Big, warm hands closed on my shoulders and started massaging them. It was just about the best thing I’d felt in my life. I hadn’t realized how much the hours of surgery had wrecked my back but under his strong fingers, my muscles turned from freezing, brittle concrete into warm taffy. I leaned back against his chest. A freezing wind was blowing through the ER from the smashed doors, chilling my front, but as long as I could snuggle back against him, I didn’t care. “What do you say,” he asked in a deep, Irish rasp, “to a cup of just-warm, six-hour-old coffee from the break room?”
“I would pay a thousand dollars for that, right now,” I told him, my eyes still closed.
He leaned closer and his lips brushed the back of my neck. “I’ll be right back,” he told me. As his footsteps died away, the cold hit me. Thanks to me destroying the main doors, the ER had gone from chilly to absolutely freezing: it was so cold I could see my breath. When Corrigan came back, I was going to cuddle into his chest and never move again.
I took a long, slow breath and let it out. The ER was strangely quiet, now that all the ventilator alarms had gone quiet. The volunteers had all moved with Corrigan down towards the break room and were swapping stories and laughing, high on adrenaline. I thought about joining them, but I didn’t want to leave Rebecca. And, if I was honest, staying in this quiet little corner, away from everyone else, was comforting. I’d changed a lot, in the last few days, but I was still a dormouse at heart. Maybe when Corrigan got back, we’d go over there together. Baby steps.
I opened my eyes.
Colt was standing right in front of me.
51
Amy
HE HAD THAT vicious-looking hunting knife in his hand and he thrust it at me warningly, the point stopping an inch from my cheek. He needn’t have bothered. As soon as I’d seen him, my throat had closed up. I couldn’t have screamed for help if I’d wanted to.
I was suddenly aware of how isolated I was, down at this end of the ER. With the room almost totally dark, both of us blended right into the shadows unless you were a few feet away. No wonder he’d been able to slip in unobserved, especially with everyone occupied with CPR. And now he could shove the knife between my ribs and no one would even know. Why did I stay here on my own? Why didn’t I cluster with the people, like a normal person? But if I had, he would have found someone else: Lina or Adele or Corrigan, and that thought scared me even more.
“Where’s my son?” That voice: freezing, rusty metal clawing at my spine.
I didn’t dare even jerk my head to show him. “He’s over by the break room,” I whispered. Then, “He saved this girl’s life. He’s a hero.”
“He’s soft.” He said it as if there was no worse crime. “You’re going to go and get him. And my pilot, you’re going to get him, too. Bring them.”
I nodded. Anything. Anything to get him out of here. The FBI would catch them eventually. I turned to go.
“Wait.” His voice was vicious and stinging, a whip soaked in whiskey.
I froze.
“Get your medical stuff. Need you to patch me up.” He stepped a little closer and nodded downwards. I used the flashlight on my phone and caught my breath when I saw the blood soaking through his jeans.
I thought fast. If anyone saw he was here, it might turn into another firefight and more people would get hurt. The idea of being alone with him terrified me but… “I’ll take you upstairs,” I whispered. “Somewhere quiet, I can treat you there.”
But he shook his head. “You can do it at our camp. You’re coming with us.”
My insides turned to ice. That happy, warm moment with Corrigan, our plans for the future...I felt it all being ripped away from me. I’d seen how little this man valued life. If I went with him, I was dead.
My plan to get him out of there without anyone knowing evaporated. I had to get help. I nodded to Colt that I’d do it. As soon as I’m away from him, I’ll get Corrigan and the cops….
Then I froze inside as Colt put the knife to Rebecca’s throat.
“You care about this one, don’t you?” he said. “You tell anyone, I see a cop or that Irishman or anyone, she never wakes up.”
I stared down at Rebecca’s sleeping face. I’d stopped breathing. Oh Jesus.... As soon as I’d treated him, he’d kill me.
But I had no choice. I nodded that I understood.
52
Amy
I DIDN’T WANT to see Corrigan. I was already so scared...if I saw him, it would be impossible to go through with this. And I had to, for Rebecca. So I sidled around the edge of the ER, staying in the shadows.