Chapter 22

Chapter 21  (13+) The Artifact acts up. Rudolfo get's inside the hospital. Annie warn her guards. #2038853 by Hyperiongate

Chapter 22

Although it was still very early, Lise woke up with a smile on her face. She looked over at the man that had put it there. Jack was sleeping on his back, giving her a nice view of his profile. His jaw line, now covered in unshaven stubble was still sharp giving the impression of strength and self-confidence. She knew that they had only known each other for a short time, but she could feel it. She knew he was the one she had been waiting for.

That was when she felt the nudge. I wasn’t a sound or a specific physical thing. There was no taste or smell or sound. But it was a nudge none-the-less. It came and went in a moment leaving behind one very disturbing and specific feeling…This will not last; not in the way you suspect or desire.

She swallowed hard, choking back tear that didn’t exist only a moment ago. She shook off the feeling and placed her hand gently on his chest as it rose and fell. Jack opened his eyes slowly and then rolled his head to look at Lise. Her hair was disheveled but somehow, it made her more beautiful.

“Good morning Dr. Marshall.” Jack reached for her playfully.

Lise gave herself to him, but only for a moment. Reluctantly, she pushed him away and sat up, successfully hiding the fear she now felt. ”Jack, I need to get going. My team has its first run-through at 7:00 am in preparation for Saturday’s extraction.”

She gave him a parting kiss and then headed into the bathroom. Jack watched her go with appreciation shaded with something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He knew she was excited about what was going to take place at the hospital this morning. But there was more to her this morning that just that. He could feel a sadness that she wanted to hide from him.
Jack shrugged it off. She’d let him know what was going on in due time. Meanwhile, he’d be as supportive as possible. Plus, maybe it was just a bit of anxiety about taking JD11 out of the tank in a couple of days. He was as anxious as her but for a different reason – the sooner JD11 was up and out of the hospital, the sooner they could settle down into some type of life that didn’t include vans with tinted windows and janitors carved from large blocks of granite.

They were nearing the “End of Strangeness,” as Jack had come to think of recent events. JD11 would wake up and explain everything. After that, he and Lise could look forward to a long normal life together.

He got up and went to the kitchen to make some coffee, smiling at the thought of all this being over soon. He had no idea how wrong he was.

Lise came into the kitchen about twenty minutes later. Her face was lit up by her obvious excitement. She didn’t have on any makeup since she would only have to clean it all off later when she entered the clean room where newly extracted JD11 would be moved to. Jack didn’t mind. He found her what-you-see-is what-you-get attitude towards her appearance reassuring. There was no pretense. She was that way on the inside as well. Jack thought that might be why they seemed to have hit it off so well right from the beginning. They accepted each other as they were. There were no expectations. If she said she needed to go to the hospital that was what she meant. Jack knew he wouldn’t have to look for some deeper meaning.

“Jack, last night was great. I’m glad you talked me into letting you stay over.”

“I talked you into it? As I recall, it was the other way around. And, by the way, I was spectacular; don’t you think?”

The two of them shared small talk as they ate breakfast. As always, they seemed to be able to sense what the other was feeling. It was almost as if an unspoken conversation was taking place in the background. One in which they told each other how good it felt to be together; how they hoped, no, how they knew this would last. Subliminal caresses passed between them as they ate bagels and jam. Gone was the earlier feelings shaded with a bit of darkness. An hour after the premonition, it seemed like just a passing thought; nothing of merit. Jack was here and he would always be here.

“Jack, I need to get going. Thanks for the breakfast. See you at lunch?”

“You bet,” he said.

She kissed him good bye and was out the door.

Jack looked around at the dishes and was surprised to find how “at home” he felt. A few days earlier, he had tried to tell himself to slow down with Lise. He didn’t want to get hurt again. Now he understood that he had nothing to fear. To slow down would be to delay their happiness.

*****

Half an hour later, Lise addressed her team, “This is it everyone; our first dry run of the extraction. Let’s keep an eye on the details. JD11 comes out of the tank on Saturday. That gives us just 48 hours to become perfect. For this first run through, I just want us to talk about events. If that goes well, then we’ll practice a little hands-on.”

Lise nodded to Dr. Ruiz who stood up and said, “At 8:00 am we will begin raising the gel temperature two degrees every five minutes. That will put it at 98 degrees at the time of extraction. TIG oxygen levels will be elevated five minutes prior to extraction. This should super-saturate his blood with oxygen and give us more time to clean out his lungs and ventilate him. We have backup equipment in place for both the temperature controls and oxygen content. At Zero Hour, Two nurses will climb into the tank and position the full-body slings. All indications are that his skeletal structure, organs and skin are all sufficiently healed to allow him to be lifted out without damage. Should something unforeseen occur, the surgical team will be standing by. Once he is out and on the table, my team will stand down to allow Dr. Shepherd’s team to take over.”

All eyes turned to Dr. Shepherd as he took over the presentation. “Our primary focus will be on lung operation. We have no way of knowing if he will begin breathing on his own or not. It will take nearly two minutes to clear all of the TIG fluid from his lungs. If he doesn’t start breathing on his own by then, we will need to intubate. Once the lungs are operational, my team will start at the head and move down the body. The process will involve cleaning away the TIG fluid, attaching bio-monitors and then applying post-burn antimicrobial salve. Once that is completed, we wrap him up and send him to ICU. Total time should be less than thirty minutes.”

This went on for the better part of an hour. Everyone had a role to play and they all needed to make sure this went off like a well-rehearsed play. This was all new ground for them and they needed to be ready for any contingency.

Eventually satisfied, Lise looked up at the clock. “Alright everyone, let’s do an actual run-though. We start in ten minutes.”

Everyone hustled to their positions. Equipment was rolled out, setting checked. There was even a dummy placed in a tank. They moved without speaking, each aware of his or her roll. On Lise’s mark, they began. She watched in amazement at how well orchestrated the entire team seemed to flow in and around each other as if they’d spent weeks working on this. They seemed to be entirely aware of every aspect of…

“Aware!” There was the same word she and Jack had used to describe both themselves and then Annie. Everyone was becoming more “Aware.” Not for the first time, Lise wondered if there was a connection between JD11 and what everyone else was experiencing.

Lise took a moment to let the feeling of … awareness wash over her. She closed her eyes which somehow allowed her to follow the actions of her team even more closely. She couldn’t see them but she could feel what each of them was experiencing with regards to their task at hand.

Then it hit her. She was being watched!

Lise remembered Jack mentioning that he’d experienced a similar feeling a couple of days ago. Now she understood what he meant. There was no doubt that someone was watching her team.

“But how?” she thought.

From his hotel room, Rudolfo involuntarily pulled back from the video feed as one of the hospital’s doctors walked over to the very camera he’d been monitoring and looked directly at him. It was as if she knew he was there, watching her and the others go through the motions that could only be described as “practicing’ something. What they were practicing was a mystery so far.

After a moment, the doctor turned back to her work and Rudolfo dismissed her actions as nothing special. He’d just imagined that she could see him. It was probably just fatigue. He’d been at it for hours and so far, had only basic hospital routines to show for his efforts. Yes, he had identified the fact that there were two men in the hospital at any given time that were anything other than the janitors they pretended to be.

Their sized alone was enough to make them stand out. What was even more obvious was their complete lack of routine. They never did the same things in the same order. Everyone else in the hospital was predictable; no surprise as that was the way most people were. However, the janitors maintained a random schedule. The good news was that this confirmed his suspicion as to who they were. The bad news was it would be difficult to penetrate a defense that changed from hour to hour.

Then, just around lunchtime, something happened that connected all of the dots. Jack Barton walked into the hospital. A few minutes later, a female doctor met him with a small peck to his cheek. Bingo! She was the same doctor that had stared at the camera earlier. Sheriff Tucker had led to Barton. Now Barton led to the female doctor. She was the one. If the Dark Angel was in that hospital, and Rudolfo felt confident he was, then she was the link.

Rudolfo changed his monitoring pattern and began to focus his attention on her actions alone. Where did she go to in the hospital? What department did she belong to? Where were her patients? Answer those and he’d be able to pinpoint his target. Once that was done, everything else was a matter of logistics.

There were the two vans out in the parking lot to deal with. He’d have to take out the janitors as well. There was the typical hospital security that could almost be brushed aside. Then there was the target itself. The Dark Angel would know he was coming. He would have taken precautions.

Rudolfo could see this was not going to be an easy hit. In fact, he put his chances at surviving well below fifty percent. Once his assault, and it would be an assault, on the hospital began, Colonel Lanier would quickly bring every asset he had to bear on the intruder. There would be very little time to make the hit and get away.

No, getting out alive was not even worth planning for. If he got lucky, then so be it. Otherwise, he just needed to focus on the “hit” itself.

Rudolfo gave escape no further thought. His job was to serve. Heaven would be reward enough.

Chapter 23  (13+) Lanier calls in a Self Destruct. JD11 begins to drown. #2039045 by Hyperiongate