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Nothing.

She tried to picture the inside of the closet again.

“Amy, answer me! Where are you, Honey?”

The door pushes inwards, I need to pull!

Amy turned and pulled, then squeezed her way out of the door and fell to the ground.

“Amy!” She felt Ryker’s fingers touching her face, her arms. “I’ve got to get you out of here, Baby. Just hang on for a minute or two longer.”

He started to cough, but that didn’t stop him from hoisting her up and carrying her out the front door. She heard sirens and people shouting, but the only thing that mattered was Ryker.

Ryker found me.

25

Ryker looked at her lying in the hospital bed and wanted to scream. He wanted to cry.

“She’s going to be fine,” Linc said. “You heard what the doctor said.”

Yeah. And Eddie was supposed to be fine, too, when they revived him on the beach. But he died later in the hospital.

“She only woke up for a minute, now she’s sleeping again. She’s been asleep for fourteen hours.”

“She had just been on painkillers, then she was in the fire and took in too much smoke and has a concussion, of course she’s asleep.” Linc put his hands on Ryker’s shoulders and turned him away from Amy and forced him to look at him. “She’s going to be fine.”

“This was all my fault. I shouldn’t have pushed at him. I knew the guy was a psycho.” Ryker’s whisper was agonized.

Amy’s hospital door room opened and Beatrice and Lark walked in, with Kostya right behind them.

“Let’s go outside,” Linc suggested.

“No,” Ryker said. “I want to stay with Amy.”

Kostya walked over to where Ryker and Linc were huddling. “You two come out in the hall with me.”

That wasn’t a suggestion, it was an order, so Ryker did as he was told.

“Walk with me,” he said as soon as they got outside Amy’s room.

“I don’t want to go far,” Ryker protested.

“Walk with me. We have a job to do.”

The hair on Ryker’s neck stood up. He and Linc both nodded and followed Kostya. When they got outside, Gideon and Nolan were waiting at the front entrance in different vehicles than they normally drove.

Rentals.

This was off the books.

Good.

Ryker and Linc got in the Escalade with Gideon. Kostya got in the other Escalade with Nolan and Landon.

“Gear in the back?” Ryker asked Gideon.

Gideon nodded. “We’re going on a road trip to Trenton New Jersey. Jada’s booked us one night at an AirBnB there so we can plan. Kostya’s going to lay everything out when we get there.”