Honestly, she wasn’t sure what had happened to it. She’d had it when Coffeeshop Man and his crew had grabbed her, but she didn’t know what had become of it after that.
Or her gun. That was missing, too.
She grabbed the room’s phone and dialed Dak’s cell.
He answered on the second ring. “Agent Lakes.”
“Dak.” Her voice came out scratchy. She cleared her throat and tried again. “What happened last night?”
“Kev? Hey, I was on my way to see you. The hospital says you’re being released.”
They did? Maybe she should have called the doctor to get an update on her condition, but Dak and the team had been her first thought. “Did you get them?”
The brief silence settled in her heart like lead.
They’d gotten away. These men were going to continue to abduct people, steal their organs, and leave a trail of bodies and broken families in their wake.
“We got some of them. The guy from your picture is still in the wind.” He sighed. “I’ll explain it when I get there. Should take me about fifteen minutes, okay?”
She swallowed, her throat feeling lined with gravel. “Okay. Bring me a mocha? And maybe a strawberry danish?”
Not the healthiest of breakfasts, but her stomach felt unsettled. The simple carb would be easily digestible and shouldn’t upset her system further.
The mocha might, but it was worth the risk.
“You got it.”
She hung up the phone and pushed the buzzer.
A nurse wearing pink scrubs arrived a minute later.
“You’re up!” Her too-peppy tone was like being splashed with cold water all over again. “How are you feeling?”
How was she feeling? She hadn’t stopped to assess since awaking.
“Okay, I guess.” She was warm, that was a good start. Her foot, while still sore, wasn’t throbbing as it had been when they wheeled her in. “Am I still on pain meds?”
The nurse tapped the IV bag. “Right here. Just a mild one.”
She wanted to tell them to turn it off on principle, but it was nice to not be in constant pain. “I think they told me about my injuries last night, but I was so out of it that I don’t remember much other than mild hypothermia and dehydration.”
The nurse tapped some keys on a tablet. “Let’s see here. They took some x-rays. You have a cracked rib, mild concussion, and broken metatarsal in your left foot. Not to mention a lot of scrapes and bruises.” The nurse put a hand on her cocked hip. “You get hit by a bus or something?”
“Or something.” She couldn’t work up a smile at the woman’s teasing tone. “A guy built like a linebacker. Rammed me and tossed me a few meters, I think.”
Not that she remembered that part of it. Flying through the air, sure, but not the landing.
“Sounds like you’re lucky it wasn’t worse.”
Lucky? Or divinely protected?
The thought slipped in without provocation.
“Let me get the doc for you.”
She barely noticed the nurse exiting the room.
Now that the nurse reminded her, she vaguely remembered the doctor telling her that her third metatarsal had been fractured by the knife. The wound had required stitches on both the top and the bottom of her foot and the doctor had ordered a walking boot.
That was going to be fun.
All in all, though, things could have been much worse. She could have hit the edge of a shipping container when she was thrown. It could have broken her spine. She could have slipped into a coma from the concussion.
Those guys could have killed her.
Then, there was the way she was able to get away. Right after praying that God would give her an escape.
Coincidence? Maybe.
Or maybe Dak was right and there was something bigger than herself. Someone bigger.
“Knock, knock.”
She looked up as Dak entered the room holding a cardboard cup holder and a pastry bag.
The sight of the bag made her stomach rumble.
“How are you doing?” He asked, setting the mocha and pastry on the table beside her.
“Fine. What happened last night?”
He arched an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest.
If he was trying to be intimidating, he was failing. He was actually pretty cute when he was bossy.
What the…? Where had that come from?
Must be the drugs.
She picked up her mocha and sipped it before she could say something as equally stupid as the words running through her mind.
He didn’t move. Nor did he respond.
Fine. He wanted the truth?
“Cracked rib, mild concussion, and broken metatarsal. I get to wear the fashionable walking boot for a while, but hey. At least the hypothermia and dehydration are gone.”
His eyebrows lowered over his eyes. “That’s a lot. What happened to you?”
“Uh-uh. You first. What happened last night?”
He pulled up a chair. “We raided the warehouse. Recovered a bunch of medical equipment and medications that I’m betting will all be associated with organ transplantation. Haven’t heard for sure on that one yet. Four guys in the warehouse, two survived. Unfortunately, they claim to know nothing about what the ringleader – they called him Tio – had planned. Just knew that they were clearing out.”
“Did you find Boggess, Andrews, or Cummings?”
He hesitated. “Not Boggess or Andrews. I’m guessing they’re both long gone. We found Cummings hooked up to a whole mess of machines that were keeping her body functioning. Both her kidneys are gone, as is her liver. The medical examiner unplugged her last night. He said she was already gone.”
Her eyes slid shut as her chest tightened. While she’d known the chances of bringing any of them home alive were slim, she’d hoped that at least one might get to see family again.
“What about this… Tio? And the rest
