Page 83 of Lord of Justice

The other three bodyguards drop bonelessly to the grass and Av, my Redwood, is shot through the window, the velocity of the bullet knocks him into the passenger seat.

Two cars pull up and they're shoving us toward the second one. I'm kicking and screaming, trying to get to Rose. One of the men behind me grabs my hair and slams my forehead against the window. It's agony, like he'd cracked my head open like a grapefruit and everything goes away.

Chapter Forty

In which there are tracking chips, cursory examinations and no anesthetic.

Iris…

Oh, everything hurts. So much.

Someone is crying and squeezing my hand. I open one eye and the light is blinding and I close it again, cringing.

"Iris honey, please open your eyes! Please, I need to know you're okay." It's Rose.

"Hey sweetie." My voice sounds scratchy as hell. "Did we get in an accident?"

Her eyes are red and swollen and I feel horrible. Why is she so upset? I look around the room. It's a sterile space, walls painted industrial gray, one window that's barred. It looks a little bit like a doctor's office designed by a crackhead. There's an OB/GYN exam table and it makes my stomach turn.

"Oh. We got kidnapped." I'm trying not to slur my words. "I remember. They smashed my head intothe car door. Did you get hurt? Are you okay?" I ask, shakily trying to sit up. She helps me get my back against the wall. I put my hand over my mouth, my stomach churning violently. This is the wrong time to be vomiting. "Do you know anything about who took us?"

"I don't," she says. "They put a bag over my head. We drove for maybe half an hour or so, but without knowing a direction, we could be anywhere."

"Did they hurt you?"

"No, other than being assholes and shoving me around." Her eyes fill with tears again. "When I saw your skull crack against the car…"

"I'm fine." I smile over my blinding headache.

Her eyes light up and she leans in so close her lips touch my ear. In the softest whisper, she says, "Our tracking chips."

I'd forgotten. How could I forget? Roman and Violet convinced us to get tracking chips after being rescued from the Chads. Roman told us all the Morozovs get one.

"Yes! Oh, thank you Roman and your overprotective nature," I whisper. "If there's a way to get out of here, we'll try. If not, we stay calm and focused, okay?"

As she's nodding, the door opens. A man in a white coat enters. He looks shaky, and based onhow he's sniffing, I'm thinking he snorted a little something before stopping by for a visit.

"Oh, good. You're both awake," he says, looking at a chart. "We're going to do a brief examination to make sure you're healthy."

"You must be joking," I say, trying to look authoritative and not sick and dizzy. "Do you know what this is going to cost you? You fucked with theMorozov Bratva."

"If you let us go now," Rose says, "this is just a misunderstanding. If you try to keep us, this is your death. Do you think our family is going to let this go?"

The "doctor" looks at us blankly before pointing at me. "I'll start with you."

"You're not touching me. I don't want your cocaine sweats all over me. This is an expensive shirt." I don't think I'm intimidating him. The adrenaline surging through me is just making my head hurt worse.

"I'll need some help with these two," he calls into the hall. Two enormous orderlies come in, flexing their biceps to look more ape-like. A nurse follows them in, she's built like she could wrestle bears and I'm not in the kind of shape to take her.

"Really," I urge, "you need to do yourself a favor and let us go."

The nurse moves faster than I thought someone her size could. She grabs Rose and yanks her up, pulling her arm behind her back.

Not again. It's not happening again.

Nurse Bear is about to lift Rose's arm higher, she could dislocate her shoulder.

"Stop! I'll do what you want. Don't hurt her," I beg.