Rainbow Six: Bloodlines

"TRUE DARK" - Chapter 6

FEBRUARY 22, 2018
CEUTA, SPAIN
Adrian's Safehouse - Southern Ceuta

     Lt. Adrian López had been telling the truth about his second home near the university. It was mostly empty and the electricity had long been shut off, but the water worked.

     Mira had woke suddenly from her sleep and was staring out the bedroom window. The moon was bright, shining its light upon the street outside. The woman could smell the salt of the sea, not far to the south.

     Elena had claimed the lone mattress remaining on the wooden floorboards of the bedroom, so Ryad settled for an old, tattered couch in the living room before announcing he was hopping in the shower. As Elena lay on the mattress, she studied the long shadows thrown upon her by the window blinds and realized it was a lot like the scary dream she had earlier that night.

     She listened to the running shower and looked to the bathroom door of the bedroom. It was open wide enough so that moonlight could get in, allowing Ryad limited visibility as he cleaned himself up.

For a curious moment, Elena wondered what the man might look like underneath running water. Ryad had always been handsome, blessed with a youthful appearance and strong features that defied his age.

     Thinking about him made Faisal come to her mind instead. His stubbled jawline, wry grin, brown eyes wide in concern. Elena could remember the way he looked at her in the hotel lobby - like he'd known everything about her... like they were the best of friends.

     She shook her head, suppressing what she felt inside. Two days ago she had awoken in Hereford to a day like any other. Now she was on the run, feeling strange stirs in her heart for a man she had worked with for years... and his dead brother.

     "The hell." Elena shrugged off her internal monologue. She sat up, kicked off her musty blanket and threw aside the sheet before reaching for the burner phone on the floor next to the mattress.

     2:09 A.M.? Wait... how long had Ryad been in there?

     Elena stood, silently cursing her thoughts for not letting her sleep, and gingerly made her way to the bathroom door. She held a hand up and hesitated before knocking. "Ryad? You good in there?"

     Silence, save for running water, was her only reply.

     The woman leaned against the doorway. "Ryad?"

     Nothing.

     She peeked into the dark restroom and flicked on the light switch by habit, forgetting there was no electricity. "Hey. You alive or what?"

     The shower kept running.

     Elena frowned. She made her way back to the bedroom window and swept the blinds open to allow as much moonlight as possible inside before turning back to the bathroom, readying her phone.

     "Ryad. Say something or I'm shining a light in there, idiota."

     The man didn't answer, and Elena was suddenly worried. She activated the flashlight on her phone and pointed it toward the shower.

     She saw Ryad curled up on his side on the shower floor. He wasn't moving beneath the falling water. Blood was trickling from the side of his head and staining the water red. His naked flesh was was covered in goosebumps, since there was no more hot water.

     "Oh, Jesus."

     Elena scrambled to the man's side, nearly slipping on the water that had gathered on the tile due to the absence of a shower curtain. She quickly shut off the water and stepped over the man's body.