A Faint Cold Fear Read Online Free PDF Page B

sound she made was the sharp pant of her breathing. She was hyperventilating, throwing herself into hypocapnia.
    'Slow down, sweetie,' Sara said, putting her face close to Tessa's. 'Try to slow down your breathing, okay?'
    Sara showed her, breathing in deeply, letting it go slowly, thinking all the time that they had done this same thing in Lamaze class weeks ago.
    'That's right,' Sara said as Tessa's breathing started to slow. 'Nice and slow.'
    Sara had a moment's relief but then every muscle in Tessa's face tensed up at once. Tessa's head started to tremble, and Sara's hand then her arm absorbed the vibration like a tuning fork. A gurgling noise came from Tessa's lips, and then a thin stream of clear liquid dribbled out. Her eyes were still glassy, her stare blank and cold.
    Sara kept her voice low, asking Frank, 'What's the ETA on the ambulance?'
    'Shouldn't be much longer,' Frank said.
    'Tessa,' Sara said, making her voice stern, threatening.
    She had not talked to her sister this way since Tessa was twelve and wanted to do a somersault off the roof of the house. 'Tessa, hold on. Hold on just a little bit longer. Listen to me. Hold on. I'm telling you to-'
    Tessa's body gave a sudden, violent jerk, her jaw clamping tight, eyes rolling back in her head, guttural sounds coming from her throat. The seizure erupted with frightening intensity, working through Tessa's body like a current of electricity.
    Sara tried to use her body as a barrier so Tessa would not hurt herself more. Tessa shook uncontrollably, grunting, her eyes rolling. Her bladder released, the smell of her urine strongly acidic. Her jaw was clenched so tight that the muscles in her neck stood out like steel cords.
    Sara heard the whir of an engine in the distance, then the distinctive chopping of a helicopter's blades.
    When the air ambulance hovered overhead before circling toward the riverbed, Sara felt tears stinging her eyes.
    'Hurry,' she whispered. 'Please hurry.'

TWO
    Jeffrey could see Sara through the window of the helicopter as it lifted into the air. She was holding Tessa's hand to her chest, head bent down as if in prayer. Neither he nor Sara had ever been particularly religious, but Jeffrey found himself thinking a prayer to anyone who would listen, begging for Tessa to be okay. He kept watching Sara, kept silently praying, until the helicopter made a wide right turn, angling over the tree line. The farther away it got, the less easily the words came to mind, so that by the time the machine turned west toward Atlanta, all he felt was anger and helplessness.
    Jeffrey looked down at the thin white strip of plastic he'd found clutched in Tessa's hand. He had peeled it off her palm before they loaded her into the helicopter, hoping that perhaps it would lead them to the person who had attacked her. Staring at it now, he felt a crushing sense of hopelessness bearing down on him. Both he and Sara had touched the plastic.
    There were no obvious fingerprints in the blood.
    There was no telling if it even had anything to do with the attack.
    'Chief?' Frank handed Jeffrey his suit jacket and shirt, both of which were dripping with blood.
    'Jesus,' Jeffrey said, extracting his police badge and wallet. They were as soaked as his clothes. He found an evidence bag and sealed the plastic strip inside, asking, 'What the hell happened?'
    Frank held out his hands, speechless.
    The gesture irritated Jeffrey, and he bit back the cutting comment that came to mind, knowing that what had happened to Tessa Linton was not Frank's fault. If anything, it was Jeffrey's. He had been standing with his thumb up his ass less than a hundred yards away when Tessa had been attacked; he'd known something was wrong when Tessa was not at the car, and he should have insisted on going with Sara to look for her.
    He tucked the bag into his pants pocket, asking, 'Where are Lena and Matt?'
    Frank flipped open his cell phone.
    'No,' Jeffrey told him. The worst thing that could happen to Matt