Miguel sat in the hard vinyl recliner and swapped childhood memories with Julia, who lounged on the couch a safe distance from him. The more he learned about her the more she engaged his broken heart.
After a while they fell silent and listened to the hard patter of rain on the hospital’s roof. Lightning struck. The lights went out,plunging the room into darkness. When they didn’t come back on, when the generator didn’t kick in, Miguel murmured, “Oh, shit.”
Both leaped to their feet. The silence in the corridor alarmed them. Then, pop! Pop!
“We have to get out of here.” Julia pulled a canister from the backpack and slung it across her shoulders.
They wore scrubs and masks to blend in with hospital personnel. Miguel peered into the corridor. His blood froze. Figures dressed in black from head to toe were systematically going into the rooms. Some patients managed to scream before they were silenced forever.
“Let’s go,” Miguel ordered.
Julia passed his gun to him, and he went first into the corridor. She popped open the canister and tossed it behind them. It created a smokescreen as they slipped away and moved with cautious urgency toward the emergency exit. They heard angry shouts behind them and broke into a sprint. Bullets whizzed past them as they turned sharply to their right and burst through the emergency door.
In the stairwell, they encountered two men in black who raised their AK-47s too late. Miguel and Julia fired their Glocks at the same time, and the men pitched backward down the stairs, stark dead. Without a word, they grabbed the AK-47s and rounds of ammunition and rushed down the stairs.
Two floors below them, more men spilled into the stairwell. Their shots went wild as Miguel and Julia riddled them with bullets and continued their descent. On the ground floor, they exited the hospital through the last emergency door…and met a contingency of men in black.
Gunfire erupted and flashed in the darkness. Rain soaked them.
“Jesus Christ!” Miguel swore. “Did General Escobar send his entire army to attack us?”
They crouched behind a parked car. Bullets pinged off it. Miguel raised his head and fired. Another man dropped to the wet pavement.
“We need a distraction!” Julia yelled.
“Smoke won’t work in this rain!”
“I have another surprise!” She removed a pair of hand grenades from the backpack. “Get ready to run like hell toward the car. It’s parked about a hundred feet to our left.”
Julia pulled the pins and tossed the grenades into the middle of the men. The double explosion shook the earth. Screams pierced the air.
“Run!” Julia grabbed Miguel’s hand, and they dashed toward the car.
It automatically unlocked as they drew near to it. Footsteps pounded behind them. Bullets hit the chassis.
“Go! Go!” Miguel commanded.
Julia shifted into reverse, spun the wheel, changed gears again, pressed the gas pedal, and peeled out of the parking lot. Neither relaxed until they were well out of sight of the hospital.
“Where to now, Miguel?” Julia asked. “We can’t go to the hotel where I’ve been staying. If General Escobar found us at the hospital, he’ll know about the hotel, too.”
Miguel pondered the situation. If he joined Justice on the campaign trail, he risked bringing danger to everyone. The same applied to Julia if she returned to Virginia. No. There was only one option. Only one place he knew they’d be safe.
“We’re going home,” he declared. “Home to Laguna Beach.”
“That’syourhome,” Julia pointed out in a soft voice.
“Exactly. Hutch’s wife, SAC Jiena Cofield, is there with a whole team of FBI agents. Brielle and Finnigan are there, too. We’ll be able to regroup while I get over this damn Covid.” Acough rose in his chest as if to punctuate his point. He also shivered.
She did, too. Her hair was plastered to her face. “Let’s change out of these wet clothes at the nearest gas station. In the meantime, book us a flight to Laguna Beach.”
MARCH 9
LAGUNA BEACH, CALIFORNIA
Miguel and Julia
The gunfightwith General Escobar’s men and their subsequent escape from the hospital took their toll on Miguel. He slumped in a chair at the airport while they waited for their flight to be called, chest heaving as he had trouble breathing.
