Page 8 of Deadly Rescue
Celina blew out a sigh, anxious to get her part started. Once the teams had a chance to do their sweep and the radiation levels were brought down to a safe level, Celina, along with two other crime scene photographers, would be sent in to take pictures and video. For now they were cooling their heels and waiting to hear the word.
Movement from the corner of her eye drew her attention as a couple of EMT workers left one of the medic tents where they were triaging the ‘injured’. They were dressed similarly, save for one wearing a baseball cap who slunk off toward an exit door marked with fluorescent pink tape. Her eyes widened when he glanced over his shoulder and she caught a glimpse of the face beneath the bill. It was the biker guy from the bar the previous night.
The exit door swung shut behind him as she watched.Huh. Guess he’s part of the training session after all.
Feeling like a heel for having judged him, Celina started to brush it off, but the pink tape brought her up short. No one was authorized to leave the designated areas of the live session, and the EMT had just blown right by the pink tape marking a restricted section.
What is he up to?
A cigarette break? A phone call? A run to the bathroom? Fine time to do any of that when people were injured and a dirty bomb was wreaking havoc…
Celina skirted around several people to get to the EMT Mr. Baseball Cap had emerged with. “Hey, sorry to bother you, but do you know that guy you were just walking with?”
“What?” The EMT was clearly busy and she walked swiftly to keep up with him.
“The EMT wearing the camouflage baseball cap. Do you know him?”
The guy grabbed a box of latex gloves from one of the supply tables and headed back toward the tent again. “Um, he’s new. Jim something. Said he’s with Unit 62 across town. Didn’t plan to be here today, but one of the other guys called in sick this morning. Why?”
Hmm. “Any reason he’d go into one of the restricted areas for something?”
“Restricted area?” The guy shook his head, looking slightly aggravated at Celina’s persistence as she followed him. “Nah, he said he forgot his nametag in his ambulance. Went to get it after our team leader gave him shit.”
“But the ambulances are parked out front,” she said as much to herself as to him. “He’s heading in the wrong direction.”
The EMT shrugged. “He’ll figure it out.”
He ducked into the tent.
One of the security guards passed by her and she grabbed his arm. “Hey, a new EMT just went into a restricted area. I think he’s confused about where the front doors of this place are. It’s so huge, he’s probably turned around. Can you go find him?”
This guy, too, was in a hurry to get somewhere and she had to follow him. “Sure, lady. I’ve got six people who need help, I’ll get right on finding your lost guy.”
Celina stopped in place and started to smart off, but the security officer was already gone, disappearing into the crowd.
The door Baseball Cap had gone through was only a few feet away.
A quick glance and she saw her CSI team was still standing around doing nothing, and pausing only a moment, she slipped out the same door.
The hallway was silent, no fog in the dark corridor, and the only sound the swishing of her biochemical suit as she walked. Using her cell phone’s flashlight, she illuminated the dark hallway, peering into doorways as she passed. Only silence greeted her and she chewed her lower lip, wondering where the hell the guy had gone.
It really wasn’t her business, and yet, she felt the pull to find him and get him back on track. Someone could get lost in the huge arena.
The corridor led to stairs down and another section of the building she’d never been in before. Her flashlight beam illuminated signs with directions and arrows. She passed entrances to locker rooms and a large workout room. Nobody was there.
She was about to turn back when she heard a man’s voice coming from a distant hallway. “I’ve got it handled…yeah, they’re all here. I’m going to get the ambulance now. Deton—” he paused. “Gotta go. Be ready in ten.”
Be ready in ten? Had she heard that right?
She started to call out and ask if he was lost, but something made her keep her mouth shut. She inched toward the end of the hall.
Silence, the conversation apparently over, hung heavy, and then she heard the squeak of booted footsteps hurrying away on the linoleum floor.
She glanced back the way she’d come. The EMT’s words rang in her ears,Didn’t plan to be here today, but one of the other guys called in sick this morning.
Except the man had been in the bar last night.
Whoever he was, he was up to no good, she could feel it in her bones.
