Aftermath - Ann Aguirre [39]
Right now, they’re watching me to make sure the new heart doesn’t cause me any problems. Since it was speed- cloned from my old one—an expensive procedure—while a mechanical one pumped my blood, there shouldn’t be any problems, but given my notoriety, they aren’t taking any chances. If I die under their care, there’s a chance people will assume they did it on purpose. In fact, I worry about the food I’m served for exactly that reason, but the nurse takes care to test it in front of me for foreign contaminants. Though I’ve survived some tragic events, this is certainly the darkest time of my life . . . and I feel more alone than I ever have. Kai’s loss was painful, but it wasn’t my fault. I have to live with knowing I caused this.
And if I’m alone, it’s because I deserve to be.
CHAPTER 12
A few days later, the doctors let Vel in. Relief streams through me at sight of a familiar face. He sits down at my bedside with a worried flare of his mandible.
“This is becoming far too familiar,” he tells me.
I manage a smile. “I’ll try to cut back.”
“They intend to release you today.”
Thank Mary.
“How’s Hit? None of this blew back on her, did it?”
“No. Since she only piloted the skiff, in the initial hearing, she was judged not liable for the deaths that resulted from your shifting the beacons.” Then my deal with March held.
“I’m so glad to hear that. And Dina’s all right?”
“They are happy to be together.”
Shortly thereafter, the doctor comes with my release documentation, and I’m permitted to dress in the fresh street clothes Vel brought with him, as the suit I wore in the courtroom has a big singed hole in the chest. I can tell that the medical staff will be glad to see the back of me; they all wear identical expressions of muted tension and dislike, whether for what I did in grimspace or for the mess I made of their hospital, I can’t say for sure.
“Where to now?” I ask, after I’ve been discharged and am ready to go.
“I have been asked to convey you to a ceremony formally relieving you of rank in the Conglomerate Armada.”
Smart. That way, any mess I get into from this point on, they’ve officially cut ties with me. I understand it, even as I feel a little betrayed by it. I wonder now what happened to Jacob Kernak, if he was murdered in his bed or if he ate his gun after turns of living with the memory. But either way, I just know his story doesn’t have a happy ending. For the moment, I decide not to ask Vel to look it up.
“Am I getting a DD?” Dishonorable discharge.
“Since you were cleared of all criminal charges levied, you will receive all regard for your rank and thanks for service rendered.”
I nod. “I’m ready to go if you are.”
“This way, Jax. I cleared a path out the back. The front is rather a mess.”
That’s an understatement, I suspect. Before the press and the protestors realize I’ve left, Vel spirits me away through service tunnels, out to a waiting vehicle. Wearing dark glasses and a hat over my distinctive hair, I feel like a vid actress who specializes in dirty scripts. Some people love you; some hate you; but everyone knows who you are. It’s way less delightful than the fame hounds imagine.
The hovercar lifts us out of the madding crowd, hurtling toward the hall at the government center, where the armada can wash its hands of me. Vel rests a claw on my hand, silently telling me he knows how bad it is, and he’s still here. Some of the tension drains out of me. For me, a normal life won’t be possible for quite a while, if it ever is, but there are still people who care.
At the government center, we take the back hallways again because the front of the building is jammed with people. More signs. More screaming. It’s not quite as crowded as it was at jurisprudence, mostly because people are already starting to forget. Scandal has a short life span, and only those who were personally injured remember past the next shocking event.
Inside, I spot Hit and Dina, who both stand