Bitter Root

by Laydin Michaels

  “Would you hold me tonight? I want to feel you around me until I wake tomorrow.”

  “I will, indeed. Nothing would make me happier.”

  They slipped out of their clothes and lay on the big comfy bed. Griffith turned into Adi’s back and held her, and Adi felt the strength of their connection as she drifted into sleep. The morning would be punctuated by fear and tension, but the night would be golden. She eased into the world of dreams.

  *

  The filtered light through the partially open curtains announced a morning come too soon. It would all be over by the day’s end. She would have to confront her past and overcome her fear. Today would mark the beginning of her forever. If all went as she hoped, she would walk away free and with Griffith still beside her.

  So much rode on the actions of others, though. If the DEA did as they said they would, she would be safe and free. If they failed her, she would be dead. But she wasn’t afraid of death anymore. Stopping J.B. was more important than worrying about her own life.

  Griffith stirred behind her, and the sounds she made while waking touched Adi like nothing she’d ever imagined. She rolled toward her and kissed her sleepy face.

  “Good morning,” she said.

  Griffith stretched like a cat, long, languid movements of her arms and legs followed by an amazingly drawn-out yawn. She opened one eye and regarded Adi.

  “Morning. How are you so awake?”

  “Just lucky, I guess. Well, that and I have a few things going on today.”

  Suddenly, Griffith was wide-awake. She sat up, dislodging the comforter.

  “That’s right. We have to be at the DEA by nine. We better get moving.”

  They showered and met T’Claude in the restaurant for breakfast. He was going to drive them to the office and stay as long as he could. They weren’t sure how Mike would feel about his being there, but Adi was glad to have him along. She felt anchored with T and Griffith beside her.

  Once at the office, the officers explained the body wire she would be wearing. It was concealed in the buckle of a belt. She just needed to flip a discreet switch in the buckle mechanism to turn the microphone on. The broadcast range was one hundred and fifty feet. She wouldn’t have to worry about him finding any wires or attachments where they shouldn’t be.

  The weight of the belt felt normal, and it was actually something she would wear, so that eased her nerves a bit. T would stay at the office, but Griffith would accompany her to the square. She would serve as the go-between with J.B. When Mike explained this, Adi protested, not wanting her in danger, but he overruled her, saying there was strength in numbers, and given the amount of years elapsed, he might not recognize her. Griffith was fine with the situation. He pulled out a schematic of the square and showed her where all his people would be.

  As they drove across town to the square, Adi felt like her insides were turning to water. This is too risky. Griffith could be hurt, or worse. What have I done? He’s going to kill us. We’re dead. Why did I think this was possible?

  Her heart raced and her palms started to sweat. “I’m going to throw up. Stop the car.”

  She jumped out of the car and ran to the bushes, and Griffith was right behind her, rubbing soothing circles on her back as she lost her morning coffee.

  “Stop thinking the worst, Adi,” she said, “You have to do this. You can’t let him control you anymore. Think of Bertie, what she wanted for you. You can do this. I know you can.”

  Adi collapsed against a wrought iron fence, her stomach heaving. Griffith continued to gently rub her back.

  “It’s going to be okay, I promise.”

  Swiping a hand across her mouth, Adi nodded. The driver was standing beside the car waiting for them. Get it together. You can do this. Adi pictured Bertie, her smile wide, sitting on the porch. Her words came back to her then. “You all have things to do in that world. That’s why you’re there. Be sure and do them. Don’t be stuck. Let life take a hold of you and fly free.”

  But this time there was more to her message, and she heard Bertie’s voice loud in her head. “This is your time, Dink. Don’t you let that man stop you. You’re meant to stop him. Get yourself moving, girl.”

  She stumbled forward and climbed back into the car.

  “Let’s go,” she said.

  The square had a smattering of early morning tourists admiring the cathedral. Griffith leaned casually against the iron rail surrounding Colonel Jackson, but Adi couldn’t be still. She walked back and forth, dreading the coming reunion. J.B. would have his people with him; she knew that. When she had last seen him, he was small potatoes, but now, he was huge. He wouldn’t come unprepared. She tried her best not to stare at the assorted agents around the square. She knew there were two agents on rooftops with sniper positions, in case things went really wrong.

  “What time is it?” she asked.

  “It’s five minutes past the last time you asked me. Try to calm down. Worrying won’t make this any easier. He should be here in the next ten minutes,” Griffith said.

  As she was about to respond, Griffith’s phone rang.

  “It’s him,” she said, “Hello?”

  “McNaulty. I decided it would be nice to have a coffee while we meet. Why don’t you and Merley walk on over here to Café du Monde?”

  “That’s not what we agreed to. Merley isn’t comfortable being in an enclosed space with you yet.”

  “Let me talk to her.”

  “Hold on,” she said. “He wants to talk to you. He wants us to walk over to the café.”

  “If he wants to see me, he can come to the statue as we agreed.”

  Griffith conveyed the message.

  “I’m afraid I can’t do that. Too exposed. I’m here, if she changes her mind.”

  She shook her head to let Adi know the situation and went back to the call. “I’ll talk to her. Give me ten minutes.”

  “Clock’s ticking.”

  Mike’s voice came through the earpiece Adi was wearing in her sunglasses.

  “Do not comply. We can abort the whole operation. Repeat, do not comply.”

  Adi took the shades off to halt the shouted commands.

  “We can’t go in there. You’d be unprotected,” Griffith said.

  “I want this over. He needs to pay for what he’s done. Isn’t that place full of tourists? Won’t we be okay?”

  “There’s no guarantee, and Mike can’t protect us in there. I say we wait him out. If he refuses to come to us, we call it off. It’s a game of chicken, and we don’t want to duck first.”

  “But I need this finished. I need to be free of him.” The microphone in her sunglasses started making noise again, and she put them back on so she could hear.

  “New parameters. Café street entrance covered. Agents in place inside. Suggest a meet at outer edge of patio. We lose snipers, but target covered.”

  “I don’t like this,” Griffith said.

  “Just call him.”

  Griffith called and they headed toward the café, on the corner of Decatur and St. Anne. Adi watched to see if she noticed the movement of the various agents, but found it hard to determine who was who. As they neared the corner, the brave front she’d put on began to slip and her nerves kicked in.

  Am I crazy? What am I doing? J.B. wants nothing more than to kill me. He has no intention of letting me walk away from here. Bertie? If you can hear me, watch out for me, huh?

  They crossed Decatur with a horde of tourists who pushed between them, forcing her to let go of Griff’s hand. Griffith walked slightly ahead and to the right of her, trying to move back but swept ahead by the crowd. Her steps slowed, and Griffith moved farther away, another woman keeping pace beside her.

  As they turned and approached the outside corner of the café, she heard the racing of a car engine. There was a flash and the booming sound of gunfire. Everything moved in slow motion as she watched the red mist that haunted her dreams erupt from Griffith’s chest. Her body crumpled to the
sidewalk like a rag doll. Two, three others, fell, then return fire came from the café and street as agents responded. The driver of the car appeared determined to get clear, but his luck had run out. The black Kia coasted toward the restaurant across the street, crashing into one of the supporting posts.

  And then time was moving again, people screaming, running. Hands held her down on the sidewalk. Sirens.

  Confusion and panic filled her. She fought against the weight on her back. “I need to get up. Let me up! Griff!”

  “Ms. Bergeron, stay down. We have to make sure the threat has passed.”

  “Griffith, she’s been shot.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Agents are with her. They’re doing all they can. Just please stay down.”

  “Did you get him? Is he here?”

  “I’m unclear on that, ma’am. We’ll sort it all out once the scene is secure and all casualties are dealt with. I’m not moving until I hear from AIC Hague. My job is to secure you.”

  The moaning and cries of pain entered her awareness, and she struggled to see Griffith.

  “Can you tell me how bad it is? Is she going to make it? Please, please let me go to her,” she cried.

  “I can’t tell. We should get an all clear soon. Just be patient.”

  Local police and emergency personal swarmed the area. Adi was finally allowed to sit up. An EMT assessed her and released her from care. She looked at the space where Griffith had fallen, but only a red stain remained on the pale sidewalk. She ran to one of the ambulances, but there was an injured man inside. She turned to race to the next ambulance when a firm hand on her wrist stopped her. It was Mike Hague.

  “Ms. Bergeron. Wait. It isn’t safe for you to be running around. Come over to the car.”

  She let him guide her to his sedan and help her sit in the back. He climbed in beside her and tapped the driver to get him moving. Adi panicked.

  “Where are we going? Where are you taking me?”

  “Calm down. It’s over now. We’re going back to headquarters. Your friend is there, Mr. Michaud?”

  “What about Griffith? What about J.B.?”

  “We believe this was an ambush. We don’t have reason to suspect that Nerbass was even present. We thought we had eyes on him, but he had a look-alike in place, and we didn’t know it until the man tried to run. You need to be extremely careful, Ms. Bergeron. Apparently, your concern that he means to kill you is valid, more so than we believed. The only positive thing from all of this is the recording we have of him and Griffith. We have something concrete to charge him with now. It’s only a matter of time until we catch him.”

  “What good is that to me? And you didn’t answer about Griffith. Where is she?”

  “She took a slug to the shoulder. They transported her to University Hospital. The trauma team is fantastic there.”

  “I want you to take me there.”

  “I don’t think that’s—”

  “Take me there now, or stop this car and let me out.” She fumbled with the door handle, panic surging through her.

  “Wait, wait. We can do that. Just hold on.” He directed the driver to change course and they soon arrived at the hospital.

  Adi tried to bolt out of the car to get to Griffith, but Hague stopped her.

  “Listen, it will be much easier for me to find her. Stay with me and we’ll get to her.”

  He led the way into the trauma center. After talking with the admitting nurse, he let her know that Griffith was in critical condition and was on her way to surgery. “There’s nothing we can do but wait. I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry is worth about as much as bayou mud. You said you had it covered. You said…” Adi hugged herself and turned away from him. Mike had the driver return to the office to inform T’Claude and transport him to the hospital. Adi paced until he arrived, and the moment he came in she felt she could breathe, at least a little bit, again. Being in a waiting room with T was something familiar. He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her.

  “She’s going to beat this, kiddo. No doubt about it.”

  “I hope you’re right. This is all my fault, T. I shouldn’t have done it. I should have kept running till he couldn’t find me.”

  “Now, don’t you go finding fault. This is all on that ass, Nerbass. You didn’t create this. Right now you need to focus on helping Griffith heal. Don’t you dare beat yourself up. She knew the risks, and she thought it was worth it to help you. Heck, I bet that woman has been in worse situations and pulled through fine.”

  Hague moved away to talk to other agents who began appearing in the waiting room. Something was happening, but Adi couldn’t make herself care. They’d let them know, eventually. Her only concern, the only thing she could think about, was Griffith. She watched the clock, wondering how long it would be before they had any news. She couldn’t imagine for a second what life would be like without her, even though they hadn’t been together all that long. It was amazing how the right person could feel like someone you’d known forever and wanted in your life for the rest of always.

  “Well, we have some news about the shooter,” Mike said. “It was Rafael Ortega, a thug known to have ties to the Sinaloa Cartel. He’s in surgery now and likely to survive. This could be a big break for us. If we can get him to talk, we can nail Nerbass to the wall.”

  “That’s good. What about the others who were shot?”

  “There was one fatality, the woman who was walking beside Griffith. The others should survive.”

  “That was meant to be me. He thought that was me,” Adi said.

  “Hush now, you don’t know that, and even if it’s true, it’s still not your fault,” T’Claude said.

  “McNaulty?” called a voice from the doorway.

  “Here,” Mike said.

  “The bleeding has been controlled. Luckily, no major vessels were hit. Looks like Ms. McNaulty will have a full recovery. She should be in a room in about two hours.”

  Relief washed through Adi as his words filtered in. She’s going to be okay. T hugged her hard and shook her shoulders a bit.

  “What did I tell you? It’s all going to be okay,” he said.

  It wouldn’t be okay until she could see Griffith and know in her heart that all was well. It wouldn’t be completely okay until J.B. was in a tiny concrete cell. It was all so overwhelming. She needed some space to breathe.

  “I need to get some air. Can I go?”

  “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

  “I have to get out of here, please,” she said.

  “I’ll go with you. We can go out to the courtyard,” T’Claude said.

  “Fine. Porter, go with them.”

  Adi paced across the open courtyard. She really needed a run more than anything, but neither T nor the agent would allow that. She did her best thinking when she ran, and she really needed to think.

  Griff is going to be okay. Thank God. What am I going to do now? Will she want to be with me after this? She couldn’t guess at the answer. One thing she knew was that she was done with being afraid. No more would she live in hiding. If Griffith wanted, they could stay here in New Orleans for a while. Or maybe they could go to LA. Either way, she knew she would be okay. J.B. was finished. Now he would be the one hiding, until they caught him. That couldn’t happen too soon, in her opinion.

  I can do anything I want. Maybe she’d open her own restaurant, a little café where she could get to know her patrons. Where Griffith could sit and write her articles and they could be together. She liked that idea.

  In fact, she liked thinking about the future. She’d never had options before, and now, suddenly, there was no end to them. She couldn’t wait to get back to Griff to start her life, for real.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Griffith woke, realizing after a second that she was wearing an oxygen mask. Her shoulder burned, but it was bearable. There was no one with her, but she could see people moving around just beyond the partition that marked her space. She closed her eye
s and must have drifted back to sleep, because the sound of Adi’s voice in her ear roused her.

  “I’m here. You’re going to be okay,” she said.

  “Hey,” she said and cleared her throat. She didn’t recognize her own voice, which was muffled by the oxygen mask.

  “It’s okay. You’ve been shot, but the doctor says you’ll heal just fine.”

  “What happened? I don’t remember anything.”

  “They ambushed us. They thought the woman beside you was me. She didn’t make it. Mike says they have enough to get J.B. now for sure,” she said.

  A nurse entered the room to record her vitals. She removed the mask and switched Griffith to a cannula. The thought that someone had died right next to her, someone that could have been Adi but for the crowd, brought tears to her eyes. She squeezed Adi’s hand tighter. “My shoulder?” she asked.

  “Let me get the doctor. She should be able to answer any questions.”

  “Thank you.”

  Griff closed her eyes. An ambush. It wasn’t surprising, but she was angry anyway. The DEA had nearly gotten them killed. That Adi was whole and Griffith was alive was a miracle. That Nerbass had taken the risk and attacked them on a public street spoke of his desperation. No wonder Adi ran. A few minutes later, Dr. Long arrived and introduced herself. Adi started to step out, but Griffith asked her to stay. Adi sat in the chair beside her bed and held her hand.

  “What’s my prognosis?”

  “Well, the bullet entered here.” She pointed to a spot high on her own shoulder, about an inch below her clavicle. “It tunneled pretty harmlessly around the bone and muscle to lodge in your third rib in the back upper left quadrant. We left it in place. Digging it out could have done more damage than leaving it, due to the nerves surrounding it. You were extremely lucky.”

  The bullet is still inside me? “So what should I expect?”

  “You’ll be moved to a regular room in the next few hours and probably stay for three days. We had to tie some blood vessels off that were damaged and we want to be certain there’s no more bleeding and no infection. Long-term, some possible residual pain and limited range of motion. You should definitely plan on some physical therapy.”