Read Online Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper - Free Book Online Page B

heard something. A very distinctive sound she recognized.
    The click and whir of a camera.
    Not the digital cameras so prevalent these days, but the old-fashioned kind that used film and different shutter speeds according to the light, and—
    She heard it again. Her mouth went dry, and she could feel her heart begin to thud against her ribs.
    Without wasting another second, Marie continued on her way home, one hand diving into her shoulder bag and closing around the slightly reassuring can of pepper spray, while the other fumbled with the keys she was already holding to find the big whistle on the key chain. She walked briskly, head up, just the way her father had taught her.
    “Don’t look like a victim, Marie. Walk like you’re going somewhere, but make sure your eyes keep moving, keep scanning the area. And listen to your instincts. If they tell you to run, you run like hell. If they tell you to yell, then you yell your head off. Use the whistle. Don’t be afraid of being embarrassed if it turns out to be nothing. Embarrassment isn’t permanent. Being dead is.”
    A truth he, as a doctor, certainly knew.
    Marie brought the whistle halfway up to her lips but no farther. Because as suddenly as the fear had gripped her, it let her go. She felt no sense of menace, no threat, no anxiety. Still, she didn’t slow her brisk pace or cease scanning her surroundings continually.
    And she didn’t relax even a bit until she was inside her apartment, the timer-activated lights welcoming and the door triple-locked behind her.
    She didn’t truly relax until she had gone methodically through her apartment, checking every window and door, every closet. Even under her bed and inside the bathtub and shower.
    Only then did she sink down on the foot of her bed with a shaky sigh, relaxing her death grip on the pepper spray and whistle.
    That’s when she saw the necklace lying on her dresser.
     
    I t was the nightmare brought to life, Dani thought.
    The vision.
    The smell of blood turned her stomach, the thick, acrid smoke burned her eyes, and what had been for so long a wispy, dreamlike memory now was jarring, throat-clogging reality. For just an instant she was paralyzed.
    It was all coming true.
    Despite everything she had done, everything she had
tried
to do, despite all the warnings, once again it was all—
    Wait. This isn’t—
    “Dani?” Hollis appeared at her side, seemingly out of the smoke, gun drawn, blue eyes sharp even squinted against the stench. “Where is it?”
    “I—I can’t. I mean, I don’t think I can—”
Why do I feel so confused? I’ve been here before. I’ve done this before. So why does it all feel…different?
    “Dani, you’re all we’ve got. You’re all
they’ve
got. Do you understand that?”
    Dani said, “If somebody had just listened to me when it mattered—”
    But they did listen. I know they did.
    I remember that much.
    Don’t I?
    “Stop looking back. There’s no sense in it. Now is all that counts. Which way, Dani?”
    Impossible as it was, Dani had to force herself to concentrate on the stench of blood she knew none of the others could smell. A blood trail that was all they had to guide them. She nearly gagged, then pointed. “That way. Toward the back. But…”
    “But what?”
    “Down. Lower. There’s a basement level.”
    “It isn’t on the blueprints.”
    “I know.”
    I told you all this before. Didn’t I?
    Didn’t I?
    “Bad place to get trapped in a burning building,” Hollis noted. “The roof could fall in on us. Easily.”
    Bishop appeared out of the smoke as suddenly as Hollis had, weapon in hand, his face stone, eyes haunted. “We have to hurry.”
    “Yeah,” Hollis replied, “we get that. Burning building. Maniacal killer. Good seriously outnumbered by evil. Bad situation.” Her words and tone were flippant, but her gaze on his face was anything but, intent and measuring.
    “You forgot potential victim in maniacal killer’s hands,” her boss said,