by T. C. Clark
“Baby, you know you can’t take me in a straight up fight. Don’t make me hurt you when I finally found you again.”
She didn’t respond to his taunt. He charged her. She used his momentum to flip him but he hooked her arm and threw her as well. She landed on her butt. She rolled over to crawl away but he caught her by the leg and pulled her back.
She deflected his blows and used her blades as quickly as she could but the Magician was a better fighter. He’d been trained by the biggest cartel in Mexico from birth.
She screamed when his blade sliced through her thigh. She punched him in the throat, and he slapped her. He grabbed her by the neck and pinned her against the wall. He smiled as he strengthened his grip. She raked her nails down his hands but he didn’t stop. He yelled when another blade landed in his side.
Sandy had crawled over to the side of the car to get the one she’d initially hit the Magician with, leaving a trail of bright red blood behind him. Chico pushed Lily away from him. She tripped and Sandy caught her before she could hit the ground. She coughed violently while she tried to catch her breath.
“Lily, you got soft, girl. You used to be better with a blade. Now I got too…” he stopped and dropped to his knees. His dark brown eyes looked at her with fear when he realized he couldn’t speak.
“Thank God. I thought it was never going to hit your heart. You see, I got that knife from the Surgeon. It has a small thin needle in the middle and it’s filled with his very own customized poison. That blade in particular has a slow acting poison that takes time to travel through the bloodstream. I knew I needed to get your heart beating fast so I could speed the process up. It typically takes six hours to have an effect. Good-bye, Chico. May your last moments be filled with regrets and pain.” Lily walked over to Chico pulled the knife out and snatched the necklace from his neck. She pocketed the usb.
She turned away from the Magician as his body hit the ground and started to convulse.
“You had that knife when I choked you out,” Sandy said pointing to the weapon in her hand.
“I did and there is a way to cut someone without releasing the poison, but I couldn’t risk it.” She took off her shirt and laid it down behind him. She looked at Sandy, “I need you to move onto my shirt.”
“Why did you come here?” he asked as he did what she said. He had no idea what kind of plan she had. They only had twenty minutes left before the missiles descended on them, but he didn’t feel like arguing right now.
“Why did you leave me behind?” She answered his question with one of her own.
“Lily…”
“This is going to hurt.” She pulled him across the floor using his own blood to reduce the friction. She got him into the next car.
She opened the closet where she’d stored the dead engineer and pulled him inside. She secured both of them against the same wall she had the engineer pinned to.
Lily wrapped herself around him and then leaned down to rest against his chest. “Don’t ever take away my choice, Sandy. You’re not alone any more. We are a team. Even if it hurts me, you can’t make decisions for me like that. Do you understand?”
“I only wanted to keep you safe,” he whispered. His skin was pale. He’d lost too much blood. They didn’t have a lot of time left.
“I know that, but we are together in the good times and the bad ones. You are not alone. As long as I’m alive, you will never be alone again.” She pulled his head down and kissed him. He kissed her back with a desperate hunger.
He pulled back. “I assume you have a plan.”
“Well, it’s a pretty shitty one. In about two minutes Ghost is going to set off a special made bomb that is going to hopefully separate the passenger cars. I did the math and there’s about a thirty-seven percent chance it will work,” she said happily.
“Thirty-seven percent is pretty bad, Lily.”
“This coming from a guy who had a zero percent chance of surviving,” she said dryly.
The pain radiating from his leg was extreme. But he barely felt it. He’d done his best to keep her safe. But Lily had chosen him. She’d fucking chosen him. He was lucky he’d trusted his instincts. She was definitely a woman worth dying for.
“I love you, Lily.”
“I love you, too.” She kissed him lightly on the lips and tightened her arms around him. “Now close your eyes. This is going to hurt.”
Her watch beeped and an explosion ripped through the other passenger car. Her head slammed against the wall and she tried desperately to hold onto Sandy as the car flipped off of the tracks. Her last thought was that she wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
* * *
Lily opened her eyes slowly. Pain touched everything on her body. She could barely make out who was standing above her. She calmed down when she recognized the bright red hair. She was in a hospital bed, but she couldn’t move her hand. She looked down and let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was handcuffed to the bed.
Her body ached, and she had a cast on her right leg and left forearm. She tried to search her memories for clues for what happened but there was nothing there. All she could remember was pain and fire. She grimaced when she moved her leg. She definitely had some third degree burns on it.
“My name is Enrique Igglesias, and like I said before, that’s with two g’s. It’s not spelled like the singers. I would appreciate it if you would stop being racist and let me take care of my patient,” Ghost said dismissively.
“Sir, I’m not being racist. I’m supposed to check in everyone that comes in or out of this room and your name, Dr. Igglesias with two g’s is not on the list.”
“You expect me to believe you’re not a raging racist? Then what did you mean by saying, I don’t look like an Enrique Igglesias? You’re questioning my Spanish heritage and I’m not here for it,” he snapped.
“Sir…” The nurse took a deep breath as she visibly tried to control her temper.
“Listen, Cheryl,” he said rolling his eyes.
“It’s Madison. I’ve told you that three times.”
“I’m sorry, isn’t that what I said? Anyway, I am Miss Jane Doe’s doctor and I have a job to do and you are really getting on my nerves. So if you want to find someone that could actually help, that would be great.” He injected as much disdain as he could in his voice and gave her the haughtiest look he could muster.
The angry nurse slammed the folder down and left the room. He immediately turned to Lily and whispered into her ear. “I can see you’re trying to speak, don’t. Sandy’s is fine. We got him out before you and by the time we came back to pull you out, the police were on the scene. Oh, and I took care of that other thing too. Now I’m going to inject you with something that will knock you out. I know, I know. I keep drugging you and it’s starting to seem like a pattern. But I promise, I’ll probably only do it twice more in your lifetime. So relax, sit back, and let good old Ghost take you on a magical ride.”
Lily had to stop herself from laughing. Every time she moved it hurt. She wanted to speak but her throat wasn’t working. She would worry about that later. Ghost pulled out a small vial of clear liquid and injected her quickly. She didn’t fight the pull of sleep as the drugs hit her system.
“Now before that she-beast gets back, let’s get the fuck out of here.”
* * *
Three days, two planes and one kidnapping later…
Lily’s return to consciousness did not happen gracefully. Her mind felt groggy and her mouth was dry. She wanted to drink something and throw up at the same time. She was trying to figure out which option was the best when she recognized a voice to her left.
Someone was holding her hand tightly and squeezing it hard. They were saying something. Why were they whispering? She tried to tell them to speak up but once again her throat wouldn’t work. Everything from her toes to her hair hurt, but she was still alive.
She tilted her head to swallow and grimaced when she felt a pulling sensation on her neck. She re
ached up and ran her hand across her throat. She felt a large bulky bandage there.
She forced her eyes opened and was surprised at how much effort it took to do so. Tara, Bella, and Nancy were sitting on her bed. Tara was holding her hand while Nancy and Bella played some sort of board game.
“Hey guys,” she whispered. Panic assailed her when she realized no words came out. She squeezed Tara’s hand and mouthed the word doctor to her.
Lily hated the look of pity that crossed both Tara and Bella’s faces. Tara let her go and went to collect whoever had stitched up this wound across her neck. Nancy started crying and Lily opened an arm. The little girl crawled closer and snuggled up to her.
Bella was whispering a prayer. Fuck, what happened to her when that train blew up. Shit, what happened to Sandy? She tried to turn her head but couldn’t. She forced herself to calm down. This wasn’t the time or the place to freak out.
She smiled at Nancy. The little girl had a death grip on her nightgown. She looked up when Anita entered the room. Anita handed her a white board and a marker.
“Hello Lily. How are you feeling?” Anita asked. She immediately walked over to the side and checked her vitals. When Lily went to speak, Anita shook her head and pointed to the board. It took her a minute to get her fingers to work right but once she did, she wrote on the white board Anita handed her.
What’s wrong with my voice?
“Your voice box was damaged severely during the explosion. I did what I could, but the damage was extreme. I don’t know if you’ll be able to speak again. That was the worst part. You have a few broken bones as well, but other than that, you’re in pretty good shape, considering what you’ve been through.”
Lily didn’t get upset. She was lucky to be alive. She would deal with the ramifications from the mission later. All she wanted right now was to see Sandy and make sure he was okay.
Where is Sandy?
Anita and her cousins shared a look that sparked fear in her heart. What had Ghost said when she’d woken up the first time? He’d told her he was fine. But Ghost was a liar. She could feel the tears filling her eyes.
She wrote another line: Someone fucking answer me right now!
“Hey, guys. Take Nancy out of the room for a little bit while I talk to Lily,” Anita said as she sat down on the bed. Lily’s heart sank. She’d seen Anita give that look before. It was a look she used in the hospital when she had to give patients bad news.
Nancy pulled Lily’s arm tighter. “I don’t want to go!” she wailed.
Tara put a hand on her arm and said firmly, “The doctor needs to speak to Lily so we are going to go to the kitchen and have some ice cream. Lily’s still going to be here when we get back, but we are going to do what she says.”
Tara sounded just like her aunt Pearl. Her tone was kind but left little room for argument. Bella bent down and scooped Nancy off the bed. She smiled at Lily, “It’s going to be okay. All of us are here for you.”
Lily nodded at them and gave a semblance of a smile to Nancy. It was the best she could do. She could feel her heart breaking and she couldn’t even scream. She took a deep breath and focused on calming herself down.
“Sandy’s situation became more complicated than this island could handle. We don’t have enough equipment here to do what needed to be done. He lost a lot of blood and his skull was fractured. Ghost and Aidan are with him in a small hospital in Geneva. It’s apparently an underground criminal hospital that I’m not supposed to know anything about.”
Is he okay?
“I don’t know. They had to go dark when they left the island. Your attack on that man…the Magician. It alerted NICON of your plan and they have turned up the heat on tracking you guys. There are more things that I need to tell you, but I think you need to heal a little bit more first.”
Don’t shut me out. I was a major part of this plan and I need to know everything. I won’t be okay until I do.
Anita shook her head as she struggled to figure out the right thing to do. After a moment she sighed. “Sandy was close to dying when he left the island. His brain was swelling and we had to amputate part of his leg. The leg that the Magician shot and your friend the Forecaster…” Anita’s voice trailed off and she looked away. She was obviously having a hard time trying to find the right words.
Lily picked up the board again and wrote: Say it!
“They believe the Mechanic and the Surgeon are dead. That’s why we stopped communication between the island and everyone else. Dmitri is still offering tech support. He went back to Chicago with Luca to continue his work. Eden and the baby are going to stay here for now. This is the safest place we have. Nikos has increased security all around the island. Lily, Sandy could be fine, but I can’t I lie to you. When they left he wasn’t looking good.” Anita stopped talking and waited for Lily to react, but she just looked out the window, her face frozen with an emotion that no words could reach.
“Lily….” Anita tried to grab Lily’s hand but she snatched it away. She picked up the pen with a shaking hand.
Thank you for being honest, Anita. I need you to leave now. I need some time to process this.
This was too many losses in a row. Lily needed time to come to terms with everything that happened. She wasn’t weak, eventually, she would pick herself up and find a way to help the others. But right now, in this moment, all she could do was breathe.
Anita looked like she wanted to say more but she did as Lily asked. Lily knew the risks and accepted them but that didn’t mean this didn’t hurt. Once Anita left the room, she rolled as far as the casts would allow and curled herself around a pillow as her head threatened to explode from the pain.
Lily closed her eyes and prayed for sleep. She needed time to form a plan. If NICON thought she was done they had another thing coming. If she fell apart now, then everything they’d done up until this point would mean nothing. The reassuring thoughts she kept repeating in her mind were easy to form but it didn’t stop the tears from falling or keep her heart from breaking.
* * *
A few days later….
The ground was shaking. That was Lily’s first thought when she opened her eyes three days later. She looked over at her digital clock and sighed it was two o’clock in the morning. Someone was probably dropping off supplies. She had to give it to Nikos and Ada they ran a strict schedule on the island.
Lily was even impressed with the security measures he’d taken here. He’d learned a lot from the other times his home had been invaded by agents. She’d spent the last few days figuring out how to maneuver around the compound with her casts.
It wasn’t easy but she managed. Nancy had become her permanent shadow. The little girl had taken to heart her promise she made back in Bulgaria. She had a feeling the next few years of her life were going to be spent very differently than she’d imagined.
Lily spent her nights trying to figure out how to contact any person from the team with Sandy. She’d learned that Julian, Maks, and Aidan had gone with Ghost. They were worried about the security at the small hospital in Geneva. So far she’d heard nothing, but she still held out hope. She couldn’t imagine building a life after Sandy. That probably made her weak, but it was the truth.
Even though the Forecaster had confirmed the death of the Mechanic and the Surgeon, she wouldn’t believe it to be true until she saw the bodies. Rhea was a hard woman to kill, as many people in the world had come to find out, and she’d seen the look on the Surgeon’s face whenever he looked at her. He would destroy anything, betray anyone, to keep her safe.
All Lily had now was hope and time. She was currently working on rehabilitating her injuries so she could leave the island and investigate things herself. She sat up and opened the drawer next to her bed.
She wouldn’t get any sleep until she checked to see who’d just landed. Even injured she considered herself part of the team hired to protect the people on the island. She knew Ross, the man in charge of security, hated all of her questions
. But she’d never much cared about what other people wanted.
She carefully made her way to the tarmac. She had her weapons drawn when she saw him. He looked thin and hurt, but she’d recognize those baby blues anywhere. Lily hobbled down the runway as fast as her injuries would allow.
Maks, Leslie’s husband, saw her first. He shook his head and ran to get her. He offered his shoulder and for once in her life she took the help. Anything that got her to Sandy quickly was necessary.
She stopped in front of his chair. Sandy looked up and held out a hand. She knew he was still hurt. She knew she should give him time to recover from the journey, but her heart wouldn’t allow it. She threw herself on him, she heard him grunt just before she took his mouth.
“Thank God,” Nikos said as he walked up. “I didn’t know what I was going to do if you didn’t bring him back. You know that girl has a penchant for blowing things up.”
“You think that’s bad. That dude was crazy once he woke up. He lost his shit when we refused to bring him back. By the time we left the hospital he was officially banned for life.”
“Where’s Aidan?”
“An Asian guy showed up, said he was the Surgeon, and then I believe he sort of kidnapped him. Sandy said it was fine, but Aidan was not happy. To be honest we’re really not sure what happened.”
Sandy stopped kissing Lily to address the confusion.
“The Surgeon didn’t kidnap Aidan, he merely borrowed him. I sent Ghost with him to make sure that he was protected.”
At the mention of the Surgeon, Lily mouthed Rhea’s name.
“She’s okay. Yuuto didn’t have time to tell me everything but he made it clear that they were handling the Linguist.”