Page 126 of Darkness Bound (Night Prowler 5)
Nola checked her watch. “Ten minutes, babe. Can I get you anything? Water? Advil? Cyanide?”
Jack smiled weakly at her joke and pushed away from the door. “Maybe just a few minutes alone.”
Nola squeezed her arm, understanding as she always had that Jack needed solitude like other people needed air.
“Okay. I’ll be right on the other side of that door. I’ll knock when it’s time, if Ed hasn’t come to get you yet.” Nola blew her a kiss, and left through another door that opened directly to the amphitheater. The murmuring of the gathered crowd swelled, then disappeared once the door swung shut.
A carafe of water stood on a small side table in the corner. Jack set her handbag down, then poured herself a glass, wishing instead for another shot of Patrón. She guzzled it, then lowered herself into an uncomfortable plastic chair to wait.
The sound of the clock ticking on the wall grew louder and louder, until she couldn’t stand it anymore. She leapt to her feet and began to pace.
Someone rapped sharply on the door. She jumped, nerves screaming, then crossed the room. She reached for the knob but before she could grab it, the door swung open forcefully, slamming Jack right in the face.
Fireworks exploded behind her eyes. Pain sliced through her head. The room tilted, narrowed, and went black.
The next thing she knew, she was lying on her back on the floor, blinking up into Ed O’Malley’s florid, worried face.
“Dolan! Dolan! Are you all right?”
Warped and echoing, his voice sounded as if it were broadcast from underwater. There was a watery aspect to his face, too, and the room behind him, everything wavering and slipping, the colors faint and blurred.
Crouching beside her, Ed helped her sit up. He pulled a handkerchief from his coat pocket, shook it out, and pressed it against her face. “Jesus, Dolan, you’re bleedin’ like a stuck pig. Is your nose broken? How d’you feel, darlin’; talk to me!”
Dazed, Jack was unable to speak. Her eyes couldn’t focus. Her brain was fuzzy, her thoughts amorphous as smoke. Beyond the ringing in her ears and the throbbing in her nose, she remembered she was in the New York Times Building. She remembered she was here for a press conference. She remembered . . .
“Oh God,” Jack breathed, going ice cold.
She remembered everything.
Like a sharp kick that shakes the fruit from a tree, the blow to her head had knocked all the stuck memories loose. They flooded her, mercilessly lashing her with sound and color and scent and taste. Everything she’d forgotten came back in one huge fireball of recall, exploding in her brain like a supernova.
Her father.
Her mother.
Her brother.
Her childhood.
The article.
The pictures.
The lost weeks . . .
Hawk.
She burst into body-wracking sobs and collapsed into Ed’s arms.
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” he muttered, patting her on the back. “I’m glad I never saw you cry before this, Dolan. It’s downright disturbin’. You never would’ve got that last promotion.”
Nola arrived and started barking at Ed like a rabid dog. “What the hell did you do to her? Did you break her nose? There’s so much blood!”
“I opened the door into her face.”
“What?”
“It was an accident!”
