Chapter 52
Medical personnel flooded into the room.
A trail of blood led to the door. A handprint stained the jamb. You didn't stab someone in the carotid without making a mess.
Levi had taken Deputy Halford’s pistol. He’d used Halford’s keys to get out of the cuffs.
Jack called dispatch and updated them on the situation.
I raced into the hall, my head on a swivel, looking for the perp. I followed the trail of blood drips down the corridor toward the stairwell. I stopped a nurse along the way and asked if she’d seen Levi.
She shrugged and shook her head. It was a busy ward, and people were preoccupied with other patients.
I raced to the stairwell, pushed open the metal door, and looked down the switchback staircase.
The trail of blood had ended.
Levi couldn’t have gotten far.
He was lucky. His injuries were mostly flesh wounds. The bullets had embedded in his shoulder and his thigh. Soft tissue. No bone or major vascular structures. He wouldn’t be running a marathon any time soon, but he was mobile.
I spiraled down the staircase, heart pumping. My feet clattered against the steps, echoing off the concrete walls. I burst into the lobby and sprinted toward the exit, my head scanning from side to side.
I didn't see any sign of the perp.
I asked the clerk at the front desk, "Have you seen a patient come through here, limping?" I described Levi. He was hard to miss.
The clerk shook her head.
"An inmate escaped." I gave her a card. "Call me if you see anyone matching that description."
Fear rounded her eyes.
I darted out through the main entrance and scanned the area.
Still no sign of Levi.
A guy like that would stand out.
Frustrated, I stepped back inside, scanned the lobby once again, then waited for deputies to arrive.
Levi had to be in the building.
Once other deputies were on site, I told them to secure all entrances and exits. Then I headed back up to the trauma ward and walked the hallway, peering into patient rooms and storage closets.
A doctor in a white lab coat, surgical mask, and cap passed by. He was a big guy and had a slight limp. It took me a second to snap to it.
I spun around, drew my weapon, and took aim. "Levi!”
The doctor kept walking, trying to hide his limp.
"Don't move! Stop right where you are!"
Levi took another few paces, then spun around. The lab coat twirled. By the time he faced me, he had Halford’s pistol in hand and took aim.
BANG!
He fired a shot.
The bullet snapped down the hallway.
I squeezed my trigger twice in quick succession.
My 9mm hammered my palm, and two bullets rocketed toward the dirtbag, pelting Levi in the chest. Crimson blossomed his teal scrubs, and he fell back against the tile.
The white lab coat was soaked with blood.
His lungs filled with fluid, and he sucked gurgling breaths for air.
The deafening bangs had echoed throughout the hallway.
Levi’s bullet had put a hole in one of the paintings.
Staff shrieked, and commotion stirred.
I moved forward, heart thumping, and kicked the pistol away. I hovered over the body while trauma nurses rushed to put pressure on the wounds and triage the patient.
Levi wouldn’t survive this one.
He bled out in a matter of seconds. His last breath rattled.
He’d obviously picked up the scrubs, coat, and mask from a storage area.
Before long, forensic investigators and the medical examiner arrived, along with the sheriff. Dietrich snapped photos of the body.
“I think the son-of-a-bitch got off too easy,” Daniels muttered through a tight jaw.
Levi had killed a cop. One of our own. Nobody in the department was going to cry for the scumbag.
"You’re supposed to be on leave,” the sheriff said.
I gave him a flat look.
“You know the drill.”
I surrendered my duty weapon and was back on leave. “I’ve got a sting operation tonight. Not sitting it out.”
“I’d tell you to try not to kill anybody, but if misfortune should find those scumbags, I’m not going to be upset. I don’t think anyone else in law enforcement would be either.” Daniels put a solemn hand on my shoulder.
JD and Daphne joined us in the hallway.
The staff looked frazzled.
Brenda examined the remains, and her team bagged the body. It took several people to transfer Levi to a gurney. By the time her team wheeled him out of the hospital, Paris Delaney was on the scene with her crew to capture the footage.
Daphne avoided the camera.
"Deputy Wild, what can you tell us about the shooting?"
"No comment at this time."
The sheriff stepped into the frame. "Today, a prisoner killed one of our deputies and attempted to shoot another. The prisoner was shot and killed in the process, and Coconut County is safer because of it.” He wasn't about to put up with this getting spun in the wrong way.
We headed back to the station, and I filled out an after-action report.
Afterward, we drove back to the marina and stopped in Diver Down to grab lunch. Teagan had seen the news broadcast on the flatscreen behind the bar.
I filled her in on all the gory details.
"I'm glad you're okay," she said with concerned eyes. "I've been worried about you guys all day. I got bad vibes this morning, but I didn’t want to say anything. I didn’t want it to get in your head."
Teagan certainly had a hell of an intuition.
We had wrapped up one case and were pretty close on another. But the day wasn’t over yet.
JD and I took the rest of the day to unwind.
Later that evening, JD and I got into character. We dressed in tattered clothing and dirtied ourselves up to look homeless. It was the easiest way to become invisible.
About 11:30 PM, we headed to the warehouse district. We parked the Porsche several blocks away, then walked to our destination on Union Street. I took a position on the loading dock across from Union Street at another warehouse.
Jack took a position catty-corner from me across the street on Industry.
We both had a good view of the building. I told the sheriff to put patrol units in the area, but far enough away not to be spotted. Tango One kept its distance, but it could be on the scene within moments.
It was hard to dress Daphne down, but we managed. She huddled with me on the loading dock. When the time came, she made a call to Rick at the Dutchman and put it on speaker.
“The Dutchman,” Rick answered after a few rings.
“Dane wanted me to give you a message to give to him.”
“Go ahead.”
“I left $10 million in duffel bags at the abandoned warehouse at 7 Union Street. If he wants his money, he better get there fast. No telling who might find it between now and then.”
“I’ll tell him.”
“Is he there right now?”
“No.”
I’m not sure I believed him.
Daphne ended the call, and we waited.
With $10 million on the line, I certainly wouldn't dillydally. But 12 o'clock rolled around. Then 12:05.
No sign of Dane or his comrade.
12:15.
Still no one.
By 12:30, I had lost hope.
At 12:45, I called the sheriff and told him it was a bust. He told the other officers to stand down, and Tango One returned to base.
Daphne and I climbed to our feet, jumped down from the loading dock, and met Jack at the corner of Industry and Union.
"There on to us," I said, glancing around. "They might even be watching us.”
"Maybe they played us," Jack said.
My suspicious eyes found Daphne.
"Don't look at me. I didn't tip them off. I did everything you asked me to. Believe me, I want them to go down as much as you do.”
Given the circumstances, I believed her.
We headed back toward the Porsche.
I said to Daphne, "You're taking me to the dagger right now."
"Right now?"
"I want real leverage over these scumbags. And I'm tired of not making any progress.”
"Hey, I've been doing everything you've asked. I've been cooperating, I haven't tried to escape, I haven't kicked you in the nuts anymore."
I gave her a sour look. "All things that you should have done from the start."
We made it back to the Porsche.
"Where's the dagger?" I asked again.
Daphne huffed. "It's at Whisper Key. You really want to go out there right now?”
"Damn straight I do.”
We hopped into the car and headed back to Diver Down. We prepped our gear and loaded it aboard the Raptor. We took shovels, metal detectors, assault rifles, extra magazines, flash bang grenades, IR optics, and just about anything else we thought we might need in case we ran into trouble.
We boarded the boat, and I cast off the lines. JD took the helm and navigated us out of the marina. He throttled up when we cleared the breakwater and brought the boat on plane. The high-density polyethylene boat was virtually indestructible, though we’d managed to destroy one before.
It carved through the inky swells as the moon hung high in the sky. A few clouds drifted on the breeze. The briny air swirled, and the engines howled. We bounced across the obsidian swells, heading out to Whisper Key. It would take about 45 minutes.
I kept my head on a swivel, making sure we weren't followed. "Does anyone else know where the dagger is?"