Her throat was squeezing shut. Each breath was a short gasp, sucking gulps of poisoned air into her burning lungs. She was suffocating.
Between what she was certain were her last breaths, she heard a click from above. She peered through blurry slits at the door. The keypad flashed green. It was open.
With her head down, she lunged for the handle. The door swung open, and smoke billowed around her into the hall. She slipped off the piece of fabric from her mouth and nose, the cool air stinging her throat as she took in a wheezing breath as deeply as she could. Though the pain didn’t go away, the fog lifted from her mind. Coughing, she crawled down the hall, brightly lit with the overhead fluorescents, toward the garage. Damp with sweat, her dress clung to her legs. Even though it hindered her movements, she didn’t stop until she came to a body on the floor.
He lay face down, wearing a ski mask, his arms flailed out on either side. Her eyes fell on the gun in his hand, the barrel elongated with the suppressor. The same one Amir had used on Karl.
She lifted her head at the sound of voices trailing from the open garage door, Amir’s malignant voice easily distinguished. As was the second voice. Xander. He was here.
Hope surged inside her chest, despite the burning in her lungs. She pried the gun from the man’s cold hand then clambered to her feet and stumbled toward the garage. She stopped at the door, leaning halfway against the frame before her legs could collapse. Her gaze fell on Xander and Amir, against the wall half a dozen yards in front of her. But something was wrong. Xander let him go. He stumbled back.
Then she saw it. Amir ripped the knife from Xander’s abdomen then gave him a push, sending Xander to the floor in a heap. A wave of cold drenched Leila from head to foot. Her legs crumpled and she landed on the floor. The gun slipped from her fingers.
“No!” she screamed, her voice raw, her heart shattering.
Amir whirled around, his fingers flexing around the hilt of his janbiya, its blade dulled by the blood. His chest heaved, emitting a low growl as he fixed his eyes on her. Then he pounced.
Gasping, she twisted around, her fingers spread, searching for the gun. Her fingers gripped it with what little strength she had left. With the gun secure in her hand, she threw a glance over her shoulder, her heart pounding in her ears. Amir was right in front of her, close enough for her to see the madness blazing in his eye. He lifted his curved, bloodied blade. From her spot on the floor, she whipped around, aiming the gun at his chest.
For Dad.
For Xander.
She squeezed the trigger. A bang reverberated against the concrete walls. The pistol flung her upper arms back as Amir dove forward, crashing into her. Pain burst through the back of her head.
The last thing she saw was flashing blue lights.
Chapter Forty
The smell of rubbing alcohol tingled in Leila’s nose. A rhythmic beep echoed in her ears. She forced her eyes open and was nearly blinded by a bright, white glow. She clenched her eyes shut, then slowly went about opening them again. It took a moment for her surroundings to come into focus.
Sunlight poured into the sterile, white room. In addition to the beeping of the monitors at her side, she could hear voices and footsteps in the hallway outside of her door.
She tried to move her head, but that proved next to impossible due to the pressure in her throat. She gradually lifted her hands and studied the cuts and scratches all over her wrists. Her heart fell. It hadn’t been a bad dream.
She closed her eyes again, trying to remember how she got out of the burning room, but the last thing she remembered seeing was Karl. His eyes had stared into nothingness, flames shooting up behind him. His skin had grown ashen. She forced her eyes open again, wishing to rid herself of the vision. How would she be able to explain all this?
Someone padded into the room. A nurse greeted her happily and checked the devices by the bed.
“The doctor will be in to see you shortly.” The nurse prattled away while she hung up a new IV bag. “We’ll be able to take the tracheotomy tube out once the swelling has gone down. In the meantime, use the notepad on your table if you need to communicate. You’re not going to be able to talk with the tube in.
“You’re lucky you got pulled out of there in the nick of time. It could have ended much worse,” the nurse went on, and Leila tried to follow what she was saying, but her words kept fading in and out.
A knock came at the door and it creaked open. Emma’s head poked inside. A grin broke out over her face and she bumped the door open.
“I thought I heard her talking to someone,” she said as she took the chair by the bed. She took hold of Leila’s hand and squeezed gently. It was a small comfort.
Emma’s eyes followed the nurse’s movements, and once the nurse was gone she turned back to Leila. “The other night was so crazy. We were all so worried. Soliman was giving his speech and you never showed up. Vivian and I both tried calling you, but you never answered.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “We started looking for you and then the fire alarms went off and everyone evacuated and waited out in the rain for ages. Then Soliman came to me and told me you, Karl, and Xander—I didn’t even know Xander was at the party. But we went to the hospital and they told us Karl was gone, that they couldn’t help him.” Emma’s voice cracked, and she stopped talking, wiping at her eyes.
Leila stared at Emma. Now she remembered.
Oh, Xander. Please be okay.
“I’m sorry, I’m just in shock.” Emma rubbed her temples and shook her head. “And the police are dying to talk to you. I don’t think the doctors will let them in until they know you’re ready, though.”
Of course, she would have an interrogation to anticipate. On the bright side, she would give them a reason to finally put both Faris and Amir behind bars. If they hadn’t managed to escape. But first, she needed to know what happened with Xander.
“Oh!” Emma gasped. “Oh. You’re probably going to gag, but I mentioned Xander, right? Well, he’s the one who figured out where you were and went down there after you.”
He did come for her. How her heart soared and twisted. He’d come for her, but to what price? Her eyes darted to the notepad, but the doctor entered with a clipboard in hand, two nurses trailing behind him.
“I’ll go out for a while,” Emma said, standing to her feet. She tugged her purse strap over her shoulder. “You want me to send Vivian? She’d love to see you too.”
Leila could only blink at her, too sore to move her head. Vivian would tell her everything.
“I’ll take that as a yes.” Emma gave her an encouraging smile before leaving the room.
The doctor explained the long-term prognosis was relatively good, thanks to the immediate treatment. But it could be a few years until a full recovery. The pictures of her X-rays had been a bit of a shock with large black splotches all over them. It would be at least two days until they could take the breathing tube out, and then another week or two to recover from that and be able to speak normally again, but she insisted she was well enough for the nurses to prop her up in bed.
Alone again, she regarded the blank notepad in her lap.
She had so much to say. Between naps, she wrote out her statement to give to the police, making sure not to leave anything out. Starting from when Karl had stopped her on her way back to the Great Court. She had already written an entire page when Vivian entered that evening. She set a vase of flowers on the table by the bed.
“I got you all colors,” she said with a wink. Leila flipped her notepad to a blank page.
Love them, she wrote and held it up for Vivian.
Vivian smiled and sat down at the foot of the bed. “How do you feel?”
