“Kendra . . . Would you like me to dig deeper? I could talk toother doctors on the board. My name does carry some weight in the medical world.”
“That’s incredibly generous of you. Thank you. I’ll let you know, Charles. I’m still trying to figure out what to do with this information.”
“You sound . . . stressed, Kendra.”
“That’s only because I am.”
“Whatever it is you’re doing, don’t forget to take care of yourself. Or you might call on that Lynch fellow who sometimes works with you. I’m sure he’d be willing to help out.”
“I’m sure he would, too. But he’s not available at the moment. I’ll be fine, Charles. Thank you for everything.”
“Call me if you need anything. Anything at all.”
“I will, Dr.—Charles. Thank you.”
She cut the connection.
CHAPTER
9
Just seconds after her call with Dr. Waldridge, Kendra looked at her phone and saw that Waldridge’s text with the surgical center’s address, email, and phone number was already there.
“What now?” Jessie asked quietly.
“We keep on searching.” She left the protection of the trees and headed toward the fields of heather. “We’ll work as fast as we can so that we can cross this area off our list as soon as possible. I don’t like Cambry’s persistence. He obviously didn’t catch sight of us from the helicopter just now, but he might come back and try again. If there’s nothing to be found here, I’d just as soon leave these hills and find another path that might be more promising.”
“Like searching for the guy who lost his hand?”
“That’s definitely a different path,” Kendra said grimly. “And one that’s as frustrating as everything else that’s blindsided us since we came here. We may have to go back on the trail ofthis Nolan, but for all we know he’s vacationing in the South of France. We need to check out what we can find in this area before we go hunting for him. I don’t care which way we go to find Lynch. I just want it to be soon.”
“You’re still worrying about the blood on that glove,” Jessie said quietly. “Try not to borrow trouble.”
“I don’t have to borrow it,” Kendra said bitterly. “It’s served up wherever I look.” She picked up her knapsack. “Let’s cover as much ground as we can around the caves and see what we come up with.”
They returned to the camp several hours later and were greeted by Dunne. He stared at them with a concerned expression. “Any luck?”
Kendra shook her head. “We’ll start again early tomorrow. If we don’t find anything in the next quadrant we’ve blocked out, we may have to relocate the camp.”
“Just let me know. I’ll start making supper. Twenty minutes?”
“Great. Thanks, Dunne.” Kendra stretched her calves as she turned to Jessie. “Nice guy.”
Jessie nodded. “The idea of cleaning up and having a hot meal does appeal to me. I’ll grab a couple of towels and a change of clothes for us as I go past the camp and still beat you down to that creek.”
“I’m in no hurry,” Kendra said absently as she followed her. She stopped several times on the way down the hill to look up at the sky for possible helicopter activity. There had been no sign of Cambry all afternoon since the round he’d made just before they left the camp. It wasn’t unreasonable that he might have givenup. But she was still uneasy, and it didn’t hurt to keep an eye out for the unexpected. The woods were beautiful, but they could harbor criminals. Yes, Fitz had given them his men to protect them, but they must always be aware the threat was there—and in the end, the responsibility would always be their own.
“Kendra!” Jessie was calling from around the next bend of the path. “Get down here. This water is wonderful.”
Kendra chuckled. She could hear the sound of the waterfall from here. Jessie had the right idea. Stop worrying and try to enjoy every single moment that you could, while you could. That was Lynch’s philosophy, too. “No snakes or creepy-crawlies?” she asked as she increased her pace toward the creek.
“Nary a one,” Jessie said. “I scared them all away.”
“Then I’ll be right down. And tomorrow morning, I promise I’ll return the favor! But this evening we’ll go have that supper and get some sleep so I’ll have the strength to vanquish all the cave creatures, okay?”
“Absolutely. I have ultimate faith in you . . . Sometimes . . .”
Robert Dunne’s supper consisted of a meat stew and biscuits that they both found delicious and thoroughly enjoyed. Kendra had expected to meet his partner Kenneth Bruce at the meal, and when he didn’t appear and she asked Robert why, he just shrugged. “He’s just being Bruce. He’s always been more comfortable in the bush than anywhere else since he got out of the SEALs. He called me earlier this afternoon and told me he was busy tracking down a lead that he’d uncovered at one of the villages in the hills that made him a little uneasy. He said he’d fix his own grub when he got around to it.”
