Part 14 (2/2)

”See anything?” Sonny yelled.

”No, you?” Henry yelled back.

”I think he went this way!” Sonny yelled back in response.

She slowly peeked around the side of the tire and breathed a small sigh of relief when she saw Henry walking back toward Sonny. She felt hot tears spill down her cheeks as the throbbing in her shoulder intensified. She crawled across to the other side and looked out toward the row of trailers. She could see the men from the waist down. They were three trailers over. She looked back toward the tall gra.s.s and felt dread. Separating the properties was a three-foot-tall fence. She glanced back toward the men. It was her best option-maybe her only option.

She ran toward the fence and knew it was going to hurt like h.e.l.l. She propelled her body upward, clenching her teeth tightly to keep from screaming. She easily cleared the barbed wire. Her body slammed into the ground with a thud, the impact knocking the air out of her lungs.

She laid her head down across her arms and tried to catch her breath. f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, f.u.c.k, she silently swore at the sound of crunching gravel. She crawled through the gra.s.s on her belly and froze at the sound of approaching voices.

”I thought I heard something coming from over here,” she heard Henry say.

”I don't think so. I told you, I think he went this way,” Sonny replied.

She heard a creaking noise and knew they were standing next to the fence. Please, G.o.d, don't let them come over here.

Henry kicked the fence in frustration with his foot. ”We need a d.a.m.n flashlight,” he said.

Rheyna heard another set of feet approaching. She could tell by how hard the gravel crunched that it was Castrucci.

”Let's go, boys. Whoever it was, is probably long gone by now. Sonny, you make sure Charlie gets this lot lit first thing tomorrow,” Big Tony said.

They turned to head back to the car. ”Who do you think he was? You think maybe Carlos had something to do with it?” Sonny asked.

Big Tony shook his head. ”I don't know. Let me see that thing again.”

Sonny showed him the broken pieces of the microphone boom. ”This looks more like something the feds would use.”

”How much you think he heard?” Sonny asked.

”Everything,” Big Tony said, nodding at the pieces in Sonny's hand. ”Get that to Connie and see what he can find. Also check and see if our friend knows anything about this.”

”You got it.”

Big Tony turned to Henry. ”Check the local hospital. Who knows-maybe one of your p.i.s.s-poor shots got lucky.”

Rheyna heard the car doors open and close and the gravel crunch as the car left the parking lot. She laid her head down across her arms, thinking she just needed to rest for a few minutes. Her eyes seemed to close by their own volition-she tried to open them just for a second and then everything went black.

When she finally opened her eyes, it took her several minutes to realize where she was. She had no idea how long she had been unconscious. She slowly got to her knees and stood up-that was when she realized that every single part of her body ached.

She rubbed the side of her temple with her good hand, trying to soothe the throbbing vein. She felt as if she had been run over by a train and was ninety-nine percent sure she looked it, too. She looked around for signs of movement, but all she heard were crickets. She still had to be careful on her way back to the Jeep. It wouldn't surprise her in the least to find Castrucci sitting somewhere, waiting on the off chance of catching her.

Moving at a turtles pace, she made her way back to the parking lot, the place where this little adventure had begun. She was relieved to see the Jeep still sitting where she parked it. ”Ah, s.h.i.+t,” she muttered under her breath, realizing that she had a bigger problem.

Her Jeep was a stick s.h.i.+ft-there was no way she could drive it in her current condition, and going to the hospital was out of the question. She heard what Castrucci said to Henry, and she knew the first thing he would do was check all the emergency rooms. Although she didn't have a gunshot wound, she couldn't take the chance of having her name on a hospital list.

She opened the pa.s.senger-side door and rummaged around on the backseat for the old bandanna she had worn to Caroline's earlier in the day. She shut the door and walked over to the side of the warehouse. She crammed the bandanna in her mouth and bit down as hard as she could.

She took a step back and then slammed her shoulder into the corner of the building as hard as she could.

She heard a crunching sound and felt a pop as the bone went back into its socket. She fell to her knees, tears streaming down her cheeks. She took the bandanna out of her mouth and leaned back against the building.

After a few minutes, she pulled herself up and then wiped the sweat off her face with the bandanna. She walked back to the Jeep and got in. A glance at her watch, told her that she had been there for an hour and a half. That gave her a thirty-minute window before Laura went into panic mode. She pulled the Jeep out of the parking lot and hit the speed dial.

”Girl, you're cuttin' it a little close, aren't you?” Laura asked.

Rheyna downs.h.i.+fted, slowing the Jeep to a crawl as she came to a four-way stop, the move sending stabbing pains through her shoulder. ”Yeah, I know. I had a few problems,” she said through clenched teeth.

”Are you all right?” Laura asked, hearing Rheyna's deep intake of breath.

”Yeah, I'm okay.”

”Okay, you concentrate on driving and once you get home and settled, give me a call, so I can properly chew your a.s.s out.”

Rheyna chuckled. ”Yes, mother,” she said and hung up the phone. She had known when she decided to go into Baysh.o.r.e without a plan in place, that she would get a tongue-las.h.i.+ng from Laura. It was something she was not looking forward to getting. She was hoping that the Intel she got would lessen the beating.

It took Rheyna thirty minutes to get home. She took Annie out for a short walk and then went back inside. Instead of going out on the deck, she plopped down on the couch, filled with dread. She phoned Laura and sure enough, she got the tongue-las.h.i.+ng she expected. She gave her a quick replay of the events. She could tell that Laura was p.i.s.sed, but she also heard the concern in her voice.

”Are you sure you're all right?” Laura asked again.

”I've been a lot better,” Rheyna answered. She tilted her head back and popped a couple of aspirins into her mouth.

”For Christ's sake, Rheyna, you could've been killed. You should have phoned me first, d.a.m.n it.”

Rheyna found herself getting irritated. ”I did phone you-twice, to be exact,” she said matter-of-factly.

Laura's voice softened. ”I know, and I'm sorry. I got your messages and that's partly my fault. My cell died. I keep forgetting to charge the d.a.m.n thing.”

”But you're right. It was a really stupid thing to do and I won't do it again.”

”If you do, I just might kill you myself,” Laura said, half joking.

”Hey, that's not funny,” Rheyna said, pretending to sound hurt.

”I mean it, Rheyna. I don't care how much Intel you got. It was foolish.”

”Okay, Laura. I understand. I said it won't happen again.”

”I just don't want anything to happen to you.”

”I know and you're right. I should have known better.”

”Okay, then. Now that we have that settled, let's move on. So Castrucci never mentioned anyone by name?”

Rheyna unconsciously shook her head and realized that Laura couldn't hear her head shake. ”No. They just kept referring to this person as their friend. What concerns me most is that they know about Ron. Sonny described the program perfectly.”

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