Salazar lay moaning on his back, blood covering his chest, his guitar in shards next to him on the ground, the strings loose and broken, the beautiful wood scattered like pieces of shrapnel.
Brannon shouted, “Dave, see to Salazar. Okay, guys, careful now. Disarm and cuff the wounded.”
There was no victory cheer, no high fives, only heavy breathing, relief on every face as the agents went from man to man to find any still alive.
Griffin examined each man’s face. The man he and Delsey had seen running down the alley the other night wasn’t among them.
DEA agent Dave Parmenter, also a paramedic, went to his knees beside Salazar. “It’s bad. We need an ambulance, Dix, right away.” As he spoke, Dave was already pressing his hands with all his strength against Salazar’s chest.
Griffin said, “We should call in a helicopter.” He started hobbling as fast as he could back toward the passage, but a DEA agent raced past him to the cave entrance and a cell connection.
Some of the agents got the two wounded gang members ready to walk or be carried to the front of the cave; another covered the dead with blankets.
Salazar still lay on his back, unconscious now, and next to him was a broken stalagmite streaked with blood.
It was Dix who carried Salazar out on his back. They were all standing outside the front cave entrance, Salazar still on Dix’s back, when the helicopter blades whumped in overhead and the pilot brought it down in a narrow clearing, with feet to spare between the blades and the pine tree branches. Two medics jumped out of the helicopter, eased Salazar onto a collapsible gurney, and slid him in. “We can fit the other two wounded,” the pilot called to them, and the men were loaded in. Dave climbed in with them, and the helicopter lifted off.
“Got to admire that pilot,” Mac Brannon said, watching the helicopter blades whip so close to the tree branches that snow went flying.
The snow had stopped falling for the moment, and the sun glistened off the white hills, making the world look perfect again.
Dix straightened and twisted his back around, trying to loosen up. “I’d rather not do that again,” he said. “I hope Salazar makes it. I’d hate for my back to have suffered for nothing.”
Henderson County Hospital
“I hate this place,” Griffin said, staring around the emergency room, the walls painted what was supposed to be psychologically soothing pale green but looked more like week-old artichokes to him. Only he and Anna had come to the hospital; all the other DEA agents had stayed at Winkel’s Cave, doing an inventory of all the drugs and overseeing their removal. His last view of them was high fives and huge smiles. As for Anna, she couldn’t stop smiling, either, a huge blazing smile. “An op that went perfectly,” she said for the third time, rubbing her hands together. “Can you believe it, Griffin? It went perfectly!” She was manic, adrenaline still pumping a wild cocktail in her blood. “I’m guessing at least five hundred kilos of cocaine. It’s the biggest bust I’ve been in on. I wonder how long they’ve been delivering drugs at Winkel’s Cave?” On and on she went, questions pouring out of her mouth. She was right, it was an amazing operation. And all the agents had survived, plus they’d closed down a big distribution center and wiped out the MS-13 gang activity in the area. At least for a while.
Anna pulled off her black wool cap and grinned up at him. “Did I tell you you’re amazing, Griffin? You made it through the cave, even that one gnarly section. Let’s find Dr. Chesney so she can look at your leg. You’ve got to get it strong again; otherwise, you’ll never be able to hold my weight.” Whatever that meant.
He lightly laid his fingers over her mouth to shut her up. He could feel her manic smile beneath his fingers. She said through his fingers, “I’m going to check on the status of the wounded gang members.”
She was back in two minutes. “One gang member is on his way to surgery, two gunshot wounds, leg and belly. Will he tell us anything? Doubtful, since gang honor demands they keep quiet. We’ll see.”
“What about the other one?”
She shook her head.
Griffin watched her pace back and forth in front of him, unable to keep still. Griffin sat there smiling up at her while he rubbed his throbbing leg. She leaned down and kissed him, then she was off when she saw Mac Brannon walk into the ER with Dix and Ruth. He watched her talk, gesticulating with her hands. It had felt odd not to be in charge of an operation, but he couldn’t complain. Everything had gone according to plan. It was a miracle. He wondered what Anna would say when she came crashing down from the ceiling.