The Interstate was remarkably clear and Mac was making good progress. He switched his mobile to hands free as it rung. Looking at the number it was Holly. ‘Hi, Holly. Got any news on Bond yet.’
‘No, I have phoned all the hospitals in the region and no one has admitted anyone with those kind of injuries.’ Holly said with a sense of urgency. ‘Neither Bond or the others in that helicopter have turned up.’
‘Ok, not to worry, I’ve spoken with Oxford and he is getting back to me after he has spoken with the pilots. I’ll call you as soon as I find out. When are you starting the autopsy?’
Slightly relieved ‘I’m going there now, I’ll see you when you get here.’
As soon as the phone was down it rung again. This time it was Oxford. ‘Not good news all round I’m afraid, the helicopter in question crashed this morning while searching the plains. Both the pilot and his co-pilot are on the critical list.’
It was not the news Mac had hoped for, but there were still other options open. He called Phoenix airport and spoke with the duty controller who also happened to be on duty when the helicopter was transporting Bond. However, it was another dead end, they had seen helicopters all evening but none around the time Bond’s helicopter had taken off. They had only seen them pop up and pop back down on the radar, if it had stayed low then they would never have seen it.
Since the chaos early that morning, Bond still was nowhere to be found. He had exhausted all trains of thought and now would have to report the fact to the Assistant Director of Phoenix. He knew this would not go down well and should have reported it earlier, but he had assumed that Bond would have been in one of the Phoenix Hospitals used last night.
Picking up his handset, he recalled the number from memory. ‘Hi, this is Special Agent McIntire, badge number S34743D can you put me through to the Assistant Director of Phoenix.’
The voice at the other end was polite and requested he wait on hold. The music the FBI switchboard played was tinny and certainly done no justice to the original tune. ‘Agent McIntire, you requested to speak with me.’ The Director was curt and to the point, he had an edge in voice that hinted he was annoyed at this interruption and had better things to do.
‘Sir, I’ve been trying to track down Agent Bond he was wounded early this morning but we have been unable to locate him in any of the Phoenix hospitals.’ Mac tried not to sound to desperate, as he knew the Director would be able to locate him quickly if they did not already know. ‘Bearing in mind the agencies involved you might be in a better position to track his current position.’
‘Why didn’t you report this earlier, hold the line.’ Mac was again waiting but his time there was no music.
The line clicked open again. ‘Leave it with me MacIntire, I’ll try to track him down and get back to you.’ The line was dead. Without putting down the mobile phone, he called Holly again but her mobile phone immediately switched to her answering service. It was unlike any agent to leave to switch their mobile phone off, Holly was only performing an autopsy and should still be available to the rest of the team.
Mac could see the hospital where Holly was performing the autopsy, the traffic was coming to a stand still and further ahead he could see the blue lights of enforcement vehicles. He pulled the car over before he was caught in the jams that laid in wait on his route and began running towards the hospital.
The grounds were swarming with armed police. Stopping the first police officer he came to he flashed his badge and demanded to know what was happening.
The young officer told him the little he knew. ‘There’s been an incident in the morgue.’
He was instantly concerned for Holly. Making his way towards the building he flashed his badge at whoever got in the way, inside he stopped the first white coat he saw. ‘Which way to the morgue? He said desperately. The white coat just pointed down the corridor to a set of double doors.
Mac started at a run towards the doors, as he approached them one side parted and Holly stepped through. She looked visibly shaken and tenderly ran her fingers over the right side of her face.
As he got closer, Holly saw him running towards her and she almost looked relived to see a friendly face. Eyeing her over Mac could see bruising on the right hand side of her face, her eye had started to swell and her lip cut.
In her hand, she held an ice pack that she held to the swelling on her face. ‘Are you ok?’ Mac took a cursory glance over Holly’s wound and it seemed the worst she would suffer physically was a cut lip, bruising and a black eye. Sympathetically in a soft voice, he asked ‘What the hell happened to you?’
As Holly spoke the cut in her lip seeped a small amount of blood, ‘I’m not really sure, I was about to pull the body out when some guy knocks on the door of the lab. I went to see want he wanted and he claimed he was here to pick up a parcel. I told him there was nothing to collect and he turned to walk away but then swung round and punched me.’ Mac pulled a clean tissue from his pocket, wiped the blood away, and gave her the rest of the packet.
‘What happened then?’ Mac enquired, he had already begun walking back out of the hospital gently guiding Holly with him.
‘That’s it, that’s all I remember. The next thing I recall was one of the doctors standing over me and asking me if I was ok. I don’t know how long I’ve been out for.’
Outside Mac looked around and saw Agent Hammond talking to some local officers, he made his way over and interrupted the Agent in mid sentence. ‘What happened here Hammond?’
‘Ah, McIntire, were not sure, eyewitness accounts say they saw men going in dressed black, hearing gun shots and then nothing.’
Mac was confused, there had to be more. ‘That’s it, nothing else, no bodies?’
‘Nada, no spent casings, no bodies, some blood though as to whose we don’t know yet. All the video cameras have been destroyed and their tapes have gone.’ Dex stated. Whoever had been here had wanted to stay anonymous and had made sure every effort was made to make it stay that way.
‘So, what was the point? What where they after?’ Mac had already guessed but he wanted to make sure.
‘The only thing missing is Santana’s body from the Morgue.’
Great not only was their boss missing but the only evidence that would have wrapped this case up had gone as well. Mac and Holly continued to walk towards the car. ‘Right its back to the Hotel for you and no arguments, you need to get some rest while we finish up business in Phoenix.’
‘Has Bond been found yet?’ The concern in her voice was hard to mask.
‘Not yet, but the Director of the FBI is working on it, the Assistant Director for Phoenix is canvassing the other agencies involved as we speak.’