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“Don’t leave me,” she said.
Carlo got up, and got out of the car. “I got you boss,” he said as he headed that direction. The last I saw of Carlo was his figure going past the collapsed wall of the compound into the dusty interior.
“It’ll be ok,” I said, holding her. I could smell her hair, a pleasant flowery smell, despite the fearful sweat that glistened on her.
“I love you,” she said. “Thank you for caring.” She shook in my arms, the sobs still taking over her.
Braden must have been uncomfortable because he faced away from us. I didn’t care. Neither did she.
All that mattered was that I was holding her in my arms again. I hoped her father was ok. He was still my friend, even if he was angry with me at the moment. And kinda crazy.
“When it’s all clear,” Braden said. “We’ll go in.”
The fire from each explosion was like small bits of glowing embers over a vast landscape. There was rubble everywhere, and we needed the dusty fog to settle down before we attempted to go in.
Surely, my man Carlo wasn’t going to make it through all that rubble easily.
“I’ll go in,” I said. “When the dust settles, I’ll go. I don’t think Carlo should have gone in.”
“Just come back to me,” Adriana said. “And don’t let me go, ever again.” She said this last set of words with an edge I had only heard in her when she talked about her father being in danger.
I do hold a special place in her heart, and I can’t just let go of her. But what about Frank?
As I made my way through into the compound, I could see the car with Adriana and Braden get smaller and smaller.Get back to your girl, Brody.
I rushed forward and saw Carlo helping someone.
“Carlo,” I insisted. “Let me take over.” I took off my coat, and started wrapping the man’s wound. It was Frank.
“Gotcha,” Frank said, delirious. “I got the mole,” Frank said. “I found him, Brody.” Then he gave me a really serious look. “What are you doing here?”
“Frank, your daughter’s out there waiting for you, can you walk with me?” He nodded and I helped him up. After a few steps, he collapsed.
Frank was a big burly man, but there was no other choice. I put his arm around me as he winced. We walked back to his daughter.
13
ADRIANA
The first thing I saw was two men walking back together, one of them big and burly, the other confidently walking the bigger one back. From a distance, the two men were dots amidst the blur of smoke and the hazy outline of what was in front of me.
Deep down, I knew what I was seeing, but I just couldn’t it.There was no way this was happening.
Pounding wildly, my heart flustered at the sight of my father in Brody’s arms.He saved my father even after he threatened to kill him? He really does love me. And he’s not afraid of a single thing.
For years, I had been convinced that all men were just afraid of my father, and that he would chase them all away. As mad as I was at him for having tried to do that to Brody, I was grateful he was ok. He was still my father, and I loved him despite his shortcomings.
Would Brody do that too if we ever got serious?
I didn’t need to think about any of that, because when Daddy and Brody got close enough, I saw the true horror - a red bloodstained shirt.Who had shot him?
By the way Brody was holding my father, and how my father was talking to him, I immediately ruled out the idea of Brody shooting my father.But why had this happened?
Daddy was saying something to Brody, but I couldn’t hear him.Had they gotten past their quibble over me?For Daddy, it wasn’t so much a quibble as a dishonor to his name, and to Brody…well, I was still trying to figure out where Brody stood on the whole matter.I didn’t think he would leftdumped me, let alone save my father, after everything he had done earlier.
“What happened?” I asked, referring to the explosion that had occurred just moments before.
My father shook his head. “Sorry, sweetheart, I don’t think I’m going to make it. But at least I got the mole.”
