The Twelve Tables Ch. 12

"She has a fractured cheekbone, defensive fractures to her right forearm and a dislocated right shoulder. There is minimal damage to her legs and torso, a couple of bruised ribs and some bruising around her throat. The main concern is the contusion to the left side of her head and the swelling around her brain," he continued. "We won't know until she wakes what, if any, permanent damage was sustained.

"She has spoken, though," Joseph said carefully guarding his emotions and words.

"She called for Joshua, it was a brief moment, but it gives us hope," Nero acknowledged.

"News on Veronica?" Joseph turned his attention to Marco and Francesco, who had also arrived for the bedside meeting at the hospital.

"We believe she has laid a false trail for us using Peri's credit cards and is heading back home," Marco answered.

"Josh. Lio and D. took off an hour ago. They should be there soon," Ben's disembodied voice came through the phone Joseph was holding sounding authoritative. "We'll handle things at this end and Ang has the farm. If she tries to come home, we'll find her."

"Make sure you do," Joseph said gruffly and ended the call.

*****

"If Nik's escaped why are we headed to the facility," Josh asked Lio. "Surely she is a million miles away by now."

"They want you to talk to the people that knew her, in case she left some clue. You knew her best," Lio gave the half-truth he and Dante had agreed on until they knew more about Peri's injuries. The last thing they needed was a two-hour plane trip with Josh going out of his mind and raging at them all including the pilot.

The pilot's voice came over the speaker alerting them to a turbulent descent as the weather had turned nasty. The three men sat and buckled up as the plane began a shuddering decent into a late afternoon storm.

"Fuck," Josh swore loudly, "Why didn't they divert us?"

"Because we have to get there as fast as possible," Dante said through gritted teeth.

"She's long gone a few hours to the next runway wouldn't matter," Josh gripped the armrests. They seemed to be through the worse of it, and the plane made its final descent toward the runway. "Why the big rush, what the fuck is going on?" he demanded. "You pick me up give me no time to grab even an overnight bag and drag me onto this fucking death trap of a plane. Someone better start telling me what the fuck is going on right now."

"Nik tried to kill Peri before she left," Dante said seriously, "It's bad Josh she in the hospital and they are doing everything they can, but it's bad."

Stunned to silence Josh stared unbelievingly at his brothers as the plane touched down. "You waited until now to tell me! What did you think I was going to do fly down here with the wings that are sprouting from my back? How bad is it?"

"They didn't know when we got the call. They were still doing tests, it didn't look good," he admitted. "Nik took her wallet and phone we assume to pose as her when she made her escape."

Josh picked up his phone called Peri's number. Shocked to his core, he listened to the message before throwing his phone in a fit of rage. "Call it," he challenged his brothers. "Call Peri's number and listen to that psycho bitch."

Lio called his eyes widening as he listened to the voice of Nik, "So sorry you can't call the dead. Joshua if this is you, your welcome. You'll realise I did you a favour eventually." Thi message was punctuated by a peal of laughter and the beep to leave a message.

"Some warning about that might have been nice," he mumbled to Dante, who immediately made the call and raged with Joshua letting out every expletive he had in his reserves of knowledge, some of which he made up for effect. The short drive to the hospital was made in silence as the brothers equally fumed and brooded over the events leading to their trip here. Josh had gotten out of the car at a trot before it had even come to a complete halt and stormed into the hospital.

"Somebody better have some fucking answers for me," he yelled as the three muscled bodies of Marco, Nero and Francesco stood in his path.

"We do," Marco, the biggest of the men, said gently. "But there are many patients here, and you need to calm down before we take you to Peri."

"That is his version of calm given the circumstances, and trust me you do not want to see him angry," Dante said seriously.

"Perhaps you could just point the way to her room and her doctors," Lio said trying to calm the situation further.

"I'm her doctor here if you would follow me, gentlemen," Nero stepped forward to lead them to her room. "She's been comatose since we found her, she had one moment where she spoke the name, Josh, but nothing else before or since."

Josh was not prepared for the sight of her swollen and bruised face or the many bandages that seemed to swathe her head and upper limbs. It was no wonder Nik thought Peri was dead; she looked like she was very close to it.

Sitting on the edge of her bed he held her hand and spoke to her softly. "Peri, wake up. I'm here now. Please, wake up." His voice cracked with emotion as be begged her to open her eyes.

"Josh!" her mind screamed in an effort to let him know she was trapped. "Help me!" she cried in her head and tried with all her might to grip the fingers that held hers. "I can do this, I can do anything she told herself, "Josh!" she tried to scream again, "Josh, help me!" the darkness thickened and threatened to overwhelm her again, but she hung onto the feeling of her hand in hers desperately. "Help me," she mumbled weakly.

"I'm here, come back to me. Please, open your eyes," Josh's voice sounded distant and sad, and Peri couldn't work out why. The more she fought to find him and free herself of the blackness that surrounded her the more it hurt, and she struggled to hold onto his hand.

"Don't let go!" she cried out in her mind, "It hurts, its hurts everywhere." To the people around her bed, she made nothing more than a long drawn out groan.

"You promised me always, and forever, you have to come back, to me," he leaned over talking close to her ear. "Your mine."

"Mine" She mumbled hearing her own voice in her ears as a sibilant whisper. "Mine." She forced herself up higher embracing the pain she felt knowing Josh waited for her there in the light. "Mine," she hissed again.

"I'm here," Josh gripped her hand hearing the whispered words and wanting nothing more than to pick her up into his arms but not wanting to do any further damage.

"It hurts," she whispered as she struggled up from the depths of deepest sleep.

"I need to examine her quickly, and then we will give her something more for the pain," Nero said approaching the opposite side of the bed to where Josh sat.

"I'm not going anywhere," Josh said. "Feel my hand I am still here," he leaned back but steadfastly refused to move from where he sat cradling her hand.

"Mine," Peri mumbled. She felt the gentle hands and saw the blinding light making her flutter her eyes lids and snap then shut again as she moaned softly. "Hurts, so tired, Josh, I'm sorry, I can't, I tried but I can't," she slipped back down into darkness, and the light grip she had placed on his fingers was gone.

"No! Come back. You have to live," Josh whispered desperately willing her to hold his hand again.

"She's asleep," Nero said gently holding her wrist and feeling her pulse. "She will wake up again, let her rest for now so her body can heal itself faster." He seemed to consider Josh. "She loves you deeply, and she will need your love and strength to recover."

"Do you think me a moron who doesn't know that?" Josh snapped. "D. get these idiots away from me and see if you can find Papa. I need some fucking answers."

"Josh why don't we let the doctors do their job, she'll be asleep for a while now. The extra pain meds will have knocked her out for a couple of hours at least. You don't want her to wake up and hear you cursing everyone who is trying to help her," Lio tried to soothe his brother.

"She may have only been here for a short time, but we have grown to love her too," Marco said his voice full of regret.

"A fat lot of good that did her," Josh spat. "If this is how you look after the people you love I pity them."

"Fuck you," Francesco growled. "Your sister murdered a member of our family and almost killed the woman you love to make good her escape. Tell me how does one have a psychopath in their family and merely send her to rehab for a drug dependency rather than the help she truly needs. If we'd been told the facts this wouldn't have happened so, get off your high fucking horse and lay the blame where it fucking belongs."

"That's enough!" The Commander roared from the doorway as Josh came to his feet. "Nero you will stay with him," he pointed at Dante. "The rest of you will come with me."

"You need to give Josh some leeway," Dante said once the room was cleared. "The psychopath is his twin, and she left a rather nasty message for him on Peri's phone. Check it out," he tossed his phone to Nero and watched as the man listened to the recording with a sickened face. "So you see he's hurting from all sides right now. Not to mention that he trusted his father's word that no harm would come to her here."

"Yeah I can see that but without the emotions, you have attached to the voice on the message I also heard the landing call of the pilot. Location, time and temperature," he smiled knowingly. "You go and tell them. I'll stay. I don't want to leave her alone," Nero said.

"You go, my emotions tend to get in the way, in those group situations," he gave a sad half-hearted chuckle and sat on the bed to hold Peri's hand. "Seems it's a family trait." Nero nodded and turned to walk away, but Dante spoke again. "For what it's worth I am sorry about the man who died, we weren't told," he said sincerely.

"He compromised himself, the fault is no one's but the killer," Nero said pain lacing his voice, "I'll be back in a moment they have only gone down the hallway."

*****

Nik hurried through the airport to the cab rank. She was nervous to be back on home ground and looked around furtively as she stepped into a cab for the ride into the city. She checked her watch, it was getting late, and she worried about making it to the bank with enough time to do what she needed. She pushed the large sunglasses up onto her head. In these cheap clothes and with the change of hair colour and style it was doubtful she would be recognised, but she didn't like to take too many chances until she knew she was safely away from all those who would lock her up in that facility again.

She rummaged in her bag for her phone resisting the temptation to turn Peri's back on and see if anyone had tried to call her since she had left the new message. Instead, she checked flights to Bali leaving that evening using her phone. It would be better if she didn't have to spend the night in the city but with her plan in place, no one should be able to find her. She just had to get it in place and she sighed loudly as the driver stopped at yet another red light.

"I did say I was in a hurry didn't I?" She said waspishly.

"Yes, Ma'am but there is nothing I can do about the traffic at this time of day. It is good that it is not peak hour, no?" he replied in a heavily accented voice.

"I don't care about the traffic I care about my appointment which you are making me late for. Just go through the fucking light already. Could you be any slower?" She almost yelled at him. She knew she should have hired a car, but she didn't want to waste time at the airport or have the hassle of parking. "For fucks sack drive dammit," she yelled as soon as the light turned green.

She growled and cursed at the driver for the remainder of the journey and threw more than enough cash at him before the cab had even come to a complete stop. Pulling her sunglasses back into place she stepped out of the cab and hurried into the bank seeking out the concierge, the main reason she had chosen this bank was because it had a concierge and she knew him through a friend of a friend. It helped that he had nothing at all to do with her family either.

"Sebastian darling," she said sweetly pulling off the glasses so he could recognise her with the new blonde hair style.

"Nik sweetie, where have you been, I haven't seen you since last year?" He asked smiling in a friendly but professional way keeping her at arms-length where he might have otherwise embraced her.

"Oh, I have been busy you know how it is. Do be a dear and help me get my locked box won't you?" She wheedled hoping not to have to meet with the manager.

"Come right this way and I will let the manager know you are here while you sign in," he led her to the stairs leading up to the first floor. She cursed under her breath and followed him up the stairs. She took a seat after signing into the private vault and waited for Sebastian to return with the Manager.

"It's lovely to see you again Miss Maris," the balding gentleman who was the branch manager approached her.

"Thank you," Nik stood and graciously held out her hand toward him.

"You're wanting to access your locked box I hear?" He continued to talk as they walked into the private vault with him keying in the pin code on a pad hidden from the view of anyone looking on. The glass door slid open, and they walked inside together as she spoke. She told him a carefully concocted story of a deadbeat boyfriend who had left in the middle of the night and taken everything, draining her bank accounts and even stealing her credit cards from her wallet. She was destitute and desperate which is why she need the contents of her box before her family found out she had let herself be robbed blind by the man they disapproved of.

The manager clicked his tongue in disapproval and commiserated as they entered the room and he went to a wall of small locked doors opening one and pulling forth a long slender steel box. He went to walk away but was stopped by a sudden anguished cry.

"Oh no, I forgot I needed the key. It was in my jewellery box, and the bastard took that as well," she began to cry. She wasn't pretending to cry she was so angry that the tears came naturally when she saw the flaw in her plan. She didn't have the fucking key. How could she have been so stupid? She turned her tears on the manager. "Do you have a master key or something? Could we call a locksmith? What if he realises and comes to get this as well?"

"No one but you can access your box, Miss Maris. I'm afraid I don't have a master key. All Master keys are kept at the head office, in Sydney, we could fill in the paperwork for unusual circumstances and asked to have it couriered to us tomorrow," he suggested.

"Tomorrow? You expect me to wait until fucking tomorrow?" Nik stood her rage building rapidly as she turned a fiery gaze on the manager. "Listen here you little man, do you know who I am," she stalked toward him holding the large steel box threateningly. "I can bring a whole world of pain to you and your pitiful little bank. You better fucking open this box for me in the next five minutes or I will show you just who you are dealing with." She threatened.

"There is nothing I can do," he spread his hands. "Now if you would like to fill in the paperwork with me I am sure we can have it opened by tomorrow."

"You will open this box now!" she screeched at him and threw it, hitting him I the chest with the heavy steel making him fall backwards. The box tumbled to the floor the lid opening slightly to spill some of the contents on the floor.

"Holy fuck! I didn't lock it," she laughed remembering that she hadn't locked it in case she had to use it in an emergency. Ignoring the manager who lay sprawled on the floor gripping his chest and gasping she gathered up the spilled contents and the box from the floor and took it to the table. She quickly looked over everything and threw it into her bag. The bank manager had managed to sit up and had begun to get to his feet watching her warily.

"I'm so sorry about that, I was distraught, I'm sure you understand," she smiled sweetly. "Thank you for all your help today, but I won't be needing your services any longer." She held out her hand to him. "It's been a pleasure doing business with you." He took it weakly saying nothing and watching her leave the vault and head down the stairs.

Nik walked out of the bank into the busy city street noting several city-beat policemen running toward the bank. "I got out of there just in time," she thought to herself. A hold up would mean camera's and media coverage and that's the last thing she needed. She laughed it was just her luck that the bank would get held up on the day she visited it, luckily she hadn't been delayed long by that moron manager.

Feeling that luck was definitely on her side she decided to take a risk and visit her favourite boutique, and she stepped into a busy arcade. She'd been a good girl today, and she deserved a treat.

*****

Jules looked up from his desk as his assistant showed a uniformed police officer into his office. Romey followed them in choosing to make it easier for the policeman from the start by not making him ask the same questions twice, "How can we help you, officer?"

"Your sister is Veronica Maris?" He asked gruffly.

"Veronica Maris Donati though she has dropped the last name for some time now," Jules said easily, "Yes she is my sister."

"Would you have any idea where we might find her?" The gruff voice asked his expression unchanging.

"Might we ask why you would be looking for her? Being her lawyers and all, if she is in some trouble, we may be able to assist you," Jules continued his easy speech despite the gruffness of the officer and his counterpart looming in the doorway.

"We have evidence that she assaulted a bank manager earlier this afternoon," he replied sternly.

"She has had a busy day then. Officers in Canberra are seeking her for an assault that occurred early this morning," Jules replied thoughtfully appreciating the stunned look on the officer's face. "Perhaps I should discuss the details with your superior and we could narrow the search somewhat. You see we have quite a few people looking for her as well since she left rehab this morning under less than ideal circumstances. It would be our advice to our client and sister, to hand herself over to the authorities as soon as possible should she come to us but I do not think we are among those she would contact right now."

"Let me make a call. I take it you would be willing to come with us to the station if necessary?" He asked.

"Most certainly, the sooner we find her, the better for all concerned," Jules stated emphatically.

Romy remained silent. He was reeling from the call less than half an hour ago from Ben. Murder, attempted murder and now assault, there was no helping Nik now and he wondered if any of them could have ever helped her. The family wouldn't intervene for her now, there would be no more chances, she could never return to the facility, she would have to face the full weight of the law and pay for her crimes.

*****

"I'm sorry," Peri croaked her throat dry and rasping. Her collar had saved her from being strangled but was still bruised. In truth, she remembered very little about the event. She had gone to the library to meet Nik, who had said she had urgent news about Josh. Believing he had been in an accident or something equally life threatening she had gone to meet his sister, the rest was a blank. "I should have..." she swallowed, and Josh stopped her talking with a soft finger on her lips.

"Stop apologising. You did nothing wrong. It wasn't the guards fault it wasn't your fault, It's no one's fault but Nik's. She did this when everyone was trying to help her," Josh said sadly repeating the words of his father. They all blamed themselves for Peri's condition and the death of the guard, but hindsight is the curse of those who didn't have foresight.