The Blue Zone

CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT

Greg pressed the speed-dial button for Kate’s cell phone over and over.

C’mon, Kate, please pick up.

And for maybe the fiftieth time, her voice mail responded: “It’s Kate. You know what to do…” There was no point leaving another message. He’d left a dozen already. Greg tossed the phone away and put his head back on the couch. He’d been trying her all night.

He had gone to their apartment, praying she’d come home, hoping his pleas would have some effect. He slept on the couch, but barely. At several points he’d awoken, thinking he heard her key in the door, her footsteps.

But it was always just Fergus, shifting or nudging his water bowl during the night.

How would she ever trust him again?

It was true, of course, everything that had come out when the book fell open. That he’d kept a terrible secret from her. That he’d pretended to be someone he wasn’t. Who do you work for, Greg? All true, except her accusation that it was some kind of duty or job.

He had never deceived her for a second about what was in his heart.

What could he tell her that he hadn’t already? That it was all something out of his control. That it had happened a long time ago, before they met. A part of him he tried to deny by pretending that he was simply a doctor, a faithful husband, her best friend. Supporting her as she lived through the horror of finding out about her father-how many times he prayed that the truth would never be told.

But feuds of blood, they never stay buried. They were his family, too.

Still, he had always loved her. He had always tried his best to protect her. He had never lied to her about that. How could his heart ache so badly if it weren’t all true?

He was ashamed of the bloodline that had caused him to do this. Ashamed of the debt he’d had to pay. Yet without them he would be just a boy on the streets. Not a person schooled in the United States. A doctor. Someone free. How foolish he was to have believed all this time that he was someone else.

Fergus nestled up to him. Greg pulled the dog’s face close and kissed his snout. Greg knew that Kate was in danger. And there was nothing he could do.

Suddenly the cell phone rang. Greg lunged across the couch and flipped it open, not checking who it was. “Hello, Kate…?”

But the voice on the other end was the one he most feared. His heart dropped off a cliff.

“Es su tiempo ahora, hijo,” the voice said, softly but decisively.

It is your time now, son.