Page 18 of Left Behind

“Seek, Ghost, seek!” The giant German shepherd whined as his ears came up.

Cameron dropped the purse where he’d found it and gave Ghost his head. When the dog went straight into the trees, it answered one question for Cameron. Carey Eggers was somewhere in the woods.

Ghost turned into the heat-seeking missile that he was and started running, keeping Cameron on the move behind him. Twice, the dog was confused by the scent and circled until he keyed in on it again.

By the way Ghost was tracking, Cameron feared the woman was disoriented, or she would have had no reason to go into the trees. She would have either stayed in the car or started walking down the road.

Then Ghost whined and began straining at the leash to go faster. Cameron unclipped it from the shepherd’s collar and let him go, then had to run even faster to keep up. Minutes later, Ghost disappeared, and Cameron kept running toward the place he’d seen him last.

He was coming upon a small clearing when he saw something on the ground up ahead. A cell phone! Then he heard Ghost whining, followed the sound, and walked up on his dog lying with his head across the legs of a woman’s body.

Damn it. “Good boy,” Cameron said as he knelt beside the body and laid his hand on Ghost’s head. He was about to reach to check her pulse when he saw the bullet hole in the back of her shirt. “What the hell?”

He slid his hand down the side of her neck and was shocked she had a pulse. It was faint and thready, but she was alive. He rolled her over and saw bruises on her face, a cut on her forehead, and when he pushed her shirt aside to look for an exit wound, he saw bruises on her belly. That had to be from the wreck.

“You ran into the trees because someone was after you, didn’t you, Carey? Hang in there, girl. I’m calling for help.”

He grabbed his sat phone to call for an ambulance and then called the county sheriff’s office.

***

Sheriff Rance Woodley was writing up a maintenance request to get plumbing repaired in two of the jail cells when the dispatcher buzzed his desk. He picked up the receiver.

“This is Woodley.”

“Sir, we just received a call from Cameron Pope on Pope Mountain. He and his dog found a woman in the woods up above his house. He thought he was looking for the driver of a wrecked car up in the trees, but when he and his dog found her, she had a bullet wound in her back. She has head wounds and bruises, likely from the wreck. He thought she was dead, but then realized she still had a pulse. He’s already called for an ambulance to take her in to Jubilee Hospital, but since she was shot in our jurisdiction, we caught the case.”

“Shot! Well, damn,” Woodley said, remembering another shooting up on the mountain a couple of years back. “Okay…get the directions to the crime lab and get them on the scene, dispatch a couple of officers, and call a tow service for the wrecked car, too. I’ll be en route to the hospital to see if she’s regained consciousness, and then I’ll contact the team on the ground.”

“Yes, sir,” the dispatcher said, and disconnected.

Woodley glanced at the paperwork. The plumbing request was going to have to wait. He picked up the phone.

***

Jubilee Police Chief Sonny Warren was at his computer when his phone rang. He hit Save and then reached for the receiver.

“Hello.”

“Sonny, it’s Rance. I’m about to invade your world again. Just got a call about a shooting victim in the woods just up from Cameron Pope’s place.”

Sonny frowned. “Who found her?”

“Cameron and his dog. I’m told your ambulance crew will be picking her up, but I’m towing in the car the driver wrecked before it was abandoned. I’m on my way to Jubilee in the hopes she regains consciousness. She left a purse in the car. Cameron checked the ID. It matches the woman he found. Her name is Carey Eggers. When he found her, he thought she was dead, so she’s probably not in good condition. Do me a favor. It’ll take me a while to get there, so would you please go meet the ambulance when they bring her in and see if she’s talking? I don’t want to lose the chance of getting any info in case she passes. You know the drill.”

“Yes, I can do that,” Sonny said.

“Thanks. I’ll see you soon.”

***

Sonny was in the ER when they brought in the woman from the wreck. She looked dead, so it was no wonder Cameron thought she was, and as soon as they had her stabilized, she went straight to surgery. Her condition was dire, and surgery was her only option for survival, so an interview was not going to happen. Disappointed, he sat down to wait, and shortly thereafter, Sheriff Woodley arrived in the lobby.

“Anything?” he asked as he sat down beside Sonny.

Sonny shook his head. “She’s in bad shape. Never did regain consciousness before they took her to surgery.”

“Well, thanks for covering for me. I’ll take it from here,” Rance said.

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