by Mark Ayre
“Forget—” she started, then paused to cough. Her throat was sore, her voice hoarse. To her immediate right was a bedside table, atop which sat a glass of water.
Leaning forward, Doc collected the glass, passed it over. “Drink this, then try again.”
Though she was not accustomed to following orders—her mother had put her off the idea in her youth—she did as Doc suggested. Drinking the cold water hurt at first, but helped immeasurably after that, not only soothing her sore throat but seeming to wash the grogginess away and reduce the ache in her bones and stomach.
“Thanks,” she said, replacing the empty glass. “Forget me. What about the others? Where’s Adam?”
Doc looked to the door. For a mad second, Eve thought Adam must be hiding around the corner, ready to jump out and say surprise. Of course not. Not his style.
Doc pointed to the wheelchair. “Come on, let’s walk.”
He rose and offered her a hand. She pulled her arms into her body and gave the doctor her death stare. She could almost not bear to ask the crucial question, but it had to be done. She pushed it through.
“Is Adam alive?”
“Yes,” said Doc, without hesitation. “Now get in the chair.”
They were in Doc’s HQ, where he had previously mended Eve after she took a shotgun slug to the stomach. That time, she had been unconscious during the entirety of her stay. She hadn’t missed much. Bland corridors and closed doors. Dirty floors and tube lighting, some of which flickered.
“Everyone made it,” Doc said, as they walked. “Omi ain’t injured, but he’s in his nineties, and’s got all the problems you’d expect of a super OAP. Think he’ll have to go to a home before long. Only so much I can do.”
On they went, turning left and right, merely moving into more corridors that looked identical to the ones they had left. Eve had no idea how Doc knew where he was going, especially given he was talking as he went.
“Noah’s got a bed here; Tameka sleeps next door. I sorted Ursula’s leg and mine, no problem. Hattie, course, weren’t suffering from anything but worry ‘bout Delilah.”
Another turn, and now Doc slowed a little.
“What about Graham and Delilah?” asked Eve.
“Delilah was shaken but fine. Ain’t left Omi’s bedside since we arrived. Hattie and her sleep in the room next door.”
Outside another plain door in a long line of plain doors, Doc pulled the wheelchair to a stop.
“You had your stomach slashed. You was in a pretty bad way, but Gray took the prize for worst condition. It’s incredible he could walk through the doorway, and he’s lucky I’m such a sick doctor. Even so, he’s still in critical condition.”
“But he’ll live?”
Doc paused. She wondered if he was going to lie.
“Hope so,” he said. Then, as though reading her mind: “That ain’t sugar coating nothing. He’s loads better than he was. Chances of survival are still only about 55%.”
“You’ll do what you can?” said Eve.
“Course. I’ll never give up.”
Eve nodded and looked to the door ahead, pondering. She pointed.
“Adam?”
“Nah, that’s a door.”
Eve looked at the doctor. “You think I’ll find the news easier to process, the longer you keep it from me?”
Doc bit his lip. “Maybe if I’d gone to proper doctor school they’d have told me how to handle this.”
“Maybe,” said Eve. “Just open the door and give it your best shot.”
Eve looked away as soon as she finished speaking. If she lost her brother, she would die. It was as simple as that.
Doc opened the door and wheeled Eve inside. The room was much like the one in which Eve had woken. Adam occupied the single bed. Numerous machines and lines trailed from his body. If you could ignore them, he looked almost peaceful.
“Guess the trip back was too much,” said Doc. “He collapsed pretty much straight away. Passed out. He ain’t woken since.”
Doc had stopped right through the door. He jumped a little as Eve wheeled the chair and his hands, which had been resting on the handle, flopped off. She stopped by the bed, as close to her brother’s head as could be.
“If I ask you when he’ll wake I’m not going to like the answer, am I?”
Doc had remained by the door. He considered the question.
“He’s stable,” he said at last. “But comatose. His life don’t appear to be in any danger, but no, don’t know when, or if, he’ll wake.”
Eve nodded. She did not trust herself to speak. With a hand that shook from fear for her brother rather than the wound she had suffered, she touched his arm.
“Thank you for all you’ve done,” she said to Doc, her voice cracking in the middle.
“Of course,” said Doc. “Eve, you know—”
“I’d like to be alone with my brother now, please.”
Doc hovered, as though he might fight her on this command. Had he, she would have raised a hand and sent him crashing from the room. Damn what that would do to her stitches
There was no need. A few seconds later, he nodded, turned, and departed, closing the door behind him.
Alone with her brother, Eve squeezed his arm and took a deep breath, fighting the tears though there was no one there to see them. She had the sense she needed to be strong. For Adam.
“We saved the world,” she said. “We destroyed the organisation’s main base of operations. Their red room is gone; most of their staff, too. During that final fight, I watched my father die and know my mother and only full-sister died too. Despite everything, I’ll miss mum. Despite everything, I loved her.”
Another deep breath. This wasn’t working.
“None of them mean anything compared to you.”
The tears were coming, there was no way to stop them.
“Our whole lives we wanted nothing more than to be normal. I never admitted it, because I didn’t think it would happen. You more than wished for it, more than hoped. You believed in it. Ever since we were tiny, you believed that one day we could be normal. You never lost that hope.”
With her free hand, Eve wiped her eyes. Leaning forward, she looked into Adam’s face.
“You always knew it would happen, and now it has. The organisation is gone, and at last, we can have our normal life. All you have to do is open your eyes. That’s it. That’s nothing next to saving the world, and we did that no problem.”
She stared at his placid face. From behind his eyelids, there was no sign of movement.
Eve pressed her head to her brother's chest. She closed her eyes tight.
“Okay,” she said. “That’s enough. No more closed eyes. On the count of three, we open them together. Got it?”
She waited. The silence of the room was oppressive.
“Ready,” she said. “1… 2… 3…”
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Author’s Note
Back in the early months of 2020, I wrote Hide and Seek and Count to Ten, the first two novels in my Hide and Seek trilogy.
I released both within a couple of weeks of each other in May. They were well received, and I was excited to write the final novel.
But not right away. I love writing, but it’s always hard work. Even more so when writing several volumes of the same series in a row. I knew if the third volume was to hit the standards I wanted it to, I needed to take a break before I began.
For me, a break means not lying on a beach, but starting something new. For some time, I’d had an idea for a story two
siblings bearing great power, the use of which would cause them to suffer great consequence, on the run. Thus, in the aftermath of publishing Count to Ten, Adam and Eve were born.
These would be shorter works, novellas rather than novels. Therefore, I decided I would write not one but three before embarking upon the third Hide and Seek novel.
Then I got started. In a flash I had written the first two, and was captivated by the trials and tribulations Adam and Eve were facing. Rather than three, I decided I would write four, then get on to the final Hide and Seek novel.
Now, here we are. As I sit at my desk, writing this introduction, I am part way through the sixth Adam and Eve thriller.
This introduction will appear in all six books, as well as in the boxset.
I don’t know at what point you may have decided to read this authors note but, whenever it is, I can only say thank you for being here, and I hope you have enjoyed reading about Adam and Eve’s troubles as much as I have enjoyed writing them.
For now, I’m off to finish writing the sixth thriller, which you may have just finished reading. Then it’s on to completing the Hide and Seek trilogy.
I hope you enjoy that one too.
Mark Ayre
24/07/2020
Have You Read?
The Adam and Eve Thrillers
Cursed from birth with supernatural abilities, Adam and Eve have spent their lives on the run, using the tips their mother taught them to keep one step ahead of the ruthless organisation that pursues them.
But when their enemy develops a new device that can locate the twins, any time, anywhere, running is no longer an option. To secure their freedom, they must turn and fight.
Do Adam and Eve, even with their extraordinary abilities, stand any chance of destroying an organisation with infinite resources and no compunction about killing countless innocents to achieve their goals, or are they merely hand-delivering themselves to the tortuous life of experimentation from which their mother tried to save them?
Follow the twins as they fight to overcome insurmountable odds in pursuit of the one thing they have never been allowed: a normal life; with all six thrillers available separately or in a single digital collection..
Book One: Fire and Smoke
Book Two: Lost and Found
Book Three: Cat and Mouse
Book Four: Lock and Key
Book Five: Cloak and Shield
Book Six: Hope in Hell
The Complete Boxset: Adam and Eve Books 1-6
The Hide and Seek Trilogy
A Trilogy of Supernatural Thrillers
Book one:
A stroll in the woods almost killed her. Her survival puts everyone she loves in danger…
After Mercury stumbles upon an unconscious man on a mysterious symbol in the woods, her safe place almost becomes her final resting place.
Lucky to survive, Mercury tracks the man she almost died trying to help, only for him to claim he was home when she believes he was attacked.
Sure he is lying, Mercury sets about discovering the truth, and finds evidence of a terrifying ritual involving the symbol she saw that night. But her interference brings her survival to the attention of those who tried to kill her, and as they seek to perform the ritual again, Mercury must fight to stop them not to save her own life - but the lives of everyone she loves...
Book one: Hide and Seek
Book two: Count to Ten
Book Three: Coming October 2020
The James Perry Mysteries
The black sheep’s shadow
They see the body down an alley. Hair matted with blood from a blow recently struck. They call the police and try to stop the bleeding.
Somewhere nearby, a mother screams. Her nine year old has been taken.
All your secrets
His body lies on his office floor, multiple stab wounds having shredded his white shirt and the chest beneath it.
There has been no break-in. The killer was either invited, or already had a key.
Tap here to grab the books now
Standalone
Poor Choices
The Morton's were unassuming, unexceptional boring. Now, as they try to rectify their poor choices, they slip further and further into dark and dangerous places, and it won't be long before blood is spilled.
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About the Author
MARK AYRE is a writer of character driven suspense thrillers, often with a supernatural slant. He was born in Reading, England, where he now lives with his wife and daughter.
www.markayrewriting.com
[email protected]
Copyright © 2020 by Alex Thompson
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.