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"Where's my phone?"
He pulled her phone from his pocket, but she had no reception, either.He handed her the phone, and she slipped it into the back pocket of her jeans.Then he tipped his head toward the direction they'd come from."Let's walk that way.The road should go down and the hillside along with it."
"Okay.I can carry my bag."
She looked like she could barely stay on her feet."I've got it."He put his backpack on and then slinging her bag over his shoulder."Let's go."
They trudged through rocky terrain and thick brush for almost an hour, and as the sun beat down on their heads, he felt increasingly hot and even a little dizzy.His head was throbbing, and he suspected Isabella was feeling as badly as he was, maybe even worse.But she wasn't complaining.She was just moving forward.She was definitely a strong woman.
It seemed like they'd been walking forever, when the hillside finally flattened, and they could see the road.Eventually, they were able to make their way to that road, which felt like a major achievement.There were no cars around, which was good and bad.Good because the men who'd been chasing them weren't waiting for them to surface.Bad because they needed to get a ride.
He took out his phone again, relieved to see a signal.He opened up the app he used in Italy for taxi service, since some of the other rideshares weren't operating in this area.He was able to hang on to the signal long enough to get a cab, which was apparently seven minutes out."I got us a ride.Let's wait under that tree."
Isabella nodded as she wearily followed him a little further down the road.
It was nice to have some shade as the sun had risen higher in the sky now.
"Where are we going to go?"she asked him.
"The nearest hospital."
"I don't want to go to the hospital," she said with a frown.
"You might need a stitch or two," he said as her cut continued to bleed."And you should be checked for a concussion."
"Well, you should be checked, too.And if you're not going to be, then I say we try to get to Florence."
He was still thinking about their options when the cab arrived.There was no way he would feel comfortable not getting Isabella medical attention.He asked the driver to take them to the nearest urgent care or hospital.Then he slid into the backseat next to her.
She wasn't fighting him now.In fact, her eyes were closed, and that bothered him.Maybe the trek from the car had taken too much out of her.He really hoped she didn't have something wrong that had been made worse by the walk.Seeing her now, he knew he'd made the right decision to go to the hospital.He needed to make sure she was all right before they went anywhere else.
It took about ten minutes to get to a small hospital.Fortunately, the waiting room was not crowded and after explaining they'd been in a car accident, they were each ushered into an exam room.He hated to be away from Isabella for even a second.While he thought the men who had tried to kill them were gone, there was no way to be sure of that.They might have seen the crashed car and their unconscious bodies and thought they were dead.The hillside had been too steep for them to climb down easily, which might have prevented them from checking on their condition.
He hoped the men thought they were dead.That might buy them some time.
While he was waiting for the doctor to come in, he stretched out on the exam table and stared at the ceiling, going over everything he knew.Someone had to have been watching the house and followed them.But they'd hung back for a long time.They'd been on the road for over an hour before the attack.Had they just been waiting for the right opportunity?What if they'd never gotten off the highway?Would they have been followed all the way to Florence?
And why?They'd uncovered very little information, but they'd made someone nervous.His mind jumped around, thinking about all the people they'd spoken to in the last few days.There were too many to count.He sighed as the frustration only made his head hurt.
He didn't know what to do next.If it was just him, he'd keep going.But it wasn't just him.Isabella was part of this, too, and she didn't want to leave Italy, and he wasn't sure he could make her go.But he also wasn't sure he could keep her safe.
The door opened, and the doctor entered.
He quickly sat up, then winced as pain ran through his head.
"Easy," the doctor said with a kind smile."It looks like you have similar injuries to your friend."
"Is Isabella all right?"
"She will be," the doctor said, relieving him of one worry."Let's take a look at you."
Isabella was done first, the cut on her head stitched and taped, and antiseptic applied to multiple scratches on her arms and face.The doctor believed she had a mild concussion and a severely bruised knee, but an X-ray hadn't revealed any greater damage.Her ribs were also bruised, but the pain medication she'd been given had already kicked in by the time she got to the waiting room.She was just grateful she wasn't in worse condition, because she could have been dead or paralyzed or suffered any number of other injuries.
She drew in a deep breath as those thoughts sent a wave of fear coursing through her.But she was okay, and she needed to be grateful, and maybe more on guard.She hadn't thought she was being careless, but maybe the prettiness of the day and the scenery and being with Nick had made her feel like nothing bad was going to happen.The evil had certainly come out of nowhere.She had been checking her mirrors during the trip, and she had not seen that car until it was roaring down the highway at a tremendous rate of speed.
She really should have let Nick drive.Maybe he would have been able to get them away.But she didn't see how.There had been nowhere to go, and his grandmother's small, economical car had been no match for the powerful vehicle intent on running them off the road.
It would have looked like another accident in a line of accidents that were probably all murders—every last one of them.That was two people in Nick's family and one person in hers.They couldn't walk away from this.They couldn't let evil win.
