“No… I took these two men into my home. I belong to a… sanctuary group. This morning… they followed me to the school, knowing where I worked. I only live a mile from here. They came into my classroom, threatening the kids if I didn’t give them money and my car.”
“Why didn’t they rob you at your home?” Mike kept her talking.
“I…I carry a S & W .38 Special when I agree to take undocumented workers into my home for a night or two. I keep my distance with hand on the grip. They were very nice. I should have… known something was wrong when they asked me if I took my gun to school. I stupidly told them I had a lock box in the car for it while I taught school.”
“Not so dumb,” Mike replied. “They would have done much more to you without the weapon on your person. You’re alive and you’ll be back in class soon. Maybe you should give up the sanctuary business.”
Alvarez turned her head. “I can’t, Mike. They’ll kill me. I…I didn’t volunteer for the sanctuary network.”
Mike heard the Emergency Medical Techs hurrying down the corridor. He threaded into Alvarez’s thoughts with only the slightest touch of his mind with hers. Mike learned she was told the sanctuary network provided food and shelter for migrants moving along to jobs in other areas of the nation. Tierra discovered the migrants were anything but workers.
In moments, as the gurney wheeled around the doorway, the techs raced over to him with Alameda County Sheriff’s Deputies Anne Whittier and Charlie Pascolli behind them. Mike helped the techs transfer Alvarez to their gurney, keeping pressure on the wound until they took over. They readied a disinfectant compress to replace Mike’s shirt piece and bandaged it into place.
“You did good keeping pressure on it,” one of the tech’s, a female, told him. “How are these other guys?”
“They collapsed when I came in the room. Ms. Alvarez told me they’re illegal aliens who followed her into the classroom, wanting her money and car.”
“Other techs are on the way.” The woman and her partner hustled Alvarez out after stabilizing the wound.
Mike waved at his two Sheriff’s Department contacts. “Ms. Franz asked me in on this.”
“Do you know any of the kids in here, Mike,” Anne asked him as other medical teams rushed in.
Mike smiled as he looked more closely at the students. “I know Tony Conterro and Alexander Bell… Bell for short. I played football with them. I’ve passed many of the others in the hall. Bell… Tony… come up here.”
Mike’s two friends joined him at the front, shaking hands with their former team member. “These are my friends, Deputies Pascolli and Whittier.”
“Man… were we glad to see you, Mike,” Tony said. “We couldn’t do anything. They cut Ms. Alvarez when she tried to stop them and threatened to cut her throat if we moved.”
“Tony’s right,” Bell agreed. “She told them to just take the car and money, but they wouldn’t listen. They kept saying ‘Es demasiado tarde’.”
“It’s too late,” Mike translated thoughtfully, comparing what he gleaned from his mind probe. No one would be able to say ‘Es demasiado tarde’ from the illegal alien processing factory again when Demon Inc dealt with them. “Maybe Ms. Alvarez will be able to explain it.”
“What happened to the two men,” Pascolli asked, as he saw the head shake from the EMT who checked on the assailants.
“Mike walked in and one of them started to hack down at Ms. Alvarez,” Tony explained. “Then… they both collapsed.”
“That’s what I saw,” Bell agreed.
“We know something about miraculous acts around Mike,” Anne Whittier said, watching the EMTs roll the two dead men away. “You can go, Mike. We know where to find you. We’ll take everyone’s statements. If we have any further questions, I’ll call you in. You and Bell can take your seats, Tony.”
“I wish you could play ball with us, Mike,” Bell said. “Brad’s doing a great job at quarterback, but we could sure use you playing defense.”
“I can’t, guys. I could hurt someone bad by accident. I wish I could.”
“We know,” Tony replied. “Thanks for the save. Bell and I know a little about miraculous acts around Mike too.”
Instead of acknowledging the save part, Mike gave his friends a small wave. “I’ll see you guys later or tomorrow. Ms. Franz will probably close it down for today.”
“Let’s step out in the hall for a moment, Mike, before you leave, and a squad of people arrive,” Anne said.
Mike followed her and Charlie into the hall.
“Can you tell us anymore about this before the suits get here,” Charlie asked.
“Not much more than what I was told. I could tell Ms. Alvarez feared for her life and the students’ lives. They wounded her in the attempt to stop them from threatening the students. Did you cordon off the area in case anyone might be watching?”
“I will now.” Charlie issued a recommendation to patrol the area looking for anyone or anything out of place.
“Did you kill those two men, Mike?”
“I never came near them, Anne. I have no weapon on me.” Mike stuck with truthful statements, obscuring the entire truth, which he knew the deputies suspected anyway.
“I’d advise staying with that short version. You’re scary, Mike.”
“No, Anne - watching a machete descending in a stroke toward my Spanish teacher’s head is scary.” Mike tightened the windbreaker he had on around his torn shirt and t-shirt.
“I think you know more than you’re saying. It won’t be us,” Charlie told him, “but if any more mysterious bodies materialize, the suits will surely be coming for you. I doubt they’ll be able to prove anything; but what’s that place you and D talk about where you wake up a mile below the earth, strapped to a gurney, and everyone has a scalpel but you?”
Mike chuckled. “Middle Earth, with Sauron and the Orcs.”
“That’s the one. Anne and I don’t want to see you carried away by the Orcs.”
“As a special unit consulting with the FBI, I’ve been given a tenuous guarantee that won’t happen.”
“What makes you think they’ll abide by it,” Anne asked.
“Because if they capture me, Mongo will hunt them down until they release me. They realize I am the only one on earth who can stop him.”
Charlie traded uneasy glances with Anne. “I forgot about Mongo.”
“The FBI hasn’t,” Mike replied. “Call me if you need me. I wish I could help more.”
Anne reached out to take Mike’s arm. “We saw the news last night with some dweeb calling himself Lucifer trying to bait you into spending a night in the bath ruins across the Bay. They also recorded a great shot of you putting the great Lucifer on his knees. Will Demon Inc do it?”
“A hundred thousand dollars and part of the TV royalties for one night in a cold, dark place,” Mike asked rhetorically. “I admit we’re contemplating it seriously.”
“They interviewed the Lucifer guy before you arrived at the Demon Inc gate,” Charlie said. “That was one scary dude until you put him on his knees.”
“It seemed like a very bad idea to me,” Anne added.
“I’m being a little flippant because of what just happened in the classroom,” Mike admitted. “That guy was one second away from hacking Ms. Alvarez to death right in front of my eyes. I wanted to tear his arms off. This challenge from Lucifer has more to it than you two think possible. He has mentored serial killers. We caught two. We found the hostages freed in the second place, being tortured by actual demons, conjured by Lucifer’s acolyte, Rayden Kirk.”
“Then, the Kirk guy really didn’t simply disappear, huh?”
“No, Charlie,” Mike answered. “He didn’t.”
“Good. Take off. We’ll call. Thank you for ending the home invasions in our area too,” Anne said. “The report on it we received from the FBI was a complicated mess.”
“Any time you need us, call. We’re in dangerous times.” Mike waved and walked outside t
he building to where Principal Franz, Denny, and Joanie awaited him anxiously. “The students are fine. I assume you saw Ms. Alvarez. She’s still in danger. Is school out for the day?”
“Probably two days,” Franz replied. “If you need time to investigate for Tierra, I will cover for you, Denny, and Joanie. You’re all excellent students. Don’t explain anymore to me. The less I know, the better.”
“Here comes Sandy,” Joanie said.
“Good. We’ll need her on this. We’ll update you when we can, Ms. Franz.”
Franz blocked Mike’s path. “Thank you for today, Mike. That was a nightmare waiting to happen with all those kids.”
“My pleasure… and I mean every word of it,” Mike replied. “Talk with you soon.”
Sandy waved at Ms. Franz as she joined Mike, Denny, and Joanie on the way to their cars. “I heard something about hostages and a wounded teacher, saved by another student. That would, of course, be El Capitan Darkness. How many dead?”
“Two… only seconds away from hacking Ms. Alvarez to death. We need you. The people responsible for this will be pursuing her. The Radalia Dimension, vacation paradise suits them perfectly. I’ve been warned that if mysteriously dead bodies appear anywhere, I will most likely come under suspicion.”
“I’m in,” Sandy stated. “I’ll meet you at Demon Inc. I assume we’re taking Bluto and Mongo with us?”
“Absolutely. We’ll see you there.”
* * *
Nazer, already informed of the location Mike learned from his mind meld with Ms. Alvarez, sat in the kitchen with his laptop working. Mongo and Demon watched his progress. “It is a warehouse on Grant Avenue, Mike. If they own or rent a warehouse, why do they need people like Ms. Alvarez to house the illegal aliens?”
“They’ve built a network to process the illegals through the warehouse, but until they get the proper documents made, they need to house them off the grounds in residential neighborhoods. The men can then be sent where they want them. These illegals come from a lot of bad places besides Mexico. Some goodhearted people, wanting to help the downtrodden, volunteered under a sanctuary front name to house migrants for a few days.”
“Ms. Alvarez learned how dangerous these people are and wanted out of the arrangement, right?”
“Exactly, Denny. They told her one more job and you will be let out of the program. She agreed. They sent two guys to kill her. They didn’t count on her having a .38 special holstered at the hip and ready to go. I’m assuming they figured to hack away quickly at the teacher and students, after which they could disappear in Alvarez’s car. Six of them run the illegal alien processing place. It’s titled as a commercial printing supply warehouse.”
“Once they hear their plan failed, they will try and kill Ms. Alvarez in her hospital room,” Nazer remarked.
“That would be my guess,” Mike replied. “We need to go there now, learn what they’re doing, and call in Alisha to bust them, or Sandy to guide them into Radalia Neverland. This would eventually travel over state-lines as they send these illegals on the road. That fact establishes the case in the FBI’s purview. Those two machete men were not field workers. Denny can break in and check what they find for identities. I’m betting the identification will reveal cartel soldiers.”
“I’ll text our deputy friends to insure Ms. Alvarez has a guard at the hospital and why.” Denny sat next to Nazer, beginning his own information gathering.
“Once again, our butts are out in the wind,” Demon commented. “I hope we can leave the detaining to Alisha and Manny. We have a sweet deal with the Lucifer gig – SyFy Channel involved, and right up our alley of expertise. The crew works better against paranormal and demonic forces. Adding the criminal element puts too many civilians in danger, namely our extended family. It’s only a matter of time, if we fool around with drug cartels and serial killers, before they decide to threaten the people we care about.”
“I do monitor all our families,” Denny said. “D’s right though, the supernatural type cases endanger us, but leave our families and friends alone.”
“Sometimes, forced by circumstances like this morning’s assault, we don’t get a choice,” Mike replied. “When that happens, we fix the background noise.”
Muttley snicker. “Meaning either all the surviving bad guys prove harmless in captivity, or they go on vacation in Radalia land.”
“In circumstances we have no control over, we may need to do exactly that,” Mike agreed.
“You were right,” Denny said. “Those two guys who tried to kill Ms. Alvarez came here from Columbia. The FBI and Interpol list them as cartel enforcers. They worked as contract assassins too when needed. We have a problem though. The FBI has an undercover investigation going on there. The operation entered the eighth month in October.”
“Bluto and I watch many crime shows on TV,” Mongo stated. “We see law enforcement agencies doing undercover operations for sometimes years. I thought it was fiction and stupid. I checked on the internet with Denny helping. The agencies do it all the time and call it a sting operation. Stings are short and hurtful. These law enforcement stings in real life seem like watching Bluto snoring in his drink bowl all night. I believe they make work and continue stretching it out to appear self-important and necessary.”
Denny chuckled as Demon made chomping actions at Mongo’s ankle. “Mongo’s right. No one wants a police state, but law enforcement authorities treat criminals and illegal aliens like endangered species. Apparently, so many liberal judges rule the bench nowadays, law enforcement can’t obtain search warrants, or enforce immigration law, or even arrest obvious gang-banging criminals with their heads tattooed stating what they are.”
“Agreed on all counts,” Mike replied. “I do know what the FBI does when investigating. They use full audio and visual recording to trap their targets. If we go blundering into the middle of a sting operation/circle jerk, we’ll be the ones they arrest - or worse, we get recorded making the crooks disappear. We need our own short-term sting.”
“I like your thinking, Ripper, but how do we do it?”
“Simple, D,” Mike answered. “I sit with Ms. Alvarez in her room, or outside it, away from the guard they hopefully put on her door. You and Mongo will be enforcement in the parking lot, with Denny, Nazer, and Sandy watching the extra screens of all possible hospital entryways. Joanie can coordinate in the control room. Denny will cut into the FBI surveillance feed, so you can let us know when anyone leaves the illegal alien processing plant, Sis.”
“That sounds professional, Mike. I suggest we get the names of all nurses and doctors, along with photos,” Joanie replied. “When you’re in the hospital room, you’ll be able to tell when a white coat is a phony.”
“Yes!” Mongo stifled his enthusiasm with effort. “On the TV shows, assassins always appear at the target’s room as doctors or nurses.”
“Good input,” Mike complimented Joanie. “They will have a getaway car with bad guys. We need them captured, if possible. Can you and D do a capture, Mongo?”
Mongo slipped into his outraged pose, in the guise of Baby Groot. “I…am…Groot!”
After much amusement, Mike gestured calmingly. “I didn’t mean to insult you or D. I’m wondering if we should bring Alisha into this now, explaining the options available to us - either we make the ones we confront disappear, or hand them over to the FBI. Joanie records anyone leaving the warehouse. We will have video proof they arrived at the hospital ready for a contract kill. We can catch them in the act, and have a case for the FBI to raid the warehouse.”
“Let Naz handle operations at the hospital with Sandy,” Denny countered. “I need to be in control with Joanie. Once a vehicle leaves the warehouse, I’m betting I can track it with either their own GPS on board the vehicle, or by using cams I hack into along the route. All of you others go to the hospital now to be with Ms. Alvarez. I’ll network and handle the hospital feeds from here.”
“Excellent,” Mike said. “In that case, g
o ahead and brief Alisha on how we reached this point and what we plan to do.”
“On it.” Denny grabbed his laptop and Joanie’s hand, heading for Demon Inc Control Central.
Mike glanced around at his fellow FBI special unit consulting team. “This may not be demon slaying, but I know Ms. Alvarez very well. She’s a great person and one of the best teachers in the school. We protect her, even if we need to vacuum everyone trying to harm her into hell.”
“Okay… you put the cherry on top,” Demon replied impatiently. “Can we get going now?”
“I’ll go put on my black suit and tie. It will look better than doing this in jeans and a ripped shirt. I’m putting us all on together right now, so Denny and Joanie will be able to communicate on the drive over too. We can test our satellite network with Denny on the way to the hospital.”
* * *
“I’m in,” Denny said. “Alisha wants it all, Mike. She gave me instant access to the feed from FBI surveillance of the warehouse. They have that place wired. Alisha believes this will be their chance to close the case for certain after she did a quick review of the warehouse team’s progress. The team doing the sting works out of the San Francisco office too, and Colemeyer controls their duties too.”
“All good news,” Mike replied. “How’s our networking look?”
“All set. I’m in their security system. Joanie is watching now. We have a clean shot down the corridor where Ms. Alvarez’s room is. Bad news though on the guard. Anne Whittier called me to explain they needed to get permission and money for the overtime. I just said thanks for the update. We’re watching right now, and you’ll be inside the room soon. How’s the network feed, Naz? I’m streaming views to you and Sandy of the entrances in the corridor outside the Alvarez room.”
“We’re getting some interference because we’re traveling. It will clear when we park,” Nazer answered.
At Eden Hospital, Mike parked near the emergency room entrance. He figured to reach Ms. Alvarez’s room from there without being noticed. “I’m going in, Den. Mongo and Demon will be making rounds outside the hospital. They will be ready at any parking lot the getaway car parks. I hope this works with the-”
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