by Matt Lincoln
“What is this?” Jacinto yelled as he rushed toward the group to break it up. “Que les pasa?”
“Diego estaba hablando con Sandoval!” Ramos replied angrily. “Intenaba avisarle!”
Captain Jacinto looked down at Diego in horror, and though I didn’t know exactly what had just been said, I knew from the expression on Jacinto’s face and the mention of Sandoval exactly what was happening.
Diego was the leak.
33
Ethan
“I can’t believe I didn’t realize it before,” Jacinto muttered as we made our way down to the airport, the car we were in practically flying down the road as we raced through the streets, desperate to make it before Sandoval could escape. “I always knew that Diego was a bit of a bully, but I never thought…” He trailed off, letting the car fall into silence.
There were only four of us going. Me, Holm, Captain Jacinto, and Ramos, the only local I really trusted at this point. He’d earned his place on the team by being the one to catch Diego in the act of tipping off Sandoval just moments after Jacinto had caught us fighting and sent him away.
“No point beating yourself up about it now,” I replied as Ramos pulled into the airport, driving straight up to the drop-off zone and pulling the car into a no-parking area right in front of the entrance. “Right now, all that matters is that we catch him.”
A parking attendant stomped up to us the moment the four of us got out of the car. He began to say something, probably about how we couldn’t park the car there, but I ignored him and stepped quickly toward the entrance while Jacinto hung back to explain the situation.
“Where do we go?” I wondered out loud as I marched through the unfamiliar airport, flanked by Holm and Ramos. All we knew was that he was here somewhere, but he had no idea which part of the airport he was in.
“Sorry,” Jacinto grumbled as he caught up a moment later. “Stupid worker kept trying to hassle me. I don’t have time to deal with that right now! Come on, this way.” He walked toward one of the security checkpoints. “It’s been hours since Sandoval left. If he’s still here, I’m sure he’s gone through security by now.”
“If he hasn’t gotten onto a plane by now,” I muttered bitterly as I watched a large jet take off through the large glass windows that lined the side of the building.
“I called and told them to delay any passengers named Sandoval from boarding any flights,” Jacinto explained as he fished his phone out of his pocket. “And I asked one of my officers to look through police records for anyone named Moises Sandoval, which was the name given to us by that helpful suspect who informed us he was here. I should be getting those files now.”
He handed me the phone as he pulled the mug shots up. There were five in total, and I tried to commit each man’s face to memory as I looked through them. Of course, that was assuming that Moises Sandoval was his real name. Otherwise, I might have just memorized the faces of a bunch of random, unrelated men.
“Let me see,” Holm muttered as he took the phone to look through the images, just as we made it up to security. The man standing there took one look at the guns we were all carrying and shook his head.
“Somos policias!” Jacinto attempted to explain. The security officer just shook his head and argued back. I grew restless as the two of them continued to bicker for several seconds. We did not have time for this. Every second that we wasted, Sandoval was getting further and further from our reach.
“Marston, look!” Holm suddenly grabbed my arm and pointed to something past the security gate.
It only took me a second to spot him. An unassuming man, medium height and build. Really, nothing was all that remarkable about him. He was standing slightly off to the side, staring straight down at his phone. His hand never moved across the screen, and every few seconds, he’d look up toward the security gate for just a brief moment. Holm shoved the phone with the mugshots in my face, and there he was. The fourth picture was of the exact same man who stood just a few scant feet away from us. There was no chance this was a coincidence.
Jacinto and the security guard were still arguing, so I made a split-second decision and yanked my holster off of my belt.
“Sandoval’s right there!” I hissed at Captain Jacinto as I shoved my holstered weapon into his hands and leapt over the rope barrier that divided the security lines. I didn’t like being without my gun, but if that’s what it took to go after Sandoval, then it was a sacrifice I needed to make. We needed to act before he realized we were here and made a break for it.
I sprinted straight toward him. He was only a few feet away, and if I was fast, I’d be able to grab him in a matter of seconds. When I was almost within reach, Sandoval looked up, surprise and fear igniting on his face as he saw me coming toward him. I reached a hand out toward him, but a moment later, something big and solid slammed into me from behind.
The impact knocked me to the ground so suddenly that I barely had time to break my fall with my arms. Pain exploded up my left forearm as I hit the floor of the airport, and I could feel something wet and warm seeping into my sleeve. The man above me growled something as he attempted to pull my hands behind my back, and as I twisted around, I realized that it was another security officer.
“No!” I yelled as I turned back around to look for Sandoval. It took me a moment to finally spot him, already twenty yards or so from where he’d just been standing and rapidly walking further away. “Stop! He’s getting away! Let go!”
“Basta!” Captain Jacinto yelled as he ran up to us. “Tienes el equivocado!”
The security guard loosened his grip on me, and I twisted myself out of his grasp. Holm and Ramos were beside me a moment later, helping me back up to my feet while Jacinto explained things to the guard.
“You’re bleeding,” Holm noted as he looked down at my arm. The stitches must have come loose.
“Whatever,” I replied dismissively as I looked frantically around the airport. “That doesn’t matter now. We need to find--”
“Allá!” Ramos yelled as he pointed to the top of one of the escalators set against the far wall. “Up there!”
I could see Sandoval shoving people out of his way in his haste to make it up that much faster.
“Let’s go!” I yelled at Holm and Ramos as I took off again, determinedly ignoring the steadily increasing pain in my arm. It wasn’t bad enough that I couldn’t use it, and as long as my legs still worked, I wasn’t about to give up the chase.
I apologized mentally as I shoved people out of my way in much the same way that Sandoval had been doing. I tried to be as gentle as possible, but I didn’t have time to wait around and be polite. Our target was a dangerous man, and we were in a crowded place full of civilians.
“Stop!” I yelled as I reached the top of the escalator. I was quickly closing in on Sandoval, who flinched at my call and turned around to look at me before making a sharp turn and taking off again. I focused all of my energy on running and followed after him.
By that point, several people had noticed what was going on and had stopped to watch. To my dismay, none of them seemed to make any effort to flee or get to safety, which would have made my job a lot easier. At least they weren’t trying to interfere, either.
Sandoval was fast, and he very obviously had a lot of stamina because no matter how long he ran, he didn’t show any signs of slowing. He tossed me a glance over his shoulder and glared at me before suddenly reaching out and yanking the handle of a suitcase out of someone’s hand as he passed, throwing it directly in my path.
I leapt over it at the last moment, almost losing my balance but managing to stay on my feet. The momentary distraction had caused me to lose ground, though, and Sandoval was now a little further away.
“This airport is… connected,” Ramos gasped as he ran up beside me. “I’m going to go around.” That was all he said before he suddenly veered off in a different direction.
Connected? I thought to myself as I watched him sprint down a long hallw
ay to the left. Did he mean that he was going to try to cut the suspect off somewhere? His message had been so short that I hadn’t really understood. Regardless, he would know this airport better than I would since he lived here, so I decided to trust him.
Sandoval looked back at Holm and me before knocking over another suitcase, but this time I was ready for his trick and easily danced around it. His little scheme backfired because he started to lag behind as a result of stopping to knock over the luggage.
Holm and I were only a few feet away when Ramos came running out from around a corner just up ahead, causing Sandoval to skid to a halt. He spun around to look at Holm and me and then back at Ramos, his expression growing more and more furious as he realized he was trapped.
“Just stop,” I warned him. “It’s over, Sandoval.
“Go to hell,” he replied, surprising me by speaking in perfect English.
Just as I was about to move in, a woman suddenly stepped out of the bathroom that was situated exactly between where Ramos and I were standing, directly in front of Sandoval. She flinched as she looked up from her purse and noticed the four of us, but before she could react in any other way, Sandoval suddenly grabbed her, wrapping his arm around her neck and using her like a shield as he turned to look at us.
“Move, and I’ll kill her!” He growled as his gaze darted between the three of us.
The people sitting at the gate behind him stood up and backed away, some of them gasping or yelling as they watched the scene unfold. I gritted my teeth. I had no weapons on me because I’d left my gun back at security in order to make it through. However, even if I had it, I wouldn’t have been able to use it with so many civilians standing just behind him. That probably meant that he didn’t have a weapon either, which was good, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t hurt the hostage. She was about half his size, and Sandoval could probably snap her neck if he really tried.
“Take it easy,” I cautioned him calmly as I tried to work out what I should do.
“No one move!” he snapped in response, his head turning so sharply as he attempted to keep his eyes on all three of us that it looked painful. “I swear I’ll kill her!”
The woman screamed in his grasp or at least tried to. He was holding her so tightly that she could barely make a squeak, and she was turning blue.
“You’re suffocating her!” I noted as calmly as I could. “She’s going to die if you don’t ease up.”
“Back away, and I’ll let her breathe!” Sandoval retorted.
I clenched my jaw and did as he asked. As soon as we all taken a few steps back, he eased up his hold, and the woman coughed and gasped for breath. As she did, I noticed someone moving slowly among the crowd that had gathered behind Sandoval. It was Captain Jacinto, creeping slowly toward the suspect.
“Okay,” I said calmly, more to distract and stall Sandoval than anything now that I knew Jacinto was on the move behind him. The moment he grabbed the hostage, the rest of us would rush in. “We did what you wanted. Why don’t we talk?”
“Yeah,” Sandoval agreed, his breathing ragged as he continued to stare us down. “Let’s talk. Let’s talk about how you’re all going to get out of my way, and I’m going to get on that flight to Spain.”
“Spain?” I repeated as I tried not to look at Jacinto. If I did, I might tip off Sandoval that he was back there. “That was your plan? Just flee the country and pretend like nothing ever happened?”
“That’s right,” he sneered. Jacinto was only steps away now. “Not a bad plan, right? And I’m not going to let you stop--”
Captain Jacinto dove forward, but rather than grabbing the hostage like I’d expected him to, he locked his own arm around Sandoval’s neck before using his other arm to grab Sandoval’s wrist and yank it roughly away from the woman. Ramos rushed in next, and between him and Jacinto, they were able to get Sandova’s arm off of the woman so that Ramos could pull her to safety.
“No!” Sandoval roared as he struggled against Jacinto’s hold. Holm and I jumped into action then, helping Jacinto to drag him down to the ground.
“Screw you!” he roared as he twisted his arm out of Jacinto’s hold. In a flash, he reached into his pocket and grabbed something. I reached for it, but he swung it away from me before swiping it across my face.
I hissed as an intense, sharp sting bloomed across my cheek. I could feel blood too, and I knew whatever he had in his hand had cut me. I punched him in the face, his nose crunching beneath my wrist. Blood began to trickle from it as I punched him even harder in the stomach.
He let out a pained “oof!” as he dropped what he was holding, and I quickly snatched it up. It looked like an ordinary set of keys, except two of them had very subtly been sharpened at certain points. Unless someone looked carefully, they would have just looked like keys, which was how he must have gotten them through security.
“Do I really have to get a tetanus shot because of this bastard?” I grumbled as I helped Jacinto and Holm turn him onto his stomach so we could cuff his hands behind his back.
“He got you good, huh?” Holm remarked as he looked at the cut on my face.
“Yeah, he did,” I sighed as I sneered down at Sandoval. “I hope you enjoyed doing that since it’s going to be the last time you ever get the chance to hurt anyone again.”
He was looking back up at me with unbridled rage in his eyes, but I felt nothing but satisfaction as I met his fierce gaze. He and I both knew that he had lost.
34
Ethan
I shifted uncomfortably as I sat in the viewing room, watching Sandoval through the two-way glass. My arm hurt, and so did my face, but I didn’t want to take any painkillers until after the interrogation. They made me feel warm and sleepy, which was great at night when I wanted to get some rest, but not so great when I needed to be awake and alert like I had to right then.
“He almost got you in the eye,” Holm noted as he looked at the injury on my face. “Just a few inches up, and you’d have ended up looking like a pirate.”
“Lucky me,” I deadpanned in response. “Now I just look like I got scratched by a very mean cat.
The modified keys had left three long, thin scratches across my cheek that almost looked like the claw marks of a cat. Of course, cat scratches didn’t typically result in heavily bleeding wounds or a round of stitches. Right after apprehending Sandoval in the airport, I’d almost been apprehended myself. Apparently, airport security hadn’t liked the fact that I’d disobeyed the guard and gone through, even though I’d left my gun behind. Even Jacinto’s interference hadn’t been enough to convince them, and it wasn’t until Holm made a stealthy call to Diane that they agreed to let me go with a warning.
I wasn’t sure what she had done or said to make that happen, only that the change in their attitudes had been swift, and we’d all been clear to go soon after. Honestly, that experience had been far scarier than anything else I’d dealt with during this case since being detained in a foreign country sounded far more daunting than a fistfight with some criminal.
I’d managed to bleed all over the place by the time I was actually allowed to leave and go to the hospital, so the doctor had insisted I stay and get some fluids as well before discharging me. Finally, several hours after we’d initially arrested Sandoval, we were finally back at the police station, ready to interrogate him. We just had to wait on Captain Jacinto to get here to oversee it, and we’d be good to go.
Speak of the devil, I thought as the door popped open just then, and Jacinto stepped through.
“Alright,” he declared as he stepped into the room. “I’ve got everything cleared up, and you’re all ready to go. Was there anything you needed before you start?”
“No,” I replied as I stood up eagerly before turning to look at Holm. “You?”
“No, I’m good,” I replied as he looked at Sandoval through the glass.
“Just wondering how we should do this. Good cop, bad cop? Sweet-talking? Intimidate him till he snaps?”
Holm asked. “We don’t really know all that much about him.”
“You’re right, we don’t,” I agreed. “Which is why I think that we should stay neutral. Polite, calm. We’ll wait and see what he tells us before we let him know what we know, which at this point is everything. Worst-case scenario, we don’t really need a confession from him, with all the other evidence we have.”
“That’s a good point,” Holm replied. “Alright, let’s go.”
The two of us walked through the door that led into the small interrogation room. Sandoval’s gaze flicked up toward us as we entered, but he stopped himself from looking up at us.
Interesting, I thought to myself. Suspects who put on a tough guy act were usually pretty easy to crack. They were rarely ever as brave as they pretended to be. I just had to find his Achilles’ heel and poke at it until his facade crumbled.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Sandoval,” I greeted him calmly, noting with a hint of satisfaction that his nose was bruised and broken where I’d punched him.
As I expected, he didn’t respond. Instead, he turned his nose up at us and continued to put on a tough and unyielding front.
“Do we really have to play this game?” I raised an eyebrow at him. “Come on. We’re way past the point of pretending you don’t know what we’re talking about or acting like you’re innocent. We all know what happened at the airport. We all know why we’re here. How about we just have a quick chat about it, and then we can all go on with our lives?”
I could see the veins in his neck throbbing as he clenched his jaw in response to my patronizing suggestion.
“You think you’re so smart,” he snorted as he slouched back in his seat. “Sitting there, acting like you’ve got everything figured out, and you’ve won already.”
