The Spirit Survives (44 page)

He screamed in pain and I felt the bone crack in his knee. I gave it one final jerk and rotated off his body. I rolled him over and picked him up by his collar and slammed him against the wall.
 

My anger was almost too much for me to control. I put my right hand on his neck, held him against the wall and shot two left uppercuts to his gut. Now he had cracked ribs to go with his fractured knee.
 

I continued to choke him with my right hand. His face was turning blue when I heard Macy’s yell, “Don’t kill him Ben, we need his information!”
 

I shook my head and let his unconscious body fall to the floor.

“Get me an ambulance.” Macy’s voice was a whisper.

I rushed to the phone and dialed 911, “Officer down, officer down,” I shouted into the phone. I gave the operator the address and rushed over to aid Macy. I ripped off my shirt and pushed it against her wound and applied pressure. There was a pool of blood on the floor beneath her. Her heart was still beating, but she passed out.

 
I heard the sirens in the distance as I held her in my arms, keeping pressure on the wound. Within minutes the paramedics were there. They took her from my arms, put her on the gurney and wheeled her away.
 

As they left, three policemen burst into the door, guns drawn. I was sitting on the floor bleeding from the fight, two dead bodies to my left and the dead body of Sergey in front of the aquarium. Rex Herns lay unconscious against the far wall.
 

Before I could say anything the policeman pushed my face down on the floor and cuffed me. Another policeman searched Rex’s body and found his badge. “This is Assistant Chief Herns,” he shouted to the cop cuffing me. “We need help here. Call another paramedic.”
 

I tried to explain, but the policeman told me to shut up. Within minutes another pair of paramedics had Rex on a gurney and out the door.
 

I couldn’t believe that he might get away with this. I managed to say, “Call the FBI. Call the FBI. He tried to kill me and Special Agent Singh. You’ve got to talk to her!”
 

The policeman just read me my rights and shoved me out the door to the parking area and then into the police car.
 

* * *

By the time we got to the police station the chief was waiting at the door. “Let him go,” he ordered. “Herns was dirty. The FBI agent was wearing a recording device. We know that Herns was a dirty cop.”

The policeman looked surprised but uncuffed me.

“Please, may I make an urgent phone call,” I asked the chief.

“Certainly,” he said and led me to his office. I punched in Gerry’s number in Houston and anxiously waited for him to answer. I hoped Leah wasn’t already dead. On the third ring he answered, “Special Agent Stewart.”

“Gerry this is Ben. Leah’s in danger! Ivanova put a hit on her.”

“Ben, I’ve been trying to call you for hours on your cell. Leah is fine, don’t worry. I know how the Russian Mafia works, so I had a female agent undercover in the rehab center. An attempt was made, but we stopped it. She’s fine. The doctor said she’s much better and is asking for you. She still needs treatment for a full recovery, but the doctor said she is making great improvement.”
 

I breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed in the chair. Maybe our ordeal was finally over.
 

I immediately booked a flight to Houston. Finally, we could together, and I planned to set a wedding date as soon as possible.

My last thought before leaving the Chicago police station was of the wolf.
 

Epilogue

Ben Harris and Leah Hamilton were married six months after their ordeal was over. Ben was approached by the Police Chief in Houston and offered his former position of Assistant Chief on the police force. He and Leah agreed that he should accept it.
 

Leah was later offered a position as a prosecutor for the City of Houston. Her performance was outstanding and she became well known in the circles of power in the city. She is rumored to be preparing a run for the elected position of district judge.

Right after Ben returned to Houston, he and Leah took a flight to Green Bay where they visited the vet’s office to pick up the wolf. The animal was submissive in Ben’s presence. They took the wolf back to Lookout Mountain and set him free. Just before he ran off, he looked at Ben with his soulful eyes, licked his outstretched hand and Ben knew that he had a friend for life. Ben and Leah have visited Lookout Mountain several times since then, but have never seen the wolf again.

Macy completely recovered and was credited with smashing the Russian mafia in Chicago. She was promoted and is presently second-in-command in the Phoenix FBI offices. She provided well for her family and brought them to the United States to live. She later became engaged to the junior senator from Arizona and a June wedding is planned.
 

The Benefactor cut a deal with the feds in Chicago in return for his testimony against the Russian mafia and the Mexican drug cartels. He only served four years in a minimum security prison. They never found his collection.
 

Upon his release from prison, his life was immediately threatened, and he is presently in the federal witness protection program.
 

There have been several reports in Montana that women have been found murdered with their eyes gouged out.
 

There are no suspects in custody.

– THE END –

Gary William Ramsey was born in Monroe, North Carolina. He graduated from Western Carolina University with degrees in business administration and social sciences. He had a highly successful career in retail, achieving the titles of president and CEO of two major corporations. He presently resided in Kemah, Texas with his wife, Susan.