�Lower your voice. I�m telling you, you need to leave now.�

�I can�t do that. I can�t let you just finish her off. No way.�

�Are you armed?� Harry asked, pulling his hands through his hair and stretching his back.

�Of course.�

�Get ready to defend the Alamo, then,� Harry sighed.

Diane stared at Harry, incredulous that he would threaten her in such a resigned tone of voice. �What, do I need to actually say it? �You�ll get to Claire over my dead body?��

�Be careful what you wish for,� Harry rasped through gritted teeth. Diane fell mute at the sight of his eyes, which had become black and soulless like those of an efficient killer shark.

Diane refused to take her eyes off Denby, and he kept his eyes on the door, watching, waiting for something. After a protracted silence, Diane jumped with a start when a nurse walked in suddenly to check Claire�s vital signs and IV drip. Diane and Harry watched as the nurse expertly examined the machines and made notations in the chart. He nodded at Harry and Diane, and then quietly left the room.

�Oh, I get it,� Diane whispered, nearly sneering. �It�s the cartel again, right? They�re coming to call in their debts?�

�Something like that,� Harry said, and he adjusted his chair so he could see more of the hallway outside the door.

Diane suddenly became more vigilant. Harry was obviously not stonewalling her over the Valentine�s Day fiasco, and he seemed a lot more interested in what might come in that door than in Diane or Claire. She sighed and looked down at Claire, who appeared to be resting peacefully, and her color was returning. That was always a good sign. Diane had spent entirely too much time in hospitals over the last few months, and the antiseptic smell was making her queasy. She didn�t know how on earth people could work in a hospital full time, surrounded by all this misery, death, angry relatives, paperwork and regulations. She sighed again, suddenly realizing her own line of work was not much different, except she saw people before they were cleaned up, stitched and bandaged, where blood and gore was still spread all over the homicide scenes. Who was she kidding? Being a nurse would be cake compared to what she saw every day.