Page 139 of Hard Heart

Spider still had her comms unit. “Get the damn EMTs here, or I’ll shoot those cowards myself.”

That’s my girl. With somebody competent finally on the scene, Jez closed her eyes and drifted into darkness.

CHAPTER 43

SERAFINA

“I don’t really remember what happened,” Flora said. “How did I get here?”

“What do you remember?”

Dice had changed out of the GI Jane outfit she’d been wearing earlier, and she must have taken a shower to wash off all the dirt and soot and blood too. Now she was dressed in black jeans and a white shirt, and she looked vaguely official enough that Flora hadn’t questioned the woman’s presence at her bedside.

“Not much? Two people came over to me after customs and said there was a problem with my luggage, and they needed to speak with me privately. But then we ended up by the bathrooms, and the woman shoved me inside one of them.”

“Did they give their names?”

“No, but they had badges, so they must have worked at the airport. Right?”

“There have been some instances of tourists being targeted for their valuables. You had a little bump on the head, so you’ve been brought to the hospital as a precaution.”

Going along with the lies Dice was telling my sister made me uncomfortable, but it wasn’t as difficult as telling her the truth would be. Flora cracked easily under pressure, and if she realised she’d been kidnapped by two psychos so they could use her as a bargaining chip in a larger crime, she’d never sleep soundly again.

Neither would I.

Spider had told me to stay in the car, which I managed for about thirty seconds, but did she honestly expect me to sit on the sidelines while my sister was in trouble? I’d walked into a war zone. Bodies strewn on the ground, a burned-out vehicle smoking, men running around with guns and night-vision goggles as a helicopter swooped overhead. Then I’d spotted Jerry Knight, although it had taken me a long moment to realise who she was. Only her hair had been vaguely recognisable. The rest of her body was bruised and bloody, and she’d groaned as a team of medics lifted her onto a stretcher.

My mind and body had betrayed me for the second time that day, and I’d found myself loaded into an ambulance as well, sharing with Flora, who was sleeping peacefully as chaos raged all around. I hated that she’d been drugged, but at the same time, I was glad for it. Jerry was in surgery now, I knew that much. Flora just needed a few hours of rest.

“No way? But I didn’t even have any valuables. Well, only my iPhone and an e-reader—I left my laptop at home because I’m supposed to be on holiday. Did they take my stuff?”

“We’ve recovered most of it. Your suitcase was damaged when they forced it open, so you’ll need a replacement.”

“Oh no! Sera gave it to me for my birthday, and this was the first time I used it.”

“We’ll buy a new one,” I assured her. “It’s just a suitcase.”

“How long do I have to stay here?”

“The doctors want to keep you in overnight for observation.” Mainly because they weren’t sure what those beasts had used to drug her.

“We’ll arrange transportation to your accommodation in the morning.” Dice offered a wry smile. “Welcome to the United States.”

“Did you catch the people who did it?”

“They won’t be doing it again, ma’am.”

Because they were dead. They were dead, but the circumstances were hazy, and the police had been held back at a cordon, kept in the dark—quite literally—as some other agency assumed control of the scene. There would be no trial. No need for Flora to testify. I didn’t know all the details, and perhaps I never would. Officially, my sweet little sister had been robbed at the airport by opportunistic thieves, and the pair responsible had perished in the subsequent police chase.

I kept telling myself that the lies were for the best.

That I needed to protect my family.

But I was also terrified because Dice said the man on the ground with half his head missing was the man who’d killed Ruby, and if we couldn’t offer him up as an alternative suspect, that meant we’d be reliant on the video casting enough doubt on Levi’s conviction to gain him his freedom. I knew he wasn’t a murderer, everyone knew he wasn’t a murderer, and yet the law allowed so few remedies after so long had passed.

I jumped as my phone vibrated in my hand. Levi was calling. He’d asked whether he should, whether I’d be too busy with Flora, but I’d told him I wanted to hear his voice. And now I had no idea what to say to him.

“I just need to take this,” I said to Flora.