“They claim the arresting officers shot the driver.”
A lump formed in Reese’s stomach.
“He was pronounced dead at the scene. They took the passenger into town and checked him into a hospital. He apparently sustained injuries they wanted to look at.”
“What about Nash? Unless they removed his head, he’s not dead.”
“Probably why he apparently got up and walked away when they had their backs turned.” Phillips almost smiled. “They sent out a search party, so far they’ve only found more bodies, several Anubis, and a lot of destroyed trees.”
“The other Anubis must be tracking him.”
“Why did some of them change back and not others?” She glanced in the direction of one of the tarps when she spoke.
“They’re stuck in Phase two If they need that serum to stay stable and they aren’t getting it, then they’ve probably lost their control on the Anubis.”
She turned back. “And that means?”
“There’s nothing human left. Just the Anubis.” As if they weren’t dangerous enough before. “What did they say about Luca? Is he still at the hospital?”
“No.” Phillips flipped a lock of wet hair out of her eyes. “Two detectives picked him up. When they failed to show up at county lock-up, the sheriff department here tried to contact them. Their car was discovered in a ditch on Seven Mile Hill Road. That’s why there’s no one here. The car accident with the two detectives took priority.”
Harrington grumbled under his breath. “This is getting messy. There’s going to come a point we can’t keep this hidden.”
To the colonel, Phillips said, “Do you have an ETA on the Apache?”
“They can’t be more than five minutes out.”
“Call them and tell them to redirect to Seven Mile Hill. I want them on the ground and in control of that scene as soon as possible.”
A cluster of army personnel waited beside the vehicles, their wet fatigues almost black in the low light.
“You.” Phillips pointed at them. “Block the driveway, the house, escort those cops off the property. Do not let them move anything and do not let anyone else in here.”
They barked an affirmative and jogged off in the direction of the house.
Phillips yanked open the driver door and got in.
Reese got into the back. Harrington took shotgun.
She started the engine and put the SUV in reverse, backing down the drive faster than Reese would have driven forward. Phillips jerked the wheel, slinging the rear out into the street, then threw the car in drive.
The tires chirped on the wet pavement.
Harrington dialed his phone.
To Phillips, Reese said, “What about Luca? Did they…was he….” Reese couldn’t bring himself to say it aloud.
“No. But it’s hard to know for sure. There were a lot of dead bodies. They confirmed the two detectives; the others appear to have been Anubis.”
“Nash.” If he’d gotten there in time, Luca was safe.
“Do you have any idea how they’re tracking Luca?” Phillips’s gaze reflected back at Reese in the rearview mirror.
He hadn’t really thought about it. “I’m not sure.”
“Could they use the satellite?”
“What? No, it’s adjusted to read the bend in electromagnetic fields caused by the Anubis.”