Blood Defense

FIFTY-SIX

That night, when the nurse told me I could leave, I was so happy I raised an arm to do a fist pump-and almost ripped out the IV needle. The nurse shook her head as she removed it. “I’m probably talking to myself right now, but you need to take it easy. Your body’s been through a lot.” I nodded and tried to look compliant.

Her expression told me she wasn’t fooled. She probably got lied to as much as I did.

When Alex arrived to pick us up that night, I told him I didn’t think I’d ever been happier to see anyone in my whole life. He’d parked at the back door, which was empty at that time of night, to make sure no one saw us leave. We made it to Alex’s place in no time, and when he opened the door, Michelle and I stood in the doorway and stared. His apartment, decorated in a modern, minimalist style, was sparkling clean. “You didn’t have to spiff up for us, Alex.”

He looked puzzled. “I didn’t.”

I looked around at the spotless kitchen, the dustless living room. “You will not be allowed to see my place unless you’re drunk.”

Alex smiled. “Don’t worry. I don’t judge. Much.” Then his smile faded. “Sit down. I’ve got some bad news.”

Michelle and I sank down on the beige sofa in the living room. I didn’t know if I could take it. “What now?”

“Someone broke into your apartment. It’s… pretty bad. I couldn’t tell if anything was missing. But the place was really turned upside down. It looked like they were searching for something. Did you keep any files there?”

My heart began to pound. “No.” The import of it hit me like a sucker punch. The tiny sliver of hope I’d had that the fire wasn’t meant for me vanished. But there was an upside to that. “Then I was right. We’re onto something.” And it had to be something we’d gotten recently-something the public would know about. I forced my tired brain to backtrack. “Storm.”

Michelle nodded, her face pale and pinched with fatigue. “Right.”

Alex nodded. “Did you ever find out what he told the reporters off the record?”

“No. He never called me back.” I paused. “And I’m not sure he did say anything off the record. But maybe he didn’t need to.”

Michelle rubbed her temples. “That’s true. If we’re right about this, he obviously said enough to make someone think he was a threat.”

Alex narrowed his eyes. “And Storm might know more than you-or he even realizes.”

I agreed. “But given what he said to the press, we know one thing for sure: my theory that Paige was the target must be close to the mark.”

Alex met my gaze. “Exactly.”

But that made it clear I couldn’t stay here. “I think I’d better go to a hotel, Alex. If they could find my apartment, they could find-”

“No, they couldn’t. Because I know how to hide.” He gave me a pointed look. “Remember how we met, Samantha.” He’d hidden those two BMWs beautifully. “No one knows where I live except my uncle. You’re safe here.”

“But we’ve got to tell the cops,” Michelle said.

“And we will,” I said. “Just not yet. Whoever’s after me won’t know where I am until I go back to court. That means we have tomorrow. And it’s all we’ve got, so I want to use it.” I’d been too thrashed to feel anything but pain and exhaustion. But now that I was better, I had energy to spare for anger, and it felt like a red-hot spike in my gut. Someone had tried to kill us-and destroy our evidence. And whoever that was wanted me to run and hide. Well, to hell with that. “I’m not just going to let the asshole who did this back me down. I don’t know if it’ll pan out. I just know I’ve got to see it through.” I looked from Alex to Michelle. “But you guys don’t have to go with me. This is my insanity. I don’t want to drag you down with me.”

Michelle still looked pale, but she shook her head. “Save it. I-” She had a coughing fit. When she’d recovered, she took a deep breath. “I’m going.”

Alex gave her a skeptical look. “Uh-huh.”

She waved him off. “I’ll be fine. One good night’s sleep away from that damn hospital and I’ll be good as new. What time are we getting up?”

I pulled my phone out of my purse. It was ten thirty. “I’d like to aim for seven thirty. Sound okay?”

They both nodded. Alex looked from me to Michelle. “Okay. You two can either share the foldout couch in the guest room, or one of you can sleep on this one.” He pointed to the sofa we were sitting on. It was nice to look at, but it was hard.

Michelle and I exchanged a look. “We’ll share,” I said.

We talked for a little while about our plans for tomorrow, then called it a night.

Michelle and I hadn’t shared a bed since we were in ninth grade, and I was always leery of sleeping with someone because I never knew when I’d wake up screaming. But it wasn’t a problem. We were so tired, we fell asleep within seconds, and I didn’t wake up until Alex knocked on the door the next morning.