They took off running up the alley and were out of sight just as the women reached the Jeep. The shortest woman knelt down on the ground beside Rheyna and cradled her head in her lap. She looked up at her girlfriend. "Call an ambulance!"

She shrugged off her jacket and laid it across Rheyna's chest. She pushed several strands of blood-soaked hair from Rheyna's face.

"Hang in there, sweetie. An ambulance is on the way," she said soothingly. This isn't good, she thought as she heard gurgling sounds coming from Rheyna's throat. Rheyna turned her head slightly, blood pouring out from the sides of her mouth. The woman silently thanked G.o.d as she heard the wailing of a siren in the distance. She looked down at the badly beaten face cradled in her lap. "What's your name, hon? Can you tell me what your name is?" she asked.

Rheyna tried to speak. "Rhey ... Rhey ... Rheyna Sorento." She struggled to get the words out. "FBI Agent Kyle-" she gasped and choked. She coughed and spit blood all over the woman's s.h.i.+rt. "Kyle Edwards," she whispered. "270 ... 421 ... 1," she gasped, took a deep breath and then collapsed in the woman's arms.

"Oh no, oh no, no, no, don't do this to me, please!" the woman screamed as she frantically searched for a pulse. She laid Rheyna's head gently on the ground and started CPR.

Up on the corner, the bar patrons were slowly emptying into the street as the ambulance with siren blaring and lights flas.h.i.+ng followed by police cars turned onto 19th Street. The ambulance driver came to a stop next to Rheyna and the two women.

The medics jumped out and ran over to them. The taller woman grabbed her girlfriend and pulled her out of the way. They watched as the medics took over and then the woman pulled out her cell phone. She dialed the number that Rheyna had given her. It rang several times before it was answered.

"h.e.l.lo, Agent Edwards?" she asked, hoping that she got the number right.

"Yes, this is he."

"Do you know Rheyna Sorento?"

"How did you get this number? Who are you?" he asked abruptly.

"My name is Molly, Molly Armstrong. Rheyna gave me your number a few minutes ago. She's been hurt really bad outside The Lexington Club on 19th street," she said as she heard the sound of tires locking up. "The medics are performing CPR on her now."

"Oh my G.o.d," she heard him say before the line went dead. She turned back around and watched the medics lift Rheyna onto the stretcher. One medic had started chest compressions while the other held a bag over Rheyna's mouth and nose, squeezing repeatedly to force air into her lungs.

Molly felt her girlfriend's arm around her waist. She wiped angrily at the tears running down her cheeks.

Laura plugged the charger in her phone. It beeped immediately. She flipped it open and looked at the menu. She had missed a call and had a voice mail waiting. She punched in her pa.s.sword. As she listened, her face drained of all color.

"Oh, s.h.i.+t," she said as she dialed Edwards' cell and immediately got his voice mail.

Stevens looked up from his newspaper. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's Rheyna, her cover's been blown. I gotta go, keep trying to get a hold of Edwards. Tell him to meet me at 19th and Lexington," she said and grabbed her keys and jacket off the table. She jerked the door open and ran down the steps, taking them two at a time.

Edwards brought his car to a screeching halt at the corner of Lexington and 19th Street and nearly hit one of the officers cordoning off the area with yellow police tape.

The place was a madhouse. Police cars and people were everywhere. He flashed his badge and ducked under the tape. He saw the medics preparing to lift Rheyna into the ambulance and ran over to her. Taking her hand in his, he leaned over and looked at her badly beaten face. He felt tears sting his eyes.

"I'm here, Rheyna. You hang in there, now. You hear me?" he said as he rubbed his hand gently across her cheek. He felt anger boiling up inside. This is the final straw, he thought to himself. I'm going to kill that son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h myself. He looked at Rheyna and shook his head. "Don't you die on me, d.a.m.n it, you hear me, Rheyna?" He dropped his head, tears running down his cheeks.

Rheyna struggled to speak. "Car, Caroline."

"I'll call her, I promise," he said, jerking his head up to look at her.

The medic nudged him. "We really need to get her out of here."

Edwards took a few steps back so they could get the stretcher into the ambulance.

"Where are you taking her?" he asked the medic climbing into the ambulance.

"San Francisco General," the medic said, and then hit his hand against the wall to signal the driver to get going. Feeling helpless, he watched the ambulance pull away.

"She one of yours?"

"Yes," he answered numbly, turning to see a very large man standing in front of him with a notepad and pen in his hand.

The large man held out his hand. "I'm Detective Robert Sloan, Homicide."

Edwards shook his outstretched hand. "I'm a.s.sistant Deputy Director Kyle Edwards, FBI."

"Pleased to meet you, Director, I only wish it was under better circ.u.mstances."

"Likewise, Detective. How did you get here so fast?"

Detective Sloan nodded toward one of the officers standing over by Rheyna's Jeep.

"They found this when they lifted up her body and called me first thing," he said, pulling out a baggie containing a single marble. He handed it to Edwards.

"This look familiar to you?"

Edwards looked at the marble. "Yes, unfortunately," he said as he glanced around, looking at the people crowded behind the police tape. He turned to the detective. "Where's the girl who found her?" he asked.

Detective Sloan pointed at Molly and her girlfriend. They were talking with a uniformed officer on the other side of the street. Edwards crossed the street and walked up to the women.

"Which one of you is Molly?" he asked.

"I'm Molly and this is Tracy," the shorter of the two answered. He recognized her voice. "Is she going to be okay?" she asked.

"I don't know, but I sure hope so," he answered honestly. He looked at the various news crews, now on scene setting up their equipment behind the police tape. So much for containment, he thought wryly. He turned back to the women and placed his hand under Molly's elbow. "Let's go over here, where we can talk," he said, leading them over to the edge of the alley where they would be well out of earshot. He looked at Molly. "Can you tell me what you saw?"

"Tracy and I had just left the bar when we saw a couple of men standing over by the Jeep. They were laughing and to tell you the truth, they looked a little out of place. We figured they might be up to something."

"How many were there?"

"Two," she answered without hesitation.

"Did you get a good look at them?" She shook her head. "Not good enough, I'm afraid. Without the lights, it's pretty dark out here. They took off running toward the alley when we yelled at them."

"They were wearing suits," Tracy volunteered.

Castrucci's men, he thought as he took a card out of his pocket and handed it to Molly. "If you think of anything else, please call me." He nodded toward the detective. "I'd appreciate it if you would give Detective Sloan your names and a number where we can reach you."

He thanked the women and turned to go back to his car. He had no doubt that Castrucci was behind this. He had sent his. .h.i.t man to take care of Rheyna. He opened the car door and heard his cell ringing. He looked at the caller ID and saw that it was Laura.

"It's not good, Laura," he said into the phone. "Castrucci got to her, and she's in real bad shape. I'll meet you over at San Francisco General-and make sure you call Caroline."

He hung up the phone and pulled the sedan away from the curb. It took him less than five minutes to get to the hospital. He parked his car in the emergency room parking lot and shut off the engine, leaning his head against the steering wheel as he tried to pull himself together.

Everything had happened so fast, and he had so many unanswered questions. He knew the doctors were inside doing everything they could to save Rheyna, but she was in such bad shape.

His thoughts turned to Caroline and the conversation he had with Laura earlier in the day regarding Rheyna. Since Laura was Rheyna's case agent, it was her job to keep him updated on everything concerning Rheyna and the Pandora's Box Operation. He knew Rheyna had fallen in love with Caroline and he was okay with it, as long as it didn't jeopardize the operation. His gut was telling him otherwise, that more likely than not, their love for each other had been the real catalyst for this attack.

He no longer had doubt about an internal leak. He knew the leak was responsible for this. The realization troubled him deeply. He thought about Artie. Was it possible that he had been s...o...b..lled by Artie's persistent pleas of innocence? Although they had proof that Artie had taken the money from the evidence room and proof that the meeting with Mancini was indeed an accident, was it possible that Artie had planned all of it in order to hide his true deception?

Could Artie have leaked Rheyna's ident.i.ty before they arrested him? And what about the money-where was all the money that Artie would have received over the years? If he had that much money, why would he be in such dire straits? They knew he was in debt as bad as he claimed. Ron had verified everything. These were questions he just didn't have the answer to. He looked out the window toward the hospital. The leak he thought was contained was the very reason that his agent was in the hospital, fighting for her life.

He wracked his brain, thinking about the countless doc.u.ments that Ron, the Deputy Director, and he had reviewed. They had spent hours searching for the one common link between all of the deaths, coming up empty every time. The closest they had come was tying Artie to two of the deaths.

He knew it was in front of his face, but he couldn't see it or maybe you don't want to see it, a little voice inside his head said as he opened the car door. He needed to make some phone calls. He needed to call Rheyna's parents. It was only a matter of time before the local and then national news stations learned Rheyna was an undercover FBI agent.

He was sure Laura had phoned Caroline by now. It was bad enough she would learn the truth, but they couldn't let her find out through a newscast. Rheyna wouldn't want that, and it was the least he could do after everything she had risked for this operation.

He took a deep breath and forced himself to go inside the building. He stopped at the nurse's station and showed the nurse behind the desk his badge. "A young woman was brought in earlier from over on Lexington. Can you tell me what room she's in?" he asked.

She picked up the clipboard in front of her and scanned the pages. "She's in surgery right now and then she'll be moved to the ICU. We have her in room twenty-three, twenty-two," she said, writing the room number on a card. She handed it to him and then pointed to a row of elevators at the end of the hall. "Take the one on the right up to the second floor and turn left."

"Thank you," he said, and turned to walk away. He stopped and looked back at her. "Can you tell me where her surgeon's office is located?"

She glanced at the page. "His office is just to the left of the nurse's station on the same floor."

"Thank you," he said as he headed toward the elevator. He rode the elevator up to the second floor and found the doctor's office. He let himself in and took a seat just inside the door, where he sat for a good forty-five minutes, lost in his thoughts. He looked up when the door opened. "How's my agent doing?" he asked after the doctor took a seat behind his desk.

"I have to be honest with you. Right now, it doesn't look good. We were fortunate to get the bleeding stopped, but her injuries are more extensive than just a knife wound. She took a severe beating to the head, which caused intracranial pressure on her brain. In addition to that, she has a broken jaw and an orbital fracture to the right eye socket. We currently have her in a medically induced coma to try and relieve the pressure."

Edwards looked at the doctor with a stunned expression. "Okay, doc. In laymen's terms, what does all that mean, exactly?"

"It means that she's in very serious condition and if she does survive, there's a significant chance she'll have brain damage."

"Is she going to die?" Edwards reluctantly asked the question he was thinking.

"Unfortunately, that's a real possibility," he said, coming from around the desk to take a seat next to Edwards.

"This can't be happening. This just can't be happening," Edwards said, shaking his head. He looked at the doctor. "Okay, what's next?"

"For now, we can only wait and see, and hope that your agent is one h.e.l.luva a fighter."

Laura quietly closed the door to Rheyna's room and stepped out into the hallway. She wiped the tears from her eyes. This is all my fault, she thought as she sat down on one of the chairs a few doors down from Rheyna's room. If she hadn't let her cell die, if she had replaced the battery, none of this would have happened. She looked at the two FBI agents posted outside Rheyna's room and leaned forward, burying her face in her hands. She thought about Caroline.

Calling the Castrucci house was one of the hardest things she ever had to do. She had spoken with Caroline's mother and told her that Rheyna had been in an accident and was badly injured. Caroline's mother was very upset and that was to be expected. She had thanked Laura for calling and said she would bring Caroline to the hospital as soon as possible.

It was only a matter of time before they arrived. She shook her head, not having the foggiest idea of what to say to them. She couldn't very well tell them that her b.a.s.t.a.r.d of a husband and father had done this to Rheyna.

She heard footsteps and raised her head. Edwards knelt down in front of her and rested his hands on her knees. "Did you call Caroline?" he asked.

She nodded. "I spoke with her mother. They're on the way." She took a deep breath and stood up.

Edwards took her hand in his, and they walked back to Rheyna's room.

Stevens was standing near the bed, staring blankly out the window. Edwards' heart caught in his throat when he saw Rheyna. He sat down on the chair next to her bed and picked up her hand, holding it gently between his. Her face was so severely beaten that if he didn't know it was Rheyna, he wouldn't have recognized her. She had numerous tubes coming from her body, and he wondered how on earth she had survived to this point.

He knew if it had been any other agent, by now, they would be dead. He also knew that if anyone could make it through this, it was Rheyna. He looked at the bandage surrounding her head. He could see where several strands of her hair, soaked with blood, hung thickly on her shoulders. At the head of her bed, an artificial ventilating machine had been set up, its tubes connected to Rheyna's mouth. It beeped loudly, pulsing, and then hissing each time the ventilator breathed for her. He glanced up at the heart monitor-its beeping sound gave him an eerie feeling.

"This is my fault," Laura said as she blew her nose in a tissue.

He got up and walked over to her, placing his hands on her shoulders. "No, it's not. You didn't do this to her." He tilted her chin and forced her to look at him. "You can't blame yourself for this. Rheyna wouldn't want that."

She shook her head, unable to contain the tears streaming down her face. "Her nurse ... her nurse was in earlier," she struggled to get the words out. "They think the b.a.s.t.a.r.d raped her."

Before Edwards could reply, the door opened and a nurse walked in. She checked the lines running from the IV bottles hanging at the end of the bed.

Without warning, the alarm on the heart monitor went off, and Rheyna's body lifted off the bed, jerking with convulsions. The nurse pressed a b.u.t.ton on the wall as the monitor flat-lined.

"You three need to leave now!" she yelled.

They left the room as a speaker above Rheyna's bed began repeating, "Code blue room two-three, two-two, code blue room two-three, two-two."

They stood helpless in the hall and watched as a flurry of hospital staff ran into the room, followed by an orderly pus.h.i.+ng a crash cart. Rheyna's surgeon came running down the hall and went into the room. Edwards saw the doctor place a set of paddles on Rheyna's chest. He heard the doctor say, "Clear," just before a nurse pulled the door shut.

At the end of the hall, the elevator buzzer dinged, and the door opened. They all turned to see Caroline, followed by Terasa, and Vincent, step into the hallway. Caroline saw Laura and ran toward her. It took everything she and Edwards had to prevent Caroline from going into Rheyna's room. They held onto her as the flurry of movement in and out of Rheyna's room continued.

After several minutes, the door opened and one by one, the room emptied. The doctor that Edwards had been talking with earlier came out. He removed the surgical cap from his head. His face was solemn. He looked at them and shook his head. "I'm sorry, we did everything we could," he said softly.

Caroline's legs gave out and she sank to the floor. "Oh G.o.d, no, please no ... please, please, dear G.o.d, no!" she cried out.

With tears streaming down her face, Terasa knelt down beside Caroline and pulled her in her arms. She held her tightly as gut-wrenching sobs wracked Caroline's body.

Chapter 22.

The sky was overcast and grey as Rheyna's parents and the last mourners got into their cars and pulled away. The brown casket lay beneath a large tent at San Francisco National Cemetery.

Laura, Stevens, Ron, and Edwards stood at the edge of the drive and watched as a black limousine came to a stop several feet away.

Vincent got out and came around to hold the door open while Terasa and Caroline got out of the backseat. Vincent held an umbrella over Caroline's head and walked with her to the tent. Caroline laid a single yellow rose at the head of Rheyna's casket.

Caroline had been in a fuzzy haze since the night at the hospital, and although she knew the truth, a part of her was in denial. She kept replaying everything in her mind over and over again. How could this have happened? How could this have happened so fast? This can't possibly be real. They were together only a few days ago. Their weekend together had been the happiest moments of her life. She had let herself dream about a future together, a future she wanted to spend only with Rheyna.