Page 21 of Dark Flame

“I-I don’t know, Adam. I’m not a doctor. I just seem to know where these things are.” Adam cursed and stood next to the young man. “I can heal him.”

“Are you sure? What if you get the tumor?” he said in a frightened tone.

“He’s dying, Adam. I can’t let him die…” A tear slid down Fiona’s cheek as she pressed her slender hands against the young man’s cheeks.

She closed her eyes and winced in pain. Her own nose began bleeding, but the blood flow from Regan’s stopped. She paled to a sickly yellowish-gray color, falling to her knees. Yet she still didn’t leave the young man’s side.

“Fiona…” whispered Adam.

Silently, he pleaded with the woman to release the young man, but he knew she wouldn’t. It was why she was on this earth – to heal others. The same as him. If they were in an operating room and the patient was under his knife, he would know exactly where to go and what to do. But this? A knife wouldn’t cure this.

Nat watched the scene from the other side of the room, Flip’s arms surrounding her in protection. His body was so strong, so sturdy. She just knew that he could protect a thousand of her and still have room for more.

Regan stirred, and Fiona’s hands fell to her side, her body following, hitting the floor hard. Adam picked her up and held her to his own body, wiping the blood with the sleeve of his shirt. His palms covered her body, feeling for the tumor. Nothing. It was gone.

“A-Adam,” said Regan weakly. “Wh-why?”

“I didn’t do it, Regan. Fiona did.”

Fiona’s eyes fluttered open, and Adam set her down so that she could reach for Regan. She grabbed his hand and held it tight as he struggled to control the tears.

“Why?” he croaked, staring up at the beautiful woman. “Why would you risk your life for me? I’m a complete stranger to you.”

“Because we all deserve to have a life… a wonderful life,” she whispered.

“I-I’m not going to die?” he asked, staring up at the faces around him.

“No, son,” said Adam, “not today anyway.” He smiled, and Regan let out a long slow breath, his body shaking with relief.

“I’ll never be able to repay you, never.”

“You already have,” said Kane. “You got out every last record before you passed out. It was as if you knew this was what we needed. You were pretty impressive, young man.”

“Thank you, sir,” he said quietly. “I was in the Navy, you know. Intelligence. My peers, well, let’s just say my peers hated me because I remembered everything, every detail, every procedure, every code, every spec, every op. I finished the top of my class, and even the CIA came calling, but I wanted nothing to do with them.

“I could recall any conversation, any folder, any document, and the men and women working with me didn’t care much for that. They thought I was a freak or, at the very least, a spy. Maybe I was a freak, hell, I don’t know.”

“We all are in our own way, Regan,” said Flip.

“I know,” he said, leaning back against the sofa again. He looked up at the group of men. “I sent the air strike in, you know?” He looked from Kane to Flip and then Spook to Adam, smiling.

Kane looked at Adam and then Spook and Flip. If it was what he thought that air strike saved their lives on the last mission they fought together. They all believed it was Spook that intercepted the communication, and in fact, he had. What they didn’t know was that the communication was ignored by the commanding officer until Regan found it.

“Riznak thought it was unnecessary. Spook sent it. I saw it come through via his comm control, but Riznak told me to hold off,” he said quietly.

“Riznak? That piece of shit was constantly creating problems for us,” said Flip, running his huge hand through the dark mass of hair.

“I have no proof,” said Regan, “but I think he was working with Moore briefly before he was killed in action. I think he was supposed to hold off so that all of you would die. I knew you all needed that air strike to get out of there, so I called it in myself.”

“That was pretty risky,” said Kane, lifting a brow.

“It was, but when the Admiral found out that Riznak had ignored the call, he saved my ass. When I heard your voice,” he said, staring at Flip, “I just knew. Something about it said you were like me. I didn’t know how; I didn’t know anything about you at that time. I just knew. I think we all get this feeling when we’re around others that possess the gifts. The pink dust seems to almost send out a calling to us.”

“Well, you definitely saved our asses, Regan, and I’m glad you’re here, man.” The big man moved toward the sofa and pulled Regan to his feet, grabbing him in a bear hug.

Fiona finally stirred back to normalcy in Adam’s arms, and he let out a long slow breath. She smiled up at him, and he kissed her passionately.

“That was unbelievably risky,” said Regan, reaching for her hand. Fiona stood with Adam’s help and hugged the young man.

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