Page 80 of Night Hawk
Clay’s hope evaporated. “Only room left is the kitchen.”
Erik took Pong into the dingy space. The dog lunged toward a twelve-pack of water bottles sitting in the plastic wrap on the floor. Sharkey had ripped open the plastic, and several bottles were missing. Pong sat by the water and looked up at Erik.
“Show me,” Erik said.
Pong pointed his snout at the bottles. Erik squatted and started pulling out the bottles and looking at them. When he got to the fourth one, Pong jabbed his nose at it.
Eyes narrowed, Erik looked at the bottle. “It’s just water, boy.”
Pong shoved his nose hard at it.
“Let me take a look.” Clay grabbed the bottle and tipped it over, studying it. “Ah-ha. Sharkey’s smarter than we thought.”
Clay pulled the upper half of the bottle free from the bottom.
“Two bottles sandwiched together?” Toni stepped closer.
“Top part is sealed and holds liquid so it looks like an average bottle of water. But these are hidden behind the label.” Clay dumped out four micro SD cards into his hand, each one about the size of a pinkie nail.
“Memory cards from cell phones.” Erik bent down to give Pong a treat. “You did it, boy. You found it.”
Clay could barely contain his excitement over the find, but he still had work to do before they could call Trent. “We need Pong to finish the room and the outbuildings. Then I need you to copy whatever’s on these cards.”
Erik faced Pong. “Seek.”
He led him through the rest of the room, but Pong didn’t light on anything else. They searched the other buildings with the same results, so they headed for the SUV. Rain spit from the sky, but Clay didn’t care if he got wet. They’d made good progress and adrenaline left him pumped.
He paused to glance at Sharkey, still face down with Clay’s brothers standing over him. Good. The guy deserved it. And now they had the evidence they needed to help put him away. Unless Hibbard sent someone else, Toni was safe. Clay would be too. Not that he’d ever really worried about his own skin.
Erik put Pong in his crate in the back of the SUV and took his laptop to the passenger seat. Clay gave Erik the cards, and he slid one into an adapter before inserting it into a slot on his computer. His gaze was riveted to the screen glowing white in the darkness.
Clay wanted to nudge his brother. Urge him to move faster, but Erik was working as fast as he could, so Clay waited patiently next to Toni.
Erik looked up and let out a low whistle. “Pay dirt.”
“What is it?” Toni cried out. “What do you have?”
Erik shook his head in disgust and looked at Toni. “Hibbard. In videos with young girls in compromising positions.”
Toni’s face paled, and Clay stepped closer to her, his protective instincts kicking in. “How many videos?”
“Way too many to count.”
“Ballpark number,” Clay demanded.
Erik squinted at the screen. “This folder alone has twenty. There are eighteen folders.”
Clay gritted his teeth. “Hibbard will go away for a long time for this.”
Toni’s mouth tightened. “Ifwe can find him.”
“We will.” Clay lifted his shoulders into a hard line, trying to transmit his confidence that the team could find Hibbard when the task force had struck out so many times.
And if they found the guy and arrested him, he and Toni would both be safe. Then the only questions left, the big questions, were where were the missing girls and Lisa, and after all this time, was she still alive?
20
Trent had kept everyone at Sharkey’s place for most of the night. The sun would rise in a few hours, and Clay yawned as he stepped into the beach house behind Toni, his brothers bringing up the rear. All he wanted right now was a hot shower and a giant cup of coffee.
