The guilt in Dusty’s voice was nothing compared to the crushing weight settling on Gabe’s chest.This was his fault.All of it.Banner had taken Nica because of him, because of a past that refused to stay buried.He wondered if the ghosts of his past would ever allow him to have any kind of life, or if he’d be haunted until his dying day.
“This isn’t on you,” Gabe said, though his voice sounded hollow even to his own ears.“Banner’s a professional.He planned this.We’re lucky he didn’t kill you.He took Nica.He’s going to keep her alive, at least until he contacts me.He wants to twist the knife a little more, wants me to hurt.”
Mike and Rafe returned from checking with hospital security, their expressions grim.
“Cameras show three men entering through the service entrance about an hour ago,” Mike reported.“They knew exactly where to go, avoided the main cameras.By the time they left with Nica, they’d disabled the camera covering this floor.Which tells me they probably had a fourth man working to knock out the cameras while they came to the third floor.”
“He’s got her,” Gabe said, the words tasting like ash in his mouth.“Banner’s got my wife.”
But even as he said it, another devastating realization hit him.He grabbed the nearest nurse in the hallway.
“Nica Boudreau—the patient who was in 314.Her test results from this morning, are they back?”
The nurse checked her tablet, and her expression grew concerned.“Yes, Dr.Summers.The blood work shows signs of post-surgical infection.She needs to start on IV antibiotics immediately, or…” She handed the chart to Gabe, letting him see the findings for himself.
She didn’t need to finish.Gabe knew the risks better than anyone.Nica was only two days post-surgery from a bullet wound.Her body was already compromised, fighting to heal.An infection could kill her faster than Banner’s plans for revenge.
The floor seemed to shift beneath Gabe’s feet.Banner had taken a woman who was not only defenseless, but without antibiotics started immediately would continue to weaken, her immune system severely compromised.And it was all because Julian Banner believed Gabe had murdered the woman he had loved.
The irony was bitter enough to choke on.Banner was about to kill an innocent woman over a crime Gabe hadn’t committed, while the real killer had walked free.And Nica—beautiful, strong Nica who’d never asked for any of this—was paying the ultimate price for loving a man haunted by ghosts he couldn’t escape.
Dusty struggled to stand, wavering slightly.“What do we do now, Doc?”
Gabe stared at the empty hospital bed, his wife’s absence a physical ache in his chest.Somewhere out there, Banner had the woman he loved, and time was running out in more ways than one.
“Now,” he said, his voice hardening with desperate resolve, “we find her before it’s too late.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The world cameback into focus slowly, like a photograph developing in reverse.Nica’s vision cleared from the edges inward, and the first thing she registered was the throb in her chest, a deep, angry ache that reminded her she’d had surgery only two days prior.The second thing she noticed was that she wasn’t in her hospital room anymore.
She was sitting in what looked like an abandoned warehouse, her wheelchair positioned in the center of a large, empty space.Concrete floors, rusted metal beams overhead, and the musty smell of disuse filled her senses.She wasn’t in Shiloh Springs anymore.There wasn’t anywhere within the town’s limits that had an empty warehouse of this size, or in this condition.It wasn’t the warehouse that scared her though.It was the man standing several feet away that made her blood run cold.
Julian Banner.
Even without having seen him before, she knew it was him.She’d heard his name right before everything went nuts in her room.Dusty told her the truth—the truth her husband and her family had kept from her.They’d figured out who’d been doing all the nasty things to both her and Gabe over the past few months.
There was something in his posture, the way he held himself like a predator circling wounded prey, that screamed danger.He was older than she’d expected—late forties or maybe mid-fifties, with graying hair and lines around his eyes that spoke of a deep-seated grief that had turned to obsession.His clothes were expensive but slightly rumpled, as she wondered if he’d been living out of a suitcase.He might have been, since the FBI and other computer experts hadn’t been able to find him.
“You’re awake,” he said, his voice carrying a slight rasp.“Good.I was beginning to think they gave you too much sedative.”
Nica’s throat felt like sandpaper, but she forced herself to speak.“Well, this is cozy.”The sarcasm came naturally, a defense mechanism she’d relied on her whole life.“I have to say, your hospitality leaves something to be desired.The five-star kidnapping experience usually includes better accommodations.This,” she waved her hand toward the walls, “looks like something my momma wouldn’t even carry on her books.Of course, she’s particular in who she deals with.”
Banner’s mouth twitched—not quite a smile, but close.“Still got that smart mouth, I see.Gabe mentioned that.”
When would Gabe have talked to Julian about her?Nope there’s no way my husband told this kidnapping jerk anything about me.Oh, wait, he duped our phones, I bet he’s listened in on everything we’ve ever said.
“Oh, so are you two pen pals now?”Nica shifted in the wheelchair, trying to gauge how much strength she had.Not much, judging by the way her arms trembled with the small movement.“How sweet.Do you braid each other’s hair too?”
“Do you think this is a joke?”Banner’s voice sharpened.“You think what your husband did to Melissa was funny?”
“I think,” Nica said, meeting his stare head-on, “that you’re a sad, pathetic man who’s so consumed with grief that you can’t see straight.And I think you need to hear some hard truths.”
Banner took a step closer, his hands clenching into fists.“Hard truths?Like how your precious husband killed the woman I loved?”
“Gabe didn’t kill anyone.”Nica’s voice held the conviction she felt, her belief in her husband, despite her physical weakness.“But you already know that, don’t you?Deep down, you know the truth of what happened, but it’s easier to blame him than to accept that sometimes terrible things happen.”
“Terrible things?”Banner’s voice rose.“Terrible things don’t include a surgeon operating while high on drugs!”
