In the Heart of Darkness (The Brethren Series Book 9) by Sara Reinke

Author:Sara Reinke [Reinke, Sara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2014-10-29T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

“Are you alright?” Mason stared at the laptop screen, through which he could see a slightly blurred image of Edith’s face. “Did they hurt you?”

They were connected via webcam, though their interaction was anything but private. Andrei stood behind him, no more than three feet away, while on Edith’s end, Nikolić’s girlfriend Anna was clearly visible in the immediate background. The blonde woman was on her cell phone; Mason could hear her in the background speaking in Serbian and suspected she was talking to Nikolić, getting a status report on her brother.

Edith held her hands up, waggling her fingers demonstratively, as if to say I’ve still got them all…for now. “I’m fine. Just trying to get used to my new arrangements,” she said with a weak, weary smile. “This place isn’t so bad, I guess. Nice enough bed, my own bathroom, a fully stocked lab. Just about everything I could ask for.” She cut a dark glance over her shoulder at Anna. “The view could sure as hell improve, though.”

“I’m glad they brought you someplace nicer than this.”

“Looks like Nikolić takes better care of his girlfriend than his men.” Looking back at Mason again, she softened. “He hasn’t hurt you anymore, has he?”

“No, Edi. I’m good. I think the son of a bitch is even starting to like me.”

She managed a weak laugh. “It sounds like he has every reason to. You saved Piotr’s life.”

The young man, Piotr, had survived the night, which had honestly shocked the shit out of Mason. Andrei had somehow been able to procure a supply of ceftriaxone, a powerful antibiotic they could run intravenously. But even so, between the infection and the blood loss from his surgery alone, Piotr remained incredibly weak—and anything but in stable condition.

“Nikolić ordered him pumped him full of juice,” Andrei had explained. “To help boost healing. We gave it to him intravenously with the antibiotics—it works faster that way.”

“It’s been a long time since I did my rounds in orthopedics,” Mason said to Edith over the webcam. “I think the jury’s still out on that one.” His brows lifted. “I’m sorry you’re involved in this bullshit.”

“It’s not your fault,” she said with a frown. “Phillip’s the one who started it.”

“Any luck figuring out what he was up to?”

Another sideways glance at Anna. She was still on the phone, but he suspected she was also keeping careful tabs on Edith at the same time, lest she give too much information away.

“They got a hold of Phillip’s hard drive and laptop from Pharmaceaux,” Edith said and when his eyes widened in surprise, she nodded grimly. “Don’t ask me how. So far, though, everything I’ve been able to access has been pretty much on the up-and-up, his work on Eleanor’s treatment project, primarily.”

“I thought Father had been taking care of all that.” To his shame, Mason hadn’t really kept up with his father’s pet project over the years: searching for a cure to the disease that not only afflicted Eleanor Noble, but had killed Julien’s sister Lisette, with whom Michel had fallen in love.

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