Las Vegas Savior

Emily and John were seated at a table almost in the center of the room. “They offer a Continental breakfast buffet that offers a good variety or we can order from the menu. Which would you prefer?”

“I don’t much care for food that’s been sitting. If you’ve ever had food poisoning, you know what I mean.” Emily said. “I think I’d prefer to order, if you don’t mind?”

“Fine by me. I’m not much for buffet food either. Too many people putting their hands in it.” John agreed.

They each ordered pancakes with fruit and eggs and bacon. The only difference in their orders was that Emily preferred peaches and John wanted blueberries. They took their time and enjoyed extra cups of coffee until it was just after 7:30. John told her to stay put and went to the front desk to arrange for his rental car to be picked up and got them checked out. He came back to the restaurant, left a tip of five dollars on the table and escorted her back to her car.

They followed Officer Williams back through town to the local FBI office. As they walked her up the sidewalk, suddenly the hairs on John’s neck stood up again. He looked around and spotted the SUV from last night passing on the street behind them. John grabbed her arm and tried to keep his body between her and the street as he watched the car pass. “There. That’s them.” He told Officer Williams who turned to look at the passing vehicle as the back window began to go down.

Just as the car came level with them, a shot rang out and just barely missed them. “Run! Get her inside.” Officer Williams shouted and pulled his gun. Another shot rang out and Officer Williams returned fire as Emily and John took off running up the sidewalk and into the building.

Officers from inside the building came outside, guns drawn to see what was going on. The SUV sped away with a squeal of its tires and Officer Williams called in on the radio on his shoulder as he ran for his car “Shot’s fired from the SUV on the wanted list. Headed East on Lake Mead Blvd.”

Officer Williams jumped in his patrol car and took off after the SUV but he was too far behind and they were soon lost in the traffic. He wasn’t certain which way it had gone so he made a wide circle of the FBI building. The whole Vegas police force was going to be looking for the vehicle but then lots of people here had dark tinted windows to protect their car interiors from the burning desert sun.

The only thing that might make that one stick out above others was the Washington State license plates. But with a population of over half a million residents and over a hundred and fifty thousand visitors, it was going to be like looking for a needle in a haystack, especially at this hour of the day.

People would be going to work and school buses would be running so traffic would be heavy for another half an hour or so. But the main thing was that they had gotten Emily to the FBI office, unharmed.

Inside the FBI office, Emily was sitting in the inner hallway with her head between her knees trying not to pass out or lose the delicious breakfast that now felt like it was trying its best to come back up in her throat as she gasped for air. She was trembling from head to toe as John rubbed her back. If he was going to protect her from here on out, they were going to need bullet proof vests! She had been right about Derrick not being afraid to shoot her no matter where she was or who she was with.

John explained to the commander of the local office what was going on and asked to use a computer. “I need to get more info on this man and find out who his partner is.”

“Who’s the woman?” The commander, a man who had introduced himself as Commander Aaron Standish asked, after he had led John into a room where he could use a computer.

“She claims she saw the men who were just shooting at her kill a man in Seattle 3 years ago. She’s been on the run ever since.” John told him. “I just met her yesterday and this is the second time he’s almost gotten to her.”

“It’s the closest I’ve been to him catching me yet.” Emily said to no one in particular. “That’s the first time I’ve ever had anyone shoot at me since that night too. Where is the ladies room, please? I think I’m going to be sick.” She had followed them so that she wouldn’t be too far away from John but her breakfast was insisting on coming back up. There just wasn’t enough room for it and all of the large birds in her stomach right now.

Commander Standish pointed down the hall “Second door on the right.” He said as Emily took off like a shot, holding her hand over her mouth as she ran for the bathroom, where she proceeded to lose her breakfast.

Commander Standish granted John access to a computer and John put in the name Derrick Gibson and pulled up a rap sheet as long as his leg, just as Sergeant Randall had told him. Also his real name was Louie Grier but he had several aliases, Derrick Gibson was just one of them.

John also put in a description of the other man traveling with him and came up with 6 possible candidates, no one was better than any of the others but John recognized one from the previous night.

“His name was Ivan Petrov. He was in the Russian military, serving 3 years, dishonorable discharge after he killed a fellow soldier with a knife in a fight. He’s an expert marksman but prefers a knife and is wanted for questioning in several murders where the victim had been knifed to death. Seems like he left Russia under some questionable circumstances.

He also had several aliases, one of which was Ralph Brunson, a muscle for hire like Grier. Since he’s been in the US he’s been arrested several times for assault and battery, terroristic threatening, and suspicion of murder on 4 separate accounts. They were both wanted for questioning on the deaths of several people all over the US, from Chicago to LA.”

John printed off their information and asked the Commander for authorization to call his superior in Sacramento. “I knew I had seen that man somewhere before. He’s the suspect wanted in the death of a prominent man in Sacramento.”

John dialed the number for his Commander and waited to be put through. Commander Jim Foster picked up with “Foster.”

“Commander Foster, it’s John Travers.” He said, showing the proper respect for his commanding officer and longtime friend and then proceeded to explain what was going on with Emily.

“She’s refusing to go into protective custody. Feels like she’s safer if she’s on her own but they have been spotted here in Las Vegas, in fact they took a couple of shots at us as we were coming into the office here in Vegas. I want your permission to continue to guard her until they are caught.

She’s an eyewitness to a murder in Seattle and her testimony should be enough to put two very nasty men away for a long, long time. I’m going to try to convince her to stay in protective custody but if she refuses, I’m going to stay with her.” John said and then held his breath as he waited for the response. If they denied him, he was going to hand Commander Standish his badge. He was licensed to carry his weapons and he had paid for them himself.

“If I say no?” Commander Foster asked.

“Please don’t go there, Jim. I’m not going to throw her to the wolves. If she will not go into protective custody, then I’ll go with her. To let her go on her own now is signing her death certificate. They know for sure that she’s here now.” John answered.

“Is she pretty?” Commander Foster asked. Jim and John had been friends for a long time and had always known John to be very professional but he also remembered what it had been like for him when Sharon had broken his heart. So he wasn’t surprised when John answered. “She’s beautiful but my first concern is that she’s in danger. I won’t walk away from her now.”

“Who is the Commander there?” Jim Foster asked.

“Commander Aaron Standish.” John replied.

“Let me speak to him.” Jim replied.

John did as he requested and handed Commander Standish the phone. “Commander Jim Foster would like to speak to you, sir.” John said.

“Commander Aaron Standish, here.” Aaron answered the phone.

“Commander Standish, this is Commander Jim Foster. You’ve got one of my best agents in your office. Please see to it that he gets whatever he needs to keep this young mystery woman safe and to catch those guys.”

John wanted to read up on the incident that Emily had witnessed and punched in the date and location and came up with the information on the victim and the suspects. He read the names of Derrick Gibson as being a suspect from the information that Emily had given them. Her name was put in as the complainant but what surprised John was when he saw the name of the victim. Robert Brewer. He wondered if he had any relationship to Emily. He was certain that she would have mentioned it if it had been someone she knew.

Emily came back into the office, holding a paper towel to the side of her mouth. She still looked slightly pale but the shaking finally seemed to be under control. Her eyes and nose were red from crying but she walked with her head held high and a determined look on her face.

Commander Standish told her “Miss Brewer, I’ve just spoken to John’s supervisor who has given his permission for John to oversee keeping you safe but you have to realize that these men know where you are now and once you leave this building, no one can guarantee your safety until these guys are caught. Won’t you please consider letting us hide you until they are caught?”

“Commander Standish, I really do appreciate the offer but I agreed to protective custody right after this all started and I was basically held captive for a whole month while he ran free. Derrick still found me and killed the young officer that was guarding me. Other than that day and one time in Carson City, coming here to Vegas has been the closest I’ve been to Derrick and the other man since that day I saw them shoot that poor man in the alley 3 long years ago.

As I told John when I first met him, I won’t go back into protective custody and be caged like an animal while Derrick runs free. Hell, I led him right here and he still got away.” Emily said, with her head held high and that determined look firmly in place.

“I can’t say I blame you and we are doing everything we can to find him. Now we know he’s in Vegas and he won’t be able to get out of town now. We have checkpoints set up on every major highway leaving the city. He won’t be able to leave town so we’ve got him trapped.” Commander Standish told her.

“He’ll find a way. He’ll use back roads and residential streets to get to the open desert. The vehicle he is driving has four wheel drive and will be able to handle the sand without a problem. I know, I lived in a cave in Arizona for two months. I was high up enough that I saw them looking for me and was able to get away.

I’ve managed to stay ahead of them for 3 years now. So now they are in your city and I really do hope you can catch them but I’m not hanging around for them to find me. John, you are welcome to come, if you want, but I’m going to go on with my plans to head to Cali for the rest of the winter.”

“Emily, we can’t go in your car. It would be a dead giveaway. Commander, do you have a vehicle we can swap her car for until they are caught? Also, I need gear. Protective vests for both of us. A radio and some clothes. Is there a safe place we can stay for a night or two?” John asked.

He had to think of a way to ask her who Robert Brewer was but not here, not in front of everyone. He would not put her through that right now. He prayed that it was a coincidence and not someone she knew or worse, her family. He racked his brain trying to remember what she had said her brother’s name was but right now it was escaping him.

“Sure. I can arrange for that. Give your sizes to Agent Sanders. She’ll get you the vests and a voucher for whatever you need. I’ll need your keys to move your vehicle into the parking garage.”

Emily really didn’t care for them making decisions on her behalf but she couldn’t argue with what they were planning to do for her and right now she felt like she couldn’t think straight, so she handed over her keys. She wondered what had caused the look on John’s face when she had come out of the bathroom.

She watched out the window as an agent went outside and got into her car. He moved it under the cover of the multilevel parking garage. She wasn’t sure about giving up her car. She had bought it just before she had moved to Seattle and had finally paid it off a little over a year ago. The payments had been set up to come directly out of her bank account, as were a lot of her other bills, like the storage unit for the stuff from her apartment. The bills were the reason her savings account was now so low.

She sat and listened to John and the other agents talk about courses of action and had to shake her head. She wondered what John would be like if he had to spend time living in the wild like she had. Would he be able to pitch a tent? Make a fire without matches? Catch a fish or skin a rabbit? Would he be able to live off of the land, if he had too?

Emily somehow doubted it. He was used to high dollar hotel rooms and fancy expensive meals. She couldn’t say that she didn’t appreciate being able to get the great sleep she’d had last night or of how much safer she felt with him around but she also knew that he could get hurt because of her and that was not acceptable to her.

She looked around and tried to figure out a way to get out of the building without being seen. Where was she going to go if she did get out? Her pack and the very few possessions that she would need were still in her car. It would take a miracle for her to be able to get to it now.

“Yeah, right. Like you are going to be able to sneak away from a high security building with all these agents around.” Emily thought to herself. She didn’t realize that John was watching her until she glanced over at him. She tried to smile at him but it came out weak.