But she did. Skye f.u.c.king vanished.
Two days pa.s.sed, and the cops didn"t find her.
"He was clever," Reese said as he guided Trace into the car. They were at the hospital"s exit. Finally. The doctors hadn"t wanted him to leave the hospital.
f.u.c.k what they wanted.
He"d tried to leave the day before, and he"d torn open his wound. Blood had spurted and the nurses had sedated him. Again.
"The guy kept his face averted from the cameras," Reese told him, "and he had a surgical cap and mask on the whole time."
Trace slid into the car. The fresh st.i.tches in his chest pulled, but he ignored the pain.
He could only focus on one thing then-Skye.
Reese slid into the front seat. The car eased into traffic.
"The cops think she"s already dead." Trace had heard the whispers when Alex got his updates. As soon as they"d hit the forty-eight hour mark on Skye"s abduction, the cops had stopped looking for a live body.
"It"s...it"s been a long time, Trace," Reese said softly. "A lot can happen during all those hours..."
Trace"s hands fisted. He didn"t want to imagine what had happened to Skye. "She"s okay." He had to think that way. Had to think of her being alive. Because if he let the fear take over...I"ll lose my d.a.m.n mind. "I"m going to find her." He"d already rea.s.signed every agent that he had.
Finding Skye was their priority. He"d been pulling the strings and starting the search for her even when the doctors had been sewing him back up.
Reese slanted a fast glance his way when the vehicle stopped at a red light. "We"ve got eyes on the ch.o.r.eographer and the doctor in NY. Both guys have been going to work, business as usual for them."
It wasn"t business as f.u.c.king usual.
"If one of them had her...the guy would still be with her."
If she"s alive. Trace heard the words that Reese didn"t say.
"Could just be that it"s not them. Her stalker could be anyone." Reese kept talking as he drove them through the Chicago streets. "Some freak who saw her dance and fixated on her."
Trace"s gaze slid to the window. "I want the plane ready to depart within the next two hours."
The car braked at another red light. "Boss, you know that you"re not clear to travel. The doctors didn"t want to let you out-"
"We"re going to New York." Because that was where the nightmare had started for Skye. "Have the plane ready."
The killer had aimed for Trace"s heart with that bullet. The bullet had missed its target, barely.
But when the SOB had taken Skye...
You cut out my f.u.c.king heart.
He wanted his heart back.
He"d get it back.
The handcuffs cut into Skye"s wrists. She"d lost track of time again. She"d tried counting the minutes before, a little trick to try and stay sane, but it hadn"t helped.
There was no light. Only a complete darkness. It was cold. So cold there in her prison.
Her wrists had stopped bleeding. She"d thought that the blood might help her slip out of the cuffs.
It hadn"t.
Her lips were cracked. Broken. Her stomach ached, but at least it had stopped growling.
She hadn"t eaten. Hadn"t been given a drop to drink.
She"d been taken. Then...left.
Forgotten in the dark.
She"d tried yelling before. Screaming. She"d screamed until her voice had broken.
Her hands were looped around some kind of thick, metal pole. She"d kicked it and kicked it. Jerked and pulled.
Nothing.
He"s just going to leave me down here. Until I starve.
It would be a slow death.
Death in darkness.
She tried to look through the dark. To see beyond it. Skye didn"t want this to be her last memory.
She wanted to remember Trace.
Trace.
He"d find her, eventually. She didn"t doubt that. If he"d survived that gunshot. He had to survive. He had to.
Trace would heal. He"d get out of the hospital. Then he would look for her.
She hated to think about what he would find.
"Janie, make sure that Mrs. Summer gets her medication before-"
Dr. Mitch Loxley broke off, choking.
Because Trace had just wrapped his hand around the p.r.i.c.k"s throat.
"Stop!" The nurse-Janie-sprang to her feet. "Let him go!" She grabbed for the phone. "Security-"
"Security can wait a bit, honey," Reese said as he took the phone from her. "We"re just gonna have us a little chat with the doc."
Mitch"s eyes bulged. "Let...me...go..."
Trace eased his hold. "Want to have the chat out here, or in your office?" His fingerprints were bright on the doc"s throat.
"O-office..."
"Good choice." He let the doctor go.
Mitch spun away from him. Strode down the hall.
"Dr. Loxley?" Janie called out uncertainly.
"I"ve got this," Mitch snapped back.
No, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d didn"t.
Mitch threw open his office door. Paced inside and rubbed his neck.
Trace marched after him. Reese followed. He shut the door, then put his considerable bulk in front of the exit.
"What the h.e.l.l?" Mitch demanded as he spun to confront Trace. "What the freaking h.e.l.l! How dare you come in here and a.s.sault me-"
"Her picture is gone," Trace said.
Mitch"s mouth snapped closed.
"All the pictures on your desk are gone." Actually, it looked to him like the doctor was packing up his office. "Planning a trip?"
"I"ve got a transfer," Mitch gritted out. "I applied for it months ago after-"
"After Skye dumped you."
Mitch flushed. "I heard about her disappearance. I-I"m sorry. I hope the cops can find her soon."
Trace wanted to drive his fist into the doc"s face. Again and again until he heard the smash of bones. "Seeing as how it was some person who took Skye, and not a figment of her imagination, I think your theory was a little off, doc." Rage seethed in Trace"s words.
"My mistake." Each word seemed torn from Mitch. "I thought...I-I was wrong."
"You were." He closed in on the doctor. He didn"t like Mitch Loxley. Didn"t trust him. Actually, Trace wanted to rip the man apart. "I almost killed a man for Skye once."
Mitch swallowed. His eyes widened. "You did what?"
"I wasn"t even aware how close I put the guy to death," Trace said as the memory rose in his head. "He was trying to rape her. I saw...and I reacted. I hit him, again and again, until Skye pulled me off him."
Sweat beaded Mitch"s forehead.
"That"s what I did to him," Trace murmured as he stared directly into Mitch"s eyes. "So what do you think I"m going to do once I get my hands on the man who took her?"
Mitch backed up. "I didn"t take Skye! I"ve been here-"
"Actually, you came back to work the day after Ms. Sullivan was taken," Reese said as he stood firm by the door. "We checked. We have lots of resources to do things like that."
Mitch"s gaze darted toward Reese.
"She left you, and you couldn"t handle that..." Trace fought to keep his voice level. He wanted to pound into Mitch, but that wasn"t the plan. He had to walk a very delicate line here. Very delicate.
The doctor shook his head. "It"s not me! I wanted to help her-"
"You wanted to own her. You wanted her to be yours, but she couldn"t be...Skye didn"t love you, and no matter what you did, you couldn"t make her love you."
A fist pounded into the door. "Doctor Loxley?"
"Looks like Janie called security after all," Reese said flatly. "Some people just don"t know how to follow orders."
"I didn"t want to own her." Mitch shoved his hands into the pockets of his lab coat. "That was the dancer-Wolfe. He"s the one who was always controlling her. Telling her when to exercise. When to go home and sleep. What to freaking eat. He wanted to control everything about her life."
Trace kept all emotion from his face. "I"m going to kill the man who took her."
Mitch tensed. His eyelids jerked.
Such a small move.
"I am going to kill him," Trace said deliberately, "because Skye wasn"t his to take."
The guards had burst inside the room.
"She was never his," Trace told the doctor. "Never."
The guards shoved Trace and Reese outside of the hospital.
"Well, that didn"t go so smoothly," Reese murmured as he gazed around at the hospital"s parking lot. "But at least none of the d.a.m.n paparazzi are here to see you get your a.s.s thrown into the street."
"The meeting went exactly as I"d hoped."
Skye wasn"t his to take.
When Trace had said those words, Mitch"s hands had fisted. His eyes had been tight and angry, and the man had clamped his lips together to stop himself from replying to Trace.
"The guy was angry, but that was probably because you basically accused him of being a kidnapper and a killer. And because, you know, you threatened to murder him." Reese turned toward the car. "All right, boss, we need to back off."
They weren"t backing any place. "I goaded him so that the fellow would make a mistake."