Santo Diablo Pt. 07

I remembered turning my head to look down at a picture on one of living room tables when I was shot. A moment before, I was facing the General with my head straight. If I would have stayed in that position, the bullet probably would have hit me around my eye. I wouldn't be alive now if I didn't look at that picture. I tried to remember what it was, but it was all a blur.

Not long after I awoke, the other women were back in the room by my side. After answering everyone's questions about how I was feeling, I realized I hadn't seen Julie. I inquired about her when Beth answered, "Julie took off to find the person who paid for your assassination."

Beth continued the explanation. The night of my shooting, Julie took off toward the beach. Julie kept in contact by phone after the women left with me in the helicopter. She came back to the house to get her clothes and equipment, and hooked up with our headquarters in New York.

Julie realized immediately after they shot me where the sniper was located. The shot came through the open patio door facing the ocean. Before the guards were in the room, Julie was out the door, grabbing a pair of binoculars that were on the display on her way. She ran to the water and could make out a boat about 500 yards offshore. She noted the type of boat, silhouetted by the setting sun, and recognized it; she'd been out on a few of those.

We train all of our Black Widows in combat, but they're also experts in the specialty of death. Snipers are part of this deadly club. Everyone knows of everyone else, at least the elite ones do. This sniper shot from a boat and took the headshot instead of the preferred center mass. Everyone who's ever been on a boat knows it is never perfectly still. There were only about ten to fifteen people in the world that could have taken that shot.

After my surgery, Isabella, Penny, and Stephanie arrived. While all of my other women held vigil at the hospital, Julie was running down the man that put me there. Penny was busy with my medical care and ensuring I had everything I needed. Isabella tried to get Julie to stop, but she was determined.

After Susan helped her cross reference the snipers capable of making that shot, Julie centered on one: A sniper code named "Mist." He was rumored to be in the area, and he had the connections to make this happen. Julie finally caught up with him in a safe-house about two miles from my hospital bed. I would have thought he would immediately head out of the country, but he didn't seem worried about being caught. Julie found out they paid the local police to look the other way. General Santiago can do many things, but even he can't fix the corruption in his own backyard.

How did Julie find this out? With extreme prejudice. By the time Mist knew something wasn't right, he was only one alive. His four bodyguards lie dead in different parts of the house. Julie spent ten hours questioning Mist before ending his pain. His real name was Johnathan Riley. He was never in the military, and he learned what he knew hunting. He realized he had an unusually steady hand in aiming, and could consistently hit targets most snipers wouldn't dream of. They rumored his body count to be in the triple digits, but no one keeps records.

The information Julie gathered led her and Susan back to Estonia and the Koledus mafia. They must have figured out it was us behind the raid that night that sparked a war between them and many other criminal organizations. That answer satisfied everyone except Julie. There was something nagging at her she couldn't explain.

They eventually flew me from Mexico back to California. Penny blocked off a few diagnostic labs in the hospital and set them up to house me until they could get our house renovated. After the work was complete, they moved me to the house where I slept for the next 7+ months. About two months ago, Julie started pushing hard to go after the people responsible. Susan overruled Julie, telling her we needed a better plan and more intelligence. In the preceding months, Susan did everything she could to find out who ordered my assassination.

She sent operatives to Estonia. After the first disappeared, Susan sent a second, who also disappeared. Without more information, she refused to send anyone else. Susan told Julie she was investigating and would tell her if she found anything. That wasn't good enough for Julie. The next day, when the family awoke, Julie was no longer in the house. She left her phone behind with a note that explained everything.

She would not come back until the person responsible was dead. Julie took what happened to me harder than the others. It was Julie's job to keep me secure, and she felt she was the only person with me that could have kept me safe. It wasn't her fault. I couldn't see a way that Julie could have done anything to alter the events of that day. When you combine her love for me with the feeling she failed me, it's easy to see her motivation.

Beth explained they could roughly track Julie's movements. Periodically, a news story would hit in Estonia of gang or mafia members found dead. The police chalked it up to gangs killing each other, but Beth believed it was Julie. The police reported the only weapons fired belonged to the dead men, another sign that Julie was behind it.

Julie worried me. I knew she was impulsive and quick to jump, often without thinking. She was putting herself into dangerous situations, and that itself would worry me. What made it worse was her physical health. She couldn't sustain any vigorous activity without fear of it killing her. Her wounds from getting shot were patched and re-patched. If she tore anything again, it most likely meant her death.

I lay there thinking about everything when Beth added, "Rich, we have one more problem. Last week, Katia left unexpectedly. She didn't tell us anything before she took off. One of her friends delivered her phone and a letter like Julie's. Katia's letter told us she received word from Julie and was heading to her location. She gave a city in Estonia, but nothing else. That was four days ago."

That's not good. Now we have two family members in a foreign country, with no backup. I told Penny to have Susan try to pinpoint the two women and dispatch two of our teams. I didn't want to have Julie stuck there if something went wrong. Susan was also to work through the FBI and the State Department to smooth over any problems Estonia may have with our teams in their country.

I began my road to recovery. I was still sensitive to light and sound. Penny told me that would probably go away, but there was no telling how long. Another problem was I couldn't walk on my own. Part of the issue was my ten-month nap. The other problem was my legs didn't want to do what I told them to do. Part of the damage to my brain was motor control. I had almost all control of my arms and hands; it was just my legs that didn't want to work.

Penny explained it was hard to tell what problems a brain injury would cause. In my case, I had extensive bleeding and swelling in various parts. That didn't include the part that the bullet traveled through, which had extensive damage. Penny didn't know if I would ever wake up, and if I did, would I be anything more than in a vegetative state. It amazed her I kept my memory and I could talk. She said less than five percent of people survive gunshot wounds to the head, so the fact I was still alive was close to a miracle.

A week after I woke up, Beth came in and looked shaken. I was still lying in bed, only getting up long enough to work my legs. I asked her what was wrong.

"This morning Santana received encrypted communication from Julie." Beth answered. "She was with Katia, and they were tracking their target. The man that ordered your assassination goes by the name of Angel. And Rich, it's Ben."