The Skin She's In by Margo Collins (online e book reader .txt) 📕

the phone’s screen and saw that I had missed not one but five calls from the hospital.

For an instant, I knew without any doubt at all that I did not want to return the calls.

My hands trembled in fear as I pushed the button, anyway, and waited for the call to go through.

The operator who answered didn’t let me get past, “Hi, my name is Lindi Parker, and...” before she was asking me to please hold for a transfer.

The operator knew to expect a call from me.

Something horrible was happening.

I looked up, my eyes wide, to find Kade gazing at me, his eyes narrowed. “You okay?” he asked.

I shook my head mutely. Whatever I was, it wasn’t okay.

“What is it?” he whispered, even as Dr. Jimson came on the other end of the line and said, “Lindi? We need you to get to the hospital right now.”

I felt my knees start to give way at those words, but Kade’s arm was around me instantly, supporting me even as I shook.

“What’s happened?” I wanted to ask more, but I didn’t want to put my fears into words, either.

When Dr. Jimson said, “It’s Serena,” black dots swam through my vision.

“Is she...” I couldn’t even think how to finish that sentence. Alive? Hurt? Dead? None of those words would out of my mouth.

“Kidnapped,” he said.

Chapter 22

I’D BEEN FRIGHTENED before, plenty of times, but I’d never known that terror could burrow all the way down into my bones.

I felt myself groping blindly for Kade, unable to even see where he was, though I knew he stood right beside me.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I said.

“We have a number of the other Shields at the hospital right now, and they’re organizing a search. I’ll be in my office to answer any questions you have as soon as you get here.”

I don’t even know if I said goodbye or if I simply hung up. The next thing I knew I was already talking, half incoherently.

“I need your truck. I need to go to the hospital. Serena’s gone. They don’t know who took her. I have to go now. I need your keys. I have to go.”

“Slow down,” Kade said. “I’m coming with you. You’re not driving anywhere.” He turned back to face Shadow and Jeremiah, never letting go of me. “Will you be okay until Keeya gets here? It should only be another ten minutes or so.”

Jeremiah nodded. “When you can find a moment to speak with us, or with the matriarch, please let us know if there is anything we can do to help.” He gazed at me, his beautiful brown eyes serious. “We owe you everything. Please do not hesitate to contact us for anything.”

Shadow stepped up beside him and took his hand, her own solemn gaze and nod echoing his words. “Any time.”

Kade bundled me into his truck, and I spent the drive to the hospital staring blindly out the window, remembering every moment I had spent with Serena since she had been born too early to a mother who didn’t want her.

How could I have thought that I might be regretting deciding to take her in?

I hadn’t even known how much she mattered to me until someone tried to take her away.

Tried to.

I hung on to those words, determined to make sure I got her back.

I didn’t even realize I had tears rolling down my face until we were out of the truck and walking into the NICU, where Dr. Jimson met us at the door.

KADE HAD BEEN TALKING on his phone as he walked in behind me, and now came up and put his hand on the small of my back. “I called your parents to let them know what’s happened,” he said.

I nodded numbly, too shell-shocked to even speak.

“Some of the Shields are here helping.” Dr. Jimson gestured around the space that had held Serena’s terrarium and bassinet.

“What happened?” I finally managed to force out from between my frozen lips.

“Excuse me, doctor, but I think you’re needed over there.” The sound of my Shield mentor’s voice distracting the distraught neonatal doctor relieved me more than I had realized it would.

I spun around to find him standing slightly behind me and threw my arms around him. “Eduardo.” After a single, tight squeeze, I stepped back and regained control. “Tell me what we know so far.”

I never would’ve admitted this to anyone else, but the fact that Eduardo looked like a Hispanic version of Clint Eastwood always made me feel like it must make him a better officer. Like somehow Eastwood’s film persona had been magically transported to Ed’s daily life. Luckily, he really was very good at what he did, so I wasn’t that far off.

“It looks like someone got in with a hospital ID. They waited until shift change and came in as if they were taking over. Still tracking down what happened, exactly, but it looks like the on-duty nurse called in sick and this person posed as a replacement for her.”

“Aren’t all the nurses supposed to be vetted before they’re allowed to care for Serena?”

“Yes, but the nurse who was ending her shift really can’t be held responsible for not knowing everyone’s status at any given moment.”

“So whoever it was simply left with the baby?” Kade leaned in to interject. Eduardo opened his hands, palms up, and gave an eloquent shrug—one that managed to convey the idea that if he had been in charge, none of this would’ve happened.

“So what’s been done to find her?” I asked.

“Everything we can think of. You know how this works. We are tracking down every lead and I promise you we will not stop looking until we have found her.”

Although I hadn’t participated in any kidnapping investigations since I’d started as a Shield, I knew the basics. I realized it really would be better if I stayed out of the way during the investigation. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to.

“Take her home?”