I blinked once. Twice. Then my eyelids fluttered.
“What the—? Huh? I mean—holy f**k!”
I babbled gibberish for several seconds before racing to the alcove where the stranger had originally stood in the shadows. Nothing there now but cobwebs. Yet I had not heard the man creep away behind me, and the elevator at the end of the hallway remained empty and lifeless, so he had to be in this hallway. Somewhere!
But where?
I went to another alcove, then another, continuing all along the hallway, and in each I discovered nothing but unoccupied gloom. The stranger’s muscular frame had to have been at least two hundred, perhaps two-twenty pounds, so the creaking floorboards should have given me a clue as to his movements. Not to mention I should have seen an indication in the eyes of Skylar Novak,
