Page 50 of Deadly Target
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Neither Marquita Lomas or Marisol Riva could be found. Victor took the taped phone conversation of Frankie putting out the hit on Henry Valiant to a Federal judge and was waiting for the arrest warrant to come through. He didn’t want to move on any of the potential Suarez members until he had Frankie in his clutches.
While Olivia understood the strategy and knew it was solid, she itched to hunt down the shooters from the previous evening. That being said, Frankie was the ultimate goal, along with Gino, and taking them by surprise was the only way to make sure they put them out of business for good. If they got wind that the FBI or marshal service was onto them, either could be across the border in no time.
As night fell, Olivia paced the hospital waiting room. Danny was only allowed one visitor at a time, and his wife was keeping vigil. Part of Olivia felt guilty because she hadn’t answered Alfonso’s calls. She could have prevented the whole thing, but she’d been too wrapped up in her own issues.
Her boss, Navarro, was breathing down her neck, her father had indeed been paroled, and she still hadn’t talked to Victor about her JD investigation. She’d had plenty of excuses since things kept getting in the way, but she wasn’t letting herself off the hook. It was easy to fall back on those crutches to buy time and avoid the issue, but bottom line, she was just too damn scared to lose him.
Am I in love with him?Her mind kept raising the question, and her heart always sent back the same answer.Yes.
Listening to her heart was as scary as admitting the truth to Victor. She wished she could call her mother and get advice, but Mina Fiorelli would be the first person her father would go see. Olivia wasn’t taking the chance he’d answer the phone. The very idea made her palms sweat and her heart skip erratically.
“Olivia?” Danny’s wife, Carol, stood in the doorway. “He wants to talk to you.”
Carol headed for the vending machines as Liv entered Danny’s room.
He was hooked up to various monitors, his skin a dull ashen color. “Here I figured you’d have the guys who did this to me rounded up and in jail by now, Tinker Bell,” he said from the sterile, white bed.
She let the nickname slide. “Working on it. I have solid intel on where they’re hiding out. Just waiting on some red tape and an arrest warrant.”
He looked at her through half-lidded eyes. “You know who shot me and you haven’t arrested them yet?”
“They’re members of the Kings and tied into the Fifty-seven Gang. If we play our cards right, we can nail all of them, including Frankie Molina and Gino DeStefano.”
“Fuck that. You’re more worried about those gangsters than getting revenge for me? I knew you were a hardass, Tinker Bell, but I didn’t realize how bad of a team player you really are. No wonder no one wants to be your partner.”
Low blow.Don’t take it personally.“I know you’ve been through a lot, but you don’t mean that, do you? We’re law enforcement agents, we don’t take revenge. I promise, I will make sure they pay for what they did yesterday, but we have the opportunity to shut down the Fifty-seven Gang. Regardless of our personal feelings, we have to look at the big picture.”
He ran a freckled hand through his hair. “That’s all you think about, isn’t it? Paying back your old man? Proving how you’re so much better than those guys in the mob?” He made a disgusted noise in the back of his throat. “For all I know, they were sent to killyou, and I got in the line of fire.”
It was growing more challenging to chalk up his attitude to the painkillers. “I’m sorry about what happened, but I have proof they were after Henry Valiant, so you can stop with the victim mentality and quit blaming me for this. I’ll make sure you stay updated on the latest, and if you or Carol need anything, you have my number.”
Out in the hallway, she stopped for a moment to draw a deep breath. She checked her phone, but there were no messages from Victor about the search warrant. She waited until she was in her car to call him.
“No luck?” she asked when he answered.
“I normally deal with Judge Hardwick, but she’s off sick, so I ended up with Ortiz. He thinks there’s some legal issues with the recording and now has the district attorney involved. It may be a while.”
Damn. The longer they waited, the more likely things were to go south. “Can you put pressure on him from higher up? Maybe ask Director Allen to get involved?”
“Already did. He’s working on it.”
The tone in Victor’s voice suggested that wasn’t going to accomplish much. She knew the feeling, having Navarro for a boss.
“What’s next? Is there anything we can do?”
“Not tonight. Everything is hinging on this, but we’re all on standby to help when the warrant comes through.”
And if it didn’t? They would lose Homeland’s help, and maybe their best opportunity to wrap up this case. She sighed, feeling more than tired and extremely frustrated. “Okay, my place or yours?”
He chuckled, but there was a strain to his voice. “Mine is closer. Meet you there, in say, two hours? I have a couple things to look into, some paperwork to handle.”
He had other issues to deal with, being head of the West Coast FBI. Plenty of other cases that needed attention.
So why did it feel like he was blowing her off?
“Um, sure. Do you need me to watch the dog? I am packing it in for the day, so I’m happy to pick him up and head to your house.”
