Free Hide My Light: A Romantic Suspense Thriller Novel (Hide Me Series Book 3) by Lisa Ladew Page A

them.
    Katerina lifted her head like an animal scenting the air. “West, do you think we could get some food? I feel weak, like I haven’t eaten in forever.”
    “Yes, of course we can,” West said, looking around quickly. Suddenly he felt very vulnerable in the open hospital. He thought hard, trying to come up with a place that they could eat and not be sitting ducks, waiting for someone to come and shoot them. He thought maybe they should leave and go somewhere else, but he couldn't think of anywhere else to go, especially without his truck. He would get Katerina some food and they would talk about it.
    Katerina piled meat, rice, and desserts on her tray and carried them to one of the tables.
    “Why don’t we go eat in the nurse’s lounge?” West said. It was the most private place he could think of, and there was a lock on the door that he knew the code to. He didn’t know where all the police officers had disappeared to. He led Katerina that way and noticed she had already started eating while they were walking.
    Katerina ate everything on her plate and although West wanted to eat too, he didn’t have any appetite. He noticed Katerina was looking much better though so he offered her his food. She devoured it and he watched her with dull interest. His mind couldn’t stop thinking about Blaise, and only a very small part of it tried to figure out this new puzzle of how much Katerina was eating. She did look better though. The color had come back into her skin and underneath her eyes wasn’t quite as dark.
    When Katerina had eaten everything on his plate too, she looked around the room with bright interest. “Think there's any vending machines in the hallway?” she asked.
    “Are you still hungry?” West said, surprised.
    “Starving,” Katerina said, leaning forward and lowering her voice. “Whatever I did to Blaise caused it. It’s like I can’t fill my stomach.”
    West nodded and jumped to his feet. If she needed more food he was going to get her more food. He looked at the door and then back around the locked room, longingly. He would like to leave her in the safety of the locked room, but he didn’t want to leave her alone. “Let’s go back to the cafeteria, but we will have to be quick and careful.”
    Katerina nodded and they walked hesitantly out of the door.
    When they were almost to the cafeteria, someone tapped West on the shoulder, startling him. He swung around, his hands already raising in a defensive posture. Craig Masterson stood there, tall and strong and solid. West had met Craig once or twice at the fire station, but had never spoken with the man at length.
    “West,” he smiled. “And Katerina. I’ve been looking for you. I’m FBI agent Craig Masterson, if you don’t remember me. Come, let’s walk and talk,” he said, turning and heading back in the direction that they had come from.
    Katerina looked at West and he grasped her hand, giving her a relieved smile. This was good news for them. Surely food could wait a few moments?
    “I don’t have long,” Agent Masterson said. “There’s a chase going on right now downtown and I need to get back to it, but we’re fairly sure Kurt Kane is not in the car we are chasing.”
    Katerina watched the man’s eyes move tirelessly over the crowds in the hallway as they walked, even frequently turning around and looking behind them.
    “Kane is almost certainly near the hospital somewhere. He may already be inside. Officer Cornwall is going to be in room 862 when he gets out of surgery. I’ve got agents stationed at each entrance to the floor and outside his room. There is no safer place for you to be right now, so that’s where we’re going. I need you to stay there until I return.”
    He led them into a stairwell and they began to walk up the seven flights of stairs. “Sorry about the stairs, but they are much safer than the elevator in a situation like this.”
    Katerina felt her strength flagging again. She wondered if they