Deep Hurt - Eva Hudson Page 0,63

She looked so tiny wired up to all those monitors. I just wanted to scoop her into my arms and protect her. Take her away with me. But I saw the cop guarding her. I figured she was in the best place. That she was safe. But as soon as she can travel I want her to go to my mom and dad’s too.”

The door opened and the female sergeant from the outer office held up a sheet of paper with the words: keep him talking, partial location only scrawled across it.

“A flight to the US and a chaperone will take some organizing, Kyle. It’d be much easier if you and Tommy come to the base, then we can start to put those wheels in motion for you.”

Foster didn’t reply.

“Kyle?”

“You’re lying,” Foster said, eventually. Then the line went dead.

“Goddammit!” Gurley slammed down the handset.

A moment later another MP ran in. “He’s in northeast England, within a ten mile radius of the center of Newcastle.”

Gurley considered the information for a moment. “A ten mile radius?” He paused a beat, glancing up at the ceiling. “That’s an area of over three hundred square miles. For crying out loud, you couldn’t do any better than that?”

“It took a little while to set up the trace. He hung up too soon.”

“I want a trace ready to go next time.”

“You think he’ll call back?” Ingrid asked.

“We have something he wants: a plane ride home for his son. Of course he’ll call back.”

“What did you make of all that? He seemed genuinely concerned for Tommy’s safety. And his daughter’s, for that matter. Do you think he was suggesting they’re not safe with Carrie?”

“Yes—I do think the sonofabitch was suggesting that.”

Ingrid remembered what Sherwood had told her about Carrie Foster’s ‘baby blues’. Maybe they were a lot more serious than she’d realized. “At least we solved the mystery of the impostor in Molly’s hospital room.”

“We were so close to him.”

“And now he’s over two hundred fifty miles away.”

“How’d he get to Newcastle so fast?” Gurley’s face had reddened.

“I’d say train, but the local cops should have been liaising with British Transport Police, watching all the local stations and train lines.”

“Should have been.”

“We need to check out the CCTV footage they have, maybe we’ll see something they missed.”

“So damn close,” Gurley said again and thumped the desk with a fist.

The female sergeant ran into the room again, stopped abruptly in front of Gurley’s desk and stood to attention.

“Tell me you’ve pin-pointed his location,” Gurley barked.

“No, sir. It’s something else.” The sergeant glanced at Ingrid, her lips pursed.

“For God’s sake, you can speak freely in front of Agent Skyberg!”

“The munitions store have just contacted me. A hand gun and ten rounds of ammunition are missing from their inventory.”

32

Ingrid managed to run after Gurley and climb into the passenger seat of the jeep just as he stamped his foot on the gas. He hadn’t invited her to join him, but she’d be damned if she let him shut her out. They made the three minute journey in silence—Gurley clearly too mad to talk.

The munitions store was on the other side of the base, a single-story concrete bunker with no windows and one double door made of steel. Gurley stopped the jeep without bothering to park it in the demarcated bay and jumped out. Ingrid made sure she was hot on his heels as the metal door opened and an MP stepped out.

“Sir!” The MP stood to attention.

“At ease. Show me where the gun was taken from,” Gurley said, stooping low to get through the doorway.

The MP stepped in front of Ingrid. “I’m sorry, ma’am. Authorized Air Force personnel only.”

“Hey, Major Gurley!” she called after him as he disappeared inside. “Tell him I have full authority.”

“Not Air Force authority,” Gurley shouted back at her.

The MP followed his superior inside and shut the door in Ingrid’s face. She slammed a hand against it. Then she took a deep breath and, eager not to feel completely useless, pulled her phone from her purse. She put in a call to Mike Stiller to find out what was happening with the abductee case, got his voicemail and left a curt message, taking her anger with Gurley out on Mike. Which wouldn’t help her get the information she wanted any faster. Then she put in another call to the local cops, requesting they make the CCTV footage from the local train stations available for viewing.

After that all she could do was pace up and down outside