by Serena James
She batted him out of the way. “Don’t you dare. I am not lying in this bed anymore. I can’t stand it and I’m getting up. Now get the hell out of my way, Mr. Kane.”
“I’ve told you its Dominic. Stay still. You can’t get up, you need to be checked out first.”
She succeeded in pulling the drip out. He grimaced as she cried out with the action. Looking satisfied with herself she tried to stand up. He reached out and caught her, telling her gently, “I am surprised you can even move with your injuries, let alone stand.” She was panting with the exertion. She was constantly breathless with the three broken ribs. For just one moment he felt her lean in against him as he held her arms. She allowed him to support her. He was more than grateful to have her in his arms again. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The pain was written all over her face.
Then almost in a whisper she asked him, “What do you want me to do? Just lie here and keep pretending none of these things happened to me? That I wasn’t tortured, raped and nearly murdered along with Jed? I can’t wait for my memory to come back and my control with it. I need to take it back. I need to find out what has been going on. I will die of insanity if you let them keep me tied down in this bed. Help me.”
He moved his hands up and down her arms wanting to give her comfort and assure her of his support. He made sure he caught her eyes in his gaze and held them there. His voice was a soft caress when he said, “I will do whatever you need me to do to help you. I am here for you. We will face this together. I will make sure you feel safe enough with me to allow yourself to remember what happened. I am not going to allow anyone else to hurt you.” He raised his hand and gently swept his fingers through her hair resting on her bruised forehead. “All I ask is that you don’t push me away this time.”
She was looking at him quizzically when he finished. He was relieved when she didn’t question him. She nodded in agreement and allowed him to take her arm and help her walk slowly to the bathroom.
* * * * *
Kane paced the floor. He could hear the shower running and it was making him nervous. She had stubbornly refused the assistance of a nurse. He stared at the closed door in two minds whether or not to go in there himself and make sure she didn’t slip on the soap or something else as deadly. It was a miracle she was standing she was so weak. She’d only woken up earlier this morning after days asleep in bed. He went to try the door having made his mind up and found it was locked. Damn it. She promised she wouldn’t lock it.
His mobile rang, stopping him. Impatiently he answered it. “Hi, Brendan. How is our friend Boyle doing?”
Brendan’s voice sounded curious, excited. He was obviously enjoying having something active to do rather than babysitting a client. He was always restless, keen to progress in his career and loved a chance to show off his talents. He was good at assessing a threat and his gathering of intelligence was top grade. He’d left the Army’s intelligence corps a year ago and at 28 he was on track for a promising career. Tom had hinted that Kane should promote him this year. Following Boyle back to the UK was Kane’s test Brendan had to pass to make that happen.
Brendan gave him a report. “I’ve done some digging in London. One of the secretaries at his newspaper was more than eager to dish the dirt. She’d heard Boyle bragging about doing some reconnaissance. He has accepted a porter’s job at a private hospital called The Marsworth. It’s owned by the private health company Blue Dove Medical Care. They have pioneered work in transplants. Michael Eaton has private rooms there. But that’s not the best part of it. Michael Eaton has been suspended.”
“Really? When? What for?”
“Michael hasn’t just been caught scamming patients with unnecessary medical procedures. There is a rumour that he may have been involved in harvesting a heart from a patient who would have recovered from their injuries. The patient was disabled. He is supposed to have transplanted the heart into a wealthy patient at The Marsworth and not gone through proper transplant protocol. The recipient was reported to have paid him well for it. It happened a couple of months before Rebecca went to South Bundhara. The hospital is keeping it quiet while they conduct an internal investigation. The secretary says Michael has been keeping it from Rebecca but, according to Boyle, she knows. She has been trying to prove he is innocent but Boyle intends to prove otherwise.”
“So who is Rebecca’s source, how did she get her information?”
“Boyle believes it is Michael’s ex wife, Claire Wilby. He has been trying to interview her but so far he hasn’t succeeded. She is a cardio-thoracic surgeon at the Weber Grey hospital where Michael also practices. She wants Michael back. Maybe enlisting his sister’s help to prove his innocence was the way to do it. I’ve been trying to contact Claire but so far she has avoided my calls and won’t answer the door to me.”
“Keep trying.”
“Will do. Boyle found out that Rebecca was asking questions at the Weber Grey about a separate story, before she took over from him at ATM early last year. He reckons she is still investigating it alongside her job. She was trying to find out about two South Bundenese patients who were admitted to the hospital after a car crash. They were expected to come out alive. But both of them supposedly died on the operating table from their injuries. It didn’t tally and the consensus among the staff is that the hospital tried to cover it up. Their organs were rumoured to have been taken but there is no record of who took them or where they went. Rebecca interviewed the families. None of them would talk. Boyle reckons that Rebecca believes this incident and Michael’s suspension are linked.”
“Great work Brendan. Keep on Boyle, I want to know what he is up to. See if you can pick up Rebecca’s trail and ascertain what she found out about the stolen organs. Sounds as if Claire Wilby may have put her on to the story. This could be the link we are looking for. Claire might know about Rebecca’s trip to South Bundhara. If Rebecca confided in Claire she will be reluctant to break that confidence. She will have to be carefully handled.”
“Okay. One more thing. You know you were talking about the fact that Rebecca may have been pinpointed as a donor before she left?”
Kane was frowning at the bathroom door. He hovered near it trying to listen for any bangs, crashes or cries for help. “Yeah. What have you found out?”
“It may be incidental but the secretary also mentioned that The Marsworth is where Anna Harker received all of her treatment and the ATM employees had their annual medical check there in January. They do a lot of transplants there. Maybe when they did her tests they found out she was a candidate. Somehow, The Marsworth fits into all of this, I’m sure of it.”
“We should look more closely at it.”
“I already did, sir. I looked into the owner, Blue Dove Medical Care. They run a massive charity operation in Asia and South Bundhara. They are pioneering healthcare out there. Michael Eaton did a stint for them in South Bundhara when he was first qualified.”
“Interesting. There are too many links for them not to be related somehow. Keep digging. I am more than impressed Brendan. We might work out what the hell is going on yet!”
* * * * *
Breakfast finally arrived and Kane was becoming more and more impatient that Rebecca hadn’t come out of the bathroom. He was concerned she was going to do herself an injury in her weak state and he had questions to ask her after his chat with Brendan. He banged on the bathroom door and called for her to hurry up, breakfast was now here. The doctor who checked her out when she woke up early this morning had told her that she could eat and she had been looking forward to a proper meal.
He sat down and eyed the sumptuous feast before him on the small table. He took the silver cover off one of the plates and checked out the Full English breakfast. There was also a side plate filled with pancakes and maple syrup. This was the first day in a while he really had an appetite. He poured himself a coffee and went over what Brendan had told him. The coffee was a little more bitter than usual. He suddenly felt hot despite t
he heavy air conditioning. He tipped the cup to one side sloshing its contents as he peered into them. He felt dizzy watching the liquid swirl around with the movement.
Kane stood up with a start. He was immediately suspicious. He found it difficult to keep his balance. He stared bemusedly at the coffee cup that he was now finding difficult to keep a hold of. Helplessly he watched it fall from his fingers onto the table. The cup bounced and spilt its contents in a large puddle. He knew he had been drugged.
He fumbled to draw his gun and stumbled towards the bathroom door. He banged on it shouting Rebecca’s name. He kept his eye on the main door to the room, trying to keep focus. But his surroundings were swaying, blurring in front of his eyes. Rebecca didn’t appear to hear him. The door to the room suddenly opened fast and an orderly was coming through it. He carried a machine gun and wore the face of a teenager.
Kane’s body felt weighted down. It was a struggle to aim as the boy came towards him. Kane fired but missed. That was when he felt his body hit the floor. He heard the bathroom door fling wide open and Rebecca rushed out nearly falling over him. He tried to raise himself up and turn over. He didn’t appear to be holding his gun anymore. He managed to roll over and found the teenager standing over him.
The boy carried a small compact mini Uzi – sub machine gun. He pressed the end of it into Kane’s forehead. Kane heard Rebecca scream at the boy to leave him alone. He tried to look for her. She was somewhere to his left side. He couldn’t see much now, everything was white and fuzzy. A darkness started penetrating the walls of his consciousness, seeping into his distorted white vision despite his efforts to fight it. All he could think of was that he had failed Rebecca. The last thing he saw was the angry face of the boy jabbing the end of the Uzi into his forehead, pulling his trigger finger back.
Chapter Ten
Kane woke up slowly. He attempted to move but something was restraining his hands and feet. The first thing he heard was Rebecca’s voice – thank God she was still alive. He blinked in the strong sunlight pouring through the window. It was an effort to focus in the bright light. It felt as though he had one hell of a hangover.
He pulled at his hands but the rope around them was tied tight and he didn’t have all of his strength back yet to work on it. He tried to force himself up to sitting so he could see what was going on. He couldn’t seem to manage the action but he could lift his head to see Rebecca. She was sitting at the table. The teenage boy was standing over her. The breakfast was littering the floor as though someone had simply swept their hand against the plates and knocked them to the ground in fury.
Both the boy and Rebecca were looking at the screen of a small laptop. In his struggle to sit up, Kane found that he was next to the outside bathroom wall. He moved his body back against it and used it as the leverage he needed to help raise himself to sitting. He guessed that Rebecca had heard his movement because she turned around quickly to look at him.
She began to move from her chair. Kane saw her pale face crease with pain on the sudden movement. She didn’t get very far. The Uzi was abruptly shoved in her face. He leant back against the wall struggling with the ropes that tied his hands behind his back. He tried to focus more clearly on Rebecca.
He heard her say to the boy angrily, “Get that bloody machine gun out of my face now.”
The boy shouted at her hard in broken English. “You are not to move. You must work on this. Make it work, make it work.” Kane watched him fiercely jab the end of the machine gun into her bruised temple. He struggled all the more and tried to raise himself to standing when he heard her cry out then lose her temper and bat the weapon out of her face. He tried to shout to her, but his voice only came out as a fevered whisper, so low he knew she hadn’t heard it.
“Rebecca, for God sake be careful.”
Rebecca continued shouting at the boy giving Kane the impression she was undeterred. She stood up, pushing the Uzi away, and got in the boy’s face. It made Kane nervous. “I told you not to point that thing in my face. I won’t do anything if you do that again. Now let me see him and make sure he is okay.” The boy glared at her and then let her past.
Kane watched her come towards him. He noticed that she had her hair tied back and she was fully dressed in one of her trademark black trouser suits and a crisp white shirt. Her brother must have brought them for her. She looked good, more together. It hid any sign of her injuries well apart from the fading purple bruising around one of her eyes and the one on her forehead. But he could see a new redness to the side of her face. It looked as though the boy had slapped her hard, probably because she had stubbornly refused to do as she was told.
It was a sharp reminder to Kane how fragile Rebecca was at that moment, despite her robust handling of the boy. He needed to be mobile again. He started trying to move himself up the wall to standing once more. He was still too drugged to make the action effective and he slumped awkwardly when she reached him.
He looked past her as she bent down on her knees in front of him. He wanted to know where the boy was. Standing behind her – aiming the weapon at her back. Her eyes betrayed her fear for him as he blinked, vainly attempting to clear his fuzzy head. He felt her cool fingers sweep soothingly over his hot brow and come to rest against the side of his face.
She asked him in an anxious whisper, “Are you all right? He says it will wear off in a while. I don’t think he really wants to hurt anyone. He’s probably drugged your men outside too.” Kane checked where the boy was again. He had moved off and was pacing the floor with irritation. Rebecca caught Kane’s attention, “Last night you said Michael had a guard. They will be coming in soon?”
Kane nodded. “Where is my semi-automatic?”
“On the table. He says he knows me from visiting Somwan. That he was the boy in the truck with me before we were captured and he has brought the laptop back to me just as I asked. He sees himself as a soldier.”
The boy had stopped pacing and was approaching them. Rebecca told Kane hurriedly, “Dominic, he is so young. I can’t access anything on the laptop. It’s damaged and he can’t seem to understand why I can’t remember anything.”
Kane watched Rebecca jump with unexpected pain as the boy jabbed the Uzi into the middle of her sore back. He shouted at the boy, “Don’t hurt her.” Kane felt her give the side of his face a gentle squeeze and she attempted a smile.
She told him, “It’s okay. I can handle it.”
The boy was angry. “Move now.”
Kane told her hurriedly, “You have to get my gun. You know how to use it.”
“I’m not sure I can remember...”
He interrupted her quickly. “You have to try.”
The boy yanked her roughly by the arm and pulled her away from Kane. He watched the boy march her back to the laptop and spied his Glock 17 semi-automatic at the side of it. He knew by the way she glanced back at him that she had seen it and was going to try and get it. The boy pushed her back down in the chair and she started tapping at the keyboard again. Knowing the boy was now distracted Kane worked furiously on getting his hands free.
Rebecca berated the boy, “It’s no use. I am not an expert I can’t make this work. Point that gun in my face once more and I am really going to lose my temper. You have to let me get help. I can’t do anything with it. Look at it, it’s damaged.” Kane saw her rise from the chair picking up the laptop and raising it into the air. She turned it over and the boy leaned in to peer at it. Then, as though on cue, Kane heard one of his men bang on the door to get in.
The boy turned to look at it. Rebecca swung the small computer into the boy’s face hard. It was enough to knock him off balance. Kane watched her lunge for his semi- automatic on the table, holding the laptop protectively to her side. His hands were nearly free but his feet were going to be a problem. His heart began to pound in his ears when he saw the boy lunge for Rebecca as she snatched the gun. The boy slapped it out of her hand and it slid along the floor.
Before he could star
t aiming the Uzi at her again Rebecca dropped the laptop and pushed the Uzi sideways. The boy set it off, spraying the back wall with bullets. She pushed it back against his throat and kept pushing him backwards towards the bed. Kane had to get free. She wouldn’t be able to hold the boy long in her weakened state. Come on, come on. It was taking longer than it should have done because of the drowsiness the drug still pressed on him. He felt his teeth grit together as he pulled, twisted and turned his hands to yank them out of the rope.
The boy was making a concerted effort to throw Rebecca off. Kane felt relieved when he saw her renew the fight by punching the boy’s face with everything she had. He yanked his hand out of the last piece of rope, nearly snapping his wrist in the process. He rushed to attack the rope tying his ankles together. Thank God it wasn’t as tight as the rope around his wrists and he made light work of it. He set himself free as Rebecca was punched in the side of the head and fell to the floor.
Kane rolled his body sideways and stretched out his hand to grab his gun. Still on the floor he aimed it at the boy and shot without hesitation, wounding his arm. The boy cried out but it didn’t stop him aiming the Uzi once more. Kane considered that he might have to actually kill the boy if he sprayed the room with bullets again.
He pulled the table next to him over for cover when the boy shot at him. Rebecca was still lying on the floor semi-conscious. He reached over and grabbed the back of her jacket and dragged her along the floor behind the table with him. Satisfied that she was safe he made a dash for the bed. He pushed it hard at the boy knocking him off balance. Bullets peppered the ceiling before he let go of the Uzi in surprise. The bed hit him with enough force to push him back against the wall and bang his head off it. Dazed he dropped the Uzi onto the bed.
Kane acted quickly, rushing to pick up the Uzi. He slung the strap of it over his shoulder, out of the boy’s reach. One of his men had been kicking the hell out of the door and it finally came down. Tom came through the door and secured the boy. Kane ran back to the table and Rebecca. She was sitting up, her back against the table, panting and clutching her side. Every breath seemed to be agony. He bent down hoping he wouldn’t see any blood escaping her surgical wound. To his relief it wasn’t bleeding. He laid his hand on her arm. “Are you okay?”
