Page 42 of Healing Conviction

“I don’t need to go to the hospital! I need to get the fuck out of here!”

“Okay, okay. We won’t go there, yet. But if your symptoms start to get worse, we’ll have to.”

“First, we’re going to our hotel and getting our things,” Drake explained. “After that, we’ll take you wherever you need to go.”

“No! Y’all can’t go to your hotel! There’s no time! I don’t care where you take me! I’ll go anywhere, but we gotta get out of herenow! Please! You have to believe me.”

“Shanna—” Drake began, but Nora interrupted him, accessing the same voice and energy she used for survivors back at the clinic.

“We believe you, babe. Take a deep breath, alright? Tell me what happened.”

Shanna broke down in tears and Nora gave Drake a pointed look before mouthing. “Go to the hotel. I got this.”

At his brief nod, Nora turned back to the sobbing woman and tucked greasy, faded two-toned hair behind Shanna’s ear so she could see her face.

“What happened, babe?”

Shanna’s breathing hitched, but thankfully began to slow from the dangerously fast pants she’d had. “I-I got a call from one of my guys. He said he had some new shi—don’t fuckin’ judge me.”

She let go of Shanna’s wrists and raised her hands up in a defensive posture. “I’m not, I swear. I just want to know what’s going on.”

Shanna sniffed and continued, seemingly placated by Nora’s insistence. “H-he told me to meet him at our usual spot and I-I walked there. Wasn’t nothin’ different ‘til I got there and he had a f-friend. S-somethin’ was weird. I just knew it. So I called it and told him I was leavin’.” She wiped her arm under her running nose. “Th-they didn’t like that. The other guy. He started sayin’… somethin’. I couldn’t understand him, but when he reached for me I figured whatever he was carryin’ on ‘bout wasn’t good and I didn’t wanna get kidnapped a fuckin’ third time—”

A third time?

“—so I ran. Th-they caught up to me. Hit me and tried to get me to s-stop—” She lifted her arms and Nora noticed for the first time that Shanna’s arms were covered in new bruises and fresh scratches.

“Shit,” she muttered under her breath.

Drake murmured out the side of his mouth. “Emergency kit’s on the floorboard back there.”

“Thanks.” Nora climbed over the center console and joined Shanna, quickly finding a rubber tackle box with ‘MED’ and some other language painted in red across it.

“Gloves,” Drake reminded her.

“I know,” Nora replied absentmindedly as she opened the kit. She felt her eyes widen at the contents before shutting the case again and darting her gaze up to meet Drake’s in the rearview mirror. “Um… this is one heck of anemergencykit, my dude. Kevorkian would be proud.”

“Half of that’s just sedatives,” he grunted and shrugged in response. Nora shook her head and went back to the kit, bypassing the gas mask, short saw, and open black case of syringes in search of gloves and more mundane necessities. Shanna’s wounds thankfully were only light scratches, so it didn’t take much time to apply ointment and bandages as she continued her story.

“I kn-kneed the sonuvabitches in the balls and ran. Got back to my room and called y’all. I gotta get outta here.”

“Good for you, girl. But you’re sure they followed you? Why do you think they’re after you?”

“Iknowthey were after me. The one… he had the same vibe as—” She swallowed. “I’ll go anywhere as long as I can lie low.”

“We’ll help you, Shanna,” Nora answered. “We’re headed farther south from here and we’ll drop you off at a shelter on the way—”

“No!I ain’t goin’ to one of those again.”

“That’s the deal, Shanna.” Nora stayed firm as she met Shanna’s wild eyes. “We’ll take you wherever, but we’re dropping you off near a shelter. That’s nonnegotiable.”

Fear, frustration, and resignation swirled in Shanna’s eyes before she finally sighed. “Fine. Have it your way. But if I get roped in again, that’s on you. Just get me the fuck outta here.”

Get roped in again? What in the underworld is she talking about?

“We’re gonna get on the highway as soon as we get our bags from the hotel,” Drake responded. “It’s not more than half an hour away. We’ll be there—”

“No! We have to go now!” Shanna leaped out of her seat across the console toward Drake, aiming for the steering wheel. Nora yelped and tried to pull her back while the truck swerved.