“Do you understand?!” Cathy asked sternly, as Bette continued to stare back at her with uncomprehending eyes. “Do I have to repeat everything I just said?”

“Wait, wait! What about Kaci?” Bette asked frantically, just as the woman finished strapping her to her seat. She’d swallowed the pain-killers the woman had given her, but the pounding in her head was worsening, fed by a gnawing anxiety that something had happened to Kaci.  She’d expected to find her bestie in the helo, but couldn’t pick her out from the shadows. So if she wasn’t in the helo, where was she?

“I’m sorry, Bette. Kaci absorbed a lot of bullets. Protecting you and TJ. I really wish this had all turned out differently for you guys but … I’m sorry, she didn’t make it. She had body armor, Kevlar, on, but it wasn’t enough…”

Bette’s stunned, panicked stare replaced the uncomprehending one. She’d tried to open her mouth but nothing came out. She felt the world tilt, and it wasn’t because of the helo. Her body was separating from her soul, it felt like, and a shock ran right through her.

Cathy repeated, “But, as I was explaining, Kaci thought ahead. She planned all these arrangements out for you, in case things fell apart. To help you get-away.   She broke protocol, you see, when she heard that a gang had snatched TJ for ransom. Ransom from Henry and Tina. Tina called Kaci, once they tracked TJ to Kansas City. Kaci broke her cover to plan a rescue for him, and then called you, because she needed you to convince them that you two had something better to trade with that gang in exchange for TJ. Something about bitcoins.”

“But you …” Bette interrupted, her eyes were wild with fear, her heart was beating way to fast, and her world was cratering. Kaci, dead?

“She asked me for help to plan, and to make this rescue happen. But the local cops got involved in the rescue and everything went awry. You survived but the problem for you now is,” Cathy said as she hopped out of the helicopter, “We think one of those men got a message out to a network of gangs, told them that there’s this secret code about the bitcoins. It won’t be long until gangs from the network could come sniffing. Even just out of curiosity. Looking for you. We’ll try to monitor it, since, well, Kaci was special, and …” Cathy swallowed a sob. “Anyway, I’ll try what I can do for you…”