Out of the Black - Lee Doty [135]
Alex nodded, "We owe him our lives again... what's this, like three times?"
Rae thought for a moment. "I think we all owe each other a lot. He is pretty amazing, though... you know he started out as a family counselor?"
One of Alex's eyes popped open. "Nah... really?"
Rae nodded, "It's actually a really sad story."
Alex shook his head as if to clear it. "Tell me later... it's gonna take me about forty minutes to finish patching the two of us up.
She looked surprised. "You are getting better, Mr. Potter. It took you forever to fix him the first time."
"Well, he was a lot worse then. Shhh, now. I'm probably being a bit too optimistic. What I really meant was that we've got about forty minutes before they make another try for us."
"What?!"
"How do you get this metal diaper off? It's really beginning to chafe."
Convergence
The buzzer sounded and Chase looked up from the current edition of Hypercar Quarterly. "Whoa!"
Before the camera outside the door was the most beautiful federal agent he'd ever seen. Of course, that cop had been a different kind of hot, but this woman was something special. Porcelain skin, straight red hair, swimmer's body... he could tell these things even through the suit. He went through the motions of verifying the FBI ID that she presented before the camera then buzzed her in.
"Bio-terror." He pronounced as she entered the security room, trying to get his flirt on.
"Sorry?" She said, pocketing her badge.
"Aliens then?" he raised his eyebrows.
"What?"
"You are going to tell me what's going on, right?"
"Oh!" She laughed. "Sorry... no. I'm here to relieve you."
"Aw... come on. I can't leave my post."
"Sorry." She said. The firmness didn't drive the friendliness out of her voice, but it threatened to if he didn't cooperate. "This is a federal matter now. Have you been debriefed?"
"Uh..." he hesitated, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "Maybe?"
"You're going to cooperate, right? I'm assuming you're not wanting to toy with obstruction."
"I'm not obstructin'. There was this Fed, came in right after the commotion... but I don't remember much else. Nice guy though. Looked like he'd been skiing lately."
"He had a bad tan?"
"Nope... stat cast had him immobilized between neck and wrist," Chase grabbed his own wrist, "I didn't say he looked like a good skier."
"What did you see of this 'commotion'?" She pulled out her tablet.
"I saw the whole..." He paused, like a man realizing he was lost and perhaps naked. "There was this... It was in the ER. A fight maybe?"
"You don't know?"
He shook his head. "Weird."
"Indeed." She made a few scratches on her tablet. "I'll need you to wait in the reception room and help the other guard keep people out."
His chances of a date were fading fast. "You got secret Fed business here, eh?" he leaned toward her as if she might impart more knowledge if she could speak it quietly.
"Something like that." She smiled and gestured to the monitor bank. "Besides it looks like your pal could use the help."
"Jeez Clint!" On the monitor, Clint was apparently sleeping, slumped over the small security desk.
***
Less than a minute after the addled security officer left, Miranda Todd buzzed her companions into the security room. Derry entered first, looking like a tourist in Kauai. "Ow. Derry, turn down that shirt, okay?"
"Now that just hurts. Here I come a' running when you call me in the middle of the night and all you do is give me the fashion debrief." He threw an assault gun toward her. She caught it without conscious thought and re-stowed it under her jacket.
"Look Derry, this isn't my show..."
"Get me a look inside OR-3." Elena Mendez said as the door closed behind her.
"Comin' up boss." Miranda's fingers flew across the security console. An overhead view of the operating theatre opened in the center of the display. Two surgeons and a tech surrounded the coffin-like operating bed.
"That your man?" Derry asked, his eyes shifting to Elena.
Miranda nodded. "Operating theatre's supposed to go available in thirty