Chapter Sixteen
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Eli woke to the quiet tick of the wall clock and the low hum of electronics. The room was dim, the only light coming from the glow of the laptop screens still open on the coffee table. He blinked and glanced at the time.
Nearly midnight.
Delaney was curled up beside him on the sofa, her head resting against his shoulder, her breathing slow and even.
Exhaustion had hit both of them hard after dinner.
They’d planned to do more digging into the institute’s search reports, but aside from a few emails and two phone calls that led nowhere, they hadn’t made much progress.
The search team had come up dry. No sign of Hale. No buried files. No underground rooms. Nothing that screamed criminal activity. And that? That bothered the hell out of him.
Eli reached for the throw blanket draped over the armrest and gently eased it around Delaney’s shoulders. She shifted slightly, her cheek brushing his chest, but she didn’t wake.
He exhaled slowly, letting his hand rest for just a second longer than necessary before pulling back.
His gaze dropped to her mouth. All it took was that one image to drag him right back to that kiss.
The one that started with heat and ended with a promise.
One he wanted to keep more than he probably should.
Damn, he still wanted her.
Eli sat back, careful not to jostle her or touch her wounded arm, and he dragged a hand over his face. He needed to think about anything but the way her body had pressed against his, or how easily he’d gotten lost in the taste of her.
He shifted just enough to reach his laptop, trying to redirect his thoughts toward the case. Hale was still missing. That meant something. People like Hale didn’t vanish unless they had a plan.
Eli pulled up the encrypted server again, eyes scanning the latest logs. Nothing yet. But if Hale had gone to ground, it was only a matter of time before he surfaced. And when he did, Eli would be ready.
He glanced back at Delaney. She was still asleep, peaceful now. He’d give anything to keep her that way. Safe. Protected. Unshaken.
But the storm wasn’t over. Not even close.
Eli’s eyes narrowed as he scanned the report that had just pinged from Isla. The subject line read: Update: Barn Shooter DNA Hit. He clicked it open, pulse ticking a little faster.
They had something.
He read the brief report twice to make sure he didn’t miss anything.
The shooter who had been wounded during the rescue—blood spatter collected near the west fence line—had produced a match in CODIS. Name: Trevor Mott. Thirty-four. Prior arrests for aggravated assault, weapons charges, and one sealed juvie record.
No known ties to Hale, the institute, or to Lawrence Melborne.
Yet.
Eli frowned. That last part felt temporary. A hired gun didn’t come out of nowhere. Somebody brought him in, paid him, armed him, and gave him a target.
Delaney shifted beside him.
“Hey,” she murmured, her voice rough with sleep. She blinked up at him. “What time is it?”
“Just after midnight,” he said, closing the laptop halfway and turning to her. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to wake you.”
“I was half awake anyway.” She sat up slowly and rubbed her eyes. “Anything new?”
Eli nodded. “We got a hit on the blood at the barn. One of the shooters. Trevor Mott.”
Her gaze sharpened. “Do we know him?”
“Not yet,” Eli said. “He’s got a record but no obvious ties to anyone in our suspect pool.”
Delaney pushed her hair back and leaned forward to read over his shoulder. Her eyes tracked the lines quickly, mind clearly already working. “So someone hired him.”
Eli nodded. “Yeah. And that someone is still ahead of us.”
They shared a look. The kind that said neither of them would be sleeping anytime soon.
Delaney’s phone buzzed sharply on the coffee table, cutting through the low hum of tension between them. She snatched it up without checking the screen and answered immediately, her voice alert.
“Vivian?” she asked.
Eli leaned in as Delaney hit the speaker button.
“Delaney,” Vivian slurred. “Something’s wrong.”
Eli sat up straighter. His whole body went still.
“Vivian, where are you?” Delaney pressed, her tone urgent.
“I’m… I’m still at the hospital,” Vivian said. Her voice was shaky, frantic beneath the sluggish slur. “But Ava’s gone. She’s not in her bed. The nurse—she said she just… disappeared.”
Eli felt his pulse spike. “What do you mean gone?” he asked, leaning closer to the phone.
“She was here,” Vivian whispered. “I—I was sleeping, but I swear I didn’t hear anything. The nurse said she came in to check vitals and… Ava wasn’t there.”
Delaney’s eyes locked with his, wide and sharp. “Did you see anyone? Anything suspicious?”
“No. Just… I feel strange,” Vivian added, the panic rising in her voice. “My head’s heavy. Olivia’s still out cold. Something’s wrong, Delaney. I think… I think we were drugged.”
“We’re on our way,” Delaney told her. “Stay in the room and lock the door if you can.”
“Hurry,” Vivian pleaded, her voice breaking. “Please find my daughter.”
The call cut off, and the room went silent for a beat.
Eli stood, already moving. “Let’s go.”
The rain hit Eli’s face the second he pushed open the cabin door. It was steady, cold, and falling hard enough to turn the gravel path into slick mud. He didn’t slow. Delaney was right behind him, pulling her jacket tighter as they sprinted toward the SUV.
“Text Noah,” Eli said as he unlocked the doors.
“I’m on it.” Delaney climbed into the passenger seat, fingers flying over her phone. “Told him Ava’s gone. Vivian thinks they were drugged. He’s on his way to the hospital.”
Eli fired up the engine and peeled out of the drive. The wipers beat a frantic rhythm as they shot down the narrow road leading toward town. Trees blurred past in the dark, the headlights slicing through the downpour.
He gripped the wheel tighter than necessary. “She was supposed to be safe. We had a guard posted.”
Delaney’s voice was tight. “Someone got past him. Or maybe someone helped them.”
Eli didn’t answer. He didn’t trust himself to speak without giving voice to the fury clawing through his chest. Ava had been through hell. They were supposed to be past the worst of it.
He pressed harder on the gas.
They were three minutes out. Maybe less.
Rain slicked the pavement as Eli slammed the SUV into park and jumped out. Delaney was already moving, her ponytail soaked and clinging to her back as they sprinted toward the hospital’s sliding doors.
He didn’t speak as they ran through the emergency entrance. His mind was working, fast and hard, trying to make sense of it. Ava had been tucked away in her room with a deputy outside the door. This wasn’t a full-on assault or they’d have heard about it in a dozen different ways already.
So how the hell had she vanished?
Eli hoped he soon had the answer to that. And better yet, he hoped they had Ava herself.
Inside the hospital, fluorescent lights glared harshly against the sterile white tile.
Deputy Griffin stood near the nurses’ station, his face pale and tense.
Two nurses hovered nearby, speaking in low, frantic voices.
A stocky security guard with thinning hair leaned against the wall, looking like he wanted to disappear.
Eli headed straight for Griffin. “What happened?”
Griffin shook his head once, jaw clenched. “I don’t know. I never left the door unguarded. I was on shift until just before midnight. Took a scheduled break. While I was out, I had him cover the door.” He gestured toward the guard. “When I got back, she was gone.”
Delaney stepped closer. “What do you mean, gone?”
Griffin ran a hand down his face. “Vivian and Olivia were both still in the room. Sedated. The nurse came in to check vitals around twelve fifteen and realized Ava’s bed was empty.”
Eli looked at the guard. “Did you see anyone go in or out?”
The man shifted, uncomfortable. “No one suspicious. I didn’t leave the hall.”
Eli didn’t believe him. Something didn’t add up. Ava was smart. She wouldn’t have just walked out of that room unless she had a damn good reason.
And someone wanted her gone. Again.
A nurse rushed down the corridor, nearly slipping as she rounded the corner and came straight toward them. Her eyes were wide, her face flushed with urgency.
“I just spoke to someone from housekeeping,” she said, slightly breathless. “One of the staff coming back from break said they saw a young woman climbing out the window of room 212 just after midnight.”
Eli’s blood iced over. Room 212. Ava’s room.
“Was anyone with her?” he asked, stepping closer. “Anyone forcing her out? Holding a weapon?”
The nurse shook her head. “No. The staff member said she was alone. She dropped to the ground and took off toward the back of the hospital, heading east.”
Eli clenched his fists, holding back a curse. Ava had climbed out willingly. She had walked away from safety. Somehow, someone had convinced her to do it.
Delaney looked at him, alarm clear in her eyes. “Why would she go alone? After everything?”
Eli didn’t answer right away. He had a thousand theories racing through his mind, but none of them sat right. Not unless someone had given her something she couldn’t ignore.
And now she was out there, again, in danger.
He turned to Deputy Griffin and dropped his voice low. “Keep an eye on the security guard. I want a word with him when we’re done in there.”
Griffin gave a quick nod and peeled off.
Eli grabbed his phone and fired off a message to Noah, giving him the basics and requesting the APB be started immediately. Within seconds, Noah replied with a thumbs-up emoji and On it.
He and Delaney stepped into Ava’s room.
Vivian was pacing, arms crossed tight around herself, her expression raw with panic. Olivia was on a cot, propped against the pillows. Her eyes were open, but her movements were sluggish, her gaze unfocused.
Eli’s pulse ticked up. “We need to get them both tested,” he murmured to Delaney. “They were probably drugged.”
She gave a tight nod, already pulling out her phone to make the request.
Eli focused on Vivian. “Tell me what happened.”
Vivian turned sharply, her eyes glassy with tears. “I don’t know,” she said, her voice shaking. “She was here. We were all here. The nurse gave her a sedative, and I was watching her sleep. I must have… I must have dozed off. I don’t even remember closing my eyes.”
Eli scanned the room. The window was still cracked open, and he had to swallow the wave of frustration rising in his chest.
“We’ll find her,” he said firmly, more promise than reassurance. “But we need everything you remember. Anyone who came in. Any noise. Anything off.”
Vivian rubbed her hands together again, a nervous motion she didn’t seem to notice. “Ava’s phone is gone,” she said. “She must have taken it with her.”
Delaney already had her phone out. “I’ll have Noah ping it,” she said, her fingers flying across the screen.
Eli stepped farther into the room and scanned it with a tactical eye. On the table near the two cots were two nearly empty glasses of water and a pair of small plastic juice bottles.
He pointed. “Those from tonight?”
Vivian nodded. “Yes. A nurse brought them in around ten. Said they were from the kitchen.”
Eli stepped closer, noticing the uneven amounts. One bottle was mostly full. The other was two-thirds gone. “Which one did Olivia drink from?”
“That one,” Vivian said, pointing to the emptier bottle. “She was really thirsty and finished most of it.”
“And the other one’s yours?” he asked.
“Yes,” Vivian replied.
“There’s no bottle near Ava’s bed,” Eli said.
“No. The nurse didn’t bring her anything. Just me and Olivia.”
Delaney looked over. “Did you know the nurse?” she asked.
Vivian hesitated, then shook her head. “No. She was tall. Thin. Mid-thirties. She had her hair tucked under her cap and wore a mask, but her eyes were really light. Blue or gray.”
“She wearing a badge?” Eli pressed.
Vivian frowned. “I think so. I didn’t look closely. She acted like she belonged. I didn’t question it.”
Vivian’s phone buzzed in her hand. She glanced at the screen, and her breath caught.
“It’s from Ava,” she said, her voice tight.
Eli stepped closer. “Read it.”
Vivian’s fingers trembled as she opened the message. Her eyes scanned it, and she let out a shaky breath before reading aloud.
“It says, Come to 482 County Line Road. Come alone. Please hurry, Mom. And come alone or…” She stopped. Her throat worked as she swallowed hard. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “They’ll kill me.”
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