Текст книги "Sight Unseen "

Автор книги: Iris Johansen

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Текущая страница: 16 (всего у книги 18 страниц)

CHAPTER

14

FBI San Diego Field Office

4:30 P.M.

“WHAT IN HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?” Griffin stood up from the desk at the front of the war room and strode toward Kendra, who had just stepped off the elevator with Lynch. “She was almost in shock last night, Lynch. Couldn’t you keep her away from here for a while?”

“You should know better.” Lynch put his hand on Kendra’s shoulder. “She insisted. Even at my place, she spent the entire day poring through the prison logs you e-mailed her.” He added dryly, “And here I thought my natural charisma and charm would be enough of a distraction.”

“Yeah?” Griffin said. “No wonder she couldn’t stop working the case.”

Kendra turned toward Metcalf, who was trying to discreetly roll away the bulletin board with Dean Halley’s grisly murder-case photos. “You don’t need to do that,” she said. “Believe me, those eight-by-tens are nowhere near as upsetting as it was to actually be there.” She paused. “Or the memory that kept replaying in my mind all night.”

Metcalf stopped. “I just thought—”

“Let him take it,” Lynch murmured. “It’s okay for you to be human, Kendra.”

Kendra glanced at the board, but, in spite of her words, she found herself quickly looking away.

Dean.

Eyes glued open. Staring.

“You’re right, Metcalf. Thank you.” Kendra struggled to maintain her composure. Damn. This was even harder than she’d thought it would be. It was her duty to be here trying to do everything possible to stop that murderer, but Dean’s death was too fresh in her mind. “Maybe you should move it to another part of the room.”

Metcalf looked as if he wanted to offer some words of comfort, but he finally just turned and awkwardly moved the bulletin board away.

“You shouldn’t be here.” Griffin was frowning. “At least take another day or so. We have agents in the field following up on Colby’s visitors and call logs. I haven’t even received the preliminary forensics report on the Dean Halley crime scene. Go home, Kendra.”

“I can’t. I’d just go crazy. What are you and the team doing?”

“Not anything that’s promising.” Griffin checked his watch. “We’re about to go into a teleconference with a profiler from Washington. You’re welcome to join us, but you may find it as pointless as I will. I doubt he’ll tell us anything our own profilers haven’t already come up with.”

He was right, not very promising, Kendra thought. She had hoped for more. But she turned and followed Griffin toward the desk. “If it’s the only game in town, you can bet I’ll sit in.”

*   *   *

TRUE TO GRIFFIN’S WORDS, the meeting was a fairly pointless exercise, with few new insights. They were just wrapping up when a shrill, high-pitched beeping sound pierced the relative quiet of the war room.

A terribly familiar sound.

Lynch looked over at the large projection screen. “Is that what I think it is?”

Again, Kendra thought. The nightmare was beginning all over again.

“Shit!” Griffin abruptly cut the teleconference link. The agents around the long table bolted toward the front of the room.

As it had the night before, the beeping was coming from the phone-company technician’s laptop. Once again, a red dot now appeared on the map.

Kendra’s eyes widened as she jumped to her feet. She gazed up at the large projected map, which had remained unchanged since yesterday. Excitement was gripping her, taking her breath.

Excitement … and dread.

Have we got you this time, Myatt?

The technician was already looking at his laptop screen. “This is another one of the three phones we’ve been tracking, Agent Griffin. It just connected with the network.”

Griffin shook his head. “Myatt used the other phone on a timer to draw us out to Dean Halley’s house. He may be using this one the same way.”

Lynch studied the map. “He’s east of Descanso. It almost looks like—”

“Oh, my God.” Kendra felt a sickening jolt, her gaze fastened on the map. It couldn’t be true.

Don’t let it be true.

Lynch nodded slowly as he saw her face.

“What’s happening?” Griffin asked.

The worst thing that could possibly happen.

“He’s found my mother and Olivia.”

*   *   *

“MOM, YOU HAVE TO GET OUT OF THERE. Do you hear me? Immediately. Don’t argue, just move.”

“Hold on, you keep fading out. I’m out on the balcony, and I get lousy reception here.” Diane moved through the house with her mobile phone, trying to find the spot with the best reception. She finally found herself in the living room. It was dark outside, and Nelson was turning off lights in the living room as he talked into his phone. He was standing straight and speaking in the clipped, efficient tone he adopted whenever he spoke to the Bureau higher-ups. Not a good sign, Diane thought.

“Now, what’s happened?” Diane said into the phone. “Nelson is looking very … professional.”

“Good. That’s what we want from him. Myatt’s found you. He’s somewhere in your vicinity. Griffin’s explaining it to Nelson right now. You’re going to leave the house immediately and go to the Sheriff’s Department in Julian.”

“Wouldn’t it be better for us to stay here and let the police and FBI come here? This could be your chance to catch this psychopath.”

“No. We will not use you as bait. Do exactly as Nelson tells you to do. Okay?”

“I still think—”

“No. Mom, don’t think. Please don’t think. Just get the hell out of there. Where’s Olivia?”

“In the kitchen. She’s on her laptop.”

“Good. Stay together. Do exactly as Nelson tells you.”

“You already said that.”

“Because I know you.” She paused. “I love you, Mom.”

“Oh, Lord. You’re being sentimental. Now I am scared.”

“You’ll be fine. I’ll see you in less than an hour.”

Kendra cut the connection. Diane looked up to see that Nelson had pulled his automatic from the holster and was checking the cartridge.

“It’ll be okay,” he said.

“You sound as if you’re trying to convince yourself.” Olivia entered from the kitchen with her work knapsack slung over her shoulder.

“We have a bit of a situation,” he said. “But nothing to worry about.”

“Nothing except for the killer lurking outside. Excuse me for eavesdropping on your phone conversations, but since no one bothered to call me, I had nothing better to do.”

Still holding the gun, Nelson picked up his phone and punched a number. He listened, then hung up. “No answer from Tad Martlin.”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Diane said. “The cell reception is spotty up here.”

“True, but it’s been a while since he checked in.” Nelson walked to a front window and looked through a parting in the curtains. “The two of you wait here by the front door. I’ll bring the car from the road and pull as close to the house as I can.”

“You don’t want us to go together?” Olivia asked.

“No. And don’t bother with your luggage. We’ll get it later. Right now, I just want to put some distance between us and this house.”

Diane nodded. “Okay. The second you pull up in your car, we’ll be ready to jump inside.” She turned to Olivia. “When we go out the door, take my arm and I’ll lead you to—”

“You know me better than that,” she said. “I’ll hear the car engine, it’ll be no problem. Just worry about yourself.”

“For some weird reason, that’s scarier than worrying about you.”

Olivia chuckled and reached out and squeezed Diane’s hand. “Hey, I’ll take care of you.”

“How humiliating.”

Nelson moved toward the door. “Sixty seconds, ladies. Be ready.”

“Be careful,” Olivia said.

Nelson was gone. They listened as his footsteps pounded the pavement outside.

“Come closer to the door,” Diane said seconds later. “He said for us to be—”

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

The booming, staccato crack of gunfire outside.

“Don!” Olivia shouted.

A window shattered. Then another.

“Down,” Diane shouted as she pulled Olivia to the floor.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

The door flew open, and Nelson barreled through and hit the floor.

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

A lamp broke in the living room. Nelson swung his leg around and pushed the door closed.

He gritted his teeth in pain. “I’m hit.”

“What happened?” Olivia ran over and knelt beside him.

“Somebody’s firing from the bushes across the road. I couldn’t even see him.” Nelson gingerly touched the bloody wound at his side. “Shit.”

Diane grabbed a throw blanket from the couch and wrapped it tightly around Nelson’s midsection.

Rat-tat-tat-tat. A fresh burst of gunfire destroyed another window.

Olivia pulled Nelson’s arm over her shoulders. “Can you stand?”

“Yes.” He gasped in pain as she lifted him to his feet.

Olivia pulled him toward the back of the house. “We’ll go downstairs to the basement. Diane, you told me when you took me around the house that there are no windows in a couple of the rooms down there on the lower level, right?”

“Right,” Diane said. “One side of the house faces the road, the other the forest.”

“We’ll barricade ourselves in one of those rooms and wait for the cavalry to arrive. Sound like a plan?”

“Yes.” Diane moved cautiously and threw the lock on the front door.

“Good.” Olivia started for the door leading to the basement. “Now help me get Don down the stairs.”

Together, they carefully helped Nelson down, one step at a time.

More gunfire rained behind them.

Chase/Wyndham Heliport

San Diego, California

LESS THAN A MILE FROM THE FBI field office, Kendra, Lynch, Griffin, and Metcalf emerged from the elevator atop the forty-four-story Chase Wyndham Building. A six-seat helicopter was warmed and waiting on the helipad.

“Our response teams are on the way,” Griffin yelled over the sound of the rotors. “We have ground units and another helicopter tactical team en route.”

Lynch frowned absently, as he stared at his phone, but he said nothing until after they climbed into the ’copter and closed the door behind them. “I can’t get through to Tad Martlin,” he said. “I tried to call and send a text, but there’s been no answer.” He looked grimly at Kendra. “I don’t like it.”

“We’ll be there in fifteen minutes,” Griffin said. “The helicopter response team may be there even sooner. Don’t worry.”

Don’t worry?

Kendra gazed at him incredulously as the ’copter lifted off and made a wide arc over the city of San Diego. Fifteen minutes could be an eternity. Fifteen minutes could be life or death. Her mother’s life, Olivia’s life. There wasn’t any way she could do anything else but worry.

*   *   *

OLIVIA STOPPED TO ADJUST Nelson’s weight on her shoulder as they finally reached the lower floor. He was weaker now, and she could hear his breathing becoming more labored. “Don, how are you doing?”

“It hurts like hell.”

“I know. Hold it together for me, okay?” Olivia suddenly turned, her head lifting. “What’s that smell?”

Diane sniffed. “Gunpowder?”

“No.” Olivia shook her head. “That was my first thought but it’s…”

“Smoke’s billowing through a doorway in front of us,” Diane said. “There has to be a fire up ahead.” She looked behind her at the stairs. More pungent smoke was curling from that direction. “And behind us.”

It suddenly hit Olivia. “This is too much like another one of Kendra’s cases … I remember the killer burned people alive in their homes, sometimes after sealing them inside.”

“Myatt’s set the house on fire,” Diane said. “My lungs are burning from the smoke. Get down. Close to the floor…”

She and Olivia dropped to their knees beside Nelson and scrambled across the floor. They coughed and breathed through their sleeves in a vain attempt to filter the smoke.

“We can’t barricade ourselves down here. Scratch that plan. But there’s a way to get out of here,” Diane said. “I think I saw an exit that led to the woods when we were touring the house.”

“Then let’s find it,” Olivia gasped, her lungs searing. “I hear the flames. Do you see them yet?”

“Can’t see—” Diane barely managed to choke out her words. “Too much smoke. I can’t tell which way to go. It’s like a maze down here.”

But they couldn’t just stay here, Olivia thought. They had to find a way out, or they’d be unconscious in minutes. Think. Find a way.

She suddenly stiffened as a thought came to her.

“Maybe…” She unzipped her knapsack. “Pray for American ingenuity and just plain luck, Diane.”

“American ingenuity?”

Olivia was no longer listening. She could do this.

God, she hoped she could do it.

She felt around in her knapsack until she located her plastic sample pack. She opened it and felt inside, trying to touch each product and identify.

There it was. She’d located the object she’d been looking for. Finally, she pulled a contraption that resembled aviator sunglasses with attached earbuds. She put the glasses on her face and inserted the foam earbuds.

“What are you doing?” Diane coughed.

“It’s a gadget I’m reviewing. I hadn’t gotten around to testing it. It appears I’m going to do it now. I’m sure the inventor didn’t mean it to be used for a situation like this. It uses sonar…” She started crawling. “Follow me.”

With Olivia as their guide, they pushed on through the black smoke, navigating the twists and turns past the laundry room, spare bedrooms, and recreation room.

Even as visibility dropped close to zero, Olivia could hear the glasses emitting a series of beeps that distinguished between walls and passageways every time she turned her head. She stopped as she was about to take a right turn. She placed her hand against the wall. “This one’s warm. Quick, the other way.”

They retraced their steps through the poisonous fog until Olivia found another hallway that would take them into the TV room.

“There’s no outside door here, but I remember a window across the room.” Diane quickly closed the hall door behind them.

Diane turned on her phone, and the illumination was just enough for them to see to make their way to the room’s single window, some six feet over the floor. Diane dragged a stool over, climbed onto it, and slid open the window.

Fresh air blew into the smoky room.

“Careful,” Nelson said. “He may be out there. We have no idea which side of the property he’s at right now.”

Diane crouched lower and coughed again as more smoke poured into the room from the hall, smothering the fresh air from the window. “Well, we can’t stay in here.”

Nelson pulled out his gun. “I’ll go first. Then I can cover you if I need to.”

Olivia looked at him skeptically. “Can you make it?”

“Yes.” He sounded indignant, but he winced as he climbed on the stool. “It will be painful, but I can do it. It’s my job. And the two of you have had to treat me like a basket case.” He peered through the window, then hoisted himself up and through it. He rolled onto the ground just a foot below the outside of the window. He took cover behind a bush outside, then motioned for Diane to join him.

“Olivia, he just gave us the sign,” Diane said. “You first.”

“No.”

“This isn’t the time to argue, dammit.”

“No arguments. You’re not as young as I am. I’ll help steady you. Then you guys can pull me out if I need it.”

“Okay.” Diane pulled herself through the window. “But I’m insulted that you think I’m decrepit. I’ll get you for that.” She started to turn around but heard a coughing behind her that told her that Olivia had already climbed out the window.

“So much for pulling you out,” Diane whispered to her, as they crouched next to Nelson.

“Anything, Don?” Olivia asked Nelson.

“Looks clear.” He turned back and looked up at the house, which was rapidly becoming engulfed by flames. “But we need to get the hell away from here. You and Olivia run for the woods.” His hand tightened on his automatic. “I’ll be ready to cover you if he’s still out there.”

*   *   *

“OH, MY GOD.”

Kendra looked out of the helicopter window at the burning vacation house, a flaming torch on the dark hillside.

“I’m sure they got out,” Lynch said quietly.

“How do you know?” Kendra snapped. “How can anyone know?” She was dialing her phone. “I can’t get through to Mom.”

“I don’t know. But your mother is smart, and so is Olivia,” Lynch said. “And Nelson is a good agent. They’d find a way to get out of that inferno.”

“Myatt is down there,” Kendra said. “Even if they’re out of the house, they might be running straight toward him.”

“You’re right.” Griffin lowered the microphone on his telephone headset. “But I’ve just had word that the response team is down there. They’ve called the paramedics. The paramedics are four minutes out.”

Kendra felt as if she were going to jump out of her skin. “Paramedics? What the hell happened? Have they reached them? How are they?”

“We’ll find out soon.” Griffin held up a finger as he listened. He leaned toward the pilot. “Did you get that?”

“Got it,” he said. “We’ll be on the ground in sixty seconds.”

The helicopter was banking around the burning house and hovered over an empty field down the road. Kendra looked down and saw that the response team’s helicopter had already landed there. Its searchlights illuminated the field.

What was she going to find down there?

In less than a minute, Kendra unbuckled herself and jumped out of the helicopter. She bolted across the small field, which was lit up by crisscrossing searchlights from the landed copter, which also provided fierce wind and noise from their rotors.

There they were! At the edge of the field nearest the road. They were being treated by personnel of the response team.

And they didn’t look good.

“Mom?”

Kendra dropped to her knees in front of the spot where her mother, Olivia, and Agent Nelson were being treated. Blackened faces, torn and rumpled clothes. And they were each wearing oxygen masks.

Kendra took Diane’s hands in her own. “Are you okay?”

Diane pulled off her mask. “Agent Nelson needs help. Immediately. I’ve been telling them to fly him to a hospital. They’re not listening to me.”

Kendra looked over to see Nelson on his back, his shirt off and bandaged around his torso. He was being tended by two agents, one of whom leaned over and replaced the mask over Diane’s nose and mouth.

“Ma’am, the paramedics will be here any minute. They’ll help him.” From his steely tone, it was obvious Diane had been getting on his every last nerve.

An encouraging sign, Kendra decided with relief.

Diane said something that caused her mask to fog. Kendra figured it was a good thing they couldn’t understand her.

She turned to Olivia. “How are you feeling?”

Olivia just nodded. She was staring down at Nelson and holding his hand. Then she looked at Kendra. “He took a bullet for us. Myatt was out there waiting.”

“Can you tell me what happened in there?”

“It’s better if they don’t talk.” The response-team agent leaned toward Kendra. “They’ve already discussed it with the commander when we first found them. He’ll fill you in.”

Kendra looked over and saw that Griffin and Lynch were already on it, intently discussing the situation with the response-team commander.

She saw red flashers, strobing over the hillside. Relief. Two paramedic units rounded the bend and stopped on the side of the road.

As the paramedics jumped out and started to work, Kendra joined Lynch and Griffin. “Will somebody please tell me what happened?”

As they brought her up to speed, she could see that Lynch was clearly troubled. “Still no sign of Tad Martlin?” she asked.

She’d clearly hit a nerve. “Not yet.”

“I’m sure the paramedics will take Olivia and my mother to the hospital, along with Agent Nelson. I need to go with them.”

“Of course.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I’ll stay here a while and join the search for Martlin.” Lynch shook his head. “I’m the one who brought him into this.”

“He had to know what he was doing when he took this job.”

“Did he?”

“As much as any of us did.”

Lynch nodded. “Keep in touch. I’ll let you know what we find out here. The local police have already put up roadblocks on the highway. No one’s driving off this mountain without our knowing about it.”

“If he’s still on the mountain.” Kendra turned toward Nelson, who was on a gurney being placed into one of the paramedic units. “Well, that’s my cue. You know the expression, ‘Doctors make the worst patients?’ Whoever said that never met my mother.” She glanced back at Lynch. “Be careful.”

“You too.”

She looked out into the darkness of the woods as she moved toward the paramedic unit. Was Myatt there, watching, planning? Surely not. This area was crawling with agents and response teams now.

But who knew what Myatt was thinking or planning. His move in attacking her mother and Olivia had been very bold, and it had almost been successful.

When this had started, she had never dreamed that it would lead her down this twisted road. Now the only thing of which she could be certain was that Myatt would take any chance, go any distance.

And take down anyone who got in his way.

*   *   *

“YOU’RE JOKING.” Diane stared incredulously at the young female emergency-room doctor. “I am not staying the night here. Cut this bracelet off me right now.”

“Ma’am, it’s for your own safety and wellness…”

“I’m quite safe and well, thank you. I’ll make that decision.”

Kendra rolled her eyes. “Give my mother a sedative and a plausible horror story. Those are the only things that will work, trust me.”

The doctor, who appeared to be in her midtwenties, frowned in puzzlement. “A sedative and a…”

“… horror story. Tell her what can happen if she goes home right now.”

“We try not to unnecessarily frighten our patients.”

“Frighten her,” Kendra said. “It’s absolutely necessary.”

“Don’t listen to her,” Diane said to the doctor. “My daughter is just—”

“You could die,” the doctor said bluntly.

“That isn’t funny,” Diane said.

“I assure you it’s not. But you and your friends breathed poison, plain and simple. It’s unavoidable in a house fire. We have no idea what toxins are only now entering your bloodstream. We need to observe you for the next four to six hours. During that time, you can help yourself by keeping your mask on and breathing oxygen.”

“But I already feel better.”

“That’s good. But I served my residency with a physician who treated a fire victim who unknowingly breathed toxic levels of chorine and hydrogen. Apparently, the house’s molding and baseboards were made of a plastic material that released those elements at high temperature. The patient had only a minor cough, but he went home and several hours later his respiratory system shut down, and he died.”

“That’s a horror story, all right,” Diane said sourly. “Now I think I really need that sedative.”

On a gurney a few feet away, Olivia pulled off her mask. “For the record, I really didn’t need to hear that.”

“I’m sure you’ll both be fine,” the doctor said. “It’s just a precaution.”

Olivia sat up and leaned toward Kendra. “What about Don?”

“I’ll check on him again. They told me he’d be in surgery at least another hour and a half.”

Olivia frowned. “That sounds like big-time surgery. Can you check now? Please?”

“Sure.” Kendra shrugged. Her current duties here at the hospital appeared to be everything from trying to keep her mother in line to aid and comfort to the lovelorn. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“It’s not what you’re thinking,” Olivia said. “After all, Don could have been killed protecting us.”

“I’m not arguing.” Kendra smiled as she moved toward the exit. “I’m grateful to him, too. You’ll have your report.”

FBI San Diego Field Office

“MR. DILLINGHAM…” SPECIAL AGENT Saffron Reade stepped off the elevator and smiled as she greeted Bill Dillingham in the lobby. “I’m Agent Reade. I’ve heard so much about you. I’m very happy to meet you.”

Dillingham struggled to stand up from the long wooden bench near the reception desk. He wore high-waisted knit slacks and a short-sleeve white dress shirt and carried a large sketch pad.

Reade had heard that the freelance sketch artist was in his mideighties, but he appeared to be an even older man.

“Hello, young lady.” He frowned. “I was hoping to see Kendra Michaels. I know it’s late, but I thought she might still be around.”

Reade smiled. “She and the rest of the team are out in the field tonight. I got stuck heading up things here. Good thing, or I would have missed you.”

“Yeah.”

Her brows rose. “Won’t I do?”

“I guess so. It’s just that Kendra and me sort of … bonded. We’re kinda on the same wavelength.”

“Try me. Can’t hurt, can it?”

“No.” He shrugged. “But don’t be too sure it was a good thing that you stayed around to see me. I might be just wasting your time.” Dillingham held up his large sketch pad. “Kendra asked me to draw up some alternate sketches of that psychopath she saw last week. She wanted me to research all the different ways someone might disguise themselves without its looking like a disguise, you know? Fake teeth, nostril inserts, cheek and jaw liners … Based on what she gave me, I made up a few dozen alternates.”

Reade took the pad and flipped through the pages. “Amazing. You do great work, Mr. Dillingham. I’ve seen some of your sketches before, but it’s wonderful to finally meet the man behind—”

She froze.

This had to be some kind of sick joke.

Dillingham touched her arm. “Agent Reade?”

“I don’t believe it,” she whispered. She stared at the sketch for a good fifteen seconds longer before looking up.

This was no joke. Dillingham seemed completely mystified by her reaction.

“I need you to come upstairs with me. I want you to tell me exactly how you came to draw this.”

“Uh, sure.”

She looked at the sketch again. A sickening sense of dread was rising within her. “But first I have some phone calls to make.”

Sharp Grossmont Hospital

La Mesa

KENDRA STEPPED OUTSIDE THE HOSPITAL with her phone pressed against her ear after passing two nurses who had testily pointed to the NO CELL PHONES signs in the corridors. She had been trying without success to connect with Lynch when a call came for her. She hit the talk switch.

“Dr. Michaels?” It was a British-accented voice that she didn’t recognize.

“Yes?”

“We haven’t met yet, but my name is Bobby Chatsworth. How are you this evening?”

Ugh. “Mr. Chatsworth, this really isn’t a good time.”

“Please don’t hang up, Dr. Michaels. I know what’s happened. We’re in San Diego, and we’ve been monitoring the police bands.”

“Why would you be doing that?”

“Frankly, to get some footage of you in action. In lieu of an actual interview with you. There’s the very real possibility your killer may strike again, and if you arrive on the scene, we’d like very much to be here on the spot.”

“My mother and friend are in the hospital, Mr. Chatsworth. Your show is the furthest thing from my mind right now.”

“Naturally. But I wonder if you might grant us just a few minutes of your time. A few quick sound bites, and we’ll be off to England and out of your hair forever.”

“Mr. Chatsworth, I don’t—”

“You have to admit, it’s tempting.” His voice now came not from the phone, but behind her.

She whirled around. Bobby Chatsworth, all beard and glasses, smiled as he walked across the nearly empty parking lot. He lowered the phone from his ear. “What do you say, Dr. Michaels?”

Kendra put down her phone. “Unbelievable. You’re persistent, I’ll say that for you. Did you bring your crew here, too?”

“They’re five minutes away, getting rooms at the Old Country Lodge down the highway. You can join me down there, or I can bring them here. Either way, after the next half hour, you’ll never have to see any of us ever again.”

She didn’t need this, Kendra thought impatiently. She opened her lips to refuse him once again.

She suddenly went still.

Oh, God. Of course.

She felt icy fingers run up her spine to her neck.

Don’t let it show. Don’t let it show.

Stay cool.

“Have your crew here in twenty minutes, Mr. Chatsworth. I’ll give you five minutes in front of the camera.” Kendra turned and headed up the walkway to the hospital side entrance.

“Very gracious of you,” Chatsworth said. “But before we do that…”

A cloth snapped in front of her nose and mouth.

She tried to wrestle free.

But Chatsworth was strong. Too strong.

Not Chatsworth, she thought, panicked.

Myatt.

He whispered into her ear. “Nice try, Kendra. But you have a terrible poker face.”

Darkness.

*   *   *

PAIN. HORRIBLE, skull-shattering pain.

Kendra snapped awake. She couldn’t breathe.

She’d just vomited, she realized, and she was helpless to move and clear her air passages with anything but her throat muscles. She coughed and gasped until she could finally suck back some oxygen.

Darkness. Darkness everywhere. Where in the hell was she?

There was movement beneath her body. Then it hit her. She was spread out in the back of what must be Chatsworth’s SUV. The backseats were folded down, and a tarp covered her entire body. Her feet were tied together, and her arms were tied behind her back. The vehicle was moving, and its tires met the road with an airy two-tone hum that she identified as highway blacktop. Was he taking her into the desert?

“I would have been so disappointed if you’d choked to death, Kendra.” Chatsworth said from the driver’s seat. “Vomiting is an unfortunate side effect of the anesthetic.”

Kendra tried to speak, which caused her to gag for a few moments. Finally, she got the words out. “Where … are we going?”

“I’m surprised. After all we’ve been together … After all the questions I must have provoked in your mind and imagination during these past few days, that’s what you ask me?”

“Sorry … to disappoint you.”

“For instance, I took a real risk letting you see me the other night. But I wanted to see you, talk to you, touch you. You should be flattered. It was only because I had the highest respect for you, Kendra.”

“What … a lucky woman I am.”

“It was worth the risk. I was thrilled that my disguise was able to fool Kendra Michaels.”

“How did you—do it?”

“I had to shave the beard. This particular woolly beard is a fake, but only for the past few weeks. I had to perfect it. I figured if my broadcast audience couldn’t detect it through the magic of high definition, you couldn’t. And you had no way of knowing that Bobby Chatsworth uses dermal tape to pull back the skin above the temple hairline to remove the forehead lines. And my erstwhile police-officer image wore a set of dental appliances and cheek fillers that further altered the face. Of course, Chatsworth’s glasses also helped. You know … I don’t even wear glasses. It’s all part of Bobby Chatsworth’s costume. He’s a character I created. But I guess we all create characters for ourselves as we move through life.”