Page 84 of Lord of Justice

Rose and I look at each other with the same sickening certainty that they know we'll doanythingto protect each other.

Just like last time.

I don't know if Roman is coming to save us in time. I don't let myself think about Andrey. This would just be a minor inconvenience in his plans and somehow, that hurts worse than anything.

Standing up, I take a moment before my spinning head will let me take a few steps and ungracefully collapse onto the exam table.

"Don't worry," he says. "We don't need to do a vaginal exam." I glance at the hopeful orderlies and my stomach curls again. "First thing, I'm checking for a tracker."

"What are you talking about?" I laugh a little. "Do you hear that, Rose? He thinks we're lost pets."

"We're wasting time," he sighs. The closest orderly grabs Rose by the back of her neck.

"No need to get dramatic," I say quickly. "Go ahead, but stop yanking her around, she hasn't done anything."

Rose ispissed,there's fire in her eyes, and her jaw tightens. She's just as ready to end someone's life as I am at this point.

The doctor sniffs and picks up an electronic device from a tray of tools that I prefer not to look at, running it across the back of my neck, and my shoulders. I'm rigid, refusing to look at him. He smells like sweat and a vaguely chemical odor. The two orderlies stand there with their beefy arms folded, staring at us. The one with a horrible goatee licks his lips at me and my stomach lurches.

"Lift your arm," the doctor says, and reluctantly I do. The device he's holding against my skin beeps triumphantly and I close my eyes in despair. If the Morozovs haven't tracked us yet, we are so fucked. He pulls out a scalpel.

No gloves, why bother, huh?

"Wait, aren't you going to give her an anesthetic?" Rose stammers.

He cuts into me and the pain tears through my arm like a streak of fire, he's slicing deeper thanhe has to. Maybe he's a sadistic son of a bitch or maybe he's just incompetent. Pulling out a pair of tweezers, he starts poking around inside the incision. I clench my fists, trying to concentrate on my nails digging into my palms instead.

It'll just be a minute.I tell myself.Just a minute.The metal tweezers shoving aside tissue and sending more blood streaking down my arm hurts even worse than cutting me open.

Finally locating the tracker, he grunts and pulls it out. It's tiny, no bigger than a square inch and he holds it up, like he's done something magnificent here and is expecting praise.

"Kierra," he says, tossing the tracker on the tray, "Sew her up and I'll do the other girl."

This is worse. It'ssomuch worse seeing Rose get hurt. Maybe he'll be better now that he's figured out where the trackers are. He pulls up his device and puts it right on her arm and I close my eyes. We should've been sneakier. We really should have asked them to be in different places, at least make it harder to find them.

Rose makes one angry yelp and then presses her lips together as the scalpel digs into her skin. The nurse heaves a sigh and walks over. There's blood pouring down my arm and soaking my shirt sleeve. Her mouth twists with distaste.

Maybe you shouldn't be a nurse if you can't handleblood, bitch.I think.But maybe I can show you some of your own soon.

I amsoangry, and the rage is good. It's cleansing and I can think again. I stare straight ahead as she unwraps a pre-threaded needle. She doesn't bother to give me anesthetic, adding four jagged stitches to keep the wound closed. No bandage or antiseptic, but I guess I've got bigger concerns than getting infected.

Then it hits me.

The baby! The baby, nothing can happen to my baby.

My hand rises on its own accord, ready to rest protectively over my stomach. I grip the side of the bed instead.

Nurse Bear notices the movement, and she glares at me. "Were you gonna hit me?"

"No," I say, forcing myself to stay calm. There aresomany things I want to say right now, and none of them will help us. The doctor stitches up Rose's arm. It looks a little bit better than mine, but not by much. "Hey Rose, it doesn't look like he completely mangled your arm. Maybe heisa vet."

"Then I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that he didn't give us a rabies shot and neuter us, huh?" She gives me a brave little smirk.

The "doctor" ignores us, dropping the other tracker on the tray and handing it to one of the orderlies. "Take these to The Patroness. We'll see what she wants to do with them. She might want to throw them in the car and drive them around for a wild goose chase."

"I'll finish the physical examination while you're on the table, and then do your sister." He picks up the stethoscope, pressing it to my chest. The orderly still in the room is enjoying every moment of this. "Temperature, heart rate are fine," he says, and the nurse notes it on her iPad.

He pauses for a minute and he eyes my stomach with a little frown, and I suck in a terrified breath. I don't look pregnant, but I know that there's a slight swell on my abdomen.