His words smacked into her, and she took a step back.In one of her notes to Aiden, she’d told him why she’d been in the basement the day they’d met, and how she knew without a doubt that the file on the little girl, PatientNinety-Two, hadn’t simply been misplaced.But she hadn’t thought, hadn’t considered, that Aubrey Masters wasdead.
He unhitched his gaze from the empty hall and it fell to the floor.“I could have said that a million different ways.”His shoulders drooped.“That was shitty of me.”
Elodie’s fingers were numb.“How did she...”The final word wouldn’t leave her lips.She squeezed her eyes shut against the memory of Aubrey’s small, scared cries.
Had the girl been alone when it happened?Had she been crying for her mother?
“I’m not even supposed to know that much.”He remained slumped, only lifting his green eyes to meet hers.“What I do know is that your patients need you.You should be in theLTCU.”
“And you should stop trying to tell me what to do.”Her eyelids snapped open as she threw the words at him.“Someone in there knows what happened—” Elodie’s voice cracked and she sucked in a breath to keep from breaking.“Ask them.Findout!”
“Elodie—”
A boom thundered through the corridor.Elodie snapped her attention to the empty hallway behind her.Something crashed, unseen around the sharp turns.The MediCenter was filled with safeguards, and all employees took precautions, but lab accidents sometimes still occurred.Alarms sounded, and a crew would arrive within minutes for cleanup and to treat anyone injured in theblast.
But who’d be working with anything that volatile in the morgue?
Elodie stood in a sea of pure white, but the sterile lights andbleach-scentedhallway couldn’t protect her from what was coming, couldn’t save her from the boots slapping against tile just around the corner.
Her limbs frosted, and each blink, each breath came in slow, underwater motion.Maintenance couldn’t be here this fast, and those did not sound like the shoes of a doctor echoing through the sterile chamber.
Closer.Closer.
Elodie remained fixed in the pregnant, panicked moment until Aiden’s quick movements caught her attention—she’d forgotten he was next to her.
“Eos,” she said, and the word rode on haggardgulps.
Aiden released his inhale, calm and slow.“I know.”
“We can make it back into your unit.”Elodie’s whisper came out a quivering, rushed jumble.“Holly!”she hissed.“Open thedoor.”
Holly appeared, cheerful and vibrant.“Hello and welcome to theEnd-of-Life Unit.”Her jovial voice loud and grating against Elodie’s need for sanctuary.“Only authorized citizens and MediCenter employees are allowed entry.Please scan your cuff.”
“Aiden, we need to get in!”Elodie’s throat burned as sobs threatened to breakfree.
“Holly, leave!”Aiden said, and Holly’s pleasant grin remained fixed as she nodded and blinked from sight.Elodie’s stomach hollowed, and her heart knocked against her ribs.“What are you doing?”The question was a screech of fear.“It’s Eos.They’ll—” Elodie struggled to pry the words from her throat.“They’ll kill us.”
“You should be more worried about the Key.”Aiden produced a clear plastic die from his pocket and rolled it on the floor beneath the scanner.
Elodie’s inhale stuck in her chest as she stared down at the die.“Will that help us?”
Footsteps hammered closer...
“Trust me, Elodie.”Aiden’s throat bobbed with a thick swallow.“Let’s go!”He darted down the side hall and disappeared around a corner.
Nerves exploded in Elodie’s legs and she sprinted to Aiden’s side, away from those echoing bootsteps, and pressed her back against thewall.
He’d asked her to trust him.
Boots thundered closer...closer.
She didn’t have a choice.
A woman’s voice called out, clipped and strong.“I can only divert Key attention for another five minutes.”
Eos had arrived, just around the corner, at the ELU door.Tears scraped Elodie’s eyes as she pressed herself against the wall in hopes that it would swallow her whole.These five minutes would be her last.“We’re going to die down here.They’ll set off a germ stack or—” A whispered sob escaped.“They’ll shoot us.We’ll end up in boxes in yourunit.”
“None of that is going to happen.”Aiden peered around the corner before jerking back.“Eos won’t hurt us.”
