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“That’s right. Iamprotective. And Iwillget you out of here.”
She took a deep breath, her chest expanding, and then she relaxed. It was a few minutes before I realized that she hadn’t taken another breath.
“Celia?” I peered down at her, shaking her a little.
There was no response. Her eyes were open, but far off and unseeing. I screamed her name in shock and despair.
“Celia!” I began to shake her, uncaring of her IV, of how brittle she was. “Celia, wake up!Please! Oh God, Celia!”
My voice just kept getting louder and louder and I screamed and screamed, but I knew she couldn’t hear me anymore.
CHAPTERTHIRTY-FOUR
ALEXEI
North Brother Island was bleak. The sky seemed darker as we approached the dock. There was a boat already berthed there, and I figured those were the traffickers. Between the six of us, we were weighed down with guns and grenades. I lifted my gun and jumped off the boat, keeping an eye out for anyone coming at us.
It didn’t take long for the vermin to emerge. Three men approached us from the door of the hospital, already shooting. We wasted no time in dispatching them. Just as I was running towards the entrance to the hospital, a scream—desperate and blood-curdling—filled the air. It was distracting. I wanted to run towards it, but I had to keep a look out for hostiles.
“That was Nora,” I whispered to Katya.
“Are you sure?”
“It’s her.”
“Cover me. I’ll get her.”
“No! Go back to the boat and wait for us there.”
“What? Why?”
“We’ll need you. Can’t risk both of us. Go on.”
Katya sighed but she listened to me and returned to the boat. I followed the sound of the scream down a darkened corridor as my men cut a swathe through the hostiles who were stationed at the hospital. The screaming was ceaseless.
I came to a door and shot off the lock, bursting into the room, my gun at the ready. I wasn’t prepared for the scene that greeted me. Nora was on the floor, hunched over another figure, swaying back and forth, and screaming Celia’s name.
I closed the door behind me and dropped to my knees on her other side. The scene kept going in and out. One minute, it was Celia and Nora in front of me, the next it was my mother, her arms around my father, screaming at me, “What did you do, Alex?What did you do?”
My father’s head was in her lap, bashed open and bleeding, blue eyes staring at nothing. Then it was Celia’s body, eyes open and staring as Nora screamed her name. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, not even knowingwhoI was talking to.
Finally she looked up and saw me. “Alexei!” she cried. “Help her. Help her!” Her face was streaming with tears, eyes full of despair. I had no idea what to do.
I reached out for her, taking her by the arm. “Let her go,” I said gently. “We’ll… we’ll take her to the hospital, but first you’ve gotta let her go.”
She was shaking her head. “No, no, no, I can’t leave her. She’ll be cold.”
“No, she won’t. I promise you. She’ll be fine. Everything will be fine,” I assured her, her face still fading in and out, interchangeable with my mother’s.
“What did you do, Alexei? What will we do? They’ll kill you if they know. There will be a price on your head. How could you do this?”
“It’ll be okay. I promise you. We’ll find a way.”
She wailed, throwing her head back, begging for her to be okay. I reached out and took her hands, prying them off Celia’s body. “It’ll be alright. You’ll see,” I said softly. I picked up Celia’s body and got to my feet. “Come with me.”
I turned and began to walk out of the room. Naturally, Nora followed. My head was spinning. I was having a hard time staying in the present. I hadn’t ever thought that my father’s death had such an impact on me, but things I had buried long ago sprung up, demanding my attention.
I couldn’t look down at Celia’s body. All I could think of was my mother, frantically rubbing the blood from my hands, and then picking up the rock and smearing her own palms with my father’s blood, and brains, telling me to get out, to justgo.
