Chapter 46

I sat in the chair staring out the window. The sun and sky were a beautiful perfection that I had only experienced in the Caribbean. I looked down at the beach and watched nurses accompany patients from the main building on their daily walks.

My first sanction lay sleeping on the bed.

The room did not have the antiseptic feel or smell of a hospital. The lighting was reading-before-sleep comfortable, and the bed might even have been imported from my sanction's home.

The old man's experiences were written on his face and a hard life could be read from the scars on his hands. His eyes opened slowly to stare at me. The smile he gave me was not the lost one I had gotten over the last two days from him and other patients at the facility.

"You're finally here," he said sitting up.

I nodded.

"How long have you been waiting?" he asked after clearing his throat.

"Two days," I told him.

"That long in a beachfront loony bin?" he asked with a knowing smirk.

I shrugged.

"Harrumph," he voiced. "Is it walk time?"

I nodded looking down at the beach.

"Not a talkative one, are you?" he asked rhetorically. "Not that I expected one of your kind to have much to say, but a little conversation before I die would have been nice."

"What would you like to talk about?" I asked politely.

"So what do you think of this place?" he asked by way of response. "I put it together, you know."

"It's nice camouflage for our retirement center, ' I told him.

He laughed uproariously until a coughing fit cut him off. I stood up and handed him the glass of water on the bedside table. His eyebrow went up so I shook my head to assure him it was safe to drink. I put the glass back when he finished and sat back down.

"Retirement," he said. "I like that; I didn't know your kind had a sense of humor."

"I wasn't trying to be funny."

"Sonny," he answered. "I'm sure you weren't."

"Isn't this where a Brother comes when he is ready to retire from the Brotherhood?"

"Be retired, you mean," he replied.

"A forced retirement would not be done in such a beautiful setting," I told him.

"No, those Brothers die where you find them," he agreed. "I have enjoyed these last few weeks. My children did not understand, but they are not involved!"

The last was spoken with force.

"I was told to assure you that we are satisfied with your care in keeping them out of this," I said.

He nodded and lay back.

"You sat there the whole time, didn't you?" he asked staring at the ceiling.

"Except for exercise, and bathroom breaks," I told him.

"It's hard now," he said. "The moments of lucidity are few and far between."

"That is why I am here," I told him.

"Only Siblings work in the Brother house," he said but not as argument.

The Brother house lay a distance from the main part of the estate. Unbeknownst to the regular staff, only Siblings were allowed into the Brother house. The pay was very good and the expectation that patients would be well sedated made the staff's job easy so no one asked questions.

"Siblings are not allowed to know everything," I answered. "This last episode started three days before I was asked to become involved. The on-staff Brother was in the room whenever the Sibling nurses needed to care for you until I arrived."

"I guess it's time anyway," he whispered.

"I was told you requested this," I said softly.

"No one lied to you, Enforcer," he said sitting up again. "Allow an old man a little fear at the prospect of death."

I raised an eyebrow.

"It's not very dignified," he told me. "I've lived too hard a life to have one of your kind slip a knife between my ribs when I can't fight back."

"The on-staff Brother gave me this," I said pulling the small tube from my pocket. "She assures me it is painless; sleep and then the other side. You could take care of it."

"I would probably pour it all over myself rather than down my throat," he said. "Damn old age!"

"My hands could steady yours," I offered.

He snorted and stared at me.

"You wouldn't do it this way, would you?" he asked.

"A bullet would be my choice," I told him honestly.

"Ex-military?" he asked.

I nodded.

"The stamp stays on a man for the rest of his life, one way or another," he told me. "So does the blood."

"World War Two?" I asked him.

"How can you tell?"

"It's in your eyes, you've killed for the greater good," I told him.

"Is that what you call this?" he asked angrily. "Killing for the greater good!"

"No," I answered. "Expedient is what I would call it."

He deflated instantly.

"Why a bullet?" he asked.

"It would let me spit at death and smile before it took me to join my brother," I answered.

"Your brother?"

"Closer than blood could be," I answered with another shrug.

"The two of you shed blood together?"

"From others and our own," I answered.

"What happened to him?" he asked.

"He died in a jungle," I said.

"I had many friends who died on Omaha Beach," he told me. "Many brothers, too."

We sat quietly for a few minutes remembering.

"Let's get to it, young man," he said. "I can't expect this clarity to last much longer."

I nodded and stood up.

"Pour that crap into a glass of water and help me drink," he instructed.

I refilled the glass from the pitcher beside it. I stirred the contents of the tube into the glass. The old man was holding his hands up almost eagerly when I was done. I stepped towards him and handed him the glass. His hands were trembling slightly as I put mine over them. He smiled peacefully and pulled the glass close to his lips.

"Thank you," he said.

I met his eyes, recognized the intent, but was too close.

He spit in my face!

I stepped back letting his hands go; the glass dropped like he predicted. His smile was satisfied as the bullet impacted with his forehead.

The double-tap to the heart was automatic.

I was wiping my face when the door slammed open. The two Siblings fell to their knees noticing Jason's gift pointing at them. The Brother stepped inside the room calmly and surveyed the damage.

"Your personal firearm?" she asked.

"Yes," I said with annoyance slipping into my voice.

She waited until I put the gun away before speaking again.

"If you will follow me to the morgue, you can witness the removal and disposure of the bullets."

"Thank you," I answered.

"There is no worry about witnesses," she said. "The house is resistant to escaping sound, and no one is allowed close enough to see anything."

I nodded again.

"You know what to do with the body," she instructed the Siblings. "Get the rest to clean the room."

One of the Siblings headed out the door, while the other approached the bed.

"Brother," the on-staff Brother said. "I would like to discuss a request while we wait."

I raised an eyebrow and followed her out the door so we could talk privately. It had been a long time since a young male Brother visited them, and she wanted me to extend my stay for a couple of days to give the Siblings a change of pace.

Robert's car was parked in front of my house when I arrived home. I walked around the house and into the backyard. I put my bags down by the back door before walking to the backyard table where he waited for me.

He raised a hand to signal his Sibling companion to step out of hearing range as I sat down. I put the sanctioned Brother's ring on the table and slid it over to Robert. He studied the crest for almost a minute before putting the ring into his pocket.