Found Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #14): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel by REBECCA YORK Read Free Book Online Page A

in cash. Not a lot, but maybe enough.
    If she hadn’t been desperate, she might have been disgusted by her actions. She justified her behavior by telling herself that she was doing everyone a favor by disappearing because they didn’t know what they’d gotten themselves into by accepting her as a patient.
    Even if she stole from Mack and Lily, that was better than their getting shot by the men she was sure were looking for her.
    She flipped open Lily’s wallet and went very still as she stared at a picture of Grant with that crooked smile she had come to love.
    No, not Grant, she reminded herself. It was Mack, his twin brother. It was tempting to take the picture anyway. A reminder of the man who had made love with her yesterday, the man she loved, she admitted as she felt her heart squeeze inside her chest.
    But the picture wasn’t Grant, and she left it in the plastic sleeve. Instead she slipped Lily’s ID from her wallet and put it back in the purse, along with Mack’s money.  She left Lily’s wallet on the bench. The ID and the purse were enough.
    As she prepared to leave, she caught a glance at herself in the mirror near the door and went very still. In the VR she’d been the picture of vitality. The woman who stared back at her now looked pale and unhealthy, with deep circles under her eyes and hair that needed a good washing.
    But what did she expect? She’d been lying in a modified hospital bed for months, shut away from the sun. She was just damn lucky that the bed was specially designed to keep her body in reasonable shape. If not, she would have gotten up and fallen flat on her face.
    With a grimace, she tried to center herself, then looked out again at the men, who were still glued to the monitor—watching whatever compelling scene was playing out in the VR.
    Hoping she was as invisible to them as a ghost, she slid along the wall, heading for the exit to the patient area.
     

Chapter Six
    In the VR, Lily looked from Corker to Mack and back again, giving herself a few minutes to get comfortable in the artificial setting.
    Mack pressed his shoulder against hers. “You remember the first time we woke up here?”
    She winced. “Yes, Hamilton sent me in here to lie to you—and all the other patients. And he didn’t even give me a very convincing script. You knew there was something weird about me.”
    “That’s not what I was thinking about.”
    “I know. But when I think about that first day, I feel ashamed.”
    “Your behavior wasn’t your decision. You were obeying instructions from your superior not to reveal where we really were.”
    “Yes, And now he’s gone, I’m running the show, and I’m going to be up front with Jonas Corker.”
    Getting up, she went to the desk, opened a side drawer, and took out a hypodermic. It seemed like a strange thing to do in a virtual environment, yet after reevaluating the needs of the patients and also any staff who went inside, she’d created some safeguards. They’d set the place up to be as real as possible. And that meant having a way to wake up patients in the artificial environment and sedate them if necessary.
    After checking the label on the hypodermic, she crossed the room, knelt by Corker and gave him an injection in the forearm.
    Tension sizzled through her as she waited for what would happen next.
    “Is something wrong?” Mack whispered.
    “I hope not. I haven’t done this before, and it could take a little while,” she added.
    As she watched, Corker’s facial muscles twitched. Then his eyelids fluttered. After several more seconds his eyes snapped open. At first his vision looked like it was directed inward. Then he focused on her as though trying to figure out if he had seen her before.
    His lips moved, but no sound came out.
    When he turned his head away, she put her hand on his shoulder, and he jumped like someone had touched him with a hot poker.
    Quickly she pulled her hand back. “Jonas.”
    His head twisted back toward her, his