Lillian Duncan - Until Death Do Us Part (12 page)

CHAPTER
31

Dylan was stretched out on the hill with his feet pointing downward. He looked over at Billy Clyde. “This is quite the mess we’ve gotten ourselves into, partner.”

“You ain’t kidding about that, brother. I can’t—”

His next words were drowned out by the chopper landing in the street.

Two soldiers
jumped out of the army green helicopter wearing fatigues while a third person handed them a portable gurney, their faces were grim as they rushed toward Dylan.

Unbelievable
. This was no ordinary medical helicopter. The Army green chopper had a red cross in a white circle emblazoned on the side but the other symbol below it blew his mind.

The presidential seal.

Billy Clyde certainly had his resources. They joked about it, but the truth was Billy Clyde had connections.

The two men set the portable gurney on the grass. The helicopter turned off the motor at the same time
and the quiet felt good to Dylan’s ears. People walked out of their houses with jaws open staring at the spectacle.

After all, i
t wasn’t every day that a helicopter landed in the middle of their street.

“
Ok, we’re going to put you on this and move you into the helicopter.”

“I can walk to the helicop—”

The medic nodded. “I’m sure you can, sir, but it’s better if you not move.”

“What do you want me to do?” Billy Clyde asked.

One of the men looked over at him. “No disrespect, sir. But we’ll handle this.”

In spite of the throbbing in his leg, Dylan chuckled.

Billy Clyde glanced his way. “Enjoyed that, did you, Monroe?” He looked at the medic, winked, and stepped back. “None taken.”

In moments,
the two men moved Dylan onto the gurney and he being carried to the helicopter, feeling foolish. He was more than capable of walking.

Billy Clyde walked beside them. “I’m going to go calm the neighbors down. Don’t want them thinking we’re being invaded or anything. Be back in a few.”

A man crouched low at the helicopter door. He grabbed the handles of the gurney and the medic moved his hands to the side as the three of them guided Dylan and his gurney into the helicopter.

The moment he was in, m
onitors were slapped on, IV’s inserted, and temperature taken. One of the technicians approached him with a knife.

“I’d appreciate it if we tried to save the pants. There the only ones I have.”

The man glanced to the waiting woman, also in fatigues. She nodded. The medic set down the knife. Dylan unbuckled his pants and seconds later lay half-naked.

The technician
drew blood from his calf, his thigh and his arm, then nodded at the woman. She stepped forward. “I’m Dr. Marsh. We were told you were bitten by several timber rattlesnakes. Are you sure about that?”

Billy Clyde hopped into the helicopter
. “I am.”

“Perhaps, it was—”

Billy Clyde put his hand in his pants pocket and pulled out a dead snake. “You can check it out for yourself if you don’t believe me.”

The doctor’s eyes widened and she jerked back for a moment. “That’s a timber all right.
Stephen, go ahead with the first injection.” She pointed to a spot below the first bite. “Right there.”

After the injection the doctor, turned to Dylan. “We wanted to give you the first injection immediately, but we’ll wait for further treatment until your blood test results come in. They’ll give us an idea how much venom you received.”

“Does it matter?” Dylan lifted his head up from the gurney.

“It does.” She nodded. “Not all rattlesnake bites actuall
y have venom in them. The tests will let us know exactly how much you have in your bloodstream. And then we can proceed with treatment. However, we always give a first injection without waiting. The sooner the anti-venom gets in your bloodstream the better.”

The on-board medical technician adjusted Dylan’s IV
and patted his shoulder. “It will be fine. Dr. Marsh is an excellent doctor.”

Dylan nodded but said nothing. The nausea was getting worse. And his leg was numb. He hated the fact Billy Clyde was here with him instead of looking for Theresa.

Dylan’s eyes took in the helicopter. It had been transformed into a state of the art medical center by the looks of it. He was on one bed but another bed was pushed to the side. There were monitors and machines all neatly tucked into their rightful spaces.

Billy touched his shoulder.
“Do you want me to call Reggie?”

“No, she’ll
panic. I’ll call her later after I hear what the doctors have to say. No point in worrying her until we know what the damage is.” Dylan lowered his voice. “Maybe, someone could take a look at your arm while we’re here.”

Billy Clyde shook his head.
“It’s fine. Barely feel it anymore.” He pointed up to where the pilot sat. “I’ll be up there if you need me.”

“Good idea. Not much room back here. ”
The doctor leaned down to inspect his bites. Then poked them with a gloved finger.              

He moaned.

She looked back at him. “Did you feel that?”

No, he was just moaning because it felt so good.
“Yes.”

“How would you describe the pain
? On a scale from one to ten?”

“Six
—maybe seven.”

She nodded and placed her hand on the bottom of his feet. “Press as hard as you can.”

He pressed. She went through a series of neurological tests. When she finished the technician turned from the microscope. “Good news, Dr. Marsh. Only a negligible amount of venom in his bloodstream.”

“Are you sure about that, Stephen?”

“Absolutely.” He handed her the clipboard.

She studied it for a moment and then
looked at Dylan. “You’re a very lucky man, Mr. Monroe. Four snakebites and practically no venom. Almost unheard of.”

Billy Clyde
called from the front of the helicopter. “You might even say it’s a miracle, huh doctor?”

A quizzical expression crossed her face. “I suppose you could.”

“God is good, my brother.” Billy Clyde stood but bent low since he was too tall to stand upright in the helicopter. He looked at the doctor. “We believe in miracles.”

She cracked
a smile. “In that case, I’d say you got your miracle today.” She turned back to Dylan. “But you aren’t out of the woods yet. Infection could still set in. You need to be careful.”

“But I can leave, right?
No reason for me to go to a hospital?”

The doctor’s eyes flitted back and forth between Billy Clyde and himself. “I have a feeling my answer won’t matter much. To either of you.
My orders were to come and treat your snakebites not make you go to the hospital. So, here’s my answer. We’re going to give you an antibiotic drip along with pain meds and then you can go. And another shot of anti-venom just to be safe.”

“How long?”

“Why? Are you in a hurry, Mr. Monroe?”

“Well, sort of.”

“I don’t want to know.” She shook her head. “At least thirty minutes.”

“Works for me, doctor.” Billy Clyde nodded and patted Dylan on the shoulder. “Just relax.
God was watching over you, my brother.”

“I’ll say. But you don’t need to wait for me,
I can find my way back to your house.”

“You should call Reggie now
and get back up to your wife and to that farm of yours in Fredericksburg. I don’t want you—”

“No way. I’m not leav
ing here until we find Theresa.”

“I figured that’s what you’d say
. We’ll need to do a better search of this abandoned house.”

“You sure you don’t want to call the FBI in or something?”

His voice barely above a whisper, Billy Clyde shook his head. “Now that I’ve committed a felony, it’s probably not the best idea. I’ll handle it myself.”

CHAPTER 32

On hands and knees, Reggie scrubbed the blood off the bathroom floor. Her eyes burned from the cleaner as she tried not to breathe in the nasty chemicals.

After waiting for someone to show up—anyone, she’d decided
she might as well be useful. Cleaning up the mess in the bathroom seemed like a good idea. No reason for Theresa to see it.

She wasn’t quite sure how
she knew Theresa hadn’t seen the mess yet. But she was sure it was true. Just the same way she knew the blood she was cleaning up was Billy’s and not Dylan’s.

Judging the condition of the door frame, Billy had been locke
d in here bleeding and Dylan managed to knock it down. Her hero. One of the reasons she loved him. He barged into help—no matter the consequences.

If she was
right about the scenario that left two big questions she needed answered. Who locked Billy in the bathroom and where was Theresa?

A
helicopter clacked overhead.

She smiled remembering Billy’s comment about helicopters when she first met him.
She’d been telling him how remote his house was but he told her that it was only thirty minutes to the most powerful city in the world by helicopter. When she asked him if he owned a helicopter, he laughed and said no, the president sent one when he needed him.

She’d never been sure if Billy was teasing her or telling her the truth
about that.

As t
he helicopter drew closer it drowned out the barking of the dogs. She stood and walked out to the patio door in the dining room. She watched as the helicopter moved further and further from her.

She shuddered and told herself she was being silly.

It was just a helicopter and it had nothing to do with Billy Clyde, Theresa, Dylan, or anyone she knew. Still, she stood transfixed, staring as it became a dark blip against the bright blue sky until it disappeared.

The silence in the house was oppressive.
The dogs were no longer barking and the only sound was the hum of the refrigerator. Why were the dogs wandering—Arms grabbed her from behind.

CHAPTER 33

Dylan limped back toward the abandoned house while the clacking of the helicopter rotors could still be heard in the distance as it headed back to the Army base. He shook his head. Leave it to Billy Clyde to get an Army helicopter here quicker than he could have gotten to a hospital.

Dr. Marsh
released Dylan but clearly not happy about it. His leg ached, but considering what could have happened, he wasn’t going to complain. At the door, he looked over at Billy Clyde. “We stay together. Last time I was here I got sucker punched.”

He arched a brow at Dylan. “Oh….is that what happened?”

“That is exactly what happened and I refuse to take the bait.”

“
But you’re right. We’ll stay together. I wouldn’t want you to get conked on the head again or—” Billy Clyde walked up the cements steps and into the house.

“I was more worried about you, big man. Not me.”

They cleared each room, upstairs and down. Again, the basement was the last area. Billy Clyde looked at Dylan. “I think you should stay up here, make sure no one sneaks back in while I’m down there. Like before.”

“What if someone’s down there?”

“Then I yell for you as I shoot him.”

D
ylan knew Billy Clyde meant every word he said. “Well, don’t kill him. We need to find out what he knows.”

“I
know that, Monroe.”

“
And watch out for the snakes. They could be all over that basement by now.” Dylan sat down on the steps, keeping his gun ready. There would be no sneak attack again. He also kept his ears open for rattles, too. Just in case.

Ten minutes later, Billy Clyde walked in
to the room. “I’ve got an address.”

Dylan stood. His leg still throbbed from the snake bites.
Hopefully, the doctor and lab tech were right about the amount of venom. “Where’d you find it? Just sitting there waiting for you? I didn’t see it when I was down there. Might be a set up.”

“Don’t forget you were blindfolded most of the time you were down there, Monroe.”
Billy Clyde looked at the paper and then back at Dylan, finally shrugging. “Besides, it was in a burger bag, crumpled up. No one had any intention of us seeing it. They were incompetent.”

“I don’t know, they might have left the bag on purpose.
”

“My guess is you caught them off guard and they didn’t have time to clean up.
They freaked out and left after they knocked you out.”             

“
Don’t remind me.” He rubbed the back of his head. “Where is it?”

“
Berkeley Springs.”

“We’ll
drop off the van at your house since it’s on the way.”

Billy Cl
yde shook his head. “No time. I don’t want Theresa out there one minute longer than she has to be.” He tossed Dylan the keys. “Can you drive while I check out the address or is your leg too sore?”

He caught the keys. “
My leg’s fine. Still got the computer set up in the van from last year, huh?”

“Yea,
it was so useful, I decided to keep it. Never know when you might need a computer while you’re on the run.”

“Like now.”
They walked out of the abandoned house. Dylan looked over at Mrs. Miller’s house. “Are you sure she couldn’t have something to do with it? She was pretty handy with that shotgun.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Monroe. The woman must be close to eighty and she’s my Sunday School teacher.”

He opened the van door and turned back to Billy. “I’m just saying.”

While Dylan drove over
Great Cacapon Mountain, Billy Clyde sat in the back with his electronic gadgets. Dylan knew how to run a computer, check email, set up a spreadsheet for his crops but that’s where his computer savvy ran dry.

Billy Clyde was in a whole different league.

He might have invented the word computer nerd.

As they passed through
the village of Great Cacapon, Billy Clyde squeezed through the seats and settled into the passenger seat. “I found the address. It’s actually in the business district of town. I couldn’t find any business listings that matched the address so it’s probably empty as well.”

Following B
illy Clyde’s directions, Dylan turned left on Washington Street. His eyes scanned the area. A man wearing a ball cap walked into an herb store announcing a cure for male-patterned baldness. Two teen-aged boys walked into a T-shirt shop. The ice cream store seemed to be the busiest place with kids of all ages going in and out while some were standing around eating their cones.

Dylan
pulled into a parking space and turned off the van. “You’re right. The address is across the street. Empty. Now what?”

“Let’s take a walk around the other side. Maybe, there’s a back door. I’d hate to break into it right out here in th
e open where everyone can see us.”

As they walked down the alley to the back of the storefront, Dylan tried Reggie again. Still no
answer. He sighed. Probably payback for him not answering his phone the past few days.

Nothing to worry about. But still, maybe he’d call his mother later and see if she
’d heard from Reggie.

At the back of the store, the door stood open.

A chill went down his back.

Billy Clyde looked over at him and put a finger to his mouth. He pulled out his gun and Dylan did the same.
Billy Clyde held up one finger, then two and then three.

They went into the store side by side.
In spite of his size, Billy Clyde moved quietly into the building with the grace of a gazelle. Dylan slipped into the semi-darkness of the store with gun in hand, eyes to the right while Billy Clyde took the left side.

The room was empty.

Still making no noise, they proceeded to the next room and finally the store front.             

“Empty.”
Billy Clyde’s frustration bubbled up to the surface with the one word.

Dylan watched as Billy Clyde struggled to keep his emotions in check. First the big man’s face clenched and then his f
ist. A moment later, the silence was broken as his fist smashed into the wall. And then there was a hole.

Billy Clyde leaned
against the wall breathing hard and ran his hand through his gray speckled hair. He turned his back to Dylan, his head against the wall.

Dylan said nothing because t
here wasn’t anything he could say to make his friend feel better. In his experience platitudes were better left unsaid.

Billy Clyde turned back toward him.
“Well, we knew it was a long shot but I was hoping…Doesn’t matter. Let’s look around see if we can find something.”

Dylan
walked over to shut the back door. No sense bringing suspicion to them and their activities. As he closed it, his eyes landed on a piece of paper taped to the back. “Billy Clyde, over here.”

A moment later, Billy Clyde stood beside him reading the same note Dylan had read twice.

I see you found the clue I left you.

I’m a man of my word. You did a favor for me

and I’m going to give you back your wife. Just

not quite yet. I wanted to find a place more

suitable to her beauty. I’ve always found Cacapon

State Park a lovely place. The view from the pull-off

is particularly beautiful don’t you think?

Dylan looked over at Billy Clyde and shook his head. “He’s leading us on a wild goose chase. He’s playing mind games.”

“We don’t know that.
”

Dylan tucked his gun back in his waist band.
“I think we do. He left us this address. I’m beginning to wonder if the whole thing wasn’t a set up. The car peeking out behind that house, just enough for us to see it. He knew we’d figure it out and he had someone waiting there for us—for me.”

“What would be the point?”

“I have no idea. Who knows, maybe the guy even made sure the snakes didn’t have any venom.”

“I can’t believe this.”
Billy Clyde stared at him and nodded. “You might be right but the man got what he wanted. I deleted the file. Maybe, he needed us to stay busy today so he could do whatever he needed to do at the Secret Service Headquarters. In case I had second thoughts about contacting them and telling them what I did.”

“
Or maybe he needed the time to get rid of the physical files and evidence. Could be a dozen reasons.”

Billy Clyde blew out air and rubbed his chin as if trying to figure out what was going on.
“And the whole thing disappears as if it never existed. And a group of possible terrorists disappear into the country. And wait for their next opportunity.” He kicked the door. “Theresa was right. I shouldn’t have helped them.”

“You didn’t have a choice.
You couldn’t risk them hurting Theresa. For what it’s worth, I think you did the right thing.” Dylan opened the door and looked back. “Let’s go, we’ve got to get to that lookout point.”

“She’s not going to be there.”
The gloom in Billy Clyde’s voice matched the look on his face.

Dylan could imagine how hopeless he felt.
“Probably not, but the guy might have left another clue. Either way, we’ve got to check it out. We don’t have a choice. It maybe be a game but he’s the one making the rules.”

“It’s like a
bizarre treasure hunt with Theresa the treasure.”

Dylan clasped his friend on the back.
“And that she is, my friend. That she is.”