Faceless (Sinister Secrets Book 2), Candle Sutton [dar e dil novel online reading txt] 📗

an overdose, but we won’t know until the autopsy comes back.”

Coincidence? He thought not.

While he suspected it was murder, short of the killer confessing, he doubted they’d ever know for certain.

Silence descended. The one person who might have been able to provide a solid lead was dead.

“Okay. We’re focusing on the warehouse that Divers visited, as well as the warehouses near that semitruck. We have analysts looking at the buildings at the end of the pier, but I want our team to focus on the immediate vicinity.”

“Do we have anyone watching the dock?” Felicia’s voice sounded tight.

Dak nodded. “There’s a team set up in the warehouse across from the one Divers went into. We’ll rotate out with them later today, but I wanted us to focus on gathering intel this morning.”

As the team dispersed with their assignments, Dak headed to his office. First, he needed to make a surveillance schedule. They’d each take a turn. The owner of the neighboring warehouse had been gracious enough to let them set up surveillance in an upper office, which provided clear line of sight, so the team wasn’t out in the open.

Good thing, too. It was supposed to rain later today and someone waiting outside in the rain would draw more suspicion.

First, he needed to pray. This was bigger than he could handle on his own.

Entering his office, he headed straight for the window.

Heavy clouds hung in the sky, bathing the city in a gray haze. Mist wrapped the mountains in the distance.

A single shaft of sunlight broke through the clouds, the light reminding him that no matter the darkness around him, it would never overcome the light. God was with him and would get him through this.

No matter the outcome.

He tried not to dwell on the possibility of a bad outcome, but reality persisted.

Please, Lord. Let us find her unharmed.

The blood would suggest otherwise, but it hadn’t been a lot of blood. Certainly not what he would expect to find if the injury was life-threatening.

He turned to his desk and started working on the schedule. As soon as that was done, he could begin digging into the warehouse he’d assigned himself, but the knowledge that JD, arguably the best researcher on this team, was looking at the one warehouse they knew had to be connected, gave him a measure of peace.

They’d find her. And bring her home alive.

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Her head felt fuzzy.

Kevyn forced her eyes open, blinking in the semi-darkness.

Why did her head feel like a runaway balloon?

As the mental fog lifted, she became aware of other things. Like pain. Everywhere.

The men. The doctor!

She sat straight up.

The room swirled and her stomach heaved. She closed her eyes against the swirling colors and held still, willing her stomach to calm.

A few moments passed before her stomach settled from full rolling boil to slow churn.

She opened her eyes.

The room, no larger than a standard hotel room, appeared to be a studio apartment. Simple furnishings included a kitchenette along the far wall, queen sized bed beneath her, sofa and coffee table in between. An open door to her left revealed a small bathroom.

Where was she?

Most importantly, why was she still alive?

Her organs.

That had to be it, right? Sure, they’d grabbed her because she found them, but rather than simply kill her, they probably planned to harvest her organs first.

Organs had limited shelf life outside the body, so they were keeping her alive until they’d lined up recipients or buyers for her organs.

She staggered to the bathroom in time to vomit into the toilet. Rocking back, she sat on the floor with her back to the wall. Tremors shook her body.

How long before they came for her? Hours? Days?

It wouldn’t be much longer than that, she was certain. Keeping her alive was a liability.

She looked around the tiny bathroom. A sink and toilet. A roll of toilet paper sat on the counter. A stack of paper towels. A travel-size bar of soap.

Absolutely nothing she could use as a weapon.

The toilet was the kind most often found in commercial locations. No visible tank, so no tank lid. It didn’t have an actual seat on it, so she couldn’t even pry that off and use it as a club.

As her stomach settled, she pushed to her feet. Her bandaged left foot throbbed.

Nothing like a knife impaling your foot to slow you down. Maybe they did it to keep her from escaping.

If so, it had worked.

She limped into the main room.

The room had no windows, so that eliminated one option to escape. The only door out of the room was locked from the outside.

No surprise there.

If there was a weapon in here, she’d find it. She had to.

No bedside table, so that was out.

The coffee table didn’t have any drawers and was bolted to the floor. The sofa cushions weren’t removable.

The kitchenette was devoid of any food, plates, utensils, or cooking supplies. The microwave was bolted to the counter and didn’t have a glass turntable inside. The minifridge didn’t even have any trays or racks.

Several can lights embedded in the ceiling provided the room’s sole source of light. She might be able to pry the bulbs out and fashion a weapon, if the ceiling wasn’t a good five meters above her head.

Even if she stood on furniture, there was no way she’d come close to reaching the ceiling.

There wasn’t a single thing in this entire room she could use to defend herself!

They’d even taken her shoes, so she couldn’t use those as weapons. Not that her rubber-soled sneakers would be much of a weapon, but it was better than nothing.

All she had was her body.

While she was good in hand-to-hand combat, she