Chapter 12
Upon hearing the shout behind her, Di jutted to the side, splitting away from Jarek. She figured the person who’d caught them snooping around would have to decide which of them to go after.
Preferably her. She’d rather not drag Jarek down with her.
The heavy thud of footsteps behind her indicated the guy had made the right choice in following her. Maybe he’d recognized her and wanted to collect on the reward, if that’s what was going on here. She put on a burst of speed to put more distance between them.
The guy reared back when her fist connected with his chin but then lashed out with a blow of his own.
She turned her head away, but his knuckles still packed enough of a wallop to cause her vision to blur.
She’d learned hand-to-hand combat in the army and quickly retaliated with more punches, one after the other in rapid succession.
Her assailant seemed surprised at the force of her counterattack.
He abruptly rolled off her, reaching for his gun.
She sprang to her feet and lashed out with a roundhouse kick that sent the weapon flying from his hand.
Then she executed another kick, striking him in the groin. He collapsed with a low groan.
Then she caught the glint of silver in his hand. A knife.
He cursed at her. “I’ll cut your other cheek,” he hissed as he lashed out at her. She reared back, avoiding the lethal blade by a fraction of an inch.
He was too close now for her to use another roundhouse kick, so she settled into a fighter stance, waiting for him to come at her again. He didn’t hesitate to lash out, swiping with the blade, then retreated. Lashed out again, then retreated.
Di ducked and parried, avoiding his attempts to slice her, all while managing to put a little more distance between them.
Then she calmly waited for him to try again.
His eyes gleamed with adrenaline from the fight.
In the recesses of her mind, she took note of the tattoo on his neck.
Similar to the one Kiko sported. That didn’t necessarily make him a gang member, but she’d go with it.
Especially since he’d threatened her first with a gun, then with a knife.
“Stop or I’ll shoot!” Jarek’s voice was enough to distract the knife guy. His gaze cut away for a second. She whirled with another roundhouse kick, slamming her foot into his knife hand. The blade flew from his grip.
He screamed and launched himself at her.
She couldn’t avoid the impact of his body slamming into hers.
Her head struck the ground hard, but she continued to fight.
Blindly, she jabbed three fingers into his throat with every ounce of strength she possessed.
He let out a strangled sound and finally fell off her.
Scrambling to her feet, she backed away, breathing heavily. Her heart raced with adrenaline. She didn’t take her eyes off the assailant, but the way he clutched at his throat with both hands, his eyes bulging with fear and panic, made her realize he couldn’t breathe.
She’d crushed his windpipe.
“Call 911, he needs a bus!” She spun around, searching the ground for his knife. She wasn’t a medic like Doc but knew the only way to save this guy’s life was to perform an emergency cricothyroidotomy.
Not that she’d ever done the procedure herself. Did watching count? Probably not.
Spying the knife, she grabbed it and approached the fallen man. He stared up at her, eyes wide with terror. She kneeled beside him, holding his gaze. “I need to cut a slit in your throat so you can breathe. Do you understand?”
He shook his head and tried to say something. No sound emerged from his throat.
There wasn’t a moment to waste. She gripped his shoulder hard. “Listen to me! You won’t be able to breathe unless you allow me to create an airway!” She used her free hand to pry his fingers away from his throat. He only tightened his grip. “Let go of your neck. I’m trying to save your life!”
He shook his head again, but his eyes glazed over as his brain began to shut down from a lack of oxygen. Frustrated, she tried again to peel his fingers away from his throat. He resisted her efforts.
“What can I do?” Jarek asked, kneeling beside her.
“I need to perform an emergency cricothyroidotomy.” She wasn’t even sure it would work, but she couldn’t just watch this guy die either. “I need access to his throat.”
“Okay.” Jarek used both of his hands to pull the guy’s fingers away from his neck. When she could see the man’s throat, half covered with ink, she relaxed.
“That’s good.” She lifted the blade in her right hand and felt for his Adam’s apple with the other.
For the first time in her life, she murmured a prayer that this would work.
Then, holding the knife steady, she inserted the tip of the blade into the assailant’s throat, making a horizontal incision that was roughly one and a half inches long.
Blood welled from the cut, and she used the edge of her T-shirt to blot it away.
To her amazement, a gurgling sound came out from the opening.
Red-tinged bubbles formed along the edge of the incision.
Encouraged, she inserted her fingers into the slit to open it a little wider, the way Doc had done.
If she had a straw or some other hollow cylinder, she’d insert that into the trachea.
But she didn’t have anything handy. As it turned out, she didn’t really need it.
With her fingertips holding the incision as wide as possible, the assailant sucked air in through the opening.
She’d done it. Sitting back on her heels, she looked up at Jarek while making sure she continued holding his airway open. “I can’t believe that worked.”
“I never doubted you.” Jarek’s expression held admiration. “I’m just glad you didn’t have to kill him.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” The comment popped out of her mouth before she could think it through.
Hoping Jarek wouldn’t notice, or assume she was referring to her time in the military, she leaned over the man’s face.
“Try to stay calm, okay? You won’t be able to talk, but you can breathe, and that’s all that matters. ”
He struggled for a moment, his eyes wide and still full of fear.
“I told you to relax. The more you fight, the harder it is to breathe.” When he finally closed his eyes and stopped struggling, taking long, slow deep breaths, she was grateful.
“Did you call 911?” she asked Jarek.
“Yeah.”
She nodded and turned her attention to the man who’d attacked her.
Using the light of the moon, she examined his neck tattoo.
It was as crudely done as Kiko’s, making her think this assailant had done prison time too.
She wasn’t familiar enough to know if the ink was a known gang symbol or if it meant something else.
The good news was that she hadn’t almost killed one of the port authority agents.
That would have been much harder to explain away.
With quick movements, she patted him down with her nondominant hand. He didn’t have any more weapons on him. The gun was lying in the grass somewhere. There was a wad of cash in his pocket, but no ID.
“That figures.” There was no point in asking his name.
He couldn’t talk, as the slit in his throat was located below the vocal cords.
She eyed Jarek. “We’ll need to wait for his prints to be placed into the system to get his name.
I’m sure he’s done prison time, maybe even served with our buddy Kiko. ”
If the assailant recognized Kiko’s name, he didn’t let on. Or maybe he was still too scared and freaked out about the hole in his throat. Hard to blame him about the latter.
“The ambulance and police will be here soon.” Jarek’s gaze was grim. “We need to decide how much to tell them.”
That he was willing to hide the truth of their illegal search surprised her.
And if she were honest, it made her feel guilty.
“I don’t know if your fellow officers will buy this story, but we can claim we were planning to take a walk by the river, thought the open gate was a shortcut, then realized we were trespassing and turned to leave. As we did that, this guy attacked me.”
Jarek nodded, although she could see the uncertainty in his eyes.
“If you want to be upfront and honest, we can show them the photos of the drugs we found.” She nodded at the man who was breathing through a hole in his throat pried open by her fingers. “Based on the prison ink, it’s not a stretch to assume he’s involved in the drug trafficking.”
The assailant looked away, which only confirmed her suspicions. She leaned over him again, holding his gaze. “Nod or shake your head. Was it your job to get the drugs to the warehouse?”
The assailant didn’t move.
“Answer me. Was it your job to get the crates with drugs to the warehouse?”
He still didn’t respond. She sighed as the wail of sirens echoed through the night.
The cops were on their way. She glanced at Jarek.
“It’s up to you, Jarek. But it might be better if we bypass the local cops regarding the drugs we uncovered and go straight to the DEA.
” It was something she should have considered earlier, after they’d been found at the safe house shortly after texting with Ray Bond.
He nodded slowly. “That’s a good idea. I can make some phone calls later.”
“Great.” She’d suspected he’d feel better getting someone from law enforcement involved.
He was such a straight arrow when it came to following the letter of the law.
And while she could admire that, there were times it was very inconvenient.
“Later is fine. After we’re finished here, we need to get to the warehouse. ”
“No reason to do that. We already know how the drugs are getting into the city,” he protested. “Liquid Gold Coffee and Tea, LLC is responsible.”