Page 60 of Lion’s Den

“Excellent. Thank you, Ron. I will convey my appreciation to your supervisor, too.”

“Thank you, sir.”

After the security guard left, David handed the envelope to Rhys. “As fast as you can, Rhys. Every minute counts.”

“I need a place to work.”

“I figured. Come with me.” The sheriff led him to a small waiting room. “Will this work?”

“It’s perfect. Thanks.” Rhys dropped into the chair farthest from the door and the flow of corridor traffic. He pulled out his laptop and got to work.

“How long will it take him?” Sedona whispered to Cam.

Rhys snorted. “Longer than it should if I keep getting interrupted.” His fingers didn’t miss a stroke while he talked.

“Sorry. I want to do something useful while we’re waiting for you to finish.”

“Good idea. Go, and take these yahoos just staring at me with you.”

“You’ve got it. You heard the man. Leave him alone to work.” She tugged Cam’s hand and urged him toward the corridor. “What’s next, and how can I help?”

“You mentioned Maria might prevent us from talking to Julio when we track him down. Do you think you can talk to her, convince her to talk to us freely and allow Julio to do the same?”

“I’ll try.”

“Good. Spencer will stay with you while Isaac, Dario, and I examine Julio’s room and scout around the hospital.” He turned to his boss. “Where is Julio’s mother?”

“In the nurses’ lounge. I can take you there.”

“If you’ll escort Sedona and Spencer to Maria, the rest of my team and I will look around the hospital and the grounds. What room was Julio in?”

“Room 653.”

“Got it. We’ll return soon.” He stared at his boss, who rolled his eyes and gave a curt nod of agreement. Excellent. The last thing he wanted to do was be distracted any more than he already was. David Montgomery had been a Navy SEAL. The man was tough to the bone. No one would slip past him to get to Sedona without paying a heavy price. Few would go that far to fulfill a contract.

He signaled his teammates, and they walked down the corridor to room 653. Cam would have known which room was the crime scene because of the police guard outside the door and CSI activity going on inside the room. Camera flashes went off continuously.

He flashed his badge at the officer guarding the door and peered into the room. Pleased that the CSI team was the one who worked frequently with the sheriff’s office, he motioned Tracy over.

“Hey, Cam. How’s it going?”

“It’s been better. What do you have for me?”

She remained silent for a beat. “Sheriff Montgomery is handling this case himself.”

“I’m not surprised. We’re not here to take over his case. David called us in as his Search and Rescue team.”

Her eyes widened. “Seriously?”

He shrugged. “It’s what we do best. The military thought the same thing.”

“Huh. Well, that’s good, I guess. I thought if he got a credible lead on the boy’s location, Sheriff Montgomery would bring in Ethan Blackhawk from Otter Creek.”

“He still might. David wanted us to look around Julio’s room and see if we picked up a trail to follow.”

Sympathy filled Tracy’s eyes. “He’s hoping the kid ran away.”

“That’s better than Julio being kidnapped by a professional killer.”