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Two hours later, I’m floating on cloud nine walking into the hospital. My mind is swarming with all things wedding and getting to Mathis as quickly as possible. I’m so dazed, I barely pay attention to the black Escalade parked ten feet from the employee entrance.
I hardly glance at the man leaning against the building, smoking in the clearly labeled ‘no smoking’ zone.
I finally snap out of it when I notice the usually busy entrance is deserted. This is a popular shift change time for several departments. An eerie feeling washes over me just as a sting pinches my side.
Then everything goes black.
Chapter 18
Mathis
A sharp sting radiates through my chest and a fiery pain rolls in my gut. I check my watch, noting Claire should be here any minute. She’s hyped. Rachel called to tell me the news on the now fully approved and combined bachelor and bachelorette party. A troubled feeling settles deep in my gut, and I begin to get edgy. Something is wrong. My hospital cell rings at the same time a high alarm shrills in the hallway.
I’m on my feet and halfway down the hall in under two seconds, running to the Pediatric Oncology floor. “Bennett,” I bark into the phone.
“Code five, get to your team and secure the floor. Follow protocol.” Dr. Andrews hangs up before I can question him.
“Fuck me.” I break into a run. Code five is the second worst situation, right under terrorist threat.
When I reach the oncology entrance, nurses and patient technicians are scurrying any children in the rec area to their rooms. Dr. Cross is behind the desk on the phone. His words are clipped, and when his eyes meet mine, I freeze. His usual easy-going demeanor has converted. He turns away, and as much as I want to hear what he knows, I jump into gear. I go room-to-room, counting patients and staff. Once I know everyone is accounted for, my mind turns to Evie.
She’s at the nurses’ station, but before I can get to her, the elevator opens and three uniformed officers and a member of hospital security rush in.
“We’re all accounted for,” I shout to them, expecting them to take off to the next department. Instead, they don’t leave, coming straight to me.
“Dr. Bennett, you need to come with us,” the security guard says.
Evie is at my side in a second, gripping my elbow. “What’s going on?”
“Give us a minute.” Dr. Cross walks in front of me, his body tight, his jaw clenched, his eyes sharp. “Mathis, we need to talk.”
“Talk.”
He looks behind him to the four men and back to me, lowering his voice. “There’s been an abduction.”
“A child?” My initial instinct is that a baby had been stolen.
“Two witnesses are reporting a woman in street clothes, wearing a backpack—”
“Claire.” It hits me like a sledgehammer, and I brush Evie off, push Cross aside, and get close to the officers. “Claire?” I say forcefully.
Their faces remain stoic and only one replies. “We’d like to have confirmation. The security feeds are rolling now.”
“Let’s go.” I take off to the stairwell, not waiting.
By the time I hit the first floor, I’m racing to the security offices with my phone to my ear, begging for Claire to answer her phone. It goes straight to voicemail three times before I leave a message. “Claire, baby, call me now!”
I don’t slow, barging into the room and finding a mixture of security and police gathered, staring at three walls of screens. One wall is playing the same scene from different angles, and I see as soon as the footage picks up a woman exiting the parking garage. The blood in my veins turns to ice with the first glance. It’s Claire. The video is grainy, distant, and not entirely focused, but I memorized her sway the first time we met. She crosses the small walkway, gets close to the employee entrance, and someone jumps her from behind wearing full body coveralls. No identifying items. Everything is concealed from shoes to face.
The smoking man jumps into action, helping the mystery man throw Claire into the back of an Escalade, then leaps into the driver’s seat and speeds away.
I look at the running timer on the top of the screen, realizing it took only eight seconds.
Eight goddamned seconds and she was gone.
“It’s Claire,” I announce to the room, my voice shaking with rage.
My eyes scan each angle, over and over, the end result always the same— her being thrown into the vehicle. My blood boils, my chest seizes, and my body quakes with fury and fear.
