Chapter 35
Wyatt had been watching Kori and the woman through the open door.
When the woman whispered Do you promise to keep me safe? he knew that was his cue. He stepped inside, Thunder at his heels.
Kori glanced back at him but didn’t protest.
Wyatt pulled up a chair near the foot of the bed, careful not to crowd the woman. Thunder lay beside him.
The woman looked fragile underneath the hospital blankets. Her skin was pale against the white sheets, and her dark hair lay tangled around her face.
But her eyes held his attention. They were no longer vacant.
Fear filled them instead.
“We can definitely keep you safe,” Wyatt told her.
The woman stared at him another moment before nodding. “Okay then.”
“My sister,” Kori prodded, her tone gentle. “You’ve seen her?”
The woman looked at the photo on Kori’s phone again. Then she nodded.
“Is she still alive?” Kori sounded breathless as she asked the question, and Wyatt feared she might pass out.
The woman nodded again.
Kori closed her eyes a second as if steadying herself.
“Can you tell us where she is?” Wyatt asked.
The woman’s eyes snapped toward him, and her fear seemed to deepen.
Maybe he shouldn’t have inserted himself. But this was a matter for law enforcement. He needed answers.
Her lips moved for several seconds, but no words came out.
Finally, she whispered, “They’ll know.”
He leaned closer. “Whoever ‘they’ are, they’re not here. We have a deputy stationed outside your door. No one can get to you.”
“You don’t understand.” Her fingers twisted in the blanket. “They always know.”
Kori leaned forward. “Who? Who always knows?”
The woman swung her head back and forth, fear filling her eyes.
Wyatt sensed her internal fight—her instinct to protect herself battled with whatever had finally pushed her to speak.
The woman’s gaze darted between him and Kori. “They won’t let anyone leave.”
Kori sucked in a breath. “Including my sister?”
The woman nodded again.
Who were these people? A cult? That’s what it sounded like to her.
Squatters would let people leave. But a cult . . . they’d want to stay quiet.
Just what had her sister gotten herself involved in?
Kori’s entire body visibly tensed. “Is Mackenzie hurt? In danger?”
The heart monitor beat faster, but the woman remained quiet.
“Please?” Kori murmured. “I need to know.”
The beeps quickened again.
Wyatt glanced at the machine by the bed.
The woman’s heart rate continued to climb . Her pulse was far faster now than it had been when they walked in.
“Kori . . .” Wyatt murmured.
But Kori leaned closer, desperation pressing into her voice. “Is she being kept there against her will? Why?”
The woman’s breathing grew shallow. Her eyes darted toward the door as if she expected someone to burst through it at any moment.
“They’ll know,” she whispered again.
The monitor shrilled.
As it did, the door flew open.
Two nurses rushed inside followed by a doctor. Their attention immediately shifted to the woman and the flashing numbers on the monitor.
“Her heart rate’s spiking,” one of the nurses said.
“We need space.” The doctor grabbed a syringe from a nearby tray.
Wyatt stepped back, tugging Kori with him, and led her all the way into the hallway.
Whether she liked it or not, this conversation was done.
Kori stood in the hallway staring at the closed door.
Guilt flashed through her as she realized that she’d pushed the woman too hard. She’d been so close to finding answers and hadn’t wanted the moment to slip away. But it had. And now the woman was in the middle of a medical emergency.
“I didn’t mean to make her heart rate spike.” She rubbed her throat as her voice cracked. “I wasn’t trying to upset her.”
“You didn’t.”
“But her heart rate—”
“She’s been through something traumatic,” he assured her. “You asking about your sister didn’t cause that.”
Kori rubbed her neck, feeling the tension all over her body. “She knows something. She was about to tell us.”
“She’s obviously frightened,” Wyatt said. “It will take time to break through that.”
Kori’s mind continued to race. “That place we saw in the woods. The compound. She came from there, didn’t she?”
“Most likely.”
“And Mackenzie is there.” The words came out before she could stop them. “What if she’s hurt?”
As if Thunder understood what was happening, he nuzzled her hand.
Before Wyatt could respond, a nurse stepped out of the room. She closed the door carefully behind her before turning to address Kori and Wyatt. “She needs to rest. The doctor’s stabilizing her now.”
Kori straightened. “Can we talk to her again?”
The nurse shook her head. “Not tonight.”
“But—”
“She’s in no condition to answer questions.” The nurse’s voice remained firm. “If she improves, the doctor will reassess in the morning.”
Morning.
The weight of that word settled over Kori.
So much could happen between now and then. It could mean the difference between life and death.
An ache pulsed in her chest at the thought.
The nurse slipped back into the room, and the door closed again.
Kori stared at it a moment longer, wondering if there were any strategies that might get her the answers she needed. But there weren’t. Not if she cared about the well-being of the woman they’d found.
Defeat slumped her shoulders.
Wyatt pushed away from the wall and stared at her. “When was the last time you ate?”
The question caught her off guard. “I don’t know, but I’m not hungry.”
Wyatt nodded and motioned for her to follow him. “Come on.”
“Come on where?”
“To get something to eat. You need food. Your brain will work better when it’s not running on fumes.”
Kori almost argued.
Then she realized he was right.
Her thoughts were racing so fast they were starting to blur together.
Still, as they began walking down the hallway, her mind returned to the woman’s words.
They won’t let anyone leave.
Kori pressed her lips together.
Her sister was trapped inside a compound full of armed strangers.
And now those strangers knew someone had found them tucked away in those mountains.
Morning suddenly felt a very long way away.