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My hand tightens on Luis’ arm. To hear that my body is missing organs and have no memory of how it happened is more than disconcerting. My throat wants to close up.
“Lastly, we are running some tests. A simple PAP, tests for various STIs, and some basic blood work. Dr. Franks already started you on the appropriate cocktail of medications, so you are all done here.” She hands me a card. “This is the name of a therapist that specializes in sexual assault, specifically assault that happens unconsciously, such as drug or alcohol-induced unconsciousness. I understand that’s not quite the same as your experience, but I believe they would be able to help you process, if you're open to it.”
Finally finished, she smiles at me kindly and looks around at all of the men surrounding my bedside. Jackson is shuffling his feet. Lukas rakes his hands through his hair. Bennet’s arms are folded, a dark look in his eyes. Micah stares at the evidence bag like he could make it burst into flames. Luis calmly holds my hand, his jaw clenched.
The trauma nurse asks me one last time if I have any questions, and hands me a form to sign. I pause for a moment, but shakily sign the name “Mia Anderson”. I stare at the blank space for the date of birth.
Bennet bends down to whisper, “January 19, 1999”.
After the trauma nurse leaves, Dr. Franks comes by to check in on me. He is exceedingly impressed by my progress and suggests I try to stand if I’m feeling up to it. The idea of not needing another catheter has me eyeing the distance to the small ensuite bathroom. Nurse Irene sees what I’m about and warns me that we’ll be taking it one step at a time, but I am determined.
Luis smirks next to me, and it feels like approval.
It might be immature, insane, or just pathetic, but having them here makes me more determined. I don’t want to be seen as weak or an obligation, I need to show them whatever strength I possess.
As much as I don’t want them to leave my side, I want them to know they can walk away if they need to.
Jackson
A big part of me wants to stay behind when the nurse shoos us out of the room to let our girl have some privacy. She looks to be putting on a brave face, but it’s pretty obvious that she was upset by what she overheard. Luis was smart, proclaiming himself to be Mr. Anderson before anyone else could. Not gonna lie, I wish I had thought of it myself.
As we walk out of the room, Micah pulls up an arm and smacks Lukas on the back of his head.
“What the hell would you say that for?” He whisper-yells at Lukas, obviously pissed off about Lukas’ comments. I raise my eyebrows, but give them space to argue. To be honest, I felt like he deserved the smack. Jackass.
“What?” Lukas looks around for support. Bennet ignores him, putting his phone to his ear once again and walking off down the hallway.
“You know what.” I deadpan, walking past them and into the lounge.
Starting a cup of much-needed coffee, I roll my shoulders and try to shake out some tension. Bennet comes in a moment later and says we all need to talk.
I’m not sure how I can tell, because Bennet always has his serious face on, but his facial expression says shit is about to get real. Or real-er. More real?
Everyone takes a seat and looks at Bennet, waiting for him to spill what’s so important.
“We’ll have to catch Luis up later if he’s interested. A lot is going on and we need to make plans.”
I am all ears, noticing how everyone is leaning forward in their seats, giving Bennet their full attention. It sort of makes sense how he’s basically a master of the world. I’d probably buy anything he tried to sell me.
“First of all, I have confirmation that people are in fact after… her. Shortly before she arrived at the ER, three men in uniforms approached the front desk. They were inquiring about a young woman that fits her description - young, white, shoulder-length blonde hair. They had a picture of her.”
Well, shit.
“I was able to make some calls and confirmed that similar inquiries were made at three other hospitals, all within a certain radius of a truck stop roughly 20 miles away from Barnaby Falls. They are definitely searching for her, although we don’t know who they are or why.”
Bennet pauses and holds up a grainy black and white security photo of the three guys who are looking for our girl. My hackles go up immediately. It’s not like they’re wearing police uniforms. The three heavily muscled men are all wearing snug black polos and black fatigue pants, and baseball-style hats pulled low over their eyes. Each of them has a gun holster on their hip. It looks like they have some kind of logo embroidered on their shirts, but it’s impossible to make it out.
“Call me paranoid, but I have a bad feeling about this. Even if I send a memo to redirect all inquiries about a Jane Doe to me, which I have, leaks could happen. I’m worried they’ll find her if she stays here. Some… other factors could lead them to her.”
“You said these guys seem to be searching hospitals surrounding a truck stop? Is there a connection here?” I ask.
Bennet nods. “Yes. When she was being taken to surgery, a trauma was coming in at the same time. I overheard some of what was happening and looked into the file to get more specifics. Yesterday afternoon, a man named Thomas Kapps was found bleeding out in the cab of his truck. He had his pants around his knees and a stab wound to the neck.” He waits for us to put the pieces together.
“The pocket knife.” Micah makes the connection as I do, and my breath catches a little. No way. “The initials were TK.”
“So you think she…”
Everything fits. The bloody pocket knife, her defensive injuries, and the results of the trauma exam. There’s only one thing that doesn’t add up for me-
