Behind her two cops in PAD uniforms waited at the door, giving me their best versions of a cop scowl. Strangely, I felt no urge to quiver in terror.

Andrea stepped closer and kept her voice low. “I leave you alone for eight weeks and you get into a pissing match with the PAD.”

“That’s just how I roll,” I told her.

Emily screamed.

“Excuse me.” I went over to where the paramedics had lifted her onto the stretcher. She reached out and gripped my hand.

“It will be okay,” I told her. “You’re going to the hospital. They’ll take care of you.”

Emily didn’t say anything. She just clutched my hand and didn’t let go until they loaded her into the ambulance. A stretcher with Ghastek followed into the second vehicle, and then the dark-haired woman came out, wrapped in a blanket, led by two paramedics. The ambulance doors closed and the two emergency vehicles took off wailing like banshees.

When I came back into the office, it was empty, except for Andrea and a puddle of blood on the floor. “Where are the cops?”

She shrugged. “They cleared out.”

We looked at each other. She’d saved my bacon. That didn’t change the fact that she’d disappeared for two months. And now something was wrong.

“What the hell?” Andrea glared at me. “How in the world did you end up with three navigators in your office with the PAD outside? They were ready to storm your office. Are you nuts?”

“What the hell back at you. Where have you been? Did you forget how to use the phone?”

Andrea crossed her arms. “I wrote you a letter!”

“You wrote me a note that made my hair stand on end.”

The phone rang. Now what? I marched to my desk and picked it up. “Yes?”

Curran’s voice filled the phone. “Are you okay?”