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“Yeah.” Doug slid back the curtain with trembling fingers. The pain had increased with the effort of dressing. He swiped at the sweat leaking from his brow. “A friend of my sister. I was with her looking for Sky when we came across the wreck. She’s smart, and she had a shotgun, and if she saw Jim do anything to me she would have gone for help.”
“I hope so.” Olivia glanced around. “We gotta get out of here right now while we have the chance.” She shrugged into her coat and stared in the direction of the doorway, absently picking at the dried blood on her sleeve. “You do know Jim could be just outside that door.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” As Doug struggled into his coat, a cold sweat dampened his skin. He took a few steps across the floor and staggered. Flames of pain washed over him and he leaned heavily against the wall. “Just give me a few seconds to catch my breath.”
“You need pain meds.”
“No thanks.” He slid his hands into the coat pockets and his fingers met the familiar cold metal of his key fob. He distinctly remembered leaving the engine of his truck running to keep Ella warm. “Shit.”
Olivia stared at him, wide-eyed. “What’s wrong?”
“My keys are in my pocket, which means Ella is here too.”
He edged along the wall, then pushed open the swinging doors an inch. He stared both ways in astonishment; he was looking at a dim corridor lit only by a few tiny downlights. His heart raced with the implications of the scene before him; it was as if the hospital room was part of a movie set. Nothing outside fit with any hospital he’d seen before; in fact the place resembled a prison. Alarm bells went off in his head and the adrenaline pumping through him sped up his heart. He allowed the door to shut silently and slumped against the wall. “I’m convinced Jim is involved with the sex-slave industry. We’re not in a real hospital. I figure he’s keeping us here until he can sell us off to the highest bidder.”
“What are we going to do?” Olivia gripped his arm.
He scanned the room. “Open the drawers and search for anything we can use as a weapon.”
Olivia complied and came back with two scalpels. Doug took one of them from her, then looked at her pale worried expression. “If anything happens, go for the neck. You can do a lot of damage with one of these blades.”
“My brother taught me how to defend myself and he told me the only way to win when the odds are stacked against me is to fight dirty.” She held the scalpel in her palm and practiced an upward thrust.
Doug nodded. “Ready?”
“Yeah.” Olivia moved closer to him.
They eased out into the hallway and, keeping their backs to the wall, edged along, peering into the shadows, Doug led the way. The temperature had dropped considerably and cold seeped through his clothes. The lack of windows worried him and with each step he took into the
narrow dim passageway, his senses insisted they were underground. He led the way, checking the rooms as they went and finding only a locker room and a small office with no phone. A cloud of worry settled over him, the place looked deserted and they found no sign of any other wards let alone patients. Ahead, the hall ended in the glint of metal on a pair of double doors. He turned to Olivia. “That might be another ward. Keep behind me.”
She nodded, her eyes appearing dark in her ashen face. “Okay.”
Out of breath and fighting waves of incredible agony, Doug peered through the glass panel in the door then slumped against the wall. Despair caught him by the throat. “It’s not a ward. Looks like we’re alone.”
“So where is the exit?” Olivia gripped his arm with trembling fingers. “We’ve checked everywhere; there has to be a way out.”
Lightheaded, Doug indicated the room. “It has to be in there but I’m not sure if I have the strength to push the darn door open.”
“Come on.” Olivia leaned against the door and it opened with a whine. “Look over there. I can see a door.”
They’d made it halfway across the floor when a rumbling noise echoed through the room, along with the sound of someone whistling. Doug’s heart raced so fast he thought it might burst through his chest. He looked around for somewhere to hide, but it was too late; he stared in horror as the door opened slowly and a gurney slipped inside, with Jim at the helm. The slow smile crossing Jim’s face made Doug take a step back. It was like looking into the face of pure evil.
“Well, look what we have here.” Jim slammed the gurney into him with a maniacal grin.
Red-hot pain seared through Doug and he buckled, falling to his knees. He saw Olivia dart forward, scalpel in hand, and the next moment she flew across the room and hit the wall landing like a rag doll on the floor. Doug tried to get up but failed. “Leave her alone, you asshole!”
He winced as Jim lifted a wrench from the gurney and advanced toward him, swinging it casually in one hand.
“You plannin’ on goin’ somewhere, Doug?”
Thirty-Eight
Saturday, week two
Kane’s day seemed to be going from bad to worse. After completing his workout with Jenna, the first since she had gotten ill, he’d headed out to his garage and discovered his truck had a flat tire. On closer inspection, he found a sharp piece of metal wedged deep in the tread, no doubt picked up during the search of the junk yard. That investigation had been a complete waste of time, they had found nothing of interest and although Wolfe had climbed all over the compactor and any suspicious crushed vehicles collecting samples he’d found no evidence of blood.
Changing the tire and heading into George’s Garage for a replacement had taken time and after calling Jenna to explain the situation he’d avoided going into the office and headed out to chase down two delivery drivers and the mail truck driver.
