She was resigning herself to camping out in the waiting room for however long it would take to get some answers when her phone rang.
“Are you okay?” Ivy demanded the instant she answered. “I thought I saw you jump into an SUV and drive away with your brother. I’ve been warring with myself all night about whether to bother you or not. I guess you can see which side finally won out.”
Beryl tried not to cry, but a wordless sob escaped.
Voice softer, Ivy asked, “Where are you?”
“Hospital in Alienn,” she said. Over a few more hiccups and sobs, she told Ivy about seeing Jake being snatched right off the street, and how she and Jett had gone with Wyatt to an old barn in the woods and rescued him. She added that the last she’d seen of Jake, he’d remained unconscious and she wasn’t allowed to be in the room as they assessed him because she wasn’t family.
“Don’t move,” Ivy said. “I’ll be right there.”
Beryl collapsed into an uncomfortable plastic molded chair in the emergency room’s waiting area. It wasn’t too long before Ivy showed up with two cups of coffee and a shoulder for Beryl to weep on.
“Thank you for coming,” Beryl managed before more tears fell. She usually wasn’t such a crybaby. She figured, if not now, when? This whole invisible alien business with Jake being kidnapped had really gotten to her.
Chapter Twenty-One
Jake opened his eyes, surprised to find himself in the hospital.Really? Again?How did I get here this time?
He searched his limited memory and—bam! All the recent memories came flooding back. The momentary relief he felt at being able to retrieve his memories darkened as he remembered what happened to him.
The walk to the Cosmos Café. Seeing Jett Ashcraft. The strange car screeching to a stop beside him. The kidnapper dressed in some weird black getup shooting him with something that made him woozy and stuffing him in a trunk. Jake’s final disturbing memory was the realization that his kidnapper had no eyes, no face.
Had the unknown drugs coursing through his system conjured some sort of terrible nightmare before he dropped off into oblivion? Hard to say. He shook his head to dispel the terrible memory.
Perhaps he should keep that foolish thought to himself. He didn’t want to end up in a different kind of hospital because of his unhinged nightmares.
Jake’s next thought was, of course, Beryl. Where was she? Did she know what had happened to him?
The door to the room opened and Wyatt Campbell popped his head in. When he saw that Jake was awake, he stepped inside, closing the door behind him.
“Wyatt,” Jake said. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Indeed. How are you feeling?”
Jake shrugged. “Not too bad. A few bumps and bruises. I’ll live.”
Wyatt nodded. “What do you remember?”
He shook his head. “Not too much. I was just walking to the Cosmos Café for dinner when some strange dude in a weird costume shot me with something that made me dizzy and next thing you know, I’m stuffed in a trunk. After that, it was lights out.”
“Scary. What happened next?”
Jake shrugged. “Don’t know. I woke up here.”
For a moment, Wyatt looked relieved, then his expression shifted to concern. “So, you don’t remember where you were taken?”
Jake shook his head again. “Nope. Not a thing. Didyoufind me?”
Wyatt nodded. “I was there when you were recovered. Jett and Beryl saw you taken off the street and called 911. I was contacted because of the open cases I have involving you.”
“Yeah. I’m pretty much a full-time job for you, aren’t I?” Jake said with a smile.
“No worries, Jake. I just wish I knew who was doing this to you.”
“So do I, but the best description I have is a tall, robed and hooded figure in a nondescript sedan with a very small and uncomfortable trunk.”
“Yeah. That nondescript sedan was reported stolen off a nearby residential street about an hour before you were taken. Of course, no one saw who took it.”
