Page 46 of Girl Lost (The King Legacy #1)

LUNA HURRIED DOWN the corridor , each step a reminder of Trinity’s fragile heart, the borrowed time ticking away with every beat. Summer led the way, clutching the tablet as she navigated the labyrinthine corridors.

Summer. Her daughter. The daughter she had yearned for all those years. The missing piece, found in the most unexpected way. Now she was leading them toward freedom. It was almost too much to comprehend.

And Trinity—who somehow felt like her daughter too, no matter what her DNA said—was teetering on the edge of collapse. The withdrawals too much for her young body.

And a bioengineered time bomb ticking away in her chest.

She lagged behind, pale and shaky, her hand pressed to her chest with each labored breath.

“Trinity, are you okay?” Luna reached out, touching the girl’s arm, needing the reassurance of that physical connection.

“I’m perfect. Just ... detoxing. Let’s find our friend.” Trinity squeezed Luna’s hand with a surprisingly strong grip. “He needs us.”

They rounded a corner. Summer glanced over her shoulder. “This is the access corridor to the secure wing. It should be just a few more doors down.”

A metal door blocked the end of the hallway.

Summer swiped a key card on the pad, and Luna heard a beep.

The red LEDs above the keypad blinked erratically before turning a reassuring green.

A section of the wall hissed, sliding to the side to reveal a narrow opening that led into a dimly lit tunnel.

“It’s a service corridor.” Summer motioned them through.

The air inside was cold, damp. The stench of bleach and something ... metallic ... made her stomach churn.

Ahead, two electric carts, their white paint chipped and scratched, sat side by side. Summer gave one of them a little kick. “Just what we need.”

“Oh, thank goodness.” Trinity practically collapsed into the passenger seat.

Summer slid behind the steering wheel and looked at Luna. “Ready?”

Luna took the empty seat, the cushioned vinyl giving way with a swish of air. “Let’s do this.”

Summer keyed the ignition. Nothing happened.

“You sure this thing works?” Luna asked.

Summer pressed the pedal, and the cart lurched forward, whirring to life. “Just like a golf cart.” She took it slow at first, then picked up speed.

The walls of the tunnel were bare concrete, stained with damp patches that gleamed in the cart’s headlight beams. Luna had her head on a swivel, scanning every shadow.

“It’s like that movie,” Summer said. “The one with the girl who gets hunted in that abandoned hospital?”

“Quiet,” Luna whispered. The darkness pressed in, amplifying her every sense. Every drip of water from the pipes overhead, every rustle in the darkness, sounded like a footstep, a whisper, a threat.

They rounded a bend, the tunnel opening into a wider space. Ahead, a set of double doors. A keypad glowed beside the right door.

Summer eased the cart to a stop. “End of the line.”

“Stay close,” Luna said, “but behind me. I’ll open the door and make sure it’s safe.”

“Here.” Summer handed Luna the key card. “We should have access anywhere Dr. Forest does.”

Luna swiped the key card through the slot, her hand hovering over the door handle. The lock disengaged with a soft click. She pushed the doors open, revealing another sterile white corridor, this one lined with closed doors.

Empty. No guards. No cameras that she could see, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there.

Luna’s heart pounded. They were close now. So close. She just hoped they hadn’t come too late.

She motioned for Summer and Trinity to follow, her eyes darting around the corridor, scanning for threats.

“Where are we?” Trinity whispered, her hand resting on Summer’s arm.

“I think this is the patient observation area.” Summer pointed toward a glass-enclosed nurses’ station, its counter a jumble of charts, syringes, and half-empty coffee cups. The high stools were empty. The silence ominous.

Trinity’s hand went to her chest, her breath catching. “This ... this is familiar.”

Luna’s stomach clenched. She knew exactly what Trinity meant. This was the dark, sterile room where she’d been held captive, subjected to Dr. Forest’s experiments.

They crept down the hallway. One-way mirrors allowed her a quick glance inside each patient room. Empty. Empty. Empty.

Luna paused at the last room. This one felt different. Inside, the bed was unmade, the sheets a tangled mess, as if someone had just been pulled away. Hospital restraints—heavy-duty leather straps—lay on the unmade bed.

“This must be where he was,” Luna said. “We’re too late. He’s gone.”

Trinity’s shoulders slumped, defeat mirrored in her pale face.

Summer gripped the tablet tighter, her gaze flickering back down the hallway, the hope draining from her eyes. “Where would they have taken him?”

Luna pressed her lips together, fighting to contain the despair that threatened to engulf her. “I don’t know.”

She checked her phone. Still no connection. No hope of backup.

They rounded the nurses’ station, their steps silent on the tile floor. Luna snatched up the phone on the desk. Please work. She pressed it to her ear. A dial tone, a faint, reassuring hum. Finally something going right. She punched in Blade’s number. Waited.

A rapid, insistent busy signal blasted in her ear. Her thumb pressed the disconnect button. She released it, tried 911.

Same thing.

“Try nine,” Summer said. “Get an outside line.”

She added it to Blade’s number and 911. Neither worked.

“How about zero,” Trinity suggested.

Luna punched the key and felt her eyebrows raise when she heard, “Chiron BioInnovation Center. How may I direct your call?”

She hadn’t thought this far ahead. Asking for help might only send them trouble. She took a deep breath, pitching her voice low, a gruff, masculine growl. “There’s a bomb in the building. You’ve got three minutes to evacuate. Then it goes boom. You tell the cops that it’s all clear skies ahead.”

She slammed the phone back on its cradle and glanced up at the wide eyes staring back at her.

“Why’d you do that!” Trinity shook her head. “You’re going to cause a panic.”

“Our friends are waiting outside,” Luna said. “Ready to extract. Once they see everyone running out, they’ll understand and send help.”

The alarm blared through the hallway, the shrill sound drilling into her skull.

Trinity flinched, her hand instinctively flying to her chest. “What is that?”

“Shhh...” Summer’s gaze darted down the hall. “Someone’s coming.”

“This way.” Luna grabbed their hands and pulled them toward a nearby doorway.

They stumbled into a small, darkened room. A storage room of some kind. The heavy steel door clicked shut behind them, sealing them inside. Luna pressed her back against the cool metal.

She held a finger to her lips. Quiet.

They crouched in the darkness, barely daring to breathe, listening to the heavy footsteps approaching, the murmur of voices growing louder.

“Clear!” one of the guards called out.

“Check the south rooms,” another voice ordered.

The voices faded, moving on to search another part of the facility.

Luna released a breath. But Trinity’s hand tightened on her arm. “What is this place?” she whispered.

It took a moment for Luna’s eyes to adjust to the dim light. A yellow safety cabinet stood against the far wall, its door ajar. She peered inside. White plastic jugs lined the shelf, each marked with red-and-white hazmat stickers. The bold black lettering on the bottles read “Diethyl Ether.”

Shelves lined the walls, stainless steel and sterile, each one filled with containers. Glass containers of various sizes, labeled with dates and alphanumeric codes. And within each one, floating in a pale, pinkish liquid, were organs.

The proximity to the human tissue made bile rise in the back of her throat.

“Oh my goodness...” Summer shrank back, hand flying to her mouth. She bumped a metal tray, sending it clattering to the floor.

The sound, amplified in the silence, echoed through the room.

From the hallway, a voice. “Did you hear something?”

Luna’s hand instinctively went to her holster, her fingers closing around empty air.

They were trapped. And unarmed.