Chapter 4

The rain had stopped by the time I reached Brooklyn, but I remained soaked to the bone, my hospital gown clinging to my skin beneath the oversized coat I'd stolen from a backyard clothesline. My bare feet were raw, caked with mud and blood, each step sending shards of pain up my legs. But pain was an old friend now—familiar, almost comforting in its constancy.

I ducked into an alley between two brick buildings, my fingers trembling as I reached for the hidden pocket I'd sewn into the lining of the coat before they took me away. Two hundred and…