Chapter 5
FIVE
Olivia filled both mugs with coffee, Jessica Cartwright—one of their detectives—beside her. “He said they’re stitching him up. He’ll get some meds and orders to stay home and take it easy for a few days.”
Jessica snorted. She accepted the coffee Olivia handed her. “Thanks.” She took a sip. “He’ll probably be back here tomorrow, helping with the manhunt.”
“Probably,” Olivia echoed. “There’s plenty he can do from his desk that doesn’t involve using his off hand. But he’s gonna be mad until we find his gun.”
They took their drinks to the main bullpen area of the police station, where everyone not currently out on patrol had gathered. Looked like every cop with a badge was here, whether they were supposed to be on shift or not. It was all hands on deck right now.
Chief Conroy Barnes stood over by the door to his office. Through the window behind him, Olivia spotted his wife at his desk, typing on his computer. She had his phone between her shoulder and ear, talking animatedly. Looked like she was giving orders to whoever she was on the call with.
“Okay, I’m gonna make this quick because every minute we stand here is another minute one of our escapees could hurt someone.
” He picked up a stack of files and handed them to Donaldson.
“The sergeant is handing out the passenger manifest. We have three escaped convicts. Thanks to the quick actions of Officer Tazwell, and Officer Stuart and Titan, Damien Wallace is in custody, currently being interviewed by Detective Wilcox.”
The chief nodded in Olivia’s direction. “Well done.”
Someone clapped her on the back. But she didn’t want congratulations right now. She wanted orders to get out there and keep looking for the other three.
She accepted the file from Sergeant Donaldson. “Thanks.”
He nodded and moved on.
Chief Barnes said, “Take a look at the files you have, talk to your CIs. We need to know where these guys have gone and who they might contact.”
Olivia frowned. “Sir? Won’t they just run? Leave town and get as much distance as they can between them and us?”
“Maybe. Maybe not,” Chief Barnes said. “We don’t know what agendas they have. Scores they need to settle. So figure out where they would go first and bring them in.”
She nodded.
“We’re setting up a command center in the parking lot of the grocery store on Allerton Street.”
That made sense, considering it was close to the crash site. Hopefully at least one of the convicts was dumb enough to stay in the townhouse complex. She could hope this was easy, anyway.
“Everyone checks in for assignments. As soon as you come on duty, got it?” The chief lifted his chin. “Let’s find these guys.”
Olivia turned to the collection of officers around her. Anthony Thomas opened his file and flipped through the pages. He flinched. “I was right. It was Alonzo Sosa.” A tendon in his jaw flexed. “And I let him get away.”
“I don’t have time to argue with that,” Olivia said. “It’s not my job to persuade you to feel differently about it. But I will say that tracking him down is going to make you feel better.” She wanted the guy who’d shot her partner and taken his gun.
“Thomas!” Donaldson called out over the bullpen.
Anthony turned. “Sarge?”
“Officer Stuart needs backup.”
Anthony hustled away, eager to get back out there. Olivia looked over her file. Jessica came over, and they compared.
Olivia said, “Blair Mackey. Sentenced to sixteen years for the murder of two foster kids he had stealing for him. He’s got the smarts to plan something like this.”
“Jason Vaynes.” Jessica whistled. “Nasty guy with some nasty habits. He’s a serial killer, convicted of kidnapping and homicide. We need to lock him down quick before he gets any ideas.”
Olivia found the page with his information. “That might be the guy who shot Junior. Told him he had things to do. Something about catching a mouse.” She didn’t want to know what horrible ideas a serial kidnapper and murderer might have. “And Alonzo Sosa makes four.”
“I’m getting on Vaynes. It’s not worth the risk focusing on anyone else.”
“They’re all dangerous.”
Jessica nodded. “True, but I won’t be able to sleep until Vaynes is behind bars. Guys like him?” She shivered. “I’m going to touch base with Savannah and find out what Wallace is saying.”
“I’ll go with you.” She followed the detective to the viewing room where Savannah and Lieutenant Basuto were questioning Wallace. They’d turn him over to the Department of Corrections soon enough so he could get back to his cell, but right now he was a source of valuable intel.
“Any updates on Officer Brighten?”
Jessica winced. “Still critical. His wife told Chief Barnes that the doctor said it doesn’t look good.”
She looked at the file for each prisoner who had escaped while she half listened to Wallace talking about what had happened in the van. Mostly looking for a place to start with one of the three they still needed to catch.
Jessica turned up the volume dial on the wall as Wallace was saying, “No idea he was gonna do that. I thought Mackey was joking about getting loose.”
“How’d he crash the vehicle?” Basuto asked.
“Someone shot at us from outside. It sounded like a hunting rifle. Shot the tire out, and we flipped.”
Olivia glanced at Jessica. “We weren’t looking at the outside of the van. We figured they overpowered the vehicle somehow and caused it to flip. Or the driver was in on it.”
“Officer Athers is the one on the run with them, isn’t she?”
“Probably dating one of them, or fell for him and he used it to coerce her to go with them.” She shrugged because all she had was supposition and no evidence.
Basuto said, “What happened after the van flipped?”
“Other cars hit us.” Wallace sniffed. “Mackey got through the grate to the front, since it was all mangled, and got the keys. We were free. But Brighten tried to stop him, and Vaynes grabbed his gun. Killed him with it.”
“He shot him?” Basuto asked.
Izan had told her the guy had been pistol-whipped, which meant Basuto was testing Wallace to see if he was telling the truth.
She and Junior hadn’t been able to check on Brighten in the seconds before they’d realized the occupants of the van were running away and dragging a corrections officer with them.
Wallace shook his head. “Beat him to death with the gun.”
Apparently Wallace didn’t know that Brighten wasn’t dead. Though, he also had a slim chance of recovering since he was in critical condition.
“Did they say where they were going?”
“Mackey knew there was a vehicle waiting. He’d arranged it.”
“And Officer Athers? What did she do while Vaynes beat her partner?”
“Nothing she could’ve done,” Wallace said.
“She didn’t try and stop Mackey. No one does.
You don’t mess with that one. He poisoned this guy in lockup a few months back just because he didn’t like his mustache.
” Wallace shifted in his chair. “Put something in his food. The guy keeled over, and his face went in the mashed potato. He was just dead.”
“We need to know who they’re going after or what their plans are for escaping.” Basuto folded his arms. “All of them.”
“Or what? I’m already going back to jail, and I ain’t never getting out. What do I care?” He sat back in his chair. “Unless you wanna talk deals. With my lawyer.”
Olivia went back to looking at her file. She scanned the page for Alonzo Sosa since Anthony wasn’t going to rest until he found the guy and redeemed himself.
Jessica said, “Sosa?”
“I was around when his girlfriend was killed and they brought him in finally. He went after the Crawfords pretty hard. Maybe he wants revenge.” She found a note in the file under family members. “Izan?”
“What about him?”
“This says that Alonzo is related to him.” Olivia frowned. “Alonzo is Diego Sosa’s nephew.”
“He inherited control of the cartel, right?”
“But Diego’s second-in-command had a baby with his sidepiece. Camilo Rojas had an affair with Renata Perez, who was Diego’s girlfriend. All this was, like, thirty years ago. But Camilo worked with Elizabeth Crawford to place the child with a family. The Collins family. Izan was that child.”
“Does Alonzo have a reason to target him?”
Olivia shook her head. “I guess we need to find out. He could be the one Alonzo wants to meet up with, for any reason. We have no idea.”
“You don’t actually think Izan is in league with a cartel guy, do you?”
“No way. But he also doesn’t need to get caught in the crossfire because he wasn’t warned he’s in danger.”
Jessica nodded. “Good idea. Maybe he has intel about where Sosa might hide. Could be he knows all those guys, the cartel henchmen, and what they’re up to now. You know we didn’t catch all of them.”
“Doesn’t matter how many we catch. There are always more.”
But there was no way Izan was one of them. She would never believe that.
Which meant he could be in serious danger.