Around the World in 80 Men Boxed Set 31-35 (61 page)

“Finlay?
Didn't ya get my message, Mate?” Finlay, still confused,
answered.

“Aye.
But what the fook are ye talking aboot?” Tanner was silent, and
that made Finlay even more uneasy. “What happened to Morgan?!”
Finlay stood, the realization that something terrible had happened
flooded his mind with every possible scenario.

“It's
alright. She's alright. I'll tell ya everything I know.”
Tanner, over the next five minutes, did just that. Also, he explained
that until Morgan returned the call, he wouldn't know exactly where
she was.

“Bloody
fookin' hell! Why didn't ye tell me before now?!” Tanner
laughed into the phone, letting the large Scot know that it wasn't
his job to keep Finlay informed of anything. He was only talking to
him then because Morgan's phone died and he was simply being nice.
“Never mind. I'll find her myself.” Finlay managed a
quick word of thanks before ending the call, and Tanner laughed again
at the silence that followed.

“You
can travel all over Maine and look, Mate. I'll wait here for her to
call and tell me where she is.” He laughed again and grabbed a
cold beer from the refrigerator shelf. “Bloody hot headed
Scot.” He took a long drink and looked at his phone again. The
thought that he might have been the only one that knew of the crash
came to his mind. “Angel?” He had to know. Or did he?

Tanner
found Angel's number and clicked the button. He didn't have to wonder
long, because the greeting he received told Tanner that Angel had no
clue.

“Say
words, Tan fuckin' Man... and make it sexy and shit.”

*****

Morgan
fell asleep right after watching Freddy terrorize teens in their
dreams, but it wasn't a peaceful sleep by any stretch.

Visions
of the plane descending to the approaching white earth, flashed to
images of Carlos smiling down at her in the small wooden shed.
Lifeless bodies surrounded her, as red liquid moved through the
partially frozen surface, and nearly touched her outstretched leg.
“No!” Morgan tried to pull her leg back under the
blanket, but felt resistance. Half asleep, but trying to wake, she
grabbed her own leg and pulled it from the approaching blood. Still,
it wouldn't budge. “No! No!”

“Don't
fight me Morgan, it'll only make it worse.” Morgan's eyes
opened wide at the sound of Ernesto's voice.

“What
the fuck? What are you d..?”

“Quiet..
we wouldn't want to wake everyone, would we?” Ernesto climbed
onto the bed and straddled Morgan's waist with all of his weight,
then placed his hand over her mouth. He was bare from the waist up,
and wore only the gray sweats that Jules had provided. “Don't
worry, it'll look as if you just died in your sleep. It'll be over
before you know it.” Morgan's eyes were filled with terror as
she stared into his face. Her hands moved to his chest to push him,
to move him in any way, but he was far too heavy. She felt like a
child trying to move from underneath an adult, and her efforts were
useless. Still, she didn't give up.

Morgan
thrashed her body from side to side, and screamed into the palm of
his hand that pressed hard against her mouth. It was then that she
saw that creepy tattoo of a man's face on Ernesto's bruised arm.
Carlos!
There, even in the darkness, it became clear that the
memorialized image of Carlos was staring back at Morgan from the
grave. Terror, like nothing she'd ever felt in her life, consumed her
completely. He knew Carlos, or was possibly related to him, and he
wanted revenge for the disappearance of the monster.

“Finally,
she understands.” He turned his arm slightly so that he could
see the image on his flesh as well. “He's my brother. Or should
I say, was my brother?” It was obvious that Ernesto simply
assumed that Carlos was dead. It wasn't like Carlos to disappear, and
not even check in with Ernesto, so the painful truth was what started
the motion of revenge. “I've searched for you for quite some
time, Morgan. You wouldn't believe how hard it was to track you
down... but.. persistence pays, don't you agree?” Morgan tried
to kick his back with her knees, but she still couldn't budge the
man. “I won't pretend to know why he wanted you so badly, or
why he traveled all over the world for you.” He looked down at
Morgan's bare chest and smiled. “I mean, I get why he would
want you, but to go to the lengths he did... well, I guess I'll never
really understand.” He repositioned his hand over Morgan's
mouth and sat up slightly. “All I do know is that he's gone,
and you were the last person he saw. That, my pretty friend, is all I
really need to know.”

Morgan's
tears streamed down her cheeks and across his knuckles. He watched
the terror in her eyes, and laughed at how easy it was going to be to
rid the person from the world that took his only brother. “Tomorrow
morning, your friends will discover that you're dead, and we'll all
mourn the loss of such a sweet young woman. Oh, and I'll be sure to
shed a tear or two for you. Will that make you happy?” His
sadistic smile was identical to the one that Carlos wore, and Morgan
nearly threw up against the hand that held her mouth closed. He
began to laugh but it quickly turned to a cough. He couldn't have the
distraction, nor the noise, and he reached into his pocket to remove
another cough drop. The scent of menthol filled the small space
between them, and Morgan flinched as she gagged again.

“I'm
going to kill you, and you react to the smell of a cough drop?”
Ernesto's head fell back as he laughed, yet still trying to keep his
sounds at a minimum. “You're a funny girl.. Mor....,”
Ernesto's head came forward and he moved his hand away from Morgan's
mouth.

She
watched as he grabbed his throat, and was frozen in absolute fear. He
clawed at his neck as he tried to stand, and Morgan could see the
color of his face change in the small slivers of light that hit his
skin.

She
pulled her legs quickly to the side of the bed, away from Ernesto,
and started running as soon as her feet hit the floor. She had to get
help, to tell someone, to.... “No.” Morgan stopped. She
turned to face Ernesto who was on his knees, still trying to remove
the cough drop from his throat by means of beating his own shoulders.
“That won't work.” She smiled, a slow sadistic smile that
the evil brother had taught her, and folded her arms across her
chest.

Morgan
knew that she only had another minute or less to taunt the man, then
he would pay for what he planned to do to her. “Soon,”
she mimicked his words, “the world will know what a piece of
shit you are.” She watched him struggle, and a line of saliva
fell from his lips. Yes, she thought, the authorities would take care
of the monster as they should have done with Carlos. “Carlos?”
Images of Tanner, Finlay, and everyone else that she loved came to
the forefront of her mind. She couldn't tell the authorities
anything. They would discover why Ernesto was following her, and why
he wanted her dead. No.. she couldn't allow anything to happen to her
family
. She stepped closer and her heart beat wildly at what
she was about to do.

Morgan
Holland would do.... nothing. She watched him grab his throat again,
and waited for his eyes to move up to her face. With one final slap
to his own shoulder, he fell forward and looked to Morgan before his
face hit the small oval light blue rug beside the bed.

Morgan
watched for the last few moments as death consumed the man at her
feet.
I let him die!
She stepped forward, and reached out,
then withdrew her hand without touching him.
I killed him! No! He
killed himself.. but I could have saved him!
Morgan took a few
steps back and leaned her ass against the small dresser on the
opposite side of the room.
He would have killed me. If not, he
would have told the world that his brother was dead. I had to. I..
fuck!
Morgan's hands went to the sides of her head, and her body
rocked forward as she tried to make sense of her situation.

“No,”
her hands dropped to her sides and she looked at Ernesto's lifeless
body. “I didn't do anything. You, you piece of shit, you did
this.” At that moment, standing in the chilly bedroom with the
dead body of Ernesto, the night mare of Carlos had come to an end.
“It's gone.” The fear, the anxiety, the guilt, had
vanished.

His
death, she realized, was her new lease on a better life. The calm and
comfort that surrounded her soul was shocking in itself. The death of
Ernesto, was the death of her secret nightmare. And the truth of what
happened would go to her grave, just like the secrets of what others
did for her. The only thing Morgan didn't know, and never would, was
that Ernesto had planned to kill Tanner and Finlay as well. But they
were safe, and so was Morgan, and the brutal threat from the world of
Carlos had officially ended for good.

Chapter
Six

Morgan
woke the next morning and stretched her legs out as far as she could.
Images from the night prior surfaced instantly, but she pushed them
from her mind and sat up. She looked at the fishing boat shaped clock
on the wall. It was almost seven, and the house would most likely be
awake soon. Morgan got out of bed and stretched again. Dragging
Ernesto's lifeless body to his room in the middle of the night had
caused her muscles to ache even more than the plane crash had. She
walked slowly to the bathroom and stood in front of the mirror for
several moments.

Was
she looking into the face of a killer? Was she no better than Carlos
or Ernesto? No, she smiled. She was looking into the face of a
survivor.

Morgan
brushed her teeth and combed out her hair to pull it into a high pony
tail. There was no need to do anything special, because all she
wanted right then was to allow her body to heal enough to get back to
her life. The only sadness that remained in her heart was for the
lost souls on the plane, and she would forever remember them.

She
pulled the sweatshirt back over her head, and made her way quietly to
the kitchen and began to look for coffee filters. “Good
morning.” Morgan spun around and ran head first into Markus'
chest. “Shit, I'm sorry. I thought you heard me.” He
wrapped his arms around her waist to keep her from falling.

Morgan
laughed and finally stood up straight and cleared her throat. “No,
I didn't hear you. You're lucky you didn't get clocked in the head
with a coffee pot.” Morgan's lack of concern for the
undiscovered body of Ernesto was shocking, just a shocking as the
fact that she was genuinely in a good mood.

“
You're
sexy when you're making idle threats.” Markus kissed her
bruised forehead and turned Morgan back around. “Hey, do you
mind if I use your phone?” Morgan nodded, then remembered that
she still needed to make a few calls herself.

“
It's
in my room. Go ahead and get it, and I'll start the coffee.”
Markus agreed, but changed his mind before leaving the room.

“
Screw
it, I'll make calls later. How about we go to breakfast? Only, I
don't have my wallet, so the lady will have to buy me food.”
Morgan giggled and agreed to buy him anything he wanted.

“
I'll
be ready in five minutes.” Morgan went to her room and looked
up the number to a nearby taxi service. She scheduled a car to pick
them up as soon as possible, and she got ready in three minutes flat.
“Hello, beautiful.” She pulled her favorite white hoodie
from her bag, and the first pair of jeans that her hand came across.

“
It's
officially been six minutes, let's go.” Markus whispered into
Morgan's room, and was nearly ran over when she zipped past him.

Ten
minutes later, the two were on their way to breakfast, and had
already planned a morning of shopping after. “I swear, I'll pay
you back.” Morgan laughed, because she knew that she would
never take money from the man. Especially not for a few necessities
after escaping death in a plane crash.

Morgan
leaned back in the seat of the taxi and smiled to herself again. It
wouldn't be long until Ernesto was found, and she hoped that his body
would be taken care of before they returned to the house. Once
again, she felt no remorse for what had happened.
I'm free.

The
two asked to stop at the first restaurant that served breakfast, and
they were taken to Ernie's Cafe. Morgan almost laughed at the name,
but all she wanted to know was if Ernie could make a proper steak
with her eggs.

They
had their coffee in hand, which wasn't soon enough for Morgan, and
she was already halfway through her first cup before they ordered
their food. “Okay, you enjoy that... I really do need to call
my family.” Morgan nodded in mid drink, and reached inside her
bag to remove her phone. Markus thanked her, and turned it on. The
two laughed as one ding after another sounded when the phone caught
up with all of her missed calls and texts. “I think it's going
to be a minute, huh?” Markus handed her phone back, and Morgan
laughed as she took it from his hand. She wasn't sure if she was
ready to talk to anyone just yet, but the dozen missed calls and at
least five texts from Finlay made up her mind.