To Fool an Assassin (Women of Purgatory Book 1)

by Kells, India

  The founder of Purgatory and Gabrielle’s friend angled her head. Sully had the vague impression of being played and he didn’t like it a bit. What helped him keep his calm was the incredible hope he felt surging when Bea appeared. After months of dead ends …

  “Have you eaten, Captain?” And on these words, she went back to where she came from.

  Is this a trick? He’d figured as he got closer he would eventually encounter a rock solid wall.

  Still careful, he walked around the corner and entered a vast kitchen with another view of the ocean. It was an incredible house, luminous and open. And there was more to see for sure, especially a second floor.

  Bea’s head was in the refrigerator and Luke was sitting at the island, fascinated by his glass of water.

  Sully couldn’t sit, not yet. She was here. He could sense it. But he knew he had to first cross the Cerberus at the gate and her little puppy dog.

  “You know how to cook, Sully?”

  The question was so strange and so normal, Sully blinked. “I’m a good cook. My grandmother taught me.”

  Bea smiled. “Cool! I always found men who knew their way around the kitchen quite sexy. And useful. I’m making some soup, care to chop the carrots?”

  After pushing the carrots across the island, she put a large pot on the stove. She returned in front of him with some potatoes and a half chicken.

  Sully glanced around and found a mean looking set of knives neatly stacked on a block by the sink. He started to chop the first carrot.

  “Small pieces, it’s easier for her to swallow.”

  Luke’s comment stilled Sully’s hand.

  Bea looked back at Luke and returned to her potatoes. Calmly, Sully put his knife on the board and left the kitchen. He was done with diplomacy and niceties. Fuck the guard dogs. His heart beat so fast, it dulled all other noises. He looked around and saw the staircase following the opposite wall of the living room. He forced himself to walk and not run. Only two doors on the second floor, one opening to what seemed like a bathroom, another was closed.

  Sully didn’t knock. He didn’t know what to expect, but he knew he was done waiting.

  The room was dim, the wide curtain almost totally drawn. Only a sliver was left open, giving the room a bluish glow. And she was there, in the wide bed. Looking so small, and so pale. Gabrielle.

  But she was his light, the other end of the string tied to his heart. He couldn’t stay away. His footsteps muffled by the carpet, he approached the form immobile, asleep on the bed.

  Time had passed since the explosion, but he still could see fading red marks on her face and hands. Sully hesitated a moment, but decided to sit beside her lying figure. Gabrielle was still peaceful in sleep. He started inventorying every welt and scar he could see and soon, his fingers followed the marks as a blind man reads Braille. Her skin was cool. He didn’t remember that. In his memories, every time he had touched her skin, she had felt like molten gold.

  His gaze traveled to her face and he was surprised to see her eyes open, staring at him. He smiled, but her face remained strangely expressionless.

  “Gabrielle, it’s me, Sully.” He didn’t know why he had to say that to her.

  She continued looking at him for a moment, then turned her gaze toward the window.

  Sully blinked, and grasped her hand in both of his. “Gabrielle? Don’t you recognize me, honey?”

  She turned her head again at the sound of his voice and resumed her empty expression.

  “She’s been like that since the explosion.”

  Sully didn’t turn at Bea’s comment. He couldn’t tear is gaze from Gabrielle’s face, panic constricting his chest. “What do you mean?”

  Luke came around the bed and sat. Gabrielle turned her head to Luke and fixed him with her strange, ethereal stare.

  Beatrice came beside him and spoke gently. “We don’t have all the details, but we could put some pieces of the puzzle together with the help of my sister and some surveillance camera tapes we took before the police could. When she came back to save me and James, she hadn’t only snuck in but also placed strategic explosive charges along the structure of the building. It was her safety net. If she couldn’t kill him, he was going down anyway.”

  Sully’s tried hard to not let rage blind him. “You sacrificed her! You left her alone!”

  “We didn’t, but James and I were like ducks in a row. It was playing against her. She needed equal chances. And remember we didn’t know about the bombs. When we escaped, I was coming back in as fast as I could. Same for James. It’s when we were reentering the building that it exploded.”

  Sully couldn’t go there; he couldn’t think about it. When he finally reemerged and saw Abbess Brigit by his side, his heart stopped. What kept him sane was the decision of finding her first, dead or alive. He needed to see her. It was his ultimate goal and the one he pursued until now, through the waiting and the reports and the sketchy information both from the police and the medical examiner.

  “Then what? Why did you not inform me that you had found her? That she was alive?”

  With a sigh, Bea sat in the corner chair. “You may not know everything about Gabrielle. Before she was part of Purgatory—”

  “I know, she had told me all about her past and her real name.”

  Bea seemed surprised but didn’t say more about the subject.

  “Well, she may be on the radar of official authorities, but she’s on the one of less official, nasty people. We organized it quick. Brought our people in so that as soon as we find her, dead or alive, she would be taken care of. They found her the following night, barely breathing, with inner injuries, broken bones and scratches, but it was the hematoma in her brain that was the most troubling. She was kept in a secret medical facility, her identity hidden from the media, thanks to James, until her condition stabilized. The unknown was what damages had been done. She woke up after a week, but she was in the state you see her now. She can perform basic activities, she follows orders, but other than that, she’s like a broken doll. Empty.”

  Luke put a hand on Sully’s shoulder. “The type of blow she received, we don’t know how, provoked some sort of amnesia. Also, the brain, her thinking brain, shut down, like a protection, if you want. For example, it’s been shown in certain subjects, when experiencing great traumas, such as war, violence, or rape, in some cases, the brain protects itself from immense suffering by shutting down. Reverting to basic functions. Well, what specialists thought. And it’s what I think, too.”

  When Sully touched Gabrielle’s fingers, she turned to look at him.

  “What did she have to shut herself off from? What did the bastard do?”

  “She wasn’t raped, Sully. There was no time between the moment we left and the actual explosion for him to do anything of that sort. We don’t know what happened in her brain, making it shut down. We can only move from here.”

  “So what can we do? How long is her recovery?”

  Sighing once more, Beatrice shook her head. “We don’t know, Sully. Once stabilized and healed, the specialists were unsure of the outcome. We’re not talking about a broken bone here. The best we can do is wait. Gradually reacquaint herself with things and people she knows. Keep her calm and comfortable.”

  Sully wrapped his fingers around her hand and squeezed. She didn’t squeeze back. As he stared at their joined hands he couldn’t breathe. Pain and grief clogged his throat and tears welled up. He felt Luke rise from the bed and exit the room. Bea stood up and put a hand on his shoulder before leaving him alone.

  Sully took several deep breaths before he could gather enough composure and courage to look at her again. She hadn’t moved an inch. Forcing himself to smile, he brought her hand to his lips. He cupped her hand and laid it against his cheek for a while. It was subtle, but he swore he felt her fingers move a little, like she was rubbing. After a moment, she dozed off again, leaning against her pillows in the dimming afternoon light. When she went to sleep, Sully stayed
by her side and wept silently, letting his bottled up fear for the woman he loved roll down his cheeks.

  ***

  Sun had set a while ago when Sully finally came down the stairs. Luke absently waved at him as he was watching a football game in the living room. Sully decided to follow the noises coming from the kitchen.

  He found Bea, scrubbing a large pot in the sink. Several containers of soup were cooling on the island.

  She didn’t turn when he entered, but her posture changed. “Do you want to eat? The soup is good, if I say so myself. And there is bread in the oven, too. Not my creation, but good enough.”

  Ignoring his growling stomach, Sully sat on one of the stools. “Why didn’t you contact me to tell me she was alive?”

  Bea didn’t answer right away. She rinsed the pot and placed it to dry before taking a dish towel and wiping her hand.

  “You may think otherwise, but Gabrielle is mine. Mine to protect and take care of. She’s and remains my priority.”

  “She’s my wife.” His voice boomed in the kitchen.

  Bea shook her head and lifted her hands in a peace gesture. “I know. I didn’t do this against you. I kept her under the radar to make sure she wasn’t followed. We waited to see if any of Simon’s men were following you. Until we made sure of it, I wasn’t about to contact you.”

  “Don’t tell me it was too difficult to find a secure way to do so. Admiral Feander could have done it.”

  “The admiral focuses on finding Simon. It is his only goal and all his resources are on it. In fact, it was him that put you under surveillance, in case Simon made a move or left men to follow you.”

  It took a minute or two to realize what she had just said, but it finally dawned on Sully. “Simon is still alive. He didn’t die in the explosion.”

  “We have no proof. The remains found are not Simon’s. Some are still to be analyzed. But so far, we haven’t recovered his body.”

  “Shit!”

  “Yeah. The admiral had relayed the information to Lance Sorenson, who ditched his bugged phone and launched his entire group after everyone and everything related to Simon’s activities. With all the information you gave us, we were able to track down many locations and people. A lot is still to be done. There are political sensitivities to deal with, many people are protected by their power, money, or status, but we will get them. Each person we get is one step closer to Simon and the core of this organization. As you said, Simon told us about a man being his lead liaison; we will track him and find him. It is only a question of time. Unfortunately, this ghost organization is still too powerful to leave Gabrielle in the open.”

  “So you hide her in this house by the sea. One of your hideouts?”

  Bea shook her head. “No, Sully, this is Gabrielle’s home.”

  Her home? Sully looked around him again, analyzing the architecture and décor with completely new eyes.

  “When she joined Purgatory, she wanted a secure place of her own. Only hers, a place to return after a mission. The true ownership is hidden deeply in a paper maze, so it was a logical choice for a hideout, and one that could help her with her healing.”

  An oasis of glass, sky, and sea. Everything was isolated, but wide open, as if suspended in thin air. All she had told him about the ocean, not so long ago made sense now.

  “I’m staying here.” It was an affirmation that sat well with him. “And don’t try to trick me into hiding her from me again.”

  Bea smiled. “Gabrielle would have my hide if I did such a thing. I don’t know what happened between the moment I asked her to rescue you and the explosion, but I know Gabrielle wouldn’t have married you if she didn’t truly love you. She’s suffered enough in her life not to know the value of that emotion.”

  Bea rounded the island. “I have a good feeling about it. We needed a stubborn SEAL to help her after all. But, as you know, be prepared for anything. Good or bad.”

  “I will only prepare for the good, Beatrice.”

  “That’s a man according to my own heart.” She smiled and left him alone. If stubbornness could heal the woman he loved, he was ready to shower her with it.

  ***

  Sully felt like he was climbing a very high and very dangerous mountain using only his toes and fingertips. An impossible feat solely determined by the sheer strength of his body and mind.

  As for all goals he had set in his life, since his SEAL training, all his actions, all his decisions, all of his attention were directed toward a single goal: help Gabrielle find her way back to him again.

  Each morning, he woke up with the dawn, as Gabrielle was still sleeping, and went to train—running, followed by intense swimming in the frigid ocean water. The weather was turning to cool fall, but he needed it, the pain of it all. He needed to burn his anguish, fear, and doubt before returning to the house. He needed to be solid, grounded when he was with her. After his swim, he went back to the house to shower and dress. Bea was going out for her morning run at that time and Luke was sipping his first cup of coffee in the kitchen, half asleep and grumbling about how crazy they both were. Before breakfast, he went to see if Gabrielle was up. If she was, he guided her to the bathroom where she showered and dressed, then carried her downstairs to eat with all of them at the breakfast nook. Sully had decided there was no tiptoeing around anymore. He talked normally to Luke and Bea, trying to act as normal as possible, while she sat there, looking at who spoke, almost immobile. Gabrielle never moved by herself, unless she was asked or guided to do so.

  During the day, when the weather was clear and sunny, Sully bundled her up and carried her outside. He would sit beside her on the terrace, and after a while, she would turn her head to the wind and enjoy the sea air and sun. Her expression turned almost happy. It was a very small change, but an unmistakable one.

  At night, they would cook again and eat at the dinner table. The atmosphere was light and simple. Then, he would bring her to the living room, on the sofa facing the moon and the restless sea, and he simply talked to her. She stared at him, not saying a word. He would talk nonsense, funny inconsequential stories about him, his friends, Lance, and his work as a SEAL. Unable to help himself, he would take her hand in his and pray. After a while, she would soon return his hold. Later, he would carry her upstairs and prepare her for bed. He sat by her side until her eyes closed and she was sound asleep. Only then did he crawl up closer and allow himself to enjoy the simple pleasure of seeing her calm and serene, lying beside her before willing himself to sleep soon after.

  Day after day, night after night, weeks passed as he repeated this military schedule of normalcy. There were improvements, small hopes he saw every day. His optimism was not always supported by Bea and Luke. Their opinion was more guarded, but they followed along. Hope was the baseline.

  However, he wasn’t delusional. He was a practical man, trained to always find new solutions and new answers. While he watched Gabrielle sleep, he remembered the first time he had seen her—and every step of their trip leading them to Prague—and something nagged him at the back of his mind. Like something he was missing, a piece of information still hidden in the shadow, and screaming to come to light.

  Careful not to wake Gabrielle, he went down to the living room. He’d never get enough of the view. Even in the middle of the night, a single sliver of moon reflected on the water and illuminated the house. As he expected, he felt more than heard Beatrice coming behind him. The older woman moved like a ghost.

  “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked as she came beside him.

  “I haven’t slept well since Prague. The body always heals quicker than the brain.”

  He understood. Those kind of scars took a toll on the mind, and many of his friends in the service had to deal with them.

  “Why can’t you sleep, Captain? Is everything all right with Gabrielle?”

  “She’s well. But the improvement is minimal.”

  “Yes, I discussed it with Luke and he told me about studies in Germany …”


  “I think there may be another way to help her other than studies, doctors, or waiting.”

  He felt Bea studying his profile. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about something Simon said when we were taken to him the first time. I was half listening to his crazy talk, but something stuck with me. I realize it now. He talked about his cloning process and a way of unlocking the memory of the cells so the clone would remember who he was.”

  “Sully, we have no proof his soul transfer worked. We found everything to confirm his cloning methods, even the accelerated cell development. That’s it. We’re still in the process of dismantling the remainder of the laboratories. Well, those we have found so far.”

  Sully shook his head. “Maybe full soul transfer has not been confirmed yet, but I think he experimented with this. They were much closer to success than we think.”