Lincoln Hospital

Chapter Twenty

Cian hadn't seen Athena all day. He knew she'd witnessed more than she should have outside of his OR and he was extremely concerned over what her conclusions might be. He was destined to be out of the loop on her inner thoughts, evidently since she seemed to have fallen off the face of the earth and taken Sabine with her. It was a mystery and he was becoming concerned. It wasn't like her to disappear in the middle of a shift. His girl was responsible and level-headed and cared too much about her patients to abandon them.

His girl? Since when had he started referring to her as his girl?

He headed to the interns' locker room to once again see if they were there, disappointed when all he found was the other three. Fuckface whatever his name was, Clarence and Oscar were standing around chatting, preparing to call it a day.

"Have you guys seen Athena and Sabine lately?" he asked, hating that he needed to, but not having any other choice.

"You know, I haven't seen either of them since this morning, now that you mention it," Clarence replied, scratching his head. Oscar also said no and fuckface just shrugged.

"That's not an answer," Cian told him, stepping farther into the locker room.

"Look, I don't stick my nose in other people's business, okay? If those two girls want to go riding off with some creepy looking dude, that's their deal and I want no part of it. I'm here to do my job and that's it," Dick told him, attempting to sidestep him to head for the door.

Cian's arm shot out. Grabbing Dick by the throat, he slammed him against the wall. "What are you talking about? Riding off with who? What creepy guy?" he demanded. He applied more pressure when Dick refused to answer. His face turned red and his eyes started to bug out before he finally conceded and nodded jerkily, indicating that he would talk. Cian loosened his grip but still held him firmly in place.

"Spill it," he ordered.

"I happened to be walking by the front entrance a few hours ago. Sabine was in the back of some dude's car and Athena was draped all over the same guy climbing in the driver's side. The guy was wearing some kind of a hat; I couldn't really see his face from afar, but I thought it was odd. It looked like a winter hat and we sure as hell don't need to be wearing those in this heat. Anyways, he helped her in the car and took off and I went on with my business."

"He helped her in the car from the driver's side? And he was wearing some kind of a winter mask? What time was this at?"

"I don't know. I guess it was around noon."

"Noon?! That was six hours ago and you didn't tell anybody! The guy was wearing a fucking ski mask; you shit for brain idiot!" Disgusted, he shoved Dick towards the door. "Go to the nurses' station and get them to call the police. Now. Tell them two women have been abducted from Lincoln Hospital. Move it!" he yelled when Dick hesitated, glaring at him.

Cian prayed that he would take a swing or disobey him in some other way. Any excuse to flatten him would be a welcome one, a chance for him to transform his fear into fury. Unfortunately, Dick found some sense and stumbled out the door to follow Cian's commands.

Cian's head swam with a thousand different scenarios as panic gripped him. Why the hell hadn't he noticed she was missing sooner? Who was this mystery man that had shoved not only her, but Sabine as well into his car? His mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that the serial killer might have some involvement in their disappearance, but if that was true...he shuddered, not wanting to allow his mind to wander any further. If anything happened and he lost her...his heart couldn't bear to think of such a possibility.