Page 144 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)

Already moving, Dana raced blindly back the way she’d come. Moving on memory alone, she let her adrenaline fuel her shaking limbs.

Climbing the stairs as quickly as she could without the assistance of her hands she burst onto the nineteenth floor. Careening into walls like an unsteady fawn, she rushed back toward her safety net—Amelia’s room.

She was nearly there when Monroe crashed through a door ahead of her, cutting her off.

Dana skidded to a halt and changed directions, running blind now.

She hadn’t ventured through this section of Monroe’s hospital of horrors yet.

Realizing she was at an extreme disadvantage, she stopped, crouching in the shadows to catch her breath and her bearings.

The bleak ward was terrifyingly silent. Dana shivered, not from cold but from fear. Monroe was toying with her. He knew this place well and could easily lie in wait for her. She had to keep going. But first she needed to get her hands free.

Keeping to the shadows, she moved along the damp concrete masonry until she found something sharp. She wrestled her wrists over the rusted rebar until the zip ties tore, along with a good portion of her flesh. Dana didn’t have time to worry about the injury. She had bigger problems.

A loud snap echoed through the crumbling building.

Monroe was on the move, which meant Dana was, too.

Massaging her raw wrists, she crept away from the sound as quickly and quietly as she could.

When she found a shadowed alcove to hide in again, she realized another dilemma.

She was bleeding, not just a little, enough to lead Monroe right to her.

Even in the darkness it would be easy to follow her proverbial trail of bloody breadcrumbs. That meant she needed to be smart. Move faster, with purpose. Doubling back over her tracks was her best option. But that raised her risk of running straight into Monroe’s grasp.

The thought hit her like a ton of bricks as she stepped further into a long, dark hallway.

Was this his trap? Was he waiting for her? Ready to jump out from one of the many yawning black doorways that lined the hall?

She looked back; a slick trail of blood lay behind her.

She was a sitting duck. Moving forward she steeled her nerves and entered the first room, scuffing her feet to make her tracks obvious.

Then, she slipped off her shoes and one blood-soaked sock.

She pulled off her clean sock and used it to mop the blood from her foot.

Gathering her shoes, she crept back into the hall, careful not to leave any tracks.

Passing room after room, Dana randomly chose one to duck into.

She cowered in the corner, listening for any sign of Monroe as she shoved her shoes back on, but it was completely silent. Or was it? Straining, Dana swore she could hear heavy breathing. Was it only her own?

Turning slowly, she willed her eyes to adjust to the new level of obsidian darkness. Her gaze fixed on the open door. Did it have a lock?

Hesitating, she weighed her options. Would shutting the door be a dead giveaway that she was hiding inside? If she managed to lock it, would it even hold? Everything inside the dilapidated building seemed beyond repair .

She had to try. If the lock held even for a second, that was one extra second she’d use to her advantage to fight Monroe. Unless he’s somewhere inside the room already.

Dana scanned the large room swallowed in shadows, every corner hiding something unseen. What if Monroe was already inside, waiting to pounce? Was she about to lock herself inside a pitch-black room with a serial killer?

She clenched her jaw against the pain and panic racing through her.

She needed to make a decision. Ignoring the warning bells screaming in her mind, Dana began inching slowly toward the door.

Heart thundering in her chest she reached out for the knob.

Clutching the cold metal, she felt for a lock.

If there had ever been one, it was long gone.

Heart sinking, Dana began backing away from the door. Without a lock, shutting it wasn’t worth the risk. A sudden sound behind her made Dana whirl toward the shadows. She half expected Monroe to jump out at her. But no one was there.

Then, something moved. Dana jumped, moving her feet just as a rat scurried across her path. Flooded with relief, her shoulders sagged. It’s just a rat . A big, disgusting, disease-carrying rat, but still, it could’ve been worse. It could’ve been him.

She took a step backward, then another, and that’s when it happened. Her body met something hard that wasn’t there before. No, not something … someone.

His hands were around her throat before she could even scream.