Stone Cold (34 page)

After a brief discussion, the rem
aining five scientists agreed with Dr. Franck’s suggestion.

“For now, we have no choice but to keep the vials of bacteria and the antidote under lock and key in the lab refrigerator. If anyone tries to steal them our orders are to destroy the vials by any means necessary,” explained Dr. Hamilton.

“We can keep the five remaining light bulbs in the safe,” suggested Dr. Chan.

With nothing left on th
e table to discuss, Dr. Hamilton adjourned the meeting.

“
Now it’s time to get to work and put the pieces together.”

*****

It would be months before they were ready to commission the tattoos.

There wasn’t a day that went by that the scientists didn’t worry about thei
r safety and that of the elite special operations unit assigned to them. The timely completion of their mission was critical to making sure this project remained in American hands.

Over the next fifteen months, Dr. Ha
milton and his team worked on developing the ink and the microchips. They also produced fifty vials of the bacteria but only one vial of the antidote because it was made from scarce materials that had to be conserved until needed.

During
this time, Conall and other soldiers were treated for PTSD and TBI’s with the HBOT protocol. Conall’s treatment had been a success. He was able to think more clearly than he had since before his accident and his recall of words and memories had improved. The disturbing images had diminished and his depression had lifted. He was looking forward to going home and seeing Addison, family, and friends after such a long tour.

Above all, he was forever grateful to Dr. Hamilton and would worry about him during his six month leave.

After completing Conall’s treatment, Dr. Hamilton was focused solely on the bacteria project. He’d grown quite fond of Lieutenant Stone and would miss him but he had to finish operation Dark Dragon before Conall came back for his next tour. The conditions in Iraq were getting more dangerous by the day and he wanted to get his team out of there without experiencing any casualties. He was confident in the team assigned to protect them but he hated putting their lives at risk too.

Chapter
29

This time
Addison was waiting at the airport for Conall when he went home. It wasn’t quite the fanfare he’d always imagined but it did feel good. For once he wasn’t the soldier who didn’t have someone to greet him.

“I’m so glad you’re home babe. I missed you so much! That was the longest we’ve been apart and it really got to me this time. I wish you didn’t have to go back.”

“I wish I didn’t have to go back either. It’s harder to leave every time but things are really getting crazy over there. They always have been anyway, but there’s so much more activity and people die every day. It’s unimaginable for anyone who hasn’t been there.” Conall hugged her even tighter.

“I don’t know whether it’s because you’re happy to be home or what but you seem different – happier almost.”

“I’m glad to be home and I’m sure that has something to do with it but I also had this amazing treatment while I was there with this awesome doctor. I want to tell you about it sometime.”

“You can talk about anything you want and I’ll listen. I just want to hear your sexy voice as much as possible.”

Things were better than good from the start. Addison was more than attentive and tried to meet his every need. Dinner was served every night with candle light and music. She was showing a domestic side he rarely saw in her before, not that he expected it of her but it was nice to see her becoming a more responsible adult. The party girl seemed to have grown up.

Conall didn’t want her to wait on him hand and foot and hadn’t asked her to do that. She was doing al
l of this on her own. Although he still thought about Hannah everyday, he wasn’t unhappy with his current situation. He could see himself married to Addison if things never worked out with Hannah.

The months passed and he had a great time hanging out with his friends and family. He hadn’t seen
Eden in more than a year and she was interested in everything he had to say. They talked for hours and he thought she was finally beyond being his overprotective big sister.

He was wrong.

One night at dinner Eden asked, “Conall, how serious are you about Armageddon?”

“What did you say?”

“I said, how serious are you about Addison?”

“
Eden, you know that’s not what you said. You called her Armageddon.”

“I did not, I said
Addison.”

“No you didn’t.”

“Yes I did I swear I said Addison.”

Smirking
, Conall said, “Come on, she’s not that bad. I want you to like her. She likes you. Just give her a chance, please?”

Eden
shook her head.

“Seriously C
onall, are you really that into her?”

“Why do you even have to ask. I’m marrying her aren’t I? That should tell you your answer.”

“I don’t get what you see in her. Think about it. You absolutely hated Kristen and they’re pretty much the same person. Can’t you see that? What a hypocrite you are.”

Conall had never thought about the similarities between Kristen and Addison before. He hated to admit it but
Eden had a point.

“Okay maybe that’s true when I first met her but she’s changed a lot since then. She’s more mature now and takes her responsibilities more seriously. She doesn’t party anymore and she has a good job. She met me at the airport this time and
has been nothing but attentive and supportive ever since.”

Eden
could sense he was getting angry with her line of questioning. She had to keep going though to help him uncover the truth without being the one to hurt his feelings directly.

“Conall
, have you asked any of your guy friends what they think of Addison? When was the last time you talked to Carter or Max or any of your other friends?”

“I’ve hung out with Carter and Max several times since I’ve been home. Carter didn’t seem to have any problem with me marrying her and Max seemed a little distracted. He didn’t really say much but he’s the one who introduced me to her in the first place. He knew her before me and probably is happy for us.”

“Well then you may want to ask your fiancée what she thinks of your guy friends.”

“What are you getting at
Eden? I don’t enjoy playing these games with you.”

She tried to change the subject.

“Whatever happened to Hannah anyway? I’d put my money on that being a better relationship for you than the one you’re in.”

The mention of Hannah’s name coupled with the intense emotions he was feeling toward
Eden at the moment sent Conall over the edge.

“I don’t really want to talk about her!”

Eden knew she’d struck a nerve and wasn’t about to let an opportunity to get him thinking about this go by.

“Oh, I see. S
o she’s still very much on your mind. I can tell by the strong reaction you had just from hearing her name. You’re still in love with her or at least the idea of her aren’t you little bro.”

“Stop it
Eden. You don’t want to go there.”

He was talking through his teeth.

“You’re in love with her and you haven’t been able to meet her yet and Addison is just a place holder.”

“I said stop it
Eden!”

His voice was getting louder.

“Hannah is the one for you and you know it. So why are you going to marry some floozy named Addison when you don’t love her?”

Conall was on the verge of a meltdown. The only thing keeping him from lunging across the table at his sister was because they were in a public place. The restaurant patrons would not appreciate the interruption.

“She’s not a floozy. Where do you come up with this stuff?”

That was where
Eden stopped. She had to draw the line and she didn’t want to say another word until he’d talked to Addison and figured it out for himself.

“Oh
, you know me. I’m just the overprotective big sister who doesn’t know when to mind her own business.”

“I can always count on you to stir the pot.”

Conall had regained his composure and tried to make light of his sister’s meddling ways.

“On a more serious level, promise me you’ll talk to her and I don’t know
, maybe Max too?”

“Fine. Anything to shut you up,” he said smiling.

*****

Conall went home after dinner. He had no idea what Hannah was getti
ng at but she obviously thought there was something he needed to know and that Addison would help him figure it out so he went straight to the source.

“I had dinner with
Eden tonight. She seemed to think you and I need to talk about something important.”

The usually perky
Addison became sullen.

“She also said I should talk to Max
, about what I don’t know. Is there something going on that I need to know about?”

Conall waited for her to answer him.

There was a long pause before she finally spoke.

“You were gone for such a long time. I missed you so much. I was having trouble dealing with you not being here and I ran into Max and Carter
one Friday night.”

She stopped to see his reaction.

He was looking at her with a blank expression.

“Keep going.”

“Carter had to leave early so Max and I stayed and had a few drinks. We were talking about how much we missed you and one thing led to another and we ended up sleeping together.”

His ears started to burn.

The room was dead silent. No one spoke.

Conall’s jaw was clenched and his muscles twitched as he strode across the floor towards
Addison. Without saying a word, he handed her her jacket. With one hand gripped firmly around her bicep, he led her to the door, opened it, took the engagement ring off of her finger, pushed her out into the hallway, and closed the door.

He could hear her sobbing and
pleading for him to forgive her.

“I love you Conall and I’m so sorry for what I did. It
was the only time anything like that has ever happened and I will try and make it up to you for the rest of your life if you’ll only give me a second chance.”

He never opened the door and she finally gave up and walked away.

That was the last time he
ever saw her. He packed up her things from his apartment and had it shipped to hers. He deleted her phone number but she kept calling him. He never picked up and never returned any of her calls. She would text him fifty times a day but he deleted every single one without reading one word.

He was done with her. Period.

Now he could focus on being with the real love of his life but first he had to call Eden.

“You were right about Armageddon.”

Through it all, he still had his sense of humor.

“I’m so sorry Conall. I wish she’d been the person you really want and deserve to be with. I didn’t want to have to come right out and tell you about what I’d heard because I didn’t want to be the one to hurt you.”

“I understand but now you owe me one.”

“Oh I do? What are you scheming about now?”
she joked.

“I’m going back on
tour next month and I won’t be able to try to meet Hannah for about the millionth time.”

“So you’
ve still been trying to meet her?”

“Yeah I know, I know, I’m sure it seems dumb and unreasonable to anyone other than me and hopefully still her but I can’t help it
Eden.”

“So let me guess. You want me to go in your
place and meet her so I can exchange contact information with her for you.”

“Yes. I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

Eden really didn’t want to get involved but she did want to help her brother as always, especially after what happened with Addison.