Page 89 of Operation: Valiant Angel

“He was going to kill me,” she said after they’d pulled her to her feet and Mirandized her. “I didn’t know who you were running up on us.”

St. Vincent and a local LEO, Detective Arthur arrived. The Marshals also raided the condo the three of them had come out of. It was loaded with stolen credit cards, IDs, and cash. Floreshad assisted the Marshals taking Morales into custody in a bar up the boardwalk. They caught him with an envelope full of what later proved to be stolen credit cards.

It was after zero two hundred when the Shepherd Security Team got back to their hotel. Wilson knew Reina would be asleep, but he sent her a text that simply said, “It’s over. We got them. I’ll call in the morning.”

Zulu

Upon waking, Reina saw the text and tears filled her eyes. It was over. She breathed easier than she had since she’d seen Stella Adams and Blake Henning exit that bank. She glanced back into the bedroom where Lilly still slept, her angelic face on the pillow. One thing she knew was that this time, Stella Adams would not be getting a new identity. She would be going to prison. Both Lambchop and Madison had assured her of that.

She sent Jimmy a text telling him she was awake and to call whenever worked for him. The call came an hour later as the four of them were eating breakfast. She stepped into Madison’s front room to take the call. “Hello.”

“Hi, how are you doing?” Wilson asked.

“Anxious to hear how you got them.”

“I’ll tell you more in person, but we located them late last night. Henning was strangling Stella Adams. She shot and killed him.”

That hadn’t been what Reina expected to hear. “Oh my God,” she said. “He was going to kill her?”

“Yes.”

“So she killed him in self-defense?” she asked.

“That’ll be for a judge and jury to decide,” Wilson said. “And I guess an attorney general too, if they charge her. But we were there, she didn’t need to kill him to stop him.”

“Oh my God,” she said again. “She’s in custody?”

“Oh yeah, she’s in custody. She isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. St. Vincent is sure she’ll get at least twenty years for her multiple crimes.”

“Can I see her and talk to her?” Reina asked. “I want her to know I’ll take good care of Lilly. No matter what she’s done, she is her mother. And I want to be able to tell her how big of a piece of shit she is for putting her daughter in the situations she did.”

Wilson chuckled. “The Yin and the Yang all in one person. Yeah, I can put that request in with my boss.”

“When will you be home?” she asked.

“Our plane get’s here in a few hours. We’ll be back after lunch. It’ll be safe for us to go back to my place. I can borrow an agency vehicle and come pick you up. See if you can get back in touch with the woman selling that house next to Elizabeth and Doc’s house. Maybe we can stop by and see it after I pick you up.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.”

“I’m sorry, I have to go,” he said. Cooper had just poked his head into the room and pointed to his watch. “I’ll see you later.”

***

Madison stuck her head into the guest room Reina and Lilly were staying in. The girls were playing in Hahna’s room, so Reina took advantage of the time, per Madison’s prompting, to work on her assignments for class. “The team will be back in about an hour,” she said.

“Yes, Jimmy messaged me before they took off and gave me the approximate time he’d land. Madison, I truly appreciate you letting Lilly and me stay here.”

“I’m glad you could. The girls get along great. This has been good for them both,” Madison said. “Our boss, Shepherd, would like to meet with you and Wilson after the teams’ debrief. I’ve already talked to Elizabeth, and she can keep the girls. I can drive you in and we’ll drop the girls at Elizabeth’s on the way. I have a little bit of work I need to do at the office.”

“Should I be worried that your boss wants to meet with us?”

“Not at all,” Madison assured her.

Reina packed up her and Lilly’s few belongings and carried them out to Madison’s SUV in the garage when they left to go to the office. They walked the girls into Elizabeth’s house. Reina was again reminded how much she liked Elizabeth. The young woman’s welcoming hugs and attention to both of the girls as they entered instantly put both Lilly and her at ease.

That ease was replaced with mild anxiety as they drove to the ten-story office building along the ring road at Woodfield Mall. It was all familiar now, the parking garage, the gate, the double garage door entry to the private parking area, the elevator, floor five, all of it.

But when she and Madison stepped off the elevator, there stood Jimmy, waiting for her. He greeted her with an embrace.

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