Riptide

tongue. "He drugged me. I hurt so much but I just
    can't tell where."
    "All right. You'll be all right. Hey, Dobbson, is the ambulance
    here yet? Get off your butt, usher them through. Now!"
    Letitia Gordon's face was really close to hers now, her breath
    minty on her cheek. "We'll find out what's happening here, Ms.
    Matlock. You just rest now."
    She felt hands pulling cloth down over her legs. Why were her
    legs bare? She realized then that there was pain in her legs. But it
    wasn't as bad as the other pain. Where was she? In New York? But
    that made no sense. Nothing made sense. Her brain nestled back
    into the shadows. The pain faded away. Becca sighed deeply and
    closed down.

    She heard them speaking, soft, quiet voices not four feet away
    from her, talking, talking. Then they were closer, much closer, talk

ing above her, which meant what? She opened her eyes. Blinked.
    She was flat on her back. The people speaking were on the left, and
    one of the people was Adam.
    She wet her lips with her tongue. "Adam?"
    He whirled around so fast he nearly lost his balance. Then he
    was at her side and he lifted her hand and held it hard between his
    two large ones. She felt the calluses on his palms.
    "What's going on? Where are we? I dreamed I saw Detective
    Gordon, you know, that cop who hates me?"
    "Yes, I know. She left just a little while ago. She'll be back, but
    later, when you've got it together again. You're going to be all right,
    Becca. There's nothing to worry about. Just take it easy and breathe
    nice shallow, light breaths. That's right. Does your head hurt?"
    She thought about that. "No, not really, it's just that I'm all fuzzy.
    Even you're kind of fuzzy, Adam. I'm so glad to see you. I thought
    I was going to die, that I'd never see you again. I couldn't bear it.
    Where are we?"
    He lightly touched his fingertip to her cheek. "You're at New
    York University Hospital. The guy who took you from your bed in
    Jacob Marley's house, the guy who was holding you, he shoved you
    out of his car right in front of One Police Plaza."
    "It was Krimakov?"
    "We believe so. At least it's a strong possibility."
    She said, "I asked him if he was Krimakov but he wouldn't answer
    me. We're in New York City?"
    "Yes. You did see Detective Gordon. She was one of the cops
    who came running. It was early in the afternoon, bunches of
    people around, lots of cops heading out for lunch. Detective Gordon
    was there because she had some meetings with the Narcotics
    Division."
    "My lucky day," Becca said.

"Damn, I'm sorry, Becca, so sorry. I really fucked up and just
    look what happened."
    She heard the awful guilt in his voice, the fear, and finally, overlaying
    all of it, the relief that she was alive. He couldn't be as relieved
    as she was. "It's okay, Adam, really."
    "Hi, Becca."
    She smiled up at Sherlock and Savich, one on either side of her
    hospital bed. "We're sure glad to see you."
    "Me, too. I thought you were in Riptide."
    "We can move quickly when we have to," Sherlock said, lightly
    patting Becca's shoulder. "Dillon got a call from Tellie Hawley, the
    SAC at the New York City office. Tellie told him what happened.
    We got here three hours later."
    "What happened to him? Did they get him?"
    Sherlock said,"Unfortunately, no. There was mass confusion. He
    shoved you out of the car, then jumped out while the car was still
    rolling and disappeared into the crowd. The car hit three other
    people before it smashed into a fire hydrant and drenched another
    fifty people. It was a zoo. We've gotten some descriptions, but no
    one agrees with anyone else so far."
    He was still out there, free. She felt flattened. "So he got away
    again," she said, and wanted to shriek with the helplessness that
    flooded her.
    Adam was clearing his throat. "We'll get him, Becca. You've got
    to believe that. Now, there's someone here for you to meet."
    Her head came up, fast. "Please, no doctors, Adam. I hate doctors.
    Oh, God, so did my mother." And she started crying. She
    didn't know where all the tears came from, but they were there,
    swamping her, and she was sobbing, tears streaming down her face,
    and she wanted her mother desperately. "My mom died in a hospital,
    Adam. She hated it, then she just didn't care because she was

in a coma. No one could do anything. She died in a hospital just
    like this one." The tears kept coming, she couldn't stop them.
    Then suddenly someone was holding her, drawing her close, and
    a man's dark, smooth voice