Page 39 (1/2)

A s, kiddo How do you feel?"

"Mohed

Her h a bendy straw just like when Stella had the chicken pox at five years old

How could she have forgotten that?

Annie set the cup on the bedside table "I’ll call for the nurse"

"No, please" Stella gripped her wrist "Wait Tell me what happened first"

"You’re in a hospital You were shot twice One bullet grazed your teh" She squeezed her hand "But you’re going to be fine Jose treated you on the scene while you waited for the ambulance The doctor said Jose saved your life"

Her voice trailed off and she pressed a palm to her chest Annie blinked back tears that spoke louder than words of how close she’d co She owed Jose so ent Broas the leak It appears he was turned traitor when he built up ga debts An enemy exploited that weakness I’ they ardless, the leak has been plugged"

Annie clicked through the high notes like the seasoned professional she was and Stella felt an uncanny sense of looking in theto think she was so much like this woman whose choices frustrated the hell out of her

She would get the rest of the details later, once she could link up with her contacts at Interpol She intended to press hard for the right to sift through every piece of data the analytical Mr Brown recorded, check and recheck each piece of paper he touched If he’d falsified so much as an order for candy bars, she would find it

And she couldn’t help but wonder if she ht have been more effective fro data

"Uh so alien on her confidentback to the States"

Pain ular details like the sun shining through theand the bedpan on the rolling table

Sifting through her ainst her tee She’d co from a bullet to the brain

Stella thu at the stab of pain as her leg moved all of a couple of ram?"

"A lot of years have passed since I was in the loop" She smoothed back her silver-streaked hair "I haven’t been an active agent in so long anything I know is outdated Maybe I’ve been hiding out here in Africa, afraid to face you and your brothers Afraid to face myself"

"Wow, I don’t knohat to say" She reached for the cup and sipped hts

"I don’t intend to camp in your front yard, if that’s what you’re worried about"

"That isn’t what I said" The thought of spending

"Sorry to be defensive" She rubbed her bare ring finger where she’d once worn a plain gold wedding band "I haven’t put togetherthat you almost died out there and I could have ain? I just want the chance to get to know you and your brothers again"

"I can understand that" She felt the same way Second chances were rare in life "If you need help, just let me know"

"I’m a teacher I can support e of orphan schools in the United States as well I’ve been thinking about that a lot as your agency friends work on placing Ajaya somewhere in the States"

"What about your, uh, boyfriend?" She hadn’t missed how Mr Al-Shennawi never left herher thoughts "He’s just outside the door We’ve talked about taking teaching jobs at the saether"

Stella reached a hand out to her e it took to hope for a happy ending "I hope your dreams play out for you, Mom, I really do"

Her mother looked at her extended arm, an olive branch, and her eyes filled with tears Annie squeezed her daughter’s hand A sense of peace filled Stella, a loton the IV pole She and her h and fences to ood start

"Hey, Mo Just ask"

"Could you find Jose? I really need to talk to hiood first step in putting her life back together But nothing would be okay again until she ht with Jose The love she’d seen in his eyes when he’d treated her back at the festival gave her hope She just prayed she hadn’t been hallucinating fro was nothing coood

Jose stared into the stea lug sat beside hi silent support