Zena rolled over on her right side, and her eyes flew open. The pain from her ribs was muted, but still speared through making her gasp. Rolling again, she turned onto her left side, and found Percy watching her from the visitor's chair.

"Hey, babe, how are you doing?" His voice was raspy, and he ran his hands through his hair, making it stick up wildly before he continued. "You scared me to death when you passed out on me." He hitched the chair closer to the side of her bed and reached out to take her hand.

"Hold on to me. I feel like I'm going to float away, but my ribs are still making it hard to get comfortable," Zena mumbled.

"I'm not surprised. The Doc said you would be pretty woozy from the pain meds he gave you."

Zen moved restlessly onto her back, and Percy stood to untangle the IV line running into her right forearm.

"Have they found Anya yet? I don't feel safe unless she's in jail."

"Not yet, but the police are looking for her. The FBI agents are looking to charge her." Percy was looking at her like he was memorizing everything about her face.

"I'm not going to die on you. My head doesn't even hurt anymore, and I can take a deep breath if I do it slowly. Do I have any broken ribs?"

"Cracked one, and you have a pretty bad bruise. They said it's the twelfth rib on your right side. Right above the kidney. You don't have anything more than a contusion on your head. No scrapes or anything that bled. No concussion from what they could tell from the MRI."

"Thanks for being here. What time is it?"

"Way past supper time. I think the nurses saved a tray. If you're hungry and there's nothing here for you to eat, I'll run down to the coffee shop and grab a sandwich for you. And where else would I be? Your Dad should be here in a bit. I think he went down to make a couple of phone calls. He's going to make sure I get back to school to pick up my bike."

"Geeze, I caused a lot of trouble getting hurt like this."

"No, Anya caused a lot of trouble by attacking you. This isn't your fault."

It was my own stupid fault. Got lazy and didn't go around the long way. I won't make that mistake again.

"How soon can I go back to school?" Zee asked.

"I'm not sure. The doctor said you can probably go home tomorrow. You're in here overnight to make sure there's nothing they missed." Percy squeezed her hand three times.

"What was that for?" She tightened her fingers around his.

"Three squeezes for I love you. To let you know I care, even if you couldn't say anything or if I were unable to talk, you'd know I was there. It's something my mother taught me way back when I had to have my tonsils out when I was five."

Zena studied his face. He looked like he'd been through a war, his ice blue eyes steady on hers. She hoped it wasn't the drugs, as her heart melted. Very slowly and deliberately she raised their hands where she could see them and squeezed three times.

"I love you too," she whispered, and he stood to lean over her bed.

He kissed her. His lips soft and sweet. She sighed and reached up with her other hand to stroke his cheek.

"Here comes Dad." She giggled when Percy dropped back into his chair with a guilty thump. She felt like she was two steps behind what her eyes were seeing.

"You two okay?" Her dad looked smug.

"Yeah. Do you have news?" Percy asked.

"Is Anya in jail?" Zee asked in almost the same instant.

"Yes. I just talked to the officer who was with us earlier, Percy. He says Anya is in custody, and they have Molly and Izzy in interview. She is charged with aggravated assault. Ironically, she's in the same holding cell as her mother."

"What a mess. I hope they don't let her out soon." Zena could feel herself drifting away and struggled to stay focused.

"James is going to be at the hearing. He'll argue they both need to stay in custody until trial. Anya is charged as an adult. She turned eighteen in January."

Zena knew there was something about Anya's birthday, but she couldn't pull two thoughts together to figure it out. Her father came over to the other side of her bed to stroke the hair back out of her eyes. Leaning over he dropped a kiss on her forehead.

"Go to sleep. I can see you are having trouble staying awake. We're going to head out now. I'll make sure Percy gets home safe and I'll be here in the morning to take you home." Her Dad's voice faded as she slipped into a dream.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Zena winced as her nurse helped her into her bra. "I won't be wearing one for the next while I guess. Leave it off. I don't want my dad undoing it later because I can't." She reached up to pull the straps off her shoulders.

Agent Carmangy knocked at her door, and poked his head in.

"Is this a good time? I have a couple of questions."

"Give me a minute. Just getting dressed. Go find yourself a coffee and come back." Zee yanked the sheet up to cover her bare torso. Did anyone respect a patient's privacy?

"I'll be back in a few minutes. I've got a couple of mug shots I want you to look at."

She heard the faint squeak of her door closing and reached for the tee shirt she wore to school yesterday. Turning it over, she noticed the footprint, a dark brown mud stain clearly imprinted on the fine white jersey knit. She wondered if Mama Rosa could get it clean. On second thought, she was going to throw it out. There's no way she could wear it without remembering Anya rage, and her ugly threats.

She grabbed her phone and texted her father.

Dad bring me something else to wear. Please?

Sure Zee.

She pulled the ugly blue hospital gown around herself, tying the strings tightly. Grabbing her brush from her tray she hissed at the sting from her bruised ribs. Who knew it would hurt trying to get the tangles out of her hair?

Agent Carmangy pushed through her door and made sure it closed behind him.

"The skinny guy you saw at the pep rally, and you said he was the one following you around?"

"Yeah, do you know who he is? He creeps me out. But he wasn't driving the car when we got shot at," Zena said.

"I agree but are any of these guys the one you saw." He put a book of mug shots down on the tray beside her bed. "Take your time looking at them. Lacey has already given me her choice. She was pretty adamant about who he was."

She flipped through the pictures. The first three pages didn't have anyone close, but on the fourth page, she stabbed her finger at a picture of a narrow faced, guy with blonde stringy hair.

"That's him. Andrew Mackinaw. Who the hell is he?" Zena shivered. The man's eyes were empty. Completely expressionless.

"You picked the same guy. He's been hanging around town for a couple of years now. We think he's part of a gang, but the big thing about him, he was in the same prison as Theodore Pettigrew. We're trying to figure out if they had any contact since."

"Okay, then who was in that car? Who shot at us if it wasn't him? The shooter was shorter but had blonde hair too. And I swear it might have been a woman, but I don't know. I can't say how old she was. Too dark, and not enough time."

"So far, nothing in the car except a couple of strands of hair. No fingerprints. Can you tell me if the shooter was wearing gloves?"

"Can't say. It was just too fast. A pistol and blonde, shorter than skinny guy." Zena said. Frustrated she tossed the mug shot book at the slender agent. "Are you still going to be Lurch at my Halloween party?"

"Wouldn't miss it for the world. It's going to be the talk of the town. In the meantime, my partner and I are going to see if we can track down our buddy Andrew."

"Is he dangerous?"

"Assault with a weapon is what he was convicted for. Not a nice guy."

"I hope you find him before he finds us again." Zena heard a knock at her door and her Dad walked in.

"Agent," Matt's curt greeting brought a sheepish smile from the thin FBI G-man.

"Your daughter has been very helpful. She and Lacey have identified the creep who was following them. I'm off to see if we can track him down."

"How is he connected?" Her dad's tone made it clear he didn't like being left out of the loop.

"Zena will tell you. Time's ticking. I'm off to see if he's at his last listed address. His parole officer was very cooperative." Carmangy strode out of the room.

Matt tossed a tote bag onto the bed beside Zena.

"Let's get you out of here. We'll talk when we get home. I hate hospitals almost as much as the principal's office."