Page 99 of Keep Me Safe
Unlike the rest of my family, I wasn’t afraid of emotions, but the feeling of her in my arms was so powerful it left me breathless.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Yes. I missed you.”
She pulled my arm tighter around her. “Me, too.”
Getting her discharged from the hospital in the morning took forever. The day nurse was physically unable to move above a glacial pace.
“Can I shower and get dressed?” Kara asked while waiting for the final paperwork.
“Yeah,” L replied, “here.”
She produced a pile of clothes from a bag that made Kara blink. “These are mine.”
“Your apartment’s less than two hours from here,” I said.
I didn’t explain that I’d hired a team to clean it up and pack nearly every piece of clothing she owned in two suitcases, which were sitting in the trunk of a limo in the circle drive downstairs.
She seemed too relieved to see something familiar to ask questions. She came to her unsteady feet with my help and attempted to walk on her own toward L.
“I’ve got her,” L said to me, a slight edge in her words like I was encroaching on her territory.
“All right,” I relented. I pulled the privacy curtain near the door closed. “Let me know if you need my help. I’ll be here.”
I listened to L move into the bathroom and start the shower, and a few minutes later she pulled back the curtain. Her gaze locked on mine, her face hard and her voice full of fire. “Juric’s really fucking lucky he’s dead.”
I’d never spoken truer words. “I agree.”
39
KARA
Teeth brushed,showered, and dressed in my own clothes, I felt somewhat normal, albeit weak, so I didn’t refuse the wheelchair when they brought it to me. My lightheadedness should be gone in another day, according to the doctor who was fluent in English.
“Where am I going?” I asked when I was seated.
“I’m taking you to the airport,” Shawn answered.
Good. I was anxious to get going. An orderly pushed me out into the hall and paused for Shawn and Laurel to follow. When we were on the move, he texted Jason that we were leaving but then let out a sigh. Whatever was sent back frustrated him.
“What is going on?” I asked.
As soon as the elevators closed us in, he crouched down to face me at eye-level, frowning. “When we get to the lobby, it’s going to be unpleasant.”
“Unpleasant how?”
“There’s video of what happened in the square.”
“Okay,” I said, not understanding. We’d been in a crowded, public place, so it wasn’t surprising there’d been cameras.
“And there’s been a lot of news coverage of my brewery being bombed and the woman who was abducted. It didn’t take people long to identify me, or you as the woman in that video.”
Before it could sink in, the doors opened to reveal the large number of media camped out to the side of the hospital, justbeyond the glass doors of the lobby. Long lenses were up and facing us, a gigantic flurry of activity when Shawn straightened to stand beside me.
I wanted to pull the brakes on the wheelchair but had no idea how, and the orderly pressed forward. Jason was waiting, his back to the cameras, facing us. He said something, perhaps in German or maybe in English, but it was too difficult to tell. There were so many cameras and reporters, it was all I could focus on.
“Kara,” Jason said, drawing my attention. He had his hands on his hips, and his expression was unclear. As if he were wrestling with something. “I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to repay what you did for us.”
