Rogue Alliance

FIFTY-THREE



On the long drive home, she let him do most of the talking. Since he first saw his mother, the memories of his past which had been locked away for so many years where coming forth so fast that he could hardly keep up. She listened knowing that the best way for him to process the onslaught of information was to talk it out.

It was tough to stay focused. Though she was interested in hearing about his past, especially since they were new even to him, she couldn’t stop thinking about the night before. What did all of it mean?

She’d never felt like this about a man before and now that she did, it felt like he was already slipping away. She couldn’t handle that. She had to find Carmen and wasn’t about to let go of the idea of finding a doctor who could help Brennan; she had to find help for him and she had to hang on to them both. Victor was no longer a priority. He was on the backburner until she could get a grip on the rest of those loose ends.

There were so many ingenious physicians in Los Angeles. She didn’t know them personally, but she knew exactly who would. Quentin Solero. He would not only know exactly who she could turn to, but he would be able to ensure confidentiality as well. She was as concerned about Brennan’s privacy and safety as he was.

“Where are you right now?” Brennan’s voice broke into her thoughts.

She shook her head and reined in her wandering internal dialogue.

“Oh, nowhere. So, how did your mom take it when you said goodbye this morning?”

He kept his gaze on the road.

“She cried,” he said, “but I promised her that I’d be back as soon as I could. It was the only way that she would let me go.”

“You lied to her?”

He gave her a look that said she should be ashamed of herself for thinking such a thing. It worked.

“No, I didn’t lie to her. I am going to go back for her. I just have to take care of a few things first. I’m not going to leave her there.”

“Well, it’s not like you can take her to live with you in your little apartment above Victor’s shop,” she said.

“That’s why I said that I have to take care of some things first.”

“Ugh,” Shyla sighed in exasperation, “it’s like pulling teeth to get you to elaborate sometimes.”

Brennan flashed a winning smile.

“You’re cute when you’re annoyed. Look, I’m not exactly sure how all this is going to pan out, but my plan is to get her out of that place within the next two weeks. I’m not sure where she and I will go, but it really doesn’t even matter. If I’ve only got a few months, then I’m going to spend it with her. She deserves that. I deserve that.”

It felt like Shyla’s heart had plummeted to her stomach.

“So that’s it, you’re just going to take off? What about Victor?”

What about me? She wanted to say.

“What about him?” he said with a casual shrug of his shoulders, “I’ll tell him about my condition and he’s going to have to understand. My perspective and my priorities have changed. If he can’t accept that, then that’s his problem. I can’t live for him anymore. I can’t live for anyone else anymore. I’ve got to live my own life.”

It made her so proud of him to hear those words. So why was she struggling?

His hand clasped over hers. She couldn’t look at him for fear he would see her inner battle.

“Shyla,” he paused. When she didn’t answer, he continued, “Shyla, look at me.”

Taking in a shaky breath she finally met his searching gaze.

“I’m going to need you with me. I can’t stand the idea of doing this without you.”

What he was asking was a monumental task; to stay with him to the bitter end, an end that was coming far too soon. It was selfish and unfair to ask it. She could see by the look on his face that he knew it and didn’t care. He had meant it when he said he needed to finally live for himself.

Her lip trembled and she bit down on it so hard she thought she might break skin. “I have to find Carmen first,” she said, “but…you don’t have to do this alone. I’ll be there with you.”

Squeezing his hand, she turned and looked out the window, past the scenery rushing by. All she could see was the end. Beyond that, there was nothing.



*



They were at a rest stop just outside of Medford when her cell phone rang. Brennan was grabbing a couple of coffees from the stand while she walked out the stiffness in her joints. The identification display on her phone read Ricardo.

“Hello?” she answered.

“We have a little problem,” Ricardo said without hesitation.

“What problem would that be?”

“The Halloween shipment has just been bumped up to this Friday night.”

Shyla tipped her head back in frustration.

“What? That’s three days from now. How am I supposed to pull this together now? What a damn mess. Victor must be anxious about the drop or why else would he make a last minute change like this?”

“I’m not sure what exactly is going on,” Ricardo said, “but it wasn’t Victor who made the change. It was the captain of the boat. My source thinks that something has him spooked. Knowing Victor, he won’t be happy with the sudden change of plans, but this guy he’s dealing with calls the shots on delivery. Not Victor.”

“Hmm, well, how reliable is your source Ricardo? I’m neck deep into a perfect storm of chaos down here. And if I have my contact on the LA department tap into his sources, its going to get ugly fast. I can’t afford for this to be wrong.”

“It’s reliable,” he said.

“Shit. Okay. Let me get my head around this. I’ll call you back in a few hours.”

Just as she was hitting the end call button, another incoming call came up on the display screen. Wanting the throw the device across the parking lot, she answered it before the first ring.

“Hey, Shawn, what’s up? You checking up on me?”

Shawn didn’t respond to her gruff greeting. When he spoke, he sounded breathless, like he’d been running.

“We found her,” he said, “we found Carmen.”

Shyla pressed the phone to her ear, her grip tightening with hope. But his voice didn’t sound quite right; there wasn’t just relief there.

“What is it?” she asked, “What’s wrong? Is she okay?”

“Uhh…she’s okay…”

“But what? What’s going on? I can tell something’s wrong, Shawn,” she was knocking on hysteria’s door. It was bubbling up inside of her as she waited for the world to deliver yet another blow.

Shawn’s voice was calm and stern.

“Just calm down, Shyla. She is…alive. She was found unconscious just outside of town. She had fallen down a ravine and hit her head. She has a small skull fracture and is seriously dehydrated but the doctor’s say that her vital signs are otherwise good.”

Relief, worry, panic, questions, and the need to see Carmen, to just set eyes upon her, flooded Shyla’s senses.

“Oh my god, I’m so glad they found her. I’ll be there in just a few hours, Shawn. Just tell her I’m on my way.”

A shaky sigh reached her ear.

“Shyla, I can’t tell her that. She’s in a coma.”

She dropped the phone.