The Upside of Death

Reunited. Part 23

They held each other tightly, no words required. Keera grasped Zach's exhaustion, his despondency, stroked his back. She'd willed him to her and he'd been caught and beaten. She'd directed him to Sedona and walked him into another beating. Her anguish compounded because she couldn't make things right.

"Let me see your face," she said, and clucked her tongue as she examined it. "Come in the bathroom and I'll clean you up."

She dampened a cloth and gently wiped off blood streaks as he sat on the toilet seat. "There's a couple of cuts but the blood's clotted."

"I'll live a while longer then."

"A good deal longer. We'll get a plan worked out in a minute."

"I love your optimism, but they hold the aces and the guns. I'm sorry I messed up before and now I've done it again."

"You didn't," she said quickly. "You got my message and you found me, and that's a huge thing. How did you get to the motel?"

"What I told them was true, more or less. I met up with a psychic, she gave me the motel whereabouts. The liquor store guy filled me in about the Russians."

"You saw a psychic?"

"Yeah." He grinned a little. "A bit out of character, what?"

"Desperate times, desperate measures, et cetera," Keera said, wanting to hug him to pieces but knowing he was too fragile for it. "How did you find the house?"

"Like I told them. Found a gun in the car but couldn't use it. It'd be a comedy of errors if it wasn't so stupid."

His aura was muddy, faint around the edges. His energy leaking out of him. She didn't have a lot of hers to share either.

"They'll buy another charger for my phone in the morning. We need to act before then."

"Why did they bring you here?" he asked. "Wait. Why did they grab you in the first place? I can't get my head around this. I've never heard of anyone's girlfriend being kidnapped before. But it happened to you."

"It's not about me," she said. "It's about my father. You saw the text message. He was about to be pressured into signing off on a contract a certain Mr. Flint was bidding for. Flint arranged for this." She spread her hands to indicate their predicament.

"How's your head?" he asked. "That bastard can pack a punch."

"It stopped ringing after an hour." She smiled to let him know she was fine with it.

"No nausea, no confusion?"

"No concussion, Zach. I'm fine."

"This is insane." He ruffled his hair like it would make it easier to think. "Flint? Who's Flint?"

"The person behind it all. My father was to see I was in their hands, and expected to acquiesce, hand over the contract to Flint. I guess the contract was worth millions. It's all gone wrong now."

"That's why they brought you here?"

"Your previous appearance threw them. They contacted Flint and he ordered them to come here."

"But they were moving you again when they found me."

"That's because they killed Flint and his driver."

"Jesus. You saw this?"

"I heard two gunshots, after that Flint, now a floaty spirit, appeared in my room. He explained the falling out and that the Russians would still try to extract money from my father."