Page 32 of Dark Medicine

His own wife lived in their sprawling thirty-acre ranch outside of El Paso with their daughter, a junior in high school.

Fucking hell! His wife and daughter would die. The events of yesterday threw Bellum’s common sense to the wind. He left his hotel in Dublin and moved to another in Shannon, praying that no one would find him. He used cash to pay for the room and a fake passport, claiming he was an Australian citizen.

He stared at the phone, rocking back and forth on the bed. He’d faced terrorists, murderers, rapists, and bombers. Hell, he’d even faced a pit of snakes in Zaire, but he’d never been as terrified as he was right at this moment. The phone buzzed, and he jumped, chastising himself for his own fear.

You’re a trained fucking mercenary, a soldier of fortune, a killer of the fiercest kind. Don’t be such a fucking…

“Hello,” he said calmly.

“You failed,” said the velvety voice on the other end of the phone.

“I didn’t fail,” he said casually. “Zurvel failed, and I had to regroup on my own. I’ll be attacking them differently next time. The men are well trained, and we underestimated their abilities.”

“Yes, we know,” she said smoothly. “I believe you’ll find the pictures I’m sending you incentive enough to get the job done quickly. If not, well, Texas is a lovely place to die.”

The phone went dead, and his fingers struggled to hit the right keys, bringing up the photos. The faces of Zurvel’s’ wife and sons filled the screen. Their bodies hanging on large meat hooks in what appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. Their hands were tied behind their backs, their mouths gagged, their naked bodies mutilated, their genitals removed and lying in a collective pool on the concrete floor.

Bellum closed the phone and gagged, racing to the bathroom to heave. His wife, his daughter. He crushed the phone with the heel of his boot and grabbed the phone beside the bed, frantically dialing.

“Hi, Dad!” said the cheerful voice of his daughter at the other end of the line. For a brief moment, his world was right, the sun was shining, and fear left his body. As quickly as it arrived, it was gone.

“Hi, baby,” he said in a shaky voice. “Is Mom home?”

“Daddy, what’s wrong? You sound different,” she said tentatively.

“I’m okay, honey. Did you have a good day at school?” he asked.

“I did. I got an A on my chemistry paper, and I have a swim meet tomorrow. Will you be back by then?” she asked, hopeful.

“I don’t know, baby, but I’ll try.”

“Okay, Dad,” she said in a disappointed voice, “here’s Mom.”

“I love you, baby girl.”

“I love you too, Daddy,” she said with a sudden cheeriness.

“Hi, honey. How’s China?”

China. He forgot that he told his wife that he would be in China–not fucking, freezing cold Ireland. He always had to skirt the truth with his family, and today was the first time he realized how much he hated it.

“It’s China. Listen, Melanie. I need you to pack a bag and head to our place, the one we talked about.”

“Wh-why? You’re scaring me, Uri.”

“I know, baby, I know. But I need you to do this. Don’t tell anyone. Don’t call anyone. I just need you to go to our special place right now, okay?”

“O-okay. I won’t question you,” she said. Melanie let out a long breath.

She agreed when she married Uri that she would never question him when he asked her to do things that she didn’t understand. She knew his work was dangerous, and in turn, it created danger for her and their daughter. She signed up for that when they married.

“I love you, Melanie. I promise I’ll join you soon.” He hung up the phone and collapsed on the bed, emotions overtaking him. Uri hadn’t cried since the birth of his daughter, but on this day, he sobbed, knowing that the life of his daughter and wife were hanging in the balance.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The car was silent on the long drive back to Wicklow. Fiona’s body was exhausted, more so than usual from the healing. She looked up to see where they were and noticed they were only a few miles from the exit for her apartment.

“Kane, exit up ahead, please. My apartment is a few miles from here.” Adam’s arm tightened around her shoulders, and he stiffened next to her, the tenseness filling her body as well.

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