Hard to Kill - Debt Collector 4 (A Jack Winchester Thriller)

by Jon Mills

  Chapter 32

  Giovanni had been glued to the screen since a local news channel began streaming back from their eye in the sky. It was hard to tell exactly what was going on but with police and FBI on the scene, he had to wonder if Jack was involved. He glanced at the kid still tied to the bed, she was starting to become a dead weight. He needed to get rid of her fast and yet on the other hand, she was the only leverage he had right now to lure him out.

  He paced back and forth.

  “I want to go home.”

  He didn’t reply, his mind was ticking over and going through what he could do to find this guy. He needed to get his attention. With the police after them, the chances of Jack searching for his daughter were slim to none. He had to go back to the hospital. There was no way around it. He grabbed up his phone and took a photo of the kid to make sure the mother knew that he wasn’t lying. Before he left he made sure her binds were tight, he didn’t want her getting out again.

  “I’ll be back real soon.”

  With that he slammed the door behind him and slipped into his car. It would take less than fifty minutes to get to the hospital. There was no telling whether or not they had kept her there or if they had transferred her. Being as he hadn’t seen his mug shot on the TV, he was certain that the security cameras hadn’t managed to get a clear shot of him. With so much attention focused on the raid and hurricane, security at the hospital would be at a minimum.

  Pulling up in the hospital lot, he slipped out and popped open the trunk. In the back he unzipped the case that held the arsenal of weapons. He pulled out two Para Ordnance P18.9’s with threaded barrels so that he could attach silencers on both. He removed his jacket and slipped on the leather shoulder holster that was made for both of them. He slipped the guns in and placed his jacket back on. He grabbed up a hunter’s knife and slipped it inside his jacket. He hopped back into the car and pulled it up around the back of the hospital by one of the exits.

  As he got out of his car he heard a man’s voice behind him.

  “Sir, you can’t park there. I’m going to need you to go around and…”

  He never got out his final words as Giovanni turned into him with the knife and drove it high up into his rib cage.

  “There. That’s it, just let it happen naturally.”

  The man was trying to suck in air but he failed and his body went limp. Giovanni dragged his body over to a dumpster, lifted the lid and heaved him inside. He cocked his head from side to side to loosen up his muscles and then pressed on towards the entrance. There was only one cruiser outside. Possibly two cops, he figured.

  Entering the hospital, he found it was busy dealing with several people who were bleeding. Doctors were yelling orders while nurses scurried around like mice tending to the afflicted. Giovanni didn’t go to the front desk to ask. He entered an elevator and went up to the second floor. There he walked along until he saw a sign for staff only. He entered the room and a nurse was eating a sandwich while reading a book. She glanced up briefly but before she could say anything, he sliced her throat. He went back to the door that had a small rectangular window above the handle. He peered out to check that no one was coming. He locked the door and went over to the lockers and began rooting around for scrubs that would fit him. A few minutes later he reappeared in the hallway dressed in scrubs and pushing a trolley full of dirty laundry. It stunk badly. He peered inside and saw sheets with shit on them.

  Continuing down past multiple rooms, he peered inside each of them hoping to see her. With five floors, this was going to take some time. He rolled the cart down to the circular desk that was manned by three nurses typing ay keyboards, answering phones and handing off charts to doctors. He pretended to look busy gathering blue plastic bags full of garbage and tossing them into the trolley. He circled the perimeter and watched as they each walked away from the station to help patients. The one that remained didn’t look like she was going to budge so Giovanni approached her.

  “There’s a woman down in room 210 that’s asking for help.”

  “Why hasn’t she buzzed?”

  “It’s not working. Just thought I would let you know.”

  She nodded, her eyes narrowed slightly and for a moment he thought she might recognize him. Had the staff been given a composite of him? Had they been told to look out for him? Impossible. He’d seen video footage in hospitals before. It was grainy at best. He continued on to the next garbage can, keeping one eye on the nurse. A few minutes and she screeched her chair backwards, letting out a heavy sigh as if annoyed by the fact that she’d have to move her fat ass any further than a few feet from her desk. Once she disappeared out of view he slipped behind the counter and went over to a computer. It didn’t take him long to tap in Theresa Rizzo’s name. They had moved her to the fifth floor and placed her in room 508.

  “Hey!” one of the nurses returned as he was closing down the window he had opened. “What are you doing?”

  He reached for an empty lunch container that was on the counter. He held it up. “Just getting the garbage.”

  “Okay, well, you’re not meant to be in here. Go on now.”

  She spoke to him like an imbecile. He was tempted to slit her throat where she stood. Instead he walked away and continued pushing the cart down the hallway until he got to the elevator.

  The elevator opened and he stepped inside. He pressed the button for the fifth floor. Just as the doors were closing he heard someone call out, “Hold the elevator.” A hand slipped through the crack and he found himself looking at a police officer. He kept his eyes focused on the floor as the officer stepped in and turned his back.

  “Rough weather out there, eh?” the officer said trying to make small talk. Giovanni didn’t reply. The guy turned and looked at him.

  “Don’t I know you from somewhere?”

  Giovanni shook his head and continued to look down. Behind his back he reached for the knife. His fingers wrapped tightly around it preparing to withdraw. The elevator dinged and the officer smiled and walked out. When the doors slid closed, he relaxed his grip and remained poised as the elevator went up to the next floor.

  Chapter 33

  Two helicopters zipped overhead. With the torrential rain making the mud feel like quicksand, every step was harder than the next. It wouldn’t take them long to know that one of their own was missing. No doubt the reason they had shown up was because of Billy and him. He had no idea what had happened to Billy. More than likely he was dead.

  Agent Baker was still out cold. With both of them soaked to the bone, she was beginning to weigh a ton. He had to cut her loose but without a key, the next best thing would be a hair clip or something with a flat edge that could be jammed between the teeth. It was a common method of getting out of cuffs. They were miles from a hospital. If he didn’t get her wound looked at soon, she was going to die from loss of blood. Her face had turned pale in color.

  As he broke out of the tree line on to a main road, he had no idea where he was. Vehicles rushed by splashing up water. His body trembled from the cold. As he walked along the side of the road carrying her, a car pulled up and a woman opened her door.

  “Is she okay?” she yelled out.

  The handcuffs were out of view. All she would have seen was Jack carrying Isabel in his arms.

  “She’s had a fall in the woods. I need to get her to a hospital.”

  “There’s isn’t one close by. The nearest thing is a veterinary clinic.”

  Jack came up to the car and asked the woman to open the back door. She looked hesitant.

  “She’s lost a lot of blood, lady. If you don’t help us she is going to die.”

  She opened the door and Jack slipped into the back with Agent Baker in his arms. The woman pulled away off the hard shoulder and glanced back in her mirror. Jack locked eyes with her and looked back down at Agent Baker.

  “What happened?”

  Jack didn’t reply. He didn’t want to have to come up with some excuse. Nothing he said
would have made the woman believe him. Right now he just wanted to get help. The car swerved a little and the woman apologized.

  “The roads are as slick as ice.” She had her windshield wipers on full blast and Jack still couldn’t see clearly out the window. Everything was a blur of movement. A silhouette of cars rushing by and then disappearing within a matter of seconds.

  “How much further?”

  “Just over the rise.”

  As the car bumped its way forward, Jack could feel the agent’s heartbeat, she murmured a little and then went silent. He kept checking to make sure she hadn’t died. The vehicle pulled into a small parking lot out the front of a wooden shack that had an image of pets on the outside. It wasn’t ideal but it would have to do. The woman came out and Jack heaved himself and Agent Baker out of the car. She opened the door to the building and he entered.

  From the moment he was inside, a look of shock spread across the faces of two young girls who were manning the front desk. There was no one in there besides them.

  “I need to see a doctor.”

  “This is not a hospital.”

  Jack laid her down on one of the leather couches they had for visitors, then pulled the Glock and aimed it at them. “Do as I say.” Both of them threw their hands up and one of them rushed out back. Barely able to hold the gun in his cuffed hand, he instructed the other girl to lock the door and then head out back. She did as she was told. She was shaking. He didn’t like this one bit but he had no choice.

  He picked up Agent Baker again and shuffled into the back room. A female veterinarian looked as shocked as her two assistants as Jack laid out Isabel on a table. All the while he kept the gun on them.

  “Do you have a hairpin, or something thin and flat?”

  One of the assistants pulled one from her hair and nervously handed it to him. There were several ways to do it. One was to jam it into the keyhole, pivot and the ratchet mechanism that pushed against the teeth would come loose. The other was to slide a thin piece of metal between the teeth. It didn’t take him long to get loose.

  “Now patch her up.”

  “I’m not trained for this.”

  “Just do what you can until we can get an ambulance here.”

  She reached for a few bandages, and ripped open the agent’s shirt. She then told one of the girls to phone for an ambulance. The girl was about to go when Jack stopped her. “No, you do it from here.” He pulled out his cell and handed it to her. She made the call and then handed it back.

  “You think she’s going to be okay?” Jack asked trying to see the wound.

  “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell. There’s a lot of blood. She needs to be at the hospital.”

  Jack knew he only had ten minutes, tops, before an ambulance showed up and no doubt police would be with them. He’d been in sticky situations like this before but it was different back in New York. He had places to go. He could lay low and hide until it all blew over. But this, this was way over his head. He was in foreign territory. His daughter was still missing. He had police searching for him. This would never blow over. He had just put a target on his back in more ways than one. His only choice now was to get the hell out of there. To leave the city and never return.

  “I need keys to one of your vehicles.”

  “I…”

  “Keys. Now!”

  One of the younger girls tossed him her keys.

  “It’s a blue Pontiac, in the back. Tires are not that great.”

  Tires were the least of his concerns. He backed out with his gun still on them and then disappeared out the rear exit.

  Chapter 34

  On the fifth floor, Giovanni rolled the trolley forward towards room 508. Outside, seated on a chair was a police officer. He was flipping through his phone and stabbing it with his index finger. He looked up briefly then returned to checking email. Giovanni collected some of the garbage from a nearby room and tossed it in the blue bag in front of him before approaching room 508.

  “This room’s off limits.”

  “You think you can get the garbage?”

  The officer rolled his eyes, cast a glance down the corridor and entered. Giovanni saw Theresa lying in bed with her eyes closed. He followed the officer in, making sure he was out of sight before he stuck the knife in the side of his neck. The officer flopped back choking on his own blood. Giovanni pulled the knife out and stabbed him again on the floor until he wasn’t moving. He glanced up and the woman in the bed wasn’t even aware of what had just happened. He moved to the door and checked the corridor before closing it and pulling the blinds.

  Moving over to the bed he placed a hand tight over her mouth. Her eyes fluttered open and bulged.

  “Do as I say and you will live. Do you understand?”

  She mumbled and nodded. “Now I’m going to take my hand off your mouth. You scream and—”

  Slowly he removed his hand. He could see the fear in her eyes. He kept one of the guns on her and the other facing towards the door.

  “I need you to get in contact with Jack Winchester and don’t say you don’t have a number. Can you do that?”

  She nodded. He handed her his phone and she dialed in the number. Giovanni kept glancing back at the door. He fully expected someone to come in. Whether that was a doctor, nurse or another cop, it was only a matter of time before someone came to check on her.

  Jack was heading south on Interstate 12 when the call came in. He glanced at his phone and didn’t recognize the number. He was about fifteen minutes from New Orleans. He was going to return to his hotel, collect his belongings and leave.

  “Jack.”

  “Theresa?”

  The next voice was one he hadn’t heard before.

  “If you want to see the girl and Theresa alive, come to the East Hospital now. Fifth floor, room 508. Ten minutes.”

  “Who is this?”

  The phone went dead. Jack smacked the steering wheel in frustration. He looked at the clock. With the weather bad and police on the lookout for him, all he needed now was to be forced into speeding. He slammed his foot against the metal and gunned the engine. By now the weather had got even worse. Wind pummeled the side of the car nearly forcing it off the asphalt. He sped past other vehicles, reaching a speed of over ninety miles per hour. He might have made it there in time if it wasn’t for a cruiser that pulled in behind him. He heard the sirens before he saw the car. Red and blue lights flashed in his rearview mirror, a blurred image through the torrential downpour.

  There was no way he was going to be able to outrun that cruiser in this piece of shit. Besides he couldn’t draw more attention to himself than he already had. More than likely they were looking for a blue Pontiac. All he could do was veer off to the side of the road and hope it was just a matter of speed. He’d know within the first few minutes what he was dealing with. He killed the engine and looked in his mirror. The rain blurred his vision of the officer getting out of his cruiser. Jack knew if he stayed in the vehicle he would be asked to show his license and registration, something he couldn’t produce.

  Jack opened the door and the officer immediately went on the defensive.

  “Driver, stay in the vehicle.”

  Jack put both hands outside showing him that he was unarmed. Of course his Glock was inside his jacket. He didn’t want to kill an officer but he sure as hell didn’t want his kid to die. He stepped out of the vehicle ignoring the officer’s instructions.

  “I said stay in the vehicle. Are you deaf?”

  He played the deaf card for all it was worth.

  “Turn away and get down on your knees.”

  Jack could hear the officer approaching from behind with his weapon still drawn. He felt the handcuff click around one wrist and then he was pushed down to the ground. The officer placed a knee on his shoulder while he locked the other cuff on him. His radio crackled and the officer patted him down and pulled the Glock.

  Within a matter of seconds, he had Jack up against the car but in a se
ated position.

  He listened to the officer radio in an update and ask them to run a check on the license plate. Obviously the veterinarian hadn’t told them in all the drama, or perhaps the ambulance hadn’t got there yet? Either way. The moment they ran those plates, and he failed to produce a license and registration, they would know immediately that it was stolen.

  Sure enough the cop came over and hauled him up. While the officer had been calling it in, Jack had taken out the pin the vet had given him to undo the handcuffs from Agent Baker. He’d squeezed it into the hole and twisted it around. With the officer having placed his gun back in his holster he knew he could take him. Slammed against the side of the police cruiser, the officer went to open the back door when the handcuffs clicked and fell away. What happened next occurred so fast the officer didn’t even have a chance to go for his weapon. Jack yanked one arm around the neck of the officer and pulled him to the ground. He wasn’t trying to kill him, just choke him out until he went unconscious.

  All the while vehicles were zipping past in the rain. He didn’t worry about anyone stopping to help. Visibility was so low with the rain that he was surprised that there hadn’t been a ten-car pileup by now. The officer’s breathing became faint and then he went unconscious. Moving fast, he dragged him over to the Pontiac and placed him in the back, removed his radio and took his gun. He returned to the cruiser, hopped in and gunned it out of there.

  By the time the officer woke up, Jack would be at the hospital. He knew the cop was only trying to do his job, and under any other conditions he might have just let him take him. But he had Theresa and Ruby to think about. He glanced at the clock. Ten minutes had already gone by.