“Yeah, I think we need to see if we can get someone on both of our guys until we figure all this out. I’ll call you when I get there or if I hear anything from my friend about the Canadian side of things.” Dix also pulled out his cell phone and began dialing Petersen. When his partner didn’t answer, he began to worry.
Frazier told Dix to use his vehicle and that he would ask one of the local guys to give him a ride back to the police station. They were about an hour outside of town.
Dix drove well above the speed limit to get back to town to check on Petersen. He had an uneasy feeling in his stomach and he hoped his hunch wasn’t correct.
Chapter 18:
Marie parked around the corner from the hospital and walked casually to the entrance of the underground parking lot where she’d seen the police cars earlier. She flipped the security guard’s badge she’d stolen up to the reader. It beeped, but the light showed red and the gate didn’t open. She didn’t panic. Damn card readers. She tried again three more times and the same thing happened. Son of a bitch, he must have figured out he lost the badge and reported it to be deactivated. In order to get inside to locate the undercover officer, she needed to access the hospital from the underground garage. Time was ticking and she had to come up with a plan B on the fly. She moved into a secluded corner to think.
Just when she decided she’d change her clothes and use the front entrance, the gate began to open. The person driving in didn’t see her, and didn’t wait for the gate to close before continuing down to the parking area. Marie snuck in without a hitch. And Robert said I couldn’t handle this crap.
She worked her way to an access hatch that she assumed would be locked. She also noticed right away that only one police-looking vehicle sat outside instead of the several she’d seen earlier in the day. That son of a bitch better be here. When she reached the lock hatch, she could see she guessed right; it was locked. She retrieved a pair of lock cutters and wrapped the lock with a rag. Her plan was to cut and catch the lock before it hit the garage floor, but if it didn’t work out that way, wrapping it would lessen the sound it would make if it hit the concrete floor below.
She pushed the handles together, snapped the lock, and caught it as it dropped. She grabbed gloves and put them on. She took a flashlight out and put it in a pocket. Then she took a silenced weapon from the backpack and put it in her waistband. She reached into the backpack and pulled out a tightly wound up Ziplock bag. She flipped it forward and it unrolled revealing a professional business suit. She attached the suit still within the plastic bag to a clip on her back. After putting the lock cutter and lock into the backpack, she stashed it behind some water pipes. Doing all this gave her time to think about her next problem. Now that the card is deactivated, I need another way onto the secure floor. She retrieved the backpack, rummaged around, and found a hacking device. On it was a note from Blass, “Just in case.” She smiled and put it in her vest pocket. She put the backpack back in the hiding spot, and pulled herself up into the air ducts.
She knew the first and second floors were out of play because they contained admin offices and the cafeteria. The information she’d gotten from the weapons supplier was that law enforcement members were normally kept on the fourth floor in the trauma unit.
She continued to climb her way up through the ducts. The narrow ducts made it slow going and she focused on being quiet. Every inch she crawled seemed to last forever and each tiny sound her body made caused her to cringe.
Once at the fourth floor, she was able to work her way to the nurse’s station. Through a small grate she could see several nurses and a security guard. She didn’t notice any uniformed officers on the floor. Based on what she saw, she decided the maintenance closet, which would grant her access to the floor, had to be along the east wall. As she pulled her way to the intersection of the ducts, her gun slipped out of her waistband and made a clunking noise. Marie froze.
A nurse heard the sound and turned to look at the duct Marie was in.
Another nurse pointed at the ducts down the hallway. “Did you hear that?”
The first nurse rolled her eyes. “You hearing things again?”
“No really, I heard something.” She pointed excitedly to the grate in the duct. “It was a thump coming from right there.”
The security guard wandered over to see what the fuss was about. “What are you ladies going on about?”
Marie carefully retrieved the gun and briefly considered shooting her way out of the bind and trying to get the UC another time.
The first nurse laughed. “Oh, Sherri’s hearing things in the vents again.”
The security guard looked at Sherri. “It’s probably a rat,” he said, knowing Sherri hated rats.
Sherri laughed. “That’s enough you two. There’s something up there, but I’m too busy to check it out,” she lied. There was no way she was going to get anywhere close to a rat.
They all shared a laugh and went back to work. Marie waited a few minutes before moving. She found the access onto the floor through the maintenance closet and stepped out. She was covered in sweat. She began controlling her breathing and drying herself off. She put her hair in a ponytail and put on a pair of glasses that she had placed in the plastic bag with the suit. Next, she pulled out the business suit and laid it flat on some boxes in the maintenance room. She dusted it off and changed quickly. She placed the silenced gun in a small holster covered by the suit coat, ditched the flashlight, and put the hacking device in her pant pocket. Her plan was to exit the maintenance closet and act as a corporate member doing a surprise inspection on the hospital. If it worked, she’d locate the UC, kill him, and get out as quickly as possible.
If anyone questioned her, she’d ask to see their records and to speak to their supervisor. Meet force with force, she mused.
Marie walked down the hall and noticed none of the doors were locked. She began searching each room for the undercover officer. She completed the east wing and moved to the west wing. As she approached the nurse’s station, the woman who’d heard Marie in the vents looked up with a puzzled look at the sight of Marie.
“Oh hello, can I help you?” she asked.
Marie spoke with a professional yet stern tone. “Yes, I’m with corporate department, and I’m doing a surprise inspection. What’s your name?” Marie could see the woman tense up and her smile immediately disappeared.
“Oh dear, I’m sorry, but you should be escorted by someone from the admin department,” the nurse replied with conviction.
“Normally that’s the case, but this is a surprise inspection that no one at the hospital knew about. We just want to make sure everyone is performing at an acceptable level.” Marie saw the woman slump down and begin to fidget a little with her thumbs. Gotcha, she thought.
“Well, okay. I’m the charge nurse.” She shook Marie’s hand. “My name’s Sherri. I can walk with you and show you around.” She motioned toward the hospital rooms.
Suddenly Marie noticed a man with a firearm on his waist standing at the end of the west wing. That must be where he is, she thought as her pulse bumped slightly. “No, that’s not going to work today. I’m on strict orders to do this completely alone.”
The woman turned red in the face, and seemed like she was beginning to wonder what Marie was up to, or who she really was. At the same instant, Marie noticed the elevator doors opening on the landing and watched as the same security guard she saw earlier stepped off the elevator.
Sherri made a gesture with her head to the security guard that caught his attention. He began to walk toward Marie.
“I won’t need his assistance either. I’ll start with the east wing, and end with the west.” Marie turned and started walking toward the east wing as the nurse frantically dialed on her phone. She picked up her pace a little in an effort to distance herself from the nurse, security guard, and the unknown man at the end of the opposite hall who was wearing a sidearm. In her head she mentally counted to twenty, just enough tim
e to allow everyone the ability to communicate to each other about a possible intruder down the east wing. Should be pretty easy now, she thought.
Marie quickly disappeared through the stairwell access door and worked her way over to the west wing stairs.
The security guard motioned to the armed federal agent who’d been outside the undercover officer’s room and they both headed down the east wing to locate the woman claiming she was from corporate offices.
Marie hurried across the third floor and found the stairwell to the west wing to the fourth floor. No one even noticed her as she entered the stairwell. She grabbed her firearm and raced up the stairs. She steadied herself prior to opening the door. Marie replayed her plan in her head one last time. The door she’d need to enter would be to her left once the door opened from the stairwell. First she would scan the area for threats. If she didn’t see any, she’d breach the door to the room she believed the UC was in and kill him. After that, she’d make her way to the rooftop and over to the fire ladder. Once down the ladder, she would disappear into the park behind the hospital. From there, she’d work her way into a new outfit and jog to the dirt bike she parked behind the park to make a clean getaway.
Marie cautiously opened the door to the fourth floor west wing and peeked her head out. It seemed there was still a commotion at the east wing. She came out into the west wing area with tremendous quickness and bolted into the room looking for the wounded undercover officer. Marie’s eyes bulged as she detected the gun before she saw the undercover officer.
“Figured you’d come back,” he said as he fired rounds the best he could. He was not able to lift his arm very high, and had no strength; however, a round hit Marie in the arm, causing her to scream and duck to the right. Another round he fired grazed her leg.
She was not prepared for the resistance, but she pushed forward like a caged animal fighting for its life. Oblivious to the pain, she grabbed a pillow, put it over the UC’s head, and pulled the trigger. Blood splatter and the lack of movement indicated she’d finished the job. Suddenly tremendous pain and the sight of a lot of blood registered in her head.
Without hesitation, she willed her way into the stairwell and started climbing the stairs to the roof. It was six more flights up, and she was already feeling light headed and fatigued after negotiating two flights. She assumed there was a lot of commotion and confusion on the fourth floor, but she didn’t care. She was running for her life now.
Chapter 19:
The security guard and federal agent heard the gunshots and looked at each other in sheer panic. Each drew his weapon and charged up to the fourth floor, cautiously making their way to the west wing.
“Shit, we left him alone!” The federal agent radioed for emergency cover units. He advised that shots had been fired and the suspect was a white female adult, approximately twenty-eight years old, wearing a blue business suit. The security guard began running down the hall toward the room that the undercover officer was in.
“Stop,” yelled the federal agent as he grabbed the man by his shoulder.
“What do you mean? We need to get down there now!” growled the security guard while shaking his head.
“Follow my lead damn it! She could be waiting for us and we’d both be dead if we go charging in. We’re going to move fast, but we need to be careful.” The look in the agent’s eyes showed determination and concern.
The security guard realized he needed to listen to the federal agent because he was in way over his head now.
The two men walked briskly and cleared each room. Within a minute, they made it to the wounded undercover officer’s room and stopped.
The federal agent looked at the security guard. “Look at me. We’re going to enter the room fast and aggressively. I’ll go left, you go right. Check the corners and look for the shooter. You see her, shoot her.”
The security guard nodded as beads of sweat dripped down his brow. The federal agent knew the man was scared, but they needed to breach the room immediately.
The federal agent counted one, two, three, and slammed open the door as they poured into the room. They cleared the room and noticed the shooter was gone.
“Oh shit, man!” The security guard pointed at the hospital bed.
The federal agent could see the undercover officer wasn’t moving, and grimaced as the blood splatter he saw on the wall confirmed the worse possible scenario. The undercover officer was dead, and he’d left him alone to chase after the suspect.
“All units! Get a damn perimeter around this hospital! We have an officer down, I repeat, officer down. We’re UTL (unable to locate) the suspect,” the federal agent screamed over the radio.
Shock began to set in for the security guard.
The federal agent shook him. “Listen man, you need to head downstairs, I’ll take the stairs to the roof. She’s going to make a run for it. We gotta get this bitch!”
The security guard didn’t respond.
The federal agent shook him again.
Finally the security guard snapped back into reality. “Ok, ok, I’m going down, you’re going up.” The security guard sprinted down the stairs, while the federal agent charged through the door to the roof’s access, hoping to avenge the undercover officer’s death.
*******
Frazier had been listening to his scanner while driving to check on his UC. He heard the initial call for help from the federal agent and the hair rose on the back of his neck. Son-of-a-bitch! He stepped on the gas in a panic, blowing through stoplights and stop signs with reckless abandon. Frazier radioed for assistance and stopped himself from making further transmissions because everyone was trying to broadcast at once, effectively making the radio un-useable. He was about a minute out from the hospital when the first shots were fired. He shut off his sirens and lights and circulated the area near the hospital.
He frantically checked the face and clothing of every female he could see. He wondered where the shooter might have gone and tried to figure out how she was planning to escape. He thought about what he knew about the hospital, the layout, and any escape routes. He couldn’t stop thinking about the status of his UC. He resisted a strong urge to abandon the search for the suspect so he could check on the status of the undercover officer. He knew if the UC was dead there was only one thing he could do for him now. He’d find the killer and make her pay.
Patrol cars began flooding the area. Officers stepped out of their vehicles, grabbed their rifles, and staged, waiting for more officers to form teams to shut down and secure the hospital. A pit in his stomach made Frazier feel uneasy. The knuckles on his hands turned white from gripping the steering wheel tightly. He worried he might be too late, but then he had an idea. The suspect most likely would know police tactics, and therefore, she’d know she would have some time to move while the confusion slowed the response of law enforcement. Maybe even enough time to get to the roof, but then what, if she gets up there, she’s gotta get down. Frazier drove around to the back of hospital and saw a figure jumping down from the fire ladder. His adrenaline spiked and his heart pounded. He instinctively reached for the radio. He saw the person was wearing all white, and it looked like it was a female. Frazier could see redness on her arm and leg. Son of a bitch! She’s been hit.
Frazier tried to broadcast what he was seeing, and that the suspect was breaking the perimeter. He noticed she was likely heading to the park. It didn’t matter because he couldn’t get out over the radio. He kept his eyes glued on the suspect, and reached down to move the radio channel to a secondary channel. He managed to get his update out about the shooter on the secondary channel. Then he unlocked his rifle and parked his car.
The suspect had no idea she’d been spotted, but was running as fast as she could to get among the families and children playing in the park. The further she blended in among the civilians, the worse off it was for Frazier. It forced him to make a snap decision.
“Stop! Police,” he screamed. The suspect turned to look direc
tly at Frazier. He instantly recognized the woman as the one in the surveillance photos from the Range Rover. He carefully trained the red dot from his rifle optics on her chest. Frazier hoped he’d get some backup soon and contemplated his background in case he needed to squeeze the trigger. He was not prepared for what the suspect did next.
She lunged to her left and rolled. She sprung up with great quickness and grabbed an unsuspecting woman in the park who’d been holding her child. The suspect used the woman as a human shield, and pulled the woman and her child backwards to a line of trees and brush, holding a gun to the woman’s head. The child began to scream, and as others in the park finally realized what was happening they began to run in all directions.
Frazier walked toward the suspect with his rifle trained on her. He did not have a shot, however. “You don’t want to do this. This won’t end well for you.” He held her gaze as he spoke.
The woman chuckled. “I’m pretty sure I’ll be okay. At least better off than that guy back at the hospital.” She noticed the man pointing a rifle at her turned red and became enraged by her comment.
“He was one of my guys. I’m going to kill you, but first I’m going to make you suffer.”
Again she chuckled. “Oh, you poor thing. I think you have other problems to deal with now, however.”
“You’re my only problem,” replied Frazier. Without hesitation, the suspect shot the woman in the leg, dragged her to the edge of the bushes, threw her to the ground, and disappeared. Frazier broke into a full run toward the woman who’d been shot and continued to scan for the suspect’s location.
“Shots fired! I’ve got one female victim down at the north edge of the park. Female suspect last seen wearing all white clothing, she’s heading into the brush line behind the park toward the railroad tracks.” Frazier knelt down to check on the woman shot in the leg. The wound looked like the bullet grazed her skin. Her daughter ran toward her, jumped on her, and screamed uncontrollably. Frazier was surrounded by chaos, but he kept his rifle low—ready in case the suspect tried to ambush him.
Sin City Assassin (The Bill Dix Detective Series Book 3) Page 7