Lucky Like Us

chapter Three

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LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT investigated alongside the FBI, but nothing had been determined as of yet. Even Tyler was in the dark about what happened tonight, and he’d been with Sam.

The FBI had been investigating this criminal for quite some time. The only problem: no one had ever gotten an accurate description of the hired gun, known as the “Silver Fox”. Wanted for more than eight known hits involving insurance fraud, the deaths had all convincingly appeared natural, or staged to look accidental to collect the life insurance money. And now he’d gone after an FBI agent.

Deputy Director Davies cornered Tyler. “What happened? Why weren’t you with Agent Turner? You were supposed to back him up. How did he end up over here?”

Tyler had recently joined the San Francisco office after leaving Texas and knew Davies by reputation only. Extremely good at his job, he’d earned his subordinates’ utmost respect because he gave respect to everyone.

Davies liked things orderly and done by the book, so Tyler began his overview. “We don’t know, sir. I was holding my position outside the bar. I expected Agent Turner to come out through the front door, but he never showed. Several cars and motorcycles entered and left the alley to the back parking lot. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

“Agent Turner was scheduled to meet our contact from the insurance agency. I believe the Fox may have shown up for the meeting and made him for a cop. After thirty minutes, I went into the bar to check things out and discovered Agent Turner missing. The waitress remembered him, but didn’t see him with anyone else. I questioned the bartender, but he didn’t see anything.”

“Nothing new there. Too frightened to rat out their worst customer,” the Deputy Director said, frowning.

“Exactly. Agent Turner had a bad feeling about tonight, but he still wanted to go forward.” Tyler glanced at the ambulance holding his partner. “It was supposed to be a simple in and out. Follow our contact and see if he led us to the Silver Fox.”

Tyler ran a hand over his head and watched the controlled chaos of the scene. “Anyway, a woman named Kay called 911 stating her friend was in trouble and needed police assistance. When they arrived they found a woman severely injured in the middle of the street and Agent Turner passed out under the smashed Suburban. After I’d put out the call about our missing agent, the local PD put it together and notified the local office they’d found him.

“Skid marks down the street indicate another vehicle accelerated at high speed and rammed the Suburban. Probably more than once, considering the damage. My guess, the driver tried to kill Agent Turner.

“We believe the woman lives here, in this converted warehouse. We found the door open, cookies burning in the oven. The noise must have startled her and brought her outside. She was shot twice and stabbed in the thigh. We did find blood by the Suburban and splattered underneath. At this time, we can’t ascertain if it’s hers. It doesn’t appear to be Agent Turner’s.”

“Where’s Agent Turner now?” The Deputy Director took in the scene with a sweep of his eyes.

“In the ambulance, two gunshots to the back. He wore his vest. We haven’t spoken to him yet. Unconscious when we arrived, probably drugged, he hasn’t woken up. We found his gun by his side, one round missing from the clip. His knife is in the woman’s thigh. The paramedics are working on her, but they don’t think she’ll make it.”

“You better hope she makes it. Do you know who that is? That’s Elizabeth Hamilton.”

A woman approached, makeup-stained tears streaming black down her face, lips trembling. Disheveled blonde hair fell to her chin. Several strands stuck to her skin, turned dark by the wet tears. She practically mowed down three cops to make her way toward them. Shifting her focus back and forth between them and the woman lying in the middle of the street while paramedics worked on her, she seemed to have a hard time deciding which direction to go.

Deputy Director Davies took the lead. “You’re telling me that’s Judge John Hamilton’s daughter? Good God. What the hell is she doing here?”

“She lives here. I’m Kay, her best friend,” she said around a sob. “We were on the phone and the line went dead. I don’t even know what happened.” Crying uncontrollably now, apparently overwhelmed by all the police and seeing her best friend bleeding in the street. A female officer came over and put an arm around Kay and led her into the victim’s house. Distraught, all she could do was follow.

“I didn’t think this case could get any worse.” Davies surveyed the scene again. “Judge Hamilton’s about to come down on us like softball-size hail.”

Davies stared at Ms. Hamilton intensely. Tyler wondered if he tried to will her to get up and announce she was fine. It would certainly make things a lot less complicated.

“Tell the paramedics to do everything possible for Ms. Hamilton, keep her alive, and get her to the hospital ASAP. Whatever it takes. Contact the hospital and let them know who’s coming. I’ll contact Judge Hamilton and let him know his daughter’s been injured and to meet us at the hospital.”

Tyler winced. The situation was dire. “She’s critical. You may want to prepare him to see her.”

“Do you want to be the one to tell Judge Hamilton his daughter got in the way of an FBI investigation and will probably die because she tried to help one of our agents?”

“No thank you. His temper is legendary.”

Tyler hated to admit it, but Judge Hamilton was on his short list of people you didn’t mess with—ever.

“Christ. Heads will roll if anything happens to his only daughter. I don’t even know if she helped or harmed Agent Turner. Is it clear who shot her?” Davies asked, letting his frustration show.

“I can’t say. We’re still collecting evidence. We need to speak to Sam. I’ll light a fire under the paramedics and get them moving to the hospital. Looks like the ambulance carrying Sam is leaving now.”

The police measured skid marks, marked possible evidence, and took photographs of the entire scene. Officers interviewed people who had come to gawk, and several officers and firefighters stood near the paramedics working on Ms. Hamilton. Tyler took it all in and hoped they’d sort everything out soon.

The paramedics loaded Ms. Hamilton into the back of the ambulance. Tyler caught them before they left. “How’s she doing? Will she make it to the hospital?”

“If we can get her there, she might have a chance. She’s lost a lot of blood. Looks like she might have scratched someone. Several nails are broken, and we bagged her hands for evidence. She’s not conscious, but mumbles like she’s trying to get something important across to us.”

“This is Judge Hamilton’s daughter, Elizabeth.” Recognition dawned on the paramedic’s face. “Make sure she makes it to the hospital alive. Tell the attending doctor who she is and Judge Hamilton and his wife are on the way. Hospital administration will want to put measures in place for dealing with reporters.”

“No problem. We’ve got to go. Time is critical. She’s holding her own right now, but that could change in a second.”

Once the doors were closed, Tyler slapped the back of the ambulance, indicating they could go. He walked into Ms. Hamilton’s house and found Kay sitting with a cup of coffee in her hands, answering questions for an officer. As soon as he approached, she jumped up to confront him, spilling soiled tissues from her lap and coffee down her hand, the burn unnoticed.

“How is she? Is she okay? What happened? They keep telling me Liz is in good hands.” A new flood of tears cascaded down her cheeks. “If anything happens to Liz, I don’t know what I’ll do. We’ve been best friends since we were kids.”

“She’s on her way to the hospital,” Tyler said softly in hopes of soothing the poor woman. “She’ll need emergency surgery. She’s lost a lot of blood. They said she’s holding her own right now.”

“Surgery? Why does she need surgery?”

“She’s been shot and stabbed.” Tyler hated to be the bearer of such news.

“Oh, God. Oh my God. No. I have to call her parents and her brothers. I have to tell them what’s happened. Where are they taking her?”

“St. Mary’s, along with our man.”

“Was he shot too? Is that why he was in the street?”

“We aren’t sure of the extent of his injuries.”

Kay’s hands trembled. Hell, her whole body shook. She probably couldn’t put together two coherent thoughts to save her life.

“Can I get a ride to the hospital? I don’t think I can manage on my own and call Liz’s parents and brothers at the same time.”

“An officer will take you,” Tyler assured her.

“What about Liz’s home? I should lock up.” The place was crawling with police and smelled like a cookie factory. “If Liz were here, she’d serve everyone coffee and pie. She’d want you all to make yourself at home. You’re cops. It isn’t like you’ll steal anything,” Kay rambled.

Tyler put his hand on Kay’s shoulder to reassure her. “We’ll take care of everything and lock the place up tight when we’re ready to go. Don’t worry.”

Tyler had seen a lot of victims like this. He was used to them going from hysterics to wondering if they’d dropped off the dry cleaning. Kay needed to think of ordinary things. Her mind didn’t want to think about her friend, bloody and lying in the street, and how she’d ended up that way. It was too much to process.

He wished his own mind could switch to ordinary things. Instead, he worked over everything that had happened and wondered what they could have, should have, done differently.

Tyler shouldn’t have let Sam go in alone. Unless Sam provided a clear description, they might never find the man who did this. Attempted murder of an FBI agent and a federal judge’s daughter would send anyone into hiding for the rest of their lives. He didn’t even want to think about the danger Sam or Ms. Hamilton could be in if either of them could ID the Silver Fox.