M Sellars - The Law Of Three

What my irrational brain wanted me to do was rush into the building and bring about an end to Eldon Porter once and for all. What my logical brain wanted for me was to go to sleep. The few hours I’d managed to abscond with earlier had held me over for a while, but they were nothing more than a stopgap. I needed to be unconscious for a while-a long while-but I was afraid that wouldn’t be happening anytime soon.

Drained as I was, I knew I wouldn’t be able to fall asleep even if I tried. The headache that had started me on this odyssey was still in place and stronger than ever. It was going to be a while yet before I got my reprieve.

I found myself denying the diametrically opposed ideas being tossed about by the hemispheres of my brain and concentrating instead on the events of the past twenty-odd hours in search of answers to yet unasked questions. I was methodically trying to remember minute details of the day, unimportant and utterly mundane but details nonetheless. However, each time I would happen upon a gem to grasp, my overtaxed brain would release the previous tidbit and send it floating away into dark obscurity. The whole exercise quickly turned into a game of “keep away,” where I was the odd man out, desperately chasing after things that I remembered and then promptly forgot again.

I allowed myself to slouch lower then shoved my hands into my coat pockets for lack of anyplace else to put them. My right knuckles immediately thumped against something hard. I pondered the sensation absently for a moment and then wrapped my fingers around whatever it was and pulled it out. I’m not sure what my clouded brain was expecting, but it was only my cell phone. I vaguely recalled someone giving me my charred coat at the hospital, which must have been when I recovered the device. I guessed that Felicity must have transferred it to this jacket when we arrived home.

The sight of the phone in my hand renewed a little hope. It reminded me that I wasn’t as cut off from the outside as I had been feeling. I punched the power button and waited as the lights behind the dialing keys winked on, then the display flashed my number across the screen. I automatically thumbed out the pattern of Felicity’s cell number that my hand had memorized then hit send and put the phone to my ear.

I listened as the ring tone sounded at the other end a trio of times before ending abruptly in the middle of the fourth. The half-buzz was followed by a tired but familiar Celtic-patterned voice.

“Aye, Rowan?” Felicity asked.

“Yeah, honey, it’s me,” I replied. “Where are you?”

“We’re at the hospital. University down on Kingshighway.”

“Good hospital,” I murmured. “So how are you doing?”

“I’m fine,” she said. “What about you then?”

“Tired and achy,” I admitted. “But still in one piece.”

“Aye, you’d best stay that way.”

“I don’t think I have much choice,” I told her. “The FBI has me sitting in the back of a panel van trussed up in a bulletproof vest with an agent right outside the door.”

“Good for them,” she answered. “Remind me to send a thank you card.”

I ignored her jibe. “How’s Constance?”

“Aye, it looks like she’ll be fine. The doctor didn’t want to tell me anything at first, but I convinced him I was her sister.”

“And he fell for that?” I asked. “You two don’t look anything alike.”

“Aye, and what’s your point then? We’re twin sisters from different parents.”

“Yeah, sure,” I half chuckled. “I can see that.”

“Anyway,” she continued. “She has a broken nose, a concussion, two broken ribs, and a fractured wrist. Most of it came from the airbag they think.”

“Guess it could’ve been worse if there wasn’t an airbag.”

“Aye.”

“So what about you?” I asked. “Did the doctor check you over?”

“Aye, I’m fine, bumps and bruises, nothing more. I’m mostly worried about you and Ben.”

“I’m good,” I told her. “Ben’s hand is really messed up though. Last time I saw him there was a paramedic looking at it for him. I suspect he’ll need a trip to the hospital before it’s all over. Have you called Allison?”

“Aye. She was frantic at first, but you know how she is. She’s a nurse. She’s used to this kind of thing, especially out of Ben.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So what IS going on there?” my wife asked, her voice turning serious as she left the chitchat behind. “I’ve been watching the television, but they aren’t saying much.”

“Well, they got me here in time to appease Porter,” I replied. “For the moment anyway. Right now, I’m sitting in the back of a van, like I said, and they keep interviewing me.”

“What for?”

“Looking for angles to use while negotiating with him.”

“Aye, do they actually believe they can negotiate with that monster, then?”

“Yeah, they do.”

“What about you?” she asked after a pause. “Do you think they can?”

“No,” I almost whispered. “No, I don’t.”

We both fell silent, neither of us willing to press forward with the conversation but neither willing to say goodbye either. The digitally reproduced sounds of each other’s breathing issuing from the phones became a tenuous connection between us-distant and artificial, but better than nothing.

My fearful thoughts combined with the hollowness in the pit of my stomach, and I became the first to break the lull. “You know he’s going to kill her no matter what, don’t you?”

“Row… Don’t say that,” Felicity appealed softly.

“He will,” I continued. “I can feel it.”

“Don’t you go and do something stupid, now,” she said. “Okay?”

I didn’t reply.

Her voice came at me again, “Rowan? Answer me.”

“Yeah,” I finally said. “Nothing stupid.”

“Caorthann… ” Her voice was ringed by sadness and filled with resignation as she whispered the Gaelic pet name.

“Really, sweetheart,” I assured her. “Back of van, FBI, cops everywhere. I don’t think there’s anything I CAN do other than sit here.”

“Aye, but I know you.”

“They have a chapel there?” I asked, trying to divert her attention.

“I’m sure they do, why?”

“Maybe you should go light a candle for Star,” I offered.

Her reply told me that my gambit didn’t work as planned. “Aye, I think you mean I should go light a candle for you.”

There was no suitable reply that wouldn’t either confirm her fears or force me to lie to her. Remaining silent would just do the same. I said the only thing I could, “Maybe for both of us then.”

“Aye,” she whispered.

I knew that unchecked, we would continue to sit there clinging to the cellular thread that now linked us together in the physical world. As much as I wanted to give in to that comfort, I made the decision that I knew she wouldn’t.

“I’ve got to go, honey,” I said. “They’re going to want to start asking me some more questions in just a minute.”

“I love you, Rowan.”

I replied softly, “Yeah. I love you too.”

I pulled the cell phone away from my ear then allowed my hand to slide down across my chest and fall into my lap. Without looking, I depressed the end button and disconnected the line. Closing my eyes, I left my head tilted back and began wondering about the wisdom of having made the call.

I wanted to be certain that she was okay, and I wanted to get an update on Constance but that information had come at a price. I wasn’t foolish enough to think that Felicity believed for a minute that I would be standing idly by at this scene. Not with Star’s life resting in the hands of Eldon Porter. I was convinced she hadn’t even believed that when she made the decision to stay behind with Agent Mandalay. But she had come to terms with it.