Chill Factor

Handling him gently, Lilly guided him down until he was sitting on the floor, his back against the wall. “I can’t believe Dutch did this to you.” Looking up at Begley, she said, “He’ll have to face criminal charges, won’t he?”

“No, ma’am, he won’t.”

She was about to ask why not when suddenly she knew. She could see the answer in Begley’s sympathetic eyes, and sense it in Agent Wise’s averted gaze, and hear it in Tierney’s muttered curse.

“I’m sorry, Ms. Martin,” Begley said gently. “He gave us no choice. He shot one of my men. It would have been fatal except for his vest. Chief Burton tried to shoot Mr. Tierney in the back, and would have shot me. We gave him repeated warnings. He persisted. In order to save our own lives—”

“You don’t have to explain,” she said, her voice soft and sorrowful.

Tierney reached for her hand and clasped it.

A cell phone rang. Agent Wise turned his back on them and answered the call as unobtrusively as possible.

There was increased noise and a flurry of motion outside. Begley stepped onto the porch, then returned almost immediately. “CareFlight chopper is here, Mr. Tierney.”

“Will I be able to go with him?”

“I’m afraid not, Ms. Martin,” he said. “We’ll need you in Cleary.”

She nodded, but reluctantly.

“I’ll go back with the first group and oversee Ritt’s incarceration. You’ll stay here under Agent Wise’s watch until the chopper can return for you. Today Hoot has proved himself to be most capable,” he said, almost tongue in cheek. “Shouldn’t be more than half an hour.”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

A team of paramedics rushed inside pushing a gurney. In a matter of minutes Tierney had been strapped to it, hooked up to an IV, into which several bottles of solution were being dripped, and fitted with a nose cannula supplying him with oxygen. Despite the activity around him, he didn’t let go of Lilly’s hand and never took his eyes off hers, nor did hers stray from his.

She followed the gurney as far as the porch, where she was forced to release his hand. The sun had sunk below the tree line to the west, creating a false twilight. Already the absence of sunlight had caused the temperature to drop dramatically. Hugging herself for warmth, she remained there, staring after Tierney, until the helicopter lifted off.

“Where’s he being taken?” she asked Begley, who was ushering her back inside.

“Asheville.”

“He’s lost so much blood.”

“He seems tough enough. He’ll be all right.” He touched her arm for reassurance. She smiled at him. He smiled back.

“Sir?” They turned in unison to face Agent Wise.

“What is it, Hoot?”

“They found Scott Hamer.”

• • •

When word reached Dora, she was still with Marilee.

They’d remained together all day, bolstering each other through the hours that Scott was unaccounted for. Dora had cell phone numbers for only a few of Scott’s friends, but word quickly spread that his mother was anxious to speak to him. None of the friends Dora reached had heard from him.

Her attempts to reach Wes on his cell phone met with no success. Either his service hadn’t yet been restored or he was ignoring her calls.

The two women waited, their distress mounting.

It was Officer Harris who finally found Scott. “He’s on his way to the hospital.” He refused to tell Dora any more than that over the telephone.

When she and Marilee reached the emergency room, they were almost afraid to hear what the admitting nurse had to tell them. Well acquainted with the Hamer family, the nurse was reluctant to be the messenger of bad news. “The doctor wanted to speak with you directly, Mrs. Hamer. I’ll get him,” she said and disappeared through a set of double doors.

It was a full ten minutes before a young man in a lab coat emerged. To Dora he looked very young. He divided a look between them. “Mrs. Hamer?”