Page 59 of Dark OZ

“It wasn’t hard. Not with that tracker on your cab. I just had to wait until you stopped. Then, it was just a matter of killing a waitress and slipping something special in the right dish.”

Mother-fucking Monkeys. Of course. I should have swept the cab before we left. It was probably bugged too. Which meant he knew where we were going and who we were meeting with. Fuck, that was a rookie mistake. I knew better than that. We all did. This was Thea, blinding us all. Again.

Echoing my thoughts, Sherri said, “That girl has you three so distracted, you never even saw me coming.”

I fired the gun twice more. Once into her chest and a second in between the eyes. Patting her down, I found a comms device. I held it to my mouth, shouting nice and loud, “Fuck you, Orin. You come near her again, and I will burn you alive.”

I crushed the small receiver under the heel of my boot. It was advanced tech, lending more credibility to Sherri being one of Orin’s team. I pulled a picture from her breast pocket. It was of Thea, taken at The Farm. Dusty desert stretched beyond the wire fencing, and her auburn hair billowed in the wind. She looked distantly at the expanse like she was dreaming of a life where she could be free. There was a slight bruise along her jaw, proving that she’d taken a beating not long before the photo was taken. But, she didn’t look sad, she looked determined. Beautiful.

I folded the picture and slipped it into my back pocket.

Crowe was whispering something to Thea. She blinked sleepily at him, awake. His eyes met mine for only a second.

“So?” he said, not looking away from her. She was mouthing something, but not vocalizing yet.

“Our waitress decided to follow us. I don’t think she appreciated the tip I left her.”

“That tracks actually.” He nodded, and ran his thumb over Thea’s cheek.

“There was someone listening in, she probably has company not far off.”

“Good. They can deal with clean up.”

Chapter 27

Everythinghurt,evenmysoul was crying. I could feel it in the deep tremor vibrating my bones. My eyelids felt like they were chained down as I fought the heavy pull of sleep and slowly cracked them open.

I was on my side in a soft bed. Mid-day sun filtered through vinyl blinds onto the bedspread. Facing me were bleary and blinking green eyes. I was momentarily confused by what I saw, like I couldn’t recognize the man before me. Danny looked softer like whatever armor he usually blanketed himself with was discarded. In its absence, he looked thoroughly shaken.

What in the ever loving fuck happened last night?

When I tried to force my memory to function, all I could remember were flashes that were more nightmare than reality. It felt like my head was full of cotton candy, leaving my mind sticky and impossible to focus through.

I tried to ask, “what happened?”around my dry and swollen throat, but my vocal chords completely failed me, making only a weak, rasping noise in place of words. I brought my hand to my swollen throat. It took longer to raise my arm than it should have, like my brain was having trouble remembering how to move my limbs.

“Don’t speak,” he whispered. His voice sounded raw too. “Take it slowly.”

Was this the same man who had thrown me against a wall and pulled a gun on me?

What happened?I mouthed with soundless words, trying to sit up. Danny’s heavy hand landed on my shoulder, stilling me.

“We were poisoned.” His fingers trailed over my cheek. “But you’re safe now.”

Safenow? Like we weren’t safe before? Panic clawed at my ribcage. Where was Crowe, or Nick? Were they okay? Was he alive?

Danny’s eyes flicked over my shoulder. There was the creak of a wooden chair, then an arm was snaking beneath me to lift my uncooperative body into a semi-sitting position.

“Oz damn, it’s good to see you awake, Beautiful.”

Dark circles shadowed Crowe’s normally bright eyes. The edges rimmed with red. He brought the straw of a children’s sippy cup to my lips. The smiling cats and dogs painted around the outside of the cup felt surreal, but I was so grateful for the water that I didn’t care where it came from.

After drinking several hard swallows, I tried to ask for some answers. Before I could tell if I had permanently lost my voice, Crowe brought a finger to my lips. “You screamed until you lost your voice, and then kept screaming. That’s going to be raw for a day or two, it’s better if you don’t speak right now.”

I was screaming? At what? How could I not remember screaming hard enough to lose my voice? Fuck this fog in my mind. I was made of questions.

Closing my eyes, I mentally berated my inability to remember anything of consequence. There was the diner. We were eating dinner, and then I fell—or I had the distinct memory of the sensation of falling, if not the fall itself.

“Your pie was laced with Morphan. It poisoned you and Danny. You were hallucinating pretty badly, your body entered a full paralysis…and then…” Crowe’s voice trailed off, haunted by whatever he was remembering. “We brought you back. That’s what matters. The hallucinations ended around midday yesterday. This is the first you’ve been lucid in four days.”

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