“I’m certainly better than Levi down the other end.”
“Yes, though his sorry condition does beg the question as to why they left you alive.” She exchanged the camera for the fingerprint kit. “It would have been easier to kill you, surely, and it’s not like they’ve shown any reluctance to spill blood.”
“Maybe they realized killing an operative would bring the full force of the Society down on them.”
“That’s presuming they’re aware the Society is involved.”
“I’ve no reason to believe they’renot.” Though I did have to wonder again why they’d upended my handbag and smashed my phone. They obviously weren’t after the gloved USB... unless, of course, they hadn’t realized it was a USB, given it was so well wrapped in the glove that it wasn’t actually visible. If theyhadbeen searching for something in my handbag, then the next logical step would be to check my car—and the USB Viceroy had given me had been left sitting in open view in the front console.
Two fuckups in as many days were not going to go down well withanyone.
I pushed to my feet, hissing softly against the renewal of pain in my head. Janice frowned up at me. “Should you be moving?”
“Probably not, but the bastards took my keys, and I need to know if the USB I left in the console is still there.”
“It can’t wait?”
“No, it can’t.”
“Then sit back down, and I’ll grab someone to check for you.” She looked around and spotted the woman who’d come in with Tony. “Leonie, can you check Agent Kang’s car for a USB? If there’re keys there, don’t touch them, as they’re likely to have been handled by our murderers.”
The agent glanced at me. “Where’s your car?”
“It’s the white Toyota sitting on Tanglewood between this court and the next one down. Thanks.”
As she left, the ambulance officers came in. They gave me a thorough check and declared I needed to go to the hospital to ensure the crack on the head hadn’t also cracked my skull and caused more serious damage. I didn’t argue the point; my son might have reached adulthood, but I sure as hell wanted to be around to celebrate his many, many years of other milestones.
Leonie came back into the room. “This what you’re looking for?”
She held up a USB, and relief stirred through me. “And the car?”
“Thoroughly searched and the keys left on the front seat. Can’t say if they’ve taken anything else, of course, and the ladies will have to fingerprint it before you get it back.”
I accepted with a nod of thanks. “It’s a hire, so I’ll just grab another.”
Janice shoved all the scattered bits and pieces into my handbag, then handed it to me. “Stay in overnight if they insist. You look like shit.”
“Thanks,” I said wryly.
“Hey, Sienna isn’t the only one capable of telling it like it is.” She smiled, grabbed her bag, and headed down to the other end of the room.
The medics bundled me onto a stretcher and wheeled me out of the house. The nearest hospital had ambulances ramped up, so we were redirected to another. All in all, it was a good couple of hours before I got to see a doctor, let alone had all the necessary scans. They declared me free of brain and skull damage, but confirmed concussion and said I needed to stay overnight for observation. I’d been expecting it, so it was no real surprise.
A few minutes after they’d wheeled me into a private room—I did have full insurance, but the Society would be covering all costs for this stay simply because it was a workplace incident—Ginny appeared, carrying a large green shopping bag in one hand and my reusable coffee cup in the other.
“If that contains what I think it contains, I will kiss you.”
“It does, but no kisses required. Consider it more a case of nurse protection, given I know how feral you can get if you’ve not had a coffee hit for a while.”
She handed me the cup. The delicious scent of roasted beans rose, and I sighed in happiness. “How’d you know I was here?”
“Lowell told me—comms were tracking the ambulance, so they knew where you’d been taken.”
“And what’s in that bag?”
“A care package.” She dumped the bag on my bed and opened it up. “First, and most vital, a new phone, courtesy of the Society.”
“Oh, thank god. I said I’d ring Joseph later.”
