Free Holy Island Trilogy 03 - The Final Countdown by Sheila Quigley Page B

memory coming back, he remembered every punch, slap and kick he’d received yesterday.
     So, he reasoned with a sinking heart, if he’s my father, then the twat who did this has got to be my brother.
    No fucking way. Talk about the family from hell!
    ‘Or half-brother,’ he muttered. Looking down at his naked body, he expected to find a whole mess of bruising, but was surprised to see what looked like only shadows of bruises. He’d always had good healing skin, but this looked like he’d had the shit kicked out of him four or five days ago, not last night.
    Unless… no, it was last night!
    So what the hell have they been pumping into me?
    Just proves another point Cox raised, the bastards have a cure for everything that the ordinary bloke doesn’t know about. Bet they live a lot longer and illness free as well.
    And some fucking brother!
    But we’ll meet again, bro, hopefully without the fucking handcuffs, and God help you.
    Too much water under the bridge to feel any emotion towards a family he’d never known existed till now, and too much information to take in properly.
    He stretched, luxuriated for a moment, before giving a sudden vicious yank on the handcuffs, which did nothing but make his wrist hurt. ‘Fucking hell,’ he muttered. ‘How the hell am I gonna get out of this?’
    Turning on his right side, he reached his left hand up and felt the cuffs. No way, far too flaming tight. He felt along the bed frame, looking for a weak spot, pulling the cuffs as he moved his hand along, but it all seemed pretty solid.
    ‘Shit.’ He gave another yank on the cuffs.
    No way out of this, mate. He moved sideways along the bed in the other direction, but still failed to find a weak spot in the frame. That was when he spotted the glass of water on the bedside cabinet. The water was just within his reach, but further along, right at the very end of the cabinet, was a key. And this was totally out of reach.
    ‘Tormenting twats!’ he muttered.
    He looked down at his naked body again, and shrugged. If they think keeping me clothes-less will stop me getting outta here... big mistake. ‘Bastards.’
    He sighed. Really, this whole friggin’ predicament is nothing short of surreal.
    But wasn’t everything these days? His eyes had been opened to a different world, one that co-existed with his own, and had done for many centuries.
    Who else knows?
    And just exactly how many families are involved?
    The information he had been given was patchy, but the blanks had not been to hard to fill in, because so much of what he’d been told definitely added up.
    How to put it right, though!
    His plan had been to go after the top guys. No point in taking the legs out - this had to be done from the top. And if Tony--
    What the fuck am I thinking about? IF?
    He’s involved right up to his armpits.
    The bastard.
    And what about Aunt May?
    Surely not.
    Weird though that Tony’s involved, and Aunt May seems to know a lot of things.
    She wouldn’t!
    Dave?
    No way…but maybe's that’s why he turned into a monk, too much for him to handle…No, he wouldn’t have been able to keep it from me, and Aunt May wouldn’t be involved in anything shady. What the hell am I thinking?
    Angrily, he yanked again on the cuffs, with as much success as he’d had the last time. He wanted to scream and yell, bang his feet up and down on the bed, but deep inside he knew it was pointless. All he could do was go along, and hopefully fight his way out of it once they unchained him.
    Suppose they kill me, it’s better than this!
    And you can guarantee I’ll take more than one of the bastards down with me.

NORTHUMBERLAND

CHAPTER NINETEEN
    Around about the time that Mike Yorke opened his eyes, Danny once again opened his, only to much less extravagant surroundings, and having no recollection of waking up frequently through the night. Like Mike Yorke, he stared around in complete puzzlement for a moment, wondering where he was.
    Then he realised again.