Obviously a dead woman, Seth’s brain processed as the shock quickly passed.
“Any of you have a cell phone?” he asked, having left his own in his truck.
“It’s freaky,” the blond boy exclaimed as he wore a path back and forth in the sand. “Jeez, who would do something like that?”
“A phone,” Seth barked. “Anyone have a phone?” The tall, frozen man stumbled back a couple of steps and pulled a phone from his pocket.
“Call for help,” Seth commanded as he took a step closer to the body. “All three of you get over there by my bike.”
The last thing he wanted was for everyone to trample what was obviously a crime scene. Whoever the woman was, she hadn’t willingly lain down in the sand and buried herself. However, as an FBI agent he wanted to get closer, assure himself she was dead despite the obvious.
“The sheriff is on his way,” one of the guys said.
As Seth approached the woman, he was vaguely aware of the three others talking among themselves, their voices all holding a barely contained edge of hysteria.
There was no question the scene was disconcerting. There was no indication of her body beneath the sand, simply a face half-emerged from the sandy surface, like some art sculpture left behind by a mentally ill artist.
Careful not to step where he assumed her body must be, Seth knelt down at the side of the face and swept away some of the sand that covered her closed eyes.
In all of his years as an FBI agent working violent crimes, he’d never seen anything like this, and he’d certainly seen a lot of evil things.
He brushed a bit more sand away from her eyes and froze as he thought one of her eyelids twitched. A trick of the sun? He touched her skin. Warm...warmed by the heat of the day or by blood still flowing through her veins?
Quickly he dug through the sand by her neck, seeking the place where he might find a pulse. It took him only seconds to find her pulse point and place his fingers against it. He nearly yelped in surprise as he felt the beat of life throbbing there.
“She’s alive,” he yelled. “Get over here and help me. We’ve got to get this sand off her.”
Two of the three ran to help Seth as he began to scoop sand away from her neck and her chest. As he worked on her upper body the other two men worked on her thighs and legs. The tall young man appeared to be in some state of shock still, standing like a robot in front of Seth’s dirt bike.
“Hey, call the sheriff back and tell him we need an ambulance,” Seth instructed the robot. “And tell him to hurry.”
“This is so freaky...so freakin’ freaky,” the dark-haired man said as he uncovered a jean-clad leg.
“Are you sure she’s alive?” the other one asked as he worked on getting the last of the sand off her other leg.
It all felt like a weird dream to Seth. As she was freed of the sand, his mind clicked off details. She was dressed in worn jeans and a blue T-shirt. One foot wore a gold sandal, the other one was bare. Her hair was dark, although it was so embedded with sand it was hard to discern an exact color.
“Sheriff Atkins is here,” one of them said in relief.
Seth didn’t look up from the woman. Once again he sought the side of her neck to assure himself that she was still breathing. At that moment her eyes flew open.
Bright blue, they connected with Seth for one long moment. Before Seth could react, she skittered backward like a crab, her pupils dilating as her eyes filled with an abject terror Seth knew he’d never forget.
“It’s okay. You’re safe now,” Seth said as she continued an attempt to escape, her eyes darting around wildly, like a crab seeking a rock to hide under.
As she moved she made sounds that no human being should ever make, the sound of terror too great for words. She got about three feet away from them and then with an audible moan, she collapsed.
By that time the sheriff had joined them. “FBI Agent Seth Hawkins,” he said quickly. “We called for an ambulance,” he added curtly. “We’ve got a crime scene and a live victim here who needs immediate medical care.”
“We only have two ambulances who serve this area and both of them are currently working a four-car pile-up on