Scott's Summit, page 4
He winced. “Fine, I’m an ass. I get it, but, at the same time, I’ve just come out of a deep coma myself, and I’m not exactly sure where my head’s at.”
“Your head is nowhere,” she agreed. “Why do you think Terk wanted you to spend the day getting back onto your feet? You need more than even that, of course, but obviously he knows you well and realizes that no way you would give him longer than that.”
Scott stared at her for a long moment. “Do you know anything about what happened to her?”
“No,” the nurse replied. “Terk hasn’t contacted me.”
“I’m still going.”
“Of course you are, but maybe you won’t go with so much vengeance in your heart.”
He winced. “Is that what it looks like?”
Her voice was gentle as she answered, “Listen. It’s obvious that you care for Naira, whether you want to admit it or not, and, if she had a chance to see clearly, I’m sure she’d have noticed it herself.”
“I’m not sure that’s any better either,” he murmured.
“Of course it is,” Nancy said. “If people would just start to communicate, it would be a hell of a lot easier on relationships. When someone’s older or when someone’s shot, there’s no time to waste on this BS. Get to the point or get out because there are not enough days in our lives to spend any of them sitting here and worrying ourselves into the grave over people who can’t be bothered to find clarity in their own lives. If you want anything to do with her, or even if you don’t,” Nancy clarified, “you might want to consider at least finding a solution or coming to a place of peace over this whole thing for yourself.”
Just then came a honk outside. She nodded at him. “Go, but make sure you get your ass back here soon, and, if you come back in any worse shape, it will be me you answer to.”
With that, Scott disappeared.
Chapter 4
The next many hours were a haze of pain and panic of what seemed to be a never-ending stream of people into her world. Naira surfaced a couple times to answer questions and then gratefully sank back under again—only to be dragged back up out of the depths with more questions. No, she wasn’t allergic to anything. No, she had no idea what happened. No, she didn’t see anybody. Yes, she had insurance. She always wondered about things like that.
Were there always so many questions? Didn’t anybody give a shit that she’d been shot, for God’s sake? Surely there were better things for people to be doing to help her other than asking her these kinds of questions. But, from their perspective, there wasn’t anything better to do. That just made her even sadder because what screwed-up world had gotten them to this point? Nobody would be asking her all that at such an inopportune time if it weren’t required for some reason. More evidence that the world was determined to self-destruct. Thankfully, just when she started to think she couldn’t handle it anymore, she felt herself sliding back under, and this time it stuck.
When she woke the next time, she looked around to find herself in a room, apparently a private room at that. Dazed, groggy, and not exactly sure what was going on, she drifted under, popped back up, then drifted under again.
When she woke up the next time, she had a hell of a headache. She groaned as she surfaced, feeling the pain crushed against her skull, like somebody was beating it with a hammer.
Somebody immediately placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and whispered, “Take it easy. The nurse is here with pain meds.”
She didn’t even have to do anything before somebody jabbed her, and she was under yet again.
When she woke the next time, the pain still clawed at her, but it wasn’t doing it with twenty-pound sledgehammers. She opened her eyes and saw another room, at least she thought it was another room. She wasn’t exactly sure about that, but she noticed right away that she could breathe a bit easier. She took a slow deep breath, shuddered at the pain, then tried for shallower ones. Almost immediately another hand rested on her shoulder, followed by someone saying, “Take it easy now. You’ve been shot. The bullet punctured a lung, but you’ll be fine. You need to stay calm though. And, yeah, breathing will hurt.”
She opened her eyes, frowning to see through the pain, finding Scott smiling down on her. “What happened?” she asked again.
“You were shot after getting out of Terk’s vehicle at the hotel,” he murmured.
She stared up at him, as her brain tried to process the information. “Right. All that noise. People were everywhere.”
“That’s what happens when you get hurt,” he said, once again with what almost sounded a bit like laughter in his voice.
“Don’t like it,” she muttered and shifted in the bed, only to cry out again.
“That’s another thing that happens when you get hurt,” he added. “Every movement you take is miserable.”
She focused on her breathing, trying hard to stay calm through the mounds and shards of pain stabbing through her.
“I’ll get the nurse for you,” he said and immediately disappeared.
She didn’t really want to see a nurse, but, at the same time, she didn’t know what she needed or wanted. The pain was everywhere, all-encompassing and horrific, taking over the control of her mind. Only minutes later the pain medicine was added through her IV, and she crashed again. One of her last thoughts as she went under was confusion as to why Scott was still here.
When she woke again, she saw no sign of him, and she wondered if she had imagined his presence. She shifted on the bed gently, trying to reposition herself. She realized that her breathing was a little bit easier, and, although it still felt like she had been hit by a cement truck, it didn’t feel like the cement truck was still sitting on her. She lay here, trying to focus on getting air into her lungs without it killing her.
The door opened, and Terk stepped inside; somehow he knew that she was awake. She watched him as he approached. “Good to see you awake,” he said.
“If this is awake,” she murmured, “I’m not sure it’s a good place to be.”
“No, I’m sure you don’t.” Terk smiled. “However, you are doing much better.”
“If you say so,” she muttered, and even then a shudder rippled up and down her body. He immediately reached over, and pulled the blankets higher up on her shoulders. She whispered, “I guess I’m not flying home today, huh?”
“No, not today, not tomorrow, and probably not for a few days with that lung injury,” Terk explained. “They won’t want you to fly for quite a while probably.”
She felt hot tears in the corner of her eyes. “That’s a shitty thing,” she murmured.
“It is,” he agreed, “and I’m very sorry that you got hurt.”
She didn’t know what to say to that. “You didn’t shoot me,” she murmured, “so it’s not your fault.”
“No, but I knew that getting you involved in this was a risk.”
“But you were prepared to pay the price,” she noted, trying hard to keep the pain from her voice, but knew she had failed. Then she realized it wasn’t for her to care about just now. What difference did it make?
“No,” Terk admitted, “you’re right. I wasn’t thinking about you. I was thinking about Scott.”
And how could she argue with that? Tears whispered down her cheeks again. “Please tell him to go get some rest and to stop fussing over me. He needs to be looking after himself.”
“He’s leaving in just a few minutes,” Terk told her. “He insisted on checking on you again before he goes.”
“That’s pretty stupid,” she said. “He made it very clear that he didn’t give a shit.”
“I don’t think he made anything very clear,” Terk murmured. “And right now he probably has less clarity than before.”
She didn’t know what to say to that, so she said nothing.
When the door opened again, a nurse bustled in and shooed Terk out. “That’s enough now. She needs to rest.”
Grateful, Naira heard Terk walk out of the room, without saying another word. She thought he would at least say goodbye. Then she heard his voice in the room, saying goodbye. Yet he was no longer in the room.
She thought she had hallucinated, since the pain meds were kicking in. So it could just as easily have been his voice coming through the waves of pain battering through her system. It didn’t matter because she was going under, and she hoped that, this time, she managed to stay there long enough that, when she woke again, the pain would be manageable. And, with that, she slipped back under.
*
Outside in the hallway, Scott looked at Terk. “And?”
“She was cognizant and talking a little bit,” Terk replied. “The nurse increased the pain meds, and Naira’s gone back under.” He watched Scott hunch his shoulders.
“It’s just really shitty,” Scott muttered.
“It is, indeed,” Terk confirmed. “Unfortunately it’s also the reality of everything we’re dealing with right now.”
“And you still haven’t gotten anywhere?”
“That’s not really a fair assessment,” Terk replied. “We’ve gotten somewhere several times, but unfortunately these people are killing off their own local hires, so, by the time we get anyone to talk to, to try and get some information from, they’re pretty well taken out before we get a chance to do anything. We have talked to several to some degree, and, in each case,” he murmured, “they haven’t had any idea who it was they were in contact with, much less anyone higher up the ladder. A lot of dead bodies follow behind us right now,” he explained. “MI6 is getting pretty pissed off at us.”
“You think? It sounds like you’re leaving them bodies to deal with every time you turn around.”
“We are, indeed,” Terk said, cracking a smile. “But, in each case, these low-level hit men are not exactly high on England’s wish list for new residents in their country.”
“Not exactly citizens of the year, huh?”
“No, not at all,” Terk murmured. “And that’s about the only thing keeping MI6 even slightly patient with our investigation.”
“I can see that,” Scott admitted. He stretched gently, feeling the fatigue pull at him. He kept pulling on his reserves, trying hard to stay upright and with it enough that he could be of some value, but it was getting harder.
“You need to go get some rest,” Terk stated, as usual noting Scott’s energy levels.
“I keep trying to order myself to stay stronger,” Scott murmured. “It works for a little bit, and then it crashes.”
“It’s only working,” Terk noted in exasperation, “because I keep fortifying your energy levels. But the problem with that is, you’re draining me at the same time, and I don’t have too much more to give.”
Scott looked over at Terk, startled. “Shit, and here I thought it was me.”
“It’s not. It’s me. So I need you to go take care of your own energy levels,” Terk said. “And that means, you’re out of here.”
Scott slowly nodded. “I forgot that you had the ability to direct all that energy to us.”
“That’s because I do it all the time,” Terk noted. “However, now I’m still keeping Brody alive on the ethers too.”
Scott stared at Terk in shock. “He’s lost on the ethers?”
Terk nodded. “That’s one word for it. Thankfully, Cara, a healer, found him.”
“And she didn’t help him?”
“She was focused and using all her energy on keeping Rick alive,” Terk told Scott. “She didn’t even know who Brody was and had no idea he had anything to do with us. Plus, you have to understand. She had one assignment, and an awful lot of people are out there floating. She has to stay focused.”
“Jesus,” Scott said, “we have to get Brody back.”
“Oh, I agree. But, in order for that to happen, I need you to take care of yourself,” Terk stated forcibly.
Scott winced. “Fine, but, if I go back there and try to sleep, you need to be tracking down whoever did this to Naira.”
At that, Terk just looked at him, silent for a few moments. “Do you really think I’m not?”
“I know you are,” Scott admitted in frustration. “Why can’t I go back to the compound with the rest of you?”
“If I thought it was safe, I’d be all for it,” Terk said. “But I’m not even going back there right now because I don’t want to lead anybody from this nightmare to the rest of the team. They’ve got enough problems already. We are in communication with them though,” he shared, “and they’re all at work, tracking down Naira’s shooter. The admins are following the traffic cams, and they’re doing everything they can, working with MI6, not to mention Levi and Ice, trying to find out who the hell is behind this.”
“I think the answer is still pretty damn easy,” Scott stated. “I think it’s our own government guys.”
“And that may very well be,” Terk noted. “The problem with it being our own guys is it doesn’t look like they did this themselves.”
At that, Scott stopped and looked at him in shock. “Are you saying that you think they hired out the job?”
“Well, think about it,” Terk explained. “If they did, and this is a contract, they would be removed from it.”
“Sure, but contracts lead back to people.”
“And yet everybody in the middle is dead,” Terk added, “so who will dead guys lead back to?”
Scott winced at that. “God, what a mess.”
“Exactly, so could you please go back and take care of yourself and build up some energy. Then we’ll plan on getting you to the compound in a couple days.”
“Will a couple days work?” he asked. “And who’ll stand watch here on Naira?”
“Probably me,” Terk admitted.
At that, Scott shook his head. “No, let me stay then. She came over here for me.”
“Yes,” Terk agreed, “but I pretty well forced her into it.”
Scott just stared at his friend. “Why would you even think that was a good thing?”
“Because I could already tell, once I told her what had happened to you, that she would be sending you healing energy. And that healing energy is something you were desperately in need of. You also know it only comes from one source.”
“We were close for a time,” he admitted gruffly.
“In her mind, you’re still close, but she thinks you didn’t care enough to try to stop her from getting married. So she went through with it.”
“Of course I cared, but what do you do when somebody you love comes to you and tells you that they’re getting married as part of some idiotic business arrangement?”
“Obviously it’s not by choice,” Terk pointed out, “but I’ve always thought most relationships were beyond odd.”
“Which is why you’ve avoided them,” Scott stated.
At that, Terk went on, “Apparently I’ll have to learn more about the matter. … You’ll find out soon enough, so you might as well hear it from me.” Then Terk told Scott about Celia.
“Good God.” Scott stared at him. “You make all my problems look minor.”
“That’s not my intention, but it does make me more than a little worried. I need to get stateside as soon as we get the rest of this squared away.”
“Did Ice say anything about how Celia’s doing?”
“She’s awake from her coma, but she has absolutely no recollection of what happened to her,” Terk said.
“And how is that even possible?” Scott asked in bewilderment. “And she has to know you. I mean—” Scott slid a sideways glance at his friend. “I mean, it was your sperm, right?”
“Yes.”
“You’ve checked?”
“No, I haven’t. But I’m hardly likely to make a mistake on something like that.”
Scott frowned. “But, with this so personal, you could be making a mistake, and it may be something that you need to look at.”
“That would require testing the baby’s DNA, and that’s not without risk, so it will have to wait.”
“And you and Merk are twins, so DNA is already muddled. How close is she to giving birth?”
Terk looked at him in surprise, knowing that Merk was not involved in this, not in that way. “I didn’t ask,” Terk replied, “and it’s been weeks. I better find that out.” Then he shook his head. “Jesus, that will be one more person in danger over this bullshit,” he wailed. “And I’m damn tired of it.”
“Yeah, me too.” Scott looked back toward Naira’s room. “I’ll stay. I’ll ask for a cot. I’ll rest every time she does. Just as she helped me, I’ll help her.” He saw Terk frowning, not liking that answer. “And I’ll disconnect from you. I promise.”
“You’ll need to. Particularly right now because I’m getting very tired.”
“I will,” Scott promised. “You go back to the compound, or wherever it is you’re staying, and figure out what the hell is going on here. We need answers, and we need them fast.”
“I’ll go back to her hotel. Hopefully that might lead me to something. I’ll set up outside security here as well.”
Scott didn’t like that answer, but he could also see the sense of it. “You won’t have any help if you run into trouble though,” he murmured.
“My brother is here,” Terk noted. “Merk’s running solo, so you’ll never really know where he is, until all of a sudden he’s there.”
“Well, if Merk’s here,” Scott said, feeling better, “that would be a huge help.”
“He’s been our liaison with MI6,” Terk added.
“Oh, wow, you really will owe your brother for this one, won’t you?”
At that, Terk cracked a smile. “You have no idea. We keep dropping bodies on them, and they’re getting more and more pissed.”
“Yeah, but, if it’s not you killing them,” Scott noted, “what can they do?”
“I hear you, and you’re right, but they still don’t appreciate all the added business.”
“No, they never do,” Scott replied. “They really never do.”
