Page 78 of Shadow of Death
Sandy had caught up with them. Screaming and crying, she rushed to Regan on the stretcher. “I can go with him, right? I can go with him—”
“Usually, yes,” an EMT said. He looked at Hunter for help.
“It’s too crowded. It’s air rescue and the space in the chopper isn’t intended for two patients but they’ll have to take them both. We’ll get to a car and get right to the hospital,” he told her.
“But you—”
Sean, hunkered down by the stretcher, quickly said, “Lady, he’s FBI. And the reason you and your boyfriend might live. Trust me—we’ll get you to the hospital.”
The EMTs quickly supplied a second stretcher. In minutes, they were gone. Hunter turned to the young woman he knew as Sandy, ready to explain they needed to get back to the water and the airboat and then on to the hospital. But as he spoke, his phone rang. It was Mickey. There would be an ATV there for them in a matter of minutes if it hadn’t arrived yet. He quickly briefed Mickey on the situation. Hunter’s supervisor would meet him at the hospital.
From far down a poor rock and dirt road that stretched to the east of them, he heard the honking of a horn.
The car had, indeed, arrived.
“All right,” he said to Sean. “I’m going for Amy and Aidan. Sean, where’s Ryan?”
“He kept going—you told me to stay here.”
“All right,” Hunter said. “Have the driver hold on. I’ll ping their numbers on the phone’s locator system if I can’t reach them, and it shouldn’t take long—”
“No, oh, my God, no, please!” Sandy cried. “I have to get there. Regan was shot for me, trying to defend me, and they were taunting him, saying they only wanted me for my heart, that I was a sinner and they were going to save my soul and...please!”
“Sandy, there are others out there—”
“Hunter,” Sean said. “I’ll go with her. She’s not going to give us anything. You have one of them here, headed to the hospital. Let the emergency department do its magic. You won’t be able to speak with him right away anyway.”
“Go,” Hunter said.
Sean nodded and Hunter watched as he left, taking Sandra by the elbow and heading out to the road.
When they were gone, he turned and headed back to the place in the clearing near the water where he had left Aidan and Amy. Ryan Anders might have headed back their way.
No one was there.
He decided not to shout their names but looked back into the dense brush where he had been before. Pulling his phone from his pocket, he hesitated. If they were tracking someone, he didn’t want to alert that someone with a ringtone. Pinging wouldn’t make any noise.
And he knew they were professional. They wouldn’t have ringtones on their phones right now; they would be on vibrate.
Hell, it was a phone. He’d just make calls for now. He tried Amy’s phone first.
To his relief, she answered almost immediately and he quickly brought her up to speed. He told her about the woman who had been taken, the man who had been shot and the kidnapper who had suffered from a snakebite.
“I’m back with Jimmy at the airboat,” Amy told him. “Aidan insists I keep up my non-law enforcement identity, so... He saw you had one of the men who snatched the young woman, but not the other. Ryan called him to say he was tracking someone. As Aidan suggested, I’m useless here. I’m just being a terrified tour guide. I’m wondering, though, if I’m so terrified, how anyone will believe I’m back out here?”
“Hopefully, they won’t have any idea you know anything about this,” Hunter said. “I’ll call Aidan and find out where they are.”
“Do that. Should Jimmy and I go back for the car?” she asked. “Wait. Aidan is calling me. You’re on hold.”
The line went silent, but only for a second. “Hunter, Aidan found Ryan. They were heading back when they found a—found parts of a dead man.”
“Parts?”
“Looks like whoever he was, he tried to cut across some water that might have been the turf of a large male alligator. They—they found a torso and legs.” She hesitated. “Fresh.”
“Great,” Hunter murmured. “Right. You and Jimmy head for the car. I’ll meet up with Ryan and Aidan, and we’ll get a medical examiner and a forensic team out here. I’ll leave them to deal here—I want to get into town and to the hospital where we have one victim and one would-be kidnapper. Call me when you’re on the road as close as you can get to your lecture spot.”
“Copy that,” she murmured. “Use your family locator on your phone!” she suggested.
