Page 89 of Keeping Zita

As they continued down hallway after hallway, Fred continuing to occasionally double back as if confused as to where the scent was going, Obi-Wan did his best to ignore the eerie creaking of the massive ship. As if it was complaining that they were there, invading the space.

He felt an urge to reassure the ship. To let it know, and any spirits who might still reside within, that they’d be gone soon. Once they got what they came for. Before too long, the ghosts would be left alone in peace, once this ship was resting on the bottom of the ocean it had glided across so many times.

He felt an even stronger urge to beg for their help. To ask for their assistance in locating Zita. To help him find the one person in the world he was afraid he couldn’t live without.

Taking a deep breath to try to clear his mind, Obi-Wan quickened his steps to catch up to Fred and Jennifer, who weren’t slowing down in the least.

It seemed as if there were miles and miles of rooms to search, but Fred raced by most of them without a second glance. Time had no meaning. How long they’d been inside the ship, Obi-Wan had no clue. And he was completely turned around. It would be difficult to find their way out, but he’d deal with that once he was sure Fred had sniffed every inch of this ship.

Sweat dripped down his temples. He ignored it, other than using his shoulder to keep the salty fluid out of his eyes. It was hard enough to see with only the flashlights to illuminate their way.

Every now and then, they’d stop to yell Zita’s name, only to hear absolute silence in return.

It was maddening. Depressing. The worst thing Obi-Wan had ever experienced. He wanted this nightmare to be over.

Then Fred made a snuffling noise. Something he hadn’t done before.

He stopped in his tracks. When Jennifer caught up to him, she said, “Fred, find.”

In response, the dog barked. Once. Then took off down the hall as if he’d seen a squirrel or something and decided to give chase.

Except there were no squirrels down here. Nothing a dog would want to chase.

Praying the dog’s reaction was because he’d found Zita, Obi-Wan ran after Jennifer, with his team right on his six.

Please let this not be a false alarm, he silently begged as he ran.

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Zita’s ears were ringing. Was that even possible when there was absolutely nothing to hear? Was it her imagination? Probably. Just as it was as dark as night, the creaking of the ship had stopped a while ago. Leaving her in silence. It was worse than hearing the ship moan around her.

Was she dead? Zita didn’t think so, but she wasn’t sure.

With her right hand, she pinched her thigh, hard.

“Ow!” she said out loud, breaking the silence. “That hurt!”

Relief swam in her veins. Right, she heard herself speak, felt the pain of the pinch. She wasn’t dead then.

That was good…wasn’t it?

Sighing, she wanted to do something. Wanted to somehow help herself. But honestly, there was nothing constructive she could do. She’d tried to find something to use to bang on the walls, tried to wrench open the door, tried yelling…all with no luck.

This sucked.

The only thing she could do was think about her life. About the people who would be upset that she was gone. Her parents, of course. Her brother. A few of her coworkers back in California.

Sage.

It was inevitable that her thoughts turned again and again back to the man who’d made her happier than she’d been in a very long time. Being with Sage was easy. He was considerate and went out of his way to do nice things for her. He was fun to be around. Polite to everyone he met. Sexy. Great in bed. Not selfish in the least. And he was a great friend, which was obvious from watching him around his pilot buddies.

He wasn’t perfect, which was good. The last thing Zita wanted was someone who never messed up. Who never said the wrong thing, never embarrassed himself, who didn’t seem real.

She didn’t want to think about what he was going through right now. Hated that he might be blaming himself for her disappearance. It wasn’t his fault, or hers. They hadn’t done a damn thing wrong by acting on their attraction for each other. Sage wasn’t wrong to say no to Carmen. And they’d taken Silas’s threat seriously…they just never expected him to do anything so drastic.

The truth was, sometimes bad things happened to good people. And the fault lay with Silas. And Carmen. She really wanted to get out of here so she could tell the cops what Silas had told her about that bitch. How getting rid of Zita was her idea.

It was unbelievable. If she could write—which she couldn’t—and she wrote a book where someone was kidnapped and left for dead, simply because someone else wanted to have sex, any good editor would call bullshit and tell her to rewrite the thing because that was a ridiculous reason for the big ol’ drama in a book.