Page 102 of Target Acquired

She frowned and stepped back out to find a worker she recognized behind a counter, tapping on her laptop. “Hey, Delia, Cole was supposed to be here giving blood, but I don’t see him.”

Delia looked up, frowning. “Well, I got him settled and going on his donation. When I last checked on him, he was almost done. Looked like he was dozing.”

“When was that?”

The woman glanced at the clock on the wall. “About twenty minutes ago.”

“Is someone else on duty who would have disconnected him? There are two bags on the tray next to a plasma machine, but no donor bed.”

“What?” She rose and followed Kenzie back to the room and gasped. “What in the world?”

“What’s wrong?”

Delia’s wide brown eyes met Kenzie’s. “His drink and snack are still here.” She walked over to hold up the package of cookies and the bottle. “He’d never leave these. He knows how important it is to keep his blood sugar up and rehydrate.”

“I agree.” Dread swirled and something on the floor against the wall caught her eye. She hurried over to pick it up. “This is Cole’s phone.”

She tried to open it, but the screen was locked. And required facial recognition. She had no clue what his six-digit passcode would be either. She checked her work phone. No messages there.

For some reason, she checked her personal phone.

And there it was. A text from Cole.

Drugged. Fake doc. Need help.

She didn’t bother standing there in shock but took off running toward the waiting room. She found Cowboy, Greene, and Otis where she’d left them. “Follow me!” Otis barked and lunged to his feet while Greene and Cowboy did the same. “Where’s Cross?”

“With Lainie, I reckon,” Cowboy said.

“Text him and keep moving to security. We need to look at the security footage. Someone’s kidnapped Cole.”

“What!”

She rounded the corner and bolted toward the emergency department. The security office was right next to it just off the hall. She rapped her knuckles on the door, then pushed it open. “Jared, oh thank goodness you’re here. Someone’s kidnapped Cole right from the blood donation room. Couldn’t be more than twenty-five minutes ago. Can you see if you can track him?”

Wide-eyed, the man spun back to his computer and pulled up the video from that area, and jumped to the time Kenzie had given him. They watched as Delia came in to check on Cole. Then within a minute after she left, another figure appeared. “There’s the doctor coming in.”

Kenzie shook her head. “No. His text said fake doc. See if we can get a look at his face.”

The footage played and Jared groaned. “No luck. He knew how to hold his head so the camera wouldn’t pick him up—at least not his face. Plus he has that surgical mask on. Dark hair, though.” Seconds ticked past. “That’s where he drugged him. Put something in the IV. Waited a little, took off the lab coat, and became an instant transport person.” He clicked a few keys on the keyboard and switched cameras. “He rolled him out and toward the ambulance bay.”

Kenzie looked at Greene. “What do you think about bagging that lab coat? Otis can use it as a scent article. Possibly.” Maybe.

Greene nodded. “On it. I’ll meet you at the ambulance bay.”

“Oscar Woodruff wanted my position,” she said. “I was warned to quit or else. Someone took Cole to get to me.”

Cowboy eyed her. “What are you thinking? You think Woodruff had something to do with this?”

“I have no idea.” What she wanted to know was where Butler had been all this time. But the man on the footage wasn’t him. Wrong build, wrong hair color, wrong everything. But that didn’t mean he wasn’t working with someone else. “I need to talk to Commander Hill and we need to come up with a plan to find Cole. Can someone find Butler too? He should know what’s going on.” And she wanted to know where he was so she could keep tabs on him.

“Hang on, Cole,” she whispered. “We’re coming.”

She and the others raced to the ambulance bay to find it busy, but no Cole in sight. “Whoever rolled him out here probably had a vehicle waiting.”

“But Cole was unconscious,” Cowboy said. “How would he get Cole into it? The man is big, and dead weight over two hundred pounds wouldn’t be easy to handle.”

“You’re right.” So how had he moved Cole? “What if he wasn’t completely knocked out? What if he could walk a little or move when instructed?”