Marie Ferrarella - M.D. Most Wanted стр 7.

London heard a deep, wrenching moan echoing all around her, engulfing her. It sounded vaguely familiar.

It took her a beat to realize that the noise had come from her.

The pain was making her groan. And why did it feel as if there was a steel cage wrapped around her upper torso?

London opened her eyes or thought she did. The only thing that seemed to be filtering through was white. Lots of white.

Heaven? It didnt feel hot, so it couldnt be hell.

No, it felt cool, very cool.

Was she dead?

Where was the light everyone had always talked about? The light that was supposed to lead her to a better place. Or was that just a lie, a myth like unconditional parental love?

She thought she heard a male voice.

St. Peter?

Lucifer?

Batman?

Her mind jumped around from topic to topic like a frog attempting to reach safe ground using lily pads that kept sinking beneath his weight.

The male voice spoke again. This time she heard real words. A question. How are you feeling?

Was he talking to her?

With one last massive effort, London concentrated on pushing her lids open. This time she succeeded and sawa man.

Not Batman, Superman, she amended. No cape, no blue tights that showed off rows of muscles, but definitely Superman. Right down to the chiseled chin and blue-black hair falling into brilliant blue eyes.

She swallowed. Her throat felt like rawhide. Hed asked her something. What? London searched the vacant caverns that comprised her mind and finally found the words, then laced them together.

Feelings, hed asked something about feelings. No, wait, hed asked her how was she feeling, yes, that was it.

It was a damn stupid question. How did she look? If she looked half as bad as she felt, Superman had his answer without her saying a word.

How are you feeling? Reese repeated for the third time.

He bent over close to her so she could hear him. He had been in twice before, only to find her still sleeping. This time, as hed checked her chart, he saw her eyes flutter slightly. She was trying to come to.

London took a breath before answering. It felt like someone had shot an arrow into her ribs. LikeIve beenrun overbyatruck.

Was that breathy, scratchy voice coming out of her? It didnt sound like her, London thought. She tried to read Supermans face and see his reaction to the pitiful noise. Was he recoiling in horror?

No, his eyes were kind. They were smiling.

She liked that. Smiling eyes.

Not quite a truck, Reese told her. They tell me a pole did this.

The single word brought with it a scene from somewhere within her brain. She and her parents, sitting at a long, white table, watching blond girls in native costumes with wide skirts, black corsets, red boots and wreaths of flowers in their hair, dancing.

Poland, her parents and she had been in Poland.

Poland, the last place her mother had been before she couldnt be anyplace at all.

Pole? she echoed. She didnt remember hitting a Polish national.

Reese saw the confusion in her face and wondered if she was suffering a bout of amnesia. Her airbag had failed to deploy and shed hit her head against the steering wheel. Amnesia wasnt unheard of.

The one you tried to transplant by running into, he told her gently, taking her pulse. The rhythm was strong. She had a good constitution. Lucky for her. The paramedic almost wept over your Jaguar.

The words were filtering into her brain without encountering matching images. Her jaguar. A pet cat? No, car, her car. The man was talking about her car.

Oh God, now she remembered. It all came rushing back at her as fast as she had raced her car to get away from Wallace.

Shed lost control and totaled her beautiful car.

London groaned, the loss hitting her between the eyesthe only spot on her body that didnt hurt.

She raised her eyes to look at him as he released her wrist. Is it totaled?

Like an accordion.

The paramedic, Jaime, was still shaking his head and talking about the colossal waste of metal to anyone within earshot. He drove a small, secondhand foreign car whose odometer had gone full circle twice, and he looked upon the other vehicle as if it was a gift bestowed by the gods. He periodically drooled over Reeses Corvette.

Reese studied Londons pale complexion for a moment. There was a bandage on her forehead where flesh had met wheel, but apart from that, she was a gorgeous woman, possibly the most perfect specimen he had ever seen. She could have been forever

disfigured. Why had she risked losing all that in the blink of an eye?

What were you trying to prove?

Nothing, she answered quietly. She would have turned her head away if the effort hadnt hurt so much. So she just looked at him steadily, meeting his probing gaze. Just looking for space.

He laughed shortly under his breath. The woman had intelligent eyes, and she certainly didnt look stupid, but then, looks could be deceiving.

You very nearly got it. Six feet by six by six, Reese told her, pausing to write a notation in her chart. A final space in the family plot.

Beside her mother, she couldnt help thinking. Maybe it would be peaceful there and she could finally find out who she was.