Chapter 16

The day started out fairly normal for Juan Reyes and Carlo Rivera in the Greely suburb where they lived.

Since their graduation from high school a year and a half ago, the two good friends spent their evenings and most of their days together. Other than the occasional part-time job, they did nothing but hang out together, drink beer, and chase the ladies.

Carlo was a member of Los Halcónes, The Hawks. Last week, he and a few members of the gang took a trip to Mexico, and when they returned, they managed to make it across the border with two kilos of crack cocaine. At a street value of six hundred dollars an ounce, the two kilos were worth over twenty-six thousand dollars on the street. However, they had no distribution system, so they would have to sell the cocaine to a middleman and receive far less for their efforts. Yesterday had been payday for Carlo, and his share had come to seven hundred dollars.

At nineteen years of age, Juan and Carlo could not legally buy and drink alcoholic beverages, but since when has that stopped underage kids from getting drunk. Carlo had one of his fellow gang members, who was twenty-four, buy him three cases of Coors. The two friends sat on the porch at Carlo’s home in Greeley drinking beer and bragging about whose gang was the best. Juan’s cell phone rang and that was how they learned that the members of the Los Diablos gang were going to hold a ‘Breaking In’ party, and the Los Halcónes were invited. Carlo tossed the partial case of beer in the back of his car and the two friends headed to the party in their cars.

Los Diablos and Los Halcónes were rival gangs in the Greeley area, but it was more of a friendly rivalry than one of hatred. Los Diablos, The Devils, was into prostitution and Los Halcónes ran drugs across the border. When they got together for a party, it was usually sex, drugs, and beer with some wine and whiskey. However, this party was being held because one of the Los Diablos pimps had a new girl in his stable that needed to be broken in.

A ‘Breaking In’ usually took two or three days depending on the girl’s resistance. The pimp would select three or four of his friends and fellow pimps, and they would proceed to beat, abuse, and rape the girl into submission. When they finished, the girl knew her place in her pimp’s stable and the other girls in the stable were reminded of what would happen to them if they got out of line.

It was not uncommon for a pimp to break in a new girl, but the gang had unwritten rules. The main rules were don’t hurt the girl so bad she would be off work for more than a month and don’t permanently mark her up so bad that the customers would find her unattractive. Other than that, almost anything the men wanted to do to the girl was permitted.

For this party, the girl’s pimp had decided to have a contest and the prize was to assist him in breaking in the new girl. A number of the two gangs’ members were rather unstable and uncontrollable when they were under the influence and excited. The pimp decided to rig the contest in a way that would prevent any of the unstable people from winning the contest.

He consulted the two gangs’ leaders and explained what he wanted to do and why. They decided one member of each gang would compete in a car race. Since Juan and Carlo were reputed to have the fastest cars in their respective gang, they would be the ones to race.

The party was in full swing by two in the afternoon, and the pimp climbed onto a table and announced that the winner of a car race would get to help break in his new girl. The race was to start at the intersection of Hwy 85 and 37^th Street in Greeley. The racers would proceed north to the intersection of Hwy 85 and 23^rd Street, where Hwy 85 ends and becomes 8^th Avenue. The winner would be the first driver to fully exit the Hwy 85 and 23^rd Street intersection. The pimp then asked the gang leaders who they wanted to represent their respective gangs. The leaders chose Juan and Carlo, as planned.

Carlo and Juan were both eager to win the race. To the gang members, assisting in breaking in a girl was a special privilege, and normally, the lower-level gang members were never offered the chance to participate. Even though they were good friends, they both were motivated to outdo the other and win the race.

Two gangs converging at the starting line would attract attention and someone would undoubtedly call the cops. So, only the lieutenants of the two gangs’ leaders escorted Juan and Carlo to the starting line. The pimp and gang leaders headed for the Hwy 85 and 23^rd Street intersection. The rest of the two gangs spread out along Hwy 85 to watch the race. The favorite locations were the intersections controlled by traffic lights and stop signs. One aspect of the race was for the two drivers to demonstrate that they had big cohunes and deserved the privilege of being one of the men to break-in the new girl. After all, such a man would not stop for stop signs or a red light. The spectators were expecting someone to be entering one of the intersections as the racers approached, and if so, things could get interesting. They all knew this race would be talked about for a long time to come.

The pimp and gang leaders arrived at 23^rd Street and took up positions where they could observe its intersection with Hwy 85. The rest of the two gangs should be in position to watch the race, so the gang leaders called their lieutenants and let them know they could start the race. The two lieutenants motioned Carlo and Juan to move into position. Once they were at a stop with their rear bumpers side-by-side, one of the men gave a quick down count, and on GO, the cars roared away from the starting line. The two lieutenants called their leaders, and told them the drivers were on their way.

The two-lane road, light-to-moderate traffic, and intersections kept the two drivers’ speed down to an average of about fifty-five miles per hour. Straightaways with no cross traffic let them accelerate up to over ninety mph before a car or intersection forced them to slow down. Yes, they both wanted to win, but they weren’t suicidal.

As the two drivers crossed 31^st Street, they both pressed their gas pedals to the floorboards for there would be no intersections until 26^th Street. Approaching the Hwy 85 and east bound Hwy 34 interchange, Carlo was in the lead by almost a car length. The two drivers flashed toward the Hwy 34 overpass at what appeared to be over a hundred mph as fellow gang members, who were parked along Hwy 85’s off ramp on the eastbound side of Hwy 34, watched. As they cleared the overpass, Carlo spotted the tan-colored car in his lane less than three hundred feet ahead of him. He couldn’t cut left or he would hit Juan. He couldn’t slow or he would lose the race. With the west bound Hwy 34 overpass less than eight hundred feet ahead, he did the only thing he could do and still have a chance of winning the race.

Pulling to the right, he pressed the accelerator to the floorboard and drove onto the shoulder of the road. Straightening up as he drew even with the slower car caused the rear of his car to slide slightly to the right. As he was almost past the car, he saw the overpass’s support columns and realized he was running out of room. He had to get back onto the road or he would hit the support columns head-on at more than a hundred mph. His instinctual reaction was to cut to the left. As he cut to the left, Carlo realized three things. First, he would probably miss the support columns, second, he was going into a spin, and lastly, his left rear bumper was not clear of the tan car beside him.

The left rear end of Carlo’s car hit the slower moving car’s front right quarter panel and knocked the car toward the left lane. The left rear quarter panel of the tan car hit the right front of Juan’s oncoming car causing it to veer to the left. As the three cars collided and their drivers lost control of their vehicles, they slid through scaffolding that had been set up to work on the underside of the overpass and came to rest about thirty-five feet beyond the overpass. All three cars and portions of the scaffolding seemed to be fused together in a massive mound of crumpled metal and broken glass. Fortunately, there had been no workers on the scaffolding.

The drivers who Carlo and Juan had passed during their race stopped to render aid and they called 9-1-1 for help. The police, fire trucks, and paramedics descended on the scene. After cutting the two male drivers out of their cars, the paramedics transported them to the nearby hospital. The preliminary statements of the witnesses indicated that Carlo and Juan had been racing and they caused the accident, so they went to the hospital with two policemen and handcuffed to their gurneys. The third driver, a woman, was still pinned in her SUV unconscious and in critical condition. The firemen were having difficulty clearing the scaffolding from the wreckage so they could gain access to her vehicle. It took longer than they expected to extract the woman from the SUV. The first indication of their problem was a fireman trying to break the passenger window. His three attempts to break the glass resulted in his axe bouncing off of the passenger window; bulletproof glass is hard to break.

The police’s job of notifying the relatives began. The pimp’s ‘Breaking-In’ party went ahead on schedule with the two leaders assisting the pimp instead of the winner of the race, since there would be no winner.

It was late in the day and the Friday afternoon staff meeting was almost over when Doug’s secretary entered the room and let him know that a private and personal phone call needed his immediate attention. Leaving his staff members to wait for his return, a puzzled Doug took the call at his secretary’s desk.

“Ambassador Smith speaking; may I help you?”

“Yes, this is Sheriff’s Deputy Paul Everrit. One of your Embassy’s vehicles was being driven by a Missus Susan Hendricks this afternoon. Are you acquainted with Missus Hendricks?”

I had a bad feeling in my stomach that I was not going to like hearing what this officer was about to tell me. “Yes, Officer, Missus Hendricks is one of my senior staff members. What is this about specifically?”

“Well about two hours ago, the Embassy’s vehicle was involved in an accident here in Greeley with two cars on Hwy 85. Missus Hendricks and the other two drivers have been taken to the North Colorado Medical Center. The Center is about twelve blocks west of Hwy 85 on 16^th Street. I tried phoning her home, but got no answer. Are you acquainted with any of her family members?”

“Yes, her husband Bill is also one of my staff members. I will let him know what has happened. Do you know anything about Sue’s condition?”

“Sorry I can’t help you very much with that. One of the paramedics indicated all three of them were seriously injured and would probably require surgery.”

“Thank you, Deputy. I’ll let Bill know and we will get him to the Hospital as soon as we can.”

Hanging up the phone, I headed back to the conference room, and the unpleasant task of telling Bill that Sue had been hurt. Due to our links with Sto and Coral, I knew that Sereine already knew what had happened.

Walking back into the meeting, I said, “A matter has come up, so we will have to end this meeting. I would like Bill, Matt, Mary, Rita, Cindy, Sereine, and Abby to stay.”

As people started exiting the room, I could see Sereine pull Mary from her chair, whisper in her ear, and start toward Bill’s chair. Sto and Coral had passed word of Sue’s accident to Sereine. A moment later, I said, “Bill, I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but Sue has been seriously hurt in a car accident.”

Bill was shocked into immobility. Sereine and Mary moved to each side of him to provide emotional support. A moment later, Bill asked, “What happened and how badly is she hurt?”

“The only thing the Deputy could say was she had been in an accident with two other cars, was injured, and would probably need surgery.”

“Where did they take her?”

“She was taken to North Colorado Medical Center. Before you go jumping in your car and rushing to her side, the accident happened over two hours ago. She is probably in surgery, so one of us will drive you to the hospital. We don’t want you having an accident by trying to get there fast and ending up in the bed beside her. Okay?”

“Yeah, okay. I know you’re right, but I need to leave now to get there quickly.”

Matt said, “We know Bill. If it were Mary, I’d be the same way and it would be you telling me to take my time getting to the hospital.”

As Matt and Bill talked, I said, “As a minimum, Abby, Matt, and Mary should go with us to the hospital.

As Bill and Matt finished talking, I said, “If I knew the area better, I could just hop us there.”

Matt asked, “Doug, you’ve been to the Sheriff’s office haven’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Well, once we are in the bus, couldn’t you hop us to that parking lot? The hospital is only five or six miles south of the Sheriff’s office, so that will cut a lot of time off of our having to drive there from here.”

“You’re right, Matt. Are you ready to go, Bill?”

“Yes.”

Everyone wanted to go, so we all headed for the bus. Sereine and my bodyguards Mac and Tammy joined us as we left the conference room. Matt slipped into the driver’s seat and Mary sat right behind him with her laptop. As Mary called up MapQuest and located the Sheriff’s office, I heard her say to me, “Put us down in one of the parking lots on the south side of the buildings.”

I focused on a lateral hop that would place us on the south side of the Sheriff’s building. Hopefully there would be an area free of cars and people that would be large enough for our arrival. I sensed an open area with no one near it and released my hop energy.

Matt started the engine and steered us out of the Sheriff’s parking lot making a left turn onto what looked like a perimeter access road. As we left the parking lot, we got stares from the people who observed our arrival. After all, it isn’t every day that you see a bus appear out of nowhere and then just drive away.

Mary had brought her laptop with her, so as Matt pulled onto the road, Mary said, “We’re on North 16^th Avenue, so go straight ahead until we get to H Street. It’s a T-intersection and you will need to make a right. Stay on H Street until we get to North 8^th Avenue, and then make another right. Keep going for about two miles until we reach 16^th Street and then make a right. The hospital is about ten blocks west of the highway. Greely Central High School will be on our right and the hospital will be on our right just after the school.”

Bill said, “What about 11^th Avenue? It would be shorter.”

Mary said, “Yes it’s shorter, but we would have more stop signs and lights. Going south on 16^th is only a little longer, and we will make up the time what with its higher speed limit and fewer stop signs and lights.”

For once, I appreciated someone who drove faster than the posted speed limit. Matt didn’t seem to be going excessively fast, but by the time Mary finished telling him how to get to the hospital, he was approaching H Street. I was worried about Sue almost as much as Bill was. I found that I had set aside my often-stated concerns about excessive speed and was wishing that Matt would go faster.

When I looked back on it later, I found it very odd that I was internally urging Matt to go faster, when he was already going far faster than I was normally comfortable with going. Abby sat next to Bill letting him grip her hand and quietly talked with him; while Sereine helped her comfort him. Mary continued reminding Matt about where we were and how far it was to the next turn he would need to make.

It took Matt about fifteen minutes to get us to the hospital, but it seemed like an hour. Bill was still highly agitated, but in control of himself.

At the reception desk, Bill said, “I’m Bill Hendricks. My wife Susan Hendricks was brought in a couple of hours ago from a car accident. I’d like to see her if possible.”

“One moment, Mister Hendricks, I’ll try and find out where she is for you.”

A few moments later, “Mister Hendricks, your wife is in surgery right now. You and your party can wait for her surgeon in the Surgical Waiting Room.”

While we had been waiting to find out Sue’s whereabouts, one of the hospital’s Security Guards approached us.

In a polite tone, he said, “The hospital does not allow pets in the hospital. You need to remove your two pets or I will have to call the police.”

I realized that the guard had a job to do, but we weren’t going to lock Sto and Coral up in the bus. It was time for me to throw a little weight in his direction. “Sir, I am Ambassador Doug Smith. Sto and Coral are not pets. They are an intelligent, telepathic species from the Multiverse, and as such, your ‘No Pets Policy’ does not apply to them.”

From the look on his face, I don’t think he believed me. In his place, I don’t think I would believe me either. Abby stepped in, showed him her credentials as a Foreign Service Officer, and said, “Ambassador Smith is correct. You could cause a diplomatic incident if you insist on Sto and Coral’s removal. I doubt that the hospital and your supervisors would appreciate having to explain your actions to the State Department.”

I think what actually made up his mind was, as Abby was explaining things, Sto moved off to the side, pulled his lips back from his teeth, created a link with the guard’s mind, and while staring him in the eyes thought to him, “Listen Abby. Don’t do it. Sto Coral behave. You sorry not listen.”

Needless to say, Sto and Coral went with us to the Surgical Waiting Room. I’m not sure what changed the guards mind. I could have been experiencing a telepathic conversation, the promise of good behavior, Sto’s threat, or the threat of a diplomatic incident.

We checked in with the waiting room’s attendant and took a seat while she checked on Sue’s status. When she approached Bill, she said, “Mister Hendricks, your wife went into surgery about an hour ago and it looks like she will be in surgery for at least another thirty minutes. I sent word to the emergency room doctor, and he said he would come and talk with you when he got a few minutes.

“We have a coffee pot and a few cookies in the alcove. You and your party can help yourself if you would like. We also have a cafeteria on the lower level if you want something more substantial to eat; however, it closes the steam table at six-thirty. You can still get sandwiches and salads from the coolers until the cafeteria closes at nine tonight.”

Bill thanked her for all of us.

While we had been sitting in the waiting room, Abby had been looking around at the other people who were obviously waiting for news of their friends and loved ones. She caught my eye and quietly whispered to me, “Doug, let’s go talk with those two gentlemen.”

I wasn’t sure why Abby wanted to talk with the men, but then I noticed that one of them wore the uniform of a Sheriff’s Deputy. When we stopped in front of them, they looked up and Abby said, “We were wondering if you gentlemen might be able to help us.

As Abby handed her identification to the police officer, she said, “I am Miss Abby White with the State Department. This gentleman is Ambassador Doug Smith. The State Department has assigned me to be his liaison officer. Earlier today, one of his Embassy staff members, a Missus Susan Hendricks, was involved in a traffic accident. It occurred to me that your presence here might have something to do with her or the other drivers for if their injuries were as severe as Sue’s were, they might also be in surgery. If you are involved with the accident, you might be able to provide us with the details of how the accident happened. Missus Hendricks husband Bill is one of the men sitting across the room. I think he would like to know what happened.”

The two men looked at each other and the one in plain clothes said, “Have a seat. I’m Detective Tom Marsh and this is Deputy Harry Clark. We are investigating the accident, so we aren’t allowed to talk about everything, but we can give you the basics.”

Removing and opening a notebook from his coat pocket, Detective Marsh said, “At two fifty-two this afternoon the 9-1-1 operator received a call informing her that there had been a three-car accident in the north bound lanes of Hwy 85 at the West Hwy 34 interchange. Deputy Clark was the first officer on the scene and the paramedics were there when he arrived at three oh one. The fire trucks arrived a few minutes later and began cutting the drivers out of their vehicles. When the two male drivers were ready to be transported, Deputy Clark sent two deputies with them. The two men were placed under arrest at the scene, since the preliminary statements indicated that they were racing and caused the accident.

“It took the firemen a good bit longer to free Missus Hendricks from her car. They usually just break a window and go in that way. I understand the first fireman that tried to break the passenger window was very surprised when his axe just bounced off the glass. The firemen aren’t accustomed to opening up an armored vehicle. They said it wasn’t that difficult, they just had to approach it differently. Once she was freed, a second officer was sent to the hospital with her, but she is not under arrest. Deputy Clark secured the scene until I arrived. The crime scene unit took photos and measurements of the cars, skid marks, and tire tracks on the shoulder of the road.

“From the evidence gathered and witness statements, it seems that the two men were headed north on Hwy 85 at a very high speed; one in each of the two northbound lanes. The man in the right lane tried to pass Missus Hendricks’ car on the shoulder of the road. Based on the skid marks, it appears that he lost control and hit her car knocking it into the left lane where she collided with the second man’s car. The first drivers on the scene stated that the three drivers appeared to be unconscious or dead. That is about all that I can tell you at this time; everything else that we believe happened is conjecture at this time.”

Opening my mouth for the first time, I said, “Thank you, gentlemen. Bill will appreciate knowing what you told us. I assume that the two men will be charged with causing the accident. Do you know what charges will be filed against them?”

“I’m sorry sir; I can’t help you with that. We will gather the evidence and statements and once we have done that, we will present everything and our conclusions to the District Attorney’s office. They will be the ones to determine the appropriate charges, assuming of course that the evidence supports filing charges and that seems very likely to me.”

“There is one more thing I am curious about, Detective Marsh. You said it wasn’t difficult for the firemen to get into Sue’s SUV. I would have thought that breaking into an armored car would be very hard to do. Why didn’t they have trouble doing it?”

Detective Marsh smiled and said, “You need to remember what an armored car like Missus Hendricks’ SUV is designed to do. It is designed to stop a high velocity projectile from penetrating through the car’s glass or metal body and hitting a passenger. The car’s doors and other metal parts are vulnerable to a metal saw and to being pulled apart. The firemen used a saw to cut the door hinges and door’s metal frame. Once that was done, it was relatively easy to pull the door off the vehicle.

“In most cases, when the doors are jammed, it is far faster to just break in through a normal car’s window to get someone out. Of course, that assumes it’s safe to move the person without a backboard, and that it is possible to move them without having to cut the car apart and remove it in pieces to access and free the person.”

The officers gave us their cards. After thanking the two men again, Abby and I made our way back to our party and told Bill about what we learned. He was understandably angry with the men who caused the accident, but at the moment, he was mostly worried about Sue.

As we finished talking with Bill, a man in green scrubs went to the attendant, who pointed toward us. The man came over and said, “Mister Hendricks?”

Bill replied, “Yes, I’m Bill Hendricks.”

“Your wife is still in surgery, but I work in the emergency room and examined her when she arrived. Do you want to talk here or in private about your wife’s injuries, Mister Hendricks?”

“Here is fine. These are close friends and I would just have to repeat what you tell me.”

“All right, Sir. When your wife arrived at the emergency room, she was unconscious. We observed signs of trauma to her head, arms, and torso. We could see the beginnings of bruising on her chest and abdomen due to being thrown against her seatbelt. She had contusions on her face and a broken nose from her airbag deploying. There were no other indications of broken bones. She responded to the stimulation applied to her hands and feet, so we are hoping her spinal cord was not damaged, but her blood pressure was low. We took X-rays, and she appeared to have internal abdominal injuries. Since her injuries were life threatening, if not immediately repaired, we consulted with one of our senior surgeons and he decided she had to go into surgery immediately.

“Once that decision was made, she was brought up here and prepped for surgery. That is about all I know right now, and I need to get back to the emergency room before something happens and they page me. From what we could tell, her prognosis is good, and we think she will be fine once the damage is fixed.”

Bill said thank you and the doctor left. We were all feeling a bit of relief knowing that Sue’s prognosis for a full recovery was good. As we sat in the waiting room waiting for more news of Sue’s condition, a large group of people checked in with the attendant and then sat down. It was apparent that they comprised two Hispanic families, most likely the other drivers’ families, and they began speaking together in Spanish. None of my party spoke Spanish so we sat there talking softly and tried to ignore them.

One of the men in the group stood up when he noticed Deputy Clark. Crossing over to the Detective and Deputy, he said, “I am Herman Gomez. The Reyes and Rivera families have retained me to represent their sons Juan Reyes and Carlo Rivera. Are you here in regard to the accident they had on Hwy 85?”

Detective Marsh said, “Yes we are. At this time your clients are in the custody of the Sheriff’s Department.”

“Then, I want to notify the Sheriff’s office that my clients are not to be questioned unless I am present.”

“All right, Mister Gomez, we understand your instructions. Your clients will not be questioned, however if they say something while they are in custody, those comments may be admissible in court.”

As the lawyer turned to leave the Detective and Deputy, he saw our group and started toward us. As he approached, Mac and Tammy moved to intercept him. Stopping short of my bodyguards, he called out to us demanding to know why we were there.

I was thinking we should just ignore him, but Bill walked over to him and said, “We are here because your clients put my wife in the hospital.”

The lawyer looked at Bill for a moment and then said, “You are wrong, Senor. My clients have done nothing wrong. If your wife was in the accident then she was undoubtedly the one who caused it.”

Bill started for the lawyer, but before he could get to him, Mac turned and stopped Bill, while Tammy continued to face the lawyer. Mac manhandled Bill back to his seat and pressed him down into it. He then said, “Stay there, Bill. It doesn’t matter what this asshole says. I agree that he probably deserves to be decked for what he said, but you will only cause trouble for yourself. Sue will need you at her side, not in jail.”

Looking at the lawyer again and then up into Mac’s face, Bill said, “Thanks, Mac. You’re right. As satisfying as it might be ... punching him out isn’t worth it. He would probably try to use it to get his clients off the hook.”

Mac went back to help Tammy stare down the lawyer, who gave up and went back to his clients’ families. A couple of minutes later, the Detective came over and said to Mac and Tammy, “The two of you handled that in a very professional manner.”

Tammy replied, “Well the two of us were Multiverse Police Officers for quite a few years before we became sugar addicts. In fact, all of Ambassador Smith’s bodyguards and security personnel are former Police Officers.”

Mac and Tammy explained sugar addiction to Detective Marsh, and then the three of them got into a discussion on what it was like to be a Police Officer in the Multiverse. They finally broke off their discussion when the attendant called Bill’s name.

Abby and Bill went over to the attendant. She told Bill that Sue was out of surgery and in the recovery room. Her surgeon would be in to talk with him in about five minutes. A little over ten minutes later, the surgeon joined us. Why do they always tell you five minutes, when they know it will take at least ten minutes, and likely more?