Her eyes fly open and she takes a long gasp of air. She struggles to sit up. The naloxone has dissociated the drug from the receptors in her nervous system, rendering it inert.

I hug her. Tight. Sasha squirms her way in and hugs her too. Tight.

Harper starts to cry and my whole body goes cold. My blood turns to ice.

I will get that that motherfucker.

I will get. That motherfucker.

I will torture him using techniques he’s never heard of before. I’ll flay the skin off him, one layer at a time, until he’s screaming for death. He will beg for death.

But death and I have an understanding. A deal. He can have them in the end, but I always get them first.

Chapter Thirty-Eight - James

I put Harper in the back of the Hummer with Sasha. They are both silent, but they are both alive. “Sasha, make sure she doesn’t fall into a deep sleep, OK? You need to check her pulse so we can make sure she’s not still drugged and give her another dose. Check her every ten minutes.” I explain how to do that and hand Sasha my watch so she can keep time. Then I give her the rescue pen, in case Harp needs more meds.

When Sasha looks up at me, she’s crying. “I’m sorry. I should’ve shot him. I didn’t know what to do! It’s the city! It’s not the same. I didn’t know what to do.”

Harper leans over the stupid table hump in between the two bucket seats and grabs her hand. “Don’t cry, Sasha. I’m fine, OK? I’m fine.”

I push Harper back into her seat, lean over both of them so I can find her belt, and then drag it across her body. “Just keep still.”

“James, that guy said he sent you to get the card.”

“Don’t,” I growl at her. She recoils a little but I don’t care. “Don’t mention him again. I’m gonna take care of it. But I’m not gonna explain what happened, because I’m not sure. So no more.” I pull back and stand at Sasha’s door. “We’re not talking about today. Ever. Do you understand?”

They just look at me and I guess that’s as good an agreement as I’m gonna get, so I shut Sasha’s door and open mine. Harper is on the passenger side in back, so I can keep an eye on her as we drive. She’s still drowsy so I’m hoping she’ll fall into a light sleep as we make our way to the airport. I can use some quiet time to sort this all out.

I put the Hummer in gear and back out of the garage, then head up the alley so I can catch Beach Boulevard up to Fullerton.

My blackouts are a problem. I’ve pushed them off as short-term and transient, but I can’t be certain.

Too many things are missing.

I could be missing so many details.

I could have made more deals.

There’s a Wal-Mart near the 22 freeway, so I park the truck and check on the girls. Sasha is wide awake, her eyeballs huge saucers as she waits for me to explain myself.

Harper is asleep.

“Stay here and this time, kid, if someone comes to hurt you or Harper, you shoot those f**kers.”

She swallows and nods.

I go inside the store and buy a disposable phone, a book about vampires, and couple of celebrity magazines, and some junk food and soda. We are camping out in the parking lot until this phone is charged and I can make a call.

I take it all back out to the Hummer, turn the engine on so I can plug in the phone and run the AC… and we wait.

Sasha reads the vampire book out loud as Harper drifts in and out of her post-narcotic slumber, and when the battery light on the phone finally turns green, I step outside and make my call.

“Harrison,” I say with relief when he picks up on the second ring. “Did you get it?”

“Shit, dude, you are f**king crazy! Sending me all the way down to Colombia for this!”

“So you got it?”

He laughs. “I got it. And you got a huge bill, both from me and Roberto.”

I smile, then look back at the Hummer where Sasha is watching me. “Good,” I say, turning my back on her, “because here’s what I need.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine - Harper

“Where are we?”

“The harbor, Harp. You hungry?”

“What time is it?”

“Seven thirty.”

“Where are we?” I’m so confused. “We’re at the beach?”

“Yeah, the beach. To eat. I know you’re hungry.” He unbuckles my seatbelt and grabs me by the arm. Not roughly, but securely.

“I do not feel good.”

“I know, baby. But it’s OK. You’re gonna be OK.”

“Where’s Sasha?”

“I’m here,” she says. I look over and there she is. Her face is nothing but a frown. I smile at her but she does not shoot one back for me.

“Why are you wearing a life vest?”

Something is wrong.

“We’re going on a boat, Harper. Kids have to have vests.”

“I’m so confused. We’re eating on a boat?” And sure enough, when I look around, we’re in a marina. Have we always been in this marina?

“It’s the drugs, Harp. They’re still wearing off. I had to give you two more doses of antagonist.”

He helps me down from the Hummer and I’ve never noticed how high up it was before. My legs are not working right, my head is all fuzzy, and my whole body is hot. I look around. “There’s a lot of boats on the water.”

“There’s a boat race going on in the harbor.”