Halfway Between

  Joel nodded. “I got up, was hiding in an apartment, couldn’t go home, not safe. You know. The dude from the family support called. Remember, he is the one who was with the Commander when they told me you died. Man that sucked, bad fuckin' day. Anyway, went to the café, and ordered coffee, I was early. I waited, and waited, then finally the dude, uh whatshisname, Mr. Grimm. I need to sleep for a sec.”

  “Joel?” He heard as he drifted off.

  Chapter Four

  “Finally, something went right.” Diego laughed. “Tell me again what happened.”

  “We were lucky, when we got a hit on the credit card we were only a block away. The idiot who was taking out the money never saw us. Once he went into the building, we positioned ourselves in every direction. So no matter where he went when he came out, we would catch him. Unfortunately for him, he chose my direction. I had the Salamander Brandy, went into the diner when I saw where he was going, and when the waitress turned, I poured it in his coffee. You could see right from the start he had no clue, arrogant American who thinks he is untouchable. I watched the beginning effects, he began to blink more often. Then the suit man came in, and I watched with humor as he threw the chair out the window and escaped. The suit man was panicked. He ran out the door where he had friends guarding so they could take him in. I heard them say he was in danger, and they had to find him before he was killed. I wanted to laugh because he was already a dead man walking. They will never find the trace of this poison, even when they find him,” his second said as he laughed.

  Diego laughed and slapped the man on the back. “Good job, at least someone in the group knows how to kill someone.”

  “Of course, sir. I am now waiting for next assignment,” the man said.

  “We are searching for where the cowards are hiding, I sent out an obvious threat, they will come to me. Which is beside the point, we have one more left. She is within our grasp, so with the brother, and the next of kin, we will finally show them they aren't untouchable,” Diego said.

  “I'll await your orders,” his second said and left the room.

  Diego looked out the window of his mother’s home. The embassy provided the perfect cover, but trying to accomplish what he needed was like a balance, and his baby brother was not helping. His spies told him every move he made. His brother’s whore was going to be sorry the day she betrayed his family. However, he couldn’t do anything right now—but soon. He didn’t want to draw attention to himself. Killing her would be the last thing he did in the country, maybe he would kill his white knight brother as well. Diego grinned at the thought. His mother would go with whatever decision he made at this point. She wanted revenge as much as he did.

  When his mother discovered his plans, she had wanted in as long as he brought in the old man into his plans. Diego of course agreed because having his mother's backing was important. She would protect him because she was in this just as deep as he was. In fact, she was more than prepared to help.

  There was a diplomatic dinner in two weeks. She invited him as her plus one. Some of the people on his list were there. They were all going to die, Diego and his mother had a plan of course. They had already begun taking the antidote to protect them, they would get sick just like some of the others, but the ones they wanted to kill, would be given a lethal dose in their drink.

  “Diego, we need to talk,” his mother said briskly when she walked into the room.

  “Of course, Mother,” Diego said.

  “There is a problem. One that pains my heart to have to say, but it is something we are going to have to take care of.” His mother sighed.

  Diego could only hope what this problem was. To get permission from his mother to kill his brother would be huge. She had always treated his brother with such pride, used him in the public to boost her image. Her disgust over a situation that took place many years ago, tainted her love for her son, if she was even able to feel anything like that at all.

  “Your brother has been helping that bitch. We need to watch them closely,” his mother announced.

  Diego smiled and nodded. “Anything you say, Mother,” he said and then offered to discuss their plans over lunch.

  Chapter Five

  Drake waited impatiently for the doors to open, they were finally here and needed to find Joel, and fast, the Commander had put out a BOLO with the local departments. Hopefully they had something. When they were landing they had to shut off the computers, so for the last twenty minutes no news. Thane was on the phone now, but he was on hold.

  Finally, the doors were opened and they all rushed down the steps of the plane. Transportation was sitting right where Noah had told them it would be. Not wasting a moment, they walked quickly. Two men in uniform stepped out from behind the SUV and waited until they got to the doors.

  “Sir,” one of them said and saluted to them. “I have been told Joel Lipit has been taken to the base hospital. They say he has been injured and poisoned, no idea with what. At this time, he is beginning to lose consciousness.”

  Drake swore, “Thank you.”

  The men piled into the SUV, with Thane driving. They tore out of the airstrip with gravel flying behind them. The hospital was relatively close, only fifteen/twenty minutes tops. The men were all silent. Drake knew what he had to do, they couldn’t wait to use the injection. The doctors would be looking for an antidote, one they would have available but not know it was needed. The drug needed to work its way through the system, but he needed to stay alive until it could. The only way was this injection, and no doctor would know it unless they found Salamander Brandy in their database, which was highly unlikely.

  He looked out the window and gripped the injection tightly, knowing he had one shot at this. He would not miss.

  Harper was standing at the desk arguing with the desk nurse. She was becoming increasingly pissed at her attitude.

  “I can’t let you back there until the doctor okays this,” the nurse said for the tenth time.

  “Listen, this is a badge. This is not a plastic toy I bought on the way here. I am here to find this man, and get information. If he is going to die, I need to do it before he does. We need to make sure there are no bodies strewn throughout the city that we are going to find. And if he was injured because he was in trouble—we need to make sure he has protection. I can do neither of these until I ascertain what I am dealing with,” Harper said.

  “The doctor will be out in a second. I have paged him,” the nurse said firmly.

  “Doesn’t work for me. Push the damn button or I will personally make sure this administration knows you are impeding an investigation,” Harper growled.

  The nurse pursed her lips and then reached down. But before she pushed the button, she said, “I hold no responsibility in this, it is all on you.”

  Harper nodded briskly and walked to the locked doors. Fuck that, she thought, if she had to fight, she would.

  Harper heard the buzz, and she pushed into the fast paced ER and walked to the desk and flashed her badge again. “Joel Lipit.”

  The nurse looked up in surprise. “Room 6, but before you go in I need to warn you. He is hallucinating, and fading fast. He was poisoned, we aren’t sure with what, and if we give him the wrong thing, he is going to die. So if you can get anything from him, hurry.”

  Harper raised an eyebrow in surprise. Joel Lipit was not homicidal, he was a victim, one that was probably going to die before she had a chance to find out why. This sucked, but she had to try. She walked to the room and stood in the doorway listening to the doctor trying to ask the man question. He had already obviously developed a trusting relationship to a point, she didn’t have time to go through that whole thing, so she stood and listened, taking out her notepad so she could take notes.

  "Brian?" Joel whispered and licked his lips. How long had it been? Was his brother gone?

  "Joel," he heard Brian say.

  Joel took a deep breath, at least he had not been completely nuts. He knew that his brother was dead,
he got that, but this, being able to talk to him one more time, was priceless. He figured it was his last wish before dying and he wasn’t going to waste it.

  "Hey man, sorry. Listen, I know what is happening. I know I am going to die, just a bit freaked out about that. Tell me, how does it feel? You know, dying and being dead. Is it gonna hurt? Am I going to see the light?"

  "Joel, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that from happening," Brian said.

  "I know, but we are both realists, you know whatever happened, they want me dead," Joel moaned when he felt the pain in his stomach.

  "Who Joel, who wants you dead?" Brian asked, which caused him to frown.

  "You know, whoever is trying to kill the team’s families. Or whoever stole the guns from the military. Man, I wish I had a chance to talk to Drake, he needs to know," Joel said.

  "Do you know names? How they were trying to kill you? Like the poison, where did you get it from? Where was the last place you drank or ate anything?" Brain said.

  "Man, really? I have told you all this already, on the way here. Okay, listen this time. I think it was in the diner by Dog's house, find him, he can tell you. Oh, and I need to give him more money, he helped me out by letting me crash on his sofa. It was a disgusting place. Maybe let him have my pad. Poison? Makes sense, I feel weird. The names are in the files at Dog's house, but be careful man, we are dealing with some big hitters. Hey, I am getting tired again. I am going to rest. You are dead, can't you just talk to me in my head. I mean, this is so hard,” Joel said.

  He closed his eyes, but he didn’t fall asleep. He waited, his brother would come, he always looked out for him.

  "Joel?" his brother whispered.

  "I knew you would be able to come. Why haven’t you before?" Joel asked, not aware he was speaking aloud, and also unaware of the fact that a policewomen was writing down everything.

  "We need to talk, man," Brian said.

  “I know that is why you are here. I was just waiting for you to get to the point. Bro, you have never been this secretive before. This has to be serious.” Joel grinned. “Did you get someone pregnant before you died or something?”

  Brian shook his head and smiled. "You had to go there right?"

  “Duh,” Joel smiled.

  "No, man, listen, you got involved in all this, and I am sorry. But you need to know Drake is on his way. He knows what to do. You need to hold on for me—and him. Joel, you know how Drake is, it was us and him—no other family. We both can’t leave him," Brian said.

  Joel frowned, “I don’t want to. I want to live. But seriously, I need to know why you and our parents left me. I mean, you want me to make a choice to stay here—alone—except for Drake. I get why but what the hell, I need some answers.”

  Brian sighed. "I get that—that is why I am here. You know the letters we write before a mission. Drake has it, but you need to hear this from me."

  “Damn, you gotta hit where it hurts, don’t ya. You know we talked about this before you even joined the SEALs, you write the death letters. But I told you not to write one to me. I don’t except that you could have ever written something that would matter to me when you are gone. I am looking at living my life without the people I most loved, and to me it doesn’t matter. I want to know why you were all taken away—that is my only question,” Joel said sadly.

  Harper, who was still standing by the door, put down her pen. She had tears already gathering in her eyes. The man before her was not remotely what she thought.

  "I know that, bro, but listen. I knew that when you got it, you would throw it away, so this is why I am telling you what I wrote—it is important for you to hear," Brian said with an exasperated tone.

  “Fine, tell me. Make me understand,” Joel said.

  "I know you have already received the news of my death. There are things that need to be said, and I know you are not going to read this for a long time because you will be bashing yourself. Drake will hold this and deliver it when he knows you are ready. So, whenever you are reading this, please finish the letter completely.

  "You already know how I felt about my job and my team, there is no reason to repeat this anymore than to say. I did my job—I loved my job—and I will always be proud of what I accomplished. Just like you, we chose a field where we would make a difference, and we have.

  "Now, I know since mom and dad's death you have felt a little lost. I understand questioning things like that. I have too. The whys and stuff are only going to drive you nuts. There is no explanation why things happen, Joel. Just know there is a greater plan for all of us. We need to remember what is going to happen, not what has. You have memories as do I. Like the time we went camping as a family and we were playing hide and seek. You stepped in the poison ivy, and mom was freaking out. Then dad calmly put the calamine lotion on you. You looked like a tiny, little, spotted freak.

  "We had good times, they should be remembered as something you can always think of when you are down. Right now, you have remained focused on a question that will never be answered. Knowing the why—will not let you sleep better at night. But celebrating their memories and mine now, is the only thing you should be worried about. You know they loved you—you know I loved you. I would never have been able to make it out of Basic if it was not for you.

  "Your encouragement and support were the things that got me through hell week. All I had to do was think about you when I was in the water for hours, it made the pain and cold go away. I probably sounded like a crazy man when I was chuckling over something we did.

  "I don’t want you to ever think for one moment I was disappointed in you or something you accomplished. I admit you were always the smarter one, and I was always the sexy one. It is a burden we have to carry. Now you have to carry both, because despite all my teasing—and not to sound like a creeper, you have the sexy gene, it was bound to happen, 'cause we are family.

  "I hope you know that no matter what, I am always going to be here as will mom and dad. I will make sure they stay out of the bedroom, 'cause that is wrong. We will watch over you though, you make me proud to say you are my brother.

  "As I am writing this letter, I know there is so much more to say, so much more to share. I am going to try to condense it, but this really sucks. So hear it goes, I am going to turn a little sappy and poetic, it is all Drake's fault by the way, this is his letter too, you are his family.

  "Joel, know that I may be gone, but I will wait for you before I move on. There has to be some power somewhere that will allow me to do this. Because you know, I will never leave you behind. I will be there to guide you—the wind of comfort—the brush of praise. Never doubt my determination to move heaven and earth to protect you in any way I can. We have been through the worst thing imaginable, the loss of our parents, and yet we survived and maintained, holding on to their beliefs and not wasting away the chance they gave us. When we were struggling, we found Drake. He has been our anchor through all of this, and no matter what he says, I know he was meant to be our brother, confidant, and friend. So when he gives you this letter, I know he will sit beside you, and make sure you are okay. Let this past go, move on with your future. Know it will be great. Don’t leave Drake behind, I know you will probably be pissed that he was okay and I was gone. He already knows this and knows that you will explain in time.

  "However, once again this is part of a greater plan. I would never blame him for living while I died, nor would he do this to me. We are where we are supposed to be right now. You need to let go of the questions, and move onto the celebration. Because no matter what—you are the wind beneath my wings. I know you are laughing right now. Keep the laughter, hold onto it and pull it out whenever needed, it has no time stamp.

  "Drake is putting his own letter in with this one and I know you will get both because he will forget that it is in there. But don’t read his yet, it says a lot of sappy shit that you can’t deal with right now.

  "I love you, brother, remember I am just a thought away."
/>
  “Well you suck,” Joel said with tears in his eyes.

  "I know and I love you too." Brian laughed.

  “Just tell me one thing,” Joel muttered.

  "If I can," Brian said.

  “Have you seen mom and dad? Did they really watch me, us?” Joel asked.

  "Yes, they did, and they are so proud of you. So proud of the man you are," Brian said.

  “That is all I need to hear, man.” Joel sighed. “That’s all I need to hear.”

  Harper wondered if the man knew he was speaking a conversation in two voices. It was a little creepy listening to it, but the doctor whispered to her that he was hallucinating and speaking to his dead brother. It broke her heart to hear it. And she was no pushover, from the nurses' sniffles and reactions they were upset by the situation.

  She watched as his heart slowed a little, the beeps getting a little slower and slower. His blood pressure was falling a few digits at a time. She couldn’t decide if she could stand here and see this man slip away, hearing everything she had.

  There was a noise at the front desk that made her turn her head. She could see a very large men, yelling at the front desk clerk she had just insulted and threatened. Wow, she was having a bad day. Although after listening to this, she wondered if she should have pushed. Some things were not meant to be shared.

  Harper stepped into the room, to avoid the noise. Joel Lipit was speaking so softly now, she couldn’t hear unless she was closer. Once again, staring out the door she frowned. The man that was yelling was extremely sexy in his outrage. She wondered if she should go help. Shit, that was wrong to think about right now, focus.

  “Doctor, how is he doing?” she whispered.

  “If we don’t find something soon, he is going to die. I estimate by the decreased vital sign, within the next few minutes. Your heart rate can only dip so low,” the doctor said in frustration and went back to trying to get the lab to hurry with their results.