Chapter 30
30
M onk, Philly, Lovell, and Scipio were standing by the front door of the club when he and Lina pulled into the parking area. All four of his brothers glanced up but didn’t stop their conversation.
“I recognize Philly and Monk,” Lina said. “But I don’t remember the other two.”
“They weren’t at Rita’s that night, but that’s Lovell and that’s Scipio,” he said, pointing as he spoke. All four were dressed in jeans, tees, and boots, but only Scipio and Lovell wore leather jackets—they’d either returned from somewhere or were headed out.
“Monk and Philly aren’t small guys, but Lovell dwarfs them all,” she said, her voice tinged with wonder. She wasn’t wrong. Lovell was the biggest of all the Falcons, and that said a lot. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me he’s a big teddy bear?”
He chuckled. “No, that’s Dulcie. And maybe Monk. Lovell is…solid, steady. You won’t meet a more even-keeled guy. But he’s direct. You will never question where you stand with him.” Sometimes, even when you wish you didn’t. Lovell had called him out a few times—never with malice or anger, but not with much compassion either. He had an eerie way of getting to the heart of a matter, and if he went to the trouble of speaking up, everyone listened. No matter how uncomfortable.
“And Scipio? Does his name come from the Roman general?”
Viper nodded. “He’s the best strategist I’ve ever worked with. It’s extended to the club’s businesses. He handles all our investments.”
“Handy skill to keep in-house,” she replied.
“It is,” he agreed. “You ready? That’s Leo’s car, so he’s already here.” He nodded to a dark green SUV. “And it’s about lunchtime.”
Her stomach growled, and she laughed. “Then I guess we better get going.”
Walking into the clubhouse after introducing Lina to Scipio and Lovell, Leo was the first to greet Lina, followed by Joey, then Kara. Leo hadn’t been the only one disgruntled at not being able to thank Lina for her help, and Joey’s presence came as no surprise.
As with any big family, it took a while to get through all the hellos and quick catch-ups. Anxious on Lina’s behalf to get started, he forced himself to stay in the moment, to appreciate the fact that his family was glad to have him home. And that they all welcomed Lina as if she were one of their own. Because she was. Whether she knew it or not.
“I hate to break the party up, but I have to be at the hospital in an hour,” Kara said. “Do you mind if we grab lunch and get started?”
On cue, Dottie walked out of the kitchen, followed by two women currently staying at the club. Amber had been with them for nearly six months, but Jessica had only joined them two weeks ago. As far as Viper knew, Amber had no plans to leave, but Jessica was waiting for her visa to come through so that she could move near her sister in Madrid. She’d trained as a chef before her husband had stripped her of any sort of autonomy, including refusing to let her work, and she was reveling in being back in the kitchen. She and Amber had hit it off, and Amber, a talented but home-taught cook, was soaking up everything Jessica offered.
The three women set a veritable feast on the main dining table—fresh bread, croquettes, patatas bravas, shrimp still sizzling in olive oil, pork loin, and dessert.
Beside him, Lina let out a low groan. He smiled. “Ladies first,” he said, ushering her to the front of the buffet-style line.
After collecting plates of food, he led Lina to one of the two meeting rooms in the club. Mantis, Leo, Philly, Kara, and Scipio, who’d just returned from an extraction, followed. Joey had made Lina promise to let her take her to lunch in two days before she kissed Leo goodbye and headed to the outdoor equipment shop that she and her sister owned.
“Who wants to go first?” Viper asked when they were all seated.
“Why don’t I go since I have to leave,” Kara said. Everyone nodded, and after finishing a bite of shrimp, she started.
“As Leo told you, disseminated intravascular coagulation, or DIC, was a factor in the deaths of all the people listed in the death certificates,” she said, shuffling copies of the documents sitting on the table. “Essentially, when healthy, the body’s system balances coagulation and fibrinolysis—in layman’s terms, to maintain optimal consistency, it balances the clotting of blood and the breakdown of the clotting. When someone has DIC, the clotting factors are triggered, and small clots begin forming in the blood vessels. Those smaller clots, and the factors that contribute to them, trigger both more and bigger clots. The specific damage depends on the underlying condition, but if, for example, the clots start to develop and grow in or near an organ —or grow large enough to block blood flow—it can lead to organ failure.”
“But people can bleed out from it, right?” Lina asked.
Kara nodded. “There’s ongoing research in this area, but generally, the clots impact platelets and disrupt other intravascular functions so that if, for example, a woman starts to hemorrhage during childbirth, her body no longer has the clotting factors available to help stop the bleeding.”
That was the scenario he and Lina had talked about in the car. “We did a little research, but not a lot,” Jackson said. “It seems like it’s caused from traumas, or traumas trigger it.”
Kara nodded. “It’s very rare, but it can occur in several situations. And you’re right, most of which are trauma related. Cancer, birth complications, blood transfusions, bacterial infection, things like that.”
“So, not genetic?” Scipio asked.
“It is associated with at least one syndrome present at birth, but it’s not been genetically linked.”
“You mentioned bacteria; would a virus cause it as well?” Mantis asked.
Kara nodded. “It could. Its highest mortality rate, though, is when it’s associated with sepsis.”
Jackson remembered Lina mentioning that. “Is it long term or short term?”
Kara made a face. “There’s acute and chronic. Acute will develop rapidly, while chronic will develop more slowly, but not slow—it’s weeks or months, not years.”
“Which makes this situation interesting because the deaths span a period of six years,” Lina said.
Kara nodded. “There’s no question that they all had DIC in common, though.”
Viper turned to Leo. “Which begs the question as to what else they had in common.”
Leo, who’d opened his computer as he’d eaten, nodded. “They died at different times, lived in different cities, were different ages, genders, and ethnicities.”
“Nothing tying them together?” Philly asked.
“I didn’t say that,” Leo said. “I did find one thing. At one point, they all worked for the same company.”
Beside him, Lina sucked in a breath. “Let me guess,” she said. “The company is called Navios.”