Shayne:
Breathing heavily, Lois tried to ignore the pain in her side. If it hadn’t been for the heavy Kevlar vest, she’d be dead again.
Do you mean that the Kevlar vest had saved her yet again from death, or that she had died before and was back?
If the latter, it would be
really intriguing; if the former, it's still an interesting red herring.
In either case, this story really reaches out and grabs me! Can't wait for the next (hopefully longer) installment!
-- Snave