Page 123 of The Search

Dammit, Logan, find her.

She stiffened as she heard a knock on the door.

She slowly moved across the room.

If they’d found her, they would have called immediately. People came in person to give you bad news. Policemen knocked on the door and said how sorry they were that your little girl was dead.

Bonnie.

No, this was Jane, and God wouldn’t let it happen to her again. There had to be some universal law that forbade—

Another knock.

The wolf howled.

She leaned her forehead on the door for a moment. Face it. She stepped back and threw open the door.

Herb Booker was clinging to the gate, staring straight ahead. Blood was pouring from his shoulder. His whole body suddenly jerked.

“Christ, he’s been shot.” Bassett ran past Margaret down the driveway. “We’ve got to help him.”

A shot? Panic surged through Sarah. “Bassett, stay away from the gates!”

“Drop to the ground.” Margaret was already running toward Bassett and the fallen Booker. “Stay low, Bassett.”

“What the hell’s happening? Booker’s been—” Bassett spun around clutching his wrist.

Another shot.

And Sarah saw blood gushing from Margaret’s chest as she slowly sank to her knees. “Sarah?” she whispered in disbelief.

Sarah screamed and ran toward her.

“Call security,” Bassett said, dazed. He was clutching his wrist and blood was running through his fingers. “For God’s sake, call—”

“Hit the ground and stay there,” Sarah yelled at him. “You can’t help. Monty, stay with him.”

A bullet whistled by her cheek as she knelt beside Margaret, who had slumped to the ground. “Margaret?”

Margaret’s eyes were staring straight ahead. “Stay . . . low . . .”

She was still giving orders, Sarah realized. Should she move her? What if the bullet shifted?

Help. She needed help.

She opened her mouth and screamed.

“I know you’re going to be mad at me.” Jane straightened her shoulders belligerently. “That’s too bad. I’m here and I’m going to stay here. You can’t just go away and not expect— Let me go. I can’t breathe.”

“Too bad.” Eve’s arms tightened around Jane’s thin body. “I’m not letting go.” She cleared her tight throat. “Well, not for a minute or two. Then I’m going to murder you.”

“I knew you’d be mad. I would have told Joe or your mother, but I knew they would have stopped me from coming. They think I’m a kid.”

“You are a kid, dammit.”

Jane looked at her.

“Okay.” Jane was no more a child than Eve had been at her age. They had both grown up on the streets where youth had been stolen from them. “Then you should have been adult enough not to worry me to death.”