Stripped Bare (10 page)

“Why would he take her to help those people?” Stace asked drawing away to pace the room. “That is what I don’t understand. We both know how these operations work. These people are a commodity to them. If they get sick then they are disposable as there are always more. So why go the effort of kidnapping someone to help the ones who are sick? Why a nursing student? I swear if we find this guy I will take extreme pleasure in hurting him for what he has done.
To my sister and those people.”

“He’s not the villain that you see him as,” Ally’s voice spoke softly from the doorway. Stace’s eyes flew to her and she was happy to see a little color in Ally’s face. Blake stood close behind her his body embracing hers as Ally leaned back into him.

“Are you okay?” Stace asked.

Ally smiled and nodded. “I’m fine now.”

“I’m so sorry that I touched you,” Stace said. “I never meant to hurt you.”

Ally moved forward and took Stace’s hands in hers. “You were only trying to help me. I appreciate that. The connection was strong, very strong and I know why. Before I was pulled I was able to connect not just with Chloe but with him as well. We share the same gift.”

“He’s psychic too?” Stace asked.

“Clairvoyant, and yes,” Ally said. “That is how I know that he isn’t a bad man.”

“He kidnapped my sister,” Stace said. “That makes him bad in my book.”

“He saw your sister in a little café that she visits just off campus,” Ally said. “He witnessed her save a man from choking one day and overheard her and a friend talking about nursing school. The friend said that Chloe should go on to medical school like she wanted and become a doctor.”

“I didn’t know Chloe was thinking about medical school,” Stace admitted.

“She loves you, respects you and wants to make you as proud of her as she is of you,” Ally said.

Stace could feel her eyes watering and blinked rapidly to disperse the moisture before it could slip out as tears. “I’m already proud of her.”

“I can tell that,” Ally assured her. “This man, he used his gift to find people who have been taken and are being held against their will. He has a group that helps him go in and rescue them. This time the people were all sick. They were left in an abandoned truck bed, discarded like garbage. He is desperate to save them, so desperate that he followed your sister and with the help of two of his men he took her hoping that she would know how to treat them. Instead Chloe became ill.”

“Because he knew she was in school for nursing and was thinking of medical school?” Stace asked shaking her head.
“Why not a doctor from somewhere else?
A paramedic or someone already trained?”

“Because he saw your sister and from what I could tell,” Ally sighed and shook her head, “I think he was hoping to find a companion soul in Chloe, someone to work at his side helping him. He never anticipated Chloe getting sick. He wouldn’t have taken her if he had even suspected for a moment that would happen.”

“But he did take her,” Stace said hardening herself against the softness she was starting to feel for this guy. There would be time to forgive him later, after her sister was found and recovered from whatever illness she now had. “Now we have to find her.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Ally said. “Before I was pulled out was when I connected with him. He was showing me where they were, where he had hidden them. I didn’t get to see everything but hopefully I got enough for us to find them.”

“Oh, God,” Stace said. “I’ll never forgive myself if my actions keep us from finding Chloe.”

Ally shook his head. “They won’t. And it isn’t just Chloe. He’s leaving the people there as well in hopes that we can get them the help that he couldn’t.”

“So he’s gone?” Shep asked and Stace felt his hand on the small of her back, a firm support.

“He’s gone,” Ally nodded. “He’s moved on to find another group.”

Stace nodded. She understood what he was doing, believed in it with all her heart, but
she couldn’t, no wouldn’t, be able to forgive him until she saw Chloe laughing and smiling once more
.

“We have pictures of several sites we found. The most promising are spread across the table,” Shep said nodding toward where he and Stace had laid their hours of research out. “Maybe you’ll be able to recognize something from one of the pictures.”

Ally immediately turned to the table and starting looking.
She leaned close, taking her time and studying every photo. She picked several up and shuffled through the stack of photos and information before setting them down. Stace could feel the clock ticking and worried her bottom lip between her teeth watching Ally finally narrow it down to two sites.

“I know it’s one of these two,” Ally said. “They look so similar in the photos. Can we pull these two up again and let me see if maybe something on the sites will trigger for me?”

“Absolutely,” Shep said and took a seat back in front of his laptop. He quickly logged on and brought up two tabs, each holding one of the sites. He stood up and held the chair out for Ally.

They all moved in close. Stace, Shep and Blake hovered over her shoulder looking at the screen with her though only Ally could point them in the right direction. Shep and Stace had only printed out the photos that had shown the cabin sites in full thinking that would be their best bet. But it was obvious that Ally was looking for something in particular, either something she had seen for herself or something that the man had shown her. Stace hoped Ally found it.

“Here,” Ally said pointing to a tiny hand-painted sign that once had led the way to a children’s summer camp that had been closed for years. “This is what I was looking for. We’ll find Chloe and the others here.”

Blake moved back, cell phone already in hand. “I’ll put a call in to the necessary medical staff and let them know what we might be looking at. The nearest hospital to that site will need to be prepared staff-wise for the number of people who will be coming in. Ally do you have any idea what they might have? Did you pick anything up from him or even Chloe on that?”

Ally shook her head. “Neither of them knew for sure what was causing the fever. I do know that Chloe was run-down and exhausted when she succumbed to it. She’s been surviving the last few weeks on little to no sleep and though he would demand that she eat she didn’t always comply if he wasn’t there to make her.”

“Chloe always puts others before herself,” Stace said. “She has a great need to nurture and care for others, thus her desire for nursing school.” Stace smiled. “I guess medical school too.”

“Call made,” Blake said stepping back over to them. “They’re making calls and setting up now. They’re sending a few medical staff out to the site to get an idea of what we’re looking at.”

“Ready?” Shep asked.

“Weeks ago,” Stace said as they moved for the door.

Shep put the coordinates into his GPS as soon as they were in the truck. Blake and Ally were getting into the truck they had arrived in and soon they were heading out of the drive and to the place that, thanks to Ally, they now knew Chloe and the others were at. Stace had been waiting for this moment since arriving home and learning her sister was missing. Just once in all that time she wished she had thought of contacting someone like Ally. But it hadn’t even entered her head.

“Almost over,” Shep said eyes locked on the road ahead. “Soon you can put this nightmare behind you.”

“I’m just praying that Chloe pulls through whatever this fever is,” Stace said. “Once she recovers I can finally let her see how important she is to me, how much I love and admire her.”

“Those things are very important,” Shep agreed.

“So will you need to head back right away?” Stace asked. “I mean with your job you’ll probably need to get back to Legacy once this is all over.”

“I have some time off due,” Shep said glancing over at her quickly. “Are you saying that you’d like me to stay?”

Stace took a deep breath and nodded. “I’d really like you to stay,” she said softly.

“Then I’ll stay,” Shep said. “I’ll give Jack a call later and let him know what is going on and that I’ll be staying a little longer.”

“Thanks, Shep,” Stace said. “I need to be here for Chloe. I’ve failed too often in the past and I can’t let her down this time.”

“It’ll all work out,” Shep said and Stace nodded. “It’s easy to see that you love your sister. I’m betting she loves you just as much.”

Who would have thought that it would take something like her sister’s kidnapping to bring a man like Shep into her life? Stace hadn’t been looking for a relationship, not with a man anyway. She’d been ready to leave her job and finally focus on family and making friends, sticking closer to home. And now she felt like she had at least two friends in Shep and Ally. Once she had the opportunity to get to know Blake better she anticipated they would be friends as well.
Funny how life worked sometimes.

Stace snapped out of her thoughts as she saw the hand-painted sign that had pointed Ally in the right direction. It was faded and weather-beaten
now,
more of a reminder of what had once been then the welcome it was originally meant to be. But it was all Stace needed to see to have her heartbeat speed up. Adrenaline coursed through her body. She couldn’t make up for the past, for not being there. But she could make sure that she was there from now on and that Chloe knew that whatever she wanted to do or be Stace would support her one hundred percent.

The medical staff had beaten them there and already there were people being carried out and loaded into ambulances. Police lights were flashing as officers tried to help and question at the same time.

“I’m going with Ally and Blake to talk to the officer in charge,” Shep said. “Looks like your sister getting ready to load up there,” he nodded toward one of the ambulances. “I’ll see you at the hospital,” he added giving her a quick kiss before letting her go.

Stace ran to the stretcher that Chloe was on and took her sister’s hand in hers. Chloe was so hot, her skin burning to the touch. “I’m her sister,” Stace said when the EMT looked at her. He took one look and nodded at her.

“You can ride with us but you need to stay out of the way,” he snapped. Stace nodded. He was only concerned about her sister and Stace understood that completely, would have it no other way. “There are some questions that it would be great if you could answer for us,” he said.
“Medical history and those things.”

“Absolutely,” Stace nodded.

Her sister didn’t open her eyes for the entire ride to the hospital. It was disconcerting to see Chloe lying there so still and silent. Her sister was always the bubbly type and rarely ever without something to say. Stace leaned forward and took her sister’s hand in hers. The EMT looked up but didn’t say anything.

“Chloe,” Stace said needing to talk to her sister. “It’s me, Stace. I’m so sorry that I wasn’t here when you needed me. I’ve done that a lot, I know. But I want you to know that is all in the past now. I’m back and I’m here to stay this time. I’m going to be around so much that you’re going to wish that I would go away.” She laughed and wiped at the tears running down her cheeks. “First thing is to get you feeling better. I’ve never seen you this quiet before, Chloe, and I have to tell you I don’t like it. I want to hear you laugh, see you smile. We have so much to talk about, so many things I want to tell you and questions I want to ask you.”

Stace kept talking rambling on about this or that, probably making little sense and more than likely repeating herself several times. But she needed to talk, needed Chloe to know that she was there with her and that everything would be okay as soon as Chloe woke up, as soon as whatever raged inside her left. Stace wanted Chloe to know that no matter how long it took Stace would still be there waiting.

She stood back as they arrived and Chloe was rushed into the emergency room. Stace was directed to the waiting room and walked back and forth as she waited for news on her sister. To finally find her and still not be able to talk to her, to laugh with her, to just hug her close and tell her she loved her was cruel. She had no idea how long she had been wearing a hole in the carpet when she ran into a solid wall of muscle and Shep was there, his arms wrapping her up.

“Any news?” he asked and she shook her head.

“Chloe didn’t wake up on the ride here,” she said.

“Several of the people were doing better,” Shep said. “No one has died from whatever they have. That’s the good news. I overheard some of them saying it looked like some type of airborne bacteria. That’s why no one was getting better. They were all in the same room so the sick just kept passing it back.”

“So antibiotics, rest, and fluids,” Stace said. “If she isn’t re-exposed then she should be fine, right?” she asked.

Shep nodded. “Chloe will be just fine.
Physically at least.”

Stace knew what he meant. Her sister would have to deal with her kidnapping, how she was taken, and what she had endured. Those things would take a large mental and emotional toll on Chloe.

She looked up as a doctor finally came into the room. “Anders?” he asked.

“Over here,” she said gripping Shep’s hand tight and moving across the room to where the doctor stood.

“Your sister is being moved up to a room now,” the doctor said. “We’ll be keeping her for a few days while the fever breaks and we can rehydrate her. She’s fighting an infection. We’ve run several tests and I’ll be able to tell you more as soon as I get those results back. Do you have any questions, Miss Anders?” he asked.

“How long until I can see her?”
Stace asked.

“Give us time to move her up to a room,” the doctor told her. “She’ll be on the third floor. There’s a waiting room up there that you can stay in. I’ll have someone let you know when you can go in.”

“Thank you, Doctor,” Stace said and when he walked away she turned to Shep. “And thank you.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” Shep said shaking his head.

“I do,” Stace nodded. “I really do. I couldn’t have done this without you, without Ally. My sister would be out there now sick without medical care if not for your help.”