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“I am Olivia’s mother, yes. Please do not try to get anywhere near my daughter, ever again. The police are ready to intercept you.”
“I cannot believe this,” Sean hissed. “What did you do? Lure her in by saying that one of you was sick? Is that why she’s at the clinic?”
“My husband’s frail health is none of your business.”
“Frail health, my ass. I can’t believe she fell for it, but then, she always cared more about you guys than either of you ever deserved. Put Liv on the line. Let me talk to her.”
“No,” the woman said, her voice triumphant. “She is resting. She’s had a terrible experience. I will not let her talk to you. Ever again.”
“How do you intend to stop her?” Sean asked. “She’s thirty-two.”
“Yes, and very fragile. Easily led by a dominating personality.”
An image of Liv charging through the forest topless, screaming bloody murder as she emptied the clip of the Beretta at T-Rex, came to him. “Uh, yeah. Right,” he muttered.
“Wait. Just a moment, Dr. Horst, I’m on the phone with that person, and I’ll be with you in a…what? She’swhat?”
Crack.The phone had dropped to the ground.
A hole of fear yawned open in his belly. He listened to the still open line. People were yelling in the distance. Amelia was screaming.
Already. He’d fucked up. He should have stuck to Liv like glue.
“Mr. McCloud?” Amelia shrieked into the phone. “What have you done with my daughter?Where is she?”
Relief made him giddy. T-Rex had nabbed her, had not simply murdered her. There was still a chance. He laid on the gas.
“Nothing,” he said. “Don’t tell me. She’s disappeared, right? Someone abducted her. You mean you’re surprised? Where have you been for the past four weeks, since this guy started stalking her? Did you not believe that, either? Jesus, lady! Hello! Wake up!”
“It’s not possible! She wasn’t—you’re not—”
“I’m not the one!” Sean yelled. “Bet she tried to tell you, huh? Bet you didn’t listen. You’ve never listened to her in her entire life.”
Her incoherent response suddenly diminished in volume. “Mr. McCloud?” said a gruff male voice. “Where did you take my daughter?”
“Nowhere,” he snarled. “I’m trying to keep her alive, and you and your stupid wife are making it hard. How long ago did she disappear?”
“We saw her just fifteen minutes ago—”
“Tell the cops to block all the roads leading to the clinic. Stop everyone from leaving.” He hung up the phone, and gunned the engine.
The cops would be all over his ass in no time. He had to catch up with T-Rex before they caught up to him. Think, goddamnit.Think.
He pounded the steering wheel. If he were a kidnapper sneaking a drugged woman out of a hospital and into a vehicle…
Basement. Laundry. Back entrance. Definitely.
He slewed the vehicle around just in time to take the left-hand road that looped up and around to the back service entrance and the employee parking garage. He jerked to a stop outside the garage, and left the SVU running as he sidled along the wall towards the entrance.
He definitely couldn’t count on those brain-dead Endicotts to tell the cops to block the exit roads, so he yanked out his phone and dialed 911 as he peered into the entrance, sidling down. A pair of headlights flicked on in there. His heart kicked up a notch, his stomach did a no-hands cartwheel. The lights came slowly towards him.
He pulled out the SIG Con had brought him, held it discreetly behind his thigh. He couldn’t make out who was in the driver’s seat. He was still in the chute that led up to the outside lot. It was a white van, stenciling on the side, hospital supplies or something. His nerve endings prickled. The engine roared. Was it T-Rex?Fuck.
The dispatcher spoke into his ear. “Endicott Falls Police.”
If that was T-Rex, the only solution was to shoot the driver right now, head-on. But he couldn’t see who was driving. Couldn’t risk it.
The van picked up speed, swerved. The door swung open. Sean leaped back, turning so that the spine-snapping lethal blow was downgraded to mere searing white-hot pain. The ground swooped up and slapped his body sidewise, knocking out his wind.
