Protector: The Flawed Series Book Three

by Becca J. Campbell

  Ethan raised an eyebrow. They hadn’t planned for cleanup, seeing that they were taking Kelsey prisoner, not killing her. “How’d you manage that?”

  “There’s a garden shed in the back, behind the courtyard. I found a spigot.”

  “Is that why you aren’t wearing your jacket anymore?”

  “Needed a rag.”

  “Are you sure you took care of everything?” Ethan cringed at the idea of leaving evidence behind. He knew how to cover his own tracks but wasn’t sure Nicodemus was quite as careful.

  “Got it covered.”

  “Where’s the jacket? You didn’t throw it in a dumpster, did you?”

  “’Course not. You think I’m an idiot?”

  “Then what did you do with it?”

  “Put it in the truck with the bodies.”

  “Okay. Now it’s time to get the real prize.”

  Nicodemus raised his eyebrows then glanced around the room quickly. He leaned closer. “That Kelsey girl?”

  “Yes,” Ethan said. “She left a few minutes ago with that odd kid.”

  “The albino?”

  “Yes. She’s likely taking him back up to his room. After that she’ll probably head back down here. You have from there to here to catch her alone.”

  Nicodemus nodded. “I’m on it.” He turned for the door, but Ethan grabbed a fist of his shirt sleeve to stop him.

  “Don’t screw this one up.” He leaned closer to whisper in Nicodemus’s ear. “Remember, don’t harm her. Even if you have trouble controlling her—she’s mine, and I want her alive and well.”

  Nicodemus lifted his chin. “I got it.”

  “Good. Leave her in room 108 for me.”

  Nicodemus frowned. “I thought we were in a hurry. You don’t want me to put her in the truck?”

  “We can spare a few minutes. I want to talk to her first.”

  After Nicodemus left, Ethan’s eyes trailed to the Kelsey impostor wandering aimlessly between the tables, coming nearer to him without realizing it. She’d abandoned her drink and seemed to be searching for someone. When she found the guy with the glasses, Ethan pricked his ears to catch what they were saying.

  “Have you seen Kelsey?” she asked.

  “She had to help one of the residents,” the man said. “She’ll be right back. Want me to have her come find you?”

  The impostor nodded and sent a glance toward the door to the adjacent room. “It’s loud in here—I’ll wait for her in the gallery. Can you tell her where I’m at?”

  He nodded.

  Ethan smiled to himself.

  “Don’t you have a view of that door on one of your security cameras?” Logan gestured at the bank of small televisions flashing black-and-white views of the building’s exterior. He didn’t see one of the back exit with the loading dock.

  Behind the desk, Jones pointed at a dark screen. “That camera went out earlier today. We sent in a report, but the electricians won’t make it out until Monday.”

  “Why not?”

  Jones shrugged. “Not important. That entire wing is closed down. Those doors haven’t been used in nearly a year.”

  “Don’t you think it’s a little coincidental it went out today, of all days?”

  “We haven’t seen a sign of anyone that shouldn’t be here.” He frowned suspiciously at Logan. “Except you.”

  Logan sighed. “Would you please just go check it out? You’ll need a flashlight. And take a weapon if you have one. I’m guessing there’s no power in that wing?”

  “Breaker’s been off since it was vacated.” Jones looked at Schultz. “Check it out. See what the fuss is about.”

  Schultz nodded.

  Logan blew out a breath of relief.

  Once the responsibility of finding the killer was off his back, he thought of Jade. He had no idea how long his little detour had taken, but she should’ve found Kelsey and returned by now. He headed back to the banquet entrance. A layer of worry was starting to root upward, crawling its way to the surface of his control barrier. If there really was a killer in the building, he had to get Jade out of here—now.

  ~

  Boom-boom. Boom-boom. Boom-boom.

  Hugh’s heart was louder than everything else. It was all he heard when Kelsey led him back. She talked, but he didn’t hear her. Not as they passed the big man watching the doorway. Not as she led him through the hospital’s winding hallways. Not even when he felt her warm hand around his arm.

  His feet moved like Velcro. They stuck to the carpet. His slipper caught. He pried it up. He stepped forward. Again and again. But they were moving away, and away was good. Away was safe. There were too many people.

  When his foot reached tile, things felt better. This was his ward. Waiting area, reception desk, hub. All safe. He could hear Kelsey again.

  But his thoughts came back, too, and he remembered something. He remembered why he’d gone to the scary, crowded party. He’d been looking for Kelsey. He had to warn her.

  She walked toward his room, but Hugh stopped. His arm tugged away from hers.

  She turned to look at him with her nice, kind eyes. “What is it, Hugh? You don’t want to go back to your room?”

  He had to tell her—if he didn’t do it now, it might be too late. She might leave.

  She had to know.

  Hugh’s shoulders began to tremble, like at the noisy party.

  “What’s wrong?” Kelsey frowned and searched his eyes. Could she see what he was thinking with hers?

  She put her hand on his shoulder. His trembles slowed. Stopped.

  He sucked in a breath. “Bad man.”

  Kelsey’s head tipped to the side. “Who are you talking about?” She looked all around. She watched Mister Beau pick up a checker game piece and give it to Baker, Hugh’s roomie.

  “Him?” Kelsey asked.

  Hugh shook his head. Mister Beau wasn’t the bad man. Mister Beau was good. He gave extra Jell-O. Hugh liked the green best. Green, like Kelsey’s eyes.

  “Who is the bad man, Hugh?” she asked.

  The bad man was a stranger. The ward had been full of strangers today—so many people that didn’t go here. There weren’t any spots for them. Those people fit in other places. Not here. Not crowding the halls, and not filling chairs all over. Hugh wanted to tell them that those weren’t their chairs. They weren’t even Mister Beau’s chairs. They were his chairs and Baker’s chairs—and the other kids’ chairs.

  He’d stayed in his room with Baker, away from the noise, until Baker’s parents came. But the grown ups’ eyes on him made his skin itch, like the itches he got when kids from school had teased him so long ago. So Hugh had left Baker and his parents and gone to the hub. There he stood in a corner, waiting for all the people who didn’t go here to leave.

  That’s when Hugh had seen the bad man. He guessed most of him didn’t look bad. Not his jeans or his hoodie zipped up over a t-shirt.

  It was his eyes. Bad eyes. He didn’t just see into people, like Kelsey. His eyes sort of…grabbed them. Like an invisible lasso. He made people act weird. Hugh had seen him talk to Gwendolyn, and part of her turned off—like she went all empty inside.

  “Who is it?” Kelsey asked again.

  Hugh’s panic built again, like a stone in the pit of his stomach. A stone that grew bigger, heavier, weighing him down. It filled his throat, and he couldn’t breathe.

  “Hugh? Are you okay?”

  Kelsey’s hand touched his shoulder, and he met her eyes again. Green like lime, his favorite flavor. Green like the grass she’d shown him outside. Calm. Safe.

  The stone inside him shrank. It shriveled until it was weightless again. Hugh gasped with relief.

  “Hugh?”

  He nodded. “Okay.”

  “You sure? You’re really all right? Maybe I should get a nurse…”

  “Hugh okay.”

  Kelsey’s eyes narrowed on him. “Hugh. Is the bad man in here?”

  Hugh glanced around the hub. The stran
gers had left, and most of the kids had gone to their rooms. A few sat playing games or staring at the TV. “No.”

  She nodded. “Okay, good. You should be fine.” She released his shoulders. “I’ll tell Misty to make sure no one comes back here while I’m gone, okay? No more visitors tonight. Now, let’s get you back to your room.” She tried to pull him toward the hall, but Hugh didn’t want to go.

  “Stay,” he said.

  “Okay. You can stay in the communal room until bedtime, but I have to get back to the gala. I’ll check on you before I leave tonight, okay?”

  He gave a nod.

  “You’ll be fine.” She smiled and turned, heading out the double doors.

  Hugh watched her go. He followed to peek through the windows. She paused at the reception desk, waiting for Misty to come back.

  Someone walked up to Kelsey, tapped her on the shoulder.

  It was the bad man.

  The rock in his Hugh’s gut grew.

  Kelsey turned and looked into the man’s bad eyes.

  Hugh stared through the double doors. He could barely hear the bad man’s words. “Come with me.”

  Hugh wanted to run toward her, to scream, to tell her not to listen, but the stone weighed him down. It paralyzed him. Moving couldn’t happen. Screaming couldn’t happen either. Only watching. The boulder was huge, and it had turned into an iceberg.

  He stared helplessly at Kelsey. Her eyes went empty. She turned off, the way Gwendolyn had earlier.

  No, no, no.

  But his screams wouldn’t come out. His mouth was frozen shut.

  She followed the man down the hall. She followed him around the corner, and Hugh couldn’t see them anymore.

  Kelsey was gone.

  Hugh began to tremble.

  ~

  The Kelsey impostor disappeared through the door into the art gallery, and Ethan had noticed she’d been empty-handed. She’d left her purse and cell phone on the table. It made things easy.

  When Nicodemus left, Ethan’s calm returned—funny, how those two things went hand in hand. He savored weaving in and out through dancers as he crossed the banquet room, strategically bumping into a woman here or there and giving an apology over his shoulder as he continued.

  Every casual brush with a female made his skin tingle for Kelsey. He would coolly dispose of this impostor and get on with his goal. But he didn’t mind making her suffer a little, either. She deserved to be roughed up after the torment she’d caused him.

  Silently he entered the gallery, and his eyes fought to adjust. The overall light level was dim, but bright pools flooded each piece on the wall and a few pedestals as well. In those spots he couldn’t see. But there was enough darkness in the center of the room to show him two things: the girl and the other door.

  He knew from earlier scouting exactly where that door led. It emptied into the same hall where the bouncer guarded the gala entrance, only farther down past a bend, out of the man’s sight. Ethan only had to continue down that corridor and he’d be at the entrance to the hospital’s old wing.

  The girl had her back to him, looking at one of the pieces of art on the wall, conveniently close to that door. She stood with arms crossed and head cocked to one side, a silhouette against the spotlight.

  Ethan silently closed the door to the party behind him. He crept up behind her, thinking how easy it had been last time and how easy it was this time. He was only a pace away when she turned.

  Her eyes went wide. He thought he saw recognition in them, though last time she hadn’t actually seen him. Ethan lunged, grabbing her waist with one hand and clamping his other over her mouth. In that swift move he positioned himself behind her. She grabbed at the hand blocking her mouth but was unable to pry it off.

  Ethan pulled out his knife and held it to her throat. She froze. He put his lips to her ear and spoke softly, letting the words drip in an almost sultry tone. “Nice to see you again, Impostor.”

  Edging her toward the doorway, voice low, he continued. “Fight, and my knife will make nice work of your perfect skin. Come to think of it, this is the same knife that wounded your little blonde friend. How is she, anyway?”

  He’d started so calmly, but now, with his arm wrapped around her neck and snaking up to her face, his heart raced faster. He could feel the rhythm of her warm blood pulsing under her skin, slowly driving him mad.

  Ethan allowed himself a whiff of her hair, and when the scent flooded his nostrils, he felt a wave of sudden anger. A combination of intoxication and fury warred inside him. Using it as fuel, he shoved her toward the doorway.

  All he had to do was get through the short run of that central corridor—maybe twenty feet—and back through the double doors into the old wing. Then he could get rid of the impostor for good.

  He was ready, so ready, to disappear with the real Kelsey into the darkened, heavenly room 108.

  Logan stood waiting near the door to Security. He tried calling Jade’s phone but got no answer. Schultz returned and gave Logan a chastising frown as he passed. He strode into the office without speaking.

  Logan hurried behind. “What happened?”

  “Absolutely nothin’, is what,” Schultz said, plopping down in front of Jones’s desk.

  “Did you check out the truck?” Logan asked.

  “Yup. Checked it out all right. There’s no sign of any activity. And there wasn’t any blood.”

  “What?” Logan’s pulse spiked for a moment.

  “You’re kidding me,” Jones said, giving Logan a raised eyebrow.

  “Did you check inside the truck?” Logan asked.

  “It’s locked. And anyway, it’s not our truck,” Schultz said. “It belongs to the spouse of one of our residents. He stays late on the weekends sometimes. His wife…she’s not doing well.”

  “I thought you said no one uses that door,” Logan said.

  “He parks back there, but he’s supposed to use the main entrance.” There was a faint squeak as Jones pivoted his chair to face Logan. He rested his arms on the desk and clasped his hands. “We’re done playing games. Pull another prank like that, and Schultz will throw you out of the building.”

  “But—”

  He held up a hand. “I’m through dealin’ with you—got it?”

  “What about the killer?” Logan said.

  “I’m beginning to think that there is no killer,” Jones said. “I have no idea why you’d make up a story like this.”

  “I’m not making this up!”

  “Killer or no killer, point is, you’ve wasted several hours of our night.” He nodded toward the door. “Get out before I physically remove you.”

  Logan stared dumbly for a few moments. He forced his legs to move when Schultz stood from his chair and gave Logan the bearded stare-down.

  Logan sighed and headed down the corridor to search for Jade.

  ~

  Ethan shoved the impostor out of the art gallery and into the empty hallway. At their initial lurch past the threshold, she twisted in his grasp. A flare of rage shot through Ethan, and he dug the tip of the knife into her throat. Because of her angle, it grazed her below her collarbone, slashing the bare skin above the neck of her strapless gown. Blood oozed from the cut and dripped down between her breasts. He caught a glimpse of her resolute face and realized this was not like last time. She’d changed.

  Last time she’d cowered in fear. Now, the determination in her eyes made him feel like he was losing control. Anger built inside him like a volcano that had been dormant too long, threatening to erupt.

  His vision was a mere haze in the hallway, but he’d walked it several times previous, and as long as he kept his eyes away from the glowing sconces, he could make out enough of the lower part of the corridor to get by. Eager to get under the cover of full dark, he secured his grip around her. His hand clamped more tightly over her mouth.

  If they ran into anyone on the way, he’d slash her throat and attack them. It would be messier, but she wouldn’t escap
e. If he could get this girl to the truck without incident, he would be able to enjoy his time with Kelsey a little longer. The thought of being alone with her tantalized him. Built up over years, hunger gnawed at his insides, and he needed an appetizer to stave it off for a bit longer.

  He pressed closer against the silky fabric of the impostor’s gown, forcing her forward. Her feet fought him the entire way, despite the blade pressing into her throat. They rounded the corner, and the darkened wing called to him like a host of angels.

  Demons might be more accurate.

  Five paces until the cover of darkness. Then four. Then three.

  Finally Ethan pushed past the double doors and blessed blackness enveloped them.

  His sight came alive.

  The impostor went feisty again, jolting and ducking under his blade. But here Ethan’s sight was flawless. He scrambled for a hold, hands slipping against the slick fabric, and finally managed to grab her by the waist. He dug the tip of his knife in anywhere it found flesh, which happened to be at the small of her back. There was a soft ripping sound as the dress tore.

  She inhaled sharply, but before she could scream he clamped his hand over her mouth again. The knife returned to its position at her throat, its tip now wet with blood.

  And just like that, he’d regained control.

  There wasn’t enough blood to splash or leave a trail. And her dress would catch the blood dripping from her wounds, but still he was careful to keep her from rubbing against the walls.

  Used to taking his victims by surprise, Ethan realized that retaking a victim was a bit trickier. He considered the possibility that, like this girl, Kelsey might come with her own complications.

  They passed the two isolation rooms and hung a left toward the back exit. Ethan shoved the exterior door open with his elbow and approached the truck. The girl shuddered from the cold. Or perhaps it was from the sight of the waiting vehicle.

  He removed his hand from over her mouth and opened one of the doors. He wasn’t too worried about her scream back here, but he kept the knife at her throat just in case. Ethan shoved the girl inside and closed the door behind them. Two bodies lay at the far end of the truck, near the front wall—the truck’s owner and Nicodemus’s little friend from the party. Now they’d have one more to dispose of.