Page 89 of Hunter's Hidden Camera
I don’t deserve to live.
Suddenly, Jo moans in pain. I lift my head up. She’s writhing in her seat. She needs my help.
I manage to get the door open and stumble onto the pavement. I open Jo’s door, and I see that the crotch area of her stretchy pants is covered in blood.
I throw my palm over my mouth, shocked and dismayed. Jo moans again, and I quickly unbuckle her seat belt.
A car approaches. It slows down. An old woman pokes her head out.
She says, “Oh, dear God.”
“Call an ambulance!” I scream at her.
Since we’re not even a block away from the hospital, I hope it won’t take long.
The woman starts dialing on her cell phone.
“Hang on, Jo,” I say. “An ambulance is coming.”
Patricia stirs. She also sounds like she’s in pain.
Watching Jo and Patricia like this, I start to wonder what’s happening to Oscar, what kind of pain he must be in right now. I need to focus.
I hear the cry of a siren.
“They’re coming,” I say. “Patricia, Jo, they’re coming.”
Time is of the essence right now. Every moment Oscar is out of my sight, the closer he is to an outcome that will be irreversible.
As the ambulance comes toward us, I run right past it, heading back to the hospital. When I cut across the lawn and reach the parking lot, I see Darin and Henry, leaning against a car, looking like they’re trying to catch their breaths, trying to orient themselves.
“You have a lot of explaining to do, Hunter,” Darin says, when he sees me.
“Where are the others?” asks Henry.
I yell, “Where did my brother go?!”
“Calm down,” says Darin. “What happened to Jo and Patricia? And your friend.”
“I need to find my brother!”
I then see a black SUV pull up to the emergency room entrance. Nash is driving it.
I run.
The front doors of the hospital slide open. A nurse is pushing a wheelchair out, and in the wheelchair is Nikolai. His clothes are bloody, and his neck is wrapped in bandages. He doesn’t look good. He looks like he could drop dead at any moment.
I hear the nurse say, “It’s not a good idea for you to leave, sir. But I guess I can’t keep you here if you don’t want to listen to me. I’m just telling you again. Insisting.”
Nash has hopped out of the vehicle.
“He’s fine!” Nash exclaims. “We’ll take care of it from here.”
“Nash!” I call out.
As Nash helps a silent Nikolai into the passenger seat, he says, “Get the fuck out of here, Hunter!”
“They took Oscar,” I say. “It was Nikolai’s men, right? They took Oscar. Where did they take him?”
