Arrow in the Heart

Chapter Eighteen

When I got back to the hospital room, I found Captain Lance talking to Laurel in the hallway.

"Hey, what's going on?" I asked, handing Laurel her coffee.

"I was just checking in on Emma and telling Laurel about what happened so that she can start building a case against Samuel Braxton. How are you holding up?"

"I'm okay. Is there anything I can do to help with the investigation?" I asked.

"Not right now. You may end up needing to testify. Samuel is saying that he was acting in self-defense. According to him, Emma attacked him first." Laurel said.

Anger flared up inside me and my hands clenched into fists.

"Emma did no such thing. Samuel attacked her. He could have killed her! He tried to kill her!" I said, my voice growing louder.

"Roy, calm down. We all know that Emma didn't attack him. Nobody believes him, but we still have to investigate and prosecute him." Laurel said, placing a hand on my shoulder.

I let out a deep breath and let me hands relax. I knew that both Laurel and Captain Lance were on our side. They knew Emma almost as well as I did.

I thanked Captain Lance and Laurel before pushing open the door and walking into Emma's room. I passed around the coffees and sat in the chair by the bed, sipping my drink. We all sat there for a while, drinking and making small talk. Eventually, Felicity and Oliver left to go check on Lyla, Diggle, and the new baby while Thea and Laurel left to respond to a hostage situation in the Glades. Finally, Laurel left with her dad to go work on the case against Samuel.

"Looks like it's just you and me, Ems." I whispered as I kissed her forehead.

I woke up a few hours later to the sound of my phone ringing.

"Hello?" I answered groggily.

"Roy, it's Oliver. We need you to come to the campaign office. There's been a kidnapping and a homicide. We need all hands on deck."

"I'll be right there." I said.

I hung up and pressed a kiss into Emma's hair before running out to the nurse's station to let them know that I would be back in a few hours and to call me if anything changed with Emma's condition.

When I got to the lair, I rushed to suit up while Oliver and Diggle briefed me on what was happening.

"A woman named Alicia Marks killed her boyfriend and took his baby. She's hiding out in a motel a few miles outside city limits." Diggle said, grabbing his gun and mask.

"She's armed and potentially mentally unstable so we need to be careful." Oliver said.

"She's on the move, guys!" Felicity shouted from the computers.

"We need to move now. Remember, we don't have Emma to patch us up so we need to make sure nobody gets seriously injured." Oliver reminded us.

"She's heading out towards Central City. Do we want to notify Barry and the others? They're coming this way anyway." Felicity asked.

"Call Barry. We're going to have to play this one by ear." Diggle said.

Felicity immediately dialed Barry's number while I donned my mask.

"I'm ready. Let's move." I said.

We headed out and started in the direction Felicity told us to go.

"She just stopped and turned around. She's heading back out to the motel." Felicity informed us.

"We should just head there and wait for her." I said.