Chapter Thirty-Four: Wednesday, January 4, 2006, New York

"Oh God," Annie breathed when Devin Wells carried a bloody and barely conscious Simon into Matt's apartment. Caroline was just behind them looking grim.

Looking too grown up.

Eric wrapped his arms around Annie's shoulders.

The whole situation was a nightmare. Annie kept expecting to wake up—praying to wake up. First Sarah didn't come home from work—hadn't even shown up to work, according to the hospital. Then there were police….so many police. And that FBI agent. And then more police.

Major Case.

Special Victims.

Organized Crime.

And now…

"Simon…." Matt looked from his brother to Devin and back again.

"What happened?" Detective Tutuola asked. He'd been there all night; Diana Bennet had come back only an hour ago and had just…walked around the apartment, poking, prodding. She'd spent half an hour standing in Matt and Sarah's bedroom, "doing her thing", according to the detective.

"He was shot," Caroline told them.

"I'm pretty sure it went clean though," said Devin. "And I don't think the bullet hit anything major."

Annie just stared at him; how could he be so calm when her son…

Please, God….

"The bathroom," Matt said. "Let's get him into the bathroom."

Devin nodded and followed Matt.

Diana Bennet leaned against the bedroom doorframe. "How and where?" she asked.

"We were ambushed," Caroline told her. "In the Tunnels. Entrance near Samantha and Zach's. I tried to follow, but it was almost like…they vanished into the darkness. The assassin knew what they doing, what they might come up against. I don't think they missed their target, either."

"You mean they took a non-lethal shot on purpose," said Detective Tutuola.

Caroline nodded.

"They're toying with you," Diana Bennet opined, and Caroline nodded again.

"What…? Why?" Annie demanded. She didn't understand half of what was being said. Tunnels. Below. Assassins.

It was a nightmare.

It was surreal.

Things like this didn't happen, not in real life, not to ordinary people.

"These are bad people, Mrs. Camden," the detective stated the obvious.

Matt came out of the bathroom, blood on his hands. "Simon's okay, Mom," he said, before she could react. "He…the bullet went straight through." He looked pale when he said it. He turned to detective Tutuola. "We have to get him to a hospital. He's in shock and he's lost a lot of blood."

"Call Dr. Alcott," said Caroline, in a tone that anyone, even an adult, would have a hard time arguing with. "I don't want anyone but him or Joel working on Simon."

"Caroline," the detective countered. "It's okay. He's not like you. He can see a regular doc."

She shook her head. "We can't risk the kinds of questions they would ask."

"What kinds of questions?" Eric wanted to know.

"The kinds of questions we can't answer," Diana told him. "She's right, Fin. It has to be Peter or Joel. And we need to get word Below, let them know that entrance has been compromised."

"I'll call Henry and Lin," Detective Tutuola said. "They're coordinating folks up top," he explained to Caroline—because what he was saying didn't make sense to Annie, or Eric either, from the look on his face.

"Ask them to check in with Jerry. Samantha and Zach were headed over there and I…I'd like to make sure they made it okay." Caroline wrapped her arms around herself.

Annie looked from one to another, not understanding—not sure she wanted to understand.

Please God, let my baby be okay. Let Richard and Rosina's baby be okay.

Diana was on her phone, too; it was a short conversation. She looked at Annie and Eric when she hung up. "We need to get your son to a clinic in Hell's Kitchen. It's not far from here. Joel Fleishman and Peter Alcott will both meet us there."

"Tell me how to get there." Eric stood up and grabbed his jacket off the back of the sofa. "You stay with Matt," he said to Annie.

"I'll take you," Diana offered.

"Eric…?" Annie looked up at him.

"I'll call you as soon as I have news." He kissed her forehead. "Simon's going to be okay. Sarah is going to be okay." He said with so much conviction, she almost believed him.

By then, Detective Tutuola had finished up his call and a tired looking Devin was carrying Simon back, now wrapped up in a heavy blanket, out of the bathroom. "You need a hand—?"

"I've got him," said Caroline, stepping up to her uncle.

Annie and Eric both frowned, but the Devin handed Simon over to her.

"She's stronger than she looks," Detective Tutuola assured them. Then he turned to Caroline. "After you get him into the car, you go straight home, you hear me? Your father and grandfather are fit to be tied."

"I know. I…I'm sorry." She looked over to Eric and Annie, to Matt. "I am so sorry this is happening to your family."

Eric squeezed her shoulder. "Don't apologize. This isn't your fault. I don't know what happened tonight, but you got Simon back to us. You and your uncle…you probably saved his life."

Annie nodded. No matter what else, Caroline and Devin Wells had gotten Simon to safety. They'd gotten him home.

Caroline gave them each a tight-lipped smile, and followed Eric and Diana out of the apartment; Devin Wells followed on their heels, leaving Annie alone with Matt and Detective Tutuola. Matt went back to pacing. Annie made a cup of tea, as if tea would somehow solve anything. Just the same she made a cups for Detective Tutuola and Matt as well.

"It's really going to be okay," she told her son. She wasn't feeling as brave as Eric, but with him gone, she had to at least pretend she believed what she was saying.

A loud knock at the door made everyone jump. "The roof!" Devin yelled through the closed door, as if that somehow meant something.

It must have meant something to Detective Tutuola, because he was on his feet and out the door before Annie or Matt could collect their wits enough to follow. By the time they finally got to the service door at the end of the hall, it was already open, and Caroline and Detective Tutuola were half-way up the stairs. Devin had hung back, to wait for them.

"What is it?" Annie asked. "What's happening?"

"Caroline saw something. I think it's good news."

Dumbfounded, Annie and Matt climbed the dark, narrow stairwell up to the roof with Devin just behind them. As soon as they got out into the frigid cold, Devin pulled off his jacket and draped it over Annie's shoulders—over the door a big black bird let out an ear-splitting shriek that made Annie jump.

"It's okay," Devin told her.

On the other side of the darkened rooftop, Detective Tutuola stood half-way between Annie, Matt, and Devin and…. A girl? Shadows and long dark hair obscured her face, but she couldn't be much older than Caroline.

Than Ruthie.

Caroline moved forward to meet her.

The girl was so slight…so…thin. There was something in her arms. A bundle…a blanket….

A person.

Annie shivered and pulled Devin's coat tighter around her shoulders.

"Oh, God," Matt breathed. He rushed forward—but the Detective stopped him with an outstretched arm.

"I know you need to know, but give it a minute, doc," the detective warned.

A crow or a raven shrieked from it's perch above the doorway again.

The girl took a step further into the light. Her face was painted ghostly white. Dark kohl smudged her eyes; her lips were deep, bloody red. "She's alive."

Annie shivered at the sound of her voice; it was like shattered glass and brittle leaves.

"I found her on a rooftop, left out where anyone could see."

"Anyone, or anyone?" Tutuola asked.

"Me. Vincent. Jake." She regarded Caroline a long moment before adding her name to the list. "Maybe Diana, if she was looking hard enough." She hesitated another moment before transferring Sarah's…no, it wasn't her body, not if she was alive… the girl handed Sarah over to Caroline and Detective Tutuola finally let Matt go to her. "You should get her inside," the girl said. "Besides leaving her exposed to the elements, she was shot up. Like Catherine."

"Shot up?" Matt asked. He was shaking. "Shot up with what?"

Caroline let Matt take Sarah from him. "A lethal dose of morphine," she said softly.

Morphine?

"L-leth…" Matt looked about to crumble as he pulled Sarah closer.

"The drugs are gone, now," the girl said.

"What?" said Matt, looking confused. Scared. "Gone how? Morphine doesn't just….?"

The girl ignored his question. "You need to get her inside where it's warm. I don't think she was outside for long, but it was pretty obvious they didn't care if she was found dead or alive. They just wanted their message to get through."

"What message?" Annie asked.

"That they can get to us," said Caroline. "That they can hurt us by hurting the people we care about."

"Come on," Devin began ushering everyone back in. "Thank you," he said to the girl.

She nodded and Annie watched as Caroline approached her again. Slowly. They both seemed to hesitate a long moment before simultaneously, they reached out for one another and clasped hands. Annie could almost see something pass between them. An…energy…a force.

Love.

The girl looked to Fin. "Later," she said, as if the word were an answer to some unspoken question. "When this is over. You know where to meet me."

"When it's over," he agreed.

The crow gave another loud shriek before taking off into the sky—and when Annie looked back at where the girl had been, there was nothing there but shadow.

"Mrs. Camden," said Devin. "Annie."

She looked back to see him waiting for her, holding the door, shivering in the cold because he'd given her his coat and hurried back inside. "What just happened?"

"Let's get back to you son's apartment."

"Who…." What… "was that?"

"Her name is Kate," Devin told her. "She's our guardian angel."

They made their way back to Matt's apartment and Devin shut the door. Sarah lay, unconscious, on the sofa looking pale, her lips nearly blue—but she was breathing. Matt came out of the bedroom with another blanket and covered her. He sat down next to her and took her hands—then looked Caroline dead in the eye. "You need to tell me what you meant by 'lethal' does of morphine. You need to tell me how she's alive and if…if…."

"She's not going to die," Caroline promised him.

"How is that possible!"

"Matt," Annie began. She couldn't remember the last time she'd heard Matt so angry. "She's alive. Isn't that what matters?"

"Yes…maybe. I don't know." He looked so lost. He'd been so lost the last twelve hours. "Who did this?" he finally asked, his gaze flicking from Caroline to the detective, to Devin, and then back again. "What do they want with your family?"

"We don't know for sure," Detective Tutuola told him. "The man who nabbed Cathy all those years ago seems to have been part of something bigger. We didn't know about it at the time. Since then, there've been some cases the FBI's handled with enough similarities to suggest he was part of some kind of syndicate or…or fraternity. No one's ever been able to pin them down. That's why you've got so many divisions in on this. Everybody wants these guys. They had half the city in a strangle hold back in the eighties, had hooks into everyone from dock workers to the District Attorney's office."

"Cathy's old boss," said Annie.

Caroline nodded. "I know you've heard part of the story. The part you don't know because it wasn't in any of the reports is that my mother was given a lethal dose of morphine. She was left to die. Just like Sarah."

"But your mother survived," Annie said.

"Kate found her," said Caroline. "She brought her back to my father. She's been a part of our lives ever since. Like Devin said. She's our guardian angel."

"How…?" Annie didn't believe it. She couldn't believe it. The girl on the roof wasn't more than fourteen or fifteen years old!

Caroline ignored her question. "I believe that whoever is doing this wants to get back at my family for what happened to the man who tried to kill my mother. He's in a mental institution," she explained, her tone cold. "Death would have been too kind. Too easy. He was an evil man, Mrs. Camden. A truly evil man." She turned to Matt, her expression softening. "Kate saved my mother, just like she saved Sarah tonight. She protects us," her voice took on a deathly chill. "And we protect her." She looked up at Detective Tutuola. "She's okay," she told him.

"Are you?" he asked her.

"I will be. We all will be. Once this is over. We'll all be okay."

Unsure what else to do, Annie pressed a mug of hot tea into Caroline's hands.

"M…Matt…?" Sarah's eyelids fluttered open. "Matt!" Her voice was a hoarse, harsh whisper.

Matt shuddered. He rose onto his knees so he could hold her.

She wrapped shaky arms around him. "I was so afraid…I thought…I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"I need t' ask a few questions," Detective Tutuola said softly after a moment.

Matt nodded and settled back to the floor, wiping the moisture from his cheeks.

Sarah looked up at him. "I never saw his face."

"What did you see?"

"Nothing. He…he put a hood…." She let out a sob.

"Detective," Annie said.

But Sarah shook her head. "It's okay. I'm…." She looked to Matt. "Am I really okay?"

"You're okay," Matt said, but he glanced up at Caroline and Devin.

"She's okay," Devin promised. "Mrs. Camden, maybe some water?"

Annie nodded and got Sarah a glass of water from the kitchen. Matt helped her sit up. He helped her drink. He held her like he was afraid to let go.

"Can you walk me through what happened?" Detective Tutuola asked.

"I was…headed to work. To my shift at the hospital. I…got off the subway. I…. it's blurry. I remember walking up the subway steps and then…."

"Did you see anything unusual or hear anything?"

Sarah shook her head. "Things just….maybe someone drugged me somehow?"

"We should get you to a hospital, let them examine you. But before we go, I've gotta ask what you remember about…after. About being left on that rooftop."

"I woke up there. I got off the subway and then everything went black and then…I remember the cold." She shivered. "They pulled the hood off me—"

"They? There was more than one?" the Detective asked.

Sarah nodded. "Two? Maybe three? They were all…dark clothes. Masks. Like ski masks. One of them…." The glass tumbled from her hands, and she gaped at her arm. "He injected me with something." Her voice trembled with panic. Fear.

"Morphine," Caroline supplied the answer. "Like they did to my mother."

Sarah looked up at her. "I feel fine. Weak…maybe dehydrated…." She stared down at the glass, empty on the floor.

Annie had already gotten a towel, Devin a new glass of water. He put it on the coffee table in front of Sarah.

"What happened next?" Detective Tutuola asked.

"Everything…tunneled in on itself. It must have been the….morphine?" she asked again. "I blacked out. But then….there was someone on the roof. I…." She looked around the room, like she was looking for someone.

Something.

"What did you see?" Caroline asked her.

"Wings. Black…wings. And…a face. Like a ghost. It was…it was terrifying but I wasn't afraid. She was so…gentle. I thought…. I was sure…. I thought I was dead. The way she held me, I thought…." She looked at Matt, tears falling down her cheeks. "I asked her to tell you I loved you. She told me I could tell you myself. Then everything went dark again, and I woke up here."

"Her name is Kate," Caroline said. "And she's not death, at least not…not for you. She saved my mother's life. She is very, very dear to a lot of people."

"She brought you home," Detective Tutuola told Sarah. "But it would be better if you didn't mention that to anyone outside this room." He shot Matt and Annie each a pointed look.

Annie started to ask what was really happening, but Matt nodded.

"Would you tell her thank you for me? For us?"

"She already knows," the detective said.

"What should I say about how I got here?" Sarah asked.

"You woke up on the rooftop here," Devin suggested. "You came downstairs. Everything leading up to your waking up is mostly a blur—which is the truth. You don't know where you were being held or why. Lab reports will confirm there are drugs in your system, but probably be inconclusive about how much. They'll see the injection site. The police will draw the same conclusions we have, the connection to Catherine's abduction."

"I'll get Huang on the phone," Detective Tutuola said. "We'll let him handle things." He looked to Caroline.

"I'm not going home. Not yet." She headed for the door.

"Caroline—" Detective Tutuola began.

She faced him, her face a dark, frightening visage. "I'm my father's daughter, Uncle Fin. And I'm done waiting around for them to make all the moves."

"Where exactly do you think you're goin'?" he asked her.

"I'm not sure yet."

The detective followed her out the door and Annie followed him. Caroline headed back towards the roof.

Devin caught Detective Tutuola's arm. "You'll never catch her, Fin."

"She's….she's not even sixteen!"

Devin touched the scars on his cheek. "I grew up with Vincent, Fin. At sixteen…." He shook his head.

"She's not him."

"But she is his daughter."

"You shoulda never brought her up top."

"If I hadn't brought her, Chris was going to," Devin told him.

"Shit," Detective Tutuola muttered.

"What's going on?" Annie asked.

Detective Tutuola just shook his head and pulled out his phone. "Guess I better tell Huang about this too."

"Vincent'll find her," Devin told Fin. "As soon as he gets word she's gone out looking for this guy, he'll… he'll find her. In the meantime, she's not helpless. She's not stupid either."

"Right now, what I'm worried about is her bein' reckless."