Chapter 86—Jack gets to talk to Kate
2:21 a.m., Friday, December 30
“Captain Spencer,” Jack said, turning to face his daughter’s boss. “… Kate’s in her same room?”
“She is, and she will be very happy to see you.”
“No complications?” Jack asked, as the two men continued on into the hospital.
“She’s great,” Captain Spencer said. “I talked to the doc before he went home, and he was very optimistic that they got all of the round. Forensics took the bullet, and their preliminary findings were that the doctor gave them everything that had entered your daughter. So our hopes are high.”
“How about the bleeding?” Jack asked. “Did he have any further thoughts on that? Did he think they got that all squared away?”
“No further word on that. But they were confident about that from the beginning. The bullet did not penetrate deeply. It did some significant tearing, but once they made the repairs it cleaned up well. At least from what I gathered. Anyway, no one expressed any additional concern about that. I would say that her prognosis is excellent. Especially after she gets to see her old man. She has been asking about you.”
“All good news—I can use some of that,” Jack said. “I’m happy it all turned out so well.”
“Not for everyone, you know,” Captain Spencer said. “That big fellow we were talking to just outside of surgery, with the doctor. Well, he was consulting with the department. And it appears he came up missing. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”
“What do you mean by ‘consulting’? Was he actively involved in what Kate was working on?”
“You might say that,” Captain Spencer responded. “But they did not work directly together. In fact, I’m pretty sure that Kate never even met Smith. The chief sent him over to me when it became clear that we were in over our heads with that State Department fellow.”
“State Department fellow?” Jack asked, attempting to determine just how much Kate’s boss knew about his involvement.
“I know you were working with Kate on those puzzles,” the captain said. “She told me that you were pretty good at figuring that stuff out. It’s okay. She cleared that with me before she called you in. The big fellow, Smith, he was supposed to be some kind of an expert with that stuff, too. Anyway, he worked on it for a few days, and got no where.”
“What was he—this Smith?” Jack asked. “Some kind of computer nerd? He was pretty old for that.”
“No, not at all,” the captain said. “He had friends. I have no idea who they were. But he had people with some special expertise. Spooks, maybe. I don’t know. The chief said that I should give him everything he needed. But we did not have anything besides the puzzles, so we gave him copies of them. We did not have any additional info. Anyway, he took the puzzles, and had his guys work on them. But they did not have any success.”
“Kate never met the man?” Jack asked.
“Like I said,” the captain said, “not as far as I know. In fact, I’m damn near positive that I was the only one in the precinct that Smith ever talked to. That’s how he wanted it.”
“Do you have any video of Big Hands?” Jack asked. “I’d like for Kate to have a look.”
“No, not that we produced,” Captain Spencer said. “We’d hoped that his recent visit to the hospital would be on some of the hospital’s surveillance. That might have helped us figure out where he disappeared to. Except for some strange reason, it has all been deleted.”
“Deleted?” Jack asked. “That’s weird.”
“Right. When he came up missing, I tried to access what they had, and it had all been erased. Must have been a malfunction. At least that’s what hospital security said.”
“That’s too bad,” Jack replied. “I would like to get an image of the fellow in there for Kate to take a look at. When she’s feeling a little better.”
“You’re gonna be surprised, my friend. Your daughter is one tough woman. Wouldn’t surprise me to see her checking outta here in the morning, and on the job by noon.”
“Dad,” Kate said, as the two men walked into her room. “I heard you were coming up.”
“Kitty,” Jack said, tears filling his eyes. He was not one to get emotional about anything. But he and his daughter had been through so much over the past few days, that he could not control his feelings.
“Come here, and give your daughter a hug.”
“I’m sure you two will excuse me,” Captain Spencer said. “I think I’m done here for the night. I will keep an officer outside until she leaves the hospital. And then we will have an officer assigned to her until we get this all sorted out.”
“Thanks, Boss.” Kate said, flashing a big smile in Captain Spencer’s direction.
“Yeah,” Jack said, turning to shake hands with the captain. “I look forward to talking to you again, when all this shakes down a bit.”
“We are going to want to debrief you both, but that will wait for tomorrow.”
“See ya, Boss. Thanks for sticking in with me.”
With Kate’s last comment, Captain Spencer waved and winked at Kate, then nodded at Jack, and left the room.
“How are you, Babe?” Jack asked. “I mean, really, how are you holding up?”
“Dad, is this over?” Kate asked. “Am I safe now?”
“You are, Darling,” Jack said reassuringly. “We are convinced that all of your kidnappers are now dead. The last one, the ringleader we think, bought it right outside the hospital. We think he was on his way up to pay you a visit.”
“Oh my God!” Kate said. “Are you sure he was the last one?”
“Can’t be sure. But it has that feel,” Jack said. “At least, he is probably the last one you could pick out of a lineup. We’re pretty sure, hell, we’re positive, that there is a main man, or an agency of some sort, that financed this whole thing. But we strongly believe that all of the men who would be intent on killing you are now gone.”
“That sounds good to me,” Kate replied.
“Now, we’ve got to get our story straight,” Jack said. “There won’t be any time tomorrow. So let’s go over some things right now.”
Just then Captain Spencer re-appeared at the door. “One more thing I forgot to tell you.”
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