When Sparks Fly by Autumn Dawn

interrupted
things, but I have to check the surveillance tapes to be sure. The
police are going to have loads of questions.”
    Gem put her face in her hands, unable to
take everything in. Suddenly, a surge of strength surprised her.
She looked at Blue and said, “I need to be with her now.”
    He started to shake his head, but she got up
from the couch and said, “They’ll have some forms for me at the
hospital; or the medics will. There’s always paperwork. And
I’ll…I’ll have to arrange for more protection. Protection for them
while they’re recovering….” It was so hard to think past the fog of
shock, but she needed to keep busy.
    “Already done,” Chief Blackwing assured her.
“The local police will be guarding your sister and Jean Luc
twenty-four–seven, believe it. Gem, you need to think about going
somewhere quiet until this settles down.”
    “Not now!” Gem snapped. “If I have to hire
ten men like Blue, I will. Someone just hurt my family and I want
to find out who. I’ll do whatever it takes. I’m glad to be
bait.”
    “You don’t know what you’re saying,” Blue
spoke up, his voice harsh. “You haven’t seen Brandy.”
    “Then let’s fix that,” Gem snapped. “She
needs me. Now.”
    “What she needs is a full medical team and a
week of sleep,” he growled, but he allowed her out of the room and
followed.
    Gem thought she was prepared, but her first
glimpse of the stretcher holding Jean Luc was bad. Even surrounded
by medics as he was, she caught sight of a deep slash that exposed
bone down the bartender’s cheek.
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath,
then opened them in time to see her sister whisked by. Brandy’s
eyes were swollen shut, her nose was bloody; and that was just the
damage Gem saw in a quick glimpse as her sister was rushed past.
The rest was covered with blankets, so Gem’s imagination started
working overtime.
    They traveled quickly to the hospital in a
rented transport. Blue sat with Gem in the waiting room for hours.
He didn’t say much, but he brought her hot drinks whenever she ran
out and a plate of food from the cafeteria. He ate most of it,
actually, but she got a little down and it steadied her.
    A doctor explained what they were facing.
Brandy had a broken nose, a fractured jaw and several loose teeth.
She’d been choked, and every finger and some of the bones in her
hands were shattered. She had fractured ribs, internal injuries and
both of her shinbones had been broken. Dawn came and went before a
tired surgeon in burnt orange scrubs came out with more news. The
scrubs clashed with his sparse green hair.
    “She’s heavily sedated,” he said, obviously
trying to be considerate in spite of his fatigue. “We’ve set all
the bones, but there’s going to be swelling, and you know that
bruises get uglier as they get better. The important thing is that
she’s alive and you’ll be able to talk with her, perhaps even
tomorrow. Today you can have a short visit, but no staying in her
room. The best thing you can do for her is to go home and get some
rest. I promise you, she won’t wake up before you do.”
    Gem shook her head, but the doctor was
relentless. “Five minutes. Reassure yourself that she’s fine and
then come back tonight, or better yet, in the morning. I promise
you’ll have plenty of time to nurse her yourself when we send her
home.”
    “Come on,” Blue said gruffly, pulling her
toward the ICU. “He’s right, and we both need to sleep.” He’d dozed
in his chair off and on, but his voice still sounded scratchy with
fatigue.
    “I can’t sleep,” she said, though she felt
awful from lack of rest.
    “A few slugs of whiskey will solve that,”
Blue assured her. “And remember, it could have been worse. She
could have been killed,” he warned as he opened the door to her
sister’s room.
    Brandy did look awful, beyond recognition.
Though Gem wished she were awake and well, it was some comfort to
know Brandy wasn’t in