by Serena James
“As long as it takes. I will monitor the situation. She needs rest. Her internal injuries and the infection need time to heal without movement. I don’t want her any more stressed than she already has been by those men. I have never been stopped from helping a patient in my life and...”
Kane interrupted her quickly, an idea forming in his mind, “I want you to keep her heavily sedated for as long as you can. It’s for her own safety. It will stop those men hounding her for information. I want you to tell me first before you wake her up.”
“Okay. I like your thinking.” Doctor Han started to approach Rebecca with the needle. She went wild.
“Michael, I thought I could trust you. I thought you were my brother. I thought you cared. You just want to hurt me like the rest of them. I don’t want to sleep. Every time I close my eyes I see all of the dead bodies all around me. I don’t want to see them. I don’t want to see the dead child. Michael, please.”
Kane moved to the other side of the bed to lend Michael a hand as he made a tearful plea to his sister. “Rebecca you can trust me. I need you to get well and you must rest. I am sorry but we have to do what is best for your health. If you don’t rest Rebecca you could die and I don’t want to lose you. I’m sorry, I’m sorry.”
Kane held her other arm down. With both of them exerting pressure she didn’t have a chance at sitting up. Kane felt sick to his stomach as he pressed her arm and body back onto the bed. He kept telling himself he had no choice but to force her. It was the best way to protect her in the circumstances. It didn’t make him feel any the more noble for it. He worried about the amount of pressure he had to exert, afraid he might be hurting her bruised body. Mrs. Han inserted the needle in to her arm near Michael and then moved away quickly. He felt relieved despite the fact that she was still struggling.
Michael said, “You have to trust me Rebecca.”
Rebecca spat her words at him with disgust and contempt, “I can’t trust either of you. I hate you. How can I trust you when I don’t even know you? How do I even know you really are my brother? You could just be another one of those doctors. You said you were a surgeon just like him. I can’t sleep. People are counting on me. Lives are depending on me...”
Her voice started to trail off and her struggles came to a halt. Michael stroked her cheek soothingly. Kane loosened his grip. There were large tears streaming down the sides of her cheeks. Kane felt like a criminal. He watched her eyes flicker a couple of times and then close, signalling that she was asleep.
Chapter Six
Michael moved away from the bed and flopped down on one of the chairs next to it. Kane watched him put his face in his hands trying to hide his tears. Kane felt numb. He knew it was the only way he could control his own strong emotions. The last thing Rebecca needed was him falling apart on her.
He reached out and wiped the tears from her eyes ever so gently with his fingertips. It felt so good to touch her again – to feel the softness of her skin after so long. She looked peaceful and safe in her sleep now. Just like Sleeping Beauty. He raised his head hearing movement from Michael and quickly removed his fingers. Michael lowered his hands, revealing his red eyes. He took a long deep breath and ran his hands over his face and through his hair in an agitated manner.
Kane moved away from Rebecca’s bed and asked him, “What was she talking about? The dead bodies? All of those things she said before she went out? The man she referred to as him?”
“I don’t know. Nobody knows what she is talking about. Before they took her into theatre, she was going on about all of the dead bodies. She said something about the men in white masks who came to take her to the hospital. I don’t think she even knows what she is saying. She’s been in so much pain. It’s as though parts of her memory are filtering through the barrier her mind has set up to keep them out.”
Michael sat up and folded his arms. He stared at the opposite wall. “I have never seen her like this before. It doesn’t seem like her lying in that bed. She’s a stranger.”
“Have you told Allbright and Jones what she has been saying?”
“I told them but they were more interested in her conversation with Doctor Somwan. Allbright kept ramming it down her throat that Britain is on the highest threat level waiting for a terrorist attack from the BLA. It was vital she remembered everything Somwan told her.”
“Do you know anything about a Kevin Boyle? ATM sacked him. He’s been stalking your sister.”
Kane noticed that Michael still stared at the wall and avoided his gaze. He sighed, “Yes, I do. He won’t leave her alone, jealous bastard.”
“He is hanging around outside.”
Michael jumped up from his chair and started towards the door. “If he comes in here I will kill him and I bloody mean it.” Kane reached out to grip him by the arm and prevent him from going out the door.
“Relax, he has been dealt with. He won’t get within a hundred feet of this room.” Michael shrugged him off and began pacing the floor. Kane continued in a calm even tone. Michael was a rocket ready to go off - he needed to keep him level. “Charles told me that Boyle threatened Rebecca at ATM’s annual Ball and said that you were fleecing your private patients to pay for gambling debts? Can you enlighten me?”
Kane studied Michael’s reaction closely. Michael stopped pacing and didn’t speak at first. He stared at Kane wide-eyed, startled. Michael was clearly shocked. His reply was delivered in a confident, arrogant tone “I don’t know what Charles is talking about. It’s news to me. Rebecca told me nothing. Boyle makes crap up. He would like nothing more than to find something that would finish Rebecca’s career. Making up lies about me is a means to an end. I will get my lawyers to deal with him when we get home. Anyway what the hell does that have to do with what has happened to Rebecca?”
But Kane could see anxiety staring out at him from behind Michael’s eyes. Interesting.
“Maybe nothing.”
“Rebecca doesn’t tell me everything - contrary to popular belief. If I’d known what she was planning... where she was going... I would have stopped her.”
Michael rubbed his hands over his face once more and then loosened his tie. Kane decided to press him further but stopped when he saw Michael staring at him. He looked like he was trying to figure something out. Kane felt uncomfortable. He knew what was coming. Michael was just about to work out exactly who Kane was and his relationship to his sister. Kane began talking once more, vainly hoping it would provide a distraction and delay the inevitable. “How was she acting before she left London? You had no idea she was planning to go to South Bundhara?”
“I knew something was up. She seemed down. But every time I tried to quiz her on it she would just start talking about my work like she normally does. As I said, if I had known what she was planning she wouldn’t have gone. I would have seen to it and she knew that. She was fussing over me again. She always does just before she goes off on assignment.” Michael’s voice sounded far away to Kane. He knew that Michael’s mind was not on his words. He was still looking oddly at him.
“My wife and I were separated last year and I moved in with Rebecca. I asked her if she was going away but she denied she was leaving for anywhere. Hey, now I know who you are. It’s been bugging me since I found you with her.”
Michael pointed his finger at him accusingly. “You’re him, aren’t you? Kane. I knew I recognised the name and your face. You are the one my sister fell for in Afghanistan. Major Dominic Kane.”
He told Michael calmly, “Yes, we met out there.”
Kane felt the sting of Michael’s eyes as he narrowed them sharply at him. Come on then. Get it off your chest. Clear the air and then I can concentrate on protecting your sister.
Michael walked towards him and pointed at him, “Yeah, you’re the bastard who nearly destroyed Rebecca’s career.” Kane shot a surprised look at Michael. They were the last words he’d expected to hear. Michael followed them up, “She lost her job with AHG because of you. You sent her home, told everyone s
he was ill and they forced her out.”
Kane snapped loudly at him, “What the hell are you talking about?”
“She was supposed to be out there for a year and you sent her home early. All of AHG’s plans for programming were interfered with. They weren’t happy with her or entirely sympathetic. She’d had to fight a lot of stiff male competition to get that assignment, and you made her look like she couldn’t handle it.” Kane tried to interrupt him and defend his actions but Michael cut him short.
“They gave her some time off for the PTSD. But when she went back to work after getting the BAFTA they started sidelining her. When she confronted them they said they were worried she couldn’t hack dangerous assignments anymore. They wanted her to take a lesser role while they traded off her success. She was devastated. She had no choice but to leave.”
Kane told him heatedly, “She was nearly killed by a bomb. I had to pull the body parts off her. Someone had to make her go home. She was ill with posttraumatic stress. Most people would have been after that. There was no disgrace.” Kane listened to his raised voice defending himself and began to worry that they were disturbing Rebecca. He glanced her way and made an effort to lower his voice. “She was out there too long. She refused to get any medical help.”
“You went behind her back. She trusted you and you let her down. She told you what would happen but that didn’t stop you. When they recalled her at your request, they saw her as damaged goods.”
Kane grimaced. There was that horrible phrase again. He continued defending his position. He pointed at Rebecca forcing Michael to look at her. “Rebecca thought she could handle what was happening to her all by herself. She thought she had something to prove. I’ve seen grown men, soldiers hardened by war, come apart with PTSD. I’ve seen them become jabbering wrecks, shouting for their mothers in similar circumstances but, no, your sister wanted to prove she was tougher.” Michael shook his head.
Kane hadn’t finished. “I found her sitting, rocking, staring into space. She was almost catatonic, lost in that explosion over and over again. She wasn’t eating or drinking. She couldn’t think straight and she couldn’t sleep for violent nightmares. She refused to let me help her. I did what I had to do and I don’t regret it. I rang the channel and told them to recall her. You’re a doctor. You should understand...”
Kane remembered having the same discussion with Jed at Camp Bastion. That had nearly ended in a physical fight and he was going to make damn sure this one didn’t. Michael waved his finger at him. “A rumour spread around the industry that she was mentally unstable. No one would touch her with a barge pole. She was out of work for a year.”
It took Kane a moment to realise that he was staring in wide-eyed disbelief at Michael. He remembered Rebecca begging him not to tell anyone she was ill. He had dismissed her fears, assured her that everything would be all right. They would just give her some time off, just as they had confirmed to him on the phone. But she had shouted at him, insisted he had ended her career. He’d snapped at her – told her she was being melodramatic. That’s when she had really gone for him.
She’d told him that her career meant everything to her. It meant more to her than he could ever do. It was her way of fighting back at the system. She would never forgive him. He was just someone who had passed through her life. He’d been devastated by her cruel words. He had fallen in love with her and even to this day, he believed it was the same for her despite everything she said. She’d given him every sign that the feeling was mutual.
News had got back to him that she’d left the channel after winning the BAFTA. But there had been talk of her leaving to write a book on the conflict in Afghanistan. He’d known that was one of her dreams. He never thought for one minute... Shit, shit. I never meant to hurt you like that. I thought I was doing the right thing.
Michael carried on, “She did some freelance work for the BBC but I got her to go back to university to do a doctorate – she is still in the middle of it. But it was never enough for Rebecca and when Anna Harker came and knocked on her door she jumped straight back into it all with both feet. There was talk of her presenting the news at the end of the year. Now, I don’t know. She is probably really finished this time.” Michael ran his hand over his face again, clearly frustrated. He moved closer to Kane and jabbed another finger hard towards his face.
“I had to pick up the pieces you crushed my sister into. She’d fallen for you hard. That is something she doesn’t do very easily, and you betrayed her.” Michael started to walk away from him back to his sister. But Kane made him stop.
“I didn’t know. I thought...”
Michael tried to shrug him off with contempt. But Kane held his arm firm.
“I didn’t know, Michael. She never told me. I would have...”
“I think you did more than enough. I don’t want you protecting my sister. I can’t trust her with you. Crossing that border into South Bundhara was no doubt her way of getting back on top, of proving herself again. And I am damned angry she had to put herself in that position because of you. Now leave.”
Kane maintained his grip on Michael’s arm and told him fiercely, “I know you are upset but I am not walking away. Rebecca needs me and so do you. I am going to protect Rebecca with or without your help. Do not get in my way Michael. Your sister’s life is depending on me. I will do whatever it takes to stop you interfering in my job. Is that clear?”
He watched Michael narrow his eyes darkly and raise his voice to match the loudness of his own. “Don’t fuck with me, Kane. I am not one of your stupid dumb foot soldiers. Is that clear?”
Protecting Rebecca was going to be a lot harder than Kane had anticipated.
Chapter Seven
There had been silence in the room for over an hour. Kane gave Michael an impatient glance. Michael was sitting with his back to him by Rebecca’s bed. He was leaning forward in his seat, his elbows resting on the bed. He cradled Rebecca’s hand between his fingers and stared down at it. The only sound that could be heard was the steady bleeping rhythm of Rebecca’s heart monitor.
Kane sat at a small table with a cup of coffee. He had been ruminating on everything Michael had told him, over and over again. He’d tried to work out how he could have handled the situation any better. He’d hurt her, wrecked everything. He would be lucky if she would ever consider having him back. He wouldn’t blame her. But he couldn’t squash the part of him that insisted that he’d taken the right course of action. He had no idea how he could have done anything different.
The door to the room opened slowly making him alert. It was Tom Cromwell, his Team Leader. Kane greeted him. Michael gave him a quick look and then turned back to the bed frowning. Tom raised his eyebrows. He turned to Kane and pulled out a chair next to him. He said in his friendly Glaswegian accent, “It’s very frosty in here. Are you upsetting people already, sir?” There was an amusing lilt to Tom’s tone that made Kane grin.
“Yes. Looks like I am. I’ll tell you later. Is the rest of the team here?”
“Yes. All present and correct, sir. But we’ve got a problem. The police outside the door won’t budge. They have strict orders not to move. They are worse than useless, too busy smoking and chatting about the porn they are reading.” Tom raised his strawberry blonde eyebrows again as he finished his sentence. He sat back in his chair. Kane almost envied the way Tom could make slouching look like an art form. He’d never been that way when he had served under Kane in the Royal Marines.
Tom continued more seriously, giving Michael another look. “We need to get this sorted out or they will just get in the way.”
“Agreed. So who do I need to speak to, to get the police officers removed?”
“A guy called Pravat Jaru-Ampornpan. He is the Inspector in charge. I called him already and he is on his way. He seems amenable but I get the impression he is enjoying the limelight. He was happy to come to us rather than having us go visit him. My guess is the presence of the press appeals to him. He might
not want to give up running the show.”
“We’ll see about that. Good job.”
Tom continued his report, giving Michael another look. “Ramsay and Alastair are containing the press downstairs. Harker’s man Charles is giving a press conference. Connor and Miles are checking out the building and its plans. They are also working out a route to safely move Rebecca from here to the airport and an emergency one if South Bundhara invades.”
“Good. Firearms?”
“Nice to be on a job in a country where we can get some decent fire power. I’ve got Brendan and Stuart seeing a local contractor. Brendan rang before to tell me they are doing a deal on some very nice Heckler and Koch G36s and some Glock 17 semi-automatic hand guns.”
“Good.
Kane’s eyes moved quickly to the bed as he heard Rebecca give a sob and cry in her sleep. She gave another cry and he started to rise from his seat. It was instinct to jump to her aid. But he stopped when he saw Michael stand and lean over her. He watched him stroke her hair and placate her with soothing reassurances. Kane gripped the arms of the chair and stared at the bed. He wouldn’t be welcome if he went over there and he didn’t want to cause her any more distress. He sat back down feeling defeated.
“Hey.” Tom leaned over trying to get his attention once more. His voice was lowered and betraying sympathy as he asked, “How are you doing? I know how much this means to you. How is she?”
“I’m okay. She’s holding up. She is strong, she’ll pull through.”
Tom didn’t mince his words. “Yeah I know she will. She’s a fighter. My concern is you and how this is affecting you and the job we have to do.”
Kane was short with him. He didn’t like being questioned, even though Tom had a point. “I am handling it. There won’t be a problem. Rebecca’s safety is paramount, not a reconciliation. Now, is there any angle I can manipulate with this Pravat?”
“Okay. We haven’t been able to find out much on him in the short time we have been here. But, he is fifty-three, married with two kids, a wife and a mistress. He likes a drink and small time gambling. He’s good at his job and is respected. He is also open to taking bribes, as are many of the police in North Bundhara. Apparently it’s the custom to offer them one if you are caught short. The British Embassy has asked him to prevent us from intervening and to make sure we know that we aren’t welcome. You are going to have a fight on your hands. Maybe you should talk to your stepfather again. I know you don’t like it but he’s a senior guy at The Home Office. Maybe he has some sway to call the dogs off.”
