“IT WAS WHEN THE ANESTHESIOLOGIST CAME IN THE FIRST TIME. SHE ASKED US TO LEAVE. RUBY AND I LEFT AND THEN RUBY RECEIVED A TEXT. I FUCKING SHOULD HAVE QUESTIONED HER. SHE SMILED, KISSED MY CHEEK, AND WALKED DOWN THE HALL. THEN I WAS INVITED BACK INTO THE ROOM. I DIDN’T THINK ABOUT RUBY UNTIL SOME TIME HAD PASSED. I KNEW WE WERE BEING PROTECTED BY SPARROWS AND WAS THINKING ABOUT MADELINE. FIND MY DAUGHTER.”
Me: “WE WILL.”
“Ruby received a text message,” I said aloud. “She and Patrick were out of the room because the anesthesiologist was inside.”
Laurel turned my direction. “They stepped out of the room and she received a text? That seems convenient. Can we access her text messages?”
“I can.” I began hitting keys. As I did, I glanced over at the screen Laurel was watching. Standing, I went to her. “Go backward to a few minutes ago” —I pointed to the view— “on that one, right outside their room.” She did. The hallway was empty, similar to how it had been off and on all morning. “Fuck.”
“What?” she asked.
I took a step back, my teeth clenching as I slid my hand behind my neck, exhaling. “Patrick just texted and said he was in the hallway.”
“He’s not there,” Laurel said, stating the obvious. “And the time stamp appears right.”
“Motherfucker. We’re on a goddamned loop.”
Laurel’s large blue eyes turned to me. In her profession, remaining calm and steady was a learned trait, one that at this moment she’d forgotten. Terror showed in every feature of her expression. “Whoever took her was watching for the right moment.”
I nodded.
“And they have the ability to hide it from you.”
I nodded again. “They fucking knew we’d be watching.”
Laurel’s complexion paled as she fumbled for her phone. “It’s them, whoever took the other women. I know in my gut.”
“Who are you calling?”
“Mason.” Her hands trembled as her head shook from side to side. “No. No. This is a trap. I know it is. They want him.”
Reid
“Answer. Please answer,” Laurel spoke into her phone.
I pulled up another program and traced Mason’s phone. As I did, the GPS appeared. My gaze went from the map to Laurel as my stomach turned. “Laurel, his coordinates are the same as Ruby’s.”
Laurel hugged her phone to her chest as she looked at my screen. “Okay. He’s busy saving her. That’s why he can’t answer.”
I nodded, hoping she was right.
Laurel’s blue gaze met mine. “I’ll keep looking at the hospital footage. Let me know when Mason’s on the move.” She went back to her husband’s desk and settled before the screen.
My next quest was to access Ruby’s text messages.
Who sent her a text at the time for her to walk away?
We both turned as the steel door opened. Sparrow’s dark gaze went from me to Laurel. It seemed as though her presence momentarily stalled whatever he’d been about to say or more accurately, yell.
I lifted my chin. “From here, from what I can see, it appears that Mason is now with Ruby.”
He let out a breath, throwing his topcoat onto the weight bench. “What the hell happened?”
“We don’t know,” Laurel said. “I’m going through the hospital security footage, but we can’t see what was happening. There is a nearly an hour loop of the same fifteen minutes in the hallway outside Madeline’s room.”
“When did it start?” I asked.
“After eleven this morning.” She gasped. “It just reverted to real time.”
“How can you tell?” Sparrow asked.
“Right here.” She pointed to the screen. “See that door? I think it’s to a supply closet. It was closed tight and now it’s not, but no one has been there.”
Sparrow’s head shook from side to side. “Who the fuck is out-teching us?” He looked straight at me. “I told you to be sure no one else was in the system.”
I lifted my hands. “I didn’t see them. I still don’t. There’s no digital footprint.”
The reality settled over us of what we’d believed before.
Sparrow nodded, his jaw clenched, and a vein came to life in his forehead. “Once we have Ruby home, we’re headed to DC. I don’t believe Walters. The fucking Order is involved and after my people. I want to know why.”
“Me,” Laurel said. “It’s about me.”
“With all the shit happening,” I replied, “we haven’t had time to discuss this, but Laurel, it doesn’t make sense that they’d be after you as an endgame. If this is the Order, they have your formula or one like it. Whoever kidnapped Lorna and Araneae have a similar formula.”