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My head is swimming, and the metal ceiling shifts and blurs like waves above me.
Sucking in desperate breaths, I have to lie there for a little while so that I won’t pass out.
Once I’m reasonably confident that I won’t just topple over and fall down from the beam, I roll over onto my stomach. And then I crawl towards the end of the beam. There is a window there.
While praying to any god who is willing to listen, I carefully edge it open. The hinges don’t squeak. I slip out the window and then pull myself up onto the roof outside.
Straightening on the flat roof, I scan my surroundings.
Shock ripples through me when I realize that we’re relatively close to where I keep my go-bag.
I start in that direction.
Getting down from the roof is difficult, and I almost pass out while accomplishing it. But I manage to get to my secret hiding place and grab my go-bag without collapsing.
Slinging it over my shoulder, I stagger back into the deserted alley that smells of spilled alcohol and piss.
My head pounds, my vision swims, and my ragged breaths are so loud that I’m pretty sure people can hear them from halfway across the city. Not to mention that I’m half-naked and covered in blood.
I have to keep one hand on the wall as I stumble out of the alley. Dread washes through me, because I know my own body better than anyone. And I know that it’s about to give out.
I won’t be able to drive like this. Hell, I won’t even be able to make it to my car in this condition. I need to lie down and give my body a chance to recover for a minute.
But where?
My gaze drifts towards that tall building I passed every week without knowing what was on the other side.
At this point, I don’t have much of a choice. If there is any place that I can pass out and have even the slightest chance of not being found, it’s inside that abandoned park.
Blood pounds in my ears, drowning out everything else as I desperately make my way towards it. My feet drag slightly on the stones as I move. I need to get out of sight. Now. Before Derek and Sebastian finish their report and go back in to find me missing.
Branches claw at my bare arms and snag in my hair as I stagger through the wild underbrush.
Just a little further.
My body spasms, and I have to throw out a hand and brace myself on a tree trunk as my knee buckles. The bark scrapes against my palm. I barely even feel it.
Pushing off from the tree, I force myself to move deeper into the vegetation.
At last, a pond becomes visible between the trees. I stumble the final steps out from the branches.
And then, my body at last gives out.
I hit the grass hard.
But I don’t even have enough energy left to roll over on my back. So I just remain like that, my cheek pressed against the ground. It smells of dirt and grass.
My chest heaves.
I suck in a few breaths before my vision starts to fade.
And the last thing I see before I’m dragged into oblivion is that dark blue water covered in glittering silver stars.
36
RICO
It’s stupid to come back here. I know that. Especially so soon after last time. But after everything that went down with Isabella in the woods earlier today, I feel off-kilter. Restless. I can’t sleep, so instead of lying there in my bed, staring at the ceiling, I drive into the city and head to the last place I should be right now.
