Katherine flinched.
“It’s okay. Hey, hey, keep those eyes open!” Ben snapped.
She wanted to, but it was so hard.
His fingers squeezed hers.
“Are you having an allergic reaction to something?” Ben asked her. “Did something—”
She managed to shake her head.
“Poison, drugs…” The other man was talking, but she could barely make out his words.
Her heart wasn’t beating quickly now. It was beating too slowly.
A siren wailed.
Her fingers were still twined with Ben’s. “You’re going to be all right,” Ben told her. “Just hang on. I’ll keep you safe.”
Her eyes couldn’t stay open any longer.
Dane’s eyes swept Trent Lancaster’s bedroom. Nothing in the house was out of place. He’d hoped to find some evidence there that could tell him if Trent had been watched or stalked in the days leading up to his attack.
The phone on his hip vibrated. Dane put the phone to his ear. “Black.”
“Get to Mercy General,” the captain’s voice ordered. “Get there now.”
“What’s happening?”
Mac looked over at him, obviously catching the tight note in Dane’s voice.
“Maggie just called.”
Maggie. Harley’s daughter.
“She was at a café in the Quarter. Katherine was there—”
Why the hell would Katherine—
“Katherine collapsed. She’s being taken to the hospital now. Maggie knew who she was, she’d seen the stories, and she called because she was scared Valentine might have targeted Katherine.”
Dane was already running for the door.
Katherine’s throat hurt. Her stomach ached, and the bitter taste in her mouth had only grown worse.
Her eyes opened to a world of white. White ceiling. White walls. A bright, white light overhead.
Someone was holding her hand.
Ben. Ben had been holding her hand in the ambulance.
She turned her head, but Ben wasn’t there.
Dane was.
And he looked haggard. Dark shadows were under his eyes, and the lines near his mouth looked deeper.
But when he looked into her eyes, a smile swept over his face. “You’re back.”
“Where…did…I…” Oh, but her throat hurt. “Go?”
“Away from me.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her lips. “And I want you to promise never, ever to f**king do that again.” Dane pushed the call button on the side of the bed.
She tried to shift in the bed. “How did…I…?”
“You were drugged, Katherine.” Fury burned in his eyes, flashing as his hand tightened on hers. “A damn deadly mix designed to take you out. But the doctors worked some f**king miracles here.”
Had they pumped her stomach? Was that why her throat and stomach hurt so much?
“You pulled through.”
He kissed her again, as if he couldn’t help himself. “I’ve never been that scared.” He whispered the stark confession.
“How—” Katherine began again.
“We think it was in the drink you had. We’ve got Joe at the station, and Mac is going to grill that bastard.”
“Not…Joe…” He hadn’t even given her the café au lait, had he? It was so hard to remember.
The door opened, and a woman holding a white clipboard bustled inside. She smiled when she saw Katherine. “You’re awake.” Her warm brown eyes cut to Dane. “I told your detective that you would be, but he insisted on staying by your side.”
Her heart was beating faster, and the monitors on the right picked up the frantic sound.
The doctor came closer. “You’re going to be fine, Ms. Cole. You were very lucky. The fentanyl was mixed with several drugs to—”
“Fentanyl,” Katherine repeated. The monitors were beeping like mad now.
The doctor nodded and started talking about why Katherine had convulsed. The mixture of drugs. The intensity…
Katherine barely heard her. Katherine’s gaze had turned back to Dane. “He came for me,” she whispered. Valentine had given her the same drug that he’d used on his other victims.
He tried to kill me?
She lifted her left hand. An IV line was hooked in the vein on the top of her hand. Her fingers rose and hovered over her heart.
She could almost feel the slice of Valentine’s knife.
“I don’t think he meant for you to go under so fast,” Dane said. “He was probably planning to get you as soon as you left the diner.”
Only she’d never made it out of the diner.
He tried to kill me.
The doctor started checking the monitors near Katherine.
“He was there,” Katherine said. Her voice was stronger even as fear thickened within her. She tried to remember the customers in the diner. Others had been close to her at the counter, but she’d barely glanced at them. She’d been so busy talking to Evelyn. “Evelyn…”
“She stayed at the hospital for more than four hours, waiting until we were sure you were all right.” He brushed back her hair. “I had a uniform take her back home.”
Katherine didn’t think Evelyn would be staying at her home long. The woman was terrified, and after this attack, well, Katherine figured Evelyn would be packing her bags as quickly as she could.
The doctor eased from the room.
“I’m scared,” Katherine confessed to Dane.
A muscle jerked in his jaw.
“He drugged me.” She shook her head. A bitter smile curved her lips. “I guess this means Marcus has to rework his profile.” He’d always been so sure that Valentine wouldn’t hurt her.
Had she been sure of it, too?
No, she’d always thought…someday, he’ll come for me.
That day had come.
“I want you to go with Ross.”
She blinked, surprised.
“He’s already working on a new cover for you. I want you to leave with him as soon as you’re cleared from the hospital.” Dane gave a quick nod. “You’ll be out of New Orleans by nightfall. You’ll be safe.”
Another name, another place? “He’ll just find me.”
“Not before I find him.”
“I don’t want to go through this.”
“I thought you were dead.” The words were rough. “When I saw you in the ER, you were so still and pale, and I thought the doctors weren’t going to be able to save you.”