“I just wanted to play and then I saw Uncle Donny and he wanted to take me to get ice cream.”
“Why didn’t you ask your mother? Didn’t you think that she’d be worried that you just took off like that?”
John Michael shrugged.
“Did he hurt you?”
“No. He said he wanted to celebrate me getting my cast off. I’m sorry I scared you. Am I in trouble?”
“Don’t you ever do anything like that again, do you understand? And if you see Uncle Donny again you tell me or you tell your mother, am I clear?”
John Michael nodded and lowered his gaze.
John hugged him and kissed the boy’s forehead. “I love you, you know that, right?”
The boy nodded again.
John stood up. “Why don’t you go into the family room with Chloe and Grandpa. I want to talk to your mom.”
The boy looked at his mother. She pressed her lips together and nodded. He scampered off.
“You don’t have anybody to blame for this but yourself,” Lorraine snapped. “If anything would have happened to him—”
“Nothing happened.”
“This time, but what about next time?”
“There won’t be a next time.”
“Are you sure about that? Can you guarantee that Harley Donovan won’t be coming after me or my children again?”
John’s cell phone rang. “Chief Toliver, I can’t talk right now. I—”
“I just got to the Comfort Inn. Alex Solomon isn’t here.”
“Dammit!”
The late afternoon Southern California sun was giving way to dusk over the Santa Monica Pier jutting out over the beach, offering a spectacular view of the Pacific Ocean. The prominent one-hundred-year-old landmark was teeming with the excitement of adults and children alike. The smell of popcorn dripping in butter, corndogs, hamburgers, beer, and salt water assaulted her senses, but Alex remained singularly focused and made a beeline toward the boardwalk. The festive music playing meant to amuse and entertain seemed a taunting and vicious underscore to the chill of foreboding that shrouded her. She tucked loose hairs under her cap and kept one hand in her jacket pocket with her finger close to the trigger of the .380. The overexcited beat of her heart sounded like tribal drums with each step. Dodging a vending cart of balloons she bumped into a towering gray-haired man, knocking his tackle box out of his hand.
Alex apologized. “I’m so sorry.”
“No harm done,” the man responded as he stooped to pick up the contents of the box. “I got it.” He looked up into Alex’s face and spied the monogrammed J. CHASE on the windbreaker. “Are you all right?”
She fumbled to put on sunglasses. “I’m fine. Just in a hurry.” With that she turned and took off.
The man paused, scratching the salt-and-pepper whiskers of his chin and watched her. After collecting his gear he pulled out his cell phone and dialed. “John, it’s Hank.”
“Yeah, Hank.”
“I think I just ran into that woman you’re supposed to be keepin’ an eye on.”
“What? Where?”
“I’m down at the pier . . . John, you there?”
“Hank, are you sure it was her?”
“Pretty sure. She favored that picture you showed me. And she was wearin’ a jacket with your name on it.”
“Where is she now?”
“Looks like she’s headed toward the harbor.”
“Hank, you gotta do me a solid and go after her.”
“What?”
“She’s in trouble, Hank. I’m on my way from the Reardons’, but I’m not going to be able to . . . Hank, you gotta help me out here.”
Hank sighed. He felt an “I told you so” rising up but he didn’t say it. “I’ll do what I can.”
He gathered his fishing gear and navigated through the crowd several yards behind Alex. Fear flooded into her face when she glanced over her shoulder and noticed him gaining on her. Her pace quickened. She changed directions and blended into a group of tourists moving toward an enormous Ferris wheel. Hank lost sight of her and stopped and turned aimlessly in a circle, trying to determine where she’d gone. He started toward the boardwalk, curiously staring at every female he passed.
Milton Toliver and the female agent who had gone to the Comfort Inn in search of Alex rushed in just west of Pacific Park and got hemmed up in the carnival atmosphere. He frustratingly scanned the hundreds of faces that blurred together. “Dammit, where is she?” He directed the agent go one way and he rushed off in the other.
Alex peered from around an abandoned arcade and spied Hank approaching the crest of the boardwalk and making a call. Was he contacting Pilar? She rubbed her fingers together and put her hand back in her pocket, touching the gun as if to make sure it was still there. If it came down to it, would she have to kill this man in order to get to her daughter? Certain he was looking for her; she waited and watched as he walked up the boardwalk and back. Her cell phone rang and she jumped. It was John. She didn’t answer. When she looked up again she didn’t see the man who was following her. Cautiously she crept away from behind the arcade and continued. There were women of every nationality milling around, none who looked like Pilar, and none who had her baby. Alex’s anxiety escalated. What if Pilar wouldn’t show? What if the man who was tailing her was meant to bring her to Cerena? She reconsidered keeping John out of the loop. When she reached for her cell phone she felt what appeared to be the barrel of a gun in her back. Dressed like any other angler on the pier it was easy for him not to be noticed.
Alex gasped.
“Don’t scream. Don’t turn around. I was beginning to think that you stood me up.”
“You took a huge risk coming here,” Alex said.
“No more than the risk you took, mi pequeña flor.”
“You had your freedom, Xavier. As far as anyone knew you were a ghost, you could have just stayed that way. You did all this just to kill me?”
“I did all this to watch you squirm. Admittedly it would have been much easier to have someone do it for me, but what would have been the fun in that?”
Alex did her best to control her accelerating panic. “Just like the fun you had when you had my cousin Bobby killed and when you tried to kill Tirrell Ellis.”
“If I had my way Señor Ellis would be dead now, but I suppose you’ll do in his stead.”
“You won’t get away with it, not with all these people around.”
“My dear Alexandra, I’ve been practically right up under your inspector’s nose for over a year thanks to some very strategic assistance. What makes you so sure I’ll be caught?” Xavier patted the pockets of Alex’s jacket and removed her cell phone and gun. “You didn’t really think I wouldn’t check, did you?”
“Where’s my baby?”
“She’s in very good hands. I assure you that my Pilar is quite capable. It’s poetic, don’t you think? My daughter becoming a mother to your daughter. I suppose that would make me Cerena’s abuelo.” Xavier chuckled. “¿Qué delicioso, no? Mi última venganza; raising the child of the two people who tried to destroy me.”
“Funny, you don’t seem like the grandfatherly type,” Alex scoffed. “And you have lost what’s left of your mind if you think I’m going to let you do this. I will fight you with everything in me to keep that from happening.”
“Let me? You seem to think you have a say.”
“You can’t kill me here.”
“I have no intention of doing anything here. Do you see that sedan that just pulled up over there between the pizzeria and that hot dog vendor? Why don’t the two of us take a nice little stroll toward it?”
“If you’re going to kill me I need to know that my baby is going to be all right. Please let me see her.”
“I’ve already told you that my Pilar will be taking care of her. Besides, she can’t testify against me now, can she? Once you’re out of the way she’ll go on with her life and you’ll simply disappear from her memory.”
&
nbsp; John jumped out of his truck at the gate nearest to the harbor and took off running. He charged through a small group of people crossing in front of him, tripped over a man, and they both fell to the ground. The irate young man spewed expletives that had mothers covering their children’s ears. John scrambled to his feet and kept running, skimming over the mass of people for any sign of Alex.
“John!”
He turned to see his stepfather pressing toward him. “Where is she, Hank?”
“I don’t know. I saw her going toward the boardwalk and then I lost her. She could be anywhere.”
John and Hank continued to push through. Suddenly John spotted her and pointed. “Over there.”
“She’s not alone.”
“It’s Rivera.” John checked his weapon.
“John, you can’t just start shootin’ up the place.”
John didn’t respond. He forged ahead without excuses. Hank followed.
Fully expecting to die if she got into that car Alex knew she had to do something. If there was any hope at all of getting to Cerena, fight or flight were her only options. She pretended to lose her footing. Lurching forward she spun around and kneed Xavier in the groin. He yelped and doubled over. She kicked him again as hard as she could. He fell backward and she grabbed the gun.
In the distance Donovan emerged from the driver’s side of the sedan just as John rounded the back side of the pizzeria. Donovan drew his weapon and took aim.
“Gun,” shouted a passerby.
Horrified screams erupted. Those nearest to them panicked and separated, ducking for cover as Donovan squeezed the trigger and hit John squarely in the chest. Alex turned to look in the direction of the blast and saw John as he staggered to the pavement. She didn’t have enough time to react before Xavier regained his equilibrium and leapt toward her. Knocking her to the ground they rolled around and wrestled for his gun. It went off and shot a woman in the leg who was cowering a few feet away. Xavier punched Alex in the face. The gun discharged again.
Pandemonium exploded. Milton Toliver and several security police charged through the mob, brandishing their own weapons.
“Drop it, Donovan,” Toliver yelled. “Get down on your knees!”
Donovan slowly turned toward Toliver and started to lower the gun, but in a kneejerk move he fired on him. The shot missed and lodged in a wooden sign over his head. Reacting quickly Toliver fired his weapon twice. The first shot hit Donovan in his left arm. The second fatal shot hit him in the head.
Alex shifted uneasily under the weight of Rivera’s body. One of the officers helped her to her feet and she broke away from him and ran over to where John lay.
“Stay with me, son,” Hank cried, cradling John’s head. “You got way too much to live for. You need to think about John Michael and Chloe and . . .”
Alex clasped her hand across her mouth and slowly knelt on the other side of the two. John opened his eyes and reached for her. Tears flowed down the side of his face and blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
“I told you, I haven’t . . . lost anybody I was assigned . . . to protect,” he choked.
Alex cried. “You can’t leave me.”
John reached up and caressed Alex’s face. Each breath was a struggle. You could literally hear the gurgle of blood filling up in his lungs. “I . . . wanted to tell you that . . . I . . . love . . .”
She took his hand and kissed it. “I love you,” she whispered.
The faint sound of sirens in the distance grew louder as they got closer. People stood around gawking, some were crying, all were comforting one another.
John turned to Hank. “You need to tell Mama . . . ” His eyes fluttered and then he was gone.
Alex heaved as tears of anguish rolled down her cheeks and pooled at the base of her neck. She lowered her face and gently kissed John’s lips.
The perimeter of the ghastly scene was cordoned off and the crowd was swiftly ushered away from the vicinity of the boardwalk and out of the park as John, Xavier, and Donovan’s bodies were removed. A search of the car turned up evidence that would lead them to the Four Seasons.
22
Pilar was stunned by the breaking news she watched unfold on television. The extent of devastation at the pier was astounding. There was no contingency plan discussed should Xavier’s plot fail to yield the desired results. “¡Dios mío!” Frenetic energy coursed through her as she paced the floor ferociously, pulling her fingers through her silky raven mane. With the plan to drive across the US border into Mexico now defunct she needed to act quickly. Picking up the short blond wig that was purchased for her disguise she frantically tucked her hair underneath it. “Esto es absolutamente una locura!”
After checking herself in a mirror she scrambled around the hotel suite, collecting her passport and nearly $10,000 cash that Xavier had left behind. She then called for a car, threw some things into a bag for her and the baby, and bolted for the door. Cerena’s unabated cries informed Pilar that she would not be pacified. “Tenga en una pequeña y tranquila. Tu mamá está aquí.”
Donning a large pair of dark sunglasses she stepped onto the elevator, rocking and shushing Cerena. The few others already on cleared their throats and shot her irritated side-glances. When the doors opened the concierge nodded toward Pilar and a female marshal rushed toward her.
“Pilar Vélez?”
Pilar continued through the lobby as if she didn’t hear. Cerena’s cries grew louder. Milton Toliver approached and grabbed her by the arm. Her bag fell to the floor and clothes and money scattered. The female marshal took hold of Cerena as another officer hurried to assist in Pilar’s capture.
Toliver snatched off her wig and glasses to assure a positive identification. “Pilar Vélez, you’re under arrest for kidnapping, murder, and conspiracy to commit murder.”
Hotel guests and staff clustered, pointed, and stared.
Pilar thrashed around to free herself. “Cabrón, let go of me. I didn’t do nothing.”
“I wouldn’t exactly call murder and kidnapping nothing,” Toliver sniped as he twisted her wrists into handcuffs.
“¡Eres un hijo de puta! Quítame las manos de encima!”
“Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada,” Toliver snarled. “I would exercise the right to remain silent if I were you.” He dragged her to a waiting car and shoved her inside.
Having cleaned up the blood from her face and hands and given an unflattering change of clothes, Alex bolted from another car as the agent emerged from inside the lobby of the Four Seasons with Cerena. The agent handed the baby to Alex and she held her tightly, smothering her with kisses and tears.
“We have to go now,” Toliver said as he ushered Alex into his car.
Alex breathed a sigh of relief. “I can’t wait to see my mother.”
“You’ll see your mother soon enough. You’ve got a statement to give and I’ve got a lot of questions that need answers.”
Alex shook her head. “I can’t deal with any of that right now.”
“You don’t have a choice,” Toliver snapped.
Alex steeled herself and glared back at him. “Choice is the one thing that you’re not going to take from me. I’m not answering any of your questions until I see my mother.”
Convinced that Alex would not relent, Inspector Toliver backed off and whisked her away to the undisclosed safe house where Jamilah was being kept. When they arrived he checked the security detail and pulled Alex to the side. “They’ll be an armed guard outside your door tonight and a patrol outside the building. I’ll be back here first thing in the morning, at which time I expect you to choose to cooperate.”
Jamilah and Alex’s reunion was bittersweet. They clung to one another and cried.
“It’s over, Mama.”
“Thank God you and Cerena are safe. I was beginning to think . . . Never mind; it doesn’t matter now. What’s important is that you’re here and we’re all together again.”
Alex broke from Jamilah’s embrac
e, laid Cerena down on a bed that was in the room, and sobbed more vehemently.
“What is it, Omolola?” She noted the bruises on her face. “What happened?”
Alex gently rubbed her cheek. “It’s nothing. I’m okay.”
“Inspector Chase? Where is he?”
Alex wailed and covered her mouth to keep from disturbing Cerena, who’d drifted to sleep. She shook her head in disbelief. “John is dead.”
Jamilah gasped and clutched her chest. “What? How did this happen?”
“It was Harley Donovan. He was working with Xavier Rivera all this time.”
“Oh, dear God. How did you find this out?”
“It’s a long story, one that I can’t get into right now.”
“What about Xavier Rivera? Did they catch him?”
Alex hesitated and wiped her tears. She turned to Jamilah. “He’s dead too. I shot him.”
“Alexandra.”
“Everything happened so fast. There were people and guns and chaos. It was horrible. Now John is dead and it’s all my fault.”
Jamilah took Alex in her arms. “No, Omolola. You can’t blame yourself.”
“I loved him, Mama. Now he’s gone,” she cried.
Jamilah’s heart broke for her daughter. There were no words to ease her pain. She had to feel the loss and process it in her own way and in her own time.
23
Nearly a week had gone by since John’s death. Once she gave her statement, with Xavier Rivera out of the picture, Alex felt that there was no longer a need for her to be part of the WITSEC program and requested to leave it. She understood that getting out meant she’d no longer be protected nor would she be allowed back in. She informed Chief Inspector Toliver of her intent to return to Nigeria with her mother and daughter. Under the circumstances he agreed to comply and began the necessary paperwork and the arduous process to release them.
Reports of the bloody skirmish on the Santa Monica Pier continued to dominate the news outlets. There was widespread conjecture surrounding all that had transpired, but a tight lid was kept on everything having to do with Alex Solomon and her involvement. Unfortunately the high profile of a man like Xavier Rivera was not so easily reined in. News of his demise ran wild. A report of the death of John Chase was a small but significant footnote to this story, as he was credited for tracking Rivera down and bringing him to a decisive and final end.
Avenging Alex Page 19