Page 38 of Dark Medicine

“He’s not a colonel anymore. The Army asked him politely to leave the service. Moore is sick, terminal. That’s why he wants Fiona. He believes she can heal him. Personally, I believe he’s too far gone. Stage four lung and liver cancer. He’s been given just weeks to live. Top that off with someone trying to kill him, and he’s not long for this world.”

“Why not just wait it out? If he’s going to die anyway, why not wait for him to die and be free?” asked Kane.

“He has a second in command. A woman who is his nurse, more or less,” he said, grimacing. “I strongly suspect she has some type of training, but I’m not sure what. She is able to manipulate him unlike anyone I’ve ever seen.”

“And pray tell, what is this woman’s name?”

“No one seems to know her real name. Moore calls her ‘K,’ but we’re not sure if that’s the letter K or the name Kay. Anyway, she’s the one we’re concerned with at this point in time. She manipulates his thoughts and convinces him to do things that are completely unadvisable, and more than that, she’s brutal, unrelentingly, unapologetically brutal.”

“Could she be the one trying to kill him?” asked Flip.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “She’s had ample opportunity to do so and hasn’t yet. I think it’s more than that. Moore has money, a lot of money. He’s been stealing from the military for years, and no one knew it. The wealth he’s compounded is beyond comprehension.

“I defected from Russia as a teenager. Moore took me in and treated me like a son. I joined the Army because of him. He bought me a house, paid for my education, and I never once knew where he got the money. What I didn’t know was that he was creating his own little army using Uncle Sam’s funds.”

“So why are you here, other than to save your wife and daughter? I mean, that’s a noble cause and all, but why now?” asked Spook.

“My family is safe for now, but I don’t know how long that will last. I can’t stop Moore alone. The men on his board are all former military. Sgt. Tom Cullen, Major William Groome, Captain Dan Henry, and Captain Norris Fredericks. Sgt. Zurvel is the one you threw over the cliff.” He looked at Flip, no expression of sorrow or regret.

“He was trying to hurt my friend.”

Adam and Kane looked at one another. They both knew the names associated with Moore but didn’t let on. Bellum was being truthful, and that, at least, was a point in his favor.

“I know. I’m sorry about that. Really, I am. It’s a good thing Zurvel didn’t live to see what Moore did to his wife and sons.” Uri let those words absorb with the men and women in the room. “Moore is very powerful and controls all of us. The only way to stop him is to kill him, and I need your help to do that. There are more of you out there, many more. You may not see your abilities as gifts, but believe me, they are. We are certain that the DNA mutations almost call out to one another, which is why you’ve all connected. Together, you could form an unbeatable army or an unstoppable force against evil.”

Those words floated above their heads in the tiny space of the restaurant. An unbeatable army. That’s what Moore wanted. An unstoppable force against evil? That’s what he would get.

“Christ! He really was trying to become the God of War,” said Kane.

“Yes. Yes, he is. That’s why he has to be stopped.”

“If he has this army protecting him, who’s to say he won’t just kill us all the minute he gets a glimpse of us?” asked Spook.

“His army doesn’t want to protect him. They have to. He’s holding something over every person’s head. Family, debt, friends, careers, you name it. They do not want to be there. He wants you, needs you. If she can cure him, then he has another twenty or thirty years of living to do.”

“And what does he want to do with those years?” asked Aislinn.

“He wants an unstoppable army to defeat the undefeatable. He wants to send all of you in to wipe out the enemies that the government can’t or won’t. He wants ISIS gone. He wants the Taliban gone, guerrillas in South America, drug lords. You get it.”

“Yea,” said Fiona, breathing in deeply, “we get it. But still, even if I walked into his fortress, what’s to stop him from killing me when I’m done healing him if I can?”

“Easy, my dear, you’re his daughter.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

“What the fuck did you just say?” said Adam, standing, clenching his fists at his sides.

“She’s his daughter, and her brother was his son. It’s what got your brother killed. He was going to tell you and hide you. You already know that you were adopted, right?” Fiona nodded her head.

“Moore was dating your mother early in his career. Although dating is probably too kind a word. He fathered your brother and promised to return to Ireland and marry her. When he came back eight years later, he fathered you and then left again, telling her he would never marry her. That’s how your brother knew who he was.”

“Jesus,” whispered Fiona.

“She tried, Fiona. Your mother loved him and honestly thought he would do what was right by her. She wanted desperately to keep you and your brother, but she was a simple shop girl. She just couldn’t afford to feed three mouths, and Moore refused to send any money. When she said she would go to the American military authorities, he threatened to kill her and both you and your brother.”

“Is… is she still alive? I was told she died giving birth to me,” she asked.

“No, I’m sorry. When Moore found out she gave you two up for adoption, he had her removed from the equation. She would have been able to verify who he was and that he was the father, and he couldn’t have that. He monitored you and your brother. When your adopted father was offered the position at the Depot, that was no coincidence.”

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