Page 21 of Graveyard Dog

No. There was no way. He never would have forgotten those eyes.

She gazed at him, her face aglow with the memory of her sister, and said softly, “Emmaline,” pronouncing the name carefully, precisely, as though it were a precious thing.

When it dawned on him that she’d named her daughter after her sister, his heart softened even more, the hard, sharp edges threatening to melt away. But he couldn’t allow himself to get attached. His attraction was simply that, a physical draw to a beautiful woman. He didn’t want her anywhere near the compound, or the little hellion clearly trying to recruit her.

Michael noticed the phones ringing first. He turned his head toward the nurse’s desk across the hall. That alerted Izzy, and she straightened in her chair. When a strobe light began flashing in the hallway, their gazes locked for half a second before they both jumped to their feet and rushed into the hall.

Chapter Five

There are so many cool things I would do

if it weren’t for the laws of physics.

And regular laws.

—Meme

“Where is my daughter?” Izzy asked as a nurse scrambled to answer phone call after phone call.

The nurse’s startled expression at Izzy’s question filled her with a deep sense of dread. Something had gone terribly wrong.

“Where is radiology?” Michael asked, almost yelling at her.

The older woman put a hand over the receiver and pointed toward the elevators. “First floor. Across from the labs.”

Once again, he didn’t wait for said elevator. Or Izzy, for that matter. He tore through the door to the stairwell and disappeared.

Izzy ran after him, but she couldn’t think. Did Emma have another attack? Or was she still waiting for the X-ray machine to open up, and none of this had anything to do with her? Panic squeezed her chest tight and blurred her vision as Michael took the stairs one platform at a time. Izzy hurried behind him, but keeping up was not an option.

He burst through the door on the first floor, the sound echoing in the stairwell. Izzy made it just as the door bounced back. She shoved her way through it and watched as he ran down the hall like he knew exactly where he was going. Thank the gods. Because Izzy was lost.

He turned right and disappeared, but she heard his voice, sharp and loud. “Where is Emma Walsh?”

When Izzy caught up to him, she saw two nurses working on the girl who’d taken Emma to X-ray. She lay in a puddle of blood. Izzy’s world began to spin. Michael grabbed her before she could fall and pulled her against him. Held her tight.

“What happened?” he said, glaring at the unconscious nurse.

“We don’t know,” a radiology technician said. “We just found Camilla like this.” He pressed a cloth to the young nurse’s head as two others rushed up with a gurney. “You’ll have to wait in the—”

“Where is the girl she had with her?” He scanned the area.

The tech finally spared Michael a glance. “She had a patient with her?”

“Our daughter.”

Izzy looked up at him in surprise. She knewwhyhe was referring to Emma as his daughter. Time was of the essence. They didn’t need the medical personnel questioning his involvement. She was just surprised he’d thought of it.

He continued, unfazed. “Five years old. Where is she?” Dragging Izzy with him, he stomped past them and into the radiology area. He spun around. Looked behind every door. Peered through every window.

Nothing.

Nobody.

“Michael,” Izzy said, unable to wrap her head around what was happening.

“Search every nook and cranny,” he said to one of the lab technicians.

The woman took off, searching every room thoroughly. Izzy’s heart beat against her ribs as if trying to escape.

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