Chapter Sixteen #2
“Finally.” Relief glimmered in his eyes. “I’ll take you to Julio’s room so you can examine the last place he was seen. Security is bringing up video footage of every entrance and exit at the hospital. We’ll see if that will give you anything.”
“Have you looked at it, sir?”
David shook his head. “Hospital security just finished copying everything.”
Cam glanced at Rhys. “I hope you brought your computer.”
“Never leave home without it.”
A uniformed security guard exited the second elevator and approached David. “Sheriff Montgomery.” The guard handed him an envelope. “This has everything you need. We copied the footage from every entrance and exit, as you requested.”
“The hours?”
“The past twenty-four hours, sir, as ordered.”
“Excellent. Thank you, Ron. I will convey my appreciation to your supervisor, too.”
“Thank you, sir.”
After the security guard left, David handed the envelope to Rhys. “As fast as you can, Rhys. Every minute counts.”
“I need a place to work.”
“I figured. Come with me.” The sheriff led him to a small waiting room. “Will this work?”
“It’s perfect. Thanks.” Rhys dropped into the chair farthest from the door and the flow of corridor traffic. He pulled out his laptop and got to work.
“How long will it take him?” Sedona whispered to Cam.
Rhys snorted. “Longer than it should if I keep getting interrupted.” His fingers didn’t miss a stroke while he talked.
“Sorry. I want to do something useful while we’re waiting for you to finish.”
“Good idea. Go, and take these yahoos just staring at me with you.”
“You’ve got it. You heard the man. Leave him alone to work.” She tugged Cam’s hand and urged him toward the corridor. “What’s next, and how can I help?”
“You mentioned Maria might prevent us from talking to Julio when we track him down. Do you think you can talk to her, convince her to talk to us freely and allow Julio to do the same?”
“I’ll try.”
“Good. Spencer will stay with you while Isaac, Dario, and I examine Julio’s room and scout around the hospital.” He turned to his boss. “Where is Julio’s mother?”
“In the nurses’ lounge. I can take you there.”
“If you’ll escort Sedona and Spencer to Maria, the rest of my team and I will look around the hospital and the grounds. What room was Julio in?”
“Room 653.”
“Got it. We’ll return soon.” He stared at his boss, who rolled his eyes and gave a curt nod of agreement.
Excellent. The last thing he wanted to do was be distracted any more than he already was.
David Montgomery had been a Navy SEAL. The man was tough to the bone.
No one would slip past him to get to Sedona without paying a heavy price.
Few would go that far to fulfill a contract.
He signaled his teammates, and they walked down the corridor to room 653. Cam would have known which room was the crime scene because of the police guard outside the door and CSI activity going on inside the room. Camera flashes went off continuously.
He flashed his badge at the officer guarding the door and peered into the room. Pleased that the CSI team was the one who worked frequently with the sheriff’s office, he motioned Tracy over.
“Hey, Cam. How’s it going?”
“It’s been better. What do you have for me?”
She remained silent for a beat. “Sheriff Montgomery is handling this case himself.”
“I’m not surprised. We’re not here to take over his case. David called us in as his Search and Rescue team.”
Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”
He shrugged. “It’s what we do best. The military thought the same thing.”
“Huh. Well, that’s good, I guess. I thought if he got a credible lead on the boy’s location, Sheriff Montgomery would bring in Ethan Blackhawk from Otter Creek.”
“He still might. David wanted us to look around Julio’s room and see if we picked up a trail to follow.”
Sympathy filled Tracy’s eyes. “He’s hoping the kid ran away.”
“That’s better than Julio being kidnapped by a professional killer.”
“That’s the truth.”
“Show me where it’s safe to walk, then we’ll take it from here and try not to impede your techs.”
She showed him where the safe walking zones were, then excused herself to continue her work.
Cam signaled Dario and Isaac to join him. He showed them the safe zones, then assigned them to a zone and took the last one for himself. Ten minutes later, they met in the hallway. “Well?” he asked his teammates.
“Nothing,” Isaac said.
“Same,” Dario agreed.
“Make that three goose eggs because I found nothing either.” He frowned, watching the activity in the room. “So our guy is a professional. He left us zip to go on. I wonder if he was as careful in his haste to flee the hospital. Think we can find his exit route?”
“Already working on it,” Isaac murmured as he swiped the screen of his phone and gazed at the photo.
This was why he loved working with The Thunderhawks. “What do you have?”
“Julio’s room is conveniently close to a stairwell.” Isaac turned to look at the marked door two hundred feet from where they stood. “I’d say either the kidnapper went that direction or Julio struck out on his own in that direction.”
Dario glowered. “Why would a five-year-old boy want to run away?”
“I can think of a lot of reasons, the most important one being fear. I don’t know if he saw or heard something at the hospital that spooked him, but being tossed into a lion enclosure is enough for me to have nightmares for a lifetime.”
“Same,” Isaac said.
The three men walked the two hundred feet, and Cam covered his hand with the hem of his shirt and twisted the knob to open the door. He followed his men into the stairwell and grabbed a penlight that David insisted all of his officers carry.
“Isaac, you and Dario take the door and the railing side of the stairwell. I’ll take the wall and behind the door.”
“Copy that.”
With their backs toward each other, the men slowly made their way down the stairs, stopping every few feet to examine marks and scuffs. Halfway down the stairs, Cam said, “Here.”
Isaac and Dario joined him in examining the groove skimming along the rail. “Did anyone report hearing a gunshot?” Isaac asked.
“I’ll ask.” Cam pulled out his phone and shot his boss a text. Seconds later, he read the response on his screen. “Nope.”
“Silencer. That’s why no one heard the shot.”
“Where’s the bullet hole?” Dario asked, studying the groove. “If the bullet rode the rail, where’s the bullet hole?” His expression was grim. “If he hit the kid, I don’t see how he would have had enough time to clean up the blood before someone walked in on him.”
The knot in Cam’s belly eased a little. The logical conclusion was that the shooter missed the mark. Had Julio escaped? He hoped so. Cam liked the kid with more guts than anyone he’d met in a while.
They took pictures and sent them to David along with a detailed location for his crime scene technicians.
Isaac inclined his head toward the wall at the stairwell landing below them. “I’m betting the bullet is in that wall.”
“I just hope the bullet didn’t pass through the kid before it sunk into the wall,” Dario muttered.
“It’s possible, although I doubt it. Too much mess to clean up, and the area looks as pristine as a stairwell in a busy hospital can be.”
“Let’s see if you’re right, Isaac.” Cam led the way to the landing.
Sure enough, the bullet had slammed into the wall.
He couldn’t see the shooter carrying the kid out of the hospital if he’d been hit and then coming back to clean up.
Nope, somehow Julio had escaped a professional hitman.
Pure speculation, but the signs added up to The Collector working in Maple Valley today.
If he was right, Cam had to consider who The Collector’s primary target was. Julio or Sedona?