Private Oz (Private 7)

Julie O’Connor was on him in a second, her right hand raised, the horrifying blade over Mark’s face.

I didn’t pause to think, just rushed forward and grabbed the woman by the shoulders. I was stunned by how powerful she was. Using all my strength I managed to yank her away, but I was sent sprawling onto my back. She was incredibly agile and got to her feet before me. I propelled myself upright, watched as she came for me. Mark began to pull up, but he was slow. Julie lunged at me, growling like an animal. I misjudged her thrust and felt a screech of pain rip through my abdomen.

I dropped to my knees and saw the point of the woman’s bloodied knife coming toward my face, heard the crack of a gun going off and felt a heavy weight slamming down on top of me.

Chapter 140

I OPENED MY eyes and saw a man’s face. It took the shape of my cousin Mark’s. I felt an instant stab of déjà vu. Slowly, my senses returned. I could feel the coolness of cotton sheets. The room was lit with natural light, curtains pulled back across a window in the opposite wall.

Everything came to me in a rush.

“You were very lucky.”

“I feel like I’ve been here before,” I managed to say.

Mark smiled. That’s when the vision of the past shattered.

“What’s the damage this time?” I said flatly, giving my cousin a baffled look.

“Oh, perforated intestine … and she just nicked your spleen.”

I lifted the sheet and saw a bandage across my abdomen. “I got off light,” I said cautiously.

“I got off lighter, Craig … Thanks to you. And you were unarmed!”

“You shitting me?”

Mark grinned and looked down at his feet. “I don’t want to go out and choose curtains with you, Craig, but to be honest … I’m worn out with this constant war. God. It was all a long time ago. We’ve both lost …” He trailed off and looked into my face.

I sensed the numbing effect of painkillers. “How long have I been out?”

He glanced at his watch. “Thirty-five, thirty-six hours.”

I slowly pulled myself up in the bed. “What’s happened?”

“Julie O’Connor’s under armed guard in intensive care.”

“And Greta?”

“She’s fine. In shock, but unharmed. Nasty cut in her back. She was here earlier – but you were still out. You’re her hero!”

I produced a small laugh. “Ow! Christ!”

“Only hurts when you laugh right, Craig?”

“It was a close one.”

“Sure was.” He looked at me seriously. “But it’s over … right?” And he fixed me with his eyes.

I nodded and lay back on the pillows. “So look … the O’Connor woman … she was driven by pure jealousy, yeah?”

“Only partly. Seems there was more to it than that. One of my guys found out something very interesting this morning. Three months ago, Julie O’Connor was the victim of a botched operation – a

tuboplasty or something like that. It was to … I dunno … unblock her Fallopian tubes or some shit. Guess who the gynecologist was?”

“Cameron Granger … Of course!”

“Your girl Darlene’s managed to get a lot of background stuff from the woman’s scrapbook. O’Connor was desperate to have children and when the op went wrong it went spectacularly wrong!”