Chapter 15: The Wing at Night

I did not call for help, because there was no time.

I took the steel pole from the other bed and ran in with it.

The man heard my shoes and turned, and the syringe was half empty.

I swung the pole with both hands and caught his forearm.

The syringe flew across the room and hit the wall.

He swore and came at me, and I drove the base of the pole into his stomach.

He folded over, and I hit him again across the back.

"Mama!" I screamed.

She was awake.

Her eyes were wide, and her free hand was already pulling the tube out of her own arm.

"Get him, Serena," she said hoarsely. "I'm awake."

The man grabbed my ankle and I went down hard on one knee.

Then Alessio came through the door at a run, and two of his men behind him.

He did not say a word.

He took the man by the collar, lifted him off the floor, and slammed him face first into the wall beside the syringe.

"Who sent you?" Alessio said.

"Nobody."

Alessio hit him once in the ribs.

"Who sent you?"

"Signor Ruggero." The man spat blood onto the tile. "He said it would be gentle. He said she was dying anyway."

I got to my feet, and my knee shook.

"How did you get through the iron gate?"

"The gate was open." The man's eyes slid to me. "The Signora left it unlatched. She gave me the badge."

"Which Signora?"

"The young one. The one with the boy." He gasped. "She said do it before Monday, or it would all come out. She said nobody would look at her."

Nobody in the room spoke.

My mother lay back on her pillow and shut her eyes.

I went to the bed and put my hand on her forehead, and she turned her cheek against my palm.

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