Planet Lara: Sanctuary

1. Arrhythmia

CHAPTER ONE

arrhythmia

They threatened to sedate me. I told Catrina if she allowed Dr. Stillson to knock me out, I would never forgive either one of them. Ever.

And though it’s not much better, Dakota placed a half-filled glass of scotch at my spot around the conference room table and made me drink, not to forget what’s happening but to stop the shaking. Head to toe. I looked like I was having a seizure.

The whisky helped. Just.

In under an hour, the conference room was repurposed into a war room. Len Emmerich was on the phone with everyone as soon as we climbed into his truck to head back from the marina, barking orders to his guys to secure the lot and moorage and all surrounding areas, to lock it all down. It’s now a crime scene.

My boyfriend’s truck is a crime scene.

Rupert logged in via video chat as soon as we got back to town hall, his wan face and almost nonexistent, snow-white hair filling the huge flat-screen at the front of the room while he and Wes set in motion the authorities in Vancouver who will be assisting with finding Finan.

Because he’s gone.

Someone has taken him.

The initial scan of the security footage showed him at the marina. He got out of his truck, opened the rear door to free Humboldt, and then they walked away from the vehicle, out of range of the camera. The other camera facing the docks and the boat ramp—the one that should have picked up their trail—was, of course, rendered useless by whoever has coordinated this attack.

The video then showed Finan reappear in the frame, in a limped run back to his truck. He’s already bleeding. He gets the door open and launches across his seat, but before he can situate himself to drive away, three huge figures, every inch of skin covered in black paramilitary garb, converge on the truck—

And then that camera goes dead too.

“They gave us just enough of a taste to let us know they were here,” Len gritted out.

“But who, Len?” I’d shrieked. “WHO?”

It was then that the decision was made to centralize operations at town hall—and to send Dakota to the Wandering Salamander for sedatives of the liquid variety.

It’s not like I wanted to be the crazed girlfriend rending my clothes and pulling out my hair, but these people don’t understand—Finan has my heart. I gave it to him. And I have his. He needs to come back to me. He needs his heart.

People can’t live without hearts, right?