Chapter 98 first quarter

Decker dreamed of Renata, a tall, thin, dark-haired woman with a strange voice and a gaping hole in her throat.He felt the dark figure of Renata pressing down on him, she was holding a rock up high to hit him on the head, but just as he was about to fight back, he regained his sanity and realized that it wasn't Renata who was bending over him Tower, but Beth, and that thing was not a stone, but a towel. Someone else was with her—Esperanza—and they held him down. "Relax, you're safe. We'll help you." Decker kept blinking.He was dizzy, as if he had been drunk all night.He struggled to figure out what had happened.He was in pain all over his body, his arms and face were like needle pricks.Muscle twitches.He had never felt so much pain in his life.A little farther off, pale sunlight streams in through the edge of the drawn curtains.

"I'm-" "In a motel outside of Jersey City." Scanning the dark interior, Decker recalled the motel where McKittrick had held Beth, which made him uncomfortable. "How long—what time—" "It's almost seven o'clock at night." Beth sat next to him, propping herself up on her good leg.She put the towel on his forehead.The towels were soaked in boiling water.Decker felt the heat immediately. “It’s a place where people don’t ask any questions when they check in,” Esperanza said. “And the room is behind the office, so the staff can’t see who’s coming into the room.”

Decker thought uncomfortably again, like the motel where McKittrick had Beth imprisoned. "We got here at 6 o'clock in the morning," Beth said. "You've been asleep for almost 13 hours including the time in the car. You just won't wake up, and it freaks me out." Esperanza pointed to the bathroom. "It took me a lot of effort to undress you and get you into the bathtub. For hypothermia, you start with warm water. I warm up slowly. When your complexion starts to improve, I dragged you out, dried you, put you in bed, and covered you with three blankets I found on a shelf. Beth herself took off her wet clothes, dried her, and lay Come over to keep you warm. I made you some hot coffee. Man, I've never seen anyone so tired."

Beth kept rubbing Decker's face. "Still so bruised and bruised. Your face is bleeding profusely." "I've had better nights sometimes than this." Decker's mouth went dry. "I want to... drink some water." "You have to drink hot water," Esperanza said. "I'm sorry, but I want to make sure you're warm." He poured some hot water from a thermos into a plastic cup and held it to Decker's lips. . "Be careful." The water tasted worse than Decker thought. "Put teabags in it. Where did you get that?" Decker pointed to the thermos.

"I was too busy. I went out and did some shopping while you were sleeping. I bought groceries and clothes and a cane for Beth and—" "You left us here alone?" Decker asked in surprise. "Beth has your gun. Her wound hurts, but she can sit in that chair and guard the door. Seems like there's no reason not to buy what we need." Decker tried to sit up. "Renata, that's your reason." "There's no way she could keep up with us," Esperanza said. "I'm extra careful. If I'm in the slightest doubt, I'll go around a block or down an alley. If there's headlights following me, I'll I see."

"We tracked McKittrick," Decker said. "That's because we have a homing device. Do you think it's possible that McKittrick and Renata left the homing device in their own car? She doesn't even have a car with which to chase us." "She can steal one." "That's after she knows we're not on the roof anymore and we stole her car. Even so, by the time she intercepts a car, we'll be far away. She can't possibly know where we're going." Way off. Relax, Decker, she's no threat to us." "Not yet." It wasn't Decker who said that, but Beth.

"But she'll be a threat to us," added Beth gloomily. "Yes," Decker said, "Renata has gone to such lengths to get revenge on me for her two brothers, and she's not going to stop now. She's going to be more determined." "Especially because we're holding the money," Beth said. Decker was bewildered and speechless.He looks at Esperanza. "When we got to this motel," Esperanza said, "while you and Beth were resting, I checked the Pontiac's trunk. In addition to the explosives that would blow up the Statue of Liberty, I And found that thing." Esperanza pointed to a bulging flight bag on the floor beside the bed. "That $1 million."

"God—" Decker was starting to faint again from exhaustion. "Stop sitting," said Beth, "you're pale. Lie down." "Renata will come for us." Decker closed his eyes, letting fatigue take over.He reached out to touch Beth, but his perception was so blurred that he didn't feel his hand drop.