Andrea Kane - The Girl Who Disappeared Twice

“But if that’s true, how could she leave Krissy alone in that prison? Who does she think is caring for her?”

“Felicity’s not thinking rationally. She’ll convince herself that somehow she’ll get back to her baby. We can’t trust the sanity of her reactions. We have to find Krissy firsthand.”

“What if Felicity panics and Krissy gets hurt?”

“Felicity is right here at Sunny Gardens, Hope. She’s not with Krissy. Which means that your daughter’s not in any imminent danger. Don’t fall apart on me now.”

“There’s an awful lot of staff milling around,” Ryan noted with a frown. “I don’t know how much they were told, but I wish they’d go about their business. We want things to look as normal as possible.”

At that moment, Felicity rose, telling Linda that she needed to use the ladies’ room. She left everything-her tote bag, and the shopping bag with all the goodies she’d brought-for Linda to enjoy. She then disappeared in the direction of the main building.

“Good,” Ryan said. “She’s going inside. Let’s use this time. I’ll give Jeri Koehler, the head nurse, a call, and tell her to page some of her personnel. That way, when Felicity gets back, she won’t have an audience waiting for her.”

He made the phone call on the private line Jeri had given him.

Soon afterward, the area around Linda began to clear.

“Smart move,” Casey praised Ryan. “We don’t want Felicity catching on to the surveillance.”

Fifteen minutes later, Casey wasn’t so sure.

“Where the hell is she?” she muttered. “It was a trip to the bathroom, not to the supermarket.”

“She might have stopped to talk to Linda’s doctor,” Marc suggested. “She left her tote bag, so I think we’re safe. Women don’t travel without their pocketbooks.”

“No, they don’t.” Casey was scooting over to the door, her reaction the antithesis of Marc’s. “Not even to the bathroom. Marc, unlock the buttons. And sit here with Hope.”

He complied at once, looping around and sliding in on the opposite side of the car, so Hope had no chance of following Casey.

“Where are you going?” Hope asked Casey in alarm.

“To make sure I’m not overreacting.” She wasn’t.

Because before Casey had taken her first step out of the van, she saw Peg jump out of her car and head over to Don’s, leaning in the window and waving her hand as she spoke. A minute later, a handful of agents and cops got out of their cars and scattered, some scrutinizing the parking lot, others making a beeline for the front door.

The top brass met Peg there, the hospital administrator clearly distraught.

Casey raced across the street and through the gates, charging up to the front door. “What’s happened?”

Peg turned to her. “One of the nurses was knocked out in the ladies’ room,” she replied tersely. “Her cap and uniform are missing. So are her car keys. And Felicity is nowhere to be found.”

As she spoke, Bob and Hutch flung open the doors and exited the building. “The nurse’s car is gone,” Bob reported. “Our offender must have used the electronic button on the key fob to find it. She took off out the back door. I’ve got the car’s make and model and the license plate.”

“Dammit.” Peg turned to the group of agents and cops around her. “Divide up. Guy, call the locals to cover the immediate area. Don, call the state police to patrol the highways. Will, check the closest car rentals, in case she does a dump and run like last time. And Jack, assemble a team to check the train and bus stations. She’s not getting away.”

Casey’s features tightened. “Peg, let me collect scent samples from the tote bag and chair in the garden for Hero to sniff. He’s a former Bureau dog. He’ll become familiar with Felicity’s scent. We might need it.”

Peg gave a hard nod. “Go.”

As Casey turned, a restraining hand clamped down on her forearm. She turned, staring into Hutch’s blazing eyes. “You can do your thing,” he bit out. “But that’s all. No creative tactics. Not this time. As for Hope Willis, keep her in that van. We don’t want her to leap out and screw this up. And we don’t want any of our people being put in the position of having to figure out who’s Hope and who’s Felicity.”

“I hear you loud and clear, Hutch.” Casey glanced down at her arm. “Now if you’d let me go, I’ll get to work.”

He released her at once.

Casey turned and sprinted back to the van, yanking open the door and giving this assignment to her Navy SEAL. “Marc, take Hero and get over to the garden,” she directed. “Very carefully, collect scent samples from everything Felicity touched.” She made brief eye contact with Marc. They understood each other perfectly. “Go now.”

“Done.” He was out of the van and around back, harnessing Hero and taking off. Simultaneously, Casey jumped into the backseat, and Ryan climbed out of the rear and ran around front, sitting in the driver’s seat and locking the buttons.

Hope was only frozen for an instant. Then, she turned to Casey. “Felicity’s gone?”

“Yes.”

“You said this couldn’t happen. Your promised me that…”

The rest of Hope’s sentence was swallowed up by the screaming sound of an ambulance, which raced by and veered into the entrance of Sunny Gardens.

“Who’s hurt?” Hope demanded.

“A nurse. Felicity did to her the same thing she did to Ashley. Then, she stole her uniform and her car and left through the rear entrance.” Casey seized Hope’s hands. “I know what I promised you. And, yes, Felicity was more clever than we expected. She either spotted an agent, or noticed the unusual number of staff members nearby. I don’t know. What I do know is that we’ll find her. The entire task force is on it, plus every state and local cop within the three neighboring counties. She’s only been gone five or ten minutes. She couldn’t have gotten far.”

“Oh, dear God.” Hope shifted in her seat. “I’ve got to do something.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve got to fight the urge to act. If you interfere, it could blow this entire rescue. Especially if you try to take on Felicity. The agents won’t be able to tell you two apart. That could have horrible results. Just follow my instructions. We’ll get Krissy back.”

They watched as the lineup of unmarked law enforcement cars took off, traveling in different directions.

A few minutes later, Marc ran Hero back to the car. He’d brought one of Felicity’s scent pads from the garden so her scent would remain under Hero’s nose. “Let’s go. We’ll navigate the local roads, and cover a five-mile radius. The streets are curvy and narrow. She couldn’t have gone far.”

“I’ll use my new GPS,” Ryan said. “It’s sophisticated enough to register even the small local streets.” He’d already turned on the ignition and was shifting gears, waiting only until Marc was inside the vehicle before roaring off.

As Marc had predicted, the country roads were winding and narrow. If Felicity was familiar with them, then she had a definite advantage.

They’d covered a half mile of territory, when Casey’s phone rang.

She glanced down at the number as she answered. “Hutch?”

“They found the car she stole,” he reported. “It was abandoned in the woods across from the railroad station, two miles west of Sunny Gardens. I figured you’d want to know.”

“Thank you.” Casey got it. Hutch was extending an olive branch after his harsh display at Sunny Gardens. Last time, he’d passed on the task force’s update to Marc. This time he was going directly to her-furious or not. “We’re on our way.”

Casey hung up and shifted forward on the seat, staring at the GPS. “Head for the Garrison train station. About a mile and a half from here. There.” She pointed at the railroad tracks on the GPS monitor. “She dumped the car and hopped a train.”