Page 41 of Nowhere to Hide

Stone chased me out the door and down the hall. I was in no mood to talk to him or to hear what he had to say.

“You said you’d stay quiet. You weren’t supposed to be in there with me.”

“She was having a panic attack, and you kept asking her questions. What the hell else was I supposed to do?”

“I had it under control.”

I whirled around. “Have you had one?”

His dark eyes went flat. “No, but I’m trained on how to deal with delicate?—”

“Fuck your delicacy. You feel like you can’t breathe. You feel like the world is dropping out from under your fucking feet. You feel like you’re dying.”

“And you know this?”

“Yeah, I do.” I stalked past the elevators to the stairs. I needed air and a metal box wasn’t good right now.

My feet pounded in the echoing stairwell.

The scent of stale air and bleach made my head ache. I finally got to the bottom of the stairs and strode out through the front doors. The sharp scent of a newly lit cigarette mixed with the sickly sweet vape pens of a trio of nurses grouped together, scrolling their phones.

I jogged down the path to a sitting area and dropped onto a bench.

I put my head between my knees and pushed my own anxiety spiral down. I knew far too well what it felt like.

Milligan’s face swam into the heavy darkness. His skin fading to gray.

His blood pumping through my fingers.

I dug my nails into my palm and the pain cleared out some of the memories.

When I looked up Stone was standing a few feet away.

“Sorry, man.”

I sucked in a slow breath. “It’s fine. Just goes to show I am not your guy.” I slumped back on the wrought iron bench.

“Opposite. You know what she needs more than anyone. You knew how to bring her back. Maybe you can get more details out of her.”

“What makes you think she’ll want to go with me? And she’s hurt. Tooling around on a rocking boat isn’t exactly the best option for her.”

“Or it’s the best.”

“You’re a fucking cop. Why the hell are you so glass half full?”

Stone barked out a laugh. “Look, I need time to dig deeper on the files we linked. If you keep her safe, then I can focus on that. He can’t find her if you’re in the middle of the ocean.”

I sighed. I couldn’t argue with that, but the boat was big until it was only two people.

“Any clue how long they’re keeping her?”

“Not really. They’re going to need the bed eventually. Their ICU is small, and the hospital is already making noise about safety.”

“I’ll stay with her.”

I said it before I could think better of it.

I couldn’t even blame it on Milligan’s voice.