Blind Justice (22 page)

CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE

Katherine shoved the gurney forward as fast as she could, her legs pumping hard to gain momentum. People dove out of the way of the escaping pair and hugged the walls as they sped by. Eventually, they hit the proper elevator and waited as it slowly rose to meet them. She pulled the tranq gun from her coat and aimed it back in the direction of the running guards. She sighted in and squeezed the trigger when the first man was in range. A high-velocity dart blasted from the gun
’
s barrel and struck the guard square in the chest. He dropped to the polished white floor. As Katherine fired again, his partner dove into one of the doorways to avoid a similar fate.

The elevator doors slid open with a ding, and she swung the gurney from the hallway into the elevator. A moment later, she ran down the ground floor corridor toward the lobby. She could see the sliding front doors of the medical center, but a pair of guards stood in her path within the lobby. They had their Tasers drawn and aimed at her.

The tranq gun held a five round magazine of darts, and she had already used four. Only enough left for one guard, but perhaps the second man would flee if she disabled his partner.

She jerked back on the gurney, but her feet slid on the laminate floor, and she nearly lost control. The guards raised the Tasers and screamed, “Stop or we
’
ll shoot!”

Raising her weapon and using the gurney as cover, she fired at one of the guards, a big man with a beard, the one she judged to be the tougher of the two. The dart burst from the end of the gun, spiraled through the air, and missed the guard completely, sailing just over his shoulder and embedding in the drywall behind him.

For a second, she couldn
’
t believe it. How could she have missed? A dart gun likely wasn
’
t the most accurate of weapons, but at this range…

The elevator dinged down the hall behind her, and more guards rushed into the hall.

The two guards from the lobby must have guessed that she had spent her last round and cautiously moved forward.

The officers had her boxed in with no way to escape and no way to defend herself. It was over. Not just the escape, but life as she knew it.

Then the guards in the lobby fell to the floor, and Annabelle said, “Come on!”

Katherine wasted no time in following. They burst out of the hospital
’
s front doors and helped Corrigan into the awaiting Yukon that Annabelle had positioned in the loading area. Annabelle hopped behind the wheel, and Katherine jumped up into the passenger seat. She saw the guards rushing out of the front doors in the rearview as they sped away.

“What happened back there?” Katherine said. “You weren
’
t supposed to turn off the sonic weapon until we were clear.”

“It made a sizzling sound and then quit working. I think it
’
s fried.”

Katherine heard the sirens approaching close behind them. Too close, coming too fast. “I hope the next part of Munroe
’
s plan goes smoother than this.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Munroe knew that the moment a report broadcasted across the airwaves that a death row murderer had escaped, every cop within fifty miles would converge on Leavenworth—setting roadblocks, dispatching choppers, checking all methods of transportation: airports, bus stations, train depots, car rental offices. The police would keep searching around the clock until they had run them to ground or were certain that their quarry had escaped the net. They could try to hide out somewhere until the police presence died down, but they didn
’
t have time for that. Instead, Deacon
’
s plan involved slipping out right beneath the noses of their pursuers.

The twenty-six-foot U-Haul truck that they had rented under a false identity allowed for that to happen. A roll-up door covered the truck
’
s backend. Pull-out ramps allowed the Yukon to drive right into the back. It would be a tight fit, but they had about a foot to spare on each side. Once the Yukon and its passengers had been safely loaded inside, Black would drive them out right through the roadblocks and past the police.

Munroe waited in the rear cargo area as Black bumped over the country roads to the chosen rendezvous point. Munroe
’
s disposable phone vibrated against his leg, and the truck
’
s progress halted. It was the signal that they had arrived. Late the previous afternoon, Black scouted for rendezvous locations and chose a spot where they could discretely load the SUV without any witnesses. And, if someone did see them, they would be long gone before that person realized the significance of what they had observed.

Jumping to his feet, Munroe rushed to the end of the truck and threw up the rear door. Then he knelt down, felt his way to a crouch, and hopped to the ground. They needed to pull out the vehicle ramps, and Black couldn
’
t do it alone. He heard Black
’
s footsteps come around the side of the truck, and with a few words and a bit of guidance, the duo slid both ramps out of their holding brackets in the truck
’
s bumper and dropped their front ends to the gravel and dirt of the rural roadway.

With the ramps in place, they were ready to receive cargo. Now all they had to do was wait for the women to arrive with the package.

CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE

When Munroe had calmly described his plan, Katherine felt that he had considered most of the variables and that things would likely go off without a hitch. Of course, she also knew that in reality things never went as planned, and so she had anticipated a few hiccups. But nothing like this.

First, the device quit working. Then, a cop car had apparently been on patrol within a few blocks of the hospital and had immediately taken up pursuit of the escaping SUV.

Annabelle had practiced driving a specific route from the hospital to the rendezvous point. Now that was shot to hell. They had veered off on so many side streets into residential areas and whipped around so many turns in attempts to lose their pursuer that Katherine had no idea where they were, and she doubted that Annabelle had any better sense of their actual location. If they didn
’
t lose the cop soon, backup would arrive, and they would have no chance of escape.

They needed to lose the tail, but the driver of the blue and white patrol car was well-trained. For every turn or corner that Annabelle slid around, the patrol car matched the maneuver perfectly.

“Does this thing have an automatic open button for the back hatch?” Katherine asked.

“I think so.”

“Get ready to push it.”

Katherine vaulted over the seat, knocking Corrigan out of the way, and then repeated the move into the Yukon
’
s third row. She reached over the seat, pulled up on a lever, and pushed one half of the third row flat. Pulling a latch and lifting up, she unclamped the removable seat from its brace. It now sat unsecured on top of the rear floor.

She looked out the back window at the cop car riding their bumper. Its siren wailed, and the blue and red flashers pulsed wildly inside its light bar. “Keep going straight and open the lift-gate for the back hatch,” she yelled to the front of the vehicle.

The rear hatch slowly raised up. She didn
’
t even wait for it to open completely. Placing her heels on the seats of the second row and pushing with all her strength, Katherine shoved the unclamped third row seat out of the back of the Yukon.

It landed on the hood of the patrol car, crumpling the metal, and then the car
’
s momentum pulled the seat up the hood and through the windshield. The car swerved back and forth across the blacktop roadway. The cop fought to maintain control but ultimately lost the battle and smashed into a Toyota Tundra parked alongside the road.

Katherine felt a momentary rush of victory and wanted to pump her fist in the air and scream, but then the reality of what she had just done set in. She had ran a fellow law enforcement officer off the road. The car
’
s driver could have been injured or worse. Her joy instantly turned to guilt and sadness.

“Close it down,” she said to Annabelle and then climbed back to the front seat.

It took a few moments and a few wrong turns to find the right path, but Annabelle must have possessed an impeccable sense of direction because she managed to guide them back on track and find the rendezvous point. The open rear end of the U-Haul truck beckoned them in, and they easily crawled up the ramp and into the cargo area.

The side doors had little clearance but opened just enough for Katherine to squeeze her small frame through the gap. She hopped out of the truck and helped Black slide the ramps back into the holders. While she did that, Annabelle exited the vehicle and started preparing the row of cardboard boxes that would hide the Yukon from any eager young officer who decided to check the cargo hold for himself.

Once the ramps were secured, Black said, “What took you so long?”

CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX

Antonio de Almeida sat next to his mother
’
s bedside and read to her from the works of Gabriel Garc
í
a M
á
rquez. His recitation halted abruptly as an insistent knock on her door demanded attention. He stood and opened the door to reveal the pale form of Oliver Pike. “I told you to wait in the car,” he said. “
I don’
t understand why such simple instructions confound you.”

He still seethed with anger at Pike over the mess the American had caused at Munroe
’
s hospital, a spectacle which could have been forgiven if the mission had been accomplished.

“You weren
’
t answering your phone.”

“I turned it off. I told you that I wanted to spend time with my mother undisturbed.”

“Trust me. You
’
ll want to hear this.”

“What
’
s happened?”

“It
’
s Corrigan,” Pike said. “He just escaped, and he had help. It has to be Munroe and his team. Who else would want to keep Corrigan alive?”

Almeida inhaled a deep calming breath. He beat down his anger, trying to keep it contained beneath the surface, but his emotions teetered on the verge of boiling over and exploding. He walked back to his mother
’
s side and stroked her hair. In a whisper, he said, “It wasn
’
t supposed to be this way. We never should have been forced to hurt anyone. Let alone innocent people.”

Pike scoffed derisively. “It happens. Man up and grow a pair of balls.”

Almeida
’
s rage exploded. It took on shape and form and could no longer be contained or held in check. He sprang toward his companion, and before Pike could even register the attack, Almeida had a knife to the American
’
s throat and the man
’
s back slammed against the wall. He pressed the edge of the blade into the soft meat of the white man
’
s neck and wanted to slice open the veins and let the blood flow.

He stood there a moment, breathing heavily and debating on whether to end Pike
’
s life. Finally, he said in a whisper, “Never disrespect me or speak vulgarities in the presence of my mother again. Tell me you understand.”

Pike
’
s eyes were hard. “I understand.”

The old woman whimpered and rolled away from them. Her gaunt form trembled beneath the blankets. Almeida leaned down and embraced her. “It
’
s okay, Mama. Soon I
’
ll have the formula to a drug that could heal your mind. Won
’
t that be wonderful?”

She rambled something incoherent in Spanish and then drifted off again into a world that he could not see.

“Unlike some people in our line of work, I
’
ve always maintained a code of honor,” Almeida said. “There were certain lines that I would not cross. But the more this situation blows up out of control, the more my boundaries are being tested. I never wanted it to go this far, but I
’
m afraid that it
’
s time to take things to the next level with Deacon Munroe and Jonas Black. It
’
s time to hit them at their most vulnerable spot. To exploit their weaknesses and their passions.”

Almeida closed his eyes and hated himself as he said, “Find me their families.”

CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN

The ladies rode in the cargo area with Corrigan while Munroe and Black occupied the cab. The police questioned them at two separate checkpoints, but Black casually explained that he was helping his blind cousin move to a new house in Baltimore. Black
’
s skills at deception and quick thinking impressed Munroe. The key in such interactions was the level of detail provided. Give up too much information, and the officers would think you were nervous and had something to hide. Embellish too little, and they would think that you were holding back with malicious intent. None of the officers bothered to inspect the cargo area, and the group easily passed through the net that local law enforcement had cast.

Midway through Ohio, Munroe decided that they had come far enough, and it was time to have a word with their prisoner. “Find an out of the way motel. Somewhere that won
’
t notice a cash payment.”

Black, who had been quiet for most of the drive, said, “You think Corrigan will finally be able to tell us the whole story?”

“I doubt it, but hopefully, we
’
ll get a few more pieces to the puzzle.”

Munroe felt the Yukon glide off the interstate and up an exit ramp. But then Black abruptly asked, “How did you lose your sight?”

The question jolted Munroe. It wasn
’
t one that he had expected and had found that most people were too polite to ask or simply didn
’
t care. “I suffered a blow to the head that damaged the occipital cortex region of my brain and caused total blindness.”

“But how did you receive the blow?”

Munroe avoided the question and turned the inquiry around on Black. “Why do you ask? Has someone been telling stories?”

Black massaged the steering wheel, the leather creaking beneath his grip, and Munroe guessed the big man was searching the roadway for a motel. Eventually, Black said, “When we were at the Pentagon, I visited the 911 Memorial. I saw your name on the list of Defense of Freedom medal winners. You
’
re a hero.”

“Don
’
t you ever say that again. A lot of heroes were born from fire that day. I wasn
’
t one of them.”