AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Shockingly, Hank started to cry. Big, blubbering wails in between shuddering breaths. The idiot was going to give himself an anxiety attack. A desperate growl rumbled from Kane’s chest.
“I don’t have time for this!”
He yanked Hank onto his feet and shook him until the other man’s teeth rattled. Unexpectantly, Hank’s foot flew out, catching him in the groin. Pain exploded in the region, causing Kane to see stars. Reflexively, he shoved Hank away. Hank stumbled back, tripped on his own feet and collided with a wall.
He bounced off the wall only to hit his head on the radiator. He slithered to the ground, eyes rolling into the back of his head. Out to the world.
Kane swore violently under his breath.
“LEXI! It’s Kane! Make a noise if you can hear me!”
Nothing.
Fear wrapped its icy fingers around his heart. That tingle, his sixth sense — all of his senses — were alert and screaming at him.
She couldn’t be dead…?
No. He would not let himself think that. Shaking away the growing fear that threatened to swallow him whole, he asked for Bud’s help.
“Find Lexi. Find her, Boy.”
His voice broke on the last word.
Bud licked his hand then, with his nose to the ground, he found her scent and barked. Hope mixed with dread as he followed behind him, silently urging his dog to hurry.
“Johnny!” He yelled out, knowing his man would hear him. “Cover the perp! He’s knocked out in the kitchen.”
“I’m on it!” Johnny called back.
Bud navigated the hallways through the house until he came to a door that lead to the basement. Kane threw it open to reveal a flight of stairs leading into the dark. Taking them two at a time, he sprinted down to find himself stopped at yetanotherdoor.
Two steel bolts were drawn across this door. He could tell they were newly installed by the sawdust still coating the floor, created when Hank had drilled into the door.
Bud barked loudly and alerted, announcing that this was the place. He pawed at the door, eager to get through. Kane slid back the bolts and crashed into the basement.
Darkness greeted him, though he picked up the outline of a still figure slumped on the ground.
Lexi.
His heart about stopped in his chest.
Was she breathing?
He ran toward her, silently praying for a movement from her chest, something that would show that she was alive, but it was next to impossible to see if she was breathing. He took hold of her wrist, feeling for a pulse.
The next few seconds were the longest of his life.
When the pulse came, strong and regular, the breath hissed out of him. Bud couldn’t stop licking her face as if he were trying to wake her up.
She was still fully dressed, thank God, although she was no longer in that white dress. She wore jeans and a T-shirt, and there was a cheap-looking wig on the floor beside her. Her feet were bare and there was a nasty looking bump on her head. A chain was wrapped around her ankle and looped over the metal pipes of an old-style gas furnace that must power the radiators upstairs.
Gently, he held her in his arms, cradling her head in case there was any damage he couldn’t see.
“Lexi… Lexi. Wake up.”
She murmured but didn’t come to. He raised his voice, injecting a note of urgency into it.
“Lexi… It’s me… Kane. Wake up for me, Sweetheart. Wake up now.”
