Rx Missing (Decorah Security Series, Book #10): A Paranormal Romantic Suspense Novel by Rebecca York Page A

movement at the corner of his eye caught his attention. He stayed still, facing the door, but he swiveled his eyes in time to see Lily climbing the stairs. She looked like she was in a hurry—with a known destination in mind. Maybe following her was more productive than trying to figure out what Wright was up to.
    oOo
    Mack eased farther behind the palm, watching Lily pause at the top of the stairs and scan the lobby. She had gotten out of the bar pretty quickly. He’d like to know what excuse she’d made to the others, since they’d already established that nobody had to go to the bathroom or were tired.
    As he watched, she headed down the hall. He waited again, then made a dash up the stairs, noting that he could run up the flight without feeling winded.
    When he turned in the direction she’d gone, the hall was empty, and he clenched his fists in frustration. Then he remembered she’d said she was in room 250. It could be a lie, but the way she’d said it argued for its being the truth.
    He moved along the carpet, stopping at room 250. He could have knocked. Instead he tried the knob. It was locked, and he felt a surge of disappointment. And also surprise at his own actions. Since when did he walk into a woman’s bedroom unannounced? And without an invitation.
    He could have turned and gone back to the bar, but he had the conviction that finding out what Lily was up to was more important than anything else he could think of.
    Why? He couldn’t answer. Yet he couldn’t shake the feeling that everything in here was speeding up and that if he didn’t find out what was going on, time would whiz by so fast that it would smack him in the ass on the way past.
    Not even sure what that meant, he stared at the lock. Then, on a hunch, he slipped the keycard out of his pocket and inserted it in the door slot. As he’d half expected, the light turned green. And why not? It was kind of like the computers not giving access to personal mail but providing a selection of games and movies.
    Fake. Or not designed to function the way you had a right to expect.
    A right?
    He was pretty sure his rights had been summarily snatched away from him before he’d woken up in this artificial environment. Because he knew it was only a cunning shadow of reality. And maybe it would have taken longer to figure that out if the sky hadn’t turned wonky and the guy in the woods hadn’t tried to take over his mind. His only consolation there was that the same thing had happened to Lily, too. She hadn’t been faking her fear and confusion. In fact, maybe it was worse than his, because she expected something from this place—and wasn’t getting it—and he had no expectations.
    Quietly he pushed the door open and stepped across the dark polished wood floor onto the plush Oriental rug, feeling the thumping of his heart. Because he was doing something he knew was wrong? Or because he thought he was finally going to get some information?
    He spared the chamber a quick glance. Like his digs, this was a suite with a living room furnished in English period pieces and presumably a bedroom down a short hall.
    He might have moved slowly and quietly, but he was in a hurry now. Good thing. As he strode down the hall, he saw Lily reaching for the closet door. When she realized she wasn’t alone, she pushed the door shut, her eyes wide as she stared at the man who had dared to follow her into what should be personal space.
    “What are you doing here? You don’t just walk into a woman’s bedroom,” she said in a voice it seemed she couldn’t quite hold steady.
    He’d had the same thought before he’d decided to follow through on the forced entry. Well, not exactly forced.
    “How did you get in?”
    He held up the plastic rectangle. “With my keycard.”
    “Your card? Why would it work in my door?”
    “Because the locking system is fake, just like the entertainment system is all old, prerecorded stuff.”
    Before she could grapple with that, he