by Casi McLean
Relaxing her position, she shifted her knees to the right, drawing her feet behind her. “No. I’m sure of that. I don’t know who he was, but I remember feeling like I was being followed that whole day… and when I saw him, I ran as long and as far as I could. I thought I had shaken him. Relieved, I squatted beside the river for a drink of water. That’s when he snuck behind me and got the jump on me.”
Noah crossed his arms and paced the floor. “He didn’t look like a vagrant. The man wanted something from you. At the time, I was convinced he was trying to… sexually assault you. But in hindsight, I’m not so sure.” He paused. “Do you have any idea what he wanted from you? Did he say anything in the struggle that might give us some insight?”
“No… I mean, I’m not sure. I panicked. All I could think of was escape. But in my condition, he easily pinned me.”
“Right.” Noah leaned forward in his seat and rested his elbows on his knees. “If someone paid off the agent who was supposed to take you to your next safehouse… if he thought you were dead, then he’d want his money. He wouldn’t hang around… so, the man who attacked you by the river likely had no connection to the cartel. Why did he shadow you? I mean, if his intentions were totally physical assault, he wouldn’t trail you the whole day to carry out his vile act, would he?”
The rosy tint she finally had in her cheeks drained. She tensed her shoulders then crossed her arms and, with her palms, rubbed them several times as if warding off a chill. “No… if he was a cartel thug, he would have killed me straight away… not follow me.”
“Exactly. Instead, he ran off. But it stands to reason the man followed you, me, and eventually Syd, to our house. Then he returned after dark, along with a few of his friends, and they tried to kill us. Why do you suppose anyone would do that?”
Dropping her hands to her lap, she drew her brows together. “The only reason I can imagine is he thought I had something he wanted, or I knew something he wanted kept a secret.”
“Exactly. And since he and his buddies came after all of us, I suspect the former… which means we are all still in danger.” He tapped his fingers on Jillian’s side table. “I need to call Syd and warn her to be careful in Connecticut.”
Jillian frowned. “She went back there? Why?”
“For a totally unrelated––” Noah stopped cold, his breath caught in his throat. What if the thugs in Sharon weren’t after them at all? What if they were after the amulet? If that talisman was as ancient and priceless as Jack Duncan believes it is, the piece could be worth a fortune. “Syd had some personal business to take care of in Sharon. But if we’re right about those thugs, she needs to get the hell out of there.” He dug his phone from his pocket and pressed the Home button. “Call Syd.”
Chapter 25
“Tell me, Jack.” Head still swimming, Syd leaned against the stone chamber wall to steady herself. “What did your tests reveal about the amulet?”
“It’s more about what the tests didn’t divulge.” He stopped brushing ash from the burnt campfire wood and tilted his head upward to face her. “The alloy woven around the stone to hold the bone in place isn’t titanium.”
Syd narrowed her gaze. “What kind of metal is it?”
Jack leaned back and sat on his heels. “That’s just it. The substance encasing the sapphire isn’t metal or any alloy I’ve ever seen. It has unexplainable properties and composition to anything I’ve studied.”
“Then… uh… what are you saying?” A wave of nausea came over her and bubbled into her throat. She coughed. “I’m sorry, I have to get some air.” She edged toward the door, mindful of the bats perched toward the rear of the chamber.
Clay followed her. “Are you okay, sweetie?” He lifted her chin with a crooked a finger. “Your face is flushed.” His hand moved to her forehead. “And you’re burning up.”
She took a step then stumbled, falling against Clay. “I’m sorry. I should have told you I’ve been fighting a virus for the last twenty-four hours and I’m afraid it’s getting the best of me.”
“Here. Let me help you.” He hitched his head toward a flat stone a few feet away then wrapped an arm around her back for support. Seeing a flat rock, he eased her down and knelt beside her. “We didn’t have to come here today. I wish you had told me you were ill, Syd.”
“I really thought I was better this morning. Noah arranged for some Tamiflu to be delivered to my hotel room. I guess it masked my symptoms for a while, and I promised to help you find the chamber. But this relapse hit me on the plane this morning and kept getting worse. I’ve never had the flu this severe before.”
“We need to get back to the house so you can rest.” He stood. “I’ll just grab Jack.”
“No, Clay. Just let me sit here for a few minutes. I want to give him time to collect his samples and I could use a break.”
“Okay. But I’m worried about you, Sydney. At least let me tell him so he’ll get a move on.”
She nodded. Crossing her arms, she rested them on her knees and lowered her head. Damn. What the hell was happening? Never had she been taken down like this by an illness. She had to pull herself together. If she collapsed at the base of this mountain glen, Clay and Jack wouldn’t be able to get her back to the house. She refused to let that happen and willed herself to get a grip.
Clay returned with a bottled water. “Here you go, Syd. You’re probably dehydrated. Drink some water.”
She gazed at the bottle, and her stomach roiled. “No. please. Take it away. I’m going to be sick.” She turned and gagged then vomited into the underbrush.
Clay bent over and held her hair away from her face until the heaving stopped. “It’s okay, kiddo. But we’re taking you back to the house, now.” He turned toward the stone cellar. “Jack, we need to go. She’s in pretty bad shape.”
Syd sat up and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then scooped some dried leaves and scrubbed off the bile. “Go help him, Clay. I’ll be fine for a few minutes. Please.”
He stood and nodded. “I’ll give him a hand. There really isn’t much more he needs from the chamber.”
Syd stared at the undergrowth, wishing she was home in her own bed. Through the trees, the sun cast leaf shadows onto the ground that danced with the cool December breeze. She watched as the beams occasionally broke through, catching an odd reflection. Curious, she leaned forward onto her knees to inspect the spot where moments ago she’d upset the leaves. Reaching a hand beneath the edge of the large stone on which she sat, she drew out a crystalline rock. After studying the shape for a few moments, she shoved the stone into her pocket.
Her stomach settled a bit, so she tried to stand and join the others, but her depleted energy refused to obey. Her head spun, and she collapsed into a black oblivion.
❋
After several rings, the other end of the line picked up––but the voice was definitely not Sydney’s. Noah’s entire body went rigid as the man spoke, and a swirl of nerves snaked around his chest and squeezed the breath from his lungs.
“Noah. Can you hear me?” His voice faded in and out. “Wait… climb… higher… signal––hear me, now?”
“Who the hell is this, and where is my sister?”
“It’s me, Clay Trent. I don’t…alarm you––”
Clay’s voice muted into a dull drone hissing in Noah’s ears. Had the thugs found Syd… kidnapped her… hurt her… killed her? The panic chilled him to the bone. He closed his eyes and forced the terror in his heart to subside.
“Did you hear me, Noah? She’s unresponsive, and I’m not sure Jack and I can carry her up the mountain with the rough terrain… even if we managed to get her to the house… I’m not sure she’d survive.”
Noah’s neck and shoulders stiffened, twisting his spine in opposite directions. “What do you mean, unresponsive? What happened?” He paced the floor of Jillian’s room in an oval loop. “Tell me everything, Clay.” He gripped the phone so hard his fingers went numb.
“I didn’t k
now she was sick. I never would have––”
“The details, Clay. What preceded her collapse?” The flu wouldn’t make her this sick so quickly. “What does she look like now? And where are you, exactly?”
“We are at the stone chamber where she found the amulet. She said she needed air and went outside. I followed her.”
“Good. Then what?”
“She’s burning up with fever, dizzy, nauseous, weak. I only left her for a few minutes to help Jack collect the samples he needed so we could get her back to the house. When I returned, she was lying on the ground.”
Noah’s heart raced. Why was she that sick? And what could hit her so severely this quickly? “She said she thought she had the flu last night. I prescribed Tamiflu from a local pharmacy. Do you know if she took it?”
“She mentioned she did. I tried to wake her, Noah, but she’s completely out. She won’t wake up… even when I splashed water in her face.”
“Damn. Do you have any idea where you are?” His thoughts reeled as he envisioned possible scenarios, until Jillian’s rescue popped into his mind. He snapped his fingers then reached under his lab coat into his back pocket and snatched his wallet. “Wait. Use the phone’s GPS… turn on your speaker, then see if you can pull up maps.google.com and find your location.” Digging through the contents of his billfold, he took hold of a small, folded piece of paper then returned the wallet to his rear pocket.
After a rustling sound and a few moments of silence, Clay spoke. “I’ve got it. Now what?”
“Good. Now, look at the URL in the address bar. You’ll see a plus symbol then USA, a backslash and the ‘at’ symbol. The coordinates will be listed next.”
“Got it. 41.8794 degrees north and 73.4769 degrees west.”
Relieved, Noah took in a deep breath. “Good. I’m hanging up, now. I have a direct phone number to the Sharon medivac helicopter dispatch––”
“How––”
“Don’t ask. I’ll explain later. Just listen for the chopper and find some way to flag them down if you can. The mountainous terrain won’t allow them to land next to you, but they’ll be close and have the necessary equipment to extract her and get her to the hospital.”
“Ten-four.”
“And Clay, this is important. Make sure they take her to the New Haven Hospital. They have the best rare disease specialists in the northeast. I’ll meet you there as fast as I can catch a flight. But stay in touch with me. And if you think of anything that might help us determine what made her sick––any detail at all––call me immediately. If I don’t answer, leave a detailed message.”
“I will. Thanks, Noah. And I’m sorry I didn’t catch this earlier.”
Noah shook his head. “Syd’s stubborn. Once she sets her mind to something there’s no stopping her. Gotta run.” He pressed End and turned to Jillian. “I guess you heard.” He paced toward the door.
“Go take care of your sister. I’ll be fine.”
He opened the door and stepped out. “Get some rest. I’ll be in touch.” Closing the door behind him, Noah hurried to the nurse’s station, entered instructions for Jillian on the computer then hustled down the hallway.
Chapter 26
Todd yanked his hoodie from his head and leaned against the sterile hospital wall. The damn doctor stayed in that patient’s room for an hour. Probably had sex with her. Doctors have such a cushy life. Hot cars and fancy condos, playing golf all afternoon, and gettin’ it on with patients. He’ll get his comeuppance, though. They all will.
Ten years in that hellhole prison. We paid our dues. Ain’t nobody gonna swoop in and take what’s ours and live to tell about it. Ha. That ole lady didn’t know what hit her. If she hadn’t been such a snoop, she’d a lived a long and happy life. But no. She had to go stick her nose into our business. She got what was comin’ to her… and the doc will too. The whole lot of them.
Once we get our due, we’re out of here. Find a nice beach in the South Seas and live like kings. We’ll have our pick of any woman we want.
When the patient’s door opened, Todd stepped back into the shadows and watched as the doctor strode into the hallway.
“Get some rest. I’ll be in touch.” He closed the door behind him and rushed to the nurse’s station, tapped out something on the computer then darted down the hall.
When the doc dashed past the elevators, Todd gritted his teeth. What now? Didn’t this guy ever go home? Tired of following Monaco all day, he tightened his fists to get a grip on his impatience.
He needed to keep his cool. The doc looked a little too suspicious when Todd had stepped into the same elevator in the garage earlier that afternoon. He needed to be patient and wait for the perfect moment to snatch him. Then Todd would keep the guy until he talked. The doc would talk, all right. They all did, sooner or later. If he acted like a tough guy, his poor little sister just might disappear… or have an unfortunate accident like her old aunt did.
Snaggin’ the girl woulda been easier, but she had to go and take off for who knows where. She’ll be back, though. In the meantime, Todd would nab her brother. He had time on his side. He already waited a decade. A few days more wouldn’t kill him… but he couldn’t say as much for the doc and his sister.
He watched the doctor whizz straight into the opposite wing then pushed against a door that said ‘Surgery––No Unauthorized Personnel Admitted.’
Damn. Todd thumped a fist on the wall. Wasn’t this doc ever going home? Maybe staying by the guy’s car was a better idea. Nah. Stickin’ close to the doc was a pain but waiting around a cold parking deck was way worse. He glanced around then strolled into the empty family waiting room and plopped on the couch, where he had a good view of the doors the doc went through. Leaning back, he tried to relax. For now, at least he was comfortable. When the doc came back through the surgery doors, Todd would be ready. This time, Dr. Noah Monaco would not escape.
❋
Elise Nolan, Hartford Urgent Care’s Chief of Contagious Disease Operations, stood in full hazmat garb on the edge of the open door of the small police helicopter. Hovering over a knoll and deep hollow northeast of Indian Lake, the team searched the forest around the coordinates Noah Monaco provided. Hooked to a harness connected to the winch cable, she scanned the area. “There… at the top of the rise. A man is waving his hands in the air.”
“Roger that. Got him.” The pilot lowered the helo, angling the craft between the treetops.
“Easy… forward and right… good. Ready to lower cable… lowering cable.”
Elise dangled from the towline, mentally envisioning the best way to handle the rescue. She touched down in a clearing at the top of a steep hill and immediately released the harness so the Medavac unit could attach and lower the stretcher basket. Making her way through thick brushwood, she hiked toward the man.
“Hurry. She’s down there.” He pointed to the ravine below then grasped ahold of vines and eased himself down the embankment.
Elise signaled to the helo. “Unresponsive victim at the base of the cliff. Position the basket carefully. It’s dense forest and there’s not a lot of room in the glen.”
“Copy that.”
Elise initiated a controlled slide, grabbing at vines along the way. When she reached Noah’s sister, she knelt beside her and took her vitals.
“Lowering the basket.”
Tapping her earbud, she acknowledged the crew’s status. “You. What’s your name?”
“Clayton Trent.” He hitched his head toward the man standing beside him. “This is Jack Duncan.”
“Got it. Once the stretcher is within reach, can you two guide the basket and make sure it doesn’t get hung up in those trees?”
“Absolutely.” Trent gazed upward toward the helicopter.
Duncan, already positioning himself beneath the descending cot, stretched his arms and motioned to the helo.
Returning her attention to Sydney, Elise examined her, checking for suspicious bites or marks that might have
contributed to the symptoms Noah related. Seeing nothing unusual, she attempted to wake her with a mild ammonium carbonate mixture.
Sydney let out a soft moan.
Alert to the progress of the two men behind her grappling with the basket, Elise prepared Sydney then stood and faced them. “Perfect. Thanks. Now, unhook the cable then bring the basket over here. I don’t want to move her anymore than I have to.”
Grabbing the stretcher at each end, they lugged it next to Syd then stepped away.
“I’ll need your help to move her onto the cot. One at each end.”
They complied.
“On my count. One… two… three.”
Duncan and Trent easily hoisted Syd onto the stretcher.
“Good. Now, grab the cable and bring it to me.” Elise yanked the straps around Sydney and secured them then hooked the cable. “Basket ready for extraction.”
“Copy that. Extracting basket.”
The helo lifted the cot with a jerk then raised the cable until the basket reached the cabin door where the team dragged it into the helicopter.
“Basket recovered. Dr. Nolan, prepare to hook your harness.”
“Copy.” Elise turned toward the two men. “Thanks for your help.” She extended her hand and gave each a firm shake.
“Thank you.” Jack turned then paced toward a backpack resting against a large flat stone.
“When she wakes up, please tell her we’ll hike back to the house, lock up and grab the rental car. Dr. Monaco said you’ll take her to New Haven Hospital, right?”
“Yes. New Haven has an excellent rare disease unit and Dr. Monaco will join their team as soon as he can catch a flight.”
“Please, tell Sydney we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Seeing the dangling cable, she paced forward, yanked her harness and hooked the towline then faced Trent. “Again, thanks for your help. I’m sure Dr. Monaco will be in touch.” Gazing toward the helo, she motioned for them to raise the cable. “Harness hooked. Bring me up, guys.”