| Subject: The Dragonslayer, Chapters 33 & 34 |
Author:
Jaron
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Date Posted: 19:30:23 12/18/01 Tue
In reply to:
Jaron
's message, "The Dragonslayer" on 16:44:37 12/16/01 Sun
The Dragonslayer, Chapter 33
I could feel the fear and anger rising in me as I walked briskly down the hall. I
stopped in the center of a large room, and looked around. I had no idea where to
find Madeline. I had left Michael’s room abruptly and not bothered to ask anyone the
way. Feeling rather foolish as I stood there, I saw the young man with glasses that
they had called Birkoff sitting at a computer. I walked over to him and introduced
myself.
“Yeah, nice to meet you, Grace. Walter has nice things to say about you. Can I help
you?” He smiled shyly at me and I immediately wanted to hug him. He looked too
young to work in a place like Section. Suppressing an urge to mother him, I told him I
needed to talk to Madeline, and could he point me to her office.
“Just a minute,” he said as he punched a key on his keyboard. “Madeline, Grace is
here and wants to talk with you. Are you free?” There was a slight pause and then he
nodded and stood up. “Come with me. I’ll take you to her.”
I followed along behind him and soon we came to a door with a keypad mounted
beside it. Birkoff punched a code and the door slid open. “Good luck,” he said and
turned back toward his work area.
I carefully stepped down into Madeline’s office and noted the austere look of the
office that was interrupted only by a collection of bonsai trees on one lighted wall.
Madeline stood up behind her desk and greeted me. I was surprised to see
Operations there as well. This should be interesting, I thought, as I sat down in the
chair she motioned me toward. Operations began to pace behind my chair.
“Would you mind not doing that?” I asked. “I like to see the people I am going to talk
to. Why don’t you have a seat right here.” I patted the seat of the chair next to me.
He stopped pacing and sat down. “Now, I think we have some things to talk about.”
Madeline and Operations looked at each other and then looked at me. Madeline was
the one to start the conversation. “Actually, Grace, there are some things we need to
discuss. We have a proposition for you.” An intense feeling of deja vu enveloped me,
as I remembered the last proposition with which Madeline had approached me. I
remembered the night she offered me Rene.
They unfolded their plan for me and I was apprehensive at first, but then I began to
think that it was all possible. Their plan covered several of the things that concerned
me, first and foremost, how Michael and Rene could continue to see each other. If
this plan made that possible, then anything they asked of me was worth it. I started
to listen very carefully, asking questions and finally, making my own demands. They
compromised on most points and ultimately, I won more points than I had thought
possible. Some of my problems were taken care of and several of their problems were
addressed as well. All in all, things seemed to be working out rather well for the good
guys.
All that was left was to discuss the plan with Michael. In my excitement over the
proposition I had been offered, I had forgotten that I was angry with him. He had lied
to me, but now I knew why.
When I entered Medical, I noticed a flurry of activity in one corner across from
Michael’s room. Curious, I walked over, only to be met by a gurney quickly being
pushed from the area. One of the nurses saw me and told me what had happened. I
barely heard her as I watched a prone and ashen-faced Michael being whisked by me
on the gurney. Pulling my arm from the nurse’s grasp, I followed the gurney to an
examining room and tried to follow it inside. The same nurse that had grabbed my
arm again pulled me away from the door of the room where Michael was being
examined by a doctor.
I finally turned to the nurse and looked at her, “What happened?”
And she began to explain.....
The Dragonslayer, Chapter 34
As soon as I turned my back on him, Michael felt lost and alone. He had lied to me
because he knew what was probably going to happen to Carson. Carson was a good
operative, loyal to Michael and the team, but he was really not prepared to fit into any
other job at Section. His value to Section was his strength and skill in combat, and if
he couldn’t perform with his former skill as a combat operative, then he was no
longer of any value to Section. This was something Carson already knew and Michael
wondered if he was wondering now about his future with Section. He had to be
worried, Michael thought, and I can’t let him go through this alone. Observing no
medical personnel in his vicinity, Michael threw the covers on his bed off his legs and
swung one leg at a time over the side of the bed. The movement caused him to hiss
with pain as the sutures in his stomach were pulled by his sudden movement. As he
stood, Michael felt lightheaded, but he knew that was only because he had been in
bed too long without moving around. Gingerly, trying not to reawaken the pulled
stitches in his mid-section, he pulled on the robe that had been laid across the end of
his bed. It was awkward trying to put on the robe with only one hand and arm
available. I’ll be glad when I can unwrap my other arm, he thought. He hated being
incapacitated for any reason, but being bandaged like this made him feel like a
invalid. He longed to be able to stretch out both arms and give Rene a real hug.
Thinking of Rene made him smile. And smiling, he remembered that he hadn’t seen
Nikita today. Her room was on the way to Carson’s, so he would stop in to check on
her as well. Focusing on Nikita, Michael failed to see the large food service cart
moving toward him and was greatly surprised when he was knocked to the floor. His
head made hard contact with the tile floor and the light blinked out for him. Nurses
came running and the man pushing the food cart thought to himself, I’m dead now, I
just ran down a class 5 operative. Then he chuckled to himself, I just did something
no one else had done. Class 5 ops weren’t so tough.
His mirth was short-lived as one of the nurses commandeered him to help them lift
Michael onto a gurney that had quickly been pulled up to where Michael lay on the
floor. The smile still on his face faded instantly when he was confronted by a nurse
who stepped right into his face and demanded to know what he was daydreaming
about to have been stupid enough to run down one of her patients. He stammered
an apology and took two steps back, then hurriedly turned and disappeared down the
hall with his cart.
“Take him to examining room 1. Let’s see what the damage is this time.” The doctor
on call grinned behind his hand, and wondered how to word his report on this one.
Michael, a class 5 operative, received a trauma wound to the head and a possible
reinjury of his shoulder when run down by a dangerous food service attendant.
Injuries caused by large food service cart. The grin widened. Michael would never
live this one down. Then he laughed outright, but who, he wondered, would ever kid
him about it? Lost in his thoughts, the doctor went to tend to Michael’s newest
injuries.
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