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Knowing Jackson would have heard his response, I trail the gurney to the waiting bus. I more or less stand guard at the rear until the ambulance doors are slammed shut, and then I race to my truck to follow.
I keep on the ambulance’s back bumper, reaching the hospital at the same time it does, and slide into a spot outside emergency.
From there, I sprint to the ambulance in time to open the rear doors. Birdie’s eyes are open now, but when I call out her name, she doesn’t respond. She doesn’t see me, making the overdose diagnosis much more tangible. My legs go weak at the thought of losing her like this.
“Any word?” a low voice laced with fury growls behind me.
“You got here fast,” I say to my boss.
Knot and I watch the medics wheel Birdie inside, and a punishing grip on my shoulder keeps me from following.
“I think it’s time you and I had a little talk.”
Birdie
“Birdie, dammit. Knock it off.”
At Detective Cooper’s sharp command, I stop batting away the bright lights and turn toward his voice. The image is too blurry to make out, so I focus on the gray blob until a human form takes shape. “Cooper?”
He comes closer, helping me see him better, though it won’t be enough since I don’t have my glasses on. “What’s… what happened?”
“That’s what I’d like to know. I’m sitting at home, recovering from surgery, when I get a call from dispatch. A Navy SEAL named Jackson Bennett reported that you were the victim of either a failed kidnapping or murder attempt. It’s my job to find out which.”
My brain’s a little slow on the uptake, but I get stuck on the name he mentioned. “Who?”
“You don’t know any Jackson Bennett?”
“Um, no.”
A man in a lab coat steps closer and says, “It’s possible, Detective, that the ketamine has caused retrograde amnesia. Ms. Crenshaw might not recover memories from her attack.”
“Attack? Can someone tell me what’s going on?”
“We’ll get to that,” Cooper promises. “What is the last thing you remember?”
Warm apples. “Bash. He made breakfast.”
“Do you mean Bastien Laurent?”
I nod absently, mind wandering to what I could have gotten myself into. “I’ll talk to him next,” Cooper announces. “Since you’re awake, you have a visitor if you feel up to it.”
My answer is to nod again, and Detective Cooper opens the door. None other than Dillan Knot walks in and rushes to my bedside. He places his hand over mine and leans down close enough for me to see his face clearly. “You scared the hell out of me. Are you all right?”
“I don’t know. I guess so. Where’s Bastien?”
“He’s outside waiting for Bennet to arrive from the dog park.”
“Dog park? Who is this Bennett everybody keeps talking about?”
Knot turns and gives a questioning look to the doctor, who shakes his head. Knot returns his gaze to me and answers, “Laurent served with him. Apparently, the two were helping you with a sting operation.”
My breath catches in my throat. Oh god. Please tell me my boss doesn’t know. The machines I’m attached to start beeping, and Knot bends and whispers, “Don’t worry, Birdie. I’ve known for a long, long time.”
My breathing normalizes, and he adds, “I left you alone because you were doing a good job and being smart about it. And it seemed like something you needed to do. I never had a reason to worry until now. Laurent tells me that someone has been following you.”
The blue car. Cooper perks up and steps closer to the bed. “That was just once, I think.” Addressing Cooper directly, I add, “The night you couldn’t make it. Someone followed me home. I thought it was Bastien, but it wasn’t. We’ve been looking for the car without any luck.”
Without a word, Detective Cooper goes to the door again. “Get in here. Both of you.”
