Page 28 of Her Steadfast Hero

Chapter Seven

“There’s nine.”

“Are you positive Joaquin?” The man looked up from the computer screen he had been staring at for the last hour. They were set up in the post office two blocks from the hospital. When David had first arrived on the scene, they had been in an old annex building across the street from the hospital that was used to store old paper patient records. It was one story, and it was obvious the prisoners could pick off the inhabitants.

Now they had someone stationed in the church bell tower that was a story taller than the hospital. It was three hundred meters away, but with a high power scope, it was possible to see into most of the hospital windows. David had been up there an hour ago. The situation was not good at all.

They had released all of the patients and the Las Flores personnel, but it still left them with eight aid workers and nine escaped prisoners. One of the Las Flores orderlies had been assaulted before being released, so it was deteriorating fast inside the hospital. Dr. Adams was the one woman left. She was also the one American. David prayed they wouldn’t want to harm her because they would consider her their most essential hostage.

“Joaquin, show me all of the assholes’ records. I want to see if there are any weak links we can take advantage of.” He glanced at his watch. Three more hours before the SEAL team would arrive. He sat down at Joaquin’s desk and they went through the files together.

“It looks like these two hate one another.” David put the two photos up side by side. They ran two separate gangs. “It’s amazing they’re working together.” He got up slowly from the desk. Goddamn, his shoulder, and chest hurt, but if he took anything for the pain, he’d be unconscious, and they didn’t have time for that shit.

“You shouldn’t be up,” Carmen said as she tried to hand him a cup of coffee. He waved her off.

“Where’s Bernardo?”

“The governor’s in that office sleeping,” she said pointing to a closed door. “There’s another office with a couch. You should take a nap.”

David went over to the office that Bernardo was in. He opened the door and stepped in.

“Bernardo?” The man didn’t rouse.

“Bernardo?” David shook him.

“What? I’m awake. Are the SEALs here?”

“No, I need to ask you some questions. Come out to Joaquin’s desk.” David helped the man as he stumbled. He showed him the two pictures. “Which one are you talking to? Which man is making all of the demands?”

“They both are. It’s always a three-way conversation.”

Got it!

“Bernardo. Now I need you to go back to that annex building and talk to only Salazar through the bullhorn.”

“But Molina won’t like that. They are both in charge.”

“You’re going to ignore Molina. You’re only going to talk to Salazar. We’re going to start some infighting. I want you to say you can only talk to one leader, and you know that Salazar is the one with power.”

“Why did you choose Salazar?” Bernardo asked.

“Because it was Molina’s man who assaulted the woman. I’m hoping Salazar’s gang is better than Molina’s.”

“They’re both animals. It’s a bad bet,” Joaquin said.

David knew it was true. But it was the only thing he had to go on.

His phone rang. He didn’t recognize the number, he assumed it must be someone from one of the manhunts.

He listened.

No.

It wasn’t true.

It couldn’t be true. David sank against the desk.

“Calm down.” He needed the man, no, the boy, to calm down.