Page 25 of Dan

“Oh,” she said quietly. “Oh. I was almost part of that.”

“But you weren’t,” said Alexandra. “You got away from them and found a way to protect yourself.”

“No, you found a way to protect me. All of you rescued me. If my parents are involved in all of this, they would have known that I was kidnapped and being used. They didn’t care. They didn’t send anyone for me.”

Tony hovered near the others, watching the scene play out. There were so many possibilities and so many things at play here that it was confusing.

“Finley, can you tell us about when you were taken?” asked Tony. She turned to the young ghost and nodded.

“GAM told me to take some time off and think about my loyalties. I’d been wanting to visit some ruins in Mexico, and so I booked myself a vacation. I was in a nice resort hotel along the beach. I didn’t really leave my room much since I was able to walk right out to the beach, swim, and then go back to the room.

“On my third night at the hotel, I was going to head downstairs for dinner, and I decided to make a reservation for a table alone on the veranda. They said the restaurants were closed due to a mandatory health inspection and cleaning. It kind of freaked me out, so I asked for a recommendation of a restaurant nearby.”

“And they gave you one,” nodded Sly.

“Yes. They said it was walking distance and perfectly safe. It seemed fine. I mean, I didn’t see any reason to be worried, so I walked down to the restaurant. It was further than they led me to believe. As I mentioned before, I counted my steps.” Ace and Alexandra smiled at her. They’d both done similar things before.

“The food was good, nothing suspicious about it. I don’t drink alcohol, and they were trying to get me to have a house margarita, but I refused. Now that I think about it, they were a little frustrated by that.”

“What did you drink?” asked Paige.

“Water. Bottled water. I insisted on a glass bottled water with the metal cap still in place. The first bottle they brought the cap had been loosened already. I sent it back. The second one was intact, but they seemed very bothered by my asking for it. I honestly didn’t think anything of it. Everyone gets upset with me and my idiosyncrasies at mealtime.”

“Did you have dessert?” asked Paige.

“I wasn’t going to, but they convinced me that the churros and ice cream were a house specialty. After all the fuss about the water, I thought I should. It tasted funny, sort of metallic. I didn’t eat much of it but left some cash and walked out. I was about two blocks from the restaurant and thought someone was following me.

“When I turned around, I didn’t see anyone, but then again, there were dozens of tourists everywhere. I started feeling sick to my stomach,” she frowned, holding her hand against her stomach with the memory. “I don’t know why I didn’t remember that before.”

“Because it seemed insignificant,” smiled Alexandra. “I have a feeling they put something in the ice cream.”

“I had the feeling again, the one of someone following me, and I turned. That’s the last thing I remember,” she said, staring at the group. “I woke up in that cell inside the old fortress. I thought it was silly when the old iron key lock broke, and they replaced it with a padlock. It only took me a few moments to figure out the combination.”

“I’ll bet it was the guards that made that mistake,” said Code. “And I bet they thought you would escape into the city, not into the Gulf. That was actually smart on your part, although it wouldn’t have been if the hurricane had come up the Gulf.”

“I know,” she said, shaking her head, “but I didn’t feel as though I had any choice.”

“Did you see the main person who took you?” asked Ryan.

“Only briefly, and it was dark. He was seated in the one room that seemed to be somewhat modernized. I think it might have been used by park services at one time. There was a dusty old fax machine in there. He was behind a desk, so I couldn’t tell how tall he was. I barely got a glimpse of his face.”

“Did he have an accent, something in his speech that was unusual?” asked Paige.

“No. Nothing worth noting. It could have been slightly southern or maybe middle Atlantic states. I don’t know. He just said that I would decode or rewrite code for whatever they gave me without question. If I didn’t, they would torture me. Starting with shock therapy.” Her face paled, and she twisted her hands.

“They knew,” whispered Tony. “They knew that she was terrified most of shock therapy. Someone told them.”

“Oh, my God,” said Finley. “The only people who knew about that were my parents and the doctor who treated me.”

“What was his name?” asked Code.

“Dr. Arthur Gunderson. He has a private practice, but he treats patients at the Bay Area Mental Rehabilitation Hospital near San Francisco, and he has a private hospital outside of Seattle, Washington.” She could hear Code and Sly tapping away on the keys, whispering to one another.

“Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“I’m not sure,” said Code. “Are you certain of the name of the hospital?”

“I was there a half dozen times in my life. I remember those sterile walls very well.”

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