I spot the red letters on the sign and lock onto it like a beacon. I dart toward it, but a body slams into me from the side.

Like an idiot, my first instinct is to apologize. “Sorry, I was—”

“Fucking up my entire goddamned life because you just couldn’t stay away.” Harrison Riscoff’s face, contorted in a mask of rage, is inches from mine.

I blink in shock, my attention shifting to the white bandage wrapped around his hand and a sling holding it close to his body. He’s still wearing his blood-spattered shirt from earlier.

“But you’re gonna stay gone this time,” he says, spittle flying from his lips and pupils the size of pinpricks.

Where the hell did he come from? Lincoln told the deputy to have someone stay with him.

I jerk my head around, intending to look for the cop he must have slipped away from, but there’s no one in the hall. Just us.

Harrison lifts his good hand, which is wrapped around the grip of a pistol.

Oh sweet Jesus. No.

“Harrison, please just—”

“Don’t tell me what the fuck to do. I’m the one with the gun, you Gable bitch.”

His good hand jerks, but instead of pulling the trigger, he slams the butt of the gun into my temple.

Stars burst in my field of vision and pain radiates out from where he connected. I wobble on my feet before everything starts to fade into darkness.

“That’s right, bitch. You’re going to sleep, and you’re never waking up again.”

Fifty

Lincoln

I find Jackie Gable alone in the surgical waiting room.

“Where did Whitney go? Why aren’t you evacuating?”

Whitney’s aunt spins to stare at me. “I’m not leaving until Karma is out of surgery.”

“Please, Jackie. Wait outside. Whitney will never forgive me if I leave you here.”

Jackie’s lips flatten. “She already tried to get me to go. I’ll tell you exactly what I told her—I’m waiting.”

“We have a chopper outside to evacuate Karma. Okay?”

Her face relaxes for a beat and then tenses again. “They have to finish the surgery first. She could die.”

“We’ll get her out of here alive. I promise.” It’s not a promise I should be making, but I do it anyway.

Jackie nods. “Okay. I’ll come out after I get another update. They should be coming any moment.”

“Good. Now, where the hell is Whitney?”

Jackie points toward the door. “She left to find you.”

Shit.

“Okay. Then I’ll go back to the ER, find her, and we’ll meet you at the chopper. Got it?”

“Got it.”

I can’t waste another moment hoping Jackie is telling me the truth rather than just telling me what I want to hear. I need to find Whitney.

But when I make it back to the ER, there’s no sign of her. I stop in front of my brother’s room and find the bed empty but for a pile of sheets.

I step inside, shocked to see a nurse lying passed out next to the bed. The sheriff’s deputy is crumpled on the floor beside her.