Rebecca was gone.

Patrick’s first reaction was that she’d been taken against her will. Could that paramedic psycho have followed them?

Damn! He knew he should never have left her alone. He had been so sure the guy wouldn’t dare try anything here in the crowded hotel ballroom where triage sites with cots, IVs and real medics lined up one after another. Narrow paths would make it difficult to drag anyone from the room without notice. Or so Patrick thought. What if the guy managed to get to Rebecca and drug her?

Stupid! How could he be so stupid?

“You looking for your girlfriend?”

Patrick spun around. It was the old man who had been on the triage cot next to Rebecca. His silver hair sprouted up out of the gauze that now wrapped his head.

“Have you seen her?”

“Yep. She left.”

“By herself?”

Was it possible the guy was confused?

“As far as I could tell.” He scratched at the gauze.

“She just got up and left.”

“Just like that?”

“Just like that. Pulled the needle from her arm.” He pointed at the IV left on the cot.

“Did you see where she went?”

The man pointed a crooked finger. Patrick had to turn and look over his shoulder. There was an exit clear across the ballroom. That didn’t make sense. The closest exit was right behind her where Patrick had gone. She watched him leave. If she was looking for him why would she head in the opposite direction?

“Are you sure?”

“Hey, I may have gotten knocked in the head but there’s nothing wrong with my eyesight.”

“Sorry. It’s just…”

“I know, I know,” he nodded. “You’re worried about her. She didn’t look so good. A little glassy-eyed, if you ask me.”

Patrick pulled out his cell phone. No text messages. No voice messages. No missed calls. He didn’t know Dixon’s iPhone number and Rebecca didn’t have a cell phone of her own. What was she thinking? Was she still in shock? Maybe she didn’t know what she was doing.

He thanked the old man and headed for the exit. If she was disoriented, she couldn’t have gotten far.

The exit opened to a common area. A table and folding chairs had been set up. Two blue uniformed paramedics controlled the flow of the chaos. Patrick could barely see the lobby through the crowd. To his right he saw a bank of elevators and down the hall to the left, another exit. This one probably to the outside.

Patrick stood looking from one area to the other. Which way did Rebecca go? He couldn’t imagine her fighting her way through the crowd. She hated crowds and after what she’d just been through? But she wasn’t herself. Maybe still in shock. He’d learned how physically debilitating shock could be from his Fire Science classes. If she wandered outside she might not realize how cold it was.

He headed for the exit. Just as he pushed out the door he saw a man in a uniform coming from the parking lot, headed for Patrick.

“You. Wait a minute. Whatya think you’re doing?”