As the pressure from the cuff on my upper arm began to fade, the baby began to get active. My hand instinctively began to rub.
“Go home, take off those heels. Elevate your feet,” Naomi’s tone became demanding. “Your blood pressure is fine but I still want to watch it. Youre feet are swollen and they need rest.”
“I will change shoes but I can’t rest, the clubs…”
Naomi’s eyes cut to me. I through up my hands relenting.
“Fine…I’ll delegate a few more tasks.”
“Good. I will see you in three weeks for another check up.”
“Still on for brunch this weekend?”
“Planning on it for sure.”
Naomi became a blur of scrubs and her white coat as she gave her reply. I lay back on the table for just a few minutes and took a deep breath. The baby could hear every word now. His auditory system was developing. Softly, I began to sing a lullaby that came out of nowhere. I couldn’t quite remember the words, just recalled it from somewhere deep in my memories.
Finally summoning the energy, I eased down from the table and went to the front desk.
“Mrs. Scarpetta, we have you in for the end of August. Does that work for you,” the receptionist asked.
“Yes, that sounds good.”
“Aright just let me key that in and you should be getting the text at any minute. If you need to make any changes for the date give us a ring.”
Nodding, I began to walk away; my phone vibrated with the appointment time. My appetite was picking up, it seemed, and the only thing I could think of was food. My tummy gave a rumble, and I didn’t know if it was me or the baby.
Fumbling in the purse to find the keys, the hot arid heat of the parking deck hit me. A few cars drove by and honked at each other and then the quiet hit. My thumb stroked the remote start on the car, dreaming of the air conditioner already, my foot had just stepped off the curb when a force pushed me backwards. My back collided with the metal doors of the elevator.
My ears were ringing so hard, and debris was flying everywhere. I couldn’t move my legs. I couldn’t hear anything as smoke and ash began to surround me. Chunks of concrete had flown by my head.
An explosion!
Panic filled my body, my hands going to my stomach. All the strength that I’d had was gone. The wind had been completely knocked out of my sails and the smell of burning singed hair filled my nose.
There was nothing I could do to stop my eyes from rolling to the back of my head. And then an inky blackness over took me. My last thoughts were of the lullaby and where I knew it from. My mother had hummed it while we played tea when I was a little girl in the summers picnicking in the backyard.
She had hummed it while she was pregnant with my brother.
Chapter 4
Thierry
I heard about the explosion on the radio. I’d been tailing a few of Alistair’s boys but they’d been the wrong ones. The alert had went across the radio just as they made a sharp turn and I was forced to keep going straight. I watched as they kept right and up a road before disappearing out of my sight.
“Damn it,” I sighed.
“And this is just coming in!” the daytime DJ announced. “There was an explosion at Atlanta Metro Mercy hospital an hour ago. Details are still coming in but the police have released a statement saying that this was a deliberate attack.”
I already knew that Diamond had had an appointment today.
I drove like a bat out of hell getting to the hospital. Traffic was already bad but as I neared the hospital entire blocks had been shut down. The police had set up a radius to keep cars out. I had no choice but h to wind up parking pretty far away. Walking in the Georgia heat had me rethinking my entire existence. I had on a black hoodie, and jeans. There was humidity in the air but luckily, I was going for a bum like appearance.
I found an entrance and attempted to go in.
“Hold on son!” A cop appeared out of nowhere.
Pausing I stopped. “Yes, officer?”
