JENNA’S BODY SCREAMED in pain and yet it felt as though she floated on a gelatin pool, both buoyed and held prisoner. Her head hurt the worst—why? What had happened? Had she taken an accidental hit at the gym?

Ug. What was that smell? She’d showered recently, hadn’t she?

Jenna pried an eye open, but her surroundings were dim, shrouded in shadow.

God, her head was screaming.

Wait—no. That wasn’t her head. What was that?

She lifted her chin. The muscles along her shoulders and neck ached. The screaming didn’t stop. But it wasn’t screaming, not really. She tilted her head to the side. It was—screeching. Like the screeching of birds. A lot of them.

Jenna sat straight in the chair. Her hands were behind her, bound with something. She knew this should be disturbing, that she should be panicking, but she couldn’t muster the energy to care.

Something was wrong. This was wrong. She was wrong.

There were birds outside wherever she was, enough to nearly deafen her, she was tied to what she thought was a chair and all she could smell was bird shit. She should be scared, angry—something. What had happened?

She struggled to draw up her memories, to recall where she’d been, what she’d been doing, but it was mired in mud and shrouded by fog. There was something she should be worried about—someone she should be concerned about. But she couldn’t remember. Her limbs felt too heavy, even breathing was hard and unpleasant.

“William, have you fed aviary three yet?”

Jenna started, jerking her chin back up and swinging her head in the direction of the voice.

There. An open window.

She tried to open her mouth, to make a sound, but there was something in her mouth. Fabric soaked by her saliva. Her groans weren’t loud enough for her to hear them over the birds

“Not yet, but I’m about to,” a second voice said. William.

William. Why did that ring a bell?

The voices grew distant, but the name beat at her.

She was panting now. What was it about that name that sent adrenaline into her system, spurring her flight reflexes? She instinctively knew she needed to get away from this William, but why? Who was he?

Alex...

His name comforted her. Imaginary arms held her. Where was Alex? Was he okay?

Jenna needed to get free. To get out of here. To find Alex and make sure he was okay. Him...and someone else. Who else was she worried about? The name was stuck in the back of her brain, tickling her memories, perched on the tip of her tongue. God damn it who else was she worried about?

She sagged against the chair, giving up the fight for the name. Forcing herself to remember would only drive the thought farther from her grasp. Instead, she needed to worry about how the hell she was getting out of here.

Good thing Uncle Sam had seen fit to train her for more than just suturing wounds.

She twisted, trying to get a look at her surroundings. The shed was well made if a little dirty. The first man had said something about an aviary. Aviaries were for birds, right? Her befuddled brain said yes. So the noise made sense. She was somewhere new, near birds, and chances were this William was responsible. The sum of what she knew wasn’t a lot, but her brain was gaining traction.

Jenna twisted her hands, focusing on the feel of her bindings. Her wrists were raw, probably from sagging against the bonds. They were sticky...like tape. Really? Tape was about the least secure thing to try to bind someone with. With the proper use of force, she hadn’t seen a tape that could actually hold.

She peered down at her chest. The shed was dark, but there was enough light from the open windows to see herself. Rope bound her to the chair around her waist, enough so she couldn’t see her legs, but they, too were secured.

Okay, so tape and rope. What did that tell her?

William hadn’t thought this abduction out very well. Handcuffs were easy enough to purchase and a hardware store would have a dozen better items to restrain someone with. So he was acting on the fly.

Damn, it felt good to actually be able to think through this.

She was going to get free. She’d been through hell already and this wasn’t going to stop her. Especially not from getting back to Alex.

ALEX PACED OUTSIDE the hospital room. The staff threw anxious glances his way because they knew what had happened. They weren’t even Ransom hospital employees, yet they knew one of their own had been taken.

“Will you sit down?” Trevor glanced up. His still-healing forehead gave him a strange, Frankenstein’s monster look.

“No,” Alex snapped.

“We’re going to find her.”

“Well, we’re not getting anywhere right now.”

The knowledge they needed was trapped in Sterling’s brain. Without her or one of the Ransom EMTs suddenly remembering which patient was their suspect, they were stuck waiting on Sterling. She was the key. Even trying to identify that green car had turned up nothing.

“The doc still in there? Or did I pass out?” Trevor glanced at the closed hospital door.

“He’s still in there.”

“Then sit.”

Damn. Trevor was probably right. The hospital staff would balk if they thought allowing Sterling to talk to them would wind her back up.

“She’s going to be okay.” Trevor didn’t say which she, but they were both thinking about Jenna.

Alex grunted.

“I have to ask...when did this happen? The two of you?”

The questions. He’d known they were coming, that everyone was going to be interested in them, but he hadn’t considered the answers yet.

“Which this are you referring to?” Alex perched his elbows on the arm rests and stared at the blank wall across from them.

“I was pretty sure you were barely tolerating her, to be honest. You never seemed to like her much.”

“That’s not true.”

“Man, don’t lie to yourself. You jump on her case all the time.”

“I do not. I look out for her.”

“By barking orders at her?”

“She doesn’t need coddling like you.”

“You are nice to her though, aren’t you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I mean...you treat her right?”

“Of course I do. What the hell is this?”

“Look, Jenna’s like a sister to me. I like you, but you can be an asshole, and she doesn’t deserve that. She deserves someone...nice.”

“Fuck you.”

“I’m not saying you aren’t nice. Hell, I haven’t seen you two together. That’s why I’m asking.” Trevor stared at him, his gaze hard. Demanding. Jenna had called Trevor her brother, too. Their relationship was special. Of course he would want to give Alex the fifth degree treatment.

“Between us?”

“Between us.”

“I’ve always liked her. She said it was the same for her, too. We’ve just been ignoring each other until we had to face it.”

“Until she came to stay at your place last week.”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re nice to her?”

“I don’t know that there’s been time to be nice to her. Between work and the stalker...”

“And getting her in bed?”

“Shut up.”

“Hey, I saw how she looked at you last night. I’m not stupid. I just want to know you’re going to treat her right and understand she’s...she’s not like other girls.”

“Because she’s not.”

“You know, I wanted to fall for her so bad? I tried, but it was never there. You’re lucky we didn’t have any chemistry.”

“You’re lucky we’re in a hospital right now and I can’t punch you in your fucking face.”

“Hey, no reason to get surly.” Trevor grinned for a split second. “We’re going to find her.”

“We better.”

The hospital room door opened and a man wearing a white coat and dark pants stepped out. His hair was thinning, a little too brown for his pale complexion, but his gaze was sharp.

“How is she?” Alex stood, unable to remain sitting.

“She’s calmed down.”

“Can we see her? Are her parents here yet?” Trevor checked his watch.

The hospital had gotten her straight into a room, bypassing the noisy ER in favor of controlling her irrational reaction to stimuli in the midst of a PTSD attack.

“She wants to speak with you, but I’m not sure that’s in her best interest,” the doctor said.

“We just need to ask her some questions,” Alex said.

“I realize that, and I know her friend is missing, which is why I’ll allow a supervised visit.”

“Thank you.”

Alex stepped around the doctor and into the room. A nurse in green scrubs was leaning over Sterling, smiling and saying something quiet. Sterling wasn’t paying attention to the nurse, she was staring straight at him. She pushed up and gripped the side-rail.

“I remember,” she said.

“That’s good. Take it easy though,” Alex said.

Trevor approached the foot of the bed and gave Sterling a smile.

“Hi, Sterling, we haven’t officially met. I’m Trevor, one of Jenna’s friends.”

“He made Jenna do it,” Sterling said.

“Sterling, I’m going to need you to relax or they will have to leave,” the nurse said in a stern voice.

“She’s right.” It killed Alex to say that, but they couldn’t put Sterling on a downward spiral. Jenna would never forgive him for that.

“How about we start at the beginning, okay?” Trevor pulled out his phone and started jotting down notes.

“Okay. When?” Sterling glanced at Alex and he nodded.

“How about when you guys got back to your place?” Trevor suggested. “Alex has brought me up to speed to that point. Just remember, go slow, take your time. That’s how we’ll find Jenna.”

“Um. We got to the house and Alex walked around the front and sides of the house. Jenna and I stood in the front and talked a bit.”

“What were you talking about?”

Sterling rubbed her face, nose scrunched up. “I don’t...no, yes, I do. We were talking about Alex.” She glanced at him. “Sorry.”

“That’s fine.” Alex didn’t give a flip if the girls talked about him. Besides, if she was, it was a good thing, right? It meant they were admitting this relationship was real.

“Then what?” Trevor prompted.

“Alex showed us the Snappers and sent us inside. The front door was unlocked and basically open. I can’t remember if I left it open when I left. I bet that’s how he got inside. Isn’t it?” Sterling’s tortured expression was a horrible thing to witness. Alex didn’t know a lot about her, but what Jenna had said led him to believe that Sterling was even more of a badass than his Jenna. And that was saying something.

“Don’t worry about that. Did you go inside?” Trevor leaned on the side of the bed. Everything about him was calm, relaxed. He was going to make a damn fine detective. Unlike Alex, who was about to bend the bed’s rail between his hands.

“Yeah. We looked around for a second and then I showed her my room. We were talking about where I was earlier, what I’d been doing and this guy was just there. In the hallway. He had a gun.”

“Take a deep breath.” The nurse took Sterling’s hand in hers and rubbed it.

“Jenna talked to the guy, but he didn’t want to talk. He slammed her head into the wall, then he gave her these syringes and told her to give it to me. She refused until he told her what it was. P-something. I remember watching her really closely. She...she squirted some of the stuff out before she injected me. The needles were real small, too. She said something about it to the guy. Then...then I passed out. I don’t know what happened to her. I can’t remember that part.”

“It’s okay. Back up. Can you tell me what he looked like?” Trevor gestured at Alex.

In a pinch, Alex could do sketches, but what they needed was a professional. Since all they had was him, he pulled out his phone and focused on the stylus, the weight of it in his fingers, the small, fine space on the screen.

“Yeah. He was...about Jenna’s height, maybe taller.”

“Big build? Skinny? Fat?” Trevor prompted.

“Kind of skinny, average. He looked old, like fifty or something, but he dressed pretty young. Lose clothes. Baggy jeans.”

“Did his cheeks and eyes kind of sink in?”

“Yeah.” Sterling nodded.

“Could be drug use.” Trevor glanced at Alex.

“Yup.”

“He had long, thin hair, too.”

“Could be meth,” Alex mumbled.

“Did he smell bad?” Trevor asked.

“He never got that close to me.”

“Okay, what his hair. What color was it?”

“Brown.”

“His eyes?”

“Uh...maybe brown or green?”

“Hazel?”

“Maybe? I can’t remember. Jenna would know though. She kept talking to him...” Sterling’s voice trailed off, and she stared at the wall.

“Sterling?” Alex gripped the railing tighter.

“He made her say his name...W-something. Wyatt? Wade? Wilson?”

“Sterling, it’s okay. We have a list of suspects. I’ll make a call and we’ll see if any of them have a first name that starts with a W. This helps. All of it. You did a great job.”

Sterling grabbed Alex’s wrist.

“Find her. Please?”

“We’re going to.”

Alex had to believe it. Jenna had to come back to them. She was important to all their lives.

TREVOR WATCHED ALEX’S truck turn off and head for the police department. The best thing to do as to split their efforts. Neither of them liked the prospect of being at a dead end, but Jenna was counting on them.  While Trevor took his sketch to show the hospital staff in Ransom, Alex was going to coordinate the search efforts between Grapevine and Ransom since it was now a joint case. Trevor just hoped someone recognized their suspect.

What a fucking day.

Part of him couldn’t believe Jenna was really missing. That some crazy guy with a sick fascination had taken her. That was the kind of thing that happened in big cities and on TV. Not in their little town of Ransom. Or...their formerly small town. These were the kinds of cases he was going to work on. It was daunting to think of just how fast the world was changing.

He parked his SUV in one of the spots reserved for law enforcement and let himself into the building near the ER. The Emergency Department Director, a middle-aged woman he only knew as Nurse Nancy, was waiting for him hands clasped and bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Any word?” She fell in line with him as he strode toward the ED.

“Nothing yet.”

“I’ve arranged it so we can cycle all the staff through the nurse’s station and called the other EMTs and paramedics off-duty to come in.”

“We’re going to find her.” It was the same mantra both he and Alex had repeated to each other since this nightmare began. It was what he had to believe. That at the end of the day, Jenna was going to come back to them.

“And you’re sure it’s someone she met out on call?” Nurse Nancy glanced at him, her face scrunched up. It was bad enough their staff had to worry about keeping residents safe. Now they would have to wonder about their own safety. It was not a kind reality.

“That’s where Jenna said she remembered him from.”

Nancy waved her keycard over a sensor pad and let them into the emergency department. People hustled to and fro, but there was an added element of tension in the air Trevor sensed immediately.

“Ah, they’re here already.” Nancy hurried them over to the main nurse station.

A collection of people in plain clothes stood around who did not appear to be patients. A few Trevor recognized as Jenna’s fellow EMT and paramedics. His partner was waiting, too. The old man looked none too happy about this, and why wouldn’t he be? Trevor was supposed to be learning from him. Not chasing a new case without him.

“Detective Walters has some questions and a sketch for everyone to look at.” Nancy turned toward him, the air of expectancy, that he was going to fix this, weighing heavily on him.

“It’s a very rough sketch,” he warned before turning his phone around to show everyone. “We think his name starts with a W, and he had access to propofol, or a similar drug. The other victim said Jenna made a lot of comments about the needle being short. Like it was something she wouldn’t have normally used at the hospital.”

“What kind of short? Or small? Maybe it was the needle gauge?” A woman in jeans and a t-shirt with wild curling hair leaned in closer.

“No, she was specific. Said the needle was short. Like, an inch or two long.”

“Inch long?” another guy said. He was an ambulance driver Trevor had seen around scenes before.

“There are a lot of animal needles that are small like that,” the curly haired nurse said.

“Propofol you said?” Nancy frowned.

“Yeah.”

“There was a...” Nancy glanced at the others and shut her mouth.

“You mean Mike? The resident that got fired?” Curls slanted a glance Nancy’s way. “Pretty sure we all know he got fired for stealing shit.”

“Mike? What’s his story?” Trevor needed a lead. Anything tangible he could follow.

Nancy pressed her lips together into a tight line. Clearly something she didn’t want to talk about.

“Rumor is—rumor mind you.” Curls glanced at Nancy before looking back at him. “He got fired for stealing. Drugs. Supplies. You name it. He was running a prescription drug thing. It started when he was in college. The cops followed him here and busted him. We’ve had several of his buyers show up looking to score, hitting up nurses, stuff like that. A lot of them are going into withdrawal and ending up in the ER.”

“Any of them have a name that starts with a W? Or look like this?”

“Couldn’t say, sorry.” Curls shrugged. Man, she was a looker, too. The kind of girl he’d try to take out, if he wasn’t hooked on Long Legs.

An EMT at the back of the group squinted at the picture.

“Aziz?” Trevor thrust the phone at the man. Aziz was one of the guys who’d tried out and failed at the SWAT position, but not for a lack of effort. SWAT needed a paramedic’s advanced knowledge for the kind of tense situations they faced.

“I want to say I’ve seen him before.” Aziz nodded at Curls. “And you’re right, I think he was one of Mike’s buyers.”

“I am neither confirming or denying Mike’s situation.” Nancy wrung her hands together. If it was true that their suspect had got his fix from Jenna’s hospital, it was going to create a nightmare for them.

“Any chance Mike could be it?” Curls shrugged. “I mean an M is just an upside down W.”

“No, Mike doesn’t look anything like that picture.” Aziz pointed at the image.

“What about William?” Detective Parson said.

“William?” Trevor glanced at his partner.

Parson wiggled his phone at Trevor.

Their suspect list.

Trevor turned his phone around and pulled up the email with the suspect pool. Sure enough, there was a Barney William Bradshaw on the list. What were the chances a fairly young guy wouldn’t want to share a name with a purple dinosaur?

“Thanks for your help.” Trevor nodded at his partner.

“That’s it?” Curls asked.

“If we’re lucky, yes.”

“Keep us updated,” Nancy said as Trevor and Parson strode out the doors.

“You know what Barney does?” Parson said under his breath.

“What?”

“I just looked him up. He works for a bird rescue.”

“They said animal needles might be that short.”

“Let’s check him out. Call your friend.”

Trevor prayed they had a break. That this was how they found Jenna.

He jabbed at Alex’s contact and hoped his friend wasn’t wading through red tape at the station.

“What?” Alex said.

“We have him. We know who he is. Barney William Bradshaw. That’s the stalker. We’ve got him, Alex.”