Chasing the Lost Read Online Free PDF Page A

had to wonder if she would be capable of breathing on her own.
    Erin got the tube in, then grabbed a suture. “This is going to take a little time. I’ve got to do three layers of closure. The pleura, the subcutaneous, then the skin.”
    Chase nodded, wondering why there was no sound of sirens. He watched as Erin worked quickly and efficiently, her long fingers tying off the sutures. As she worked her way outward to the skin, she began speaking again.
    “OK, Chase. As soon as I get this last in place, we’ve got to immediately re-establish negative pressure in the chest so she can breathe on her own. Go to that cabinet and grab a three-way stopcock, and attach it to the end of the chest tube. Then get a thirty-five-cc syringe, and attach it to the stopcock.”
    Chase did as she instructed. Where were the police? He had the syringe on the stopcock just as Erin finished the last suture. She reached up and turned the stopcock. She pulled on the syringe, extracting air from Chelsea’s chest cavity, and then closed the stopcock. She expelled the air in the syringe. She repeated it several more times, and then suddenly Chelsea twitched, coughed into the mask, and began breathing on her own.
    Erin immediately stopped what she doing, reached up, and pulled the mask off Chelsea’s muzzle. She smiled at Chase. “I think she’ll be all right.”
    “Thank you.” Chase looked toward the door and saw it was cracked open, and Sarah was peeking in once more. “Did you call the police?” Chase called to her.
    She disappeared without answering, and Erin gave him a quizzical look. “Wife?”
    Chase shook his head.
    “Girlfriend?”
    Chase indicated negatively once more. “I just met her today.”
    Erin laughed. “Horace Chase. Always the bad boy.”
    Chase bit off telling her about the kidnapping. “I need to talk to her.”
    “I’ll clean up in here,” Erin said, sensing the mood.
    Chase went into the waiting area. He saw that Sarah had her cell phone out, and he assumed she was finally calling the police.
    As soon as she started talking, he knew he had assumed wrong.
    “Walter!” she cried out. “They’ve kidnapped our boy.”
    Chase couldn’t make out what was being said on the other end. Sarah listened for a few moments, then cut in, voice shrill. “Damn it, Walter. What the hell is going on?”
    Again, a pause.
    “Who? Who is doing this?”
    She listened, her eyes shifting to Chase, tears beginning to fill them.
    “You think? You don’t know?”
    Another pause, this time longer. Chase wished he could hear the other end of the conversation.
    “What should I do?” she finally asked.
    Obviously, she didn’t like the answer.
    “Just sit here and do nothing? They came after me too, Walter. They wanted both of us. They came with guns.”
    The other voice was speaking fast, that much Chase could make out.
    “The house isn’t safe,” Sarah finally said, her voice getting firmer. “That’s where they found us. I can’t go back there.” She waited a few seconds, then locked eyes with Chase. “I think I have someplace safe.” She cocked her head in question, and Chase nodded. “Yes. For a little while, at least. Find out who’s behind this, Walter. We’ve got to get Cole back.” Then she clicked off the phone. She stared at it for a moment, then put it in her pocket and looked at Chase. “We can’t call the police.”
    Chase folded his arms over his chest. “Why not?”
    Sarah began crying, and Chase paused for a second, knowing this was one of those junctures where things were going to travel down one path or the other. He went over and wrapped her slender form into his arms, absorbing her sobs into his own body.
    His arms were one place, but his thoughts were back at the firefight. He knew he’d hit one of the intruders. He was a little surprised the police or security hadn’t come screaming down the road right away, given the gunfire. Curious, thought Chase. It was as if gun battles happened every