They moved quickly across the wide grassy space toward the street. To their relief, as soon as the door closed behind them, the alarm stopped blasting.
They could see Sammy was out of the car, holding the doors open for them. They were almost free.
Then a huge spotlight caught them in blinding white light. A loud male voice shouted, “Alto. Stop.” It sounded like he was shouting through a megaphone.
They all skidded to a stop. Michelle felt like a deer in the headlights. She squinted, holding her hand up to shade her eyes so she could see beyond the glaring, dazzling light.
The man coming toward them had on a blue uniform, a billed cap, and wide belt with a gun holster prominently displayed. He lowered the flashlight so they weren’t blinded and came up to him.
“Hola,”
“Do you speak English?” Rod asked.
The policeman nodded. “Did you come from the hospital?”
Michelle shook her head; the guy was staring right at her. She thought fast and pulled Lucifer out of her purse. “I was just hunting for my kitty with my friends. He ran away when we took him out for a potty break.”
“You’re all wet,” the man said, looking them over with suspicion.
“Caught in the sprinklers,” Rod said, feigning a laugh, like it was a funny situation. “We saw police cars in the area. What’s going on?”
The policeman used his thumb to point back at the hospital “A nurse was burned at the Gynecological Clinic behind the main hospital. She almost died. No one knows how it happened. But a patient is missing, believed to be loco...crazy. We think a deranged patient hurt that nurse. I have a description of the missing woman. She’s tall with black hair, name of Michelle Satinov. We’ve been hunting all over the hospital and grounds for her.”
Oh shit. Michelle almost put her hand on the sheet covering her head to make sure her hair was completely covered, then stopped abruptly. It would be a tell. If the Mexican policeman couldn’t see her black hair, she might be safe. She reasoned Omar probably harmed the nurse if he got angry enough when she was missing during the time the lights were out in the hospital. He might have blamed the nurse for not doing her job.
“We’re just tourists visiting your beautiful city,” Rod said, trying to deflect the man’s attention away from Michelle. “I’m sorry. We didn’t see anyone like the woman you describe around here. See?” he pointed at the rental car where Sammy was standing, “Our driver is ready to take us back to our hotel.”
“Okay, sorry to bother you folks. My respects, sister,” he said with a head nod at Michelle.
“Bless you,” Michelle said, surprised, hoping that was the appropriate response.
“Gracias,” he said, and started walking away toward the hospital.
“Whew, that was close,” Michelle whispered as they hurried to the car. “Let’s get out of here.”
The mood in the car, driving away from the hospital, was jubilant and euphoric. Rod let out a loud bellow of happiness, ‘Yahoo,’ and hugged Michelle. Then everyone was laughing and talking, hugging. The men were slapping each other’s shoulders in triumph.
It was a great moment for Mike to take advantage of. He hugged Heather.
“Operation Rescue...completed in less than twenty-four hours,” Rod said happily. “Thanks to Heather’s quick response to the emergency.”
“I don’t know how you all did it,” Michelle said, shaking her head. “I’m just so grateful.”
Rod, Michelle, and Sammy were sitting in the front seats. Heather, Mike and Vincent in the back.
Rod said, “You haven’t met one of our team’s rescue members, Michelle. Sammy is our Heroshi Corporation jet pilot. He got us all safely to Mexico, with a stop-off in California to refuel and pick up the professor.”
“Thank you, Sammy,” Michelle said.
He nodded. “Now, where are we heading? To the hotel, or the airport?”
From the back seat, Mike said, “We have to go to the hotel. We need to pick up the eggs.”
Eggs? Michelle thought. What were they talking about?
“Not necessary,” Vincent said. “I’ve been to Mexico quite a few times, and things are kind of loose here. I slipped a little incentive to the concierge. They’re already on the way to San Francisco.”
“I wondered why you were talking to him for so long,” Rod said. “You bribed the concierge?”
Vincent nodded. “I’m not stupid. He got a little upfront, but he’ll get more when he provides proof that they’ve arrived safely.”
“Excellent,” Rod said. “I’ll pay you back.”
“No you won’t,” Vincent said. “I got a free trip in a Lear jet to Mexico. I got to be part of the rescue team to save my favorite witch.”
As he drove along the highway, Sammy leaned across Michelle and said to Rod, “You want to see if we can get a night flight out of Guadalajara?”
“I’d like to, but we’re all pretty tired. You and me, by our Japanese time clock, I’d say we’ve been up a couple of days.”
They all agreed they needed a good night’s rest. Rescue operations were strenuous and exhausting. Especially when trying to foil an evil warlock with supernatural powers.