Agents are grabbing and yelling at us as we roll on the floor, but we both keep wrestling for control of the gun. His knee jerks up and this time he makes contact with my crotch, causing me to flinch. He takes advantage of the moment to roll us over. When we’re in mid-roll, an agent trying to stop us tears Cortez’s arm free from my grasp and he has complete control of the gun. His hand with the gun is now wedged between our conjoined bodies and the barrel is pressed firmly against my chest. Instantly grabbing his gun hand with mine, our eyes connect and I instinctively know one of us will not walk away from this fight.
Grunting, groping, and wrestling with all of our might, we are locked in a battle of wills and strength. Mere seconds tick by but they feel more like hours as neither of us is willing to give in to the other. I’m much stronger than he is but the hold I have on him is compromised by his bodyweight. There’s no way I can let go to get a better grip, but I know I have to do something right now. Without warning, the blast from the gun booms through my office, ricocheting off the walls. There’s complete stunned silence from everyone in the room for a nanosecond before the yelling resumes, this time with a different intensity.
“Dominic! Dominic, talk to me! Are you hurt? Are you shot?” Tucker yells at me as he closes in on me, tossing agents out of his path as if they weigh no more than a feather. Shadow is immediately behind him.“DOMINIC! SAY SOMETHING! ANSWER ME, DAMMIT!”
“Get this motherfucker off me,” I respond, pushing Montoya’s lifeless body off to the side. Dominic and Shadow lift me up off the floor and another FBI agent takes the gun from my hand to bag it for evidence.
“You scared the shit out of me, man,” Tucker says between heavy breaths.
“You and me both, brother,” I say as Tucker cups my shoulder with his hand. “Cortez was about to shoot me. I saw it in his eyes. When he realized this was a set up, I guess he figured he had nothing to lose. I bent his hand back away from me a split second before he squeezed the trigger. He ended up shooting himself, stupid son of a bitch.”
“Sophia is going to freak out when she sees you,” Shadow says as his eyes drop to my blood soaked shirt.
Jerking the shirt off me, the buttons fly across the room and I drop it in an evidence bag, too. “I’ll grab a spare shirt from the closet behind Dana’s desk.”
“Do you want me to go get Sophia?” Tucker asks.
“No, not until they get the body out of here. It’ll be bad enough when I tell her about it. I don’t want her to see it and have a visual to go with the story. I’ll text her from my phone and tell her I’m okay.”
After sending the text, I walk into the closet and grab a white button down shirt. Looking around, I’m glad to see that the top floor is vacated so only those of us who were involved in this sting operation are still here. Taking a seat in my chair, I drop my head into my hands and try to calm my heart that’s still beating out of control.
“I heard what he said about Harrison,” Tucker says quietly.
“All this time, Tucker, that bastard has blamed me for Carol Ann’s death. All this time, I thought she killed herself and I’ve lived with the guilt of asking what I could’ve done to prevent it. Only to find out from this bastard that Harrison killed her. I really can’t even process it all right now.”
“We’ll take Harrison down. Maybe it’s time for you and Sophia to take a vacation together. Get away for a while and just relax,” Tucker offers.
“Maybe you’re right.”
An hour later, Cortez’s body is gone but the bloodstains in the carpet serve as a reminder. I’ve been asked to leave my office while the FBI takes the cameras and all the over evidence they need for their case. Since the shooting and subsequent death happened during an official investigation, and in front of a handful of federal officers, I won’t be questioned further. I can’t help but think Shadow played some part in that.
As the agents leave, I thank them personally for their help today. One loose end to tie up and this is all over and done with. Shadow and Tucker walk out with them to help carry the equipment and boxes to the vans waiting in the parking garage. I’m mentally drained but physically I think I could raze a building on my own. The adrenaline from the day has built up so much in my body, that’s probably all that‘s running through my veins right now. Once that dissipates, I know I will crash.
Harry Dick-manhas his penance coming to him and he will pay dearly for what he’s done. With the flurry of activity after the agents crashed through my office door, I haven’t had much time to think everything through. My only rational thought about it is I need to know the whole story of what happened that day. My preference is to hear it from Harrison himself–to make him recount it, watch him squirm when he has to admit to his actions, and then punch him square in the mouth. For starters.
But that’s not my priority at the moment. I need to check on my love and get her out of here as soon as possible. I know she’s been worried about me for the last few hours and I don’t like the stress that puts on her. It’s been a long day and I can’t wait to get her into bed and just hold her close to me all night. The quiet hallway and deserted offices make my gloomy attitude worse as I walk toward her office.
An errant thought seizes my heart and constricts my breathing. The hall seems to be a thousand yards long. I’m only getting farther and farther away from her office door no matter how hard I try to reach it. My nightmares are becoming a reality and it’s one that I know I can’t handle. This can’t be happening.
Sophia never texted me back.
