Her head was throbbing, and it felt like her throat and nose were coated with dust inside. It made her cough and sneeze, which made her head hurt worse. She shifted and felt something tug painfully at the inside of her elbow. Her eyes felt gritty and she was so thirsty. She felt a hand on her cheek and pried her eyes open. She saw it was Joe and he looked completely freaked out. That made her head throb in time with her heartbeat. “What…” she cleared her throat. “What’s wrong?”
“Shh. You’re going to be okay. Saline solution to rehydrate you and the doctor said the sneezing and coughing is clearing out your throat and nasal passages. Someone wrapped you in old burlap and left you in that storage room.”
“Ice.”
“You want some ice water?”
“Yes. No. It was him…” Her throat hurt, and she remembered why. Sudden anger flooded through her. “He choked me.” She saw Joe’s expression and reached to grab his hand, making the needle in her elbow tug again. “It was the kid Chris saw, in the Patriots’ jersey.”
“I’ll kill him.”
Casi shook her head. “He was going into a storage shed, like it was…the entrance to the underworld.”
Joe frowned. “Nell did say there were entrances all over that lead down to the Hub under Central Plaza. Ethan went with her to check it out.”
“Nell? Cute and perky?”
Joe looked at her. “What?”
“Redhead? You know, NCIS: Los Angeles.”
Joe sighed. “And you blame me for Chris’ television obsession.”
“Where’s Chris?”
“We haven’t found him yet.” He looked down at his phone and sighed again. He really didn’t want to tell her. But she read him like a book. “Jason’s missing too.”
Casi went pale, reached for the needle in her arm but he stopped her. “No. You’re staying here. But I need to go, help Ethan and Catherine in the search. They were going to talk to John about getting the police there to help as well. You have to stay here, recover. If something were to happen…to you…” Joe stood up and gave the chair he was sitting in a vicious kick that made it skid across the room and hit the small cabinet for clothes. “You almost died. If…”
Casi swallowed hard. “If?”
“If I hadn’t felt your panic…” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “I would never have found you in time.” He gently threaded his fingers through hers. “I can’t lose my family…I’m very selfish that way.”
Casi squeezed his hand and closed her eyes. “It…I saw him…was going to follow, nothing else, but he caught me off guard…”
“You’re okay now, I have to go get the boys.”
Casi didn’t let go of his hand. “I’m not okay. I’m scared.”
Joe moved close, wiped her tear-streaked cheeks with his free hand. “I’m sorry.” He moved to go but she still hadn’t released his hand. “Casi.”
Casi took a breath. “Water.”
He got her a cup of water and helped her drink it. Finally, she let go of his hand. “Joe, I’m not angry with you.”
“You should be.”
“No.” She shuddered. “All those years of scaring my mother…I realize that it’s in their blood.” Tears welled up again. “They’re our children, no amount of hiding secrets will hide the truth. It’s in their blood, it’s what we did, both separately and together, they can’t help it. They got a double whammy and I can’t fault them for doing what they do even though it will kill me to lose them.”
