Fogbound: A Lin Hanna Mystery (44 page)

“Stay here,”
Mark said, “don’t move.
 
I’m going
around to get a closer look.”
 
When
he got to the other side and was able to see the bundles more clearly he spoke,
“Just what I thought.
 
This is
ginseng, and a lot of it.
 
These
guys, whoever they are, have been stockpiling this for a long time.
 
There are thousands of dollars sitting
here in this pit—tens of thousands more likely.
 
I’m coming back around, just stay
put.
 
We’ll take care of this stuff
later.”
 
He began a slow careful
walk back around to where his team waited.

Just as they’d
begun moving toward the other side of the clearing where Zach and the other
deputy were searching, they heard a shout.
 
“I think we’ve found something—I thought I heard something in this
pit—on the far corner of the clearing.”

Neal started to
move forward quickly but Mark grabbed his arm, “Stick together, move slowly
like we were before.
 
It won’t help
anyone if you fall into one of these holes.
 
We’ll get there.”

Neal fell back
into place.
 
Mark was right.
 
They had to be cautious and move
deliberately.
 
His heart began to pound
though and he finally felt a glimmer of hope that the sounds were human and
that meant that someone was still alive.

By the time
they arrived at the pit where the sounds were, Zach was uncoiling a length of
stout climbing rope he’d managed to stuff in his backpack.
 
“This is all the equipment I was able to
carry, he explained.
 
This place is
too far back from the road.”
 
He
looped one end of the rope around a nearby tree and prepared to repel into the
pit.
 
He turned to the local deputy.
“I’ll go down and see what we’ve got here.
 
Then you can use your radio to call for more help.”

Neal watched as
Zach hooked his flashlight to his belt and began to climb down. “Mark, bring
your light over here.
 
I’d like to
see what we can.”

Mark came
toward the edge and began to play his light around the inside of the pit, while
the deputy kept his firmly fixed on Zach as he climbed.
 
It only took a moment for Mark to spot
Sue where she lay against the wall. “I see Sue Gray, but I can’t tell if she’s
alive or not, she’s not moving.”
 
He
continued to play the light, “there’s someone else lying against the
wall—also still—looks like a man but I don’t recognize him.”
 
Finally, his light came to rest on Lin,
still kneeling beside the water spot.
 
He turned a smile toward Neal. “She’s there, and she’s on her
knees—must’ve been her we heard making noise.”

Neal realized
that there were tears streaming down his face.
 
He was sobbing with relief at finding
Lin still alive.

“They’re all
alive,” the deputy shouted up, “but two of them aren’t conscious. They’re in
pretty bad shape.
 
There’s a young
man here who’s been shot and one of the women has a badly broken leg.
 
One’s awake, she’s got a boot on her
foot though.
 
They’re all really
dehydrated.
 
Get me all the water
we’ve got down here and radio for help.
 
We’ll need a full EMT crew, a ladder, rope slings, and three carry
boards.
 
No one here has enough
strength to walk out of this place.”

The men at the
top moved into action.
 
While the
deputy radioed for the help they needed, Mark and Neal gathered water bottles
from all the packs.
 
They emptied
one backpack and filled it with the plastic bottles.
 
Then they sent it down via the climbing
rope.
 
That was really all that they
could do until more help arrived.

Neal asked Mark
for his flashlight and moved to the edge of the pit.
 
He used the light to get a view of the
pit for himself.
 
Lin had moved to
her spot near Sue and was sitting against the wall.
 
She appeared to have her eyes
closed.
 
Neal flashed the light in
her face a couple of times and called her name.
 
When he saw her eyes open, he placed the
light in his own lap so that she could see him.

“It’s me Lin,
Neal.
 
I’m right here and we’re
going to get all of you out of there soon.
 
Just hang tight.
 
Help is
coming.”
 
He saw her nod, but she
didn’t say anything.
 
He saw the
deputy hand her a bottle of water and watched as she first rinsed her mouth,
spitting out grit and mud and then took a long seemingly satisfying drink. Then
he watched as she reached over and placed the bottle at Sue Gray’s lips.

***

The first faint
hints of dawn were just breaking when Neal and Mark pulled up to park at the
Watauga Medical Center.
 
They’d
first taken Zach to his vehicle.
 
He
was going to start the process of staking out the supply of ginseng they’d
discovered in the hopes of arresting those responsible for the poaching and the
kidnappings.
 

It had taken
almost all night to get the emergency medical teams into the area with the
proper equipment, extricate the victims from the pit, carry them out to the
road, and finally transport them to the hospital.
 
By the time help had arrived not even
Lin was able to talk about the ordeal.
 
She’d still been awake and had tried valiantly to talk, but her words
were so raspy and labored that no one understood what she was trying to tell
them.

“Just wait,”
Neal had told her. “Just stay quiet and rest. You can talk later.”
 
After that she’d actually fallen
asleep.
 
Neither Sue nor the young
man, identified by Mark as Luke Taylor, were conscious at all.

Now Neal slowly
extricated his tired body from the vehicle and headed for the emergency
entrance.
 
There was no sign of an
ambulance at the entrance.
 
Evidently, the crews had arrived and unloaded the victims while Neal and
Mark had been transporting Zach.
 
Now
they entered the lobby and approached the girl at the desk.

“We’re looking
for the three folks just brought in, sometime in the last hour, there were two
women and a young man?”
 
Neal
questioned the girl on duty.

“Yes, sir,
they’re here—they’ve already been taken back.
 
Are you a family member? Can you
complete the paperwork?”

“One of the
ladies is my fiancé. I’d like to see her.
 
Her name is Lin Hanna, but I don’t know if she was awake when she got
here,” Neal chaffed at the idea that he couldn’t just simply head back to
locate Lin but he tried to be patient.

Mark stepped up
and displayed his park ranger badge, “Actually, this is all part of a federal,
criminal case and I represent the federal authorities.
 
I need to see the victims as soon as
possible—to confirm identifications.”

Neal wasn’t
sure if this was true or not, but Mark sounded authoritative enough apparently
and the young lady swung into action, calling for a doctor and ushering them
into the emergency treatment area.

 
Neal immediately began searching for Lin,
finally locating her in one of the curtained treatment cubicles.
 
She was seemingly asleep, stretched out
full length on a gurney now cleaned up and in hospital garb with an IV drip in
her left arm.
 
Neal recognized it as
providing the fluids the emergency crew had begun to administer.
 
He leaned over her sleeping form and
planted a gentle kiss on her dry lips.
 
Just at that moment a tall, angular person, who seemed to have some
authority, stepped into the area, “Just who let you back here? Who are you
anyway?”
 
The woman asked as she
began to check Lin’s vitals.

“I’m Dr. Neal
Smith,” Neal didn’t deem it necessary to reveal that his degree was in
archeology, “and this is my fiancé, Lin Hanna, and I’m not going anywhere.”
This last designed to quell any impending eviction the woman might have in
mind.

“The doctor
hasn’t seen her yet but it looks like mostly some scrapes and bruises.
 
She’s dehydrated though,” the nurse
noted as she adjusted the IV drip. The activity woke Lin who looked around and
smiled when she saw Neal.

“Hey, there,”
the nurse said, smiling at her patient, “What happened to you?
 
Did this guy beat you up?”

Lin managed a
smile as she replied, “Nope.
 
Somebody literally threw me into a hole in the ground—about twenty
feet deep.”

“You’re heading
for x-ray next,” the nurse commented. “The doc wants a full set of pictures to
look at before he examines you, but you look like you’re not in too bad a
shape.
 
She turned to Neal.
 
“You really should sit this one out,
besides.
 
I’m sure you could help
admitting with her paperwork—at least part of it.”

Neal wanted to
go with Lin but decided not to fight it.
 
Instead he went back out to see what he could learn about the
others.
 
Mark was standing in the
center of the area talking to a doctor as Neal approached.
 
As soon as Neal arrived the doctor
turned and offered his hand in greeting. “I’m Dr. Stewart and I’ll be examining
your fiancé as soon as she comes back from x-ray.
 
She’s last on my list because her
injuries initially appeared to be less than the others.
 
I do plan to admit her though, at least
for twenty-four hours.
 
She’s badly
dehydrated and needs IV fluids and maybe some prophylactic antibiotics.
 
I’ll call you when I finish my
examination and know the full extent of her injuries.”
 
He turned and left the room.

“Let’s get a
coffee and maybe a bite to eat,” Mark said. “The cafeteria here isn’t bad and
Lin will be gone at least an hour.
 
You probably need to go by registration too and give them what
information you have.”

“What about Sue
and Luke?” Neal asked as they headed for the hospital dining room.

“Both pretty
bad, I think,” Mark replied. “They’ve both been taken to surgery already.
 
Luke was shot, not sure about internal
injuries, but he’s lost a lot of blood and has a fever so probably some
infection.
 
Same with Sue, she’s
running a high fever and has a compound fracture of her femur.
 
Not sure what else might be wrong
though.”

They had just
sat down with coffee and a hot breakfast sandwich when Neal realized that he’d
completely forgotten about Lin’s kids.
 
He’d been so wrapped up in the search and then the rescue effort.
 
Most likely cell service would’ve been
difficult if not impossible from where they’d been.
 
He resolved to call Ben, Jr. as soon as
he’d finished eating.
 
He also
hadn’t had a chance to talk to Ted Whitley.
 
He’d be sure to do that before he left
the hospital.

Both men were
tired and hungry.
 
They ate without
talking for several minutes.
 
Finally, Mark pushed his plate aside and spoke, “Was Lin able to talk?
 
Did she share any information with
you?”
 

“She was
awake,” Neal said, “but they took her to x-ray before I could really ask her
any questions.
 
When we were back at
the pits though she was trying to tell me something but couldn’t.
 
I’m sure she has some information to
give you.”

“Then I’ll wait
to talk to her,” Mark replied, “The other two were out of it and didn’t say
anything at all.”

Neal looked at
his watch.
 
It had only been
forty-five minutes since they’d taken Lin back to x-ray.
 
He excused himself and went outside to
call Lin’s kids.
 
He was happy to
let them know that their mother had been found and wasn’t badly injured.
  
Promising to keep them in the
loop, he next decided to try to see Ted Whitley.
 
It was early but Neal knew he’d want to
know what was going on.
 
He excused
himself and left to go upstairs.

He found Ted
awake, but looking a bit disheveled.
 
“Hi there,” Neal said, poking his head into the room.
 
“I’m here to tell you that we found them—both
Lin and Sue along with Luke Taylor.
 
I’ll come back later to fill you in on all the details but I wanted you
to know that Sue wasn’t conscious when they brought her in.
 
She has a pretty badly broken leg, maybe
other injuries, probably some infection.
 
She’s in surgery right now—that’s all I know.”

“At least she’s
alive,” Ted said, “They’ll probably bring her up here, at least
eventually.
 
This is the surgical
floor.
 
Thanks for coming to tell me
and thanks for finding her.”

“You’re
welcome, but of course I had motivation of my own.
 
Lin was missing too,” Neal said.
“Fortunately, we were right in thinking that they might be together.
 
We don’t know the whole story yet
though,” he glanced at his watch, “I’ve got to head back down to the emergency
room now, but I will come back later and fill you in on all I know—might
be tonight.”