Chapter: 6
Siblings Finally Meet

Horatio spends all day every day sitting in a chair that the nurses brought him on Renee's left side by his sister's bedside. This repeats for two weeks. It is no surprise that he finds himself falling asleep with the right side of his head on the left side of her bed.

After about two hours of him sleeping on her bed, he feels someone touch the left side of his face. Who could do that since he is the only person not in a coma in the room? Looking around, it takes a few minutes looking around the room for Horatio to realize that he is not the only person awake in the room anymore.

Just as it dawns on Horatio that she is awake, he feels Renee squeeze his hand. He fell asleep with his left hand firmly and lovingly, holding her left hand across her body. Renee smiles softly at her brother, her icy blue eyes meet his ocean blue eyes, and they just smiled at each other.

"God...You're awake," he tells her. "I know somebody else who is going to be happy to see you're awake."
Before he can call her, Echo jumps back up on Renee's bed. Echo had been sleeping on the floor for a change that particular morning. The dog is beside herself with an infectious joy. Horatio finds himself smiling and laughing before he can stop himself. He has to keep the dog as calm as possible so she will not pull Renee's IV's out.

When his sister attempts to talk, Horatio stops her, "Shhh... don't try and talk until the doctor comes in and checks you out, sweetie." He then, without another word, presses the nurse call button.

The doctors quickly come into the room and are completely surprised to see her not only awake, but she is attempting to talk. They didn't think that she would be so aware.

Finally, after two and a half months, the two long lost siblings can talk. There is so much to say, and so many questions unanswered.

The most important question as far as Horatio is concerned with was, "What happened?" Horatio asks that question to his half-sister.

Now Renee completely understands why he is asking that vital question first. Catching up can wait until they solve her attack. She answers his question as quickly and concise as she can. With Echo curled up next to her on the hospital bed, she starts to explain everything that happened to her in a whispery and shaky voice.

"Before I say anything between us, please call me Nae, my mom, and my friends always call me Nae."

"Now that we have that out of the way, I can give you my testimony. I was at my house and had barely put the dogs in the panic room for the night and locked it when I heard something in the living room. I drew my Sig, and then I proceeded to investigate. I had just announced I was MDPD when I felt somebody grab me from behind. I back up quickly, slamming the attacker into the wall."

"Whoever it was, they let go because I knocked the wind out of them. I pick up my dropped pistol and spin around to see another person come to the defense of the first person. I pull the trigger about ten times over a few minutes, but I keep missing them."

"The first person manages to get behind me again, and the second one tries to grab me from the front as well. I fire my gun. I don't know why I keep missing."

"Grabbing one of the full magazines that I keep throughout the house, I quickly reload. I fire my gun eight more times, but I keep missing. I don't understand why I keep missing. I never miss a shot."

"I managed to hurl the first one over my shoulders and through the glass coffee table when he attempts to grab me from behind again. He's knocked out for a little while. The second guy rushes me, but I shoot him in the shoulder. I know that that shot was a through and through since I see his blood splatter on the wall."

"The first guy gets up, and I managed to shoot him at center mass. The second guy shoots me in the shoulder. I go down but force myself back up. I know I'm out of ammo, but I stand my ground facing the second guy when I suddenly experience a burning in my side, and I hit the floor out cold."

"I must have missed someone. I wake up tied and hanging from the ceiling of some warehouse. I think that I was over water. Then I feel intense pain then pass out again. I come to a second time in a different area of a warehouse."

"The people that attacked me kept asking me the same question over and over again. They wanted me to tell them where Echo and Charlie were."

"They kept saying that the price on my head was less than half the price on each of my partners were. I would sooner die than tell them where the dogs were, but I was fighting to stay conscious."

"They hit me with a metal pipe breaking both of the bones in my arm since I heard the snaps then ask that question once more. I wouldn't answer so they broke the other arm still I wouldn't answer. They broke both my legs since I heard the snaps, they then bust all my ribs asking me that same question. In a rage, they start beating me in the head."

"I hurt everywhere. I never caved in; I resisted their torture. I remember you coming in. I remember you talking to me. I remember you holding me and cutting me down. I remember you shining a light in my eyes, and the next thing I know, I open my eyes to see you sleeping soundly with your head on my bed."

She completed her testimony with, "I know I could pick the one that I had shot from a lineup."