“Hang on a sec.” Clarisse held up a manicured hand. “What do you mean, physically she will be fine?”
“Sue’s upset because Amy’s not doing too well.” He ignored the ache inside at even saying her name. When had he started caring about her so much? A week ago, she was just another girl. Now she felt like most of his whole world.
“Amy?” Clarisse cocked her head. “The other girl taken with you and Chris’s friend?”
Zack directed his gaze over Clarisse’s shoulder, afraid she’d read the turmoil in his eyes. “Yeah. Amy is Susan’s sister. She’s also in a couple of my classes.”
“Their poor mother.” Mrs. Donnellson clasped Chris’s hand.
“Where’s Sue? I want to help if she’s upset. She’s my best friend.” Chris’s eyes filled with sorrow. “I like Amy too.”
Sympathy pierced Zack’s heart. Chris had had to sit at home for hours, knowing his brother and his best friend were in trouble. Zack put a hand on his shoulder. “Good idea, bro. Susan needs a friend right now.”
“Great!” Chris leapt to his feet. “Let’s go visit her!”
“You sure, honey?” Their mother’s brow creased with doubt. “What if she and her family want to be alone?”
“It’s only her brother with her right now. I’m not sure where their parents are, and Amy’s unconscious.” He ignored the hollow feeling he got saying Amy’s unconscious and led Chris toward the hall.
“Wait. Zack!” His mother put out an arm to stop them. “You can’t barge into Susan’s room with four extra people. I’ll go determine what the visitor regulations here are.” She strode to the front desk, her heels click, click, clicking across the floor.
Zack glanced up at the ceiling, praying for patience. He dropped back into his seat and glowered around the group. “Why are all of you here?”
“Please. You and those girls have been the lead news story all across the country,” Clarisse explained with a matter-of-fact toss of her platinum hair. “I got the first flight out of Vancouver, and we came straight here. You seriously freaked us out.”
Zack snickered. “Such a dramatic recounting of your adventure. Remind me to tell you my story sometime.”
Their mom clicked her way back to them, smiling proudly at Chris as if he had won a gold medal. “Your friend has been asking for you.”
“Good. Can I visit her, now?”
“Yes. Zack can see her as well, but they want to keep visitors to a minimum. I told them I won’t be letting either of you out of my sight for the next fifty years and got permission for one of us to accompany you.”
Zack rolled his eyes at his parents. “Which of you wants to come?”
“I do,” Clarisse asserted forcefully. “I need to talk to Zack.”
His parents exchanged an uneasy glance. His dad was the one who relented. “We’ll wait here, but you three better stay together.”
“Oh my God,” Zack groaned as they entered the stairwell. “They were overprotective before this happened. Chris will be middle-aged before they let him cross the street without holding hands.”
Chris giggled. Clarisse gave Zack a hard look. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“Those guys from your school. They were also admitted here.”
Zack froze midstride. “What the hell! They’ve got Amy and the people who tried to kill her in the same damn hospital?” Rage bubbled inside him like lava in a volcano.
“I’m sure they’ll be arrested as soon as they’re discharged. They’re under police guard right now, and one is in the same condition as Amy, so not much of a problem there.” She clapped a hand to her mouth. “Oh God, I’m sorry. I meant … They’re only here to heal. That’s the law. Once they improve, they’ll be discharged, arrested, and taken back to Toronto. My guess is they’ll get at least ten years.” She took in his anguished expression and faltered, at last out of words. When Clarisse got nervous, she regurgitated facts as if knowing everything about a situation made it better. Nothing she said could ever make this better. “Zack?” She touched his arm.
“Let’s find Sue,” he muttered, refusing to meet her eyes. They headed to her room under a dismal pall of silence.
Zack knocked lightly on her door and waited a beat for Justin to open it. “Hey.” Zack forced a smile. “Justin, this is my brother, Chris, and my sister, Clarisse.”
“Nice to meet you both.” Justin smiled at Chris and shook Clarisse’s hand. His gaze lingered on Clarisse a fraction longer than Zack liked.
“Chris is here?” Susan popped up in her bed like a spring-loaded jack-in-the-box.
Chris ran to hug her. Susan hugged him back, relief relaxing her pinched, worried face. He perched on the end of her bed, and she energetically launched into her adventure.
Clarisse’s eyes twinkled. “When did our little bro get so cute with the girls?” She glanced sideways at Justin and ran her fingers through her tangled hair.
“After meeting Sue.” Zack chuckled. “Before her, girls were gross.”
“I seriously have to visit more. I miss so much with how little I see you guys.” She gave Justin an intrigued look from beneath her long lashes.
“Where you from?” Justin perched on a cot that a nurse must have brought for him to sleep on that night.
“I go to school in Vancouver.” Clarisse sat comfortably close to him.
“No way! Me too! I’m studying criminal justice.” Justin flashed a cocky smile.
Her eyes lit up. “That’s such a coincidence. I graduated with my psych degree in May and got into the law program at UBC. Where in Vancouver are you staying?” She batted her lashes.
Zack grimaced and backed out of the room. “I’m going for a walk.” He doubted anyone would notice his absence.
He wandered the hospital once more and wound up staring out a window on the second floor. The full moon shone down upon the earth, no longer the startling bloodred color of the night before. The velvet night sky was speckled with stars. The world was quiet, cool, and still, a stark contrast to the chaotic desperation of the hospital and its occupants.
Zack ached for Amy, alone in an anonymous off-white room. She didn’t deserve to die this young. He ached for Susan, so innocent and sweet. She didn’t deserve to lose her sister or have her innocence tarnished with pain.
A noise behind him made his blood run cold. It was the unmistakable click of a gun being cocked.
Forty-four
“TURN AROUND. I want to see the look on your face as I blow your brains out.”
Zack turned slowly, his hands raised in surrender. Alex stood ten feet away with a semiautomatic pistol in his hand and a gleam of triumph in his soulless blue eyes. He was dressed in full police uniform, a sight that both disgusted and disturbed Zack. “Pull that trigger, and your sentence will go from ten years to life.”
A slim young woman dressed all in black slipped silently around the corner behind Alex like a beautiful figment of Zack’s imagination. Kimmy caught his eye for the briefest of moments and slid a few feet closer to Alex on silent, socked feet.
“A life sentence, huh?” Alex quirked a brow. “Too bad the cop I just murdered forgot to mention that. Nothing to lose now, I guess.” He stalked a few steps closer and pointed his pistol between Zack’s eyes.
Zack held his breath. Tension clenched his insides as he tracked Kimmy’s soundless, creeping progress out of the corner of his eye. His heart raced. Sweat trickled down his back. He had to keep Alex talking to distract him. “How’s your friend?” Zack blurted, desperation leaking into his voice. “I heard he ain’t doing too well.”
“Heard the same about Amy. She’ll join you soon. I’ll make sure of it.”
Zack stiffened. “Shouldn’t you be trying to escape? Going after the girls will make sure you’re caught.” Kimmy would cart his miserable ass off to jail within minutes, but just the thought of Alex getting his hands on Amy or Susan made his blood boil.
Alex chuckled. “Don’t worr
y. I plan on keeping your pretty little girlfriend as a hostage. She’ll be all the insurance I need. Any last words?”
Panic rioted in his mind as numbing certainty settled in his chest. Kimmy was too far away. Alex was too close. These were his last seconds on Earth. Zack’s eyes flashed with hate. “Go to hell.”
“Only if you go first.” Alex curled his finger around the trigger.
Kimmy dove forward with the grace of an angry ballerina. Zack shoved away from the wall and flung himself to the side. A bullet skewered the window frame a fraction of an inch from his face.
Kimmy tackled Alex to the ground and sent his weapon flying through the air. She pinned him to the floor and trained her own pistol on his chest. “Don’t move.”
“Took you long enough.” Zack staggered to his feet as she radioed for backup.
“Are you okay?” She kept her gaze trained on Alex.
“I’m good.” Zack wrenched Alex’s thrashing arms behind his back. His face was taut with anger, and his wild eyes bulged. He acted as if he was being electrocuted. “Can I cuff him?” Zack asked.
“Knock yourself out. Make sure they’re good and tight.”
“Don’t you worry about that.” He snapped the cuffs around Alex’s wrists and tightened them as far as they would go.
Kimmy regarded Alex with a smug smile. “I guess there’s no point in reading you your rights, as you and I have already gone over those once today.”
“You’re going to pay for this, you bitch!” Alex howled. Half a dozen officers sprinted around the corner and surrounded him. “One day, I’m going to find you, and I’m going to kill you!” The officers dragged him off.
“All in a day’s work.” Kimmy smiled serenely and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
Zack gaped, stunned by her composure. “How many psychotic death threats do you regularly receive?”
“Oh, none as well crafted as that one.” She laughed musically. “They’re usually a little more vague. ‘I’m gonna find you and you’ll be sorry’ or ‘I’m gonna find you and you’ll regret this.’ I just say what the hell. I’m safe as long as they never find me.”
The corners of his mouth quirked up. “You better never go to prison.”
“Do I look like the type to end up behind bars?”
Zack surveyed her from head to toe. She had ditched her police uniform, was dressed entirely in black, and stood there smirking with multiple weapons clipped to her belt. “Yes, you do.” He winced internally. What idiot opens his mouth and says a cop belongs in jail? Her reaction was more musical laughter. He smiled. “How come you’re still here? Thought you got off duty a while ago.”
“I stayed to support Justin.” He raised his eyebrows and she giggled. “Also, there were no flights back to Vancouver until morning.”
“You’re from Vancouver too?”
“Yeah. Justin phoned me right after he received your call. I was a guest lecturer in one of his classes last semester. He knows I’m the best, most amazing tracker the RCMP has.”
“And most conceited,” Zack quipped.
“Want to take another ride in my squad car, Zack?” Her blue eyes danced with mirth.
“That would be a lot harder to explain to my parents than detention.” He chuckled. “I better go check on my friends before I say anything else that could land me in prison.”
“Try to avoid getting shot on the way there.”
“Don’t even joke.” He winced, imagining his mother’s reaction when she learned what had just happened. “Will you keep this under wraps for a while? Everyone has enough going on without adding my near-death experience to the mix.”
Kimmy nodded, her eyes full of understanding. “You’ll have to give your statement eventually, but I’ll tell my colleagues to hold off until morning.”
He smiled. “Thanks. For everything.”
Susan’s room was packed with guests. She and Chris were snuggled up in bed, exhausted and shockingly quiet for once. His mom and dad had chairs pulled up to Susan’s bedside, and Charles and his mother were sitting on the cot by the window. Zack shook his head. So much for keeping visitors to a minimum.
“Any news?” He joined Chris on the edge of Susan’s bed.
His dad ran a hand through his dark red hair, an agitated gesture. “Not yet. She’s still in a coma.”
“Justin and Clarisse went for coffee.” Susan forced a brave smile. “Chris and I think they like each other.” She made air quotes around the word like. “You know, they like, like each other!”
He managed a gentle smile. “Sue, I’m so glad you’re okay. Sorry I didn’t tell you earlier.”
“I know.” Her dove gray eyes brimmed with a depth of understanding older and wiser than her nine short years.
His heart swelled with love for her. This little girl would always be important to him. No one went through what they had been through without forming a bond. He had always wanted a little sister. Now he had one in spirit if not in name.
He turned to Charles. “You too, man. You were awesome.” Charles had saved his life, risking his own to do so. He was a solid dude.
Charles widened his eyes at Zack’s praise. “Thanks. I only wish …” He broke off. “Does anyone know what her chances are?”
Mrs. Donnellson wearily shook her head. “We have no idea at this point.”
Time dragged by, each agonizing minute more painful and hopeless than the last. Charles and his mother retired to Charles’s room. Susan and Chris fell asleep side by side. Justin and Clarisse returned with coffee for everyone. Mrs. Donnellson repeatedly tried to convince Zack to leave for a hotel. He repeatedly declined her offers. He was going to be there for Amy, no matter what happened.
A knock at the door sent Justin leaping to his feet. He threw it open to reveal the doctor from before. Zack’s heart took a plummeting nosedive. This was it. She had news of Amy.
“What happened?” Justin demanded. “Is my sister okay?”
The doctor smiled. A tidal wave of relief swept over Zack. “Ms. Evans is awake!”
The room erupted with cheers that woke Susan and Chris.
“Amy’s awake!” Justin squeezed his sister tight.
The doctor held up a cautionary hand. “As you know, Ms. Evans has been through a lot. She has two broken ribs and had extensive internal bleeding. She experienced several concussions in the space of a few hours, and she nearly drowned. She will need time to recover.”
“When can I see her?” Susan crawled to the edge of her bed, ready to charge down the hall in her cream-colored nightgown.
The doctor’s eyes twinkled, but her mouth remained firm. “Your sister can have visitors, but only one at a time. It would be best if you went to see her in the morning. You need rest as well.”
Susan obediently flopped back in bed. She’d go along with anything now Amy was safe.
Zack had an idiotic smile stuck on his face. Amy would be making snarky comments in no time, no doubt throughout her entire recovery. Justin followed the doctor from the room. Zack suppressed a pang of jealousy that her brother automatically got to visit her first.
Clarisse suggested a walk. They wandered Susan’s hospital floor in companionable silence. Zack wanted to tease her about Justin but lacked the energy. Amy was the only thing on his mind. They circled the floor twice before Justin returned.
“How is she?” Zack asked.
“Go see for yourself, man.” Justin gestured back the way he had come. “Follow the corridor until you reach the stairs. Go down two flights and her room is the first door on the left. Number 307. Keep it short, though. She’s exhausted.”
Amy wasn’t the only one. Justin’s eyelids drooped like it was a struggle to keep them open, and his shoulders slumped as if they bore the weight of the world. The insane events of the last twenty-four hours had caught up to him at last. Clarisse moved to his side, and Zack rushed to Amy’s room.
She sat propped in bed, her tiny frame dwarfed by beeping machines. She looked s
mall, fragile even. Zack seethed with anger at Alex and Assassin’s Honor. Amy was a natural-born fighter. It broke his heart to see her this way.
“Hey.” She managed a weak smile. “You coming in?”
He closed her door and crossed the distance between them in three long strides. “How you feeling?” He took her hand and knelt next to her bed.
“Oh, come on!” She drew out the words on an exasperated groan.
“What did I do this time? I’ve literally spoken to you for five seconds, and you’re already mad?”
Amy rolled her eyes. “You and Justin are acting like I’m made of glass. It’s annoying!”
“Sorry.” He ducked his head to hide his smile. “How shall I treat you?”
“Like normal,” she said grumpily. Nearly dying had not improved her mood.
His smile grew, affection for her making his heart swell. “Drop the attitude, okay? Let’s call a truce on annoying the hell out of each other.” She took a breath as if about to argue. He cut her off before she had the chance. “I’m insanely worried about you, okay? You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep pretending you’re fine. You don’t have to do that around me.” He squeezed her fingers and met her beautiful misty gray gaze. His heart skipped a beat at the tide of emotion he felt for her. This was no longer a game where Amy was a hard-to-win, short-term prize. This was terrifyingly, heart lurchingly real.
The moment fizzled into fiction at a blazing look from Amy. “Seriously, Zack, who do you think you are?” She yanked her hand from his. “Who are you to tell me how to feel? You don’t even know me, so how the hell do you think you know what’s best for me?” Her words stung. Worse still, they rang with truth. He and Amy had met a week ago. It was a stretch to even hope she felt the same. His heart squeezed with the loss of what never was and never would be. Amy’s furious gaze burned holes into his soul. “God! All you people are the same. Money doesn’t give you the right to walk around as though you’re better than everyone else.” Her voice rose as she built up steam. “Take away your fancy cars and your fancy clothes and your fancy freaking mansions and you’re just like the rest of us. You’re a spoiled jerk, and I hate you.”
Blood Moon's Fury: A Young Adult Fantasy Thriller (Curse of the Blood Moon Book 1) Page 25
