Sins of the Flesh

by Caridad Piñeiro

  Later this morning he would take his hunt to the streets. If he could confirm that the Internet hits for the two Carreras were for Mick’s relatives and verify that they still lived in the area, he could track down any properties they might own and scope them out.

  As he considered everything, he was certain of one thing: Forty-eight hours from now he’d be a million dollars richer.

  The smell of the cheap spray-in hair color was strong, but it was all Mick could manage in the short time between the call to Liliana and her announcement that she had arranged for Caterina’s much-needed therapy.

  He pulled the Jeep up to the back door to the hospital. Liliana was waiting there with a gurney for Caterina. She didn’t need it, but with the change of hair color and a blanket strategically obscuring part of Caterina’s face, it was possible she wouldn’t be noticed as they wheeled her through the hospital corridors.

  He only hoped his sister and whoever was helping her wouldn’t be punished for their assistance with the therapy.

  He helped Caterina to the door and got her settled on the gurney.

  “We’ll be on the third floor. Room 303,” Liliana said. The faster they got the procedure going, the more they lessened the risk of discovery.

  Mick leaned down and tucked the blanket up around Caterina’s neck, covered part of her face and dropped a swift kiss on her cheek. “I’m going to park the car. I’ll just be a few minutes. Hang in there.”

  Caterina nodded weakly and said, “I’m fine.”

  She watched him race out the door and met Liliana’s concerned gaze.

  “So how are you really feeling?” Liliana asked.

  “Hot. My joints ache and I have pain here,” she said and covered her midsection in the spot right between where her ribs ended.

  Liliana eased her hand beneath Caterina’s. Pressed slightly, causing Caterina to moan from the pressure.

  “It could be your spleen. It probably can’t handle all the stress your system is in.”

  Liliana walked to the foot of the gurney, bent, and pushed with all her might. The gurney slid against the polished hospital floor and then began to roll with her guiding it from behind. The ding as they approached the elevator bank was welcome, and they were soon on their way up.

  Caterina closed her eyes and tried to ignore the assorted aches and pains in her body and the intense heat. When the gurney rolled to a stop, she opened her eyes.

  Liliana was at her side with another young Latina in a light blue scrub suit. “This is Dr. Rojas. She’s a fellow doctor and a friend. She can be trusted.”

  “Thank you,” Caterina said and the young woman nodded.

  Dr. Rojas walked up to Caterina and held up a syringe connected to a long section of tubing. There was something familiar about it, and in the back of her brain Caterina realized she had seen something similar while in Wardwell’s care.

  “We need to put one needle in each arm. We’ll also be giving you an IV with citrate to avoid coagulation while we’re processing your blood. That may interfere with your clotting for the next twenty-four hours, so try to avoid any strenuous activities and watch for excessive bruising.”

  Caterina nodded and winced as the woman pierced a vein in her arm with the needle. The young doctor walked around and did the same in the other arm. As she did so she commented, “I see you’ve had this done before, and often, so you know this may take about two hours. Close your eyes and get some rest.”

  Dr. Rojas patted her arm, the action slightly mechanical and stilted. She slipped a device over Caterina’s finger, and a machine a couple of feet away kicked to life.

  “Thank you,” Caterina said and did as instructed, knowing rest was essential to rebuilding her strength.

  Liliana approached her friend and clapped her on the back as she turned on the plasmapheresis unit. “That wasn’t so bad now, was it?”

  “Dead people are easier to handle,” Carmen teased while keeping her eye on the equipment to make sure it was working properly.

  “Easier, but not as rewarding, amiga.”

  A knock came at the door and Liliana walked over. She opened it to admit her brother, who scrutinized Caterina as she lay on the gurney, tubes running out of her arms and wires leading to the pulse oximeter that was keeping track of her heartbeat and the oxygen saturation in her blood.

  “She’ll be okay, Mick. We’ll be extracting the remnants of the cell lysis and antibodies plus adding some sterile plasma substitutes to help stabilize her,” Liliana said.

  Mick glanced at Carmen and held out his hand. “Mick Carrera. Liliana’s—”

  “Brother,” her friend said as she shyly peered up at him. “I’ve heard a lot about you from Liliana.”

  As he arched a brow, Carmen quickly confirmed, “All good things.”

  “Gracias. I appreciate you helping us,” Mick replied.

  Carmen nervously half-glanced at Liliana. “I know Liliana wouldn’t ask unless this was an emergency.”

  “It is. You’re helping save her life,” Mick said.

  Carmen nodded and faced Liliana. “I need to return to the lab, but I’ll check back in about an hour.”

  Her friend left the room and Mick walked over to Liliana and hugged her. “Gracias, hermanita.”

  Liliana returned the embrace, and then went to where Caterina was resting on the gurney. She laid her hand over Caterina’s, waking her.

  “How are you feeling?”

  Caterina offered up a weak smile. “A little dizzy and my fingertips are numb.”

  Liliana squeezed her hand. “That’s normal, but I’m going to check your blood pressure just in case.”

  Mick came to Caterina’s side and laced his fingers with hers. The smile Caterina offered him was brighter and there was a look in her eyes that Liliana couldn’t fail to notice.

  Caterina was in love with her brother, she thought as she wheeled over the blood pressure machine. As she wrapped the cuff around Caterina’s arm, she half-looked at her brother as he stood by the gurney.

  She couldn’t miss the look in his eyes, either.

  Mick had feelings for Caterina. She couldn’t say love feelings because she wasn’t sure she’d ever seen her brother truly in love. But she was sure that was more than a we’re-having-great-sex kind of look.

  Which was so not good, Liliana thought as the blood pressure machine kicked to life, inflating the cuff and then shuddering and deflating it to calculate the blood pressure. As much as she liked Caterina, and as much as she’d love for her brother to settle down, nothing would be easy about this relationship.

  “Your pressure is on the low side of normal, which is typical for this treatment. It’ll stabilize in a few hours,” Liliana said, inclined her head, and nodded to get her brother to meet her at the far side of the room.

  Mick reluctantly left Caterina, and the anxious look on his face only confirmed Liliana’s earlier observation.

  “She’s okay, right?” he whispered.

  Okay was not a word Liliana could use considering Caterina’s condition. She didn’t want to shatter her brother’s illusions, but he seemed to need a reality check. “She’ll be better. For a little while. Until she’ll need another dose of the inhibitor drug and this starts all over again. And then when you run out of the inhibitor drug…”

  Mick tensed beside her. “Sounds like you’re warning me off, hermanita.”

  “Just being realistic ’cause I know you, bro. You brought home strays and saved the day, but this is a situation where you may not be able to make it better.”

  A muscle twitched along the hard line of Mick’s jaw as he clenched his teeth. “Duly noted. When can I take her home?”

  Liliana glanced at her watch. “To be most effective, I’d like to let this run for at least another hour and a half.”

  “You’re on duty, right?” he said and she couldn’t fail to grasp his real meaning.

  “You want me gone,” she said, wondering if it was because he was angry with her about her
comments.

  Mick must have sensed her concern because he explained his request. “The less you’re involved here, the better.”

  It might be a little too late to curtail her involvement, but Liliana understood his apprehension. “Call me on the cell if you need me. Otherwise I’ll be back to help you get Caterina home.”

  He hugged her hard and whispered, “Don’t worry about me, Liliana. I know what I’m doing.”

  She embraced him and as always, marveled at the sense of safety and strength she felt in his arms. He had always been the protector in the family. Always the hero who had come through for them.

  It was why he deserved some happiness in his life.

  She pulled away from him and looked at Caterina as she lay on the gurney. She knew there might not be a happy ending there.

  She only hoped her brother was wise enough to realize it as well, before it was too late.

  CHAPTER 32

  Mick had managed to get Caterina home in the late morning with little fanfare.

  She now lay tucked in bed, resting. Calls to Ramon and Franklin had yielded only the reassurance that nothing was happening. Yet.

  He dialed his parents’ number and his mother answered.

  “Hola, mi’jito. How is your amiga?”

  “She’s doing fine, mami.” He hesitated, unsure of just how to broach his request, but then plowed ahead. “I need to ask a favor, mami.”

  “Of course, mi’jito. What can I do? A nice sopa de pollo? Or maybe some arroz con leche to sit easy on her stomach,” she offered.

  He smiled. His mother always thought the world’s problems could be cured with the right dish of food. “Actually, mami, I need you, papi, and Tony to close the restaurant for a few days. Maybe take a vacation somewhere. I’ll pay for it.”

  “Close the restaurant?” Her disbelief escalated with each word, as if he had just asked her to shut down the Pentagon.

  “It’s important, mami, or I wouldn’t ask.”

  “Pero, mi’jito, we can’t just shut down. What about our employees and our customers? What about Tony’s classes—”

  “You take vacations, mami. You visited abuelita last year, remember?” he chided, wishing that his mother wasn’t turning such a simple request into a battle. He didn’t want to tell her the real reason for the request. That would only create more of a problem.

  A long silence filled the line before his mother said, “Is it that important, mi’jo?”

  “It is and don’t ask me why. Por favor. Just close up as soon as you can and—”

  “We’ll do it, but if you need us—”

  “If I need you, I’ll call, mami,” he finished, eager to have them out of harm’s way.

  “Mi’jo… cuida tu corazon.”

  “Don’t worry about my heart. It’ll be fine,” he said and bid his mother goodbye again.

  He leaned back in his chair, considered both his mother’s and Liliana’s warnings. Decided to ignore them. He didn’t know what was happening with Caterina, but he knew he had to see it to its conclusion.

  He flew out of the chair and went to the guest room.

  Caterina was curled up on her side, seemingly asleep, but as Mick took the first step into the room, she opened her eyes. He sat on the edge of the chair, his elbows resting on his knees. Fingers laced together as his hands hung loosely before him.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Much better.”

  In truth, he probably hadn’t needed to ask. The skin on her face no longer had the flushed fever look and her voice was strong.

  “I heard what Liliana said to you. She’s right, you know. This may be a lose-lose situation.”

  Anger rose sharply in him. “You didn’t strike me as a quitter.”

  She sat up, holding the sheet against her body to hide her nakedness. “Just being realistic, Mick.”

  He leaned forward and cupped her cheek. The skin was smooth, the temperature of it sleep-warm. He met her gaze and caressed the line of her cheek with the pad of his thumb. “Why don’t you let me decide what’s realistic?”

  Caterina laughed harshly and shook her head. “I never liked it when my dad made decisions for me. What makes you think—”

  He leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss. Kept on kissing her until she dropped her hold on the sheet and brought her hands up to his shoulders.

  By the time they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily.

  Mick laid his forehead against hers and said, “That’s what makes me think this is worth a try. This feeling that I can’t just ignore.”

  When his gaze met hers, the blue of her eyes was as dark as the ocean at night and shimmering with unshed tears.

  “Come to bed. You need to rest,” she said.

  He nodded and toed off his shoes, but slipped in beside her fully clothed, unwilling to waste even a moment before he was next to her.

  Enveloping her in his arms, he pulled her tight to him until every inch of their bodies was pressed together. Her heart beat against his, strong and steady. Her head was tucked beneath his chin, the silk of her hair soft beneath his cheek. The warmth of her breath spilled against his throat.

  A sense of homecoming he had not experienced with any other woman calmed his warrior’s restless soul. Peace filled his heart.

  Much as he had battled for country and family, he knew as he held her that he would fight for her.

  For them.

  And this was one battle he did not intend to lose.

  Caterina woke him with the gentle whisper of her lips against his. Invited him to join with her.

  “Are you sure?” Mick asked, his voice husky from sleep.

  “I’m sure,” she replied. So that there would be no doubt about it, she grabbed the hem of the T-shirt he wore and made short work of pulling it off his body.

  She pressed against him, warm skin against skin. The hard tips of her breasts brushing the smooth flesh of his chest as they kissed over and over. Beside the soft flatness of her belly, his erection jerked to life and began to harden.

  Laying her hand over him, she caressed the shape of him beneath the denim and he groaned into her mouth, reached down and undid his jeans.

  The hard length of him sprang forward and she encircled him with one hand, stroking him. Urging him onward as he cupped her breasts and teased her nipples with his hands, drawing a pleased sigh from her.

  “Make love to me,” he said and sat up against the headboard. He urged her over him with the gentle grasp of her hips and she needed no further invitation.

  She held onto Mick’s shoulders and sank down onto him, gasping as the length and width of him filled her. As the comfort of his arms surrounded her and drew her near until she was tight against his chest.

  She couldn’t move, overwhelmed as she was by the sense of unity in his arms. With her possession of him.

  She sucked in another rough breath and trembled in his arms, but his body echoed the movement with a sympathetic shudder.

  “When I’m with you… it’s like my soul is filled with music,” she said. He cradled her face in his hands and tenderly brushed his lips across hers before moving them to her cheeks and then to her forehead.

  “It’s special for me, too,” he whispered, the words so soft she thought she might have imagined them until she met his gaze and it confirmed his sentiment.

  “Very special,” she responded, earning a smile from him which she kissed, memorizing the feel of it against her lips as a talisman for what would be the hard days to come.

  He returned the kiss and then she moved on him, offering herself up to him. Accepting what he offered in return.

  As a climax ripped through her and pulled him along to his own release, she held him close and realized there was no lose-lose in his arms.

  Caterina vowed to battle beside him so that she might have more time to spend with him. She’d waited too long to find something as fulfilling as this was with him and she wasn’t about to give it up
now without a fight.

  CHAPTER 33

  Forty hours to go, Mad Dog thought as he drove east on the expressway. Bradley Beach was less than two hours away from the hotel in Philly where he had set up his base camp. The town wasn’t far off the Garden State Parkway. It consisted of a quaint Main Street lined with bakeries, restaurants, and the occasional ice cream parlor.

  The library was a few blocks off Main in a redbrick building on a well-maintained plot of land. The walk to the large wooden doors situated beneath an ornate portico was lined with deep green low-growing plants. He parked around the corner from the library on a quiet residential street, walked to the library, and entered.

  A perky young teenager manned the checkout desk inside. He didn’t approach at first, scoping out the interior of the library and the number of patrons within.

  You never knew when you’d have to start shooting.

  Satisfied that no one presented an immediate threat, he approached the teen, eliciting a cheery reaction from her.

  “May I help you?” she asked as she stamped a date onto a card and slipped it into a sleeve in a book that she returned to the patron by the desk.

  “I have an old friend in the area, but can’t remember how to spell his last name, so I can get an address for him. I know he attended the local high school and I was hoping you would have some yearbooks I could search.”

  “What year was he? Maybe I know him?” she said, but Mad Dog shook his head.

  “He’s a lot older, but he had a younger brother not much older than you—Antonio Carrera,” he advised, and the young girl’s tweezed eyebrows narrowed as she mulled over the name.

  “Sounds familiar, but I can’t say I know him. Maybe Bill would, though. He’s been around forever.”

  She walked to a wall at the back of the desk area and then around behind it. He heard the murmur of voices and seconds later the young woman returned with an older man in tow who had an ex-military look.

  He wore a dark blue security guard’s uniform and was brushing off some crumbs from it, probably because the young girl had interrupted him during a break.