Bury the Living (Revolutionary #1) Read Online Free PDF

Nora was starting to think they’d get there in record time when the taxi slowed down.
    “Security check ahead,” he said. A roadblock had been set up in the middle of the street, and the flashing lights of the Royal Ulster Constabulary ordered them to a stop. The driver rolled down his window as a police officer approached.
    “My brother’s in hospital, please let us through!” Nora yelled from the backseat. The officer beamed his flashlight in her face and then turned to look at the driver.
    “Is that where you’re headed?”
    “Aye.”
    “Which hospital?”
    “The Mater.”
    “Both of youse get out. Open the boot, please.”
    “What? No, we have to keep going!” Nora cried out.
    “Mind you do what they say,” the driver warned. Fuming, Nora got out of the car and stood with her arms crossed while the officers went through the car in minute detail. Then she held out her arms like a crucifix while a female officer patted her down. It was all she could do to stand still and not sprint off into the darkness.
    After several excruciating minutes, the officer who’d stopped them said, “It’s clean.”
    “If my brother died while youse were treatin’ us like criminals, you’ll pay for it,” Nora snarled.
    The taxi driver stepped between Nora and the officers and ushered her back to the car. “Are you trying to get us both arrested?” he said. “Now get in and keep your gub shut.”
    A few minutes later, they pulled up to the hospital. The driver waved away her money. “Get in there now and see to your brother.”
    Paddy was waiting for her in the entrance. He wasn’t smirking this time. He shook his head.
    “I’m sorry. He’s gone.”
    The floor wavered beneath her, like pavement in a heat wave.
    “No.”
    It was impossible. Paddy was lying. Eamon was her brother; he was the only one who truly loved her. He couldn’t— wouldn’t —be dead.
    “I’m sorry, Nora. We tried to save him . . .”
    “No, you’re having me on. Where is he? I want to see him.”
    A nurse looked up from the reception desk. Paddy put his arm around Nora, but she jerked away. “Don’t touch me.”
    “I’ll take you to him. Where’s your ma?”
    “Plastered, o’course.” A rage burned in Nora unlike anything she’d ever felt before. She followed Paddy down the hall, still telling herself it was all a terrible mistake. They were just trying to trick her, scare her. Eamon would be all right.
    Her family’s priest was leaving the room just as Paddy stopped outside it.
    “Father Donovan!” Nora said. “It’s not true, is it?” Surely the priest wouldn’t be messing with her.
    Father Donovan’s brown eyes were full of pity. “I’m sorry, Nora. It is.” He placed a heavy hand on her shoulder. She shrugged it off and took a step back. “He made his confession,” the priest said, as though that would comfort her. “His soul rests with the Lord now.”
    “But . . .”
    “Where is his mother?” Father Donovan asked Paddy over Nora’s head.
    “She’s at home. We’ll send someone round for her.”
    “I have to see some other patients, but I’ll come back,” Father Donovan said.
    “Ta, Father,” Paddy said, steering Nora toward the door.
    “Wait,” the priest called. “Are you sure she should see . . . ?”
    “I’m going to see my brother,” Nora said, her teeth clenched. But the priest’s words worried her. Why shouldn’t she see him? What had happened to him?
    “She can handle it,” Paddy said. “Come on, now. Just prepare yourself. He’s looking rough.”
    Nora stepped into the room. There were other people gathered around the bed, but she took no notice of them. Her eyes were fixed on the still figure that lay in front of her. She wavered on the spot, but shook off Paddy’s arm when he tried to steady her.
    It was Eamon, but she hardly recognized him beyond the shock of red hair against the white pillow. His face had been beaten so badly it was a mass of purple and deep red