She reaches for the phone on the nightstand and answers, still half-tucked beneath my arm. “Hello?” Her face scrunches, and her tone turns cautious. “Hello?” She pulls the phone away and glances at the screen before pressing it back to her ear. “Hello? I can’t?—”
The color visibly drains from her face in an instant, like someone flipped a switch. Not only does her skin go pale, but her eyes widen and become unfocused. She shakes against me, like the floor just dropped out from under her.
“Blake?” I nudge her gently, though my tone is rough, trying to garner her attention. When she doesn’t reply, I sit up and take the phone from her trembling fingers. I put it on speaker without thinking, and the broken, terrified cries of a woman fill the room, turning my blood to ice.
“Say hello.” A deep male voice carries through the phone. His tone is calm and cruel, completely unaffected by the screams of the woman beside him.
“Buh… Blake…” the woman cries weakly, her voice raw.
A sound that is somewhere between a gasp and a sob escapes Blake. “Zahra!” she exclaims, slapping her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God… Zahra.”
My vision tunnels as the man leisurely speaks again, every muscle in my body going rigid. “Do we have your attention now, Dr. Hart? Doesthisjog your memory?”
“Yes,” Blake chokes before pleading, “Please! Please don’t hurt her!”
A dark, low chuckle filters through the speaker. “Far too late. We’re almost done with her, though. We’ll leave her at the hospital. If you hurry, she’ll still be alive. Maybe.” Without another word, the line goes dead. For a half second, there is nothing but silence.
I shove from the bed, and Blake immediately follows, her hands shaking violently as she drags on a pair of pants, struggling with the zipper and button. Her breaths come in short, panicked gasps as she readies to leave, babbling almost incoherently. “Zahra… Fuck… Oh, God, Zahra.”
Not bothering to lace or tie my boots, I grab my car keys from her desk. I don’t ask questions or demand answers.There will be time for that later. Right now, every instinct in my body is screaming for us to move. “Blake. Hey. Look at me.” When she doesn’t, I catch her wrist gently. My touch snaps her from her haze, grounding her slightly. With my eyes not leaving hers, I softly instruct, “I need you to put your shoes on. We’re going. We’re going to get to her.”
She nods frantically, her eyes glossy with fear. Without bothering to untie them, she wiggles her feet into each of her sneakers. I take her hand and lead her to the Jeep parked across the street from her building. “Seatbelt,” I insist before shutting her door.
The drive to the hospital is a blur. Speed is inconsequential as I race through the narrow roads of Jadiriah. My hand is clamped around Blake’s so tightly I’m afraid I might be hurting her, but she grips it back like I’m the only thing tethering her to her sanity.
“Zahra… Please… God, please…” she whispers over and over like a prayer.
I give her hand a tender squeeze. “We’re almost there. Just a couple more minutes.”
“I did this…” she mutters to herself, solemnly shaking her head as my words fall on deaf ears. “I’m sorry…”
The hospital comes into view, looming ahead like hope and a threat wrapped in cracked concrete. Blake unbuckles her seatbelt and grabs for her door handle as I begin to slow. “Blake,” I bark, reaching for her and slamming on the brakes, as she slips from my grasp and out of the Jeep.
“Zahra!” she screams, sprinting through the parked cars and looking for her friend, as fear and fury tear through me in equal measure.
I barely remember getting out of Jagger’s Jeep. I’m on autopilot, propelled by terror, instinct, and a bone-deep certainty that if I don’t find hernow, something irreversible will happen. My feet feel like they are dragging through mud as I run.
“Zahra!” I scream, my voice cracking apart as it tears through the parking lot. “Zahra!” The asphalt is hot beneath my shoes, and my lungs burn with every sharp breath. I race between the cars, each of them an obstacle in this nightmare of a maze.
This is my fault.The thought slams into me with brutal clarity, knocking the air from my already struggling lungs. I ignored every warning. Justified each and every risk. I’ve been telling myselffor weeksthat I am strong enough, smart enough, and careful enough to handle this on my own. ThatIwould be okay. Not once did I think that something like this would happen. That I would put the people I care about at risk.
“Zahra!” I scream again, my breathless cries hoarse, panic shredding my throat raw. Rounding a dark SUV, I catch a glimpse of a bare foot. “Oh, God!” I cry at the sight. Zahra is slumped against the truck tire at the far edge of the lot. Dressed in nothing but a bloody and tattered scrub top, her body is folded over itself; someone literally dumped her here like garbage. Like this beautiful and amazing woman means nothing. “No… no…. no…”
Dropping to my knees before her, I sob, “Zahra.” My hands hover over her body, the doctor in me wanting to assess the damage, but the friend is terrified I’m going to hurt her further. Her lips are split, and her face is swollen, the left eye almost hidden beneath the deep purple bruise surrounding it. Dry, crusted blood coats her upper thighs, and my stomach lurches violently at the thought of how it got there.
“I’m here, Zahra. I’m here,” I choke on my words. “I’m so sorry…”
Her eyelids flutter, barely opening. “Blake,” she croaks through a shallow breath. Her chest rattles as she struggles to draw another one.
I’ve spent years learning how to compartmentalize. How to treat the injury without seeing the person on the other end. But this is my best friend. All I can do isfeel. I cup her face tenderly, tears blurring my vision. “I’m here. You’re not alone. I’ve got you.”
She looks at me, her lips trembling as she struggles to hold her focus on me. “I didn’t tell them,” she whispers, the words slurred. “They don’t know where…”
“Oh, Zahra…” I sob, pressing my lips to her forehead. “You shouldn’t have had to protect me. This is my fault. I did this to you.”
“No…” Zahra’s head lightly shakes in my hands before falling lax in them.
Her eyes roll back, and a scream rips out of my chest. “No! No… Stay with me,” I plead. “Please…”
