Part 26 (1/2)

”d.a.m.n.” She paused, debating whether to answer it or not. Most likely it was a reporter who'd noticed the lights on in the clinic.

Or it could be John.

Unlikely. But could she take the chance that it wasn't? A delightful s.h.i.+ver ran through her and she cursed herself for antic.i.p.ating something that surely wasn't reality. Odds were, she'd open the door and get barraged with unwanted questions.

Still...

The door buzzed again.

Oh h.e.l.l. Just open it.

A peek through the blinds covering the gla.s.s revealed the face of a man she didn't recognize. He wore a dark suit and sungla.s.ses, and she immediately crossed reporter off her list. A cop? Possibly. If so, a detective. Or was he FBI? Had something else been uncovered during the investigation? Had they found out about her?

For one brief instant Leah considered turning and running. Then common sense took over. The man knew she was here, had seen her looking at him. And if the government was really there to take her away, they'd have come in force.

She opened the door, just enough to lean out.

”Can I help you?”

The man nodded and flashed a badge, the black leather case flipping open and closed again so quickly she only had time to catch a glimpse of gold.

”Dr. DeGarmo? There's an urgent matter I need to speak to you about.”

She wished the man would take his gla.s.ses off. What was it about detectives and government types that they always wore dark gla.s.ses? It made reading their expressions so hard. Maybe that was the reason they did it, even at night.

At night...?

The man was already stepping forward. Leah put more weight against the door, blocking him. Something wasn't kosher...

”Can I have your name, please? And see your ID again?”

He nodded again, but this time when his hand came out from inside his suit it held a small but deadly-looking pistol.

”Inside, lady. Now.” Like a chameleon, his voice and manner changed, becoming rougher. The formal tone of his words disappeared as well.

Leah stepped back, her heart slamming against her ribs.

Not again!

She turned to run away. There was no thought, no plan of action. Just an instinctive reaction to the sight of the gun.

Six men stood in the hallway leading to the examination rooms. All of them held guns.

Their unexpected presence was enough to freeze Leah in her tracks. Worse was recognizing one of them.

”h.e.l.lo, Ms. DeGarmo,” said the man she knew as Del.

”We have some unfinished business.”

Chapter Fourteen.

Leah tried to make sense of what was happening. Men. Guns. Del. Here. But her brain refused to work correctly. It stuttered and stopped and went nowhere, like a car stuck in the mud. A car with a record player that had a wicked scratch.

You're not making sense!

Reboot. Reboot. She had no idea where the computer reference came from, but it seemed to help. The flurry of words and ideas settled into a semblance of logical order.

Del didn't die. Jesus Christ. I killed practically everyone in that building, but Del didn't die.

And now he's going to kill me.

That had to be the reason he'd shown up. He'd escaped the slaughterhouse, evaded the police and waited until she was alone. Considering he'd already shown that he had no problem kidnapping her in public, the only reason for secrecy now had to be because he wanted revenge.

She wondered how he'd gotten away. It couldn't have been easy, judging by the bruises and cuts on his face. He looked like he'd gone through the winds.h.i.+eld of a car. His injuries weren't the only difference about him, either. Before, she'd only ever seen him either with a calm, serious expression or a sardonic smile. Now, however, his face was a mask of barely controlled fury.

Together with his wounds, it made him finally look as dangerous as he actually was.

”How did you get in here?” The moment the words came out, Leah cursed them. It wasn't what she wanted to say; it wasn't even what she'd been thinking. What the h.e.l.l was her brain doing?

”I think that's the last thing you should be worrying about,” Del said. ”Grab her.”

At his words, two of his men holstered their guns and stepped forward. Their eagerness, combined with their air of menace, promised pain.

”No!” Leah stepped back, only to have her arms grabbed by the man who'd posed as a cop.

Del shook his head. ”Sorry, Ms. DeGarmo. We've been watching you for hours. You haven't worked your magic on any animals, which means you can't make anyone sick by touching them. And that means...” he stepped forward, his expression growing even uglier, ”...I can do this.”

She never saw the fist that struck her in the stomach. All she knew was one instant she was standing there, and the next her whole world exploded in a supernova of pain. Colored lights flashed in her eyes, her lungs refused to work, and her legs buckled. Only the strong hands gripping her arms kept her from falling.

Her first thought was that he'd shot her. Then her lungs turned back on and she recognized the bruising trauma in her midsection.

Del let her take two huge, gasping breaths before he punched her again in the same spot.

Leah saw it coming this time. Not that it mattered. His fist hit her like a battering ram. Her feet slid out from beneath her and her stomach, unable to take the abuse, let loose its contents in a volcanic eruption of half-digested cheese, dough and pepperoni. Some of the puke splattered on Del's shoes.

He cursed and pulled her out of the other man's grasp. Shook her so hard her teeth clacked together and pinched her tongue. The metallic taste of blood added to the burning acids of the pizza sauce and stomach juices, and she gagged again.

”Don't you dare puke on me.”

The hands holding her let go and then she was falling. She tried to cover her face but ended up landing chest and elbows first on the hard tile. The pain stabbed at her like steak knives dipped in vinegar.

As she lay moaning in the warm puddle of her own vomit, she heard one of the men laugh.

”She don't seem so tough to me, boss.”

A new sensation bloomed in Leah's stomach, a burning that had nothing to do with the punches she'd taken. The fire spread quickly through her, setting her face to tingling. She recognized the feeling. Shame.