From the Shadows (Buckhorn, Montana #2) - B.J. Daniels Page 0,98
see that there would be no keeping him out of the hotel short of cuffing him and throwing him in the back of a squad car.
“You don’t want to go back in there,” Leroy told him, but Finnegan only shook his head, shoving off the marshal’s hand. “You need to go with one of my deputies to the motel.”
“I’m not going anywhere as long as Casey’s missing. I checked her room. She must have headed out at the sound of the fire alarm, but something must have happened. I have no idea what’s going on, but I can tell it’s serious.” He put his face in Leroy’s. “I’m going in. There’s only one way you can stop me. Otherwise, we can cover the hotel faster if there are two of us.”
Leroy sighed. “You take the north wing. We meet back at the main stairway in ten minutes. No more.”
Finnegan gave a short nod. They went back inside and parted company. He could hear the man running and calling Casey’s name. Leroy checked the lower floor first, his nerves raw. He’d never been in a building that could disintegrate at any moment.
* * *
CASEY CAME TO with a start. She blinked, her gaze unfocused for a few moments. She tried to remember what had happened, why she was lying on the floor, her body aching. As she started to sit up, she remembered. Jason. Falling down the stairs. She blinked again, fighting to clear her head as she started to take in her surroundings. She was still on the back-stairs landing. Her body hurt, but she didn’t think anything was broken.
But as she tried to sit up, she realized with a start that she wasn’t alone. Jason? Her pulse jumped as her earlier fear returned. She tried to sit up again. As she did, she saw him.
Not Jason.
Emery. He came up the stairs from the darkness. He held a finger to his lips as if he was afraid she was going to scream. Over the fire alarm? Even so, a scream was already racing up her throat. But it didn’t reach her mouth before he grabbed her and clamped one massive hand down to forever trap it.
“It’s okay now,” Emery said. “I have you now.” She could feel terror widen her eyes. As she struggled to get Emery’s massive, calloused hand from her mouth, he reached behind him. The smell hit her first. It wafted through the air an instant before he pressed the damp cloth over her nose. She couldn’t breathe.
With all her strength, she wriggled and fought against him, but it was useless. He was too strong, just like the chemical on the rag he was holding over her nose, his big hand over her mouth. She could feel darkness closing in. If he didn’t remove the rag or his hand...
Suddenly both were no longer on her face. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out except for a small, inaudible sigh as she felt some strange drug making her limp as a rag doll.
She tried to get up, terrified, but her large-motor skills didn’t react. Her body was no longer taking her commands. Emery lifted her as if she were no more than a child, and instead of heading down the stairs, he carried her up until he came to a landing. She watched in a dreamlike state as he pushed on a spot on the wood-paneled wall and it opened, revealing another set of narrower stairs.
She knew at once where he was taking her.
To the basement.
* * *
FINN CHECKED ONE floor after another. The sky outside was lightening with the promise of a new day. He was on his way down the back stairway when he saw something on the landing that he’d missed in his rush earlier. He lurched to a stop and bent down. Blood. It was only a couple of drops. But the droplets hadn’t been there long. His heart leaped to his throat.
He told himself that the blood might not even be Casey’s. Someone could have been hurt escaping the hotel. But as he took the steps more slowly, looking for more blood, he knew in his soul that the blood was hers. The good news was that so far he’d only seen a few drops, which meant she wasn’t bleeding badly.
That was when he saw it. Not blood, thank God. But something just as telling. He recognized the tiny object right away. Just the sight of it sent his pulse hammering at