one of the people was Adam.
She wet her lips with her tongue. “Adam?”
He whirled around so fast he nearly lost his balance. Then he
was at her side and he lifted her hand and held it hard between his
two large ones. She felt the calluses on his palms.
“What’s going on? Where are we? I dreamed I saw Detective
Gordon, you know, that cop who hates me?”
“Yes, I know. She left just a little while ago. She’ll be back, but
later, when you’ve got it together again. You’re going to be all right,
Becca. There’s nothing to worry about. Just take it easy and breathe
nice shallow, light breaths. That’s right. Does your head hurt?”
She thought about that. “No, not really, it’s just that I’m all fuzzy.
Even you’re kind of fuzzy, Adam. I’m so glad to see you. I thought
I was going to die, that I’d never see you again. I couldn’t bear it.
Where are we?”
He lightly touched his fingertip to her cheek. “You’re at New
York University Hospital. The guy who took you from your bed in
Jacob Marley’s house, the guy who was holding you, he shoved you
out of his car right in front of One Police Plaza.”
“It was Krimakov?”
“We believe so. At least it’s a strong possibility.”
She said, “I asked him if he was Krimakov but he wouldn’t answer
me. We’re in New York City?”
“Yes. You did see Detective Gordon. She was one of the cops
who came running. It was early in the afternoon, bunches of
people around, lots of cops heading out for lunch. Detective Gordon
was there because she had some meetings with the Narcotics
Division.”
“My lucky day,” Becca said.
“Damn, I’m sorry, Becca, so sorry. I really fucked up and just
look what happened.”
She heard the awful guilt in his voice, the fear, and finally, overlaying
all of it, the relief that she was alive. He couldn’t be as relieved
as she was. “It’s okay, Adam, really.”
“Hi, Becca.”
She smiled up at Sherlock and Savich, one on either side of her
hospital bed. “We’re sure glad to see you.”
“Me, too. I thought you were in Riptide.”
“We can move quickly when we have to,” Sherlock said, lightly
patting Becca’s shoulder. “Dillon got a call from Tellie Hawley, the
SAC at the New York City office. Tellie told him what happened.
We got here three hours later.”
“What happened to him? Did they get him?”
Sherlock said,”Unfortunately, no. There was mass confusion. He
shoved you out of the car, then jumped out while the car was still
rolling and disappeared into the crowd. The car hit three other
people before it smashed into a fire hydrant and drenched another
fifty people. It was a zoo. We’ve gotten some descriptions, but no
one agrees with anyone else so far.”
He was still out there, free. She felt flattened. “So he got away
again,” she said, and wanted to shriek with the helplessness that
flooded her.
Adam was clearing his throat. “We’ll get him, Becca. You’ve got
to believe that. Now, there’s someone here for you to meet.”
Her head came up, fast. “Please, no doctors, Adam. I hate doctors.
Oh, God, so did my mother.” And she started crying. She
didn’t know where all the tears came from, but they were there,
swamping her, and she was sobbing, tears streaming down her face,
and she wanted her mother desperately. “My mom died in a hospital,
Adam. She hated it, then she just didn’t care because she was
in a coma. No one could do anything. She died in a hospital just
like this one.” The tears kept coming, she couldn’t stop them.
Then suddenly someone was holding her, drawing her close, and
a man’s dark, smooth voice said next to her ear, “It’s all right, my
darling girl. It’s all right.”
And she stilled. Strong arms were around her. She felt his heart
pounding rhythmically, powerful and steady against her cheek.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to carry on like this. I miss my mother. I
loved her so much and she died. There isn’t anyone else for me.”