Chapter 10:

One step closer

Steve grabbed the man's throat and forced him against the wall. "Maybe I'm not making myself clear," he hissed inches from the man's face, "Where are the girls?"

"All right, I'll tell," the man choked.

Steve loosened his grip, but did not let go of the man's neck.

"Two of them are in the back room, but it's locked."

"And the other?" Steve asked.

"She's in the office. It's off to the right once you go in. It's locked too."

"I don't care if it's locked or not," Steve replied letting the man go, "I have ways of getting in." He motioned for his partner and two other officers to follow him and together they entered the building. "Let's start at the back," he said.

With one swift kick, Steve knocked the door of the back room open. Once inside, he saw both Annetka and Amy beaten and bruised, lying on the floor. Two of the officers began to help them while the third went with Steve to find Katrina. "I really don't want to know what they've done to her," Steve muttered under his breath.

They quickly found the office and Steve once again opened the door with a kick. "Oh, Katie," he muttered. There lay his cousin in a crumpled heap, her own blood spilled all around her.

Katie closed her eyes and later woke up in the hospital. She didn't know how she got there, or who had found them. All she knew was she was safe.

"There seems to be a pattern of investigating, and ending up here," Katie whispered.

Katrina glanced around her room. Amy lay in a bed next to her, sleeping peacefully, and Annetka was in a bed on the other side of Katie. Katrina watched Annetka, and noticed that her face was a bright red.

"She's burning up." Katie sighed.

Annetka suddenly began to shake her head as if she was having a bad dream. Katie knew instantly, that Anya was delirious because of the fever. At first all the girl said was in Russian and Katie couldn't understand what she was saying. Amy opened her eyes and looked at Katie.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Anya's burning up, and I think..." Katie stopped as Annetka began to speak in English.

"Dimitri, no. No, you can't go in there! I won't let you. The soldiers will kill you."

"Who's Dimitri?" Amy asked.

"I don't know." Katie replied as she eased herself out of bed. Pain spread across her face as she stood up and walked over to Annetka.

"At least nothing's broken," Katie thought.

"Katrina!" Amy scolded, "Get back in bed!"

"No. Besides, no one said I couldn't move." Katie replied defiantly. Amy stuck out her tongue and lay back down. Katie walked over to Annetka's bed and sat down on the edge. She gently ran her fingers through her friend's hair to pull it out of her face, and try to cool her off. As Annetka continued to dream, Katie continued to run her hand across her friend's forehead to try to comfort her.

Finally, Annetka woke up as the fever broke.

"Katie, what... what are you doing here?"

"Shhh. Just get some rest."

Annetka smiled and closed her eyes once again.

About an hour later, Annetka woke up.

"Katrina?"

"Yeah?" Katie sighed, as pain shot through every muscle of her body.

"What were you doing out of bed earlier?" Anya asked with her usual commanding voice that she used as a doctor.

"Um... listening to your stories of Russia." Katie replied weakly.

"My stories of..." Annetka allowed her voice to trail off.

"You were delirious, and you told us about Dimitri. Who's he?" Amy asked sitting up.

"My brother. He was killed by the communists." Annetka replied quietly.

Suddenly, a man stopped at the doorway, and looked in. "How's my Russian doll?"

Annetka smiled, "Hello, Alexi."

"Russian doll?" Amy whispered to Katie, who tried to stifle a giggle.

"Alexi, these are my friends, Katrina and Amy that I was telling you about," Annetka said.

"Pleasure to meet you," he said.

"Anya has been telling us stories." Amy said.

"Oh, really? I heard she had a fever. Well, I brought your lap top like you asked, Anya, are you feeling up to using it?"

"I'll be fine. Thank you for bringing it."

"I wanted to see how you are doing, but I have to get to work."

"Okay. Thank you."

"I'll stop by later to see you," Alexi added as he left.

Annetka glared at Amy who was trying hard not to laugh.

"Am I not allowed to have attention from a boy, Miss. Bentley?" Annetka asked.

With in a few weeks, all three girls were able to go back to work. Katrina was still sore, form head to toe, but she refused to lie still, so Mark reluctantly allowed her to go back to work.

On the morning that Katie returned, Peter caught her by the arm and pulled her aside. Katie winced in pain, and bit her lip to keep from crying out.

"I'm so sorry, Carrots. I forgot. I...I..."

"It's okay, but next time, just call me over instead of grabbing at my arm."

"Listen we never had our dinner two Saturdays ago."

Katie hung her head. "I know." she whispered.

"So can we talk now?"

"Sure."

Peter led Katrina into the hospital garden and sat her down on a bench. He then sat next to her.

"Um... Katie, I guess I don't really know how to start this," Peter began.

"Start what?"

"Katie, why do you hate me so much?"

"What?" Katie was shocked by Peter's question, and didn't know what to say.

"You continue to avoid me, and it just seems that anything that I do... I don't know."

"I... I don't understand, Peter." Katie looked away. She knew exactly what Peter was trying to say.

"Yes, you do. Katrina Evangeline Sloan, look at me."

Katrina slowly lifted her eyes to meet Peter's gaze. He had never used her full name before, and she didn't know what to think.

"Katrina, you know that I love you. I always have, and always will. I don't understand what I have done to turn you away."

Suddenly, Peter noticed a Katie's eyes shine in a way he had never seen before. He saw a look of hurt and betrayal. Tears formed in Katie's eyes, and she spoke in a soft yet cool manner.

"How can you say that you love me when you know that you have a love back in England? Mary told me about Joy. What about her, Peter?"

Peter winced. He had never meant for Katrina to find out about Joy, had never wanted that to get out. What had he done?

"Katrina, I can explain. What I meant was... I mean..."

"You mean what, Doctor Barry?"

"Katie, my precious girl, let me explain. I can break with Joy. I can end it as soon as I need to."

"Oh, and then break another girl's heart like you've broken mine?" Katie stood and faced Peter. "You are going to have to choose between the two of us," she continued, "and if this is how it's going to be, I don't think that I want to be the girl you choose."

"Katrina, my girl, let me make myself clear," Peter exclaimed, trying to correct the mistakes he had already made that morning.

"Oh, you have already made yourself and you choice quite clear, Doctor Barry, and I am not your girl. Why don't you just go back to Bristol, and to Joy?"

Katrina ran back into the building and strait to her uncle's office. She knew that she could find him there.

"Katie, wait," Peter called after her.

"Katie, what's wrong?" Mark asked as his niece came into his office, and ran to his arms.

"Everything. Absolutely everything." she sobbed.

Katrina began to explain all that had just occurred with Peter, and how heartbroken she was. Mark quietly listened, and comforted however he could. Finally, Katie stood up, and said that she felt better.

"Let me know if you want to talk to me later." James said.

"Okay. Thank you, Uncle Mark."

As Katie walked out of her uncle's office, Amy caught her by the arm. Again, Katrina winced in pain and drew back.

"I'm sorry, Kat," Amy said.

"It's okay," Katie sighed.

"What is wrong with you? You flew through her like you were going to die. You really had Annetka and I worried," she asked.

"You don't want to know. It's over now, and it isn't really a big deal," Katrina replied, attempting to walk away.

Amy reached out to pull her friend back, but stopped short. "I don't believe you." she said.

Katie sighed, turned back, and began to relate all that had happened to her in the last few minutes. Finally after the whole story was out, Amy said, "I'm really sorry, Katie. Is there anything I can do?"

"No, but thanks for the offer," Katie smiled.

"Well, I guess this isn't a good time to tell you that Steve is here and wants to talk to you."

"I can talk to him. Where is he?"

"Doctors' lounge."

"Thanks."

Katrina walked into the lounge and sat at the table where her cousin sat. He smiled at her and began to ask her about her attacker.

"Well, it was dark, so I didn't see a whole lot. He was kind of tall, and he had light brown hair and hazel eyes. He didn't have a rich French accent, like his partner, but he was really big and strong."

"Did you get a name?"

"Joe. Well, that's what he told me. His partner's name was Pierre."

"We have Pierre in custody. But, I have no clue where Joe is."

"I wish I could tell you."

"It's all right. You've been a big help as it is. I'll let you get back to work, but I'll let you know if I find anything."

"Okay. See you later."

Later that afternoon, Steve called Katie and told her that they had located and arrested the girls' attacker, and that he was one of Richard Maxwell's henchmen. Maxwell had sent him to get the girls off of Becca's case and hopefully off of his own. He was afraid that Becca would talk too much. Lucky for him, Becca didn't even remember who he was at the time.

Mark had continued to talk to Maxwell day by day, learning something new each time. One day, however, the bombings mysteriously stopped, and so did Richard's answers.

On this particular day, as Mark walked to the doctor's lounge, he was sure he recognized a new doctor. Where had he seen him before?

In the lounge, Amy was reading a book, Annetka was working on her laptop, and Amanda, Jesse, Peter, and Steve sat talking about the mystery. The bombings had stopped, and no one seemed to know why.

"Where's Katie?" Mark asked as he entered the room.

"Up on the fifth floor making rounds. Speaking of which, I need to get back to." Jesse said.

"I'll come with you," Steve said, "We need to talk about Barbecue Bobs."

"I would feel better if Trina was down here with us," Peter said, "She really needs to be resting instead of working."

"And planning to settle down and care for his kids, no doubt," Annetka whispered to Amy.

Amy looked up from her book, and smiled at Annetka. Lately, Peter had eased up on his teasing, and had tried to win Katie's heart. Katrina was still been holding back, not willing to give in to Peter. She had been hurt too badly to hand her heart right back to Peter. Or so they thought.

"Uncle Mark, what did Maxwell tell you this time?" Katrina asked as she walked into the room. She walked over to sit by Annetka, and looked away as Peter smiled at her, to hide the crimson color rising in her cheeks.

"He didn't tell me much. He said that his sister wasn't who I needed. He said that he had new help for his project." Suddenly, Mark stopped, and starred toward the elevator. He suddenly realized who the new doctor was that he had seen; Joe Thomas, the girls' attacker. Mark recognized him from the pictures Steve had showed him. Now, as the elevator doors were closing, he saw Joe smile slyly and wave at him.

Mark whirled around and pulled the fire alarm. "Everybody out now!" he yelled. As people began running out of the hospital, a bomb exploded.

Katrina turned as she heard a second bomb go off. She watched as time seemed to slow down and took in all of the sights and sounds around her. In front of her, her friends were running towards the exits. Behind her, she saw doctors with little children, and mother's holding their babies close to them. Doctors and nurses tried to hurry as many patients as they could toward the doors.

Katie suddenly was worried about Peter. She looked around frantically for him. Where was he? Was he okay? Had he made it out of the building? But why should she care? He probably wasn't looking for her anyway. He was too busy thinking about Joy in England.

She looked in front of her again and saw Amy and Annetka. Katie prayed that they would make it out in time. Suddenly, Katie was thrust forward, and it seemed that time had once more returned to it's normal pace. Katrina cried out in pain as she fell to the floor, and a wall of fire, caused by the explosion passed over her, burning her skin and hair. Katie covered her head as she heard the building collapsing all around her.

She was covered in debris, and her cry of agony was stifled when a beam fell on her already bruised body, trapping her where she lay. Katrina lay still and soon blacked out from the pain.