Chapter 11

Johnny sat in the hospital room for the second day straight. Robbie and Rachel were due to arrive soon, with news of Schmidt. Although they already knew what the news would be. The charges would be dropped, just as they were in Florida.

Unfortunately they couldn't get him on murder charges. Then he wouldn't be able to get out of jail.

Sighing softly he ran his hand through his hair as he looked at her on the bed. The doctors said she would wake up, but they weren't sure when, or to what existent the damage would be.

"Johnny."

Johnny looked towards the door to find Robbie and Rachel there. Behind them he thought he saw Jason Scott, but he couldn't be sure.

"How is she?"

"Still asleep. What's the verdict?"

"Our charges were dropped, not enough evidence." Robbie explained.

"Typical." Johnny replied bitterly. "So when is he released?"

"Actually, he's still in."

Johnny looked at Jason Scott as he walked in, raising one eyebrow in question.

"Aisha's charges are still good. One of those times being a police brat comes in handy." Jason explained with a smile.

"Thanks." He replied.

"We want you to know how sorry we are. We never thought that it was like that. We just wanted to know what happened to Kim."

"I know, and I understand. We all do. You did what we all hoped our families would. You looked for her, you didn't forget her. Our families have taken Schmidt at face value. Hell, they believe that Robbie is still there and he's 27."

"I can't imagine what it was like for all of you. What we saw." Jason began before shaking his head, "He's insane. The fact that Kim was willing to take her own life to avoid going back." he trailed off, still in some shock over the whole situation. "I wish she had been able to talk to us. When she was back in Angel Grove when we were seniors perhaps. But we'll never know."

Johnny watched the other man; he was still having a difficult time accepting the little they knew. They wouldn't tell them everything.

"You're leaving as soon as she wakes up." Jason continued, not a question, but rather a statement.

"Yes. We have to, before Schmidt gets out. There are too many people depending on us."

"What do you mean?" Jason asked confused.

"We aren't the only ones to escape." Rachel replied softly. "We helped others out after we got settled. They are spread throughout the world, and we alone know where they are. If Schmidt got us, there's the chance he could get the information out of us. We can't risk that."

"How many have escaped?"

"We managed to get twenty out. Then Schmidt caught on, and stopped making business trips." Robbie explained.

Johnny watched as Jason began to fully comprehend how bad things were for the athletes. He softly ran his fingers across the hand on the bed. Then nearly jumped in shock as his fingers were trapped. He looked at his hand, then followed the hand that held his to its owner's eyes, who was looking at him in shock. She looked around the room, then back at him.

"Where's?" she managed to whisper before her voice gave out.

Johnny turned her hand and held it in his. "She didn't make it." He replied softly, trying to break the news as gently as possible. Even though they had planned to die together, they had never planned on one of them living, and the other dying.

He watched as realization sunk into her mind and she started to cry. He turned to the others. "Go get the doctor." It was going to be a rough couple of weeks.