I've Been Waiting for You (18 page)

Sneak Peak into “Redemption at Midnight”

Release 2014

Brent woke up but felt like he was in a fog. He looked around, trying to get his bearings. Then he heard a sound, a familiar one and he knew it wasn’t good.

“Where the fuck is my brother? Do you want me to start tearing your limbs off and sucking you dry?”

Brent tried to smile but he hurt too much. Then he heard. “Sir, I understand your frustration but he is still asleep and no one is suppose
d to go into the recovery room, just yet.”

Brent heard a strangling sound then
, “Get a hold of Justin and shut him up.” Then Brent heard who he thought must be Travis’ distinctly cultured voice. “Sir, I’m so sorry for that, but you must understand, we’ve just flown from Ireland, after a family wedding. Justin here is Brent’s twin, they are rarely separated. Justin feels it’s his fault his brother is here now.”

“I’m so
,” coughing sounds, “sorry, sir, but orders are orders. Not till morning and the doctor returns to see.”

Brent tried to yell out but his throat felt like it had been ripped out. He couldn’t make a sound. He could only lie there and listen. He heard a crashing sound and then the separation from all that was going on the other side became part of his recovery area. Justin had
dived under the crude partition and smiled a roguish smile at his brother as he stood up. Brent tried sitting up straighter, but because of the drugs they had given him, he couldn’t.

“These dumb mother fuckers don’t know when it’s better for you to see your own flesh and blood
. We are going on a bear hunt, I mean a terrorist hunt, brother, and gonna catch us some terrorists real soon.” Justin said as he stood closer to his brother’s bed. He was about to give his brother a bear hug when they stopped at the noise and happenings going on the other side. “Sir, I will have to ask you to not go in there, this is going to get reported, sir, that is too many men to be visiting the patient. Security!”

All the men poured into Brent’s small recovery area. Justin smiled and then turning to his brother he grabbed him up in a great big bear hug.
Brent felt every bit of the hug and started to groan. Colum put his hand on Justin. “I think your brother is in pain and needs to be...” he was met by a growl.

Cormac and Travis dove in to break up what could have been a catastrophe.

Justin had felt the hand on him and not even knowing or caring he had started to growl. “I wouldn’t fucking go there Doc,” When he saw who it was, he fell to the floor. “Please forgive me, Sire, I meant no harm, I thought it was that stupid ass orderly coming to stop me from seeing my brother.”

All men stood still and then a great big laugh erupted from the center. Colum was a bit buried under all
who were there. It had become a pig pile of sorts. Finally everyone separated. Standing still, watching Justin, their King and Brent.

“No harm done Justin
, now to get your brother discharged so we can bring him home and get him the care he needs.”

Cormac picked up the charts at the end of the bed and glanced over them quickly. He looked up once at Justin and then his wounded brother and inwardly shuttered.
Did Brent even know?

Justin saw the look and he didn’t like it. “What’s going on? What’s happened to my brother?”

Brent hadn’t been awake for long, but didn’t like the sound of Justin’s voice. “Yeah, what happened to me? I just woke up to all the noise and...”

MPs rushed in to the recovery area, guns drawn. The young orderly rushed in behind them.
One look, everyone knew this could be a bomb about to go off, likely a chance for Justin to have a feeding frenzy because he was looking for scapegoats to punish for his brother’s condition.

Travis jumped in between. “You will have to excuse us. This is HRH Colum O’Heachthanna. Brent O’Hara here is also with our Special Ops. We were called as soon as he arrived at your hospital. His brother will be assuming responsibility
, umm, after our men go on a hunting, I mean on a mission.”

Everyone stood still. No one said anything or moved. Colum had moved in behind Justin just in case.

Justin shook off the hands that held him. “I’m fine, really,” he moved back to his brother. Leaning in close, he whispered, “I’m going hunting and I will be back at dawn. I’m gonna find who did this to you, they will not know what hit them,” he gave his brother a quick hug and was gone.

“Sir. Sir, you must not go out there in the night
,” was yelled by one of the MPs.

Colum went to talk to the orderly
. Travis pulled the MPs aside and calmed them down. Cormac studied the charts. He felt Brent’s eyes studying him. Brent didn’t feel good all of a sudden. He felt like he was going to throw up. Looking down at his bed he saw the sheets pulled tight over his thighs. Looking back up he licked his lips and tried to talk. It came out as a croaking sound.

“Give it to me
, Sir, I need to know.”

Cormac knew this would be hard. He wasn’t sure how he would react. “Son
, you’ve lost the lower part of both legs. You had a knee but it was so shattered they took it, too. I’m so sorry. But don’t worry, you will have the best care and the prosthesis that they have now, you will be up and running before you know it.”

“I’m not whole
, that’s what you are telling me. I’m not whole. I will never be the same again. I will never be the same. People will look at me with pity. No one will want me. I won’t be able to work. I should have died, what good will I be? I can’t be a soldier. I can never go on missions again? What will I do, sit on a porch and fucking knit?”

Everyone had turned. The MPs slowly filed out. The orderly said he would return as soon as he could find the doctor. His thoughts as he left were it looked like they would have to sedate Brent.

Colum pulled his father to the side. “We need to get him out of here. The other men with Thor have gone to hunt down Justin and make sure he doesn’t take innocents in his hunting.” He took the chart and gave it a quick look over. Brent was still talking to himself, though he had quieted down some.

Travis tapped Colum on the shoulder. But as soon as he had, Brent made a grab for Colum’s
Glock that he had holstered. Travis dove as did Cormac. The gun went off and hit Travis in the leg. A howl of rage could be heard.

Cormac hauled off and slugged Brent, enough that he was out and quick.

They all stood while Travis assessed the damage. “I will need to dig this out.”

The orderly and four MPs came running back in. “What the hell happened?” A doctor came skidding to a stop behind them.

“We need to get him under sedation till we can remove him. Travis will need to have a bullet removed from his leg. If you would be so kind to get me the tools I can perform the procedure,” Colum said with authority in his voice.

The orderly just stood there.
Nothing made sense. These men were taller than any man he normally saw on a daily basis. Counting all ten who had walked in, were giants. The orderly approached the Giant who he said was some HRH he had never heard of. He appeared to be in charge. “Sir, we cannot allow this gentleman to remove that bullet.” He pointed in the direction of Cormac who stood next to Travis. “He needs proper care.”

Colum glanced over to the orderly and tried to think of what best way to take care of him.
He looked past him for a second to his father.
Father, please create a diversion so we can get this bullet out. These here will flip out if they see the color of our blood.

Cormac smiled.
My thoughts exactly.
He turned and started to walk towards the door. All of a sudden a crash could be heard on the other side somewhere. Everyone stood still then a loud yell could be heard.

Colum stilled his men with his look. The orderly sent the MPs off. The Doctor yelled he would be right back to attend to Travis. The orderly sighed. “I will return momentarily
,” he turned and ran out also.

Travis sat on a chair, his pants down. Cormac grabbed his surgical kit that he had in his pack. Colum handed him what he needed, when he needed it. Travis watched
, but his hands were starting to bend the chair.

“There, got the bugger out, now let
’s clean you up.” Cormac glanced up at Travis. “How many times have I done this for you?”

Travis looked down. “
Too many fucking, bloody times.”

Travis turned when Brent started to come to. “He will need to be sedated
until we can get him back home, stateside.”

Cormac shook his head. “We will bring him to Ireland
, first. He needs real care and we have doctors who can mobilize at a moment’s notice. We will work this all out. I think I will make a trip to London after though.”

Travis and Colum both snapped their heads at that. “Why?” they asked.

Cormac finished up and wiped his hands. “Because I think this is something we are going to need extra help with.”

Colum nodded.
Maybe it would be this that would bring my sister back into the fold and the family.

* * * * * * * *

Brent studied the lower part of his body. He knew now there was no legs, no hope. Somehow he would kill himself. He would end this misery quickly. Turning to the sound he saw Travis pulling up his pants. Then he remembered. “Did I shoot you, sir?”

Travis stood and walk
ed over to the side of Brent. “Yes, but it’s all healed. We just needed to get the slug out. Good thing our former King knows a bit of medicine.”

Brent turned away. “I’m sorry about that
, sir, but not sorry I reached for the Glock. I will keep trying till I succeed.”

Cormac walked up to Brent. Grabbing his arm, he
gave Brent a shot of a sedative. It all happened so quickly no one, least of all Brent, saw it coming. “Somehow we will get you past that, Brent, and you will want to live, or I will change you myself. There will be no more talk of killing yourself.”

Brent felt himself starting to float away. The voices of the men, especially
Cormac, were so far away. He tried to speak. “I don’t want to live because I will be useless.” He tried to say more but someone put the lights out.

“He’s out
,” Cormac checked his pulse. “Good, it’s strong. Let’s find his brother and get them both out of here.

Colum studied his father as his father looked over Brent’s charts again. He made some notations. Glancing up he smiled a small smile
. “Old habits are hard to break.”

Colum clasped his father on the shoulder.
“You know you were the perfect King. Why you gave it up for me still has me puzzled.”

Cormac put Brent’s chart back and smoothed his bed cover. “Because our kind needed a new
King. My stepping down allows me to do what I want, spend more time with your mother Elsabet and go back to school. This fall I will also be teaching at Harvard.”

Colum chuckled. “When was the last time?”

“Right after the Revolutionary War.” He turned to the noise that was coming from down the hall. “It would appear the men are back.”

Justin let out a growl. Not half satisfied with what he had accomplished. But he tried to clear the red haze from his eyes. Thor had said they really needed to get his brother out
, but would need his signature, so he had returned. He would be returning to the region as soon as his brother was stable enough for him to be left alone. Then he would return and finish what he started, sanctioned or not by the coven. Whoever did this, he would snoop and hunt till he found the whole cell, and then he was going to have a feeding fucking frenzy.