Time Travelers Never Die - Jack McDevitt [54]
He closed the door as quietly as he could and waited.
A few minutes later, Dave arrived. He heard the gurney, and a woman’s voice. “You’ll be fine, Mr. Dryden. Just need to rest a bit. Dr. Hollis will be in to see you shortly.”
There was no response.
“Okay, Mack,” she said. “On three.”
The voice did the count, and he heard somebody grunt as they lifted Dave into bed. Then a male voice: “I’ll be right back.” Footsteps came toward the washroom. Shel backed up so he’d be behind the door if it opened, and set the converter forward thirty minutes. The knob turned, and he pressed the button. The door swung in as the washroom faded from view.
THE hospital room outside was quiet. Shel opened the door.
Both patients were breathing quietly. But the guy with the veins was lying staring at the ceiling, and he spotted Shel as soon as he came out of the washroom. “You again.”
Shel tried to shush him. “It’s okay,” he said.
“What are you doing in here?” The guy was trying to sit up straight, but he looked close to a stroke.
Dave’s eyes opened, then opened wider. “Shel. How’d you get in?” “You’re not supposed to be here,” said the patient. Then he yelled for the guard.
The door pushed open and the cop strode into the room. “Where the hell’d you come from, mister?”
Shel lobbed the second converter to Dave, who was trying to disconnect himself from the monitoring device. “Just hit the button,” he said. “You’re ready to go.”
He turned back toward the officer and smiled disarmingly. “Who are you?” the guard demanded. “How’d you get in here?”
The aura began to build around Dave. The cop’s eyes swung past Shel and fastened on what was happening in the bed. The guy with the veins stared. “Mother of God.”
Shel hit the button, wondering what the police report would look like.
WHEN they got to the town house, Dave asked whether Shel had seen any sign of his father.
“I was a little busy,” he said. “But no, I didn’t see him anywhere.” He got some ice for Dave to put on his eye. “Did you want to go back and try again?”
Dave needed assistance getting to the sofa. “I can see you’re a bit miffed with me,” he said.
“You dumb son of a bitch.” Now that they were safe, the anger erupted. “You could have gotten us both killed.”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry.”
“What else do you want me to say?”
“I mean, it didn’t even make any sense. You knew how that was going to end back there.”
“I knew.”
“And you did it anyhow.”
“I guess.”
“Son of a bitch. You remember the agreement we had? We watch. We do not get involved.”
David tried to stretch out. And winced.
“What’s wrong with your side?”
“Cracked rib.”
“Great.”
“They wrapped it in the hospital.”
“Anything else I should know about?”
He closed his eyes. Opened them again. “Look, Shel. I couldn’t just walk away from those people.”
“I noticed.”
David tried again to adjust his position. The sofa was too small for him. “Maybe you do need a hospital.”
“I’ve already done that. They told me not to move around any more than I have to. Said I’d be okay in a couple of weeks.”
“All right. I guess we were lucky. You should probably get it checked anyhow.”
“I don’t think you need to worry.”
“What were they monitoring?”
“My heart, I guess. I had a coronary.”
“That must have shaken them up. At the police station.”
“I don’t think they believed me.”
“How’d you fool the doctors?”
“Just told them I could feel a weight in my chest. Told them I’d had problems before. I don’t think it occurred to them somebody would lie about something like that.” He sighed.
“What’s wrong?”
“School Monday.” Two days away.
“Uh-oh.”
“I can’t very well go like this.”
“Not exactly. You’ll have to take some time off.”
He grumbled something Shel couldn’t make out. “A day or two wouldn’t be a problem. But two weeks? What’s my story? That I got hurt on Bloody Sunday?”
“You might tell them you fell down the stairs. Or maybe you were in a car accident.” Shel took a deep breath. “None of this would have—”
“—I know, Shel. Let it go.”
“Okay.”
“And let’s not do any more of this living history,