“What’s up?”

“Unless the feebie on this side has just had a major cardiac arrest, someone just shot him with a silenced gun.”

“He’s dead?”

“Hasn’t got up again.”

“Someone with a high-powered rifle,” I said. “Has to be, to go through his armor.”

“Wait up . . .”

There was a few seconds of silence. When Rink came back on he was whispering lower than before. “There’s another feebie who came out of the trees and is checking on his buddy. Now . . . hmm, that’s strange.”

“It’s him.”

“Think you’re right, Hunter. He’s dragging the dead man into some bushes.”

“Think you can take him, Rink?”

“Not from here. Gotta move in.”

“Hold tight. I’m coming, okay?”

“He gets inside, we’ll be hard put to differentiate him from the other HRT guys.”

“He gets inside, he’ll be going for Alisha. We’ll catch him there if needs be.”

Ending the call, I came up to a crouch, pulled back the DPM sheet and then jumped down from the limestone outcrop. Angling left, the fence gave me cover as I moved in, but then I headed for the gate. As soon as I was through it I had to cross open lawn that offered only sporadic cover by way of shrubs and flower beds. I zigzagged between the bushes, stopping at each while I scanned for the FBI troopers. One of the HRT men was about fifty yards away, but he had his back turned. Silently I ran to the next cover, going down on my belly in a flower display. Through the leaves and blooms I searched for the trooper. He still stood cradling his gun and staring off into the distance. His shoulders were slumped, disillusioned by many hours of standing eventless guard duty. Coming to my feet, I hurried on. I reached the side of the hospital building without raising the alarm.

My phone vibrated again.

The building came with a crawl space. A lattice frame stopped animals larger than snakes or rodents from getting under it, but it was brittle, dried out by the Floridian heat. I grabbed and tugged loose a five-foot-long section and then swung into the crawl space. I pulled the frame back up, just in case anyone came along while I spoke to Rink.

“He’s just standing there, Hunter. Like he’s taken the place of the dead man.”

I told Rink where I was. Then I said, “Maybe I can get him as he makes his move for the hospital.”

“Too late, he’s on the move now. Taking it easy, heading for the front door.”

“You still in a bad position?”

“Don’t trust the carbine to hit him from here. I can fire on him, but all hell will break loose. He might run. You want to take that chance?”

“No. Looks like we’re going to have to take him inside.”

“Feebies might fire on us.”