Blind Justice (21 page)

CHAPTER SIXTY

As Annabelle helped load their bags into the Yukon for the trip to Kansas, she wondered if she was going along with Deacon
’
s plans for the right reasons. She wished that Gerald was there. He would have known the right path. Any time Deacon had been tempted by his cavalier and reckless spirit, Gerald had countered with reason and accountability.

A dark-blue BMW Z4 Roadster pulled up beside the Yukon and broke her reflection. It was still the middle of the night, and the expensive convertible
’
s appearance couldn
’
t have been a coincidence. This had to be the friend that Munroe had contacted. A small man in jeans and a polo shirt stepped from the vehicle and approached her. “Where
’
s Munroe?”

“I
’
ll get him. Wait here.”

A moment later, she returned with Deacon in tow. Munroe greeted the man warmly, but the stranger did not reciprocate. “This makes us even, Munroe,” the small man said. Then he retrieved an aluminum briefcase from his trunk and handed it to Annabelle. The man
’
s eyes darted around the parking lot during the whole exchange. Sweat ran down his forehead, and his hands shook. To Munroe, he said in a trembling voice, “
You can
’
t get caught with this. I logged it into the system as being destroyed during a test and disposed of. If this unit turns up somewhere, they
’
ll track it back to our lab and to me. I
’
ll lose everything.”

With a smile, Munroe said, “If it wasn
’
t for me, you
’
d be in prison now anyway. Just remember that. You have to be tough if you
’
re going to be dumb. Well, you
’
ve been dumb, now man up and face the consequences.”

“This makes us even,” the man said again.

“We
’
ll see. Have a good night.”

The small man dropped back into his car and pulled from the lot. Katherine came down the concrete motel stairs and said, “Who was that?”

“Just an old friend who has a contract to develop less-than-lethal weaponry for the DOD.”

“What
’
s in the case?”

Munroe smiled. “Something that could prove very useful. I
’
ll fill you in on the details during the drive to Leavenworth.”

Munroe climbed into the back of the SUV, and Annabelle and Katherine finished packing up all the equipment and clothing. She was about to close down the back hatch when Jonas Black threw his duffle into the back atop the other bags.

“I
’
m driving,” was all he said as he climbed behind the wheel.

CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

During the sixteen hour drive to Leavenworth, Munroe explained his plans, and then they all tried to get some much needed rest. Jonas had driven for the first eight hours and then Annabelle had taken over so that he could sleep. He was keyed up, but it was an essential skill for a soldier to turn off the rest of the world and sleep when they had the chance. Along the way, they stopped at a specialty shop that sold costumes, stage makeup, and wigs.

With a yawn, Jonas leaned up from the back seat and said, “What are we doing here?”

Munroe seemed to brace himself before responding. “We need to get wigs and facial prosthetics for Katherine and Annabelle. That way any eyewitness reports or facial sketches will be wrong.”

“But why the hell would they need that? I
’
m the one going into that hospital to get Corrigan.”

Munroe took a deep breath. “No, Mr. Black, you
’
re going to drive the truck. Your size and tattoos make you too memorable.”

Black slammed his palm against the back of Munroe
’
s seat. “This just keeps getting better and better.”

Katherine said, “Mind yourself, Jonas. You know he
’
s right. You being protective and all is sweet, in an oafish sort of way, but we
’
re big girls. We can take of ourselves just fine.”

Black clenched his jaw and checked his watch. “You had better get what you need. We
’
re not going to have much daylight left to get the truck and scout the area.”

~~*~~

After finalizing the last elements of the plan, they spent the night in the vehicles. Munroe had suggested that they limit any interactions in the area—including gas stations, restaurants, and hotels. Those would be the first places that the police would canvas asking questions about a group of people in a dark Yukon. And, hotels often kept logs of the license plates of their visitors, which they couldn
’
t allow.

The next morning, Katherine and Annabelle took turns changing each other
’
s appearance using the items purchased at the costume shop. The disguises wouldn
’
t stand up to much scrutiny, but they didn
’
t plan to let anyone get a good look at them.

Then they said their goodbyes and split up. Katherine kissed Black on the cheek and enjoyed seeing the big man
’
s tanned face turn red. The two men stayed with the newly acquired rental truck, and Katherine and Annabelle drove off in the Yukon after removing the SUV
’
s license plates.

As the collection of red brick buildings surrounded by trees that comprised the Dwight D. Eisenhower VA Medical Center came into view ahead, a wave of doubt and fear overwhelmed Katherine and made her second-guess herself. Maybe Black was right? Maybe there was another way? If she moved forward with the plan, she would cross the line from law enforcement to fugitive. But despite her doubts, she still couldn
’
t think of a better solution given the extenuating circumstances.

Neither she nor Annabelle said a word as they parked the Yukon and retrieved the aluminum case that Munroe
’
s reluctant acquaintance had provided. Katherine popped the locks on the case and stuffed one of the tranquilizer guns into her coat. Munroe had said that the guns fired a 1.5 ml dart with a 72 gm CO
²
cartridge as propellant. The darts that the guns used as ammunition contained a sedative that was supposed to act within a two-thousandth of a second, faster than the nerve conduction velocity. Which meant that the guards would go down instantly without being able to pull a weapon or trigger an alarm. She handed the other tranq gun to Annabelle along with a pair of sophisticated-looking earplugs. As she closed the case, she prayed that the tranquilizers and the other strange device lived up to Munroe
’
s claims.

Joey had hacked the hospital
’
s computer network and found Corrigan
’
s exact location along with the codes to the facility
’
s security office. They passed through the lobby and followed Joey
’
s directions down the maze of hospital corridors. Calming pastels and soothing off-whites covered the walls, the colors at odds with the antiseptic smell. Katherine repeated the instructions in her head.
Elevator 4 to the lower level. Right out of the elevator. Take a left at Records and Billing. Security Office on the right.

Joey
’
s directions were spot on. A heavy dark-gray door marked
Security
sat in the spot he had said with a keypad on the wall beside it. Annabelle punched in the code, and the door opened with a buzz. Katherine had been with NCIS for seven years, and she had never shot anyone, although rigorous training had made her a proficient marksman. She told herself that she wasn
’
t actually going to shoot these men. The guards would just be tranquilized. They would wake up in a couple hours with a slight headache and a vague idea of what happened, other than that they would be no worse for wear. Somehow it still felt like the most criminal and underhanded part of Munroe
’s plan.

The door opened into a hallway with a bank of lockers straight ahead, the control room on the left, and a small break room equipped with a fridge, microwave, and two round laminate tables. The place smelled of sweat and burnt coffee. Katherine sat the aluminum case near the door and pulled the tranq gun from her jacket.

Having practiced the movements thoroughly in their heads, Katherine and Annabelle immediately swung to the left into the control room. Two men stared at a bank of monochrome monitors showing the various corridors of the hospital. One of the men turned and reached for a button on his panel, but the women dropped both of the guards with a shot to the side of the neck.

That wasn
’
t so bad
, Katherine thought.

Then she heard Annabelle say, “
Wait!
” before screaming in pain. She turned to see the barbs of a Taser embedded in Annabelle
’
s chest. The dark-skinned woman shook as electrical current pulsed through her body.

Katherine wheeled around as the guard that had attacked Annabelle dropped his X26C Taser to the floor and tackled her. The man must have been concealed from view down the hall by the lockers.

Momentum carried Katherine forward into the sleeping guard
’
s chair. Strong arms wrapped around her thin frame, pinning her arms to her sides. Lifting her completely off the floor, the guard spun her around and slammed her into the block wall, driving the air from her lungs. The tranq gun fell from her grasp.

But she wasn
’
t about to let some rent-a-cop get the best of her.

She slammed her heel down on the inside of the man
’
s right knee. He buckled to that side but kept hold with his arms. With her feet back on the floor, she dropped down, slipped from between his arms, and whirled around in a crouch.

Her palm thrusted out and into the man
’
s groin. The hard blow bent him forward, and she followed it with a chop to the side of his neck.

The man stumbled backward, dazed and hunched forward. Wasting no time, she retrieved the tranq gun and fired a dart into the chest of the overzealous security officer.

She then moved to Annabelle
’
s side, pulled the barbs from her chest, and helped her to her feet. “Are you okay?” Katherine said.

“Not really,” Annabelle whispered.

“Don
’
t worry. Nothing ever goes as planned, and so I actually feel better that we had this happen. Maybe it means that everything will go smooth from here on out.”

Annabelle gave her a doubtful look but didn
’
t comment. She just leaned against the wall, straightened her wig, and tried to compose herself. Katherine retrieved the aluminum case and removed the small circular device from its padded foam enclosure. The black machine had a diameter of nearly two feet and looked like a game piece from a giant checker board. Following the procedure that Joey had outlined, she hooked the device into the hospital
’
s intercom system and configured the proper output options.

CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO

After changing into a pair of nurse
’
s scrubs, Katherine commandeered a gurney and followed the corridors leading to John Corrigan
’
s room. When she saw the designation for the proper wing, she inserted the specially designed earplugs that Munroe had received with the circular device. She then pulled out her phone and pressed the button to send the text message that she had already typed out:
At the nest.
Munroe had suggested that all their communications remain innocuous in case of later inquiry. They had purchased burner phones for the same reason.

He had also given them a brief description of what the black disk, which was now hooked into the hospital intercom system, would accomplish. The device was a sonic weapon using a principal similar to the Long Range Acoustic Device used by the US military. LRAD systems had countered pirate attacks, controlled riots, and acted as communication devices, but they could also weigh over three hundred pounds. This device was tiny in comparison but still harnessed infrasonic sound waves, those below the frequencies audible to human beings, in order to destabilize the inner ear of anyone in range. The debilitating sound waves would cause those affected to lose focus and balance.

The hospital
’
s secure corridor that held prisoners in need of surgery rested just ahead, and Katherine had yet to notice a change in the behavior of the people around her. But then, as if struck down all at once by an act of God, everyone in the corridor, except for her, dropped to their knees with their hands over their ears.

She rushed forward and typed in the code Joey had supplied. The automatic double doors swung open, and she pushed her way past the writhing guards and hospital personnel. She followed the corridor to John Corrigan
’
s room and found the former soldier hooked to all manner of machinery. Munroe had called in earlier to get an update on Corrigan
’
s condition. He
’
d learned that the doctors had woken the prisoner with no complications, and Corrigan was nearly ready to be moved back to the USDB. Corrigan twisted against his restraints and rocked back and forth, unable to bring his hands up to block his ears.

Katherine wheeled the gurney into the room, moved to his bedside, and inserted a pair of the earplugs that canceled the sonic weapon
’
s effects. Then she pulled a folded piece of paper out of her pocket and held it up for him to see. It stated that she was there to get him out. He nodded, the surprise evident on his face.

After undoing his restraints, she helped him onto the gurney and quickly pushed it into the hall, clumsily banging the sides of the doorway as she went. With great effort, she forced herself to calm down. Everything was going according to plan. The guards were disabled, and they were almost in the clear.

She pushed the button to open the automatic doors and continued down the hall. She had just started repeating Joey
’
s directions for her escape in her head when the people in the corridor seemed to relax and many stood back up, shaking their heads and looking around at each other in shock and fear.

The sound of running feet echoed from down the hall, and she turned around to see the guards from the secure wing taking up pursuit.