wrath of the Sea Queen (57 page)

Nonetheless, whether it was C
a
eli's gift, an inherited trait, or some combination of both, she could feel
the damage
done to Ben
.  She not only
became aware of
the obvious rupture in the blood vessels, but also
discovered the area w
here Ben's blood
flow was impinged
by the bullet lodged in
his
body.  C
a
eli use
d
the fluidity of the blood to move the smashed piece of metal until it fell into her waiting hand below. 
Ben groaned a little as she worked, but he endured it well.  C
a
eli tried to hurry while still being careful
not to cause any further damage or too much pain
. 
With the bullet in her hand, C
a
eli
was surprised to feel
something else
continuing to impede the blood flow on a smaller scale.

"
Are you sure you were only
shot once,
Uncle
Ben?
"

"
Yes.  Why?
"
  Ben grimaced
again
having felt
additional
movement after the bullet
had
already exited his back.

"
Hmm…hang on
;
there's something else blocking your blood flow.  I've
a
lmost
got it
.
"

C
a
eli continued to concentrate, trying to remove the second obstacle.  To her surprise, another bullet fell into her hand, but this one
appeared
different than the first.  It looked much older. 
Nevertheless, i
t
had been
the object causing the
remaining
resistance.  Now that
Ben's
blood
flowed
freely, C
a
eli
use
d
another aspect of her gift to
congeal the blood
around the edges of the torn vessels
and s
top the bleeding. 
By the time her gift completed its work
,
C
a
eli
was sweating, despite the rain.  She was
exhausted
and the pain in her
left
side
had
worse
ned
.  Yet
,
she
snickered
softly as she placed two objects into Ben's hand and closed his fingers around them.

"
You are like a box of cracker jacks.  You never know what you're going to
find inside
.
"
 

"
And you are hurting again.  What did you do to your side
,
young lady?
"
  Ben asked
with
fatherly
concern
.

"
Ah, it's nothing
serious
.  I think I
may have
pulled something when the plane crashed.  It's nothing
Salm
a
's help and a
few days on the beach won't cure.  I
think we
wi
ll
both
feel better after a good night's rest.
"
  She smiled down at him
as Vin walked up beside her with Salma a step behind
.

Vin
handed the supplies down to
Salma
after she got situated on the opposite side.
  C
a
eli explained to Salma what she
had been
able to do
.

"
I stopped the bleeding, but I could not actually
repair
all of
the damage
.  He is still going to need you to
examine him further and
stitch him up properly.
"

Vin helped C
a
eli to her feet, and they
stepped
a f
ew paces
away
to give Salma and Ben a little bit of privacy.  Salma applied the antibiotic ointment and bandages.  Using her own empathic gift, Salma was impressed to find that all of the bleeding had indeed stopped
as C
a
eli reported
.  Ben laughed lightly.

"
That girl is full of surprises.
"
  He opened his hand to show Salma what he h
e
ld.  There were two bullets, one shiny
,
and the other dull
.  He
roll
ed
them
around on his palm.

"
I thought you were only hit once
?
 
H
ow did she manage to get those out of you?
  And so quickly…
"
Salma was astounded.

"
I was hit once.  The
second one
is a memento of my younger days.  I
ha
ve been carrying it around for
the majority of my career
.  I don't even know how
C
a
eli
was aware of it
; and I have no idea how she removed them. 
As
I said,
she is
full of surprises.
"
  Ben closed his fist over the bullets again.

"Help me up, Love.  I don't want to stay on this cold metal any longer than
necessary
."

Salma motioned to Vin, who walked over to help her.  Between the two of them, using Vin's aerial gift to lighten the load, they
carefully
got Ben to his feet.
  Salma let the captain know that his injury
had been managed for the time being
, and they would be getting further medical attention as soon as they could.  With that, they were ready to
disembark
.

CHAPTER
15

The house was dark.  It sat at the end of a long, paved driveway
amidst a
well
-
manicured
lawn
.  When he e
ntered through the back door, Sam
roamed the ground floor for nearly an hour.  He could tell that someone
had been
in the house recently. 
A
s he moved through the rooms with a small flashlight, he noticed that each was
in
good
order
.
 
N
o dust accumulat
ed
on the furniture
and
there were
lots of signs of recent use
.
  Somebody liv
ed
here, though nobody was home at the moment. 

Sam expected this to be the case,
having planned his visit accordingly
.  Still
,
he
had
careful
ly
ensure
d
that every portion of his body
,
from head to feet
,
was covered.  He wore thick gloves to avoid leaving any fingerprints
.  His shoes were overly large
in case a shoe print was left behind.  All of his clothing was black and it would not shed fibers.  Lastly,
Sam
hid
his
face. 
He shielded it
completely, right down to the black sunglasses with reflective lenses
to
hid
e
his eyes.  His face w
as well
known in this community. 
I
f anyone did see him, he did not want to
take the chance of
be
ing
recognized.  Of course, there were no neighbors on the isolated property, but he
still
took
pre
cautio
n
s
.

He knew he had time to look around.  The cops and first responders would be preoccupied with
a
fire he set at another house in town.  The house
now
belonged to a former colleague
against
who
m
Sam
harbored
a
personal
grudge
.  Sam took
great pleasure in destroying
the man's home
as
a
distraction while he
searched
this house.  Nobody would be too concerned if a call came in about a break in at a supposedly
abandoned
house when a fire rag
ed
in the middle of town.  Sam
had
t
hought of everything as he planned this venture.  The last thing he wanted was to get caught and sent back to prison.