[apartment 312, Sunset II Apartments, 10:40PM]
Zenya watched Leo race back toward the stairs, waited until he was out of sight, then went to the balcony. Valery was laying on the ground, not moving except for the slight rise and fall of his chest. Zenya shook her head. Apparently, he'd fainted. He never could stand the sight of blood, especially his own.
She knelt down next to him and lifted his sweater to get a look at the wound. It looked a lot worse than it probably was, but it was still bleeding profusely. Seeing no other convenient options, Zenya took off her jacket, folded it and pressed it against the wound. Damn it, it was a new jacket, too - ironically enough, from the post-Santa Fe shopping spree she'd gone on to deal with the frustration of not catching the Crosses.
Already she could hear sirens in the distance. "Help's coming," she said. "You'll be all right." She brushed a lock of hair away from his face and bent down to kiss his forehead. She'd loved him once, and even if that part of their life was over, there was still a connection. It pained her to see him like this. "You need a haircut," she whispered, just to be saying something. "You never did look good with long hair. I'm so sorry, Vasha. You should never have been in the middle of this. It's not your fight."
She had barely been aware that a police car had screeched to a halt in front of the building, followed a moment later by an ambulance, until an officer was standing over her, demanding to know what had happened. She looked up at him, startled.
"He's been shot," she said, then had to repeat it when it dawned on her that she'd forgotten to switch back to English.
"You the one who shot him," the officer asked. He was eyeing the gun laying on the ground next to Zenya's knee.
"No."
"Push it over here. Real slow," he said.
Zenya was furious, for no particular reason. If the situation were reversed, she would be thinking the same thing. She complied with the officer's order, but she wasn't happy about it.
"Okay. On your feet. All clear," he called to the paramedics, who appeared almost instantly and gathered around Valery. Zenya stepped back into the apartment with the officer while they went about their business.
Zenya started to reach for her badge, then thought better of it. "I'm going to reach into my pocket for my ID," she said.
"Slowly."
"I know that." She got it out and passed it to him. He looked it over skeptically, then finally handed it back, along with her gun which he had retrieved from the balcony.
"Sorry, ma'am," he said. "But you understand�"
"Of course."
"So who is he?"
Zenya leaned against a wall where she had a view of what was going on outside. She wished she had asked Leo what he wanted her to say, but she would just have to skirt the issue for the moment. "He's a friend. His name is Valery Nikitin. I got a call that he was here."
"Anyone here with him when you arrived?"
Zenya nodded. "A man. I really didn't get a good look at him, but I think my partner did."
"And where's he?"
"Out chasing him down." The paramedics had Valery on a stretcher now and started to wheel him toward the door. Zenya stepped toward them. "He's anemic," she told them. "And he's allergic to penicillin and morphine. His blood type is O negative." She turned back to the officer. "Look, I would be happy to answer all of your questions, but I'm going to the hospital with him. You'll have to arrest me to stop me."
*****
[St. Vincent's Hospital, midnight]
Zenya sat in the waiting room, alone with a really bad cup of coffee and a guilty conscience. The doctors had been out once to tell her that Valery was awake and doing fine, but she hadn't been able to see him yet. The lighting in the waiting room was too dim, and it was making her drowsy, hence the coffee. But the coffee tasted too bad to drink, so she just stared at it, waiting.
It had been over an hour and Leo still hadn't arrived. She was starting to worry about him, too. Then out of nowhere, something Rebecca Cross had said came back to her. Something about 'Agent Lee's friend.' She picked up her phone and dialed Vanessa's number. It was late, but she should know about this. The phone rang once before the Dr. Parker came into the waiting room. Zenya put the phone away and made a mental note to call Vanessa first thing in the morning. "How is he," she asked.
"Resting comfortably for the moment," the doctor said. "We're going to have to take him into surgery to get the bullet out and repair the damage to the deltoid muscle. But with a little therapy, the arm should be good as new."
"Should be," Zenya asked. "I don't understand. What's wrong with his arm?"
Dr. Parker launched into a long and complicated explanation, most of which went right over Zenya's head. The gist of it was that Valery's arm was partially paralyzed due to the muscle damage, but the prognosis was good. God help her, Zenya's first thought was, maybe Leo had saved the world from more bad art. As soon as she'd thought that, she felt terrible about it, but she still had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. Misunderstanding, the doctor put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "He'll be just fine," he said. "There's really nothing for you to worry about. You can see him before we take him into the OR if you want."
*****
Valery was awake, but just barely, and looked anything but comfortable when Zenya came into his room. In fact, he looked pathetic - pale, terrified, disoriented. When he saw Zenya, though, he forgot his pain for a moment and just glared at her.
"He shot me," he said. "You let him do it." He probably thought that he was projecting the anger that was showing on his face, but the words came out as an annoying whine.
Zenya just nodded. "He saved your life. If he hadn't shot you, they would have been scraping you off the sidewalk."
Valery grimaced at that. He tried to sit up and grimaced even more, fell back onto the bed and moaned loudly. "I wouldn't have been there at all if you'd listened to me in the first place," he said. His voice was weak, but there was a strong accusation in his tone that effectively killed any sympathy Zenya had for him just then. She'd liked him a whole lot better when he was unconscious. Still, she was determined not to let her anger show.
"You could show a little gratitude that you're still alive," she said calmly. "It's just a little bullet wound. You'll recover."
"Just a little bullet wound? You wouldn't say that if you were the one that got shot by that friend of yours."
Zenya laughed. "I almost was when we were in Santa Fe. Thank God he's a good shot. He's saved my life a couple of times, and tonight he saved yours."
"Exactly why are you defending him?"
The whole point of the conversation hit her like a brick. Rebecca Cross had made it clear that she had been watching Zenya and Leo earlier. She must have taken great pleasure in reporting back to her accomplice and to Valery. "If you can bait me like that, you must not be as much pain as your letting on," Zenya said coldly. "If you want a confession, you'll be disappointed, because there's nothing to confess."
"That's not the way I heard it."
"And you would rather take the word of someone who tried to kill you than mine? That speaks volumes, doesn't it?" She took his hand and held it. They were both quiet for a long while, not really looking at each other, but not looking away.
They stayed like that until a nurse came into the room and told Zenya that she would have to leave.
Zenya nodded. "I'll be here when you get out of surgery," she told him. She smiled at him one more time, then left the room.
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