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58
It took 40 minutes to drive to Syracuse, five minutes to board, an hour to fly to LaGuardia, five more minutes to deplane, and then ten minutes to get to Rikers. Two hours in total – which was two hours less than it would have taken to drive.
Which was good, because those two hours were torture.
I talked with Eve for part of it. She did her best to soothe me, God bless her.
What was stranger, though, was the proposal she came up with. It totally distracted me from my woes, if for no other reason than it was so outlandish.
Just bring it up to him,Eve texted. See what Connor says.
“I will,” I promised.
Just a few hours ago, I would never have even considered trying to talk Connor into it. But now…
It was late in the afternoon when we finally got to Rikers. We were only allowed in because of a special dispensation by the warden. Apparently when skinheads nearly murder your not-yet-convicted fiancé, there’s a little more leeway on visiting hours.
The prison grounds were a depressing collection of buildings on a small island three miles from Manhattan, smack dab in the middle of the East River. I had never known it existed until the arraignment that morning; now it was the source of all my fears, and the obsessive center of all my thoughts.
Johnny and I were escorted into the hospital wing by a couple of armed guards. We saw Sebastian and Bert first; they were standing next to a hospital bed.
“Connor!” I screamed, and broke into a run.
One of the guards tried to stop me, but I pulled free of his grasp.
Connor wrapped his arms around me as I threw myself on his chest, sobbing. Although he was awake and sitting up, I was having a horrifying deja-vu of when he had been shot a year ago at the Dubai.
“I’m okay… I’m okay,” he whispered.
I pulled back to look at him. His face was bruised, and a nasty black eye was starting to form.
“You don’t look okay,” I sniffled.
“Aaaaah, I’m milkin’ it just to get a better bed in here.” He grinned and wiped away a tear from my cheek. “Besides, you should see the other guys.”
“He’s not kidding,” Bert said. “All three had to be airlifted to Mount Sinai. Two of them are going to have to have surgery if they ever want to walk again.”
I stared at Connor, horrified. “Three guys attacked you?!”
Johnny looked impressed. “Nice going, boss.”
“I owe it all to my teacher,” Connor said.
“What happened?!” I asked.
“I’ll give you one guess.”
“Miranda,” I whispered.
“It was neo-Nazi gang members,” Bert said in exasperation. “Do you really think she’s recruiting assassins from the Aryan Nation?”
“Look, Bert, believe what you want. All I need from you right now is to get me the fuck out of here.”
Bert sighed. “I’m workin’ on it.”
“Where are we on that?”
“We’ve got your father’s limo, and the bodies of his driver, two of his bodyguards, and your maid and chef.”
