Page 29 of Once a Hero

Just then, giant flashlights lit up the area.

Beatrice lifted her night vision goggles. She could only see tree trunks all around her, the top of those three-hundred-foot trees had disappeared into the night sky.

She heard dogs barking, and their handlers meting out brisk orders.

“We’re here! Help! Man down!” Jake shouted.

And then the sweetest sight of the night.

Raynelle came toward them, surrounded by the local police.

Around them, lights continued to sweep the forest.

Chapter Thirteen

The heroes of the Eureka Bay Police Department had reached their battleground and made short work of the arrests.

The driver had lied, obviously, saying that only two assailants had entered the forest, going after Jake and Earl. In fact, five men had entered the forest. Three battled Jake, Raynelle, and Kenichi. And two nearly took out Beatrice and Earl as they hid by the tree roots.

The Eureka Bay PD rounded up the rest of the men who were still alive and read them their Miranda rights.

Beatrice hoped they would reveal who had paid those people to attack Jake and Earl. She had her own suspicions but no proof.

Problem was, so far she had been on the defensive—and so had Jake. It was time to turn the tables.

But first, the emergency room.

The paramedics had determined that Raynelle’s right arm—her shooting arm—was broken. Beatrice couldn’t get a clear picture of how it had happened, but suffice to say that Molyneux’s men put up a formidable fight, and Raynelle held her own. In the scuffle and close combat, she had done more damage to the other side than they had done to her.

Still, a broken arm was a broken arm.

The paramedics loaded Earl and Raynelle into their ambulance, and off they went to the emergency room where they would treat Earl’s gunshot wounds and do something about Raynelle’s broken bones.

Kenichi and Beatrice waited for Jake. How else was Jake going to get back to town with his SUV tires blown out and no spare? He called the tow truck and retrieved his and Earl’s bags from their SUV while Kenichi scrambled to tidy up the van and hide their laptops and equipment under the seats.

No more than half an hour later, they were at the hospital, following the ambulance.

Kenichi and Jake left the van to give Beatrice some privacy to change into clean clothes. She went with a pair of cargo pants with pockets to keep her driver’s license, passport, and her debit cards. Plus the three-amber brooch.

Benjamin had cautioned her about carrying her passport everywhere, but she wanted to be ready hop on the airplane at a moment’s notice.

As for the brooch, it was a replica that she and Benjamin had worked on for years. The real thing was in a safe deposit box in San Francisco. She’d have to pick it up soon.

She wondered where Jake and Earl kept their one-amber brooch. Eventually they’d have to reconcile and she’d have to return the three-amber brooch to the authorities. With the mole inside the FBI, there was no way Beatrice was going to give it to them now, even if they had an FBI Art Crime Team.

The hospital waiting room wasn’t crowded. Beatrice didn’t have to sit around, but she was waiting for Raynelle to see the doctor.

As for Kenichi, he returned to the van to wait for them. He’d rather be working on his laptop inside the van—away from people, he said. He texted Beatrice, saying that he would need about half an hour. Beatrice replied that they’d probably still be in the hospital for the next hour, at least.

And no, he couldn’t go to the cabin without them.

Beatrice knew it was hard for Kenichi to sit and wait, but she was sure he’d make himself useful.

Meanwhile, Beatrice had booked two rooms at a hotel. She wanted her own room, but Kenichi insisted that Raynelle not leave her side. Something about not wanting Beatrice to have to kill any intruder herself. Sigh.

It sounded like what her brother would say. It also made Beatrice wonder if Kenichi was working for Benjamin rather than for her.

In any case, they would stay one more day here in Eureka so that Beatrice could check out Philomena’s lakeside cabin.

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