“Got it,” Lance said, heading toward Simons’ safe behind his desk. Lance was really within the circle of trust because he spun the combination dial efficiently.
“Need me to do anything else?” I asked as I grasped onto the fire exit door that led out of the back of the building from Simon’s office.
“No,” Simon growled, sparing me a brief glance. “Just keep your phone on and I’ll call soon.”
I didn’t respond just pushed my way out of the door and headed across the darkened parking lot toward my car. After unlocking the door and carefully laying Carla across the backseat, I pulled my phone out of my pocket and called my handler, Special Agent Mike Gomez.
He answered on the second ring with obvious worry in his voice because I wasn’t to call unless it was a dire emergency.
This constituted dire emergency.
“Raze?” he answered, careful to call me by my alias.
“I need you to meet me out on Six Forks Road, north of Durant… there’s a small country gas station about quarter of a mile down on the left.”
“I’m familiar with it,” he said.
“I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Have EMS there and tell them they’ll need Narcan,” I said quickly as I got in the driver’s seat and started the engine.
“What’s this about?” Mike asked quickly.
“I just walked into the middle of an abduction. Simon and Lance drugged the girl. I’ve got her in my backseat.”
“Fuck… are they on the run?”
“No. He asked me to get her out of there when ALE showed up. Wants me to bring her back when it’s clear.”
“Then that’s what the fuck you do,” Mike growled. “If you don’t return her, you blow this entire operation out of the water.”
“We are not turning her back over to them. I overhead Simon… he was taking her to a buyer tonight.”
“Wyatt… we have to let him take her to the buyer. We can follow and make the bust there.”
“No fucking way,” I snarled. “You’re not putting her at risk. You said we had an agent ready to come in on the inside. We need to go that route.”
“And just how do you think you’re going to explain this girl’s disappearance to Simon?” Mike asked skeptically.
I took a deep breath and blew it out. Putting the car in reverse, I started to back out. “I’m not sure yet, but I’ll have something figured out by the time I meet you. Just get there on time.”
Disconnecting the call before he could argue with me, I pulled my car slowly out of the parking lot of The Platinum Club onto Kramer Street, heading toward the outer beltline. My mind was racing but by the time I met Mike and several other agents at the gas station, I knew what I had to do.
Mike had made a judgment call and did not bring in an EMS unit. He felt it would call too much attention and didn’t want it out on the airwaves. Instead, he insisted they’d take the girl to a hospital for treatment.
We made the transfer quickly as I assured Mike I had a plan. He accepted me at my word although his face held worry, and as soon as they were out of sight, I pulled my phone out and called Simon.
“What?” he whispered harshly into the phone, so I knew ALE was still there.
Putting on my best frustratedly panicked voice, I said, “Fuck, Simon. We got a major problem.”
“I’m listening,” he said quietly.
“She started convulsing, man… vomit and foam coming out of her mouth… shaking and shit. I tried, man… I tried to save her. Fucking did CPR… got her fucking vomit in my mouth. SHIT,” I yelled for good measure and then groaned into the phone. “She’s fucking dead, Simon. What in the hell did you give her?”
I heard some shuffling noises, and knew Simon was moving somewhere for privacy. “You’re sure she’s dead?” he asked urgently.
“Yes,” I yelled into the phone. “Fuck, what in the hell do we do now?”
“Just ease the fuck up, Raze. Listen… you dispose of the problem, you hear me?”
I took a deep breath and let out a shaky breath, but I was smiling on the inside. Simon just bought my panicked lie hook, line, and sinker. “Yeah, man… I got it.”
“Don’t fuck this up,” he warned.
“I won’t,” I said with confidence. “I got this. Don’t worry.”
“Come straight back here when you’re done,” he said and then disconnected the call.
I leaned back against my car and looked up at the stars in the night sky, immensely relieved I just saved Carla’s life and kept the operation intact.