Souls At Zero (A Dark Psychological Thriller) Read Online Free PDF Page A

from other countries would join a French army. But Harry told her it wasn't like that, that Legion soldiers helped people all over the world, not just French people. It made her feel somewhat proud that her Dad was off helping people all those years. She wasn't sure that it made up for him not being around when she was growing up however. She still struggled to understand why he stayed away for so long, despite both her mum and him explaining his reasons to her, which she barely understood.
    "It was very hot," he said, rubbing at the back of his neck, like he was somehow feeling the heat of Iraq on him right now. "Lots of flies. They liked the heat and the…"
    "The what?"
    His face scrunched up like he was in pain. "Nothing. You don't need to hear about over there, sweetheart. I was there helping people, that's all."
    "Mum said you were a mercenary."
    Harry stared at her for a second. "I've never been a mercenary. I was a private contractor. There's a difference."
    "What's the difference?"
    Weirdly, he took a long, shuttering breath, and then closed his eyes for a second.
    Kaitlin frowned. "Are you okay? We don't have to talk about…"
    "I just feel a bit…woozy, that's all. Probably the heat in here."
    "It's not that warm." She still had her coat on.
    "Must just be me then." He pushed his plate to one side, food still left on it, and held his coffee cup in front of him.
    She changed the subject, thinking she may have upset him calling him a mercenary. "So, Mum told me the other day you had a brother. Is that right?"
    Harry looked stunned for a second, like she had slapped him in the face.
    "I'm sorry. Mum said you might not want to talk about it. I was just curious…"
    "No, sweetheart," he said. "It's not that. It's just…not many people know about Declan."
    "That was his name?"
    "Yeah."
    "Mum said he was—" Kaitlin stopped when she saw all the colour drain from Harry's face, like something had sucked all the blood out of it in the space of two seconds. His eyes seemed to roll around in their sockets for a moment before he refocused and stared at his empty coffee cup on the table.
    "There's something…" He looked confused for a moment, then he turned and looked over his shoulder at the man sitting by the window.
    "Harry? What's happening? Are you alright?" Kaitlin dropped her knife and fork as pangs of fear stabbed through her confusion. Something was wrong.
    Harry gripped the table as he struggled to hold himself up. "Kaitlin," he barely managed to say.
    Her face contorted with anxiety. She wasn't sure what to do. What was happening to him? Was he sick? But he seemed fine a minute ago. "What do I do, Harry?" she said, tears in her eyes now.
    "Run," Harry whispered, just before he fell out of his chair and landed unconscious with a heavy thud onto the wood floor.
    Run? Why would he want her to run?
    She started screaming instead.
     
    Blutwolf watched from the table by the window as Edger fell out of his seat and landed on the floor like a felled giant. The sedative he had put in Edger's coffee while Edger was upstairs in the restroom took a little longer to work than expected. It was a special concoction he had acquired on his last trip to South America, used by a tribe of Native American Indians to knock out monkeys so they could kill them easier. Given Edger's size, it was difficult to work out just how much of the sedative was needed, and for a few moments, Blutwolf worried that he hadn't dosed Edger's coffee enough. But then Edger fell to the floor and the girl started screaming. Blutwolf smiled to himself.
    He got up and rushed to the fallen man on the floor, playing the concerned citizen, and asking the clearly traumatised girl—who was kneeling over her father crying—what had happened.
    "I…I don't know," the girl said, whose name he already knew to be Kaitlin. "He just…he just collapsed…"
    The Korean cafe owner emerged from behind the counter, having heard the girl's screams. He asked what was wrong in