Patriots Betrayed Read Online Free Page A

normal man would want to punch.
    The night was still young, but the explosion had dampened business for Pearl, with the police diverting traffic away from the bay. Raylan found there were only a few patrons in the bar. Two fat vacationers from Boston were in the middle of a loud argument over who disliked toothless inbred Southerners the most.
    Raylan heard them make lewd comments to one another about what they’d like to do with Pearl.
    Pearl remained quiet, but kept an eye on the loud, sunburned Northerners.
    Raylan walked across the barroom to her with a smile.
    She knew him by his alias; David Sutton. Pearl’s face showed shock. “David, darling! What happened to you? What’s wrong with your hand?”
    Raylan had an explanation ready: the explosion and ensuing panic on the street. He glanced down at his swollen, bloody hand, aware of the bruising on his face that must have been obvious.
    “Jesus! You were in front of your shop when the barge blew up?” Pearl rushed to look him over closely. “You should go to a hospital.”
    “No. They’re way too busy with seriously wounded. Ambulances are hauling more victims away as we speak. I would just be sitting out of their way until sometime tomorrow morning. What a waste of time that would be. Might as well take care of it myself.”
    “Take care of it yourself?” Pearl examined the gash. “It needs stitches. Are you in the habit of stitching your wounds yourself?”
    “It looks way worse than it is. I would appreciate your help with it. You have a first-aid kit, don’t you?”
    She gave him a you’re crazy look. “It’s for minor cuts. There are no sutures in it.”
    “Fishing line will do. I know you have your tackle in the back.”
    She glanced at the two Bostonians, who had stopped arguing and were taking an interest in their conversation. “Uh, let’s go in the back and clean it up. Then we’ll talk about a clinic fifty miles from here I can take you to. I doubt they have been receiving any of the explosion victims.”
    Raylan followed her into the back room.
    After closing the door, she turned on him with a hard glare. “What the hell is going on?”
    He kept a straight face. “What the hell do you mean?”
    Her hard glare broke, and a faint hint of a smile formed on her face.
    He chuckled. “You know better than to ask too many questions.”
    She folded her arms. “Yeah. There’s a brick wall around you that no one can get through with a sledgehammer.”
    “You don’t say that when we’re in bed.”
    He got another hard glare. “Sit over there, and I’ll get the first-aid kit – and the fishing line.”
    Half an hour later, she wrapped his sutured hand with gauze.
    “Use plenty of tape, and make it tight,” he said.
    Her eyes darted from his hand to his face. “Are you expecting another emergency tonight?”
    He looked away.
    She finished with his hand and angrily slammed the first-aid box shut. “Not a word, not a moan, not even heavy breathing – through all of that. I felt like I was torturing you, but you just sat there and took it like it was an everyday thing. All those other scars marring your body. The ones you don’t talk about. They are part of your hidden past.” After glaring at him for several seconds, her anger faded. She put her arms around him and kissed his neck. “You’re going away, aren’t you? Whatever happened tonight has changed things forever. I can see it in your eyes.”
    “You don’t see shit in my eyes, woman.”
    She pushed away. “Woman? So you’ve already stopped calling me by my name?”
    He swallowed. “Pearl, I will never forget you. And I hope to come back someday. The fact is, though, I must leave town.”
    Her eyes narrowed. “What is it in your past? What terrible things that you never speak of and seem to be trying in vain to forget?” She wiped her face with the back of her arms. “You will never say, will you?”
    He looked away. “Sometimes words can kill. The less you know, the