VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, [9], 10 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 16:18:41 01/29/08 Tue
Author: Mary
Author Host/IP: 66.162.52.3.gen.fullservice.net / 66.162.52.3
Subject: Characters & Shadows - Chapter 34
In reply to: Mary 's message, "Characters & Shadows - Cont." on 11:26:45 01/23/08 Wed

Chapter 34

Michael entered the room just as the nurses were swabbing what looked to be yet another spot where they had taken blood from the unconscious Nikita. He knew it was irrational but he wanted them all to leave her alone, to just let her rest for a little while. If they just let her sleep then she would get better he tried to tell himself.

But as they finished their quiet ministrations and began to move from the room Michael knew how ineffective his prior thoughts were. She was on oxygen now to help her breath, her lungs were not working as they should, IV’s fed her medications and precious nutrients that her body needed yet was rejecting as fast as they went in. But what scared him the most was how pale and still she was. It was like she wasn’t even there anymore and he wasn’t sure he could stand it.

He sat beside her as close as he could get and took her cold hand in his. Stroking her fingers he looked at her face and prayed for any small flicker from the beautiful woman. But minutes passed and there was nothing from her, absolutely nothing. Michael sat in silence and continued his vigil over her.

Brian stood at the door to the room and hated to interrupt with more bad news but he had to let Michael know. Softly he announced his presence, “Michael.”

Still even the small noise caused Michael to startle slightly, “Brian. Do you know anything yet?”

The doctor sighed and walked into the room closing the door behind him, “We do. We know a lot about what is wrong but answers are our problem right now.”

Michael swallowed and forced himself to stay calm, “Go on.”

“She’s showing all the signs of bacterial meningitis which we are aggressively treating her for. But it’s like some variant strain is attacking other vital organs in her body and we simply have never seen anything like this before. I’ve sent her blood out for additional testing but at this point…” Brian was shaking his head.

Michael absorbed the news as best he could but the pain lanced through him as the reality of Brian’s words really hit home. Prompting the doctor to continue Michael asked, “At this point?”

“We are treating the symptoms as they appear and helping her as much as we can. She’s still fighting, but realistically her body can only keep this up for so long. Time is not on our side. I have asked the CDC to rush the outside blood work. Maybe they will have the answers we need.”

“And if they don’t, Nikita dies?”

“We don’t know that yet. Let’s not go there. It’s important that you stay positive.”

“It’s hard when I see her like this.”

“I know. I wish I had better news, but just give me a little more time.”

Michael could only nod as he heard his friend slip out the door leaving him to his privacy with Nikita. The pain was overwhelming him, it came in waves and he didn’t know how to stop it. She might be dying and there was absolutely nothing that he could do other than sit her helpless and watch. Anger flared in him over the situation, there had to be something, someone that could help. He remembered Birkoff in the waiting room and the computer – maybe he would find something. Maybe someone would find something in time to save her.

*****

Marco heard the gunshot from the office and knew on some sick horrible level of his existence David had just released some frustration on some unsuspecting person who was unfortunate enough to deliver some bad piece of news. As Marco waited two men dragged the body out of the office that Marco recognized as a thug named Mattie, they were followed by a third man that Marco didn’t recognize. He shook hands with David and quickly left. There was something about him that made Marco pause and watch as he left out of the other door. He thought he knew everyone that saw David by now, but not this guy.

“Marco. I take you bring me good news.” David said in greeting as he went back into his office. Then he gestured toward the far wall which showed the remains of the unfortunate target of David’s ire, “Sorry about the mess in here. But Mattie was growing sloppy. You know how I hate sloppiness.”

“Yes I do sir.” Marco knew to step very carefully right now. Once David reached this point in his insanity it was very easy for him to kill again and again. Marco did not want to die with his blood all over David Fanning’s inner office.

“So what have you got?” David sat expectantly on his expensive silk sofa.

Taking a deep breath Marco plunged into the dangerous waters, “She’s too sick. We can’t bring her here.”

David began to shake his head, “Marco. Marco. Marco, you disappoint me. That’s not what I want to hear.”

“I know sir. But extracting her would kill her.”

David stood and reached around and punched the wall as hard as he could, then again and again, “Why does everything have to be so hard with her!?”
Marco waited for the tirade to subside, pleased that he wasn’t the point of David’s anger at the moment.

David turned and looked at Marco with a crazed expression on his face and Marco waited to see what he would do, “Make me a drink would ya’?” And David sunk back down on the sofa exhausted from his excursions.

“That bitch makes me crazy. She has always made me crazy and she always will. You know that don’t you Marco? You saw what it was like. From the moment I laid eyes on her I completely lost my mind and I never got it back!”

“Yes sir.”

“She can’t die. Not unless I kill her. She is not allowed to die, she is mine.”

“Of course,” Marco replied and handed him the drink.

Marco knew he had to push, he had been told what to do, but it was dangerous even now that it looked like David was calming down it was still dangerous. “She is getting rapidly worse and they don’t know why.”

David groaned and ran an agitated hand through his hair. Marco continued his push though, “And that Michael Samuelle is still there.”

David stood and started pacing the length of the room. “Get a team ready.”

“Sir?”

“I said to get a team ready, we’re leaving tonight.”

“I can’t let you do that sir, we aren’t prepared. I need surveillance first, planning, scouts…”

“I don’t want to hear it Marco! I said we are leaving make the arrangements.”

“David, sir, this will take time. We have to arrange transportation, housing, your safety is paramount in moving you. It will take me a while to…”

David threw the drink across the room and it hit the wall just about where the bloodstain was, “Shut up! She is the one thing that I can’t live without, the bitch! We are going. Now get the team ready. Go! Go!”

Marco left the office as quickly as he could. There was much to be done. It was almost over, all of it was almost over. If it just went as profiled then this whole horrible thing would be over finally.

*****

Suba was pissed. Here he had the blonde that David wanted had told Marco what was going on and yet still there was no call. Nothing. He wanted what he deserved, he had found Nikita. Not Marco or any of the other pansies that kissed David’s ass on a regular basis. He had found her and he was being treated like this. He threw the cell phone across the back of the car and yelled at the drive, “Are we there yet?”

“Just pulling in sir.”

Suba entered the house and scared the maid to death, he enjoyed playing with people like that. He hoped later he would get to kill her. But for now he had other business to attend to as he barged into the office unannounced. “Paul. Good to see you again. I’m sure you missed me.”

“Greatly.” Paul said with great sarcasm.

“So you insisted on seeing me, what is it you want?”

“I want to make you a very rich man.”

Suba laughed and laughed, “You can’t pay your bills and you are going to make me rich. How?”

“I want you to kill my wife.”

*****

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

Forum timezone: GMT-5
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.