Katie swam up from the anaesthetic very slowly. Her tummy hurt like hell, but it was a much better sort of hurt than she’d had before. It was still dark and she was alone. Through the curtain around her bed, she could hear the nurse, Wei, if she remembered right, making a phone call.

“Malcolm, it’s me. Another one came in tonight… Yes, she’s on the ward right now… No. She’ll be gone by then, and you’ll never find her: these guys are good… No… Crap, someone’s coming.”

Her curtain twitched and Charlotte’s face appeared. She looked like hell, but Katie smiled to see her. “Hey.”
“Hey yourself. Looks like you’re alive.”
“So far. How did it go?”
“Well, they got it all out before it went crazy. DiMauro says he did his best, but it spiked your uterus a few times, he can’t promise better than 50/50 on kids. You’ll be fine, though.”
“That’s one thing.”
“Yeah. We need to get you out and safe in a couple of hours. Sleep now, though.”
Katie nodded and drifted off again.