Sins of the Father (10 page)

He watched as Alicia
tried to find a way to hug Jack without hurting something. She
settled on laying her forehead against the bandages that covered
his.

“
You look a
little better,” she said, moving to take his hand.

“
Say that
again and my body might listen.”

Brad couldn’t help
smiling. He’d been there before; when every part of his body ached
so much he’d felt trapped inside a broken machine. Maybe that
wasn’t exactly how Jack felt, but it was close enough.

Alicia pulled a funny
face as she repeated her line. “You look a little better.” He was
incapable of retaliating in his present condition. “This is Brad
Morgan.” Alicia flicked her hand in his direction as though she’d
just made him appear.

“
Ah, the
marine,” Jack said smiling.

“
Ex-marine.”
He held out a hand. “It’s good to meet you.”

“
You
too.”

Brad turned to Alicia
with a brief nod. “I’ll be outside when you’re ready.”

Jack stopped him before
he’d made a step towards the door. “No, please, join us. If you
don’t, Al will pretend everything’s all right and I’ll never know
the truth.”

“
I tell you
the important stuff.”

“
Sit…please.”
Jack motioned to a chair.

Brad looked at it
doubtfully; not sure it was strong enough to take his weight.
“Maybe I’ll just stand.”

He looked from Brad to
the chair and back again, making a modest effort to get a chuckle
past his sore ribs. “Probably a wise choice.” His expression was
mischievous when he turned to Alicia. “I tried the same thing on
Josh earlier. He wouldn’t play ball either.”

“
I think it’s
time it went back to the classroom where it belongs,” she said
dryly.

“
Don’t make
me laugh. It hurts.”

“
Imagine what
would’ve happened if Brad got stuck in that chair.” She had to bite
her lip when the image of it flashed in her head.

Brad found it amusing
too, though he tried for a straight face.

“
Now you’re
just being cruel.” Jack gave her hand an affectionate squeeze. “But
enough fun and games, tell me what’s happening.”

“
Not a great
deal.” She squirmed under his direct stare. “Okay, okay. I might
have received another threat.”

Jack’s eyes instantly
clouded with worry. “What kind of threat?”

She paused for a moment,
contemplating how much to say.

“
May I?” Brad
held his smart phone in the air.

“
That was
quick.” She shrugged and dipped her head in consent. “It looks
worse than it is,” she said to Jack as Brad showed him photos of
her macabre gift.

“
What happens
now?” Jack asked, squinting to make the image clearer. His headache
was getting worse but he wasn’t about to tell Alicia
that.

“
Alicia has
twenty-four hour protection until we find this guy. I’d also like
to assign my team to your protection.”

He looked surprised. “Is
that necessary?”

Brad saw the look that
passed between Jack and Alicia and felt the guilt trying to burn a
hole in his common sense. The last thing he needed was to apologise
and embarrass them both.

“
Yes. Call it
a gut instinct, but I have a feeling you’re both connected to
this.”

“
Who will you
assign?” Alicia asked. She didn’t doubt his judgement for a
second.

“
Kelvin,
mostly.”

“
Good. That’s
good.”

Jack looked from one to
the other. “Don’t I get a say in this?”

“
As long as
the answer is yes you can say as much as you want!”

Jack’s eye roll was
followed by a raspy chuckle. Because Alicia was watching his
expression, she caught the flutter of pain.

“
What is
it?”

“
Nothing,
it’s just a headache.”

She ran a hand gently
over his bandages. “You need rest. The stress isn’t
helping.”

“
I’m fine.
Don’t worry. I’ll get some shut eye when you head back.”

“
Okay, but
why don’t I lighten the mood anyway.” She pulled out her own phone.
“I took some pictures for you this morning.”

“
I saw one of them on
Twitter
.”

Alicia smiled sheepishly.
“Sorry, honey. You know I like to tweet. I did save the best for
you.” She couldn’t hide the smirk at Brad’s expression. “Don’t
worry. I’m following Sarah’s instructions on how to stay safe. I
don’t tweet anything about my schedule.”

“
Speaking of
which, where is the lovely red-headed vixen?” Jack asked, never
taking his eyes from the screen.

“
Busy as
always. She’s spending some time with Greg this evening - a little
father and daughter time.”

“
Is he still
texting every five minutes?”

She took the phone back
and slipped it into her pocket. “Maybe every ten.”

“
Have you met
him yet?” Jack asked Brad, trying to involve him in the
conversation.

“
I haven’t
had the pleasure.”

“
How about
Josh Burton?”

“
Briefly when
I arrived this morning.”

“
They’re as
thick as thieves.” Jack motioned to Alicia. “I’m surprised he
hasn’t persuaded Stuart to give her a role in the
movie.”

Alicia shook her head.
“As far as I know he had another project lined up. It would’ve been
fun though.”

“
He’ll still
find a way to keep his eye on you. He was pretty worried when he
stopped by.”

“
He’s
concerned about you, too.”

“
I
know.”

Jack closed his eyes for
a moment, relieved that the headache wasn’t getting any worse. They
snapped back open again when he heard the theme tune belting out of
Brad’s mobile phone. “Hey, I love this song.”

“
Sorry, I’ll
take that outside.” Brad already had the phone to his ear.
“Morgan.”

Is this a good time?”
Susannah asked.

He glanced at Alicia and
Jack before closing the door. “Yeah, what’ve you got for
me?”

“
I got the
background on Murphy.”

“
I think I
discovered some of it on my own. What did you get?”

Brad looked for the men
from Abe’s team. They had been assigned to his detail for the
duration. When he was satisfied they were in position, he tuned in
to Susannah again.

“
It took a
few hours to unravel but I discovered Jack Murphy is
adopted.”

“
Yes, that’s
what I figured. He’s Alicia’s brother, right?”

“
Damn, do you
always have to steal my thunder?

“
Nobody can
do that, Suez.”

“
How did you
know?” Her voice was slightly mollified by the
compliment.

“
I knew as
soon as I saw him. Until then I’d forgotten Helen had a son too.
I’m losing my edge.”

He heard the sigh, could
picture the expression on her face. “Cut yourself a little slack,
honey. You know now. How do you want to proceed?”

“
I think we
have to look more closely into their past. See if anything
fits.”

“
But you
don’t believe it’s about them, do you?”

He smiled; she knew him
well. “I just know Helen’s involved somehow. Can you do a little
more digging?”

“
Sure, I’ll
get on it. There isn’t anything sinister in Jack’s immediate
background.”

“
That doesn’t
surprise me, he’s a good kid. Work your magic, Suez.”

“
Magic has
nothing to do with it. It’s skill, plain and simple.” He could hear
the smile in her voice.

“
Yeah, you
got skills. Be good.”

He closed the phone and
slipped it back into his pocket before returning to Jack’s room.
“Sorry about that,” he said.

“
Not at all.”
Jack waved his apology away. “We were just talking script, nothing
exciting.”

“
Speaking of
which,” Alicia said, glancing at the clock. “We’d better head back
before I give Stuart an ulcer. You know how he is about his
schedule.”

“
Come back
soon. I feel like I’m stuck in a fish bowl here and I don’t know
what’s going on.”

Alicia huffed, not buying
it. “I’m sure you have spies to feed you the
information.”

Jack’s grin turned up a
notch when Becky poked her head around the door.

“
Hi
sweetheart,” she said conjuring a white box from behind her back.
“I brought you some goodies.”

“
Score!” Jack
said, though is eyes never left his wife’s face, even when she
placed the box beside him.

Becky leant to kiss him
soundly on the mouth, lingering only a moment before turning to
Alicia.

“
How’re you,
hon?”

“
I’m good,
and the first day is going really well. Add in the fact that Jack’s
on the mend and all is right in my world.”

“
Not quite,”
Becky said, looking pointedly over Alicia’s shoulder.

“
I’m Brad
Morgan. It’s good to meet you,” he said, taking that as his
cue.

“
Rebecca
Murphy. I’m glad to me you too.”

“
We were
actually just about to head back, but I’ll call you later.” Alicia
planted a kiss on Jack’s cheek, gently as though her touch might
burn.

He winced when her lips
made contact with his skin, surprising a chuckle out of
her.

They had a rhythm that
was obvious to those who knew them.

Brad excused himself as
they finished up so that he could check the team’s position. He was
ready and waiting when Alicia came out.

They walked in silence
for a while, negotiating the hallways on their way to the meeting
point.

Alicia could see his head
was in a different place. It fascinated her, the way he zoned out.
Regardless of what was going through that attractive head of his,
she suspected he was still alert and ready to
participate.

“
Did you
notice that man in the red jumper?” she asked, wanting to test her
theory.

Brad looked down at her,
one eyebrow raised in question. “There wasn’t a man wearing a red
jumper. There was a woman with red shoes who made me wonder if the
age old expression about the colour is true.”

He fought with the urge
to echo her laughter. He wasn’t sure why she was testing him, or
why he felt the need to ace the test. He closed his eyes briefly,
conjuring the waiting room they had now passed. When he opened them
again he looked directly at her, maintaining eye contact until he’d
made his point.

“
There were seven people in all. A young couple, who were
more interested in each other than what was going on around them. A
man in his late fifties reading a journal, the only sane option
when surrounded by magazines that cater to one audience. Two women,
possibly sisters, who appeared anxious, yet tired of their waiting
game. Our lady with the red footwear, and finally a young man of
around twenty who looked about to bolt for the nearest exit. That
is until he saw you and then all thoughts went out of his
head.”
I know the
feeling.

He felt a twinge of
satisfaction when her eyes widened in surprise. “That’s a neat
party trick – how’d you do it?”

“
It’s about
knowing your environment and the risks. I’m trained to observe
those things, to have different levels of awareness.”

Alicia considered that
for a moment, before sharing what was really on her mind. “Is
Kelvin as good as you?”

Brad’s lips curled into a
smile. “Better.”

“
Then Jack’s
in safe hands.”

He chuckled as he opened
the emergency exit door. Justin was idling a few yards away and
thankfully, he was alone.

“
Are you
ready?”

Alicia nodded and stepped
outside.

***

Paul Meeks watched Alicia
emerge from the hospital. She had the bodyguard with her. He was
big too. Probably put up a good fight. But he didn’t plan to take
her now. He wanted her to suffer first - to know the meaning of
fear. Then he would swoop in when she least suspected
it.

He’d messed up with Jack
Murphy, but he wouldn’t fail again. He’d waited too long, planned
too well. He wasn’t perfect, but he was smart and he rarely made
mistakes.

He thought of Dr
Johnson’s unfortunate little accident. For years, he’d played the
good doctor like a cheap musical instrument, telling him everything
he wanted to hear until he felt like a hero.

His death was too fast,
but necessary. After he’d served his purpose, Paul wanted to play
with him a little, show him what it felt like to sit in his office,
hour after hour. Johnson didn’t know the meaning of pain. He was an
arrogant, pompous asshole, and now he was dead.