My head rolled in misery under the surface of a sea. Water filled my throat and nose until I couldn’t breathe. There was a pounding in my hollow chest. I was suffocating. I knew it, but I couldn’t stop myself from sinking deeper.

My tenuous grasp turned to vapor, then I let go. The waves rose up above me and the light faded. A darkening shadow watched my body drift down with the current.

I heard a voice and my scared soul clung to it. The soft words bled through my remains and lifted me on its whisper. The sound turned to music and I recognized my favorite song. It was Zita’s voice.

But the roar of the waves continued to crash in my ears and her words dissolved again. I couldn’t find her in the fog. I searched for hours, days, until the storms receded and the world began to calm.

She called my name this time and brushed a finger across my cold cheek. A warming hand drew feathers on the skin running away from my neck. I wanted to hold her but I couldn’t move.

I struggled. I willed my eyes to open but they held fast with more determination than I could muster against them. I watched my own battle from the gloom above the ceiling lights until there was no choice except to reach and open my own lids with invisible fingertips.

I lay captive in an empty hull of bone and blood. When I touched my face, a spark pierced the heart with the sting of an ice pick. It shook me and I fell through to the core.

“He’s coming round. The next time SIX needs help, ask somebody else. I don’t have time for this shite today. I’ve got my hands full with real arse winders. The UVF caused a bloody mess all over Dublin. He’s all yours now.”

“You’ll do well, doctor, to remember who paid for your education,” the feminine voice reminded him.

“I’ve paid that debt years ago.”

“You’ve paid the debt when we say you’ve paid it.”

“I’ll be dead before that happens.”

“That can be arranged.”

The slamming door jolted me back into the room. Black turned to gray then stark white. I squinted and angled my head away from the overhead lights.

“There you are, darling,” Zita said. “I was wondering if you were going to join us.”

I forced my eyes open again and caught the last of her smile as it faded into concern. She wiped away the sweat beading on my face and I heard the rattle of glass as she poured water into a beaker. A stiff straw found my lips and I sipped.

“Open up.” She slipped two pills past my lips. “You’ll feel better in a moment.”

“Is it still Friday?” I cleared by throat.

“Somewhere my dear, only not here. It’s technically Sunday morning.”

“What…what are you doing here and where is here?”

“You left me quite the message the other day. Our boys made that as a shotgun blast at the end of your ramble so I thought I should see whom you enraged so. Doc, I cannot leave you alone for more than a day or two. I don’t know what sort of mythical creature keeps you alive.” Her tenderness ripped through the bravado I prepared. “And here is where we are at the moment. Let’s suffice it to say, you are not in prison which is where you were off to, whether or not you survived the blast.”​

​London Bridge is Falling Down Excerpt 4

​The Hollow Man     |     The Hollow Man Series, International Espionage​

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