Reap by James Frey Read Free Book Online

take it. I didn’t want to shoot so close to the other people in the hostel. I thought I was being kind.”
    â€œWhat hospital is Kat in?”
    â€œI don’t know the name of it,” she said. “Walter found it on the map. He said it was just a mile north. John took her there in a cab.”
    â€œIs John still with her?”
    â€œNo,” she said, and crossed the room to pick up the walkie-talkie. “They’re trying to kill the others. Walter and John are. I was supposed to wait here and alert them if anyone came back.”
    â€œWhere did they go?”
    â€œJohn is after the Olmec, and seeing if he can find out what happened to Barbara and Douglas. Walter is going for the Shang. I was supposed to tell the next group back to go to the Nabataean.”
    â€œCall them and tell them I’m going for Kat. I’ll call you when I know more.” I picked up someone’s backpack and dumped out its contents onto the floor, and then I put one of the spare walkie-talkies inside.
    â€œOkay.”

CHAPTER FIVE
    â€œMike!” Kat said, sitting up on her hospital bed. “I thought . . . We thought you’d been caught.”
    â€œI was,” I said. “Eugene ratted on us. There was somebody waiting for me. He knew everything.”
    â€œIf he knew everything, why did he let you go?”
    â€œHe didn’t. I escaped.” I sat down on the stool next to her bed. “How are you?”
    Her arm was splinted and wrapped in an Ace bandage.
    â€œThey say I’ll need surgery. I still can’t move my fingers very well, but I was afraid all the tendons were cut. They’re not. Well, not all of them. And either way, I’m not supposed to try to move them. That’s the reason for the splint.”
    â€œWhere are the others? Mary told me that John had been here with you.”
    â€œHe brought me in, but we have to get to all the Players. We might have missed some already. What time is it?”
    I checked my watch. “A little before ten.”
    She shook her head. “We still have so many Players to stop. We can’t be sitting around here.”
    â€œYou need to heal.”
    â€œI’m done here,” she said. “I’ve already been stitched up, and now all I’m waiting for is to be discharged.”
    â€œWhat did they say about my stitches?” I asked with a little laugh. “Do I have a second career as a nurse?”
    She rolled her eyes. “They weren’t happy. They didn’t know whatto make of it. They asked why I would have you do that instead of coming to the hospital.”
    â€œWere they suspicious?”
    â€œNo,” she said with a little shrug. “I think they just thought I was a stupid American. I pretended not to speak any German, or even understand much of their English, blaming it on their accents. And you know John—he can lie his way through anything. He made up something about being foreigners and not understanding the German health-care system. He took the blame on himself, and they believed every word.”
    â€œWhat did you tell them about how you got hurt?”
    â€œKitchen accident. He was holding a knife and turned quickly and didn’t know I was standing there. Again, they just thought we were dumb.”
    â€œWell, can you go?”
    â€œI want to, but I need the pain meds that they’re going to bring me when I get discharged. Then we can get back into the action. According to John, things aren’t going too well.”
    â€œThey’re not,” I said. “We’re being taken apart piece by piece. But we’ve got five, maybe six—John and Walter are out again. We’re still waiting for the others to report in, but I don’t have high hopes. Douglas and Barbara are out together, and they haven’t had as much training as the rest of us. John went out after them. They were the business managers and forgers. I don’t