Among the Shrouded (33 page)

CHAPTER

45

KATE

There was darkness, but also a clarity Kate could not ignore as she struggled to remain conscious.  The initial pain of the bullet wounds had subsided and she was finally able to concentrate on something beside her physical state.

As her hold on consciousness continued to slip away
, she saw the path of her life spread before her like photographs, a series of snapshots beginning with her childhood and continuing through her desperate search for her sisters.  She assumed the images would end there, however, as her breathing slowed, they continued. 

At first, she saw
the faces of the women who had been imprisoned with her in the basement.  They were smiling.  Happy.  Free.  But as their faces faded, there were still more to replace them.  The faces of these women were unfamiliar to her.  There were dozens of them.  Maybe even hundreds.  And they too were smiling.

In that moment, the world seemed to stop on its axis
, and she knew who they were.  These were the women who would never be defiled, mistreated, abused or assaulted because of the path her life had taken.  They would never know what it was to be tortured by a man.  They were the women who had been saved because of her and the power of her gift.

As she had always suspected, her gift had never been about
providing for her own needs.  Its purpose had been far greater.  Bigger than she could have ever imagined. 

Finally
, she realized her gift had always been about righting this single wrong.  She had been born and given her gift to assure that the one woman whose job it was to put an end to the largest human trafficking ring in the United States was led to her destiny.  And she had done just that.  Without even knowing it, she had called Mia to fulfill her own purpose.

A final image rose to the surface of
her consciousness, like a ship sailing out of the fog.  It was of Thomas Pritchett, a man who’d spent his entire life hiding from danger.  And now, inspired by Mia to overcome the power of his inner voice, he too had fulfilled his purpose.  In the end, his courage saved both women, allowing them to fulfill their destinies. 

Like
Borromean rings,
linked each with the others to form a
Brunnian link, so too it was for the three of them.  None of the three could have fulfilled their destinies without the existence of the other two.  With that final thought, she peacefully slipped out of her life and moved into the light.

CHAPTER

46

MIA

On her first day back to the office in over a week, Mia spent most of the morning thinking about when she would be able to return to the hospital.  She sat at her desk across from Jack and unconsciously touched her neck.  What remained of the bruising had begun to change from black and blue to acrid green.  Just three days after being admitted for the injuries she sustained at the hands of the commissioner, the doctors had released her with a clean bill of health, assuring her that her trachea was healing appropriately and she would have no lasting brain injury thanks to the quick work of the paramedics on the scene.

Physically,
she was recovering and had been cleared to return to work.  Unfortunately, the emotional repercussions of her ordeal still weighed heavily on her soul.

“
Thanks, Jack,” she said.

“Mia, you already thanked me fifty times.  Enough already,” he said, taking his eyes from
the monitor to meet her gaze from across the room.

“You saved my life
, Jack.  You shot the Baltimore City police commissioner, for crying out loud.  I’ll thank you a million times if I want to.”

“Fine,”
he said, smiling, “but it will be your own fault when my head is so big I can’t fit through the door.”

“That won’t happen,”
she replied.  “Stella will make sure you change enough dirty diapers when the baby arrives to keep your ego firmly planted on the ground.”

She
returned absentmindedly to the file on her desk and several minutes later her father appeared in the doorway with a frosted cupcake in one hand and a manila envelope in the other.

“I searched the station for a candle but couldn’t find one.  You’ll have to make your birthday wish without it,”
he said, handing the cupcake to her.  “Happy birthday to my beautiful daughter.”

“Thanks
, Dad,” she replied, tasting a bit of the chocolate frosting with her finger.  “You know I’ll only be wishing for one thing today.”

“I know.  I think we’re all hoping for the same thing
.”  He held up the manila envelope.  “In other news, I just got the initial reports from the evidence they found at Commissioner Dalton’s.”

“And
?” she asked expectantly.

“I can only hope and pray
he’s going to prison for the rest of his life.  So far they’ve been able to track down over three dozen other holding facilities in fourteen cities here in the US.  They found records for hundreds of women from nineteen different countries on his personal computers.  This operation has been going on for many years right under our noses.  Dalton has made a lot of men very wealthy, but we are going to find each and every one of them to make sure they serve hard time for the crimes they’ve committed.  Unfortunately, some of the laws are on the books are working against us, especially with regard to citizenship.  We may have to lobby to write new legislation.  It’s going to be a long, drawn out process I’m afraid.”

“We’ll do whatever it takes
, Dad.  I’ve seen too much to ever give up without a battle.”

“I know you have
, Honey,” he said, sitting on the corner of her desk and taking her hands in his.  “I know I’ve said it before, but I am so sorry I ever doubted you, Mia.  I will never be able to forgive myself for my shortsightedness.  I can’t believe I almost lost you to him.”

“It’s okay
, Dad.  Who would have thought a man could rise to the rank of police commissioner with a soul like his?  I don’t blame you for not believing me about him.  No one in their right mind would have.”

There was an awkward pause as
he stood up and adjusted his belt.  She knew it would take time to mend their relationship but she was certain they would find a way to trust one another again.

“You know,
” he began, changing the subject, “I was so proud of how you handled yourself with the Ukrainian girl’s family yesterday.  What you were able to tell them about her time in the basement, I think it meant a lot to her parents and her sisters knowing what an inspiration she was to the other women.”

The reality of Kate’s death was an open wound that had not yet begun to scab over
and she found she was still unable to suppress the urge to cry every time she thought of her.  Unapologetically, she wiped the tears from her eyes with her sleeve.

Her father
placed a comforting arm around her shoulder.  “What happened to her, the choices she made… it wasn’t your fault, Mia.”

“I know it’s wasn’t
, but Kate was…  She was an amazing woman with such a bright spirit.  The world was a better place with her in it.  I just can’t believe she’s gone.”

“At least
she was able to save her sisters,” Jack said.

“It’s something of a miracle that Natalya and Tetyana walked away unharmed.  Kate would have been
so happy to know they’re safe.  Protecting them was all she ever really wanted to do,” she said.

Unexpectedly, she
felt the vibration of her cell phone.  She fumbled awkwardly to remove it from her pocket.  She glanced at the number on the screen.

“Oh
, God,” she said aloud, her heart sinking inside her chest.  “It’s the hospital.”

Within fifteen minutes, she was running through the hallways of the intensive care ward at Bayview Medical Center.  She bypassed the nurse’s station and headed straight for room 3265.  She slowed to a walk as she crossed the threshold and took a deep breath in an attempt to maintain what little composure she had left.

And then he was there.  Sitting upright
in the adjustable hospital bed, his head still heavily bandaged.  But unlike all the other days she had seen him since the shooting, for the first time, he was wide awake.  He smiled brightly when he saw her standing in the doorway.

Unable to
contain her excitement, she ran across the room and threw herself into his arms.

“Gentle,” he murmured
.

“I’
m sorry, but Thomas… you’re awake!  When did you come out of the coma?”

“
In the middle of the night.  For some reason, I guess I just woke up.  I’ve spent all morning with the doctors and nurses evaluating my condition.  They think I’m doing pretty well, all things considered.”

“It’s a
miracle you even survived and yet, here you are.  If that bullet had hit you half an inch to the left…”  She shuddered.

“
I know.  I’d be dead.  The doctors told me.  Guess I caught a lucky break,” he said with a half-hearted smile. 

“I’d say that’s more than a lucky break.”

“I guess so.”  He paused and she could feel him studying her.  “What in the world happened to your neck?  It looks awful!”

“Hey
, Buster,” she laughed in an attempt to lighten the mood, “have you taken a look at yourself recently?”

He didn’t
return her smile.  “Seriously, Mia.  What happened?”

“Well,
let’s just say you aren’t the only one who’s been doing hard time here at Bayview.”

“Oh
, God, Mia.”

“Yeah.  Dalt
on wasn’t so happy with me when I confronted him about the trafficking.  He almost strangled me to death.  Luckily, Jack is a man who is more than happy to shoot a criminal to protect the life of his partner.  Even if it meant shooting the police commissioner.”

“Please tell me he killed the bastard.”

“No.  He’s under arrest over at Union Memorial.  He’ll stand trial as soon as he’s able.  We’ve found tons of evidence against him.  Enough to get a conviction, I hope.  My dad thinks it’s going to be a battle though.”

“A battle worth fighting considering what he did to Kate and the others.” 
He stopped.  “Oh my God, Mia, what happened to Kate?  I think she may have gotten shot.  Is she here?”

She
had forgotten he knew nothing of what had transpired in the week he’d spent lying in a coma in the wake of being shot in the head.  After spending three days in the hospital herself, she had kept a vigil for the remainder of the week at his bedside along with Mildred, willing him to return to them.  She didn’t relish the fact that she would have to be the one to tell him about what had happened to Kate.

“
No, Thomas.  She’s not here.”  She paused, unable to keep herself from welling up.  “She didn’t survive.  She died at the second holding facility.  She was shot twice and both bullets hit major organs.  Her internal bleeding was significant and by the time the paramedics got to her, she had already passed away.  Her sisters, however, are fine.  At least physically.  Their parents arrived here in Baltimore two days ago.  I was able to meet with them yesterday.  Talking to them about Kate was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life.”

She
watched as Thomas struggled to maintain his composure, holding back the tears she knew were on the verge of spilling over. 

“I should have stopped her from going into the house.  I should have
dragged her back to the car,” he said, tears streaming down his cheeks.

“No, Thomas.  I’ve gone over wh
at happened in my own head at least a hundred times already.  Nothing could have kept her from her sisters.  You know it and I know it.  And even if you had been able to stop her, the Malinov’s would have buried Natalya and Tetyana instead.  And think what that would have done to Kate, knowing she hadn’t done everything she could to save them.  It would have ruined her life.”

“I can’t help but feel responsible,”
he said.

“There’s only one person responsible for Kate’s death
and his name is Roger Dalton.”

“But I didn’t save her.”

“Neither did I.”

She
held him tightly and they wept together for Kate and the tragedy that ended her short life.  If there was any comfort in their misery, it was the gift of being able to mourn her loss together.  She knew too well that the bullet the surgeons removed from Thomas’ head could have just as easily added him to the growing death toll.

W
hen the last of their tears had been shed, he surprised her by asking for the date.

“
It’s February seventeenth.  Why?”

“
That’s what I thought,” he replied solemnly.  “It’s my birthday.  I turn twenty-five today.”

“I know,”
she replied.  “I’m twenty-five today too.”

“Really?”
he asked.

“Yeah.  Really.  I’ve known we were born on the same day for
a long time.  Since the first day I saw you in fact.”  He looked at her incredulously.  “What?  You don’t think I did my homework on you?” she said, a tiny smile forming on her lips.

“I would have expected nothing less.  But do you wan
t to know what’s weirder than you and I having the same birthday?”

“What?”

“Today would have been Kate’s twenty-fifth birthday too.”

“You’re kidding.
”

“No
.  She told me on the car ride to find her sisters last week.”

They
stared at one another and she suddenly felt as though they were connected by something far more powerful than anything she had ever felt before.

“That’s weird,”
she said.

“Really weird,”
he agreed.

“Do you know what else is weird?  Something Kate said to me after we were rescued
from the basement.  Do you remember when she said I was “brought” to her and that she asked for me to come into her life to correct everything that had gone wrong.  It was almost as if she thought she had some sort of a superpower.”

“A superpower like seeing auras?”
he asked.

“Maybe,”
she said.  “If I have my gift, why couldn’t she have a gift too?”