Once Lost

And she felt a strange nausea churning inside her.

“I’m not feeling sho good,” she said.

He didn’t reply, and she couldn’t see him.

She couldn’t see anything.

“I think I’d besht – better go home now,” she said.

He still didn’t say anything.

She reached out blindly, groping around in the air.

“Help me – me get up – off the shtairs. Help me go up the shtairs.”

She heard his footsteps coming toward her.

He’s going to help me, she thought.

So why was that churning, sick feeling getting worse by the second?

“D-d-rive me home,” she said. “Could shyoo do that for me? Please?”

His footsteps stopped.

She could feel his presence right in front of her, even if she couldn’t see him.

But why wasn’t he saying anything?

Why wasn’t he doing anything to help her?

Then she realized what that nauseous feeling actually was.

Fear.

She summoned up her last ounce of will, reached up and took hold of the railing, and pulled herself to her feet.

I have to leave, she thought. But she was unable to say the words aloud.

Then Katy felt a heavy blow to her head.

And then she didn’t feel anything at all.

CHAPTER ONE

Riley Paige struggled to blink back tears. She was sitting in her office at Quantico, looking at a photo of a young woman who had a cast on her ankle.

Why am I punishing myself like this? she wondered.

After all, she needed to think about other things right now – especially a BAU meeting scheduled for just a few minutes from now. Riley was dreading that meeting, which might threaten her professional future.

In spite of that, Riley couldn’t make herself look away from the picture on her cell phone.

She had snapped that picture of Lucy Vargas last fall, right here in the Behavioral Analysis Unit offices. Lucy’s ankle was in a cast, but her smile was simply radiant, a dazzling contrast to her smooth brown skin. Lucy had just been injured on the first case she had worked with Riley and her partner, Bill Jeffreys. But Lucy had done great work, and she knew it, and so did Riley and Bill. That was why Lucy was smiling.

Riley’s hand trembled a little as she held the cell phone in her hand.

Lucy was dead now – gunned down by a deranged sniper.

Lucy had died in Riley’s arms. But Riley knew that Lucy’s death hadn’t been her fault.

She wished Bill felt the same way. Her partner was currently on mandatory leave and not doing at all well.

Riley shuddered as she remembered how things had unfolded.

The situation had been chaotic, and instead of shooting the sniper, Bill had shot an innocent man who was trying to help Lucy. Fortunately, the man wasn’t badly injured, and no one blamed Bill for his actions, least of all Riley. Riley had never seen him so debilitated with guilt and trauma. Riley wondered how soon he could come back to work – or if he ever could.

Riley’s throat tightened as she remembered holding Lucy in her arms.

“You’ve got a great career ahead of you,” Riley had pleaded. “Now stay with us, Lucy. Stay with us.”

But it was hopeless. Lucy had lost too much blood. Riley had felt the life ebbing away from Lucy’s body until it was gone.

And now tears began to trickle down Riley’s cheeks.

Her recollections were interrupted by a familiar voice.

“Agent Paige …”

Riley looked up and saw Sam Flores, the lab technician with black-rimmed glasses. He was standing in her open office door.

Riley stifled a gasp. She hastily wiped away her tears and turned her cell phone face down on her desk.

But she could tell by Sam’s stricken expression that he’d glimpsed what she’d been looking at. And that was the last thing she wanted.

A romance had been budding between Sam and Lucy, and he’d taken her death very hard. He still looked brokenhearted.

Now Flores looked at Riley sadly, but to Riley’s relief he didn’t ask what he’d just interrupted.

Instead he said, “I’m on my way to the meeting. You coming?”

Riley nodded, and Sam nodded back at her.

“Well, good luck, Agent Paige,” he said, then continued on his way.

Riley muttered aloud to herself …

“Yeah, good luck.”