Hide'n Go Seek Read Online Free PDF Page B

the kitchen door, Kali stepped into the kitchen before ripping the envelope open. A small folded sheet of paper fell into her hand. She flicked the paper open and read aloud.

    Game on

    Start of round one

    I hide and you seek, see

    -it's simple

    If you don't find them in time

    - they die

    So use those mad skills

    - and see

    Are you really so much better

    - than He?

    Get ready, because it's

    - Game On!

    Kali dropped the letter on the table and backed away, almost stepping on Shiloh. What the hell was that? Her heart raced and it was all she could do to stay calm. She wiped her sweaty palms on her tee-shirt. She studied the letter from a distance, searching for some identification. No signature, no letterhead, no watermark. Nothing. Reaching for the envelope again, she searched for clues she might have missed. Nothing. The note was printed in the same style as her name on the envelope, blocky hand printed letters, only not all capitals this time.

    Shit.

    She took several deep breaths as confusion and disbelief argued with fear. Common sense won out. This couldn't be real. It had to be a sick joke. Giving herself another moment to calm down, Kali reread it, this time slowly, trying to analyze the words - the meaning behind them.

    What game? Who was going to do the hiding and what was being hidden? It sounded like a child's game. As part of her SAR work, she found people all the time. Did this person know her personally? Know of her? Know her enough to understand the type of work she did? Was the person a psycho or a sicko? Hard to tell. Best-case scenario, this was a stupid prank. Worst-case scenario...well she didn't want to go there.

    That question about whether she was better than He made her stomach drop. They couldn't know. She closed her eyes. Don't panic. Don't panic.

    Added to that line was the fact that the letter had been delivered to her kitchen door. Talk about scaring the crap out of her. The letter writer knew her - in ways she didn't dare contemplate. It might have been a coincidence that she hadn't been here at the time of the delivery, except she couldn't stop wondering if she'd been watched and the letter delivered after she'd left. The fine hairs on her arm stood straight. Unable to stop herself, Kali relocked the back door then ran to make sure the front door was locked too.

    What the hell should she do now?

    She had to inform someone. She'd never sleep again if something bad came of this and she hadn't spoken up. That it could be nothing more than a bad joke didn't matter. Ignoring the letter and the envelope, she put on a small pot of coffee, then headed to the shower. She did some of her best thinking under hot water.

    Twenty minutes later, her hair still wrapped in a towel, she walked out onto her deck, and took a bracing gulp from her freshly poured java.

    Staring blindly out at the garden, Kali considered her options. The simplest answer was to call the police. They might come and inspect it, take her statement and possibly make a couple of inquiries. Still, they weren't likely to do more until something else developed.

    All she really had was a piece of ugly fan mail.

    Great.

    Or she could call Stan. In the twenty-something years since starting the Second Chance SAR center, he'd received several threatening letters. Stan was the center. He was as well-known as Kali, maybe more so. Had he received a similar letter? She reached for the phone.

    An hour later the sound of crunching gravel drew her to the front porch. Beside her, Shiloh stood alert barking madly at the unfamiliar large black truck. Kali narrowed her gaze as it parked beside her jeep. As she watched, Stan stepped down from the passenger side waving at her. She relaxed against the doorframe.

    "Hi, Kali." Stan's smile reassured her further. She waved back before turning her attention to the driver. Tall and slim, dressed in jeans and a stretched black Henley, he looked big, dangerous, and vaguely familiar. Her stomach