Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(78)

“Any chance Hadrid’s alive?” Eagle asked, his voice low and quiet.

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve spent the last twenty years wondering that. Some falcons live a long time. But I never felt him after that day. I’m pretty sure he was shot and killed.”

Only silence came from the men as she stood for a long moment in the small room. Finally she said, “I have no idea about this keepsake box.”

“What was your favorite place?”

She frowned. “I don’t remember having just one. I had several, depending on the circumstances. Figures that there’d only be a vague reference to the location. Then that was my mother.”

She studied her room. This hadn’t been her favorite place. She turned, gave her brothers’ rooms one more quick cursory look, and then walked down the stairs. She headed outside to the crevice where she used to sit all the time, watching the comings and goings in the house below.

Her mother had to call her over and over again to get her inside. At the time it seemed natural. Normal. Now she wondered why a young child preferred to be outside in the elements rather than inside the family home.

When she got to the spot where she used to sit, she turned and crouched to see what the view was like when she’d been smaller. It was just as wild and wonderful and mysterious as it had been back then. But it had been all she knew.

“Where did you used to sit? Where was your favorite spot here?”

She shot him a hooded gaze. “If she was talking about my favorite place, chances are she was being sarcastic and talking about the one place I loved and yet hated.”

Hawk’s brows raised. “And yet she was your mother?”

She gave him a silent nod and turned, heading to the spot where she’d fallen into the crevice. She didn’t know why anything would be in there. But, in a way, it was also her favorite spot because it was where she had connected with Hadrid. It took a good five minutes at a strong pace to get there. She looked down, realizing it was not that big after all. For a child, yes; for an adult, no. But she’d fallen with her leg caught between the rocks and had not been able to move.

“I fell down here,” she said, motioning toward the opening along the cliff edge. “But, as you can see, nothing is hidden here.”

Hawk and Eagle move forward. Hawk jumped down so he could sit in the spot where she would’ve fallen and study the crevice. He used a flashlight to shine deep inside to see if anything could’ve been wedged in. He shook his head. “I don’t see anything.” He moved toward the opening of the fissure.

“Be careful,” she warned. “It’s slippery. That’s a long way down.”

Eagle jumped down behind him to take a look himself. “How old were you when you were in here?”

“Four?” she said. “I fell in, and I couldn’t get out again.”

“That’s a pretty bad fall for a child so young. What about your parents?” Hawk asked. “Where were they?”

Eagle answered for her. “She was alone most of her childhood. It took hours for anybody to find her.”

Hawk shook his head. “You were pretty young to be left alone.”

“Not in my family. It was only the fittest who survived,” she said shortly.

She turned and studied the area, but her mind wasn’t connecting with her mother’s words and what they meant. She turned to look back at the house, trying to remember what she would’ve done, where she would’ve been the happiest. As she stood here, she thought she saw movement coming up the road. She crouched and whispered, “We have company.”

*

Eagle wrapped his arm around her shoulders and studied the new arrivals. They were still a long way off, but he could see two men. Both of them carried long rifles. He glanced at Hawk. He nodded, hopped up, and disappeared into the mist.

Beside them he could feel Issa shiver. “Take it easy. We were expecting this. We were just hoping to find something first. They will want to know what it is you know.”

“But I don’t know anything.”

He could hear the truth in her voice and the urgency, and knew how close she was to breaking. She’d already been traumatized once. Coming home wasn’t exactly a pleasant experience either. But to be captured now would be an entirely different story.

Still they had no reason to think these particular men were involved.

He grabbed her hand, and together they slowly walked back down. What he didn’t want was be taken by surprise. As he approached the house, he called out, “Hello, what can we do for you?”

Slowly the two figures separated from the wall of the house and stood cradling the weapons across their bodies. One was an old man. “What are you doing here? This is private property.”

Eagle nodded in understanding. “True enough. I brought Issa home to see her old house.”

At her name the two men froze and then turned their gazes on her. “Issa?”

She stopped and stared at them, as if searching to remember who they were. “Yes,” she said quietly. “My mother took me to America not long after everything blew up. This is the first time I’ve come back to Ireland.”

The two men looked at each other and then at her. “You know people have been looking for you for years, don’t you?”

She shook her head. “No, I had no idea. Why?”