“I heard her talking to him on the phone a couple times.”
“Did she ever say his name, or her name?”
“Not that I remember, but I got the feeling that it was a man.”
“Okay. You ready to get out of here?”
Kelly nodded, “Yes.”
Ike sat on the front steps of the hospital, a white gauze wrap around his neck like a cloth choker, and his foot tapping the lower step in impatience. Hunter stopped beside him, and Kelly hopped in the back seat, leaving the passenger seat open for Ike. He slid into the Jeep, looked surprised at seeing the young girl there, and said, “Thanks, Kelly.”
“Sure.”
He turned to the side to look at Hunter’s profile. “So, I guess you have your phone off, or my two hundred calls wouldn’t have gone unanswered.”
“I was busy.”
Ike snorted. “Hah.”
“Kelly and I found out where Suretta’s going with the other kids. Oh, and I shot one of her helpers in the leg.”
“What? Where?”
Hunter told him, and about how she found Kelly, and about the note Kelly found from Paco.
Ike thought a few moments, and slipped an index finger under the white bandage to scratch an itch. “Not gonna call the police?”
“I’m worried Suretta will kill the kids.”
“And Ramona.”
“And Ramona, yes. If she sees us, I don’t think she will. She’d like to take us out on her own.”
“You, maybe. Me, she likes.”
“Hah.”
“You need anything before we take off?”
“I need a weapon.”
“I’ve got one, a Glock .40. I took it from somebody.”
“Is it loaded?”
“I’ll give you the magazine. It’s full.”
“Then I only need a Hot Pocket and a coke. How about you, Kelly?”
“Same for me, except a Dr. Pepper.”
Hunter said, “Three of them, then, and I want a Dr. Pepper, too. We’re going healthy all the way on this.”
“It’s semi-vegan, I’m sure.” Ike said.
Kelly laughed.
Hunter liked that sound. She pulled away from the Hospital steps, drove to the nearest convenience store and gave Kelly some money to buy their snacks. While the young girl heated the Hot Pockets in the store’s microwave, Hunter said, “Kelly’s a terrific kid, but she’s stretched thin as a butterfly’s wing right now, and about that fragile. She told me she feels that she failed Anita and her friends.”