Donovans 02 - Jade Island

drunkenly askew than it did to the sober citizens.
    “Your pulse was pretty high, ma’am,” the young paramedic said to Lianne.
    “My heartbeat still is,” she retorted. “I’m not used to being attacked in dark hallways.”
    The med-tech nodded slightly. “All the more reason to come in with me and get checked out thoroughly.”
    “No, thanks.”
    “What about you, sir?” the medic asked, turning to Kyle.
    “Ditto.”
    The medic duly noted on a form that both citizens hadrefused to go to the hospital against the advice of the medic at the scene.
    “Sign here,” she said, holding out a form and a pen to Lianne. “It just says that you refused further medical aid. Something to keep the legal types happy.”
    Lianne signed. So did Kyle.
    By the time the cop had finished asking questions and filling in all the necessary bureaucratic blanks, Kyle was bandaged, dressed, and more than a little impatient to wrap things up. The longer they stood around in the drafty hall, the better the chance that whoever had sent the triad thug would find out that things hadn’t gone according to plan.
    Whatever the plan had been.
    Kyle had a feeling he knew. It wasn’t a comforting sensation. His gut was in overdrive.
    Finally the cop put away his notebook, gave the hallway another look, and left to call his ex-wife.
    “How long will it take you to pack?” Kyle asked Lianne.
    “Pack what?”
    “Whatever you need for as long as it takes to sort this mess out.”
    “But—”
    “Argue while you pack,” Kyle said, taking her arm and urging her down the hall.
    “Why should I go anywhere?”
    “You’d rather stay and wait for the Red Phoenix boys to get lucky and kill you?”
    Kyle’s certainty that the man had meant to kill her was like a blow to Lianne. She stumbled, then caught herself against his arm. “Sorry.”
    “It’s the other one that’s cut.” He stopped in front of an elevator decorated by graffiti whose only pretense to originality was in leaving the c out of fuck. “Which floor?”
    Automatically Lianne punched the button to call the elevator. She wasn’t thinking about the elevator or her apartment, but about Kyle’s words.
    You’d rather stay and wait for the Red Phoenix boys to get lucky and kill you?
    The elevator cage stopped four inches short of the hall floor. The doors opened anyway.
    “Are you saying that attack wasn’t just random?” she asked tightly.
    “What do you think?”
    “I want it to be random.”
    “Before I grew up I wanted to marry Tinkerbell. Which floor?”
    “Top.”
    With a hand that still shook at odd moments, Lianne swept her hair back from her forehead. When the doors opened, she started to step out into the hall. Kyle pulled her back into the elevator.
    “Which way?” he asked.
    “Left, down the hall, then right.”
    “Opposite your office?”
    “Yes.”
    “Give me your key.”
    She went still. “You think someone is lying in wait inside my apartment?”
    “I think it’s possible. They don’t call them gangs because they hunt solo.”
    “But—”
    “The guy who attacked you didn’t have to kick in the door. He had a key or picked the lock. He may have had a buddy, too.” Kyle held his hand out, palm up. “Key.”
    She slipped past him into the hall. “You’re hurt. I’ll go.”
    “Christ.”
    Kyle grabbed for Lianne, only to have her evade his hand with a supple twist of her body. Swearing, he strode down the hall after her. When he reached her, she had the key in the door. When she started to push it open, he yanked her aside, kicked the door open, and flattened her between his body and the hallway wall.
    The door slammed open with enough force to echo. There was no other sound.
    “I’m going to check the place out,” Kyle said in a low voice. “Stay here.”
    “It’s my apartment and you’re hurt.”
    “Were you born mule-stubborn or did you just practice a lot?”
    Lianne’s chin came up and her mouth opened to tell him more than he had asked about. He bent and gave her a swift, hard kiss. Her pulse and breathing spiked.
    “Stay here,” Kyle said. “I won’t be long.”
    She waited just long enough to be out of his reach before following him through the apartment door. Heart scrambling, she glanced around the single room.
    Empty.
    The relief was so great that dizziness swept over Lianne, followed by a not-quite-sane desire to laugh as she watched Kyle systematically search every place that was big enough to hide a