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.”
Ryan nodded, taking off like a bat out of hell.
They arrived at the station along with a bunch of agents and cops.
“The train left ten minutes ago,” Hutch informed them. “It goes from Garrison to Poughkeepsie, and makes three more stops along the way. There’s no way we can reach each of those in time—the first is four minutes from here. The next is eight minutes farther. And the last, seven minutes from the previous stop. After that, it’s seventeen more minutes to Poughkeepsie. The roads suck. Peg is having the transit authority hold the train in Poughkeepsie. Some of us are heading straight there. Three cars are driving, one each, to the three local stops. The agents will show photos around, hope that someone recognizes Felicity. It’s a long shot. It’s midday on a Wednesday, and very few people are around. But we’ve got to cover all our bases.”