Free Gone Unnoticed: A Kate Reid Novel (The Kate Reid Series Book 3) by Robin Mahle Page A

the dirty stained-glass panel inside the front door. It was noticeably lower than when they’d arrived. Three girls, including Madlena, still sat on the floor up against the wall of the staircase. Her legs were asleep and her secured arms ached, so the fact that her ass had turned numb didn’t seem quite as bothersome.
    That would all go away soon, though, because her mind was clearing. The sedatives were wearing off and when that happened, it meant they were going to be moved again, or taken away. Three days ago, when she’d been taken, there were five other girls there when she joined the group. Now, only herself and two others remained. The rest were gone; where, she didn’t know, but they hadn’t returned. With only three of them left, Madlena wondered who would be next.
    She raised her bound hands to her right ear and carefully pulled out the cubic zirconia earring. Lowering her hands again, one of her captors glanced over towards her. She pretended to scratch an itch on her face. When he looked away again, she set the earring on the ground and rolled it behind her back.
    If she was the one chosen today, someone, she prayed, would know that she had been here. That she had existed.
     
     
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    Kate offered her “expert testimony” in the mock trial that was part of her training. She'd felt fairly confident of her performance and because many agents were asked to testify in court, this was an important skill to understand. But it did bring back a time, not long ago, when she was sitting in the same courtroom as Lewis Branson during the Highway Hunter trial. She quietly observed from the back row as all three of her friends – Scarborough, Myers, and Agent Jameson – took the stand. There had been many times during the two-month trial when she'd wanted to confront Branson. Nick put a stop to any such reckless endeavors, though, and reminded her that it wasn't Branson she'd wanted to harm. It was Shalot, and he was already dead.
    “Hey. You heading home?” Will had already begun packing up while Kate was still fumbling with the notes the instructor had handed out after the trial.
    “Yes, definitely. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own home tonight. Without Jocelyn, it just feels weird being in the dorm room now. I don’t know why. I live by myself; I should be used to it. So what about you? What’re you doing tonight?”
    The end of another week had already arrived. It didn’t seem possible that she had only eight weeks left here at the base. She’d been busy working odds and ends details for the investigation, but nothing had turned up on Corbett yet and so Nick just kept telling her to hang tight, something would break. It hadn’t and the only upside was that she’d been able to devote more time to her studies. But the girls and the case never left her mind. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she began to realize that she wasn’t all that different from them. It was easy to identify with the idea of coming to America to start a new, and hopefully better, life. She’d pushed her own reset button for a second time already. Once when she left Spencer, and again when Marshall left her. Being here, at the Academy, was her new and hopefully better life. It was doubtful she’d get a third reboot.
    “Nothing much, just study probably. I don’t know. It gets pretty quiet around here on the weekends and I suppose I’ve got nothing but time. Don’t have a place yet since I still don’t know what field office I’ll be assigned to. Are you planning on being here in the morning?”
    “Do I have a choice?” They both laughed. “I’ll be here.” Kate felt the phone in her pocket buzz and cut the laughter short. “Hang on a second, I gotta take this.” She answered the line, “Reid here. Yeah, of course. I can be there in half an hour. Okay. Bye.”
    “What was that all about?” Will seemed to notice the glint in her eye.
    “I have to go to the field office. Agent