Once Bitten, Twice Dead - By Bianca D'Arc Page 0,100

his response was filled with anger and dismay. If she didn’t know better, she’d say he was taking her capture and subsequent treatment to heart.

“I couldn’t move when I first woke up. It was dark. Then he came in and put an IV in my arm. He drew a lot of blood, then left, leaving me in the dark again. I managed to get my arms free and I was able to reach the tray over there.” Her gaze went to the tray that she could now see was filled with lethal-looking medical instruments. “I found a scalpel the hard way and used that to cut the straps below my waist, then wriggled out of the top half of the restraints.”

“Let me see your hands, baby.”

The tone of his voice touched her deeply. It was filled with a mix of concern and regret. She held out the hand that had been cut.

“It’s okay, Xavier.” She was quick to reassure him as he removed her glove and examined her hand. “It healed fast.” Her hand still sported a smear of blood but was otherwise fine. Not even a faint line was left to indicate the slice that had been delivered to her fingers when she’d grabbed the business end of the scalpel by mistake.

“Damn.” His expression was filled with remorse. “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I blame myself for everything you’ve been through tonight.”

She took a step closer to him. “Don’t, Xavier. It’s all right. I got out of it and you came to get me. It all worked out.”

“But you shouldn’t have had to go through any of it.”

“Blame Sellars. Not yourself. All you’ve done since I first met you was try to help me.” She placed a palm over his heart and he covered her hand with one of his.

They stood there for a long moment, looking deep into each other’s eyes. Finally, Xavier broke the spell.

“You’re too lenient with me, Sarah.” He leaned in and placed a peck on her cheek before stepping back.

The small grin he gave her was like sunshine coming out after a long rain.

“Let’s finish up here,” he said. “We both still have a lot of work to do before we can call it a day.”

In full agreement, she helped him go through the laboratory for anything that might be of use to them. They found nothing other than Sarah’s weapon and personal items—including her wallet and keys, which they retrieved from a drawer—and then left the more intense search to the technical crew that would follow after. They headed back upstairs to do a final sweep of the grounds before rejoining Reno at the helicopter.

When they had searched the grounds to Xavier’s satisfaction, they circled back and climbed into the chopper. She wasn’t surprised when Xavier told his man to head for the campus.

“What happened to the girl?” Sarah asked him.

“Her name was Donna.” His tone was filled with regret. “I don’t know if she made it. She’d been bitten and had fallen unconscious when I realized you weren’t behind me. In the excitement I…I left her. Damn.”

“It’s okay.” She reached for his hand, squeezing his fingers in reassurance. “We’ll find her. Maybe she was one of the lucky ones.”

But when they got to the scene, the girl was nowhere to be found. They marked the dead on both sides of the tracks with transmitters and did a cursory search for the girl, but she was a tiny thing, and the small patch of woods was bordered by concrete roads and walkways on three sides. Where she went after she hit the sidewalk, they had no idea.

“If she’s turned, she’ll show up tomorrow night. If she hasn’t, maybe she went back to her dorm or the hospital,” Sarah thought aloud.

“Good point. I’ll make some calls and put campus security on alert for her. If they can find her during the day, all the better. Otherwise, we’ll check back for her tomorrow night.” Xavier was already on the phone as they made their way back to the chopper.

Reno had found a nice empty parking lot to land in, which had been cordoned off by campus security at Sarah’s request. When she’d run interference with the campus guys they’d been more than willing to help. She took a moment to call and thank them before hopping in the chopper.

Reno headed for the coast to the laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor without even being asked. It went without