Page 53 of Justice for Aleta

“How’s that look?”

“I’d say she grazed you with the bullet when she fired, but that’s all. They may have to stitch it, but you’re not injured beyond that.” The uniformed agent turned to Aleta. “Ma’am, I’m impressed. You held your own out there and you saved the lives of both yourself and TrooperFletcher.”

“Thank you, but I didn’t have a choice. It was us or him, and I was determined it was going to be him.” Aleta knelt in front of Jack, pressed her hands onto his knees, and looked up into his face. “I wasn’t going to let him take you from me. No way. I lost everything that day. He’d already taken everything from me that I’d allow. You’re mine, JackFletcher, and I protect what’s mine.”

Jack took her face in his hands and kissed her forehead softly. There were no words to tell her what she meant to him and how proud he was of her bravery and resolve. All he could do was press his forehead to hers and hope she could feel it all in his touch.

* * *

They’d spenttwo hours at the hospital, only to be told what they already knew?Jack was fine. While they sat there in the examining room waiting, Morgan showed up. “Trooper, you okay?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. Just want to leave here, that’s all.”

“Come straight to the post when you leave.”

“But Cappy?”

“Straight to the post, trooper. That’s an order.”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’m going down to the morgue. I want to know for sure that Moss is really, totally, and completely dead,” Cappy told him with a grin. “Good work, little lady.”

Aleta blushed. “Thanks, but I didn’t have a choice.”

“You could’ve let your fear completely disable you, but you didn’t. You channeled it and did what you had to do.” He patted Aleta on the shoulder, and Jack could see the pride she was feeling. She’d saved the day, and she’d never forget that. Neither would he.

“And about Ortiz?” he started, but his captain stopped him with an upheld hand.

“We’ll talk about that at the post. See you as soon as possible.” With that, Morgan strode out of the cubicle and left them there to wait.

Without a car, Jack hoped he’d find somebody to take them to the post. He needn’t have worried. “My god, I got here as soon as I heard.” Amos’s voice was broken as he panted, trying to catch his breath.

Jack smiled at his older brother. “We’re fine. But we need a ride to the post.”

“Then your ride awaits,” Amos announced and swept his hand toward the exit.

The conference room was full of people when Jack got there, and a few of them he didn’t know. Cappy motioned at two chairs for him, then turned a surprised face to Jack. “Where’s Mrs.Culp?”

“Down the hall, waiting for?”

Morgan shook his head. “Go get her. She deserves to be here.”

“Okay. Sure.” In seconds Jack was back in the room with Aleta right behind him, and they took the two seats next to his captain.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Morgan said, effectively calling the meeting to order. “I’m going to turn this over to someone most of you haven’t met. This is AgentCruz Livingston from the FBI’s SanAntonio office. AgentLivingston was crucial to this operation. I’ll let him tell all of you where everything stands right now.”

Cruz stood, and Jack smiled. He’d wanted to meet the man behind the voice, and there he was! He looked exactly as Jack had pictured him too, and he almost laughed at that. But when the tall man began to speak, his voice filled the room and no one could say he wasn’t commanding.

“As CaptainSeitzer has said, my name is AgentCruz Livingston. This gentleman,” he said, pointing to another man sitting beside him, “is TexasRanger DaxtonChambers. I invited him to come into our briefing because he was the first contact TrooperFletcher received from anybody in any of our organizations down south, and he deserves to be here.” Cruz picked up a legal pad and looked down at it. “At this time, we have five agents dead. Five are wounded, none mortally. Two unscathed, which were unit one. The subject, BlakeMoss, is also deceased. His boss, DiegoOrtiz, is in custody, as well as eight of his associates, all with no casualties. The juvenile, KennedieStone, is also in custody. She’s being treated at SantaClara Regional Hospital in Austin for several injuries, including injuries resulting from a sexual assault and one from a broken leg that went untreated from the original accident. No word on her condition as yet?she’s still in assessment. Charges against Ortiz are being filed as we speak, and they’re a wide-ranging assortment. BlakeMoss’s death leaves us with no one to charge with the deaths of Mrs.Culp’s husband and child, but we can charge Ortiz in connection to FrankieMcIntosh’s death, and we intend to do so. He’ll also be charged for the kidnapping of the minor. Since that was across state lines, we are filing the charges, but KDCI will also have a hand in that under their sex trafficking investigative team, since she was assaulted. Unfortunately, she will also receive drug charges, but under the circumstances, we expect that will be worked out with her attorneys.”

Cappy cleared his throat and asked, “What’s the status on Menendez?”

“One of his guys will be arrested for soliciting a minor to commit a felony. Of course, since she never arrived there, it probably won’t stick, and we’re not going to push it. Our UCs are working well within the cartel. It’s more important to keep undercovers there and hidden than to push our luck. We’ll bide our time and eventually we’ll nail the whole damn bunch.”

He stopped, then turned to Jack. “Kentucky, I had hoped we’d eventually meet under better circumstances. Here’s what we’ve pieced together. At two hundred hours, Moss entered the rock quarry area west of your home. There, he chose a position and marked it. After that, he went from post to post of our agents, dressed in duck hunting apparel to blend in with the surroundings, apparel found in his vehicle. He planted small explosive charges near each unit’s post. We are deeming them IEDs. The agents who died were killed by flying shrapnel placed in those charges. The only unit he didn’t target was unit one, probably because he knew if he did that, everyone would catch on quickly. He then went back to the position he’d chosen in the quarry and loaded a…” Cruz stopped and looked at his notes, shaking his head. “Our technicians have deemed it a ‘homemade rocket launcher, very similar to a potato cannon.’” Jack couldn’t believe what he’d just heard. “He shoved a bag full of gasoline into the barrel, backed it with a rubber barrier, then set off the firing mechanism. When it hit your roof, it burst.”

“That was thethudI heard,” Jack mumbled.

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