Part 6

Alex had just arrived at Angel Investigation when his cell phone rang.

"Excuse me." He picked up. "Alex Cross... What? Are you sure?... Where?... Where is she?... How long has she been there?... You only tell us this now!... Okay, I'm on my way... What?... I don't care!... I'll find a way, bye!"

He hung up. He was alone in the lobby with Fred.

"What's going on?" She asked.

Alex grinned at her "They found her! They FOUND her!"

"Who? Cordelia?"

Alex nodded with a big smile.

"YAYYYY!" She squealed.

She flung herself in Alex's arms as the other rushed in, alerted by the yelling.

"What's going on?" Angel asked, ready to attack.

Fred jumped up and down. "They found her, they found Cordy!"

Wesley let out a relieved sigh. "Thank God."

Fred flung herself in Gunn's arms and Angel didn't move. He was too touched.

Angel had millions of questions. "Where? How is she? Where is she?"

"Two young fisher-men rescued her from the Woodstock River." Alex explained.

Gunn narrowed is eyes. "What do you mean rescued from the river? What was she doing in the river?"

"I don't know. Look, we found her, but that doesn't mean that she's out of difficulty."

"What do you mean?" Angel was getting worried.

Alex sighed. "She's in a coma."

"Dear God" Wesley exclaimed.

"She also has many bruises, one or two cracked ribs, a twisted ankle and some other wounds. I'll be honest, it's a miracle that's she is still alive. She apparently had a big fall, and had a lot of water in her lungs."

Angel felt his heart go in his throat at every word pronounced by the inspector. That wasn't possible; he couldn't be talking about Cordélia, not about HIS Cordy! He had to see her.

"Where is she?" He asked quickly.

"In a hospital about one hour from here. I'll go and you guys stay here." Alex said.

"WHY?"

"Calm down, Angel!" Wesley warned.

Alex expanded. "No one can see her. The doctors are strict, not even friends or family. "

Gunn frowned. "Why do you believe that you'll be allowed to see her?"

"I'm a psychologist therefore a doctor, and my niece is still there. If her doctor has just a hint of pity, he'll let me see her!"

He took his jacket and went to get out under the helpless stares of the others then he turned back.

"I'll call you if there's any news!" He said then he left.

Alex had arrived at the hospital one hour later and he'd hurried to find out who was looking after Cordelia. That was a woman, doctor Risley. She knew him because of his book and he hadn't had to introduce himself. When she'd refused that he saw Cordelia, he'd told her that Naomi was one of the missing. She'd thought about it for a few minutes then had told him to follow her. On the way leading to the young woman's room the doctor had explained to him that something was preventing Cordelia from awaking, but that they had found no traces of poison in her blood. Then they had thought about the Sistol, undetectable poison that caused amnesia. So they'd injected the antidote to her but would only have the answer the next morning.

Alex was now in the room and was watching Cordelia. She was really pale with a lot of bruises on her face. She was agitated, moving her head from one side to another. He got up and tenderly laid down his hand on her forehead. She calmed down almost automatically. Alex didn't know why, he didn't know her, but he felt a deep tenderness and big respect for the young woman. Casanova had made a big mistake because now in addition of the incomprehensible need to find his niece and the other kidnapped girls, a deep feeling of hate overcame him. He was going to avenge her; Casanova was going to pay for all the pain he had caused to Cordelia. He watched her for a few minutes praying for the antidote to work, then got out of the room and headed to a telephone box. He introduced a coin and dialled a phone number.

"Angel Investigation," a voice said.

"Fred, it's Alex."

"Oh, how is Cordelia?" She asked.

"It's hard to tell. She's still unconscious and..." he hesitated; should he give her false hopes? No, "... and she'd pretty beaten up. I don't know what he did to her but he really sorted her out!"

"Oh." She sounded disappointed.

He continued. "I'll stay here tonight. I call you if I got news about her state. Whether it is good or bad news!"

"Okay thanks."

He hung up and returned to Cordelia's bedside.

Casanova punched the wall. He was furious! So was Lifercy; and that wasn't helping.

"I can't believe it, how could you let her escape!" The demon roared.

"You think I did it on purpose! I don't know what happened; I had her hand in mine and then her head fell back and I was thrown at the other end of the room! She didn't even touch me!" Casanova yelled back.

"THAT IS NO EXCUSE!"

Casanova turned around to look at Lifercy. "BECAUSE YOU THINK THAT IT PLEASES ME THAT SHE RAN AWAY? I VERY ANGRY WITH MYSELF, BUT THE HURT IS DONE!"

Lifercy sighed and lowered his voice. "How did she escape anyway? I thought this was a labyrinth?"

Casanova shook his head. "I don't know; she was probably lucky. Damn it, I nearly got her but the little bitch preferred to jump in the river. AND she's still alive. "

"Not for long, you're going to kill her."

"How could I possibly do that?" The human asked. "Don't you think she's gonna be on her guard? And the police will protect her."

Lifercy growled in frustration but he knew that his friend was right.

Cordelia was slowly going back to the land of conscious. She opened her eyes with difficulty and winced; her whole body was hurting. What had happened? Where was she? She turned her head and saw a black man drowsing on a chair next to the bed. She couldn't talk because her throat was dry; so she just groaned. The man awoke slowly and his eyes widened when he saw her staring at him.

"Who are you? And where am I?" Cordelia asked in a thick, barely audible voice.

He got up and leaned a little. "My name is Alex Cross, I am a police detective. You are in a hospital. How are you feeling?"

"I've been better!"

Alex nodded. "Good, I'll get the doctor."

He went to get out of the room but her voice stopped him.

"He made me breathe something, I couldn't move anymore."

He slowly stepped closer. "My niece has been kidnapped, her name is Naomi Cross and…" He trailed off.

Cordelia closed her eyes, upset. "She was there. I talked to her!"

He swallowed. "Okay thank you. I'll get the doctor."

Cordelia continued with tears in a voice while Alex headed to the door. "So many different voices answered me, I wanted to cry... "

Alex got out and went to call the doctor as he tried to hold back his tears.