Luck of the Irish: Complete Edition (23 page)

“She’s not going anywhere with you.”

“That’s a bold statement. You shouldn’t underestimate her feelings for me. Now, get your hands off of her and let her come to me.”

“You’ll have to shoot me first.”

“That won’t be a problem,” he raised the gun and aimed at Declan’s head.

“Declan, please, don’t do anything. He
will
shoot you,” Keira moved to stand in front of Declan, facing him and putting herself between the two men. “But, he won’t hurt
me
. Please, let me go.”

“I’ve told you a million times, Keira; I won’t let anything happen to you. I’ll certainly not let this vermin take you anywhere.”

“Baby, please, let me go. I’ll find a way to come back to you. I promise. I don’t want to see you get hurt because of me.”

“No way! You can ask me anything, love. Just don’t ask me to give up on you.”

“I’m not asking you that. I’m asking you to have faith in me, in us.”

Keira and Declan were facing each other, their locked eyes filled with conflicting emotions. His dark green gaze was full of determination and anger, while her blue eyes brimmed with tears. Her face was screwed into a mask of anguish.

With their feelings and senses so invested in their momentary battle of wills, Declan and Keira didn’t notice O’Hallon moving inside the room until it was too late. He grabbed her upper arm and yanked her away from Declan’s grasp.

“You heard her begging you to let her go with me. Keira belongs with me. You should have learned that by now, Slane. You took her away from me against her will,” loathing and spite glinted in his hard eyes as he pulled the trigger without batting an eyelash.

“No!” the loud explosion wasn’t able to cover Keira’s cry of desperation.

When she saw Declan falling to the floor, pressing a hand to his stomach, where a stain of dark red was spreading fast, Keira launched herself at Paul, screaming like an ancient warrior woman.

Deep hurt and churning hatred consumed her, but also gave her an unexpected strength to punch his chest, and arms. Caught by surprise, Paul moved backwards a couple of steps. She followed him, sank her nails into the soft flesh below his eyes, scratching his face, and experiencing the gratifying satisfaction of hearing his high-pitched yelp of pain.

“You son a bitch! Why did you shoot him? You didn’t need to do that.”

“Keira, I did that for us.”

“I’ll kill you for that.”

Looking around the room in search of something to hit him with, she missed his next movement. She felt the sharp pain in her left temple, where he hit her with the grip of his gun. Her sight turned hazy and she stumbled forward towards Paul. When he stretched his hands to hold her and stop her fall, she panicked.

“Stay away from me, you sick son of a bitch.”

Keira couldn’t stomach his hands on her again. She stepped backwards, away from Paul, trying to escape. She lost her footing with her own sudden movement, fell backwards, and hit the back of her head to the ground with a loud crack.

“Declan…”

His name was the last softly whispered word on Keira’s lips before a silent darkness filled her mind and she lost consciousness.

* * * *

Declan’s mind was fuzzy. He was in excruciating pain, which clogged his brain, and allowed him to remember only bits and pieces, regardless of how hard he tried – Garda Murphy showing up, O’Hallon snatching Keira from his hands, then, shooting him.

After he had fallen to the ground, he blacked out. When he woke up, he didn’t know how long he had lain on the floor, blood gushing out of the bullet wound, while crippling pain seared him when he made even the smallest movement.

He wanted to shout for help, but his voice had deserted him. He moved his head, looking for Keira and found her lying on the floor close to him. He felt utterly powerless when he heard the gut-wrenching sounds of bones breaking as O’Hallon continued to batter her already immobile body – just like he had felt when he was a child. He made a super-human effort to stretch his arm and reach them. He needed to stop the bastard, he needed to help her, but unbearable pain paralyzed him.

“Stop! You’re killing her!” he tried to shout but no sound came out of his mouth.

He rolled onto his back. More blood gushed from his wound. Feeling dizzy, sick to his stomach, and angry at himself for not being able to stop O’Hallon, he knew he had failed Keira. Just like he had failed his mother as a kid. He couldn’t live with himself if something happened to Keira because of him. He took a deep breath, bracing himself to try to move, but a sharp stab of pain pierced his chest, and he lost consciousness again.

* * * *

A series of loud beeps and painful moans broke the silence in the room.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” a nurse gently asked Mrs. Claire Ashe to move away from the bed, where she had been standing since she had arrived.

The nurse checked the monitors, changed the blood IV bag, and adjusted the medication one. There wasn’t much else she could do, and her heart bled for the Ashe family’s suffering. She turned around to leave them alone, stopped a few feet away from the door, and looked at Mr. Ashe, who sat on one of the two armchairs placed beside the bed, staring into space.

“We’re doing all we can, sir.”

He looked at her as if she had grown two heads, and squinted his eyes. After what seemed like an eternity, Rick Ashe softly replied, “Thank you, miss. You have Keira’s eyes, you know?”

His dark blue eyes filled with tears and the young nurse scurried out of the room to hide her own from a father who was going through a parent’s most terrifying nightmare. He didn’t need an emotional nurse to make things worse.

* * * *

In the evening of the following day, Megan Ashe had taken her mother’s place beside the bed. Careful not to dislodge the ventilator, she held the patient’s hand, squeezing it gently and whispered, “Stay with us. Do you hear me? Don’t you dare give up now. We need you to catch that son of a bitch O’Hallon.”

The sound of the hateful name was lost as the ECG monitor went crazy with fast, loud beeps, and a high-pitched alarm blast pierced the air. A hospital team rushed in, surrounding the hospital bed. They tried to stabilize the vital signs; but, when it was clear they wouldn’t be able to accomplish that in the room, they quickly rolled the patient out.

“Where are you going?” Mr. Ashe asked.

“Back to surgery,” the last nurse to leave the room replied without looking back at the family. Time was crucial. She couldn’t waste it on niceties.

* * * *

When Declan opened his eyes again, he didn’t know how much time had passed. The house was deadly quiet. O’Hallon was nowhere to be seen. Declan sluggishly crawled forward and sat up beside Keira. He could barely breathe, due to the effort to move and the loss of blood, but he pulled her lifeless body onto his lap and held her close. He hugged her tight against his chest. He buried his face in her hair, which was covered in blood, and cried like he hadn’t cried since he was a little boy. He felt like he was six again.

“Please, please, don’t leave me, Keira.”

His sobs filled the air. He balled his hands into fists, frustrated because Keira didn’t respond. He couldn’t face the evidence that she wasn’t able to answer him.

“This is my fault, too. He wouldn’t have killed you, if I had let you go with him.”

He sat there, rocking back and forth for a long time, hanging on to her as if he could bring her back by sheer power of will. The thought that she was gone forever caused such burning pain in his chest, much stronger than the one from the bullet. He couldn’t breathe.

“Please, don’t go. I can’t bear it if you leave me, too.”

“I didn’t want to leave you, but I had to go, sweetie. I wouldn’t have left you, if there were any other way. Please, stop crying,” Keira’s voice sounded different. It seemed there was some kind of echo, like there were two people talking at the same time.

A soft hand rested on his shoulder. Declan looked up and couldn’t believe his eyes.

“Mother?! Is that really you? How? What happened? What are you doing here?”

“I came because you needed me, son. In fact, I’ve never really left you. You just couldn’t see me.”

He looked down to find out Keira’s body had disappeared. His mother was standing in front of him. It was hard for him to look at her without squinting his eyes against the bright light radiating from her. She held out her hand and pulled him up.

“How is it possible? You’re dead. It was my fault, too. I couldn’t help you and you died. Just like Keira.”

“Anything is possible here, Declan. Don’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders, son. I didn’t die because you couldn’t help me. And neither did Keira.”

“I saw it. I stood there and watched father kill you. How isn’t that my fault?”

“You were only six. There was nothing you could do. Besides, your father isn’t a murderer, Declan. You were too young to understand what was going on in our house. You’re an adult, now. You’ve got to forgive him. He needs you and your brothers.”

“I’m sorry. I can’t do that, mom. My brothers can’t, either. He killed you.”

She lifted an almost transparent hand to tap his. There was so much love, so much compassion in her eyes, he felt like his body was filled with those same emotions.

“I’ve already forgiven him, love. Why can’t you and your brothers do the same?”

She paused and waited for his reply. When he didn’t say anything, she smiled.

“Besides, nobody really dies. I mean, we seize to exist as corporeal beings but we don’t seize to exist. In this sense, I’ve never abandoned you. I’m here now, aren’t I?”

He looked around and noticed a thick white fog wrapping them up, cloaking everything else around them. He couldn’t see a thing.

“Where are we?”

“At the hospital. You’re undergoing surgery.”

Iris Slane swept her hand in the air in front of them, the fog lifted, and Declan saw they were standing in the middle of a brightly lit room. There was a group of people around an operating table. He had to strain his neck to see over their shoulders. He was lying on the table. He didn’t question the fact he could see his own body a few feet away, but rather wondered about Keira.

“Where’s Keira?”

Iris didn’t answer. She preferred to hug her youngest son instead.

“What happened to her, mom?”

“It’s going to be all right, Declan.”

“How can you say that? I saw her on the floor. Her face was covered in blood. Her body was battered. She wasn’t breathing.”

“I know what you saw, dear. It’s difficult for you to understand it. You’ve got to have faith, son. You’ve got to believe your love is strong enough to lead her back to you.”

“I don’t know if I can do that, mom? I’m so tired. I’m tired of everything.”

“Don’t say that, Declan. You’re too young to say such a thing.”

“Keira’s been through so much, mom. Both of us have been through a lot, actually. I can’t take it anymore. I’m just so very tired.”

“Don’t give up, son. You must fight back this weakness.”

The monitor in the operation room sounded a high beep. Declan had flatlined. The doctors and nurses hurried around the operating table, trying to revive his motionless body.

“Go back, Declan, and I promise I’ll find Keira,” her mother told him. “Know that I’ll always be by your side.”

As the team shouted orders, he felt light-headed. At the same time, his mother seemed to get more ethereal, slowly vanishing in the air. All of a sudden, he couldn’t see her anymore, and everything turned quiet around him. All the pain had disappeared. He didn’t feel anything.

* * * *

Morning dawned gray and cold over Cork before the Ashe family heard again from the doctors. When the door opened, they expected to see somebody from the hospital team, but Inspector Dwyer entered, followed by two young men.

“Any news?” Dwyer nodded towards the empty bed.

“Not yet,” Megan replied.

“These are Colin and Brandon Slane. They’re Declan’s older brothers.”

Before they could say anything else, two doctors entered the room. They looked exhausted, their facial expressions were impossible to read. Claire and Rick Ashe held hands, while Megan braced herself for whatever they were about to hear, although she doubted her numb senses could take more bad news.

“We stopped the internal bleeding, which alleviated the pressure inside the chest and allowed the heart rate to return to its regular rhythm. I have to be honest with you, though. It was touch and go for a while. We thought we had lost him a couple of times because he had already lost a great amount of blood from the bullet wound, and during the first surgery. But, he showed remarkable resilience and stamina.”