Life Flight

by Lynette Eason

  Back in his vehicle, Holt finally had a chance to glance at his phone to see who had been blowing it up. Rachel, Penny—a lot from Penny—Marty, Julianna, Grace, and his dad.

  He called Penny first.

  She answered mid first ring. “Did you catch him?”

  “No, he was long gone by the time we got there, but we got some footage from the bridge cameras. He was there.”

  “So, I didn’t imagine it,” she whispered.

  “No, you didn’t.” He paused. “Your buddy Frankie Olander was there too.”

  “What! I didn’t see him.” She frowned. “He was waiting on us when we got back to base. Sitting on the couch like he owned the place. How’d he get back here so fast?”

  “I’m sure you had things to do once you landed and got the patient off the bird?”

  “Yes, of course. We cleaned everything up and . . . yeah, okay. Frankie would have been able to get here and have a nap before we returned to base. Usually there’s someone here. I guess everyone was out on a call or something.” She sighed, and he wished he could wrap her in a hug.

  “Penny, one of the witnesses said they didn’t think the victim jumped. They think she was pushed.”

  “Pushed? By who?”

  “They don’t know, and the footage isn’t clear, but I’m willing to bet it was Rabor.”

  “But . . . why?”

  “I don’t know, but I do know that he doesn’t do anything without a reason.”

  “So, what now?”

  “I’m coming by the hospital to talk to the woman. See if she remembers anything. I just got a call that she is awake.”

  “One of the paramedics said she was screaming something but not really making any sense. She was fighting them, and they had to sedate her in order to treat her.”

  “Did he say what she was saying?”

  “No. Didn’t any of the witnesses tell you?”

  “None of them mentioned it. Maybe she’ll be able to tell me. I’ll come by and see you when I finish talking to her.”

  “I’ll meet you there. I wouldn’t mind checking on her.”

  “Penny, this is—”

  “An investigation. I know. I’m not asking you to tell me anything. See you in a few.”

  She hung up and Holt let out a low huff under his breath. It would take him longer to get to the victim’s room than it would take Penny.

  Technically, there was nothing wrong—or even unusual—in her checking up on someone she’d just saved. She’d done so many times before. And it might not be a bad thing to have her there. The victim—Theresa Mabry—might be more comfortable with Penny’s presence. That is, if she was aware of Penny’s involvement in her rescue. Then again, if she really had jumped, she might be furious with Penny for helping save her.

  He pressed the gas and made it to the hospital in record time. When he arrived at Theresa’s room, he found Penny standing next to the woman’s bed, talking softly.

  “Penny?”

  She turned. “Theresa’s awake. Her mother was here but decided to take a break and let me hang out while she grabbed some coffee. I told Theresa I was just checking in with her to see how she was doing.”

  Theresa was in her midthirties with light brown curly hair cut short so that it rested just above her shoulders. Her blue eyes were foggy from pain medication, but they narrowed on him when he entered, then jumped back to Penny. “You really flew me here?”

  “I really did.”

  “Thank you.”

  Holt breathed a slow breath of relief. She wasn’t mad Penny had been a part of her rescue.

  “Of course.” Penny pointed to Holt. “That’s Holt. He’s a friend of mine. I’ll just let you two chat a while.”

  “Hi, Theresa,” Holt said, stepping forward.

  Before he could officially introduce himself, she said, “You’re a cop?”

  “I’m with the FBI. I wanted to ask you about what happened out there on the bridge.” He glanced at Penny. “You mind stepping out?”

  “Sure.” Penny headed for the door.

  “No!” At Theresa’s shout, Penny turned. “No,” Theresa said, her voice softer, “let her stay. I want her to know the truth. I want everyone to know the truth.”

  Penny hesitated and looked at him. Holt nodded. Theresa could just tell her everything she told him later. He might as well spare the woman the effort and stress of telling the story twice. “What’s the truth, Theresa?”

  “I didn’t jump,” she said. “I didn’t.” Two tears tracked down her cheeks and Penny slipped a tissue into the woman’s hand.

  “So what happened?”

  “I was leaning on the bridge, just watching the water, the families enjoying the sunny day. I was thinking about visiting my family next weekend. I don’t know. Just having some downtime. And then—”

  “Then?” Penny urged, and took her hand.

  Theresa drew in a shuddering breath. “Then, I felt someone slam into me. The railing on that bridge isn’t the highest. It only comes to your waist, depending on how tall you are. For me, it was a little higher than my belly button. I was leaning and then I was falling. Screaming . . .” She shut her eyes and swallowed. “I remember hitting the water and feeling massive pain. Struggling to stay above the surface, but hurting and sinking. Then someone was dragging me ashore.”

  “So, you passed out?”

  “Yeah, I think so. I remember blackness. Then waking up and hearing the paramedics talking about me jumping. So I kept screaming, ‘I didn’t jump. I didn’t jump.’” She rubbed a hand down her face. “But I was also crying and choking and trying to breathe.” She frowned. “But I must have passed out again because I don’t remember anything after that. The next thing I’m conscious of is waking up here.”

  “They had to sedate you to treat you,” Penny said. “You were struggling so much, they couldn’t get an IV in. And . . . your heart stopped.”

  “What?”

  Penny frowned. “They didn’t tell you this?”

  “Um . . . maybe. I don’t know.” Confusion flickered in her eyes. “Why’d my heart stop?”

  “You’ll have to ask your doctor,” Holt said. “Is there anything else you can remember? Did you get a look at who pushed you? A glimpse? Anything?”

  “No. Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” Holt removed a card from his wallet and passed it to Theresa. “If you think of anything else, call me, day or night, please?”

  “Sure. Yeah.” She blew out a low breath. “Maybe it was an accident.”

  “I think,” Holt said, “if it had been an accident, someone would have been falling over themselves to apologize and make things right.”

  “Or they were horrified and scared of what they’d done and took off,” Penny murmured.

  “True.” He turned his gaze back to Theresa. “I’ll look into it and let you know if we manage to find anything—or anyone.”

  “Thank you.” Her frown deepened. “Why are you here? I mean, not you specifically, but the FBI? They don’t investigate this kind of thing.”

  “Not usually, but there are some extenuating circumstances that grabbed our interest.”

  “What kind of extenuating circumstances?”

  “I’m sorry, I can’t say, but I promise if I learn anything more about what happened out there on the bridge, or find the person responsible for you going over, I’ll let you know.”

  They said their goodbyes and stepped out of the room. Penny looked up at him. “You believe her?”

  He gave a slow nod. “Yeah, I do.”

  “You think she’s Rabor’s next target?”

  “Obviously, I can’t say yes or no to that, but I’d lean toward no. Rabor’s MO is nothing like what happened today. And the truth is, serial killers don’t like to deviate from their MO.” He paused. “However, they’re not above making things happen that will allow them to set up their next kill.” A sigh slipped from him.

  Penny bit her lip and her brows drew together.
>
  “What are you thinking?” he asked.

  “So, what’s he doing? Pushing someone off a bridge? Maybe he didn’t push her at all? Maybe it really was an accident and it was just coincidence that he was there when we showed up?”

  “Possibly.”

  “But he definitely knew who I was. He . . . smiled. A weird smile. Like he’d been waiting for me to look up and notice him.”

  Holt didn’t like that. At all.

  Her phone rang and she glanced at the screen. When a groan slipped out, Holt raised a brow. “Let me guess. Your mother?”

  “Got it in one.”

  “You can take the call. I need to check in with the rest of the task force and see what they’ve come up with on their end.”

  “Sure. I’m going to head back to base. I’ll catch up with you later?”

  “What about a late dinner?” he blurted. “I can pick something up and bring it to you. We’ll eat in the base conference room?”

  “Um . . . yeah. Sounds nice. Call me.”

  She swiped and lifted the phone to her ear while she walked back toward the base. Holt watched her go, his heart thudding a little faster, wondering at the minute hesitation before she’d agreed. Had he completely misread her interest?

  He didn’t think so, but . . . “Um . . . yeah. Sounds nice. Call me.”

  Why did that not sound promising?

  CHAPTER

  SEVENTEEN

  Penny’s gaze scoured the hallway. Frankie Olander was nowhere in sight, but that didn’t mean he might not pop out at any given moment. Security had been on top of most of the reporters trying to get in to see her, but for some reason, Frankie seemed to slip past them with no trouble. He was gone when she’d stepped out of base to head to Theresa’s room, and thankfully he’d stayed gone. She’d asked for forty-eight hours. Maybe he’d honor that.

  Now, her rubber soles made little squeaking noises on the tile as she headed back toward base. Visitors passed her in the hallway. Doctors and nurses and other hospital personnel hurried to and fro, their footsteps echoing in the corridor.

  Steps behind her came at an even faster clip and she moved to the side to allow the person to pass. Only she felt something hard—like the barrel of a gun—jam into her right kidney. She gave a gasp and stopped.

  “No, no, my dear,” a low voice breathed into her left ear. “Keep walking.”

  Panic flared and sent her pulse skyrocketing. “Rabor?”

  “So, you know me.”

  “Of course I know you. Your face is in the news only slightly more than mine. What do you want with me?” Her gaze scanned the area, a scream building in her throat.

  “Let’s go somewhere private and talk. If you bring attention to us, I’ll have to hurt you. Or someone else. You don’t want that, do you?”

  She didn’t, but she wasn’t going anywhere with him.

  “Do you?” he asked again, this time more forcefully.

  “No,” she said, “I don’t.”

  “Good. Now walk.”

  “Where?”

  “To the stairwell.”

  The stairwell was just ahead. Penny didn’t budge. “No.”

  A surprised chuckle slipped from him. “I’m sorry. What?”

  “No. I won’t scream and bring attention to you, but I’m also not going anywhere with you.”

  For a moment, he didn’t speak. Like she’d rendered him speechless. Then he drew in a deep breath. “Then who shall be the first to die?”

  “No one.” Please let me be right! “You won’t kill anyone right now. Surely you’ve noticed security is right there.” She pointed to the second door on the left.

  “No, actually, I hadn’t noticed. Thank you for letting me in on that.”

  “So, what now?” She drew in a shaky breath, praying he couldn’t feel the fear coursing through her veins. “I’m not going with you and you don’t want to cause a scene. So what do you think about just walking away and forgetting this ever happened?”

  More silence from the man behind her. Then he kissed her left cheek, and it was all she could do not to hurl.

  “I think you intrigue me,” he said, “and I really, really like that.”

  A shiver fluttered from the pit of her stomach to travel into the base of her neck. She stayed silent, praying she wasn’t making a huge mistake and that he wouldn’t realize she wasn’t nearly as sure of herself as she sounded. She was terrified he’d turn the weapon on someone nearby—or her.

  “Okay, Penny,” he finally said, “I can see that we have a lot of work to do before we can enjoy our first date. When we get to that point, I’m sure I’ll enjoy it. Almost as much as I enjoyed watching you work earlier today.”

  Another wave of terror and sickness pulsed through her. “So, you were there. Did you push that woman off the bridge?”

  “How else would I get to see you in action? After hearing how you literally scaled a mountain to save young Claire Gentry, then fought off Joel to save FBI Special Agent Holt Satterfield, well, let’s just say I had to meet you. And now, today? Your coolheadedness—is that a word?—is fascinating. Out of all of my girlfriends, I think you’re the one that I’ve been looking for all this time. I can’t wait for our time together. I know it will be challenging, but the end result will be so satisfying. You’ll see.”

  Oh, Lord, help me . . .

  It was all Penny could do not to wrench herself away from him and run screaming down the hall, but apparently whatever she was doing was the right thing. “You’re—” She bit her tongue on the word sick. Don’t antagonize him. Keep your mouth shut and make him go away. “—not going to get away with this.”

  “What a cliché. I would have thought you’d be more creative than that. But the truth is, I guess we’ll find out, won’t we? I’m leaving now, Penny,” he said, “but only to go and make sure everything is ready for our first date. It’s going to be absolutely perfect. I’ll see you soon.”

  And then he was gone, the whoosh of the stairwell door behind him.

  Penny raced to the security office and banged on the door.

  Clark Haverty opened it, a frown on his face. “Penny?”

  “Darius Rabor was just here. Assume he has a gun. He went down the stairwell. Is there anyone you can call to stop him at the bottom?”

  “Who?”

  “The serial killer!” Did he not watch the news?

  His eyes widened as the name clicked. “Here? In the hospital?” Without waiting for an answer, he got on his radio and ran toward the stairwell. She heard something about “locking the place down” and some other codes she didn’t recognize. Probably a heads-up about a man with a gun in the building.

  Penny stepped into the security office. Taylor Mills spun in her seat. “Penny? They’re locking the hospital down. I just got the notice.”

  “I know.” She locked the door behind her. “Can you pull up the cameras on the doors, and when I spot the guy, you can radio Clark and let him know which door?”

  “Yeah, sure.” The screens in front of the three-person workstation were live, and the huge monitors on the walls held sixty-four little squares. Each square depicted a part of the hospital. While Taylor pulled up all the exits, Penny scrubbed at her cheek, the feel of Rabor’s lips still there and making her want to gag. Finally, with her face burning from her efforts, she dropped her hand and group-texted Raina, Holly, and Julianna the situation, then slid her phone into her pocket.

  “You see him?” Taylor asked.

  “No,” Penny whispered. For the next few seconds she stood there, watching the people who managed to get out before the lockdown was announced—or completed. “Where are you, Rabor?” she muttered.

  She yanked her phone from her pocket and dialed Holt’s number. While it rang, her mind spun. Had he managed to get out that fast? Penny had been super quick to get in front of the monitors, but it was highly possible Rabor had slipped out before she had her view of the exits.

  Holt didn’t answer and she h
ung up to send him a text.

  Rabor is here in the hospital. He came up behind me and stuck a gun in my back. I’m fine. He left after saying some unpleasant things. I’m in the security office. Officer Haverty went after him.

  “What if he’s still in the building?” Taylor asked. “What if he found a place to hole up and hide?”

  That could be why she didn’t see him leaving.

  “He went down the stairs from this floor,” Penny said. “Can you pull that footage from about three minutes ago?”

  “Sure.” She did. The door at the bottom of the stairs never opened. “He’s either still in the hospital or he got out before we got to the cameras. He might have gotten off on another floor, or he’s still in the stairwell.”

  Penny’s phone rang.

  Holt. “Hello?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes. Yes, but I don’t know where he went. He could still be in the hospital.”

  “Is it on lockdown?”

  “Yes.”

  “We’re wrapping up and on the way soon.”

  “Who’s we?”

  “Grace and me. Sit tight.”

  Penny hung up and continued to scan the monitors while she rubbed at the place on her cheek once more. “What’s another way out of the hospital?” she asked Taylor. “An exit that doesn’t have a camera? Anything?”

  “No. This hospital is fortunate to have major donors who think very highly of security. Every exit has a camera—and they’re all on the wall in front of you.”

  “Okay, I think it’s safe to say that if he exited that stairwell, we should be able to see the footage.”

  “Yeah, let me just pull it up and rewind, then we can fast-forward to see who’s coming out.”

  She did so and two people in lab coats exited during the time Rabor should have been in the stairwell. The third person to exit had long brown hair, a stylish hat, and a long overcoat, but had her head angled away from the camera. “Can you screenshot those two employees? Holt or someone will want to talk to them and see if they saw anything.”