Fatal Care (41 page)

Jake quickly moved to the rear of the SUV and crouched down low. Something or someone had caused that cat to scamper. Was it the hitter? Could be. He had to find out. Because if it was the hitter, all she had to do was keep circling, and she’d eventually get a clear shot at him.

Jake removed a shoe and tied a white handkerchief around the toe. Holding the shoe by its heel, he slowly advanced it from behind the rear fender. He heard the soft popping sound made by a weapon with a silencer. The shoe flew out of his hand.

Christ! She’s close, so close. No more than twenty feet away. And she knows exactly where I am. Shit
! Jake cursed at the stupid error he’d made.
I should have kept her guessing. I shouldn’t have tipped off my position. But I did, and now she’s got me boxed in behind this car. I’m trapped
.

Jake hurriedly glanced around the parking area, looking for a way out. There were empty parking spaces to his right and left, so he couldn’t run laterally. And it was impossible for him to make it back to the condominium without giving her a clear shot.

Jake heard a sound coming from the direction of the hitter, but he couldn’t make out what it was. The hitter was on the move, he thought. She’d probably go to her left, where there was virtually no light at all. Again he quickly scanned the area, searching for an escape route. There wasn’t any. Jake considered crawling under the Ford SUV.
No. That’s the first place she’d look
. And besides, the exhaust pipe was hanging so low he’d have trouble—

Jake stopped in midthought and stared at the exhaust pipe. It was thick and strong and at least two feet in length. It just might work for what he had in mind. He rapidly took off his coat and then ripped off the exhaust pipe. Next he inserted the metal pipe into the shoulders of his coat. The coat now hung as if it was on a hanger. Ever so slowly, Jake advanced the left shoulder of the coat from behind the car.

The hitter fired twice. Two bullets tore into the coat, nearly blowing off the sleeve. Jake went to the ground, letting go of the coat. Then he made a guttural sound of a badly wounded man. “Ahhhh! Ahhhh!”

The hitter moved in carefully, her eyes fixed on the victim’s coat. He wasn’t moving, but she could still hear his groans. And that meant he could still be dangerous. Now she could see more of his broad shoulder. She fired another round and the coat jumped off the ground. When it landed, it made a metallic sound.

Sara inched in closer for a better look. In the dim light she saw a rumpled-up coat and beside it a piece of metal pipe. She stared at the objects on the pavement, confused. It took her a moment to figure it out, but by then Jake had her lined up in his sights.

Sara spun around just as Jake fired off two rounds, both catching her high in the chest. She slowly dropped to her knees, with a look of total disbelief. Then she fell forward facedown onto the pavement.

Jake cautiously walked over with his gun still pointed at her. He kicked her weapon aside, watching her head and hands for any movement. Everything stayed still. Using his foot, he roughly turned her over, all the while keeping his gun trained on her.

Frothy blood was gushing from her mouth and chest. Then her lips began to move. With her last breath, Jake thought he heard her calling for someone named David.

Joanna felt like she was freezing to death. Despite the blanket wrapped around her shoulders, she was shivering so hard her teeth chattered. And it seemed to be getting colder by the minute.

She was standing in a shallow ravine, resting against a large boulder and trying to decide what to do next. Should she run or hide? Which would give her the best chance to survive and maybe escape? Joanna shook her head at the notion of escape, pushing it aside. She had to concentrate on surviving and staying away from the dogs. But how? She was facing an endless, barren desert with no food or shelter and damn little water. How do you survive that?

In the distance Joanna heard the dogs barking. Suddenly all her senses were heightened even more.
Oh, Christ! They’re coming
! Her heart pounded at the thought of being caught and torn apart by attack dogs. And the bastards at Bio-Med would let the dogs do it, too. Joanna shuddered, remembering an autopsy she’d done on an elderly man who had been ravaged by a pack of rottweilers. They had ripped off chunks from his body. It had taken him twenty-four hours to die.

Joanna hurriedly pushed herself away from the boulder and started up the ravine, wondering which way to go.
To the left? Or right? Or straight ahead? Which way, damn it
?

At the top of the ravine she glanced around quickly and tried to get her bearings. She was totally disoriented, not knowing east from west or in what direction the Bio-Med plant lay.

The dogs barked again.

Joanna thought they were closer than before. Frantically she scanned the area around her, looking for a stick or stone or some object she could use as a weapon. But all she saw was shadows and darkness. The night seemed pitch black despite the stars and quarter moon shining above. Again she searched around, trying to pick out things in the dimness. Near her feet she spotted a narrow, straight object. A stick or metal rod, she guessed, and reached down for it. She felt its scaly surface as the object slithered away. Joanna jerked her hand back.
A snake! A goddamn snake
!

She backed away, looking at the ground and searching for the location of the snake. All she could see was sand and shadows. She wiped her hand against her jeans to get the feeling off.
That damn thing could have bitten me and I’d be dead. Be careful! There can be plenty of things that kill you in the desert other than attack dogs
.

As she backed up farther, her boot caught in a crevice. She waved her arms desperately and tried to regain her balance, but couldn’t. She tumbled head over heels down the steep ravine. Her knee and thigh hit something very hard, and she felt a sharp pain shoot up and down her leg. Then something knocked the breath out of her. She lay at the bottom of the ravine, gasping for air and choking on the desert sand in her mouth and nose.

Slowly she caught her breath and sat up, spitting to clear the grit from her tongue and lips. The shooting pain continued to run up and down her leg, a little less than before. But it still hurt like hell. Carefully she moved her leg and flexed her knee to make certain no bones were broken. She reached down and touched the most painful spot. Just below the knee her jeans were torn, and Joanna could feel blood. She didn’t want to put her finger on the wound and increase the chance of infecting it even more. So she took a Kleenex tissue from her shirt pocket, pressed it against the lacerated area, and then waited for the bleeding to stop and for the tissue to attach itself to the wound with dried blood.

Joanna listened intently for the dogs, but all she heard was the swirling wind.

I’m making stupid mistakes, and I’m going to get myself killed. So stupid to look for a weapon. How much good would that do against vicious attack dogs and armed guards? I can’t beat them physically. They’d overpower me in a second. But mentally, that’s another matter. I’ve thought my way out of tough situations before, and I can do it again.

Joanna shook her head despondently. She knew she was fooling herself. All the odds were against her. She was in a harsh environment totally unfamiliar to her.
Shit
! She really was as good as dead this time.

She should have listened to Jake and not tried something so risky. And so stupid. She had walked right into a trap. And all the warning signs were there. Joanna had simply ignored them. Nancy Tanaka told Joanna that the people at Bio-Med no longer trusted her and were watching her closely. Which probably meant they knew that Nancy and Joanna were meeting in secret. And Nancy told the guard at the gate she’d be coming back later that night. And the guard promptly informed Eric Brennerman. That was the tip-off. Brennerman knew they were coming, and he knew when. There were warning signs everywhere for Joanna. She just overlooked them. And that was going to cost her her life.

The bleeding from her leg wound had stopped. The Kleenex tissue was firmly stuck to it. Slowly Joanna stood and tried the leg. It still hurt, but she could walk. With effort she climbed out of the ravine and again listened for the dogs. There was nothing but the sound of the wind.

Where are those damn dogs? They are supposedly
such great trackers. So why aren’t they closing in on me
?

The wind gusted and swirled around Joanna, and that gave her the answer. The wind was blowing in from behind her. She was downwind, so the gusts were blowing her scent away from the dogs. That would give her time. As long as the direction of the wind didn’t change.

Joanna gathered up all her strength and resolve.
Screw it
! If they were going to get her, make them work for it. And maybe, just maybe, if she could stay alive long enough she might find a way out of this mess.

Joanna knew that was wishful thinking, but she still forced herself to concentrate on survival.
Stay alive! Think
! Keep one step ahead of them. Remember, as long as you’re alive, there’s still a chance.
Stay alive! And think
! Devise a plan to outsmart them and their damn dogs.

Joanna heard the dogs barking in the distance. But they seemed far away and the wind was still swirling.

Make a plan
, she told herself again,
and think it through. There’s no room for mistakes now
.

First, do I run or hide?

Staying hidden would mean sure death, she quickly decided. It would be easier for the dogs to sniff out a sitting target. And if she remained in one place, she’d probably fall asleep and stay that way. And if the dogs or snakes didn’t kill her, the exposure would. No. Better to keep moving and hide at opportune times when the dogs were thrown off her scent.

So run! But in what direction?

She didn’t want to run back toward the Bio-Med plant and the dogs. That was the last thing she wanted to do. She had to move eastward, away from the plant. But which way was that?

Joanna rapidly glanced around, looking for something familiar that she might have passed on her way to the ravine. Everything was a blur in the darkness. Her gaze went to the moon above and the stars around it. She picked out the Big Dipper and Little Dipper. Where was the North Star? Then she saw it shining brightly. It was in the handle of the Little Dipper. Joanna quickly oriented herself. This way north, this way south. This way east and away from Bio-Med and the dogs.

So now I know in what direction to run. But what do I run to? What am I looking for?

Look for hills and ravines and maybe caves to hide in. When daylight came she’d be an easy target to spot on flat terrain. And she’d be easier to track. Not only by the dogs but by the four-wheel-drive vehicles the guards would be sure to have. A cave would be a perfect hiding place, Joanna thought, but then she thought again. Wild animals used caves as their lairs. Not only coyotes, but wildcats, too. Big wildcats. Shit! She’d have to be careful.

The dogs barked again, louder now.

The wind was dying.

Joanna walked quickly away from the ravine, head down, watching for rocks and holes and snakes. The ground was rough and uneven, and with each step Joanna’s boot rubbed up against her lacerated leg wound. The Kleenex fell off. Blood started flowing again. And the pain was worse.

Joanna plodded through the thick sand. Intermittently, she glanced up at the North Star and tried to keep her course due east. She seemed to be going uphill, the ground becoming more uneven. Her boot was rubbing hard against her leg wound, taking off scab and skin. Joanna could feel blood dripping down her leg and collecting in her boot. She pushed on, but the pain worsened to the point of being intolerable.

Reluctantly she stopped and sat on a small boulder. She carefully removed her boot and in the moonlight examined the leg wound. It was a jagged laceration at least two inches long with badly abraded edges. Blood was oozing out in a steady stream.

Joanna reached under her oxford cloth shirt and took off her bra. She wound it around the laceration and then tied it tightly, making sure one of the cups was firmly pressed against the open cut. It’s certain to get infected, Joanna thought miserably, wishing she had something to clean it with. Using her last Kleenex, she mopped up the blood from inside her boot and then discarded the tissue. With care, she eased her boot back on.

Joanna trudged through the desert sand, going down a slope then up another. The makeshift bra bandage helped some, but the pain was still bad enough to cause her to limp. She pressed on, wanting to put as much distance as possible between herself and her trackers. And her best chance to do it was now, before daylight came.

For some reason she could suddenly see farther and better. The desert floor was pitted and rocky, resembling the surface of Mars. In the distance were shadows that could be hills. Joanna couldn’t be sure.

The makeshift bandage on her leg was slipping down. The top of her boot was again rubbing up against her leg wound. Joanna reached down to adjust the bandage. The bra cup was soaked through with blood.

The wind abruptly picked up and changed direction. It was now blowing into her face. A streak of fear went through Joanna as she realized what was happening. The wind would now carry her scent directly back to the tracking dogs. And they would have the perfect scent to follow. Joanna’s blood.

Somewhere behind her, the dogs began to bark loudly and excitedly. They had picked up the trail and were closing in.

Jake awoke with a start. Sunlight was streaking through the windshield and directly into his eyes. He quickly blinked away his sleep and checked the dashboard clock. It was 7:20 A.M.

He shook his head to clear the cobwebs, thinking back to the shoot-out in the parking lot. The blond hitter and her accomplice had died at the scene. It had taken the police and the medical examiners over two hours to investigate the shooting incident. Then Jake had to go to police headquarters to complete a stack of paperwork. By the time everything was done, it was almost six o’clock. Jake had decided to return to Joanna’s condominium, but never made it. He was driving through Brentwood when a sudden wave of fatigue flooded through his body. The fatigue was so intense he had to pull over to the curb or he would have fallen asleep behind the wheel. He had meant to doze for only a few minutes. Instead he had slept for an hour and a half. Jake turned on the ignition, cursing at himself for wasting valuable time.