Chapter Forty
In which there are tracking chips, cursory examinations and no anesthetic.
Iris…
Oh, everything hurts. So much.
Someone is crying and squeezing my hand. I open one eye and the light is blinding and I close it again, cringing.
"Iris honey, please open your eyes! Please, I need to know you're okay." It's Rose.
"Hey sweetie." My voice sounds scratchy as hell. "Did we get in an accident?"
Her eyes are red and swollen and I feel horrible.
Why is she so upset? I look around the room.
It's a sterile space, walls painted industrial gray, one window that's barred.
It looks a little bit like a doctor's office designed by a crackhead.
There's an OB/GYN exam table and it makes my stomach turn.
"Oh. We got kidnapped." I'm trying not to slur my words.
"I remember. They smashed my head into the car door.
Did you get hurt? Are you okay?" I ask, shakily trying to sit up.
She helps me get my back against the wall.
I put my hand over my mouth, my stomach churning violently.
This is the wrong time to be vomiting. "Do you know anything about who took us? "
"I don't," she says. "They put a bag over my head. We drove for maybe half an hour or so, but without knowing a direction, we could be anywhere."
"Did they hurt you?"
"No, other than being assholes and shoving me around." Her eyes fill with tears again. "When I saw your skull crack against the car…"
"I'm fine." I smile over my blinding headache.
Her eyes light up and she leans in so close her lips touch my ear. In the softest whisper, she says, "Our tracking chips."
I'd forgotten. How could I forget? Roman and Violet convinced us to get tracking chips after being rescued from the Chads. Roman told us all the Morozovs get one.
"Yes! Oh, thank you Roman and your overprotective nature," I whisper. "If there's a way to get out of here, we'll try. If not, we stay calm and focused, okay?"
As she's nodding, the door opens. A man in a white coat enters. He looks shaky, and based on how he's sniffing, I'm thinking he snorted a little something before stopping by for a visit.
"Oh, good. You're both awake," he says, looking at a chart. "We're going to do a brief examination to make sure you're healthy."
"You must be joking," I say, trying to look authoritative and not sick and dizzy. "Do you know what this is going to cost you? You fucked with the Morozov Bratva."
"If you let us go now," Rose says, "this is just a misunderstanding. If you try to keep us, this is your death. Do you think our family is going to let this go?"
The "doctor" looks at us blankly before pointing at me. "I'll start with you."
"You're not touching me. I don't want your cocaine sweats all over me. This is an expensive shirt." I don't think I'm intimidating him. The adrenaline surging through me is just making my head hurt worse.
"I'll need some help with these two," he calls into the hall. Two enormous orderlies come in, flexing their biceps to look more ape-like. A nurse follows them in, she's built like she could wrestle bears and I'm not in the kind of shape to take her.
"Really," I urge, "you need to do yourself a favor and let us go."
The nurse moves faster than I thought someone her size could. She grabs Rose and yanks her up, pulling her arm behind her back.
Not again. It's not happening again.
Nurse Bear is about to lift Rose's arm higher, she could dislocate her shoulder.
"Stop! I'll do what you want. Don't hurt her," I beg.
Rose and I look at each other with the same sickening certainty that they know we'll do anything to protect each other.
Just like last time.
I don't know if Roman is coming to save us in time. I don't let myself think about Andrey. This would just be a minor inconvenience in his plans and somehow, that hurts worse than anything.
Standing up, I take a moment before my spinning head will let me take a few steps and ungracefully collapse onto the exam table.
"Don't worry," he says. "We don't need to do a vaginal exam." I glance at the hopeful orderlies and my stomach curls again. "First thing, I'm checking for a tracker."
"What are you talking about?" I laugh a little. "Do you hear that, Rose? He thinks we're lost pets."
"We're wasting time," he sighs. The closest orderly grabs Rose by the back of her neck.
"No need to get dramatic," I say quickly. "Go ahead, but stop yanking her around, she hasn't done anything."
Rose is pissed, there's fire in her eyes, and her jaw tightens. She's just as ready to end someone's life as I am at this point.
The doctor sniffs and picks up an electronic device from a tray of tools that I prefer not to look at, running it across the back of my neck, and my shoulders.
I'm rigid, refusing to look at him. He smells like sweat and a vaguely chemical odor.
The two orderlies stand there with their beefy arms folded, staring at us.
The one with a horrible goatee licks his lips at me and my stomach lurches.
"Lift your arm," the doctor says, and reluctantly I do. The device he's holding against my skin beeps triumphantly and I close my eyes in despair. If the Morozovs haven't tracked us yet, we are so fucked. He pulls out a scalpel.
No gloves, why bother, huh?
"Wait, aren't you going to give her an anesthetic?" Rose stammers.
He cuts into me and the pain tears through my arm like a streak of fire, he's slicing deeper than he has to.
Maybe he's a sadistic son of a bitch or maybe he's just incompetent.
Pulling out a pair of tweezers, he starts poking around inside the incision.
I clench my fists, trying to concentrate on my nails digging into my palms instead.
It'll just be a minute. I tell myself. Just a minute. The metal tweezers shoving aside tissue and sending more blood streaking down my arm hurts even worse than cutting me open.
Finally locating the tracker, he grunts and pulls it out. It's tiny, no bigger than a square inch and he holds it up, like he's done something magnificent here and is expecting praise.
"Kierra," he says, tossing the tracker on the tray, "Sew her up and I'll do the other girl."
This is worse. It's so much worse seeing Rose get hurt.
Maybe he'll be better now that he's figured out where the trackers are.
He pulls up his device and puts it right on her arm and I close my eyes.
We should've been sneakier. We really should have asked them to be in different places, at least make it harder to find them.
Rose makes one angry yelp and then presses her lips together as the scalpel digs into her skin. The nurse heaves a sigh and walks over. There's blood pouring down my arm and soaking my shirt sleeve. Her mouth twists with distaste.
Maybe you shouldn't be a nurse if you can't handle blood, bitch. I think. But maybe I can show you some of your own soon.
I am so angry, and the rage is good. It's cleansing and I can think again.
I stare straight ahead as she unwraps a pre-threaded needle.
She doesn't bother to give me anesthetic, adding four jagged stitches to keep the wound closed.
No bandage or antiseptic, but I guess I've got bigger concerns than getting infected.
Then it hits me.
The baby! The baby, nothing can happen to my baby.
My hand rises on its own accord, ready to rest protectively over my stomach. I grip the side of the bed instead.
Nurse Bear notices the movement, and she glares at me. "Were you gonna hit me?"
"No," I say, forcing myself to stay calm. There are so many things I want to say right now, and none of them will help us. The doctor stitches up Rose's arm. It looks a little bit better than mine, but not by much. "Hey Rose, it doesn't look like he completely mangled your arm. Maybe he is a vet."
"Then I guess we should consider ourselves lucky that he didn't give us a rabies shot and neuter us, huh?" She gives me a brave little smirk.
The "doctor" ignores us, dropping the other tracker on the tray and handing it to one of the orderlies. "Take these to The Patroness. We'll see what she wants to do with them. She might want to throw them in the car and drive them around for a wild goose chase."
"I'll finish the physical examination while you're on the table, and then do your sister." He picks up the stethoscope, pressing it to my chest. The orderly still in the room is enjoying every moment of this. "Temperature, heart rate are fine," he says, and the nurse notes it on her iPad.
He pauses for a minute and he eyes my stomach with a little frown, and I suck in a terrified breath. I don't look pregnant, but I know that there's a slight swell on my abdomen.
No, there's nothing there look away no baby. My thoughts are desperate, and I'm trying to keep my expression blank.
He scoots his stool back and looks at the nurse. "Can you bring me the ultrasound machine?" It's the first time I've seen an expression other than spite on Nurse Bear's face. She looks excited.
"Right away, doctor."