Allie walked into my intensive care unit with the paper cup in the dining room.
"Does this mean I can leave?" I asked. After a restless night, I was tired of this hospital. I want to stay at home, wearing pajamas, holding a remote control in my hand, and eating sweet and salty snacks in various bowls in front of me. I want Winston too, curled up on my knees.
"Yes, you can go, but you need to go back and do a divine assessment," he reminded me, putting a piece of nǎi oil candies in my hand. "I'm serious, I want to take a break."
Ellie helped me put on some surgical gowns because my clothes were ruined in Eve's fiasco. My favorite red Nike sneakers are gone recently, so I only have one shoe. Walking through the bushes, I put on my black wool coat and got into the wheelchair. Allie wore the red Lane coat she usually wears, put her hair behind her ears, and grabbed my chair.
"I hope you are ready."
"What are you ready?" I tried to sit comfortably in a chair, but the dead body did not happen.
When I walked through the automatic door leading to the parking lot, no explanation could prepare me for what I saw. Camera flashes and microphones can be seen everywhere. I mean, someone really hit me. They pushed their device to my face.
"Ah" I rubbed my cheek carefully. "Be careful."
"Ms. Fan Fan," a reporter interjected. "Does a woman named Eve? Hildebrand really want to murder you?" She is a little older, about fifty years old, with a pile of puffy hair on her head, and her voice seems to be twice a day. Pack cigarettes.
"Yes," I said.
Allie squeezed my shoulder and I squeaked. "Before you talk to the lawyer, I don't think you should answer the question." Since Ellie's brother is a lawyer, this is very convenient.
The reporter got closer, and then another round of flashing flashes. The camera lens of her follower opened beside her like a bug, looking at me.
"Does she act alone or does she have an accomplice?" someone shouted.
"Well, there is a guy—" I started, but Allie pinched me again. "what"
"Can you describe that person?" The reporters' questions did not stop. They yelled at me from all directions, I don't know who was saying what. "Do they work for an organization? Is this attack related to the church's campaign against NRD?"
"Damn," Allie said, and my wheelchair stopped suddenly. "Your wheelchair is stuck."
"Is this related to the Atlanta murder?" someone shouted.
"What is the Atlanta murder?" Allie asked, unable to control herself.
The jǐng flute suddenly sounded, and I could not hear the reporter's answer. They are not far away either. They are almost above us. Then I caught a glimpse of them through the changing bodies in the crowd. Two Jǐng cars parked behind Ali, blocking her inside. The media seemed not worried about Jǐngcha's sudden intervention, and I was completely frightened by the incident. After Garrison, you broke the law's remarks, and I'm sure they will stop and arrest me.
To make matters worse, I did not get out of the wheelchair. Oh, I want to stand up and see a big Jǐng Cha rushing towards me, separating the crowd like modern Moses, but that is impossible. When I stared at his broad chest under his tight uniform, I understood this.
"Are you here to arrest her? What's the charge?" the woman with the microphone asked.
The Jǐngcha stretched out his big hand to me and pulled me out of the wheelchair, as if I only weighed twenty pounds.
"Oh, oh, oh. "I'm really in pain," I pleaded.
He said nothing.
"I can't go to jail," I said, hanging on his shoulder now. "I'm so cute. They will kill me."
With my ass in the air, I'm glad I changed this thin hospital gown to frosted pants.
He carried a large number of reporters on his shoulders, and Ally followed us, protesting like a banshee against my kidnapping. His partner opened the door of Jǐng's car for him and pushed me into the back seat.
"You have no right to arrest her," Allie said. She grabbed the top of the car door with one hand, not letting him close it. "You did not show a warrant or badge, or anything that can tell me what you are doing is legal."
"Get in the car," he said to her. Allie jumped in without hesitation.
Li and I were sitting in the car, and the reporters flooded the windows.
"Oh," I muttered to myself. Some reporters ran from the crowd to the news car or parked car. "They won't give up, will they?"
When we left, the tall black officer said something on the small intercom on his shoulder. Allie started working again, her majestic voice full of vitality. "Gentlemen, I want you to explain if this is a kidnapping."
Jǐngcha, the white man in the passenger seat, turned and walked towards us. "I am Officer Jǐng Jeffers, and this is Officer Jǐng Gaul. We have been sent to protect you."
"By whom?"
"FBRD." The officer's lips were closed, as if he wasn't very happy about it.
"Protect me or arrest me?" Because of his insensitivity, I remember Garrison told me that he was going to arrest me.
"It's okay." Allie touched my arm lightly. "They should have told you your rights by now."
"Why don't you explain, instead of lifting me from my chair like a barbarian?"
Gaul could not breathe. His eyes remained on the road. "My job is not to explain to you. My job is to make sure that your head will not be blown up or chopped off, or damage or cut your body in any way."
Wow. This guy is very attractive.
Allie's phone rang. "It's Ryan." She opened it. "Hey. No, she's fine. They escorted us home—" she said angrily. "I said she was fine. Anyway."
"What did he say?"
"Your boyfriend," she complained. I know it's best not to show any emotions in the "happy" range. "He said he will come as soon as possible."
"How long will you escort me?" I asked Jǐng Cha.
"Before the second assailant was arrested," Jeffers said. He lifted his hat. He smiled with crooked teeth and pointed nose.
I thought he was referring to the man in the hotel room. Well, I can deal with some formal stalkers, if that means no more beheading attempts.
"Call Brinkley," I told Ally. Both Jǐng officials looked at each other. If Ally noticed their ears lifted up, she would pretend not to hear. "It's okay, I'll do it."
I took her cell phone and dialed it. It may be risky to talk to him in front of Jǐngcha, but I want to know where he is. But I received a recording that repeated Brinkley's number to me. I was very angry and threw the phone back to her.
I realized that I did not recognize any alley.
"Are any of you a member of the church?" I asked. Ai Li looked up at the electronic planner, she had been rearranging them with angry taps on the touch screen.
Officer Jeffers Jǐng smiled. "Don't worry, Ms. Sullivan. The British Bank for Reconstruction and Development (FBRD) is reviewing any conflicts of interest that might endanger your safety."
"This does not answer my question," I said.
"Just because the church is unified, don't put us all in one basket, okay?"
"It's fair," Allie said on my behalf, and then I could curse like a child. I'm pretty sure I have every reason to be cautious on this point.
Gaul saw me staring at the back of his head, staring at me through the rearview mirror. "Maybe you prefer me to take the media directly to your house?"
In the end, when we crossed Harding Square, I did recognize this road. We passed a waffle house, which tasted sweet syrup and deep fried. My stomach growls. Swallowing my own saliva now hurts. They gave me a prescription for the painkillers I needed—no doubt.
Just as the locked back seat and the smell of leather drove me into claustrophobia, we went home. Jǐngcha got off the car slowly and looked around. Once it was deemed clear, they let us out of the back seat.
"I'm going to open the door" Allie is one step ahead of us. "Then we will put you in the bathtub." Whenever I am not on the hot water or on the massage table, my pain gets worse.
Allie's key squeaked against the door, the door creaked, and then our little group walked into the foyer. One of my salvaged sneakers hit the floor with a bang.
Officer Jeffers Jǐng stopped me on the stairs. "I hope you wait here until we search the house."
"I'm cold," I said tremblingly. Now I finally go home and feel a little safer, and my adrenaline has dropped.
"Check the bathroom," Ellie told Gaul.
"You can wait," he said.
"No," Allie said flatly. "She needs hot water."
He stared at us as if he might refuse the request, but Officer Jeffers Jǐng followed Ellie and took the lead on the top of the stairs. "Which way?"
Allie nodded to the master bedroom on the right. I wandered around the door, looking for Winston.
"He is in my apartment," Allie told me. I don't know how long you will be in a coma, so I picked him up last night. "
Jeffers appeared at the door again. "Go," he said. "But don't leave her alone."
When the bathroom door closed behind me, I could barely move.
"Do you need help to get in?" she rolled up her sleeves and said.
I nodded.
It is difficult for me to pull the shirt over my head. My back and shoulder muscles don't want to bend like this. I hesitated and asked Ally to help me. When I was not moving, she stretched her hands to her hips, and she tilted her head to the side sympathetically.
"I promise I won't look at that scar," she said, because I was already holding my chest shyly. Allie saw everything, of course, but seeing it during the day is not the same as seeing it under my quilt at night.
I nodded, and she helped me pull the shirt over my head. Then she put her arm under my armpit and helped me into the water. I slipped into the water and immediately felt a hundred times better. My muscles crave calories, drink it. (To be continued) (End of this chapter)