Vae Victus [Volume 1] [WOE TO THE VANQUISHED]

Chapter 13

I woke up on a hospital bed. My head really hurt. My left wrist was heavily bandaged and there was sling across entire my left arm. I hoped the doctors managed to pop my left shoulder back into the socket when I was unconscious. I had lost my tolerance for pain at the moment.

I could see bandages on my nose too. Damn, I would need a plastic surgery to fix those. I chuckled. I realized that I had lived among the most dangerous men on this planet for almost two decades without breaking my nose, or damaging my face.

Just another scar to wear as a badge of honor. That would be the reaction from the old me. But the morphine made me light-headed, and I wanted to giggle uncontrollably, so I did.

"She is awake," a female voice said that. I could see the outline of a woman. A nurse or a doctor perhaps. My vision was not clear enough to make the distinction.

I tried to move my right arm. I was handcuffed to the bed. Goddamnit.

"Ms. Kefira Levi?" a middle-aged fat man in a cheap suit asked me.  I groaned. Cops. I blinked my eyes a few times so I could see him clearly. Nah, he was better when I could not see him.

"God, what happened to your face?" I asked him. My head was not thinking clearly.

Another man laughed. "She got you there, Steve." Two cops. So two cops and an assassin met in a bar... my life had turned into the punchline of a joke.

"What are you two doing here?" another voice. I would not mistake that voice no matter how much morphine was injected into me. 

"John," I whispered.

"I'm here," he replied. He held my cheeks with both of his hands.

"What happened?" I asked.

"We have a few questions for you," Steve said.

"If you have any questions, speak to my lawyers!" John shouted.

He stood up and poked his finger into Steve's chest. "If I ever see you near her again without my lawyers, I would make sure the Mayor of this city personally calls your commanding officer, do you understand?"

John. He was angry. He threatened a cop. What kind of alternate universe did I wake up in? This must be a dream.

"John," I said.

"Yes, Love," he said. He turned and stayed next to me.

"Am I dreaming?" I asked.

"No, Kefi," he said. "You has been through surgery to save your hand. You were bleeding badly when the police arrived. The paramedics gave you blood transfusion and saved your life, and the surgeons managed to save your hand."

"How long have I been asleep?" I asked.

"Today is Thursday," John said.

Three days. 

"And this handcuffs?" I asked.

"As we said —" Steve started.

John stared at him and the police went quiet. I wished I could see John's face. He had the worst angry face, I must really be in an alternate universe.

"We will be back later with a warrant," Steve's partner said.

"Do that," John answered. "No judge in this city would issue you one."

I winced. It was enough to handcuff me. So they had to have something on me. Oh well, the list of my crimes was too long to remember with my morphine-addled brain.

I closed my eyes.

"Kefi, are you okay?" John's voice.

I nodded, still closing my eyes.

I could feel his lips on mine. I kissed back, passionately. He was alive. I was alive. If this was the reality, I would take it in a heartbeat. 

I could feel his tongue in my throat. I caressed it with my tongue. mmm... minty. After a few minutes of kissing, I finally opened my eyes. I could see much clearer now.

 "L'Chaim," I whispered to John. 'To Life'. It was the common toast for Israeli.

John nodded. "To life," he said.  

Our reunion was interrupted by a shouting from outside my hospital room.

"Where is she?" A woman's voice. "I want to see her."

That voice sounded familiar.

"Who is that?" I asked John.

"Jane Walker," he said. "Do you remember her?"

Yes, her boyfriend just tried to kill me.

There was commotion outside my room. It seemed that the police has posted a uniformed officer to guard my door. I wonder if his order was to keep people out or to keep me in. 

Either way, it seemed that the police officer was the reason that Jane Walker could not enter the room. I did not like her and she was the last person I would like to meet now.

"What is her problem?" I whispered to John. I laid my head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about that," he whispered back.

"John," I said.

"Yes?" 

"The attacker —" I said.

"It was Robert," John said.

So I was right. 

"Is he?" I asked. I put six bullets on his body, not to mention a dozen stab wounds on his ribs and legs.

"He is dead," John said.

"Is that why the police are arresting me?" I asked.

"It was self-defense, Kefi," John said. "You will be fine. I have hired the best criminal attorneys in this country to represent you."

That does not sound convincing. Why do I need the best criminal attorneys if it was a clear-cut self-defense?

"I don't understand," I said.

John said nothing.

"John." I grabbed his shirt. "Tell me the truth."

John sighed.

"John," I repeated.

"Your name was listed by San Fransisco Police Department as the main suspect for Sarah's murder," John said.

My eyebrows rose and my mouth opened. "What?" I said. "How is that possible?"

"I told the police what happened," he said.

John was not there when his wife was murdered. I told him everything that happened that night. 

"What I told you happened," I said.

He looked at me. "Are you saying that —"

"I told you what happened, John," I said. "I did not lie or omit anything from you."

He sighed. "Of course," he said.

"Do you really think that I lied to you?" I asked.

"No, of course not."

"Ethan came to your house after I refused to email him the source code for your software. We had an argument, he shot me. Sarah took the bullet for me," I said. Tears flowed on my cheek. The memories were flowing back to me, as vivid as if it had just happened.

"I shot Ethan," I said. "I shot him," I repeated. It hit him on the shoulder. "I missed." I am so sorry John. I missed. "I missed."

I kept repeating the word "I missed" and John hugged me tightly. I put my head on his chest and fell asleep again.