by W. J. May
He had showed up today because of her. This had happened in her house—just down the freaking hall! She hadn’t come out to stop it because she and Devon… What if he had heard them? What had happened?
Silent tears slipped down and landed on their enjoined hands.
“Great,” she whispered. “Now I’m crying on you.” She reached down to wipe them away when she noticed something crinkled up in Luke’s fist. A paper of some kind. Something he’d obviously been trying to deliver. Something he’d attempted to hide when he was attacked.
As delicately as she could, she extracted it from his sleeping fingers. It was crinkled up and torn, but there was definitely writing on the back of it. Scribbled in a rushed hand. She was about to unfold it when heavy footfalls told her the doctors were on their way in. Instead, she stuffed it into the back pocket of her jeans and kissed Luke swiftly on the cheek.
“You’re going to make it through this just fine,” she promised quietly. “And I’m going to be right here when you wake up.”
“I’m sorry, Miss Kerrigan, we need to take him away now.”
“Okay,” she got to her feet, “thanks again for letting me come inside.”
She watched as they lifted him from one bed to the next and rolled him away towards the restricted doors at the end of the hall. A lump rose up in her throat, but she kept herself together and made herself watch until he had completely disappeared.
She would find out who did this, she swore it to herself like she’d sworn to him. An attack on one of her friends was an attack on her. She would not let it go unnoticed. She would not let Luke bleed for nothing. Whoever was responsible was out there, probably planning their next move.
The crumpled paper pressed hard against her skin and the tatù on her back seemed to almost burn in anticipation.
Whoever they were, whatever they wanted…she would be waiting for them.
Chapter 10
Leaving one man bleeding in the room behind her, Rae went off to find another bleeding in a room down the hall. She didn’t know what, if anything, was on this mysterious note burning a hole in her pocket, but she did know one thing for sure. She couldn’t face it alone.
Devon was sitting up in a stiff upholstered chair, watching as a bloody tube coming out of his arm filled up a small plastic bag hanging over his head. Two more bags were already filled and lying on a counter beside him.
“Hey.” Rae tried to smile as she slipped inside and perched on the counter, careful not to disturb the bags. “How’s it going in here? How’re you feeling?”
“Oh,” Devon smiled faintly in return, “good, everything’s going good. How’s Luke?”
“They just wheeled him into surgery.” Rae frowned, examining Devon. His eyes were slightly unfocused and his head kept tilting sleepily to the left. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
Devon blinked slowly and stared at her for a bit longer than what was normal before answering. “I’m fine. They just took quite a bit of blood is all.” He played absentmindedly with the edge of his shirt and swung his legs against the base of the chair like a small child.
Rae couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, boy.” She hopped off the counter and ran her fingers comfortingly through his dark hair. “Looks like you’re pretty out of it, huh?”
Devon closed his eyes and grinned as she continued stroking his forehead. “That feels nice.”
“You know, you probably saved Luke’s life by doing this.” Her eyes tightened. “I…I don’t really know how to thank you.”
“Just keep doing what you’re doing.” Devon had the same sleepy smile on his face. “But don’t talk so fast—it’s hard to keep up.”
Rae stifled a chuckle as the nurse came in.
“All right Mr. Wardell,” she said, all business-like, “time to get you unhooked.” She gently extracted the needle and took down the bag above his head before suddenly noticing the two more sitting on the counter. “What’s this?” she demanded, gesturing to them. “Are those yours? Who on earth let you donate three whole pints?!”
Devon’s head lolled to the side and he regarded the nurse with mischievous triumph. “I conned the other two nurses who came in before you—told them I was still waiting to donate.”
Rae smacked his shoulder in disbelief. “Why the hell did you do that? That’s dangerous!”
“Ow.” He rubbed at the bruise pitifully. “They said Luke was in bad shape—that he needed a lot and they didn’t have it in the blood bank. I just wanted to help…”
His voice trailed off and Rae and the nurse shared an exasperated, mildly panicked look.
“I’ll just…go and get him a cookie and some juice,” the nurse volunteered quickly. She apparently wasn’t eager for the administration to discover her co-workers’ mistakes. “You just sit tight, honey.”
“Like I’m going to go anywhere,” Devon muttered as she vanished through the door.
Despite the dramatic loss of blood, he kept his eyes open and tried to sharpen up and look alive as he stared around the room. His fingers pulled distractedly at the gauze the nurse had placed in the crook of his elbow and Rae was quick to stop him. He didn’t even notice.
“That was a really dumb idea,” she said gently, squeezing his hand. “What am I supposed to do with a boyfriend that displays constant selfless disregard for his own well-being?”
Devon smiled again, peering up at her as he rested his head against the chair. “You called me your boyfriend.”
Rae’s cheeks flushed, but she didn’t break eye contact. “Well, after what happened this afternoon, I’d certainly hope you are.”
“Is that right?” He squeezed her hand back and winked. “Well then, your boyfriend I will have to be.” They held each other for a moment, before his face grew suddenly serious. “So when will you know anything about Luke? What did they say was wrong with him?”
Rae sighed. “It’s a brain bleed. They’re doing surgery to relieve the pressure. It’s supposed to take a couple of hours.”
Devon nodded calmly. “Okay, well we’ll be here. You can be right here when he wakes up.”
“You don’t have to be so nice about it,” Rae muttered, staring down at her hands. “I know you don’t like him. You don’t have to, I mean, you were draining yourself of blood just to—”
“Hey,” he cut her off. “Your friends are my friends. Your problems are my problems. Since Luke is one of your friends,” he put a slight emphasis on the last word, “I’ll always do whatever I can to help. For you, Rae.”
For you, Rae. That was exactly the problem.
A sudden wave of guilt crashed over her and she pulled away. “Please don’t be rushing off to get yourself hurt on my account. There’s been quite enough of that lately.”
Devon frowned. “Honey, this wasn’t your fault.”
“And how’s that?” Rae demanded. “I asked Luke to dig through the Xavier Knights files on my mom. I almost set fire to his apartment when I met up with him in London to get the box, and I asked him to check on the security feeds from the night she went missing.”
“How did you almost set fire to his apartment—”
“It’s not important, Devon. What’s important is the one common denominator in all of these problems is me. I mean…Lanford, Kraigan. I’m the one repeatedly putting everyone around me in danger.”
Devon frowned. “You can’t think of it like that. Lanford and Kraigan put everyone in danger, not you. You didn’t ask for any of this. The whole time I’ve known you, you’ve only ever wanted to do the right thing. Find out who you are.”
“But at what cost?” Rae wiped a dot of blood off his smooth skin. “I never wanted anyone to get hurt.” She gave him an appraising stare for a second, before reaching into her pocket and pulling out the folded piece of paper.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“It was crumpled up in Luke’s hand,” she explained. “I think he was trying to bring it to me when he was attacked. I think this is what they were aft
er. Well, this and my mom’s files.”
Devon tried to pull himself up straighter. “What does it say?”
“I don’t know, I can’t bring myself to look.” Rae tucked her hair nervously behind her ears. “It doesn’t feel right somehow. With Luke still in surgery.”
“Rae, Luke’s lying there because he risked everything trying to give this to you. You have to open it. You owe it to him!”
Rae hadn’t thought of it that way. She’d just assumed that the search would continue once Luke was in the clear. But Devon was right. What was Luke’s sacrifice for, if not this?
With trembling fingers, she unfolded the paper and looked down at the rapid script below. It was an address, preceded by a few scribbled words in Luke’s hand:
There’s somebody here I think you should meet:
559 Rue Étoiles
Marquise, FR
It couldn’t be…could it?
Rae read the little note over and over, gripping the paper so tight the edge of it started to tear. After all this time, after all of the blood and tears it took to get to this point, had Luke just confirmed what her heart had been screaming at her for the last few days?
Was her mother really alive?
“Is that what I think it is?” Devon had been reading over her shoulder but fell back against the pillow in an exsanguinated haze. “Is your mom in France?”
Rae took a deep breath. Her tatù glowed warmly again and a slow smile crept up the side of her face. “There’s only one way to find out.”
* * *
“Really Devon, of all the days for you to go and drain all your blood.”
Rae was shuffling along, toeing a clumsy and exhausted Devon along beside her. She had thrown his arm over her shoulder, but despite her strength tatù, they were still struggling.
“Oh I’m sorry,” he slurred. “I’m sorry that this came at a bad time for you. Maybe the next time I decide to save your friend’s life, I’ll make sure it’s scheduled for your convenience.”
Scheduled for your convenience?
Rae shot him a tortured glance out of the corner of her eye, but said nothing. Typical luck, really. Now that she finally had a concrete address (hopefully her mother’s) in France, she was literally limping towards it at a crawl. Furthermore, she had no idea how they were supposed to get out of the city with the gridlocked traffic blocking every street. Not to mention, Devon—while trying to get out of the chair and failing four times—had told her that Carter had driven him and Jennifer to the hospital in his own car, so if they wanted to get to France, they’d have to take a cab.
Could cabs legally cross the Chunnel? How much would that even cost?
Devon took that moment to trip on his own shoe, and they both almost went down before Rae pulled them back up to standing.
Nope, right now, their luck pretty much sucked all around.
“Karen?”
Rae and Devon kept shuffling down the hall.
“Karen!”
Oh shit, that’s me!
Rae whirled around to see the future Queen of England waving at her from a restricted room on the other side of the hall. Flanking her on all sides were a dozen or so bodyguards, suited and unsmiling, little corkscrew cords coming out of radios stuck deep in their ears. Standing behind them all, like a watchful mountain, was the young lady’s personal bodyguard, Alfie.
“Sarah?”
Rae limped into the room, tugging Devon along behind her. If the image struck the bodyguards as strange, they certainly didn’t let on. In fact, they made no move as Rae and Devon approached Sarah’s examination chair—they must not have looked like much of a threat.
Rae’s eyes grew wide as she looked at the future queen. “Sarah, what are you doing here?”
Sarah turned to Alfie with what looked almost like muted triumph. “That’s a damn good question. What am I doing here, Alfie?”
Alfie turned beet red but kept his eyes forward. “We’re covering all our bases, miss.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Alfie decided that even though I’m just fine, I had to come in and be seen by a doctor for residual drug effects after the attack at the ball.”
That actually sounded quite logical to Rae, but she kept her mouth shut since Sarah was clearly not having it. Instead, she took a brief moment to draw a mental comparison between herself and this future queen. Physically, they were complete opposites. Both were slender and petite, but while Sarah was blond and blue-eyed, Rae’s dark raven hair cascaded around her shoulders in unruly curls. Both had important, exclusive jobs—the Privy Council and the Royal Family—but while Sarah’s duties would entail a lot of ribbon-cutting and policy discussion, Rae was constantly in the line of fire. Dodging psychotic teachers and family members—rescuing her boyfriend from the brink of death as she broke into a museum and tried to locate a missing brainwashing device.
Actually, she wondered if Sarah could officially pardon her for the whole museum thing…
But now was not the time.
“Well, I’m sure it will be over and done with before you know it,” Rae said quickly, while trying not to be rude. “I wish you the best of luck. And, I believe we’re supposed to see each other to go over your new security measures on Monday, correct?”
“Yes that’s correct but…” Sarah’s inquisitive eyes travelled briefly over the tired bruises under Rae’s eyes and came to rest on Devon, half-sleeping on top of her. “Is everything…all right?”
“This?” Rae stepped on Devon’s foot and his eyes snapped back open. “Oh yes, everything’s fine. Just a little training exercise gone awry. You know how these things go.”
She was rambling. She rambled when she was nervous.
She made a concerted effort to stop talking as Sarah briefly studied her face. Even in a hospital gown, Sarah still looked like royalty. She was sitting on the exam table with perfect posture, like it was already a throne. When she spoke, her voice demanded nothing but strict, immediate compliance. “Gentlemen, leave us.”
As one, the bodyguards filed out of the room, taking up position outside, no doubt. Only Alfie stayed behind. Staring calmly ahead as if the rules didn’t apply to him.
“Alfie…” Sarah coaxed. He looked at her, startled, and she gave him a sweet smile. “I need to speak to my friends for a moment.”
“Absolutely not,” he said without hesitation.
Sarah stifled a fond smile. “You know I outrank you, right?”
“No, miss. That was never explained to me.”
She chuckled and pointed to the door. “Out. I’ll be perfectly safe with these two. And we’ll only be a moment, you have my word.”
With a look of the utmost disapproval, Alfie slowly walked out the door—keeping his head held high. On the way out, he glanced down at Rae and Devon, still struggling to stand.
“Not sure they’d be much help in terms of protecting…” he murmured, and shut the door.
Once the three of them were alone, Sarah smiled graciously and gestured for Rae and Devon to sit. “Please, get off your feet. It looks like he needs it,” she added quietly.
With a grateful nod, Rae lowered Devon into a chair before sinking into one herself. She hadn’t realized how exhausted she was until she got off her feet for a moment.
“Now tell me,” Sarah leaned forward with a look of genuine concern, “what’s going on?”
“It has nothing to do with you,” Rae quickly reassured her. “It’s…personal.” She was about to let it go with that, but the weight of the last two days suddenly caught up with her and felt the uncontrollable need to spill. “It’s about my mother.”
“Your mother?” Sarah repeated. “I thought…pardon me, Karen, but I thought your mother had passed away.”
“So did I. So did everybody. And…it’s Rae, actually.”
“Rae.” Sarah grinned. “Please continue.”
“Last night I got word that while my father surely died in the fire, my mother might actually be alive and living in Fran
ce. I got the address just now from a friend who almost died trying to pass me the information… Devon and I are on our way there right now. Well,” she glanced down at him dozing on the counter beside her, “we’re trying our best.”
Sarah followed her gaze. “What’s wrong with him,” she whispered.
Rae shook her head with a smile. “It’s a long story. But he’ll be right as rain once we get his blood sugar back up. And his blood level…for that matter.”
Sarah nodded as if this was the most normal thing in the world. But she suddenly looked down at her hospital gown as if it was a cage, keeping her there.
“This is so frustrating,” she murmured. “I want to help you—the two of you have done so much for Philip and me. But with the press outside watching my every move, I don’t know how I can be of much use…”
Rae shook her head quickly. “Don’t worry about it—I would never ask that of you. You just focus on keeping yourself safe. We’ll see you on Monday.”
But Sarah was in her own world, lost in thought. “There’s nothing I can do…” she repeated, “but maybe there’s something I can give you to help.” Her face suddenly brightened as she called, “Alfie! Stop eavesdropping and get in here!”
The door burst open and Alfie rushed in on a wave of adrenaline, gun drawn and pointed. “What is it?! What’s the matter?!”
“I wish you’d stop doing that,” Sarah said seriously.
“Sorry mum, old habits.”
He headed over to her side and leaned down as she whispered something in his ear. He frowned disapprovingly, but she raised her eyebrows to insist, and without a word, he headed out a back entrance to the parking lot. Half a minute later, he returned and slipped something into Sarah’s hands, something Sarah immediately offered to Rae.
“Flags?” Rae held out the tiny patriotic flags and waved them doubtfully. “Look, I know that since you’re so close to a royal wedding and a coronation you’re probably a bit overwhelmed with nationalistic fervor, but I don’t see how this—”