Page 44 of Sinner's Sacrifice

“You are going to drive me to drink,” Yvgeny complained. “And I can’t stand that stuff.”

“You don’t like alcohol?”

“No. My cousin is the only one in my family who’s crazy enough to imbibe.”

“Why is that crazy?”

“Because it’s bad for your liver and kidneys. It removes inhibitions and takes completely normal, responsible people and turns them into morons who can’t keep a secret to save their lives.”

“Wow,” she blinked. “That’s oddly specific.”

“But true.”

“Yes, I suppose it’s true. You feel strongly about it.”

“I’ve seen alcohol ruin too many good men and women.”

The car slowed, then turned a corner, taking them down into another underground parking garage. They came to a stop and Yvgeny slid out of the car. She slid along the seat until she needed to put her feet down and hoist herself up and out of the vehicle, but Yvgeny was there, picking her up again.

He placed her in a wheelchair, where it came from, she didn’t know, then he pushed it toward a glass door.

It opened before they reached it. The hallway they entered was plain for several feet, then the floor transitioned to a gray, white, and silver marble. It was absolutely silent. No sound or conversation anywhere she could hear.

They turned a corner, and a desk came into view. Two women were behind it, one sitting, the other standing, both in scrubs.

The one on her feet saw Yvgeny, she grabbed something and rushed around the desk toward them. She looked at Sam in the wheelchair, with Yvgeny pushing it, and frowned.

“Mr. Breznik? I thought you were the injured one?”

“No, my...paramedic was injured in an altercation. I want her looked at by a doctor and x-rays taken of her chest.”

The woman looked at Sam with some surprise. “Of course.”

She sounded like she’d rather eat shit. The thought made Sam laugh, which hurt, and this time, a groan did make it out. She covered it with a fake cough, which fooled no one if Yvgeny’s glare was any indication.

The woman turned on her heel and walked behind the desk. Yvgeny pushed her chair closer, watching the woman like he was afraid she was selling national secrets that very instant.

After a minute, she rose, and with one brisk nod at Yvgeny, strode away. Yvgeny pushed the chair in her wake, his two security guards right behind him.

The woman led them to a plain door, opened it, and waved them in. Yvgeny pushed the chair inside and shut the door.

“Sucks to be the security guys right now.”

Yvgeny glared at her, so she shut up.

The room looked like every other doctor’s examination room she’d ever seen. A desk with a computer on it. An exam table with that roll of paper that always made her feel like she was a pork chop when she sat on it. A cupboard and sink in one corner. There was one patient chair, which Yvgeny sat on, and one for the doctor behind the desk.

Sam stayed where she was in the wheelchair and stared at her hands tangled together on her lap.

The room echoed with silence for a minute, then Yvgeny got up and began to pace the length of the room, and since it was only ten feet long, it wasn’t nearly enough space.

Someone knocked on the door.

“Enter,” Yvgeny growled.

A man entered, dressed in what looked like a suit under his lab coat. He had a stethoscope around his neck and a penlight in his lab coat chest pocket. He didn’t look at her, but made eye contact with Yvgeny.

“Good to see you, sir.”