Jack Del Rio: Complete Trilogy: Reservations, Betrayals, Endgames

by Richard Paolinelli

  “You can do it. You can,” Yazzie repeated, slurring his words slightly.

  “Alright,” Del Rio said after thinking it over. “You heard the man. Take him to County General in Gallup. We’ll be right behind you.”

  The paramedic looked dubious, shrugged his shoulders and hollered to his driver to head for Gallup while he rode in the back. One of Tso’s men, not one of Yazzie’s previous guards, Del Rio noted, hopped in before the doors slammed shut and the ambulance pulled out.

  Del Rio turned to Tso. “I’ll need that sample pack you were holding for me,” Del Rio said.

  Tso pointed to another officer, who sprinted inside and quickly returned with the small box in hand. It was sealed with dry ice inside to preserve the samples. He handed it to Del Rio and stepped away.

  “I’ll call Gallup PD,” Tso said. “I’ll have them waiting for us when we get there. See if they can clear as much of the hospital as they can while he’s there.”

  “Good idea,” Del Rio replied. “Maybe call the State Police over there as well. See if they can spare a few people. We’ll see you there. C’mon Chee, let’s go.”

  NINTEEN

  McKinley County General was located on one of the highest hills in Gallup, just on the southernmost edge of the city limits. The town itself had been founded in 1881; the original hospital building had followed within a decade.

  The single-story building had survived over a hundred years, all the way into the nineties, even as a more modern three-story hospital complex had sprung up around it. Towards the end of its service, it had been converted to records storage, and many a visitor left the building swearing they’d seen or felt the presence of a ghostly nurse or patient wandering those old halls. Even after the old building had been flattened and a new emergency room wing built over the site during a major remodel of the entire hospital, there were occasional stories from the night shift of a spectral visit or two, but never in its entire history had it witnessed a scene like the one on hand as Del Rio and Chee pulled up behind the ambulance carrying Yazzie. Cars from nearly every local, county and state law enforcement agency filled the parking lot near the emergency room entrance.

  Even though the television stations that covered the area were based one hundred-fifty miles east in Albuquerque, they all had reporters based in Gallup and the vans for all three were there setting up. There was no way to tell, but Del Rio was sure the local radio and newspaper reporters were likely in the mix as well.

  Yazzie was quickly pulled out and wheeled into the hospital as officers from the Gallup Police and the New Mexico State Police departments held the gathering crowd at bay. Chee spotted the photographer from the Times, who took note of Del Rio’s presence and melted into the crowd of reporters and photographers before Del Rio could spot him.

  Serves you right you little weasel, Chee thought with grim satisfaction. Cardosa had tried to pull one of his bullying stunts and ran into someone who could push back hard. As soon as that story made the rounds, Del Rio would have no end of people in this town wanting to buy him a drink.

  Del Rio pulled up at the door looking back at the throng as it descended on Yazzie’s Chief of Staff who paused long enough to give a brief, impromptu press conference.

  “Yes, the president has been attacked, but has survived and is being treated for injuries that are not life threatening. Not sure why he was brought to the hospital here in Gallup; will have to look into that. The suspect is still at large. NNPD has the area surrounded and a thorough search is underway. No, we do not know the suspect’s name or description. You’ll have to speak with Chief Shirley at the NNPD for that information.

  “Members of the President’s protective staff, NNPD, and the FBI prevented the attacker from completing his attempt on the President’s life,” Etsitty concluded. “On behalf of the President, I’d like to thank all of those involved for preventing a terrible tragedy. At this time, that is all I have for you and we will release additional information as it becomes available. Thank you.”

  Del Rio and Chee quickly stepped inside, mostly to avoid being ganged-up on by any of the reporters as the presser broke up.

  “That wasn’t too bad,” Chee said. “At least he didn’t blame any of us for letting Ben get hurt in the first place.”

  “That will come later,” Del Rio cracked, “if we don’t make an arrest soon and a scapegoat is needed.”

  What Del Rio didn’t bother to add was that, as the outsider in this investigation, he was the prime candidate for the scapegoat role. Setting the issue aside, he walked up to Tso who was just wrapping up his conversation with the guard who’d ridden in with Yazzie. The President was already in a treatment room surrounded by a flock of doctors, nurses and other techs while uniformed officers stood guard at every exit. Chee wandered off to speak with one of the Gallup cops.

  “Says Yazzie didn’t speak much,” Tso said with a nod of his head toward the departing guard. “He mostly rambled incoherently all the way in although he seemed to bring up the word coyote a lot.”

  Tso paused with a long look at Del Rio who had his best poker face on and said nothing.

  “He settled down after they told him they were heading here, though,” Tso continued. “I can’t figure out why that was so important to him. Can you? You backed him up on it.”

  “Figured it would be better for him if he wasn’t agitated about it and he seemed pretty set on coming here,” Del Rio said with a shrug. “Besides, maybe he is safer off the reservation right now. Get our killer out of his comfort zone so to speak.”

  “You think it’s Jim or Shelly still?”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure of it. By the way, do we know where those two were when all of this went down?”

  “According to their protection detail,” Tso replied, and Del Rio heard the emphasis he had put on those last two words, “both were in their office in plain sight at the time. Just like Walker was in her office hours after she was dead.”

  Del Rio said nothing, but could see Tso putting it together.

  “So we have two men with no alibi for the first three murders; an alibis neither of us believes for a second, but can’t disprove for the fourth killing, and the attempt on Yazzie,” Tso continued, “and you still haven’t told me why you are so sure it’s one of them.”

  “The person behind all of this is a strict traditionalist,” Del Rio said. “Both men are traditionalists, although Shelly has been making a show of being a little more receptive to new ideas than Jim has.”

  “Yeah. Shelly’s nothing if not a politician all right,” Tso said, agreeing with Del Rio’s assessment as he mulled over what he knew. “So you think this is all about returning to the old ways? You said you suspected me and Shirley at one point, because we were against Yazzie when he ran for office, but not anymore; not since you asked about those coyotes we got from MacDonald.”

  “Coyotes,” Tso said thoughtfully. “You asked about them, Yazzie mentioned a coyote on the way in, and Chee’s description of the man you chased said it looked like he was wearing some type of fur from a skinned animal, possibly a coyote. Someone who knows the Navajo legends well and feels we’ve strayed too far from them and is using them to get at those he feels are threatening to his beliefs.”

  Del Rio saw it all come together on Tso’s face; why Del Rio had pursued the leads and kept Tso and Shirley at arm’s length.

  “Okay,” Tso said without acrimony, “it’s one of those two for sure. So the question is, what do we do next to prove which one it is?”

  “You tell me,” Del Rio said. “We don’t have enough evidence to make an arrest. I’m not sure we have enough for a search warrant, even if I thought we’d find anything. This has been planned out and executed almost flawlessly. I just don’t see him being dumb enough to leave damning evidence out in plain sight.”

  “Me neither,” Tso agreed as he thought it over. “I might be able to get us a warrant with a Navajo judge I know. I’ll call Shirley and have him see what he can do.�
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  “How’s his search going?”

  “They have a good-sized perimeter up and they are scouring everything in sight. Last I heard they haven’t found anything. Pity you couldn’t get a better look at his face.”

  “Yeah,” Del Rio replied. “I never got close enough. I’d sure like to know how he pulled that trick. It’s almost as if he knew that coyote was out there all along.”

  “Maybe it was a shape shifter and you had him all along and let him get away?”

  Del Rio wasn’t sure if Tso was being serious; thought he was just getting his chops busted.

  “Frank,” Del Rio began, “if we are going to start dealing with the supernatural in this case, I am going to give you the number to a very good Catholic exorcist I know of and fly right the hell home.”

  Tso chuckled as a doctor approached the two men.

  “How is he?’ Tso asked.

  “He took a couple of pretty good raps on the skull, front and back, but it doesn’t appear to be too serious,” the doctor replied. “He has a concussion and we’ll keep him here under observation for a few days to make sure there aren’t any additional complications. He took a blow to the ribs, looks like two are cracked but not broken, and the lungs were not punctured. Aside from some minor cuts and bruises, that’s about the extent of his injuries. I expect a complete recovery.”

  “We’ll need to set him up in a room that’s been thoroughly checked out by our people if he’s going to be here that long,” Tso said.

  “Of course,” the doctor replied. “I’ve already talked to our security people and we can use the second floor. We used to have a sleep lab on the western side of the floor. It’s been closed down and unused for a while now. We can set up a room with a nearby nurse’s station and some rooms for any men you want to keep here without any problem. It’ll just be you, some empty offices, and our oxygen tank storage room.”

  “Sounds like a perfect setup,” Del Rio said.

  “I’d like to check it out personally before you send him up,” Tso said, but nodded agreement with Del Rio’s assessment.

  “Of course,” the doctor said as he turned away to check on Yazzie. “We won’t be ready to move him up there for at least an hour or so.”

  “I’ll have Shirley get started on the warrants while we’re getting Ben settled in,” Tso said, then glanced down and added, “it looks like we have another casualty.”

  Del Rio followed his gaze down and saw what he meant. His jacket had taken the brunt of his slide across the gravel roof top. In all likelihood he would have a pretty good road rash to clean up later when he took his shirt off.

  “Occupational hazard,” Del Rio said. “I’ll call my tailor and he’ll have a replacement hanging up waiting for me when I get home.”

  “You have your own tailor?” Tso didn’t say it, but Rich Boy was clearly in his tone.

  “Our families have been friends since the Second World War,” Del Rio defended with the air of a man who’d had to make this explanation too often. “If I so much as dared to buy off the rack, I’d have to leave the country. Besides, they do good work and I get a good price. Although after he sees this, he’s probably going to insist on putting in Kevlar.”

  Tso shot Del Rio a look.

  “He watches too many movies,” Del Rio explained. “He thinks all I do is run around and get shot at. He means well, but I can do without the extra weight unless I know I’m going into a shooting situation.”

  Chee wandered back as Tso departed to go check out the second floor.

  “Gallup PD has the place surrounded and locked down,” she reported. “I told them, unofficially, to let us know if they saw Jim or Shelly in the area; not why.”

  Del Rio nodded his approval and filled her in on his conversation with Tso and the doctor’s report.

  “We got lucky today,” Chee said. “Not as lucky as your jacket though. Does it hurt?”

  “My jacket? No.”

  “You know what I meant.”

  “I’m fine,” Del Rio lied. Now that both Tso and Chee had mentioned it, it was starting to hurt, but not enough to worry over right now. “I’ll change later if there’s time.”

  Unconvinced, Chee reached over and lifted the jacket for a closer inspection. The shirt underneath was undamaged and she couldn’t see any bloodstain.

  “Satisfied?” Del Rio asked quietly. There was going to be some scrapes and a pretty good-sized bruise to be sure. He hadn’t felt like there was too much damage done.

  Chee had seen how hard he’d landed and skidded across that rooftop, not to mention the jump off to pursue the attacker, and was still unconvinced. Short of stripping him down right here in public, she’d have to take his word for it.

  There goes last night’s resolution, she thought as she felt the heat in her cheeks, and noticed Del Rio eyeing her strangely.

  “What?”

  “Nothing,” he replied after a moment. “Let’s go upstairs and see what Tso thinks of the arrangements.”

  It turned out he was quite pleased with what he’d found. Del Rio had to agree as he looked the situation over. Drawing on his counter-terrorism experience, Del Rio eyed the set-up from the standpoint of a potential attacker.

  Located in the northwest corner of the second floor, the room intended for Yazzie was as isolated as possible and was several yards away from the elevator. The only security issues he could see right off were the stairwell that connected the hospital’s three floors on the inside and the door that led to an outside stairwell leading to the grounds. Both doors were within a dozen or so feet from Yazzie’s room, but Tso had already dealt with those issues by assigning a man to each door and was ordering them to be locked at all times. Yazzie’s room was easily within view of the nurse’s station. The closest rooms to his were open and already being set up to accommodate the extra security personnel. There were a few other closed doors, all were offices belonging to hospital employees who were away at a conference, and those were being locked. The only open door belonged to a storage room, situated between the two stairwells that was filled with oxygen tanks and other medical equipment. The room’s only window could not be opened for potential access.

  Stepping in to the room intended for Yazzie, Del Rio was happy with what he saw with one exception. There was only one window that could not be opened. Looking out, Del Rio could not see any possible location for a sniper to setup and gain a clear shot, nor was there any type of ledge outside the window, but the room’s lone bed was a little too close to that window, so he suggested moving it over.

  “Good idea,” Tso agreed, motioning to his men to make it happen. “I’m posting men up on the roof, and getting photos to go with the names of every employee here. There’ll be a man at the elevator checking anyone who comes on the floor, whether they are heading down here or not.”

  Del Rio nodded, liking the setup Tso had in place. The other half of this wing was the women and children’s area, and the Respiratory Care area. Visitors and employees would be going back and forth to those areas. Few, if any, would have a reason to be beyond the elevators on this end of the wing.

  While they waited for Yazzie’s transfer up, the trio made their way around the entire second floor. Checking and rechecking everything. A comment about sealing an unused door here, a suggestion of where to post a man there.

  Del Rio extended his walk around to the entire floor. Satisfied that the birth center’s security could not be used to access the area near Yazzie’s room, he checked out the other area of the floor. A trio of doors marked Respiratory Care in large block letters with each room’s purpose listed below in smaller lettering. One door served as the office for the department’s manager, the middle appeared to be devoted for lockers and a meeting area for the therapists in RC, and the third was a combination break room and equipment storage area. This was the only one of the three rooms with a window that could be opened.

  Stepping back out into the hall, Del Rio flagged down a passing maintenance
man and had him rig the window so that it could be bolted shut for the duration. The operation took just a few brief minutes, and when the man was done, there was no way that window was going to open.

  Del Rio made his way back down to the northwest corner and found Chee making her case for having the air vents sealed. It seemed to him that she was fighting a losing battle.

  “I don’t know, ma’am,” one of the hospital’s maintenance crew was saying. “I can’t see how anyone would try to come through the vent system.”

  The man broke off as he spotted Del Rio approaching and looked to him for support.

  “Don’t look at me,” Del Rio replied to the man’s obvious disappointment. “You heard her. Seal those vents.”

  The man grumbled under his breath, then he and his crew started working on the vents in question as Chee gave Del Rio a grateful nod. We’ve done all we can, Del Rio thought, no matter what happens. Tso walked up to them having completed one last tour of the floor himself.

  “They’re ready to move Yazzie up now,” Tso said. “We should go on down. Shirley just called to let us know that he got the warrants. He wants to know if you’d like him and his men to conduct the searches, or wait for you to come back out to the Res?”

  “We’ll go out there after Yazzie gets settled in here,” Del Rio answered. “Is he giving up on the search at the admin buildings then?”

  “Pretty much,” Tso replied. “It looks like our guy slipped right past the perimeter, or he never tried to leave it in the first place, if your theory is right, and he just doubled back as soon as he lost you. They still haven’t figured out how the attacker gained entrance to the roof yet. You really think you’ll find anything at either place?”

  “If you mean a giant ‘I did it’ sign,” Del Rio said, “then no. Neither one of them is dumb enough to leave something that obvious, but he might have slipped up on something small, significant enough for us to bring him in.”