Die for You

Chapter 8

Thirty five minutes later, the small living room was filled with people and I was struggling to keep up with them all.

James and JJ had arrived first, not long after I had had finally sat down. I must have looked a bit of a mess because they'd looked at me in shock as I opened the door, ice still firmly pressed to my face.

"Jesus Blondie, you're definitely not as good-looking as you were yesterday," James exclaimed as he regained the ability to speak.

"It's ok, boss," I'd said as I closed the door behind them. "You should see the other guy."

He paused and looked me up and down before continuing in his soft drawl. "Anyway, how are you doing, Freen?"

"I'm fine, boss, bit cut and bruised but no major wounds, the package is fine as well, just a bit shook up. She's resting in the bedroom now, she's had a bit of a cry but I think she'll be fine."

"That's great news, glad you both made it through okay. From what JJ told me, it was pretty fucked up. We called Rob before we left, told him his daughter was safe." He looked at me with a wry grin.

"I think Rob likes you, Blondie, he keeps on singing your praises to me; you managed to impress him more in one meeting than I've done in months. Not to mention this little escapade, he was practically nominating you for sainthood ten minutes ago. Good job doesn't cover it.. fucking hell, great job doesn't either. It was my lucky day when JJ bumped into you and brought you aboard."

"Now come on, spill; tell your Uncle James what happened?"

I chuckled at the glint in his eye, 'well at least he's not annoyed that I've been in the job for one day and I've already trashed the bloody car they gave me.'

---

I spent the next fifteen minutes with both of them, debriefing the events of the day. I told them about the meeting, about the note that Rob Armstrong had shown me; the white van, the chase and our eventual escape.

We were interrupted about half way through by a knock at the door. It turned out that JJ had called a private doctor before leaving the head office. I showed her to the bedroom where Miss Armstrong was sat on the bed; now fully clothed in a different outfit, blue sweat pants and a white tank top, I noted absently. Her hair was soaking wet, she'd obviously taken advantage of the shower in my absence.

I introduced the doctor and started to turn back, leaving them to it. Last thing I was capable of being was a fucking nurse, least of all to Rebecca Armstrong, who was busily telling the doctor that there was nothing wrong with her, with a bitchy voice.

"Oh and Doctor," I said from the doorway before I left, "in case Miss Armstrong forgets to tell you, she has a badly injured wrist and she's almost certainly suffering from shock."

The doctor nodded as those brown eyes stared at me with that familiar anger in it, I simply smiled back.

"Sorry miss, but it's my job to keep you safe, and that includes your health."

Task done, I headed back to the living room.

---

After we finished our debriefing, I stood up, "Look, if you two don't mind holding down the fort, I desperately need a shower and a change of clothes before we have any more visitors. Driving in the pouring rain without any windows isn't what I call fun, you know?"

They nodded and returned to their talking, JJ reaching for his phone. I left the living area and walked into the main bathroom, dumping my clothes as soon as the door was shut.

The hot water almost soothed me not until it started to bring out some of the cuts and bruises and damn it aches like a bastard; the result, no doubt, of being out of condition.