Stripped Bare by Lacey Thorn

each holding one of the sites. He stood up and held the chair out for Ally.
    They all moved in close. Stace, Shep and Blake hovered over her shoulder looking at the screen with her though only Ally could point them in the right direction. Shep and Stace had only printed out the photos that had shown the cabin sites in full thinking that would be their best bet. But it was obvious that Ally was looking for something in particular, either something she had seen for herself or something that the man had shown her. Stace hoped Ally found it.
    “Here,” Ally said pointing to a tiny hand-painted sign that once had led the way to a children’s summer camp that had been closed for years. “This is what I was looking for. We’ll find Chloe and the others here.”
    Blake moved back, cell phone already in hand. “I’ll put a call in to the necessary medical staff and let them know what we might be looking at. The nearest hospital to that site will need to be prepared staff-wise for the number of people who will be coming in. Ally do you have any idea what they might have? Did you pick anything up from him or even Chloe on that?”
    Ally shook her head. “Neither of them knew for sure what was causing the fever. I do know that Chloe was run-down and exhausted when she succumbed to it. She’s been surviving the last few weeks on little to no sleep and though he would demand that she eat she didn’t always comply if he wasn’t there to make her.”
    “Chloe always puts others before herself,” Stace said. “She has a great need to nurture and care for others, thus her desire for nursing school.” Stace smiled. “I guess medical school too.”
    “Call made,” Blake said stepping back over to them. “They’re making calls and setting up now. They’re sending a few medical staff out to the site to get an idea of what we’re looking at.”
    “Ready?” Shep asked.
    “Weeks ago,” Stace said as they moved for the door.
    Shep put the coordinates into his GPS as soon as they were in the truck. Blake and Ally were getting into the truck they had arrived in and soon they were heading out of the drive and to the place that, thanks to Ally, they now knew Chloe and the others were at. Stace had been waiting for this moment since arriving home and learning her sister was missing. Just once in all that time she wished she had thought of contacting someone like Ally. But it hadn’t even entered her head.
    “Almost over,” Shep said eyes locked on the road ahead. “Soon you can put this nightmare behind you.”
    “I’m just praying that Chloe pulls through whatever this fever is,” Stace said. “Once she recovers I can finally let her see how important she is to me, how much I love and admire her.”
    “Those things are very important,” Shep agreed.
    “So will you need to head back right away?” Stace asked. “I mean with your job you’ll probably need to get back to Legacy once this is all over.”
    “I have some time off due,” Shep said glancing over at her quickly. “Are you saying that you’d like me to stay?”
    Stace took a deep breath and nodded. “I’d really like you to stay,” she said softly.
    “Then I’ll stay,” Shep said. “I’ll give Jack a call later and let him know what is going on and that I’ll be staying a little longer.”
    “Thanks, Shep,” Stace said. “I need to be here for Chloe. I’ve failed too often in the past and I can’t let her down this time.”
    “It’ll all work out,” Shep said and Stace nodded. “It’s easy to see that you love your sister. I’m betting she loves you just as much.”
    Who would have thought that it would take something like her sister’s kidnapping to bring a man like Shep into her life? Stace hadn’t been looking for a relationship, not with a man anyway. She’d been ready to leave her job and finally focus on family and making friends, sticking closer to home. And now she felt like she had at least two friends in Shep and Ally. Once