Sins of the Flesh (34 page)

Caterina took the wheel, aware that she had to get him medical help.

Liliana braced Mick’s body, trying to keep him steady. She was certain he had broken a rib or two and punctured a lung. She wanted to avoid doing any more damage by the errant motion of the Jeep. He seemed weaker with each passing moment, but he held onto consciousness somehow as Caterina drove up off the beach and onto the nearby public road, obviously aware that Mick couldn’t handle a jostling ride along the surf’s edge.

“Hold on,
Miguelito
. We’ll get you help soon,” Liliana said, feeling his pain as if it were her own. Aware that he had once again sacrificed himself for her.

“I’m okay,” Mick said, registering the mixture of guilt and concern in his sister’s voice. Not wanting her to feel responsible for what had happened.

But even on the smoother public road, every movement brought pain and Mick gritted his teeth to contain the agony. His broken ribs were grating together with every bump. His labored breath and the blood he coughed up once again confirmed to him that one of his ribs had damaged his lung. His ears were ringing and he realized he had a concussion, maybe even a skull fracture.

He was done for sure, Mick thought as he fumbled to extract his cell phone from his pocket. Somehow he managed to hand it to Liliana as his fingers began to go numb. His extremities were cold from shock and the blood filling his lung, drowning him and making each breath laborious.

But the mission was also done. And it had been a success because both Caterina and Liliana were safe.

“I’m going home,” Mick said to his sister, satisfied that he had completed the mission he had been meant to do.
Feeling freer than he ever had as he allowed himself to slip into the darkness calling him.

Liliana watched helplessly as Mick lost consciousness. Tears complicated making the phone call, obscuring her vision, but she somehow speed-dialed Ramon. Fighting back tears, she explained where to find Mad Dog and the others.

“Where are you now?” Ramon asked.

“Hartshorne. Heading to the Highlands,” she said and shot a glance at Caterina as she drove.

“I’m going to give you directions to the hospital,” Liliana yelled to Caterina against the road noise as she took a quick look at her brother before returning her attention to Ramon.

“Meet us there, Ramon. But I need a promise from you.”

Her cousin hesitated. “I can’t make any promises, Lil. Bring them in and we’ll figure out what to do.”

She shot another glance at Caterina, who seemed to have overheard a snippet of the conversation.

“I don’t care who’s looking for me. We’re going to the hospital,” Caterina shouted back over the din from the wind whipping into the open vehicle.

Somehow Liliana had never had a doubt that’s what Caterina would say, because Caterina loved Mick. Liliana had never been more certain of anything else in her life.

“We’re on our way, Ramon,” she said, hung up the phone and took Mick’s limp hand in hers, praying that it wasn’t too late.

Liliana had no doubt her brother cared for Caterina as well, and hoped the two of them would have time to be able to share that love.

A
steady throb behind his eyeballs kept pace with the repetitive electronic beep nearby. Mick cracked open his eyes and a gentle familiar touch on his hand told him he was not alone.

“Cat?” he asked, and suddenly she was standing above him, her beautiful face filling his vision.

“I’m here, Mick,” Caterina said.

He tried to smile, but his lips were dry and pulled with the motion. Caterina quickly offered up some ice chips to wet his lips and parched throat.

“Thank you.” Turning his head, he realized he was in a hospital bed with an assortment of tubes and wires attached to his body. He tried to move, but he felt stiff and moving was painful. “How long have I been here?”

“A little over a day, love,” she said and offered him some more ice chips, but he shook his head, which only created an intense well of pain in the middle of his skull.

“Easy, Mick. You have a hairline skull fracture and concussion. Several broken ribs and a punctured lung. You almost didn’t make it.”

He was thankful that’s all it was, because he remembered feeling as if a Mack truck had run him down. But
the pain was mitigated by the knowledge that he had found his sister.

“Liliana,” he said, not realizing he had said it out loud until Caterina replied.

“She had to leave a few hours ago to do her rounds, but she’ll be back.”

“How are you?” he asked and closed his eyes, the light in the room too bright to his concussion-sensitized sight.

Caterina ran a cool hand across the side of his face and said, “I’m fine. When we brought you to the hospital your cousin Ramon was waiting for us. I explained what happened—”

“He called in the Feds,” Mick jumped in, recalling the dead park ranger.

“As well as the local and Camden PDs,” he heard and opened his eyes to see Ramon strolling in, wearing his summer khakis, his sheriff’s hat in hand.

Ramon came to stand by the railing of his bed and smiled at Caterina. “Glad to see you decided to join us,
primo
.”

“What’s going on?” he asked his cousin.

Ramon’s lips tightened into a thin line before he said, “Feds are coordinating with the locals, since it seems the MO for the park ranger’s murder is the same as for Wells. There’s also a DNA match to the goon you plugged between the eyes.”

“Santiago,” Caterina said and the name struck a discord with his cousin.

“Rob Santiago, the cop killer. Seems they reduced his sentence if he agreed to participate in the Wardwell study.”

“Son of a bitch,” Mick cursed and glanced at Caterina. “You saved my life. You and Lil.”

She twined her fingers with his. “I couldn’t lose you.”

Mick tightened his hold on her hand and faced Ramon once again. “Cat didn’t kill Wells. We’ve got—”

“Caterina’s been released on my recognizance, but I suspect they’ll be dropping all charges shortly,” Ramon advised.

Mick’s major mission had been accomplished, but something still gnawed at his gut. “Did you get Edwards and Morales?”

Ramon looked away, unable to hold his gaze, and Mick repeated, “Did you, Ramon?”

His cousin jiggled his hat up and down in his hand before finally meeting his gaze. “Edwards and Morales have disappeared, along with the remaining four patients in the gene therapy program. They’ll need lots of space and equipment. It’ll make it hard for them to hide for long.”

Mick thought about how much money Edwards had paid him and Franklin. How much they must have offered Mad Dog to eliminate all of them. With that much money…

“Those families need closure. Someone’s got to find the missing patients.”

Caterina echoed Mick’s sentiment. “Someone will.”

Ramon nodded. “Definitely. And soon. Trust me.”

Mick glanced at Caterina and knew she understood. After Ramon excused himself, he squeezed her hand and said, “I’m glad you’ll be cleared of any charges.”

A confused look crossed her face. “That’s sounding a bit too much like a brush-off.”

Mick shrugged. A big mistake as pain lanced through his side, but he bit back a groan and said, “You and Liliana
are safe now. You’ll be able to go back to your regular life.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

Now it was his turn to be confused. “Your music is your life.”

Caterina nodded and pulled her hair back, trained those stunning blue eyes on his face. “Music is a big
part
of my life, but I’ve found something else I want in my life. Something that makes it complete.”

Mick’s heartbeat did a funky beat that registered on the monitors, drawing Caterina’s attention to the machines. “You okay? Should I get a doctor?”

“Actually, if I’m the something else you want, I think you should go get a priest.”

Caterina narrowed her eyes and examined his face.

“A priest?” she repeated.

Mick allowed a slow grin to spread across his face as he said, “Well, I’ve either died and should get last rites or I need to make this relationship more permanent before you change your mind.”

Caterina chuckled and shook her head, sending her long dark locks shifting with the motion. “Not what I would call a romantic proposal.”

“I love you, Cat. Heart and soul. Flesh and bone. Every part of me is yours,
querida
.”

Caterina stood and bent over him, her lips barely an inch from his. “I love you, Mick. You are the music of my heart and I never want to be without you.”

She closed the distance and kissed him, her lips warm and mobile against his. The intensity of the kiss growing until a cough sounded from the doorway, yanking Caterina away from him.

Caterina jerked upright and turned, but slipped her hand back into Mick’s.

His mother stood at the door bracketed by two men who could only be his father and brother, since the resemblance was so strong. Liliana had called them as soon as they knew Mick was out of the woods, but it had taken some time for them to return home from Chicago.

Obviously they’d arrived and, from the worry etched on his mother’s face, hearing the news about Mick’s injuries had clearly taken a toll on her.

“Mariel,” Caterina said and walked toward the woman, took her hands in hers, and offered a reassuring squeeze. “He’s feeling better than he looks.”

“Good, because he looks like shit,” said the man she surmised to be his younger brother.

“
Mi’jito
, watch your language. Caterina, this is Antonio—”

“Tony will do,” he said, a broad welcoming smile on his face. “Are you Mick’s girl?”

Mick’s girl
, she thought and glanced over her shoulder at Mick before returning her attention to his family.

“Actually I’m Mick’s fiancée; that is, if you approve,” Caterina said and watched as surprise flickered across the three faces.

His father finally mastered that shock and spoke up. “Welcome to the family,
mi’jita
.”

One month later

T
he summer sun beat down mercilessly, and not even the tinted windows on the SUV could fight its assault. The heat in the interior of the vehicle had been steadily rising as Morales sat there waiting for them. Slowly baking while the three of them were probably off somewhere cool.

He drove his thoughts away from the heat. Ignored the trickle of sweat down the side of his face as he told himself that they were bound to arrive soon.

It would be time for Ms. Shaw to have another plasmapheresis treatment, and a crisp hundred paid to one of the orderlies had confirmed that she would be arriving today.

As a black Jeep pulled into the parking lot for the hospital, Morales tracked its passage to an empty spot at the far side of the lot. Held his breath as he waited for the occupants to emerge and was not disappointed.

Caterina Shaw slipped from the vehicle, along with a handsome Latino man. Carrera, he supposed, since he had never encountered the man in person.

The couple met at the back of the Jeep and embraced. Shared a kiss before joining hands and walking together toward the door to the hospital.

As they neared the entrance, the automatic doors swooshed open and a young woman exited the building. Petite. Wearing a lab coat and badge that identified her as one of the hospital personnel. Her dark good looks, so similar to the man with Shaw, identified her as family.

Beneath the canopy of the hospital’s entrance, the three embraced, happiness and love radiating from one and all.

Sickening, Morales thought, tapping his fingers on the steering wheel. Itching to rush out and grab Shaw. Finish what he had started.

But not today, he thought as the clueless trio walked into the hospital together, believing themselves safe. Believing that the nightmare was over for them, only…

Morales started the engine, cranked up the air-conditioning and drove away, his smile as chilly as the air coming from the vents of the SUV as he thought,
It’s only just begun
.