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“You can’t fire me,” I snarled.
“I just did. Now get lost.” She made a shooing motion. “You’re ruining the vibe.” When I didn’t move, she raised her voice. “Leave. I don’t need you, and I don’t want you.”
A chorus ofyeah, get lost, rose from the crowd.
I walked away. She didn’t want me or need me, and I certainly didn’t need her attitude. On my way, I grabbed the guy carrying the knife, disarmed him, and tossed the knife down the storm drain.
The idiot opened his mouth to complain, but I cut him off with a pointed finger and one word. “Don’t.”
He took off.
I double-clicked my comms. “Constance?”
“Still five out,” came her reply.
“We’re not needed anymore. This assignment is terminated.”
“What do you mean?”
“The client has terminated the engagement. I’ll see you back at the office.”
A silence followed before she acknowledged. “Copy that.”
“You’re not the boss of me.”Ten-year-olds were more eloquent—and nicer.
CHAPTER 3
Serena
Beep…beep.
I cracked my eyes open to the sight of wires, tubes, and machines.I’m in the emergency room, I reminded myself.
As soon as I closed my eyes again, the awful scene from the hillside repeated in my head. Black Jacket Guy had come down the hill with a lighter in his hand, while I was trapped in the car with the smell of gasoline. I’d watched enoughCSIepisodes to know they would have had to use dental records to identify me. I shivered in spite of the warm blanket over me.
Beep, beep, beep. The machine registered my distress at the memory.
Then, I’d seen and heard a second man. “What happened?” he’d called from the top of the hill.
Black Jacket Guy had put away the lighter and yelled back, “Call nine-one-one. There’s someone in the car. She ran off the road.”
“On it,” my savior at the top of the hill had confirmed.
“Where is it?” Mr. Black Jacket had then demanded.
“Where is what?” I’d croaked.
“This isn’t over.” He’d retreated up the hill.
Beep… beep. My heart rate steadied again.
The firefighters had used the jaws of life to extricate me. I’d wheezed and tried to tell them about the accident as they pulled me free.
“Don’t talk,” the paramedic had said as he put an oxygen mask on me. “Relax. I’ve got you.”
The whole time, I’d kept an eye out for Black Jacket Guy. I hadn’t seen him again. With all the time it had taken to be freed from the car and get to the hospital, I’d peed in the ambulance.
Here at the hospital, they’d CAT scanned my head, since I’d bumped it on the roof of the car and probably the window when the car rolled, and also my throat because it didn’t seem to be working. I’d tried to talk but could barely get a sound out. An x-ray of my shoulder was scheduled next. And the nurse had promised to get to the cuts on my face as soon as she settled another patient.
