***
When the clinic went dark, Heather murmured, “Oh no. Omar’s here. I think he knows we’re here, too.”
She stood up, and felt the hairs on her arms stand straight up. Her heart did a little lurch, the blackout was so unexpected. Heather felt inside her purse to find her cell phone. It would provide a little light in the blackness.
Rod was on his feet and he put his arms protectively around her. On her other side, Professor Middleton did the same. She was the cream inside the cookie; the two men’s protective instincts squashing her, but it also felt welcome. She didn’t want to admit she was scared.
“Heather, are you okay?” It was Rod who had whispered.
It’s strange that everyone always whispers in the dark, Heather thought. “Yeah, but I’m afraid Omar’s starting an attack.”
She managed to click open her cell phone. She looked up and saw Rod and the professor. It must be the light from the cell phone, she thought. Both of their faces looked unnaturally white.
Then the lights blinked on again.
Heather sighed with relief and the pretty blond woman behind the desk called out to them, “No problem, folks. Our clinic has generators in case of an electrical blackout in the area.”
The lights went out again. This time they stayed out.
“Gosh, I hope Mike isn’t stuck in the elevator,” Heather said after waiting for a while for the lights to turn on again.
“There must be some stairs we can climb to find him,” Rod said.
“Good thinking,” Professor Middleton said. Heather saw him wink at her in the glow of her cell phone. He was probably thinking the same thing she was. They could use this blackout to go find Michelle.
Chapter 15
When her hospital room went dark, Michelle knew immediately Omar was using his special paranormal abilities. She glanced out at the hallway; it was totally black. Omar always messed with electricity to cause confusion, disorientation, and panic. She wondered why he felt it necessary at this particular time. There must be something that angered him, or wasn’t going the way he planned. That had to be good news.
Since she was in the dark, she had a flash remembrance of the lights in the garage at work going off the night before, when she was leaving her office building.
Such a lot had happened since then. She’d been married and then abducted to Mexico, where her eggs were stolen. There was still a lot she was missing from the last twenty-four hours, but Michelle felt reassured now that she had another real memory, even though it was a scary one; crawling around on the cement garage floor in the dark, trying to find her car.
That made her think of her keychain. She groped around and found her purse on the bed and felt inside. Yes! It was there. She clicked on the bright little laser light attached to the keychain.
She could play this game too, Michelle thought. Now was the time for her to make an escape, when everyone was muddling around in the dark.
She had to get detached from the IV first, though. She held the keychain in her mouth, biting the switch for the laser light so she could use her other hand to peel off the tape holding the IV needle in place on her arm. Then she squinted, expecting it to hurt when she removed the needle, but it didn’t cause much discomfort. Just a little quick pinch and she was free.
Michelle swiveled and placed her feet on the floor, standing up. She almost fell on her face as her legs gave way and she landed painfully on her hands and knees. Her muscles hadn’t been used in a while and she’d been sedated. She did a few experimental knee bends by the side of her bed until she felt her balance and strength returning.
She crept to the doorway and, using the laser light, beamed it down the hallway. There were about twenty patient rooms on this the floor. A nurse sat at her station by the elevators, feeling around blindly for something on her desk. Michelle quickly turned off the light and slipped into the hallway, holding one hand against the the wall for support. It was odd how her balance was effected by the lack of sight.
She staggered down the hallway. Her room was at the end of the corridor, so the next room down had to be where Leilanie was located.
She made her way unsteadily into the room.
“Nurse? What’s happening? Why’s it so dark? Can you give me some water? I’m so thirsty.”
Michelle switched on the laser again, shining it right directly in Leilanie’s face so she couldn’t see who it was.
Leilanie appeared tiny, with her black hair spread out on the pillow. She looked as Hawaiian as her name, with the dark hair, curvy body, and lightly browned skin.
Her voice sounded pathetic, like she’d just awakened from surgery and Michelle felt a little pity, remembering how disorienting it was to wake up after an operation.
Michelle reminded herself sternly that Leilanie had helped Omar abduct her to Mexico. Now she had three embryos, from Michelle’s own eggs, growing inside her. She was angry at Leilanie, but still, the poor girl was thirsty. She was as much a victim of Omar as Michelle.
Michelle poured a glass of water from the pitcher on the table beside the bed and handed it to the girl. She had to use the laser light to do it.
“Michelle!”
“Yes. Do you have a coat? Something I can wear?”
Leilanie was noisily gulping the water. “Thanks. I was so thirsty. I have a robe in the closet. Why?”
Michelle found it, a generic white terry robe, and put it on. It barely covered her and she cinched the belt tightly. It was small, and certainly wasn’t ideal, but at least her butt wouldn’t be hanging in the wind.
She heard some pounding and shouting from the direction of the nurse’s
