Page 19 of Dark Medicine

“Where is Fiona?” asked Adam.

“Spook is with her and Aislinn downstairs,” said Flip. Adam walked down the corridor, his two friends following. When they arrived in the breakfast room, Fiona and Aislinn were the only two people seated.

“Where is Spook?”

“He said he had something he needed to do,” said Aislinn. “He stepped outside.” Adam looked out into the parking lot and saw Spook just standing on the gravel path. Kane watched his friend but didn’t move.

Taking the seat next to Aislinn, Kane filled his plate with food and ate ravenously. Adam did the same as the women watched them fill their bellies.

Flip grabbed two plates and filled them, sitting beside Adam and shoveling the food in at an alarming rate.

“You boys hungry?” joked Aislinn.

“Adrenalin,” said Flip. “It always makes us hungry.” Spook walked in, filled his plate, and started eating before he even sat down.

“I think they’re about ten miles west. Someone named Roman took a call from an electronically altered voice. They were angry. The owner called the police two minutes ago. They’re on their way.”

“That’s… that’s amazing,” said Fiona quietly. Spook shrugged.

“It’s overwhelming,” he said, “I hear all the conversations, all the calls, all the numbers. It’s like watching the trail of the stock market pages before your very eyes, only its hundreds of thousands of tick marks. All the bandwidths, all the numbers, all the bleeps on the radar. I see it all. I hear every call of a terrified woman, every call to a grieving parent confirming the death of their children, I see every e-mail to a tormented spouse that confirms their suspicions. I see it all.”

“Shit, Spook. I didn’t know,” said Adam.

“I haven’t talked about it, and that’s not fair to all of you when you’ve been so open with me. I needed to talk about this for a long time. I honestly thought for a while I would go mad. I disappeared to Montana for a while, thinking I could escape it.”

“Did you? Escape it?” asked Fiona. Spook looked up and smiled at the pretty redhead.

“No,” he said, swallowing his food. “I just heard different things. Airplane communications, trains, anything, and everything. If there is a cell phone tower, I hear it all unless I tune it out. Even without a tower, I hear it all.”

“Are you able to do that?” asked Adam. His concern for his friend’s mental health was genuine. He could only imagine what hearing all that noise in your head would do to a man.

“I’ve learned over the years to isolate. I can’t always turn it off, but I can focus in on one sound or piece of information. Like a call to a loved one or an important text,” he said, looking at Flip. Flip nodded at Spook, knowing that he was referring to the text thread that had saved his life.

“Alright, let’s wait for the police to file a report, and then we’re going to find our little gypsy friends,” said Kane.

“The manager said they were armed,” said Fiona. “I overheard.”

“It’s okay, Fiona,” said Flip. “We don’t have weapons, but sometimes you don’t need guns to handle men like this.”

“What should we do?” asked Aislinn.

“I’ve called Angela and Caroline,” said Kane. “They’re going to take you two shopping for the wedding and keep an eye on you.”

“For the wedding? Two little old women are going to watch us?” said Fiona. “I don’t…”

“Don’t be silly, Fiona,” said Aislinn, “who else would stand up with me?”

She smiled at the other woman, and Fiona smiled back, gripping Adam’s fingers beneath the table. These people had embraced her as if she were their family. The problem was, what would she do when they went home and she had nothing left?

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Kane took the lead on the trail through Wicklow Park. Flip took the rear. Spook was honing in on the cell signal he isolated earlier. In his brain, he could see the pinging of the cell from a tower close by. With that data in his brain, he literally could then follow the signal and locate anyone who was lost or who didn’t want to be found. He was like a human tracking device. Lucky him, he thought sarcastically.

“I think they’re about a mile that way,” said Spook, pointing to a fork in the trail.

“You think?” said Flip with a grin.

“Okay, asshole, I know. Satisfied?”

---