Mia hesitated. “Will it knock me out? I’ve never taken a narcoticbefore.”
“It might, but you weren’t planning on driving tonight anyway, wereyou?”
No, she wasn’t, but then she had no idea what was going to happen next. Joaquin had gone to meet with his police friends and Wu to talk about their situation, while she dressed and got her dischargeinstructions.
The nurse poured the pill into her hand and gave her a plastic pitcher of water. “What it will do is dull that pain and give you a chance to rest and heal. Give it thirty or forty minutes to kickin.”
“Thanks.” Mia swallowed the pill, then searched for her socks and shoes, moving stiffly, every step tugging at the deep laceration near herhip.
In the end, the nurse had to put her shoes on her feet and tiethem.
“I feel like ababy.”
The nurse smiled. “I think you’re a hero. Besides, everyone needs to be babied once in awhile.”
A knock came at the door, and Joaquin stuck his head inside. “Can we comein?”
“She’s ready to go,” the nurse said. “She’s had a Vicodin, so she can’tdrive.”
Joaquin entered with Marc and Julian, both still in bodyarmor.
“Hey, Mia,” Julian said. “Way to be a badass tonight. How do youfeel?”
“Lucky.” It was then she noticed the serious looks on the men’s faces.Damn.Not good. “What’s oursitrep?”
Marc went first. “This whole thing has blown up. Because of Frank’s murder, the CBI and FBI have stepped in. Tonight or tomorrow at the latest, the FBI is going to want to talk to you. They’re going to want to hear what you toldus.”
Joaquin spoke next. “The media is all over this, including my paper. Cate is sitting out there with one of our other photographers and a half-dozen other reporters, waiting for us. I left my pager in my truck with my camera, but I’ve got about thirty text messages from Cate and Tom, asking me where the hell Iam.”
“I’m sorry, Joaquin. Your life was sane before you got mixed up withme.”
Julian frowned, shook his head. “Sane? No. I wouldn’t go thatfar.”
Joaquin ignored him. “Don’t worry about me, Mia. I just want to keep yousafe.”
“We need to figure out where to take you next,” Julian said. “You don’t meet the criteria for WitSec. We have a few police safehouses around Denver. That’s apossibility.”
“There’s also the Cimarron,” Marcsaid.
“What’s that?” Mia had never heard ofit.
“My brother-in-law and his father have a little mountain cabin,” Marcsaid.
Joaquin and Julian both found this funny for somereason.
Marc was grinning, too, apparently in on some joke. “If you’d like, I can call and see if they’d take you in. Jack West is a former Army Ranger, and his son served on a Marine Special Operations Team alongside Navy SEALs until he was badly burned in an IEDexplosion.”
“How awful.” Mia couldn’t imagine anything moreterrible.
“He recovered and married my sister, Megan. Their place is a hell of a lot nicer than a safehouse, and I guarantee you, no one will find youthere.”
“Thanks.”
“There’s something else to consider,” Julian said. “Ramirez, this guy clearly knows who you are. He knows where you live. He might even come looking for you or think that Mia is still at your place. We have no idea what he’ll do next. Either you need to lay low for a while, maybe head up to the Cimarron, too, or you need to stay somewhere else—and far away from Mia. You can’t go back and forth between wherever she is and your job. You could lead him toher.”
“You’re right.Mierda.”
Mia’s stomach sank, the big picture coming into focus. “I can’t go to work, can I? Not now. Not aftertonight.”