Around the World in 80 Men Boxed Set 31-35 (37 page)

“
Aye.
Ye do that.” Finlay thought to go in the hospital and see what
was going on, but he knew that would only upset Morgan more. He also
thought about taking the vehicle, and heading back to the airport and
forgetting all about the whole Morocco nightmare. That thought, he
knew, Morgan would never forgive him for and it wasn't worth
entertaining.

He
turned on his own phone, and within thirty seconds, several texts and
voicemail messages began coming through. Most of them had to do with
work, but the one that caught his attention was from a certain
Aussie.

We
need to talk.

“
No,
no, no. I will not be brought in tae anymore of this!” Finlay
tucked his phone back into his pocket and sighed again, this time
very loudly. He was admittedly curious of what Tanner had to say, but
he didn't want to be the person to keep anymore secrets from Morgan,
and he was sure anything Tanner would tell him would have to do with
the young blonde.

Truth
was, Tanner needed someone to talk to, and the only person who would
understand what he was going through would be Finlay. Anthony had
decided against ever telling Morgan what had happened, and for a
while, Tanner agreed, but the guilt of keeping it from Morgan was
beginning to overwhelm him. All he wanted to do was explain the truth
to Finlay, and hope the Scot had some advice for him. All of that
though, would have to wait.

“
He
didn't answer.” John hopped back into the vehicle and shoved
his phone into the pocket of his shorts. He had been hoping to get it
all off his chest, but Sean was on a job site and didn't hear his
phone.

Inside
the hospital, Mustafa was being administered a nice dose of morphine
and the doctors were explaining to Morgan that he would need surgery
on his ankle, but he would have to be flown to Casablanca. There was
only one nurse who spoke english, and Morgan was having trouble
understanding everything that was being said. In the end, it was
understood that their surgeon was in Casablanca for the week, and
that's where they were sending Mustafa. Morgan assumed correctly that
they would have to transport him to another city, and make
arrangements from there.

“
I
don't understand why you can't treat him? And why there are no
surgeons here?” Morgan was about to look for someone else to
speak to, as Mustafa lie waiting in the hallway, when another young
man approached her.

“
Miss.”
She turned around to see a very kind face. She smiled weakly in
return, still too concerned with Mustafa to employ her full arsenal
of manners. “Don't take him to the state hospital. Take him to
polyclinique de koutoubia. It's in Marracesh.” Morgan's brows
came together as she remembered her flight into Morocco. That's where
the airport is, and it was a large enough city to have the medical
help that Mustafa needed.

“How
far away are we from, Marracesh?” The man explained that it
would take about four hours driving. He also briefly explained that
the state hospitals were avoided by locals and tourists, but the
polyclinique would take excellent care of her friend. Morgan nodded,
accepting his words as the truth. He was truly only trying to help,
and she appreciated his time in doing so. “Thank you. So much.”
Morgan then informed the front desk of their plan.

At
that moment, as Morgan was about to tell a very drugged Mustafa the
plan, John and Finlay joined her. “Well, I guess I can tell
everyone. We have to go back to where the airport is, there's a place
there that will take care of him. But...,” she let out a soft
sigh, not looking forward to the pain that Mustafa would be in,
“it'll take four hours to get back there by vehicle. We have to
cut through the dessert and get off the tourist route.” John
nodded as he took his map from his pocket.

“Yeah,
we can go around the gorge and then head west. Looks easy enough.”
Morgan nodded, as did Finlay. “But, let me make sure this guy
has enough pain relief for the trip.” Morgan and Finlay stood
next to Mustafa, and neither would speak a word. Finlay didn't want
to explain anything right then, and Morgan didn't want to hear it.
Everything, their silence agreed, would be discussed later.

“You
can't give him anything else? It's four hours away! Whatever you gave
him is going to wear off before we get there!” John couldn't
understand why the nurses wouldn't help him, and he looked to Finlay
for any help. Fin smiled, and straightened his dirty shirt before
joining John.

Three
minutes later, Finlay and John returned with another syringe of
morphine for the trip. Morgan rolled her eyes, but was glad that he
was there to take care of Mustafa. “I won't ask.”

“And
I won't tell.” Finlay smiled down at Morgan, but it wasn't
returned.

“Yeah,
you're good at that.”

Chapter
Ten

“We're
on our way, just hang in there.” Mustafa had fallen asleep
before the trio could get him loaded into the vehicle, and managed a
thirty minute nap while bobbing in the back seat as John navigated
them around the gorge. Finlay rode in the front with John, and tried
not to look back to see Mustafa's head on Morgan's lap. “We
have something for the pain if your drugs wear off, okay?” She
smoothed his hair and watched his golden gloss covered eyes try to
focus on her face.

“I'm
sorry, Morgan. So sorry.” Morgan shook her head, she didn't
want him to apologize for falling.

“Don't
you dare say that you're sorry, mister. We just need to get you taken
care of. And I'm the one that's sorry...you're the second man that
has broken a bone while spending time with me.” She smiled as
the corner of his lips twitched slightly. “Go ahead, laugh... I
not only trip over my own feet, but I manage to make men hurt
themselves as well.” She ran her hand down his cheek as she
finally got a full smile from his lips.

“Any
man would happily fall for you, Morgan. I wish I had more...time.”

“Time?
Don't worry, as soon as you're on your feet again, I'm coming back to
finish our trip.” Morgan meant every word, and she would stop
everything she was doing to finish her adventure with Mustafa. For
the most part it was due to the fact that she knew how much the trip
had meant to him. At least, she thought she knew.

John
and Finlay listened to their conversation, not having a choice
otherwise, and Finlay grew more uncomfortable by the second. Mustafa
closed his eyes, and slowly started to drift back to sleep.

“I
won't be here, Morgan. I didn't do it... I swear.. I would never hurt
them... I didn't....” Morgan rubbed his chest, trying to get
him to fall completely asleep. He seemed to be in and out of reality,
and he wasn't making any sense. “No, I have to tell you....I
didn't do it. A man.. he has the gun... if they find him.... I'll be
free.” Morgan listened, still trying to soothe him, but grew
more curious.

“Free
from what?”

“Prison.”

Finlay
and John turned around and stared at Mustafa, then Morgan. Was a
murderer resting his head on Morgan's lap? That was the question that
Morgan could easily see on both of their faces. John stopped the
vehicle and both men jumped out and stood at the back. Mustafa was
going to answer some questions, and Morgan was going to be removed
from his presence until they got answers.

“Are
you serious? He could have hurt me a hundred times over already! Stop
it!” John had a grip on Morgan's arm, attempting to remove her
from the back. “I swear to you, if you pull on my fucking arm
again, I'll bite you clear to the bone.” Finally, John released
her. It wasn't Morgan's words that did the trick, it was the look
from Finlay telling him to do what Morgan wanted. She had been
physically forced to do far too much recently, and he wasn't going to
allow anyone else to manhandle her and make her uncomfortable. “Let's
just all calm down and figure this out.”

Mustafa
was asleep, even through the commotion, and the three of them woke
him up just enough to get the truth. It took almost an hour of asking
questions, and waiting for him to answer through the haze of
medication. They all knew that he most likely wouldn't remember
anything that he told them, but it didn't matter. The men wanted to
know if Morgan was safe with him, and Morgan wanted to know what was
going to happen to her new friend.

They
were all mentally exhausted by the time the whole story was revealed.
Someone shot his parents, he tried to protect them, and was quickly
blamed for the crime. The murder weapon was never found, but the
judicial system that he was working with railroaded him straight to
prison. Also, he wasn't supposed to leave Madrid, but decided that a
life sentence in front of him was enough reason to take his final
vacation.

“
Sounds
like someone is being protected. It's a shame that a punk kid can do
this, and an innocent man will spend his life in prison for it.”
Morgan asked John why he thought it was about protection, and John
told her that from what Mustafa said, the investigation had been
started, but stopped suddenly. “Someone on the police force
pulled some strings. Well.. maybe someday the weapon will be found
and the right guy will pay for the crime.”

“
Okay,
how do we find the right guy?” Morgan's matter-of-fact demeanor
made both men shake their heads. “Don't you dare say no! This
man is going to prison for the rest of his life and there isn't a
soul that has helped him! We can help...we can do something!”
Finlay took a step towards her, but the pity displayed on his face
was enough to tell Morgan that he didn't want to help. “Finlay
Campbell! If something terrible like this happened to you, I'd never
stop until you were free! This man,” she pointed to the
sleeping man, “needs help! He's alone, Finlay. He's obviously
lost everything, and he's...,” she wiped a tear that cleaned a
perfect straight path down her cheek, “alone.”

Finlay
finally understood. Morgan had spent several years alone. At one time
she had told him that she could have died in her apartment and the
only person that would have known was the building manager when the
rent became due. Alone was something she'd lived with, and never
wanted to feel again. Alone was what she was in the back of the bar,
and nearly lost her life. Alone. Yes, it made sense, and his love for
Morgan grew even more at the thought of how much she genuinely cared
for other people.

“
Aye.
Love. We'll help.” Finlay pulled her to him, and Morgan easily
wrapped her arms around his waist. She didn't care right then why he
was there, or what he was keeping from her, all she cared about was
how good it felt to be in his arms.

“
Thank
you, Fin.” She put her head against his chest, and for a few
seconds, everything felt right in the world of Finlay Campbell.

The
three loaded back into the vehicle and the following few hours passed
by with most conversation revolving around how they were going to
help the innocent man. Nothing could be done until they got into town
with cell phone signal, but Finlay knew a little money went a long
way with the right people. His first plan was to find out who was
working for Mustafa, and then he was going to do something he was
good at...getting information.

By
the time they arrived to the hospital, Mustafa's second dose of
morphine was beginning to wear off, and everyone was thankful they
had made it before he was in too much pain.

Again,
Morgan went inside to get help, and returned with a wheel chair. As
she and Finlay were helping Mustafa in the chair though, they were
loudly interrupted by a group of uniformed men.

“
Step
away!” One of the men stepped between Morgan and Mustafa and
another man grabbed her arm and pulled her to the side.

“
Let
go of me! What are you doing?” Morgan fought to be released,
but she was being pulled further away. Finlay became a blur as he
sped to her rescue, but when one of the men pulled out a pair of
handcuffs, it became clear the men were police officers and were
making sure Morgan, Finlay and John were
safe.
“Stop it!
He's hurt! Leave him alone!” She painfully watched as Mustafa
was forced into the wheelchair, then handcuffed in an awkward angle
to the metal frame of the chair.

“
This
is for your safety.” His accent was thick, but Morgan
understood and her hands clenched with fury and her nails dug into
the arm of the police officer who was holding her back. He did not
release her though, and tried again to explain to the woman that her
client was a danger. “We will be sure he is medically taken
care of, and he will be transported back to Spain upon recovery.”
It was clear that the previous hospital had given the new hospital a
call, letting them know Mustafa would be arriving. At that point,
they were only making sure a bed and surgeon would be available, but
over the following four hours, someone had put two and two together.
It had been realized Mustafa was not in Spain, and he had gone on a
watch list...when his name popped up at the right time and place, the
police had been ready to handle him.