Chapter 4

As night approached, the already dim warehouse got darker. The sparse population of boxes began to disappear in the shadows.

Jason had lighted a couple of small candles, but they did nothing to dispel the shadows, or the unease Li suddenly felt.

A shudder passed through her, and she tried to hide it.

"You okay?" Jason asked, as he handed her the can of tuna he'd just opened for their dinner.

"I don't know. I think something bad must have happened to me in a warehouse," she replied, still eyeing the shadows. Li dug into the tuna hungrily. "You're very kind to share your food with me. Thank you!"

Jason smiled sheepishly, and looked away.

"I'll pay you back, somehow," she promised him.

"Don't worry about it!" he mumbled under his breath, touched that someone would care about his feelings.

"I'm tired of trying to remember my life. Tell me about you. You seem too caring and responsible to be on the streets. I'm sure you could be a paramedic as skilled as you are!" Li said kindly.

"I had a job with the ambulance company, but then my VA benefits ran out and I couldn't continue working with the councilor on my post traumatic stress."

"Somehow, I don't think VA benefits just run out," Li responded.

"When I got the letter, I went in to ask about it. They told me the only way to file an appeal was to hire a lawyer. I couldn't afford one. Within a month of my last appointment with my councilor, I started having anxiety attacks again. They were so sever, I couldn't function at my job anymore!"

That night, Jason insisted she sleep in his sleeping bag.

"I can sleep anywhere, just so long as it isn't sandy. Reminds me too much of my time in the Gulf!" he'd told her.

* * *

Sometime later, Li woke to a gentle shaking. Jason knelt beside her, a worried look on his face.

"Li? You okay?" he asked. "You spent most of the night muttering something that sounded like 'Is Kitt okay? I have to find Kitt.'"

She sat up, shaking her head, "I have no idea who Kitt could be. I..." she paused, trying to remember what she'd been dreaming about. Disjointed flashes were all she could recall. "I don't remember what I was dreaming about."

"Well, I gotta go see if I can find us some grub. We ate the last of my food last night," Jason said, preparing to rise.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" she replied.

"Nah, it's okay," Jason assured her, rising to go.

"Jason," she rose as he turned back to her questioningly. "Take this, please. Pawn it and use the money for the food. It's the least I can do," she said, pulling the medallion and chain over her head. She pressed it into Jason's hand.

He looked down at it, his eyes widening in shock. "I can't take this!" he started.

She curled Jason's fingers around it. "You can, and you will!" Li insisted.

Having nothing to do while Jason was gone, she decided to go for a walk.

She hadn't intended to go far, but soon found herself a couple of blocks from Jason's warehouse. She was staring at a vacant lot with two blast craters, each a couple of feet deep.

A shout of, "Hey! That's her! She's not dead!" caused her to turn toward the open cargo door of a neighboring warehouse.

Two men were sprinting toward her, closing the distance fast.

She turned and ran back the way she had come. When she reached the end of the block, she turned the corner, hoping she could find a building to duck into, but they were all locked up tight.

The men rounded the corner a few seconds behind her, leaving her no choice but to run again.

Li's legs were knocked out from under her when one of the men lunged at her. She went down, hard, her breath leaving her lungs in a rush.

She was pulled roughly to her feet, even as she was still struggling to regain her breath.

"Not so tough, without your car, Knight," the second man said, as he grabbed her other arm.

She didn't even have the breath to ask what he meant.

The two men hauled her back to the warehouse.

"Karishnov will want to talk to you!" the first man snarled at her.

This time she managed a weak, "Why?"

The men snorted, and the second man said, "You're joking, right?"

She managed to shake her head and for the first time the men seemed to notice the bandage tied around her head.

"You got amnesia, or something?" the first man asked.

"Or something," she replied, having finally gotten her breathing under control. She pretended to stumble, bringing her right foot down with all of her might on the second man's left foot.

This caused him to howl in pain, but his grip on her arm only tightened. "Don't do that again!" he growled menacingly.

When they walked through the cargo door, one of the men bellowed, "Karishnov!"

"I'm busy!" was the angry response from an office toward the back of the building.

"Look who we ran into on the street," the first man said, as they dragged her toward the office.

When they walked in, Karishnov grunted, looking up from the computer in front of him. He pulled a cigar from his mouth and stood up.

"Ms. Knight! It would seem you are a very hard woman to kill," Karishnov's voice held the trace of a Russian accent.