Неизвестный - 6. Justice For All

“I certainly hope this isn’t going to take the rest of the night,” he complained.

“Not much longer now.” Rebecca pushed the door open and, tightening her grip, pulled him out onto the loading dock.

Immediately, the harsh glare of television spotlights lasered in on them. A dozen voices shouted and as many arms thrust microphones toward the priest. When he tried to duck away, Rebecca forced him around toward the camera lenses.

“Is it true those girls were sex slaves?”

“How much did you pay them?”

“Were they all teenagers?”

“Does the church know of your involvement?”

“How long have you been using prostitutes?”

“Father…”

“Father…”

“Father…”

Satisfied, Rebecca dragged him through the crowd and pushed him into the rear seat of a waiting patrol car.

“You! You miserable bitch! You did this!” he screamed, his handsome face distorted with outrage and disbelief.

Rebecca braced her arm on top of the car and leaned in until they were eye to eye. “No, you did this. But you’re finished now.”

v

Ninety miles away, Kratos Zamora reached over his wife in bed and picked up the phone. He listened for half a minute and said, “Call me back on the other line.” Then he rose, careful not to wake her, and slipped out of the bedroom.

Once in his office, he took a Cuban cigar from the humidor on his desk, clipped the end, and lit it with a gold-plated lighter. Savoring the fragrant smoke, he waited for the call to come through on the disposable, and untraceable, cell.

“Where are they taking Gregor?” he asked. “Federal? Who do we have there?”

• 302 •

Justice for All

After he got the details he needed, he said, “I’ll be in touch.”

He disconnected and smoked in silence for a few moments. Then he called Talia Ballenger. When she didn’t answer, he hung up, removed the cable connection from his personal computer, and pressed several keys to initiate the program that would wipe the hard drive clean. After he finished his cigar, he pushed the intercom to the guard’s quarters.

“Vincent. Come around to the office, would you please.”

He got up and poured himself a drink, mapping out his strategy for damage control. He had learned long ago that the most powerful weapon was often the unexpected.

v

“Dell,” Sandy said in a low soothing voice, rubbing the back of Dell’s neck. “Baby, you gotta try to relax.”

“I fucked up,” Dell muttered for the tenth time, staring between her boots at the scuffed waiting room floor. “I should’ve known what he was going to do. I should’ve gone for Olik the second they came through the door. Man, I let him take her.”

“You didn’t let him do anything.” Sandy resisted the urge to shake her because she knew her head must be hurting. The two-inch gouge on her cheek wasn’t serious, but a bullet wound was a bullet wound, and it had to hurt. At least Sandy had been able to force her into letting one of the nurses in the emergency room clean it out and put some butterfly bandages on it. “You went after them. You stopped him from escaping with her. You know he would’ve killed her if he suspected she was involved. And you couldn’t know she was going to go for his gun.”

“After all this, what if she dies?” Dell searched Sandy’s eyes, desperately seeking reassurance. “It’s so fucking unfair.”

Sandy smiled softly, loving that Dell still believed that life ought to be fair. “Baby. That girl is tough. She’s not going to die. Besides, you and Watts got her flown here, didn’t you? That was the best thing you could have done. ’Cause you know Ali kicks ass in the OR.”

“That I do,” Ali said, walking up to join them. “Your friend lost a lot of blood and I had to remove a little bit of her left upper lobe, but she’s got plenty of lung tissue left. In fact, she’s doing so well, we’ll probably pull the breathing tube tonight.”

Dell grabbed Sandy’s hand. “She’ll be okay?”

• 303 •

RADclY fFe

“You know the drill. Anything could happen, but yes. I think she’ll be fine.”

“Can I see her?” Dell asked.

“She’s pretty out of it. And she won’t be able to talk to you.”

“That’s okay. Just for a minute?” Dell looked at Sandy. “Okay, babe?”

“Sure, rookie. You go see her.”

Sandy waited until Dell left with Ali, then she called Michael.

“Hey. Sloan get home?…No, we’re okay. We’ll be here for a little while longer.” She laughed, leaned back, and closed her eyes. “Nope. Haven’t changed my mind. I’ll need my GED to get into the academy, though.

Now that’s scary. You will? You’ll help?”

She waited a few seconds until her voice was steady. “Yeah, I get it. That’s what friends do.”

v

“Hey,” Dell said softly, taking Irina’s cool hand in hers. “I know you’re probably sleeping…”

Irina’s eyes opened and slowly focused on hers.

Dell swallowed hard. “I’ll be back tomorrow, but I wanted to tell you that Mika is okay. She’s in a safe house.”

Irina squeezed her fingers with surprising force.

“She’ll be there until you get out. I’ll check on her. So don’t worry, okay?”

Irina’s lids fluttered and she seemed to make a huge effort to keep them open. Dell saw the question in them.

“Olik is still in the operating room. He’s shot up pretty good. He might make it, but even if he does, he’ll be in prison for a long long time. He’s not going to hurt you anymore.” Dell leaned over and kissed her forehead. “Go to sleep now. You’re free.”

v

Catherine watched the report of the arrests on television and then fell asleep in the living room while reading through resident admission applications. She woke at the sound of the key in the front door and set

• 304 •

Justice for All

the folders aside to make room on the sofa. When Rebecca settled next to her, Catherine took her hand and leaned over to kiss her.

“You looked good on camera.”

Rebecca laughed. “Just as long as he did.”

“Are you going to get in trouble for that? You were the one who tipped them off, weren’t you?”

“The department is happy about the positive coverage, so for the moment, nobody’s asking any questions.”

“Good. Because you did the right thing.” Catherine curled up in Rebecca’s arms and rested her head on her shoulder. “I love you.”

Rebecca rubbed her cheek against Catherine’s hair. “I love you too.”

“What about the rest of it?”

“Well, the politics still have to play out, but the Russian girls are with Immigration—they’ll be okay after all the red tape is sorted. Clark has Gregor Zamora, and you never know what the feds might get out of him. We’re still processing the Russians, but if we’re lucky, we’ll get more names. And I dragged Flanagan out of bed to run a ballistics test for me.”

Hearing the tension in Rebecca’s voice, Catherine tilted her head back to study her face. Her usual sharp profile was even more rigid than usual. “What? What did you find?”

“Olik’s gun is a match for the one that killed Jimmy and Jeff.”

Catherine caught her breath. “God, Rebecca. You got Jeff’s killer.”

Rebecca held Catherine tightly. “When I drive over to Shelley Cruz’s tomorrow and tell her I caught her husband’s killer, do you think it’s going to make her pain any less?”

“I do,” Catherine said firmly. “Maybe not today. Maybe not tomorrow. But at some point she’ll be ready to face the rest of her life, and she’ll be able to do that because she will know that justice has been done.”

“It doesn’t seem like enough sometimes.”