden’s phone number, as well as the numbers of the five men who reported directly to him. He started with the warden. He didn’t get an answer. It wasn’t until he made his fourth call that somebody picked up.

“This is David Sloane. I’ve been appointed by the lieutenant governor to take over the apprehension of the escaped prisoners. I’m here at the prison. Where are you?”

The line went dead.

“You’re here to help?” the man in the office asked.

“Yes.”

“I’m Joaquin Morales. It was my day off when the earthquake hit, but normally I worked on the cellblock where most of the men escaped. We have to find them,” he said urgently. “They can’t be left on the loose.” He slapped both of his hands on the desk and leaned forward. “The warden has been doing nothing to find them. Those men are evil. No woman is safe, and people are going to end up dead.”

“Are there are others like you who feel this way?”

“Yes,” he said excitedly. “And not just other guards here at the prison either. I’m leaving to lead a manhunt.”

“Joaquin, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I can arrange things like cell phones, additional vehicles, as well as some members of the police who can be trusted.”

“I have eight men.”

“Now that I know the warden, and many of his men aren’t going to be of any use let’s see who is. Gather your team, and bring them back here. I’ll call in the officers who will join the hunt. I also know someone else who can get us some volunteers.”

He punched in Carmen’s number.

* * *

Everybody in the prison yard was sweating, but Bernardo had to be the worst. Finding out your warden had left the country, probably with a bag of drug money, would do that to a lieutenant governor.

“Captain Sloane is in charge of the manhunt.” Bernardo grabbed his arm and held it above his head. “I have just promoted Luis Martinez to Warden. He is now in charge of the prison.” Bernardo used his other hand to grab Luis’ arm above his head. Standing between David and Luis, it was like he was a fight promotor who was declaring everyone a winner. The gathered men cheered.

David looked around, he had ten teams of four men. They would work in twelve-hour shifts, and each team would have a team that it would work interchangeably with. Joaquin would be in charge of one shift, and David the other.

In his gut, he believed many of the convicts were going to be trying to get to the docks, so he put one of the teams there. The rural area was huge, so he put two of the teams in charge of checking the countryside. One team patrolled San Marcos, and one team patrolled the small towns.

When Bernardo finally let go of him, he moved motioned for the team leaders to come forward.

“I want you to check in every hour. Our teams will be working in two twelve hours shifts. The first shift will work with me. The second shift will work with Joaquin. Remember they took weapons from the armory, so we need to consider all of these men armed and dangerous. Joaquin, you and your second shift leaders and men need to go and rest, you will take over in twelve hours.”

“I’m good to go now,” one man who was part of the second shift said.

“We are doing this by the rulebook,” Joaquin said swiftly. “Go home and rest. Your turn will come.”

Yep, he’d done the right thing putting Joaquin in charge. David turned to Luis. “Will you be ready when we bring in these assholes?”

Their eyes turned towards construction workers who were maneuvering a steel beam into place on part of the collapsed prison. Even now, a lot of the current prisoners were living four in a cell, instead of the normal two.

“I don’t care if I have to chain them to a stake in the prison yard, I’ll figure out a way to keep them in place when you bring them to me,” Luis growled.

David had read over the files of the escaped convicts, and the idea of Hector Salazar with a steel collar around his neck was very appealing. Luis must have read his mind.

“David, you know some of them have already hurt people.”

His teeth hurt as he ground them together. Deep in his gut, he knew that somewhere out there were one or more people in their clutches, and it killed him that they hadn’t been looking for these monsters yesterday.

“I know, Luis.”

Luis clapped his hand on David’s shoulder. “You’re going to get them. I trust you.”

“Damn right we will,” he said catching Joaquin’s gaze.

* * *

David had gone with one of the teams into the Las Flores countryside. They had passed a cluster of homes, knocked on each door, and came up empty. An old man at the last house had told them where some other outlying homes were, so the team split up to check them out. David took a young man named Manuel to go with him. Hell, he couldn’t be more than eighteen.

Talk about off the beaten path. It seemed like these people wanted to hide from everyone.

“They probably grow marijuana,” Manuel said to David’s unasked question. It made sense. Even if there weren’t prisoners lurking about, chances were the owners of the little homestead weren’t going to be happy to have them knocking on their door.

“Let me go first,” David said. “You stay back.” Smoke curled out of the chimney, and chickens pecked in the front yard, but there were no other signs of activity.

He knocked on the door and waited. Finally, a woman answered. She only opened the door a fraction before demanding to know what he wanted. He explained about the escaped prisoners and asked if she had seen anything. She looked like she was in pain, but she said in a loud voice, that she hadn’t seen anything out of the ordinary.

He didn’t believe her for even a second. Fear practically seeped from her pores.

“Lady, can I have some water?”

“No. Go away.” Her eyes pleaded with him. His neck crawled. He was being watched, and it wasn’t Manuel.

“Do you have a cell phone?”

She nodded. He’d been astounded to find out how many people in the rural areas had cell phones, but Bernardo had assured him it was normal. They might not have indoor toilets, but they had cell phones.

“Good. If you see something. Anything. Call the police.” She slammed the door. David walked back to Manuel. “This was a waste of our time. Let’s go,” he said loudly enough for anyone in the house to hear.

He waited until they walked over the rise before taking out his phone and calling the others on the team. He told them where to meet. He also called the other four man team that was positioned in the countryside and asked for their location. Four miles, but they could get their hands on a truck.

“Do it,” David ordered. He handed the phone off to Manuel so he could provide directions. They were going to need all the back-up they could get.

Then he told Manuel to wait for them, while he circled back through the trees to get another look with his binoculars at the little farmhouse.

There was a small stable, and he saw a horse and a mule. Then he saw something yellow near the foot of the mule. He adjusted the lens. It was a yellow shirt. Dammit, it was a body. Adjusting the lens again, he could make out bloating. The man had been dead for at least two days.

He looked around the backyard, and saw more chickens, then he lifted the glasses so that he could look into the small house. Good, it was a clear view into the kitchen. The woman was not in sight, but he could see a toddler on the floor. The three men seated at the table had on prison uniforms. He swung the binoculars back to the baby and sucked down bile. There was no way one of the men was related to that little boy, not with how scared that woman had been. No, this was a hostage situation.

The woman came into view. She was carrying something, and she put it on the table. One of the men grabbed her and pulled her onto his lap. She struggled.

Don’t lady. Just do what they want. Help is on the way.

Another man pulled out a knife and laughed. He pierced the tabletop with it. The woman stopped struggling. They all laughed.

David double checked that his phone was on vibrate, and called the team leader.

“What’s the ETA on the other team, Raul?”

“Twenty minutes,” the man answered.

“Okay. Follow the GPS to my phone. Do not make any noise. A woman and baby depend on us.” He hung up. Damn, he needed a plan. Where he was situated was about one hundred yards from the kitchen window. Could he make the head shots? If he got closer, sure. But not before one of them grabbed the knife and a hostage. They needed a diversion.

His team arrived. He gave them credit, for four men, they were incredibly quiet.

“I’m a sharpshooter,” an older man said quietly as he stepped forward. He was holding a well-cared for rifle. He had binoculars hanging around his neck, and it was clear that he had already assessed the situation. David liked him.

He motioned for all the men to huddle in close.

“I see three men in the kitchen, but for all we know, there could be more. There’s a dead civilian in the stables and a woman and child in the kitchen. We need a diversion.”

“Drugs,” Manuel said flatly. The team leader nodded.

“Explain,” David demanded.

“I saw marijuana plants as we came over here. It’s clear that’s what they grow here. Someone pretends to come to the house as a buyer with money. All of their attention will definitely be on the supposed money, not on the woman or the kid.”

“Good plan. If at least two men show up at the front, that will force two men to go there, while some of us could go to the back and get the baby and the woman.” David nodded, he liked the idea. He turned to the older man with the rifle.

“You’ll stay up here. You take out anyone who moves wrong.” The man smiled, showing two missing teeth.

These men were impressive. Raul and another one walked up to the front, while David and Manuel crawled down the hill, taking cover in the long grass and shrubs. When they made it to the stable, they stayed still. The sharpshooter would be able to see everything, and he would tell them when to move across the backyard toward the kitchen door.

Yelling pierced the quiet. It was Raul and a man that David assumed was a convict. He could make out the words drugs and money. Then a shot rang out. He pushed Manuel out of the stable, and the two of them ran toward the kitchen door. Another shot rang out. A baby started to cry. David stumbled, and Manuel grabbed his arm, heaving him up.

Goddamn leg.

“Kitchen! Go! Now!” It was the sharpshooter. David plowed through the door of the kitchen. One of the men who had been sitting at the table had a knife in his hand and was reaching for the baby. As one entity, David and Manuel tackled the man.

Ice. Fire. Pain.

Why wouldn’t his arm move to hit the guy? Other hand. He pulled back and slammed his fist into the fucker’s mouth.

Crunch.

“You’re bleeding.”

“Baby. Get the baby,” David wheezed.

Another shot.

God, he hurt. He tried to roll over and groaned.