Page 115 of Fatal Strike
“Warren, we need to work this out before these police officers turn their weapons on you.”
“Look where that got Everson.”
Jon was close enough to the van now to see that Warren was holding a gun to Mrs. Rios’s head. There was no sign of the dentist, and Jon feared the man was already dead.
“Shooting at cops will only add to your crimes,” Leah said to Warren.
He swore. “Listen, if you get everyone to back off, including Agent Colbert, I might be open to negotiating. I’ve got a grenade in my pocket. Don’t make me toss it.”
Jon valued Leah’s delay tactics.Keep talking, Warren. Your pride is showing through.
She ordered the officers to clear the scene. Those in the parking lot drove away, except for a few cars and a Ford F-350 truck parked twenty feet from the van.
Jon forced air into his lungs. He needed to take Warren out. He took advantage of the distraction the retreating officers provided to creep to the front of the van.
“Now I’m ready to talk,” Warren said to Leah. “I’ll swap Anna Rios for you. You and I will take a little vacation.”
Jon’s heart skipped a beat.Over his dead body.
“What about Dr. Rios?”
“He’s dead. Lay your gun down, nice and easy. Walk toward me. I’ll tell you when to stop. You’d better hope no one goes near that truck parked to your right.”
“Whatever you need.” She obeyed and walked toward the van, holding her arms away from her sides.
Jon heard the van’s door open and assumed Warren was preparing to make the exchange. Anna whimpered.
Jon’s training kicked in. He stilled his spirit. Concentrated on the target. Tuned out what was going on around him. Prayed for accuracy—and for his coughing to abate while his lungs craved release from the smoke.
He peered around the front of the van. Warren held a gun in his right hand. The grenade was in his left, which was wrapped around Anna Rios’s throat. But his finger was not on the pin. He pushed the woman several feet away from him and grabbed Leah.
Jon positioned his finger on the trigger. Leah twisted out of Warren’s grasp. The man stumbled.
Jon aimed.
His stomach revolted.
His vision blurred.
He fired.
The hour was approaching 1:30 a.m. when Leah and Jon sat in the emergency room at Memorial Hermann Hospital at the Texas Medical Center. Leah held Jon’s hand firmly in hers. Or was it the other way around? For sure, they were a team. She had no intentions of leaving him.
The nurse had disappeared to get his discharge papers and a prescription. Jon argued that he knew how to treat smoke inhalation and refused to be admitted.
Zachary Everson lay in serious condition at the same hospital, after being life-flighted from Galveston. He’d undergone surgery for a pierced lung. Anna Rios had been taken into custody. Pablo Rios and Warren Livingston were dead. Dylan was in a Galveston hospital, showing signs of improvement, much to Silvia’s relief. Leah felt confident Dylan would accept a plea bargain and tell authorities everything he knew about Livingston’s operation. Between his testimony and the evidence Jon and Ross Kempler had found, she was hopeful the FBI could tie up the loose ends of this case.
Father Gabriel had brought Rachel Mendez to the hospital to meet with them. Leah still wasn’t sure why the woman had deliberately withheld information pertinent to the case, but the former attorney had come to make amends and promise her full cooperation. She was no exception to how love and fear often did strange things to those cuffed with emotion. After she left with the priest, Jon said it would be interesting to see what Rachel testified to under oath. As for Father Gabriel ...
“I decided I like the guy,” Jon had said.
“Me too. He looks at life differently than I do, and I realize it’s about his priestly vows.”
The curtain separating her and Jon from the next patient swung open, and Leah’s dad walked in.
Her heart took a leap. Dad looked old and frightened. She rushed to him. “Dad, I’m fine. Jon’s going to be okay too.”
He drew her into his arms, the sound of his sobs bringing on her own, like their reunion this morning. “Leah, all I could think of was losing you again.”
