Sotello pointed to the bare line just over his ear. “That’s where I got this one. When I hit the sidewalk, they started kicking me. I got as small as I could, but after I came to the conclusion they were going to just kick me to death, I took a chance. I arm whipped the guy’s legs out from under him, who had taken my weapon. His head hit the sidewalk. I went straight up and into the guy who had gotten the drop on me. He fired, but I was inside the arc of his shot. It whizzed by my ear. I head butted him right in the nose. I tackled him by yanking his legs up, burying my face in his chest, and slamming him into the walk. I scrambled to get the gun off of him, but he had already dropped it. By the time I crawled over him to it, the third guy was a fading dot down the street. It was a lucky thing too, because I passed out. I woke up in the hospital with your Mom holding my hand. For just a moment back when they were kicking me, I gave up. I just lost my way for a moment.”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me this before?”
“Because thinking about it even now makes me cringe inside,” Sotello explained. “I did tell you what can happen if you lose concentration while you are out in the field. If I would have thought telling you every detail could have prevented something like this, I would have tattooed the story on the backs of your wrists.”
“I’m glad you told me, and I think I understand. None of this may have helped Ellen anyway. I guess whatever does not kill you really does make you stronger.”
“I will settle for smarter,” Sotello replied grimly.
“I guess you never left the passenger side door open again on a stakeout.”
Sotello shook his head. “So trivial a mistake, and yet it almost cost me my life. My co-workers ragged me without mercy. They took turns coming up to the hospital, and giving me things like those plastic screw-on knobs that go over the door lock stud, and bells to attach to the passenger side window. They all were very supportive.”
Craig laughed in spite of the situation. “I guess there are worse ways to handle stuff like that.”
“They kept me for observation overnight, but I made it out alive with just a couple of extra scars, a few cracked ribs, and I pissed blood for a few days. I also had a new image of myself. I make sure I try to know all the angles now before I move out on anything. You know how sometimes something seems off just a bit, and when you hear it, the short hairs on the back of your neck stand up? I felt that way when Ellen wanted to go to Placerville.”
“You had this Gillingham case on your mind. With Ellen hurt, you haven’t said much about it, or your meeting with Sanders. I’d like to hear about it, just so we can talk about something else.”
“The whole thing was a set up. The Councilor planned the whole thing,” Sotello took the next half hour explaining the specifics, and the plans he would be making for Switzerland.
“She was good Dad,” Craig said wonderingly. “You have to admit that. She had Sanders going, and you too, for a while. She fooled me completely. I would have bet a paycheck she had nothing to do with it. You’re getting to be like the poor man’s Sherlock Holmes old man.”
Sotello laughed. “Well Watson, she had me going until she saw Sanders. Their connection made all the pieces fall into place. The complexity of the crap she dreamed up was so far beyond what I knew of Phillips, the answer could only be someone on the inside.”
“I guess Ellen and I will not be accompanying you on this latest field work, huh?”
“You got that right. After this, you two will be lucky if I allow you back in the office,” Sotello confirmed.
“What happened to learn from our mistakes and go on?”
“I cannot stop you from taking chances outside of my business Craig, but I sure as hell can stop you as long as you and Ellen want to work with me.”
“I could get into the FBI, and so could Ellen.”
“That would not be my decision,” Sotello replied. “The next time you two do field work, you will be together, and one of you will be armed. I love working and seeing you two, but I think the Force has left me with this one. My personal power must be on the downswing. I will need time to train you two a little differently. Anyhow, this Switzerland gig will be a solo. I will keep in touch by way of the Internet. I will take the new laptop with uplink capabilities.”
“After 9/11, going overseas will be a harrowing experience,” Craig added. “It will probably take you two days just to get on the plane.” Sotello laughed as he nodded in agreement.
“Did you like Lynn, Dad?”
“What was there not to like? If you want loyalty, get a dog.”
“That’s cold.”
“So is she Craig. What would you think of someone who conned your sister into blackmailing me?”
“Ellen could never get taken like that, but I see what you mean. Do you think Sanders will let her live?”
“I don’t know Craig. He is one of those people who do not broadcast their intentions.”
“Like you?”
“Yes,” Sotello admitted, “a lot like me, kid, and be thankful he can put two and two together as well as he did.”
“You mean Lynn may have been doing some under the covers work with Sanders to cement his trust?”
Sotello glanced over at his son approvingly. “Maybe you should think about a career in the Bureau. Yes, that is exactly what I meant.”
“And if Sanders had not been intelligent enough to catch the drift of what you were saying, or Lynn would have owned him, things could have gotten dicey for you.”
“Indeed, but I saw something in Sanders I like. I want to find out what the heck he really does run. I have heard about politicians not sneezing unless they check with him first. I have no idea how he accumulated so much behind the scenes power, and maybe I should find out. I know he has people working for him who would take someone out without blinking their eyes. That guy I had the run in with, when you kids were with me at the Ming’s restaurant, worked for Sanders.”
“I remember, although you never mentioned Sanders. I never want you looking at me the way you looked at that guy before you body slammed him. I also see you were right again about not letting your dick do your thinking for you. Do you ever get tired of being right?”
“It’s both a curse, and a blessing,” Sotello laughed. “Sometimes I have to keep my mouth shut while you and Ellen make the decision to do the opposite of what I say. Then after it turns out exactly the way I had explained it would, I have to refrain from saying I told you so. I could have ordered Ellen not to go to Placerville, but I would not have been able to give her a single legitimate reason why, at least not one I could explain.”
“Too bad your powers don’t extend to the Lotto.”
“Yea,” Sotello grinned, “your Mom told me the same thing.”
“She used to hate it when she did something you had already told her was a bad idea, and then everything you said would happen, did happen. If Ellen and I were along, she would make us swear not to tell you, and if that didn’t work, she would bribe us.”
“I would tell her,” Sotello said, nodding his head in agreement, “all you have to do is listen to reason, and I tried to convince her I was not trying to be a smart ass. She would ignore me, and then get mad at me because I was right. As I said, some gifts can be a curse as well as a gift.”
“We can joke around with Ellen if she seems up for it. She will like that better than us being all over her.”
“She hates sympathy,” Sotello sighed. “Remember when your Mom would baby her?”
“El detested that. She would get so mad, and Mom would just be confused, and then they’d both end up mad. You would have to come in and calm them down.”
“Yea, I remember,” Sotello replied, thinking back to a simpler time.
They rode in silence for the last half an hour. Sotello followed Craig’s directions to the hospital and parked the car. They left the vehicle with their hearts pounding. Both men feared what they would find. Sotello saw the anxiety he felt reflected in his son’s eyes. The
y found the admissions office, and were directed to the emergency room. Ellen had refused to be admitted. They found her sitting in the waiting room.
Her face, swollen to twice its normal size, broke into a painful grin at the sight of her family. The sight of Sotello and his son brought silence to the waiting room momentarily. He knelt down on one side of her, with Craig on the other. Sotello took her hands in his, looking closely at her face.
“Hi guys,” Ellen slurred slightly. “Sorry I had to get you two all the way up here, but they gave me some Demerol or something.”
“Why didn’t you let them admit you, Sis?” Craig asked.
“I hate hospitals. I only came here because I thought I might have had a rib loose. I remembered what Dad told me about rib injuries. I guess my face don’t look so hot, huh?”
“You look beautiful,” Sotello told her quietly. “They worked you over open-handed, otherwise you would not even be able to see.”
“The doctor told me I won’t even be scarred up, or anything. I guess I was more worried about my looks than I should be.”
“Who…” Craig started, and then quickly fell silent. “What about a concussion El? Dad and I can stay overnight with you here, and you won’t have to get in that meat wagon of a Dodge until tomorrow.”
Ellen started to laugh at Craig’s auto insult, but quieted at the feeling in her rib cage. “Ow, ow, ow… no more jokes kaka for brains.”
“How about it El,” Sotello added. “I would feel a lot better if you stayed here so they could keep an eye on you.”
“No Dad, I want to go home now.” Ellen lowered her voice. “They called the police. One of them is still here waiting for you. He went out to get coffee. They wanted to know wh…who did this to me, but I told them I didn’t know. They checked my ID, and they know I was working on something, but I pretended I was too doped up to know what they were talking about. I…”
“Never mind all that now Honey,” Sotello told her. “If you want to go home, then Craig and I will take you. Has the hospital squared everything away with the bill on your insurance card, or did they steal your stuff?”
“I still have everything, and they billed our insurance. That’s why the cop… here he comes now Dad.”
A policeman of medium height and build walked towards Ellen. Sotello and Craig stood up. Practically ebony in skin color, the policeman looked to be in his early thirties. He put a hand on his sidearm when he saw Sotello’s face. He balanced a cup of coffee with his left hand. Sotello saw his sergeant’s stripes as he walked over to him slowly.
“Hello Sergeant. I understand you have been keeping my daughter company. Thank you. My son and I just got here. We would like to take Ellen back home now.”
“I’m afraid Sir, I must ask you a few questions.” By this time, you could hear a pin drop in the waiting room.
Sotello handed him a business card, which the police officer read. “We can answer any questions you may have tomorrow. Ellen says she is in a great deal of pain, but we cannot talk her into staying here. She wants to go home.”
The Sergeant looked at Sotello closely, “aren’t you a bit interested in finding out who did this?”
“Not as much as I am in having her here in one piece, with my being able to take her home,” Sotello said honestly. “The trip from the Bay Area has been a tense one. We just want to take her home. She already told me she was blindsided. Luckily, she was away from her car, and all of her things were locked up. They didn’t like the fact she only had about ten bucks on her. She had her keys in the inside pocket of her coat. They took the ten bucks out of her jeans, beat her up, and split.”
“So she says there was more than just one attacker?”
“She thinks so, but they clocked her before she had a chance to see how many or who.”
“May I speak to her for a moment,” the policeman said, as he went to go by Sotello moved in front of him. The Sergeant felt like he had run into a wall. He bounced back, startled for an instant, trying to keep from wearing his coffee.
“I asked you nicely Officer, not to interrogate my daughter right now. If you would like, you can call for your superior while we all wait. That will upset me, and I will have to file a complaint. I really do not want to do that. I…”
“Dad,” Ellen walked up with Craig supporting her. “Can’t we just go home?”
Sotello turned to look at his little trooper, adding a new dimension to the Sergeant’s problem. He smiled down at her, before turning a concerned dour look back at the policeman. “How about it Sergeant? My daughter did not rob a bank. She was mugged. Now, can we go?”
“I will expect a call in to my station tomorrow morning Sir.” He handed Sotello his card.
“I will call you before ten o’clock, Officer,” Sotello promised.
The policeman nodded, and walked back the way he had come, with his coffee in hand. Sotello grimaced as he turned back. “You do have your ribs wrapped, and… oh hell… are you sure you want to leave Ellen? You don’t look like you should be going anywhere.”
“I will look a lot better in the living room of our house,” Ellen insisted.
“Oh, you think I will just take you over to the house with me, huh? Maybe Craig and I should just drop you at your apartment, since you’re so tough.”
“Yea Dad, maybe we should just make her run along next to the car just to clear her head,” Craig added.
“Shut up you two, and get me out of here,” Ellen ordered.
Sotello motioned for Craig to wait there. He went out and brought his Dodge around to the front of the entrance, where Craig and Ellen waited. Sotello placed a blanket down on the backseat along with the pillow. Craig helped her into the back.
“I have the keys to her Lebaron, Dad, and I see where she parked it. Drive carefully, and I will see you two back at home.”
“You too Craig,” Sotello admonished. “I have had enough for one day. You take care.”
Craig grinned. “Of course.”
Sotello watched him walk to Ellen’s Lebaron and get inside. Sotello eased in behind the wheel, and started the Dodge. A few minutes later they were on their way back to the Bay Area. Sotello glanced at Ellen in the rear view mirror. “Will you be okay back there?”
“They wrapped me up pretty tight, so I don’t have the weird feeling I had before. My face feels strange, but I imagine it will feel a lot worse when the pain killer wears off.”
“Who did it El?”
“I was an idiot. I deserved to have my ass kicked.”
Sotello grinned. Ellen was as tough as anybody he had ever met. There had not even been a tear. He took the next few minutes telling her what he had told Craig about the mistake he had made while on stakeout with the FBI, and how it had almost cost him his life. “I told you mine, now you tell me yours.”
“I made good time getting up here,” Ellen began her tale. “I left real early. I wanted to get into position before they were up and moving. I thought I could get some good pictures while everyone moved around in the morning. She left with the two kids at about 7 AM. She glanced in my direction, but I had already snapped the pictures of the kids, and I had put the camera down. I stuck around hoping to get a shot of whoever else might be living there. Twenty minutes later she drove back in the driveway, and walked right over to the car.”
“You weren’t parked right across from her driveway were you goofy?”
“Hell no,” Ellen told him. “I was two houses down from her house. Anyway, she walked right up to the window, and said she knew who I was. She told me her mother had phoned her, and…”
“Shit,” Sotello exclaimed, clapping a hand to his forehead. “That idiot, we represent in this, must have called the mother to tell her we knew where she was. He probably even told her we were going to get proof the kids were with her. I should have known better than to contact him, but that still does not explain how you went from being spotted in broad daylight to beat up in the hospital.”
“She invited me in
for a cup of coffee to talk it over,” Ellen continued.
“Uh oh.”
“Our client was not the only dummy today,” Ellen conceded. “I decided to go hear what she had to say. She led the way in. I no sooner cleared the door, than this guy, almost as big as you, grabbed my hair, and bitch slapped me so hard I thought my head would fly off my shoulders. He switched hands, and smacked me just as hard with the other hand. When he kept alternating hands a few times, the woman got scared he was going to kill me, and started shouting for him to stop. He finally let me drop to the floor and then kicked me. I thought the slap fest had hurt, but that kick almost took care of me for good. I passed out. When I came to, I was in my car. They left me a note saying to forget all about them, because he knew where I lived. He had left my purse lying open with my stuff strewn around to let me know how he knew.”
“Did the doctor say you would be okay internally?”
“He said if the guy had missed and gotten me in the stomach with that kind of power, I would have probably been bleeding internally. I am, according to the doctor, a lucky girl who will have trouble sleeping and breathing for a couple of months.”
“You are lucky Ellen. You could be in the morgue.”
“You aren’t thinking about doing anything stupid are you Dad? Like you said, he could have killed me, or beat me up a hell of a lot worse. You always told us this was no game. I should never have walked into that house, and we both know it.”
“I am not trying to undermine your guilt trip here Ellen, but the man in the house also made a mistake. Just as you are going to be paying for your mistake, he will have to pay for his.”
Sotello: Detective, ex-FBI, ex-Secret Service (DeLeo's Action Thriller Singles Book 1) Page 9