CHAPTER 35
Wyatt had been watchingKori and the woman through the open door.
When the woman whisperedDo you promise to keep me safe?he knew that was his cue. He stepped inside, Thunder at his heels.
Kori glanced back at him but didn’t protest.
Wyatt pulled up a chair near the foot of the bed, careful not to crowd the woman. Thunder lay beside him.
The woman looked fragile underneath the hospital blankets. Her skin was pale against the white sheets, and her dark hair lay tangled around her face.
But her eyes held his attention. They were no longer vacant.
Fear filled them instead.
“We can definitely keep you safe,” Wyatt told her.
The woman stared at him another moment before nodding. “Okay then.”
“My sister,” Kori prodded, her tone gentle. “You’ve seen her?”
The woman looked at the photo on Kori’s phone again. Then she nodded.
“Is she still alive?” Kori sounded breathless as she asked the question, and Wyatt feared she might pass out.
The woman nodded again.
Kori closed her eyes a second as if steadying herself.
“Can you tell us where she is?” Wyatt asked.
The woman’s eyes snapped toward him, and her fear seemed to deepen.
Maybe he shouldn’t have inserted himself. But this was a matter for law enforcement. He needed answers.
Her lips moved for several seconds, but no words came out.
Finally, she whispered, “They’ll know.”
He leaned closer. “Whoever ‘they’ are, they’re not here. We have a deputy stationed outside your door. No one can get to you.”
“You don’t understand.” Her fingers twisted in the blanket. “Theyalwaysknow.”
Kori leaned forward. “Who? Who always knows?”
The woman swung her head back and forth, fear filling her eyes.
Wyatt sensed her internal fight—her instinct to protect herself battled with whatever had finally pushed her to speak.
The woman’s gaze darted between him and Kori. “They won’t let anyone leave.”
Kori sucked in a breath. “Including my sister?”
The woman nodded again.
Who were these people? A cult? That’s what it sounded like to her.
Squatters would let people leave. But a cult . . . they’d want to stay quiet.
