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By Root 372 0

she had the feeling that something was trying to get through. She could see Kendra’s house, clear as day, flames spilling from the kitchen windows. Through the smoke, she could see Kendra, in water, struggling. Selena had awakened from sleep shaking, cold, coughing, and sputtering, as if she’d been drowning. She’d not stopped to think before picking up the phone and calling Kendra’s house. When the operator came on the line and told her there were problems with the line, Selena knew. She called Father Tim, who went to check Kendra’s house and rallied the volunteer firefighters as well as Chief Logan, and within minutes, a line of cars and trucks were screaming through the night in the direction of Smith House. Chief Logan and two patrol cars had pulled into the drive just minutes before Kendra had stumbled onto the bank and all but collapsed into Adam’s arms.

Kendra had been barely recognizable, her hair hanging down her back in one long wet tangle, her face and shirt covered with blood. Her jeans had been wet and torn and she’d been weaving with fatigue. It had taken Adam’s brain only a split second to realize that the woman teetering toward them was Kendra. How she had come to such a state had yet to be determined. Had Zach attacked her and set her house on fire? Adam had seen the bruises on her neck and on her arms, seen the broken blood vessels in her eyes, and his fists clenched at the thought of Zach’s hands around her throat.

“Mr. Stark?” The young doctor stood in the doorway of the waiting room.

Adam jumped to his feet.

“I’m Dr. Brady,” she smiled. “You’re listed as next of kin for our patient.”

“Kendra Smith, yes,” he nodded. “How’s she doing? Is she going to be okay?”

“She’s going to be fine. But I’m afraid she won’t be able to come home for at least another day.”

“What exactly—”

“Well, she’s suffering from hypothermia, exposure, and broken bones in both hands.”

“Her face?” he asked, recalling all of the blood.

“A few cuts and bruises,” the doctor told him.

“But all the blood.” Adam frowned.

“Apparently it wasn’t hers.”

“Really.” He pondered this.

The doctor shrugged. “I have no idea whose blood it is, but it isn’t Ms. Smith’s. Oh”—she tapped the clipboard that she held—“she does have bruises around her neck.”

“And broken blood vessels in her eyes.” Adam muttered curses under his breath. “Evidence of strangulation.”

“Yes. We will be calling in the local police,” she told him.

“They already know.” Adam took out his badge and showed it to her. “Chief Logan should be along real soon.”

“I’m confused.” The doctor frowned. “Are you here because she’s the victim of a crime, or because—”

The double outside doors slid open automatically and a gurney, accompanied by three EMTs, emerged.

“Got another one. Shit, you’d think this was a weekend night in the summer,” someone complained from the other side of the emergency room.

Chief Logan appeared in the doorway, and signaled to Adam.

“When can I see her?” Adam asked.

“You can come back with me now,” the doctor told him, “she’ll be down here until her room is ready and the paperwork is done. She’ll be going to X-ray soon.”

“Great, thank you.” Adam turned then toward the gurney and the new patient who was being wheeled in.

“Says his name is Ian Smith,” the chief told him. “What do you think of that? Kendra’s brother, after all these years.”

“It’s Zachary Smith,” Adam said. “Kendra’s cousin, after all these years. Ian Smith is dead.”

The man on the gurney breathed heavily through a broken nose, and his face was encrusted with dried blood. He looked up at Adam through puffy eyes.

“She do this to you, Zach?” Adam said, pleased at the extent to which she’d fought. He leaned down and said, so that only Zach could hear, “I’ll bet you never figured her for a fighter, did you? She do all that when you were trying to strangle her?”

“You’re the FBI agent who’s doin’ her, aren’t you?” Zach’s swollen mouth smirked, and Adam fought an urge to break the man’s nose from the other side.

Instead, Adam stood up and back, allowing the orderlies to take the gurney into