Wages
of Sin part 4
Danae
Disclaimers/Warnings: see
part 1
“You little
bastard!”
“Hello to you, too,
Alex.” Kit grinned at the man in
the doorway. “Aren’t you going to
invite me in?” He swept past the
seething man and into the cabin.
“How do you do this?!” Alex
demanded, running his hands through his dark brown hair.
“Like the new traps.” Kit
tossed his backpack on the sofa and then plopped down beside
it.
“Damn it,” Alex
muttered.
“Alex, calm down. It’s good, really good, but the day you
beat me at this game, white boy, is the day I turn in my tribal membership card
and check myself into an old folks’ home.
Look, I’m not here just to piss you off. Pete needs you back in D.C. We got big
problems.”
“One day, Kit, you’re going
to get hurt out there.”
“Well, if you’d get a damn
phone or at least bring a laptop up here, I wouldn’t have to trek through your
forest of surprises.”
“I
come up here to be left alone. Pete
knows that.”
“This time, it’s
important.”
“All right. What is it this
time?”
Kit
told him the whole story as far as he knew it. When he was done, Alex had a stunned
look on his face.
“What?”
“Tell me that you’re
kidding. Tell me that you and Jess
cooked this up to get on my nerves.”
“Wish I could. I’ve got to head back out to Washington
state where Jess is. Frank and Rico
are out of the country. Besides, I
think Pete specifically wants you.
He really needs you, Alex.
He wouldn’t ask if he didn’t.”
“You shot a colonel.” Alex gave him a measuring
look.
“Yeah. So?”
“Just like that? Shot him?”
“Yeah. So?”
Alex grinned. “I’m rubbing off on you, my friend.”
Kit
returned the smile.
“Maybe.”
“Well, bugger me, what a
mess.”
“No
kidding.”
“I’m packing. I imagine you can find your own way out
of here.”
“I
got in, didn’t I?”
“Yes, again.” Alex sighed.
Kit
laughed. “See you soon, Alex. Take care of yourself.”
“You too, you little
bastard.”
Kit
laughed again as he collected his backpack and left his friend to
pack.
Jade met them at River Haven
the next morning. Jesse Riviera was
sullen as Simon introduced the young man to his girlfriend. Simon knew Riviera was very unhappy
about the idea of committing Blair but Simon could see no other way. After one night of taking care of Blair,
he was more convinced than ever that he was completely unprepared and unsuited
to meet Blair’s needs. Even with
Riviera’s help, it was exhausting and they had only bathed and fed him. He needed so much more than just someone
to take care of his physical needs.
Jade agreed with him. If
there was to be any hope of recovery, he needed to be treated by
professionals. Simon filled out the
necessary paperwork with Riviera burning holes in him with his eyes and Jade
rubbing his back and assuring him it was the right thing to do. He finally reached the place for his
final signature. He hesitated,
sighed, then signed the paper, and handed it back to the woman behind the desk
quickly before he could do something stupid like change his mind. The director, Dr. Martin, took the
papers from him and called for the orderlies to come and take Blair. Simon fended off a moment of panic as
she made the call. He got up from
his chair then and knelt down in front of Blair Sandburg. “I am so sorry, Blair. It’s for the best. When Jim gets back, we’ll…” He stopped. What would they do? What could they do? Could Jim fix this or would Blair spend
the rest of his life in this place?
Jesse got up and left the
room. Jade followed him. Simon could only think that she meant to
comfort the young man. He stayed
with Blair, however. He wanted to
be there to make sure the men coming to lock his friend away treated him
gently. They came then, and they
did seem gentle enough. As they led
him out of the office, however, Blair suddenly turned and lifted his eyes to
meet Simon’s. It was the first
really conscious thing Simon had seen from him since his rescue. And his eyes—Simon felt as though the
oxygen in the room had been sucked away.
He gasped. Blair knew. He knew what was happening to him. Simon wanted to say something, say
anything to try and explain why he was doing this, but he could not speak. He could only shake his head
helplessly. He followed them out of
the office and stood in the hallway, watching Blair watch him. Then, as though in defeat, Blair’s legs
folded and the orderlies found themselves carrying their patient rather than
leading him. Simon moved to go to
him but Dr. Martin stopped him with a hand on his
shoulder.
“Captain Banks, he is in
good hands.”
“He
was aware. He
knew.”
“It’s not unusual for a
catatonic to have brief moments of awareness. We will take good care of
him.”
Simon nodded. “Thank you,
Doctor.”
“You’re welcome.” The woman smiled.
Simon nodded again and
turned away. He walked slowly
toward the exit, his legs feeling like lead weights making the trek painful and
hard. Then again, perhaps it was
not his legs that were heavy but his heart.
He
was alone with his wolf now. Even
the snake and the jaguars were gone.
But still, he knew better than to let his guard down. He would not be taken again. Perhaps the cougar would come back
soon. He thought he could remember
it promising to come back. He would
just have to hold on until then.
He curled up with the wolf, nuzzling the soft fur. It whimpered and touched its nose to his
chest. In the meantime, he was
relatively safe. Confused, trapped
but safe. He cast wary eyes on the
jungle surrounding him once more to reassure himself that he and the wolf were
truly alone and then he let his eyes slide shut. He needed to rest.
Pete took a deep breath
before stepping into Jim Ellison’s prison.
It had been his final demand of MacNamara. He wanted to see Jim. Of course, he was relatively certain
that Ron had made sure that Jim knew that Pete had accepted a deal. It was Pete’s hope that he could make
the man understand that he was not selling him out, rather he was trying to
secure Blair’s future and Jim’s in his usual roundabout way. Unfortunately, Jim was not known for his
understanding and willingness to listen.
“Here goes nothing. Or
everything,” he whispered.
Jim
looked up at him immediately. He
rose from his cot. “What are you
doing here?”
“Making sure you’re
okay. Hoping to make you
understand.”
“I
understand, Pete. Somebody may as
well benefit from my worst nightmare, right?” So he did know.
“Stop being a prick,
Jim. You know, you always had trust
issues.”
Jim
laughed. “And you don’t think my
trust issues are warranted with you?
Need a reminder?”
“No, but you do. I came after you, you moron. This mess was of your own making. I could have let you rot out there with
Rose and Adler, but I didn’t. I
could have taken that file at face value and decided you deserved whatever you
got. I could have gotten Blair out
and left you there. But I
didn’t.” Pete moved closer and
lowered his voice. “I’m not giving
up now, Ellison. Oh, and so you
know, the money’s for Blair, you jackass.
Hang on, Jim. This ain’t
over yet.” He stepped back. “I better go. Hopefully, I have someone waiting for me
in my office.”
He
was almost out the door before Jim said anything. “Pete?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. However this goes, thanks for taking
care of Blair.”
Pete nodded. Ron met him outside. “You really going to give that money to
that hippie kid?”
“I
don’t think it’s any of your business what I do with the
money.”
“You’re getting soft,
Pete.”
“You think so,
huh?”
Ron
laughed a little. “Hey, Pete, I
know this didn’t turn out the way you wanted but it’s for your country,
man. No hard feelings?” Ron held out his
hand.
“For my country?” Pete could only stare at the man for a
long minute. “Who the fuck do you
think you’re kidding? This has
nothing to do with my country, Ron.
This is all about you, a power trip for Ron McNamara. As far as no hard
feelings? To borrow Jesse’s words,
what have you been smoking, Ron? Of
course, I have hard feelings.” Pete
shook his head. “If you think for
one minute that I don’t, you’re a fool.
One day, Ron, one day.” Pete
walked away, knowing that the implied threat would weigh on the pasty-faced
man’s mind.
A
half hour later, Pete walked into his office to find Alex Morrow waiting for him
there. “Alex, I’m glad you
came. Sorry to interrupt your
holiday but we have work to do.”
“Who?” Pete had always been thankful for the
man’s no-nonsense approach.
“Ron
MacNamara.”
“Your CIA guy?”
Pete nodded. “He fucked me over. I want him worried. I want him
scared.”
“Not
dead?”
“Not yet. Maybe later. Right now, I just want him to know that
his continued good health is in imminent danger.”
“What’s the
point?”
“I
need him alive for a little while longer.
He doesn’t know it yet but he’s going to help us out. Make him willing to help us out,
Alex. As a matter of fact, I’d
really like to see the bastard on his knees, begging to
help.”
Alex smirked at him. “I think I can handle
that.”
“Oh, I know you can. Let’s get busy.”
Alex gave him a two-fingered
salute then left. Pete hit the
intercom button. “Maggie, get me
Senator Adams on the phone. Tell
him it’s urgent. Tell him I can
give him a name for his investigation.”
“Are you sure, Pete?” the
woman’s voice came back to him from the little box.
“Yeah, I’m sure.” He sat back in his chair. “So you think I’m getting soft,
Ron? Have to do something about
that little misconception.”
Simon
looked up just in time to see his office door fly open and a very angry Kit
Chase storm in. Jesse was right
behind him. “Ever hear of knocking?”
“What
the hell are you thinking? Why is
Blair Sandburg in a mental hospital?”
“Because
he’s catatonic.”
“Cat—he
is not catatonic. He’s--- confused,
pissed, scared to death, but definitely not catatonic.” Chase slammed a hand
down on Simon’s desk.
Simon
took a deep breath and decided to attempt to remain the calm one in the
situation. “I hate to point this
out to you but he just sits and stares at nothing. He’s completely withdrawn from reality
here. He’s catatonic. Look, Chase, I don’t like this any more
than you do but Blair needs help--”
“You’re
right. He needs help. Not a padded
room!”
“This
is a good hospital. Jade says the
doctor is good and she’s going to be working with Blair as
well.”
“Who
the hell is Jade and why should I care?”
“Jade
is Dr. Jade Thomas.”
“His
girlfriend,” Jesse whispered from over Chase’s shoulder. “A
shrink.”
“I
want to talk to her. She doesn’t understand.”
“No,
you don’t understand, Kit. Blair
needs real help. Not--”
“Yeah,
yeah, mumbo-jumbo, Jess told me.
You really have no idea, do you?
And I don’t have time to explain it all. Just let me say this, my mumbo-jumbo is
just as valid as your shrink girlfriend’s ‘talk about your feelings and it’ll
all work out’ crap. More so really
in Blair’s case. I have a better
shot at reaching him than her or those hospital shrinks.”
Simon
shook his head. The man was not
going to listen. “Okay, I’ll call
Jade and you can talk to her. Maybe
she can get through to you.” He
reached for his phone.
“Don’t
bother. Never mind. Neither of you are going to listen to
me. I’m wasting my time. Have a nice day, Captain.” As quickly as he arrived, he was gone.
Simon
caught Riviera’s eye. The man just
gave him a look that clearly said, “I told you so,” then followed his
friend. Simon sighed and rubbed his
eyes. He picked up the phone
anyway. He wanted to hear Jade’s
voice. She answered on the second
ring.
“Hey,
Baby. Got a
minute?”
“For
you? Sure.” Simon’s day was looking up
already.
“What
are we going do?” Jesse asked as he followed Kit to their rental
car.
“Hey,
Jess, did you know you were adopted?”
“Excuse
me? That’s not even funny,
man. My older sister used to tell
me that all the time. Bitch. I still hate her.”
“Jess,
get over it. Life’s too short. Now, listen. You were adopted by a nice Jewish family
named Sandburg.”
“What
the hell are you talking about, Kit?”
“You
just got back into the country to find that your brother has been
committed. Are you getting my drift
now?”
“I’ll
get the paperwork.”
“God,
I love working with you!”
Ron
whistled as he got in his car. He
was calling it quits early for a round of golf. He smiled as he placed the key in the
ignition, but instead of roaring to life with the turn of the key, the switch
only clicked at him. Then the doors
locked. He tried the handle. The door would not open. Then the high-pitched whine began and he
knew he was about to die. Then
nothing. The door locks popped back
and the whine stopped. He looked
around, incredulous that he was still alive. He fumbled with the door handle again
and this time it released. He
almost tumbled out of the car then stood looking at it as though it was a snake
about to strike. The ringing of his
cell phone nearly gave him a heart attack.
He
snatched it from his pocket and answered.
“Hello?” His voice shook and
squeaked so he cleared his throat and tried again. “Hello?”
“Gotcha.”
That was all the person said. Ron
left the car where it was and took a taxi home.
“We
have to wait for the night shift.
The day shift has seen you and besides, it’ll be easier to pull off. They will hesitate to call this Dr.
Martin person in the middle of the night.
The doctor on call may just sign off on it and we can get the hell out of
there,” Kit explained.
“What
if they do call her and she comes in?
She’s definitely seen me.”
“Then
we wing it.”
“Whenever
you say that, you make me very nervous.”
Kit
only smiled at his best friend.
“Don’t worry, I have no intention of pulling another ‘Alex’ on you. I’m not going to shoot up the
place. I just may have to break in
the damn place and take him out.”
“Most
people break out of the loony bin, Kit.
Leave it to you to break in.”
Kit
grinned. “What are you trying to
say, Jess?”
“Oh,
nothing.”
Jim
stared at the bare wall in front of him.
Institution white, that was the color. When he was a sentinel, he could have
seen every flaw, every spot that was missed, every stray piece of lint or dust
caught in the paint, every blemish.
It would have been a distraction at least. In fact, maybe he would have gotten lost
in a zone as he inspected that wall.
Then what would his captors do?
Without his guide, maybe he would have gotten so lost that he would never
come out. What could they do? What would it matter anyway? But Jim was not a sentinel any
longer. He was an ordinary
man. He had told them that but they
did not believe him.
You’ll
work for us as a sentinel or you’ll rot here. You will not leave this place except as
an employee. He
could still hear the fat man’s words in his ears, his non-sentinel ears.
He
was not without hope entirely. Pete
had said that it was not over.
Simon would not give up on him either. Yet, what could they do? Simon, probably very little. He would annoy the hell out of them
though. Jim smiled slightly at that
thought. Then there was Pete. Jim sighed. Knowing Pete, it would be
illegal, unethical, underhanded, or just plain dangerous. Or a combination of any or all of the
above. But a couple of things were
certain. Whatever it was, Jim would
probably not be going back to his life in Cascade and he would definitely be
alone. There would be no Blair
waiting for him outside this prison if or when Pete worked whatever con he would
undoubtedly come up with. No, Blair
was in a different kind of prison and Jim had put him there. He had been feeling sorry for himself
and now he was ashamed of himself.
He turned his thoughts to the man who had been his best friend and then
for the first time in longer than he cared to remember, Jim Ellison prayed. Not for himself, but for the mind and
soul of Blair Sandburg.
Jesse
answered his cell phone.
“Yeah?”
Kit
watched his face break into a slow, sneaky smile as he listened to the person on
the other end.
“Not
a problem, Alex. Here’s what you
do.”
Kit
turned his attention back to the documents that Jess had drawn up. Thanks to a little computer hacking,
Jess had found out when Blair had signed the paperwork that would give Ellison
or Banks power of attorney and then created a new power of attorney that would
negate the first one with the name Jesse Sandburg on it. Kit grinned as he contemplated his
role. He was going to get to play
lawyer. Jesse had printed out all
sorts of legal stuff for him to read so that he could sound authentic. He knew all about power of attorney and
legal guardianship and the like now.
He also knew about adoption. Jesse had even drawn up fake adoption papers
to “prove” that he was Blair’s legal next of kin. Jesse was nothing if not
thorough.
“So? Think it’ll work?” Jesse’s voice broke into his
thoughts.
“Of
course it will work.”
“Pete
says that every time. It never
works when he says it.”
Kit
laughed. “Ain’t that the truth? But
I’m not Pete. It’ll work. What’s up with
Alex?”
“He
wanted to redirect a phone call so that it would appear to come from somewhere
where he wasn’t. Simple
stuff.”
“You
little computer geek.”
“Ah,
you’re just jealous.”
“And
you’re delusional. Maybe I can just
exchange Blair for you.”
“You’re
so damn funny, Kit.” Jesse slapped
him in the back of the head as he passed by him. “I’m hungry. Being sneaky makes me
hungry.”
Kit
chuckled then sobered as he looked back at the papers in his hands. “This has to work.”
Ron
was certain that he had closed his garage.
As the taxi came to a stop, he stared at the slightly open garage
door.
“Sir? That’ll be fifteen dollars and fifty
cents,” the driver announced.
“Yeah,
yeah.” Ron pulled a twenty from his
wallet and handed it to the man.
“Change, please.”
The
driver frowned at him but counted out four ones and handed them to Ron. He reached for the change and Ron waved
at him dismissively and got out of the car.
“Jackass,”
he heard the driver whisper before he slammed the door. He started to turn back and demand the
driver’s name but the car sped away before he could.
He
stood in his driveway for several minutes just looking at that garage door. Finally, he shook his head. “Paranoid, Ron, old boy. You’re getting paranoid.” He started to move toward the house then
but a shrill sound coming from the garage stopped him. Suddenly, the garage door slammed down
and then came the explosion that knocked Ron off his feet. “Son of a bitch!” he screamed as he
scuttled along the ground to get further away from the
flames.
An
hour later, the captain of the fire squad approached him with a lump of melted
plastic that might have been a container of some kind. “Sir, here’s the cause of the fire. You really shouldn’t store this kind of
stuff near an electrical outlet.
When your garage door malfunctioned, it shorted out the outlet where it
was plugged. The sparks hit this
stuff and up it went.”
Ron
would have protested that he had never seen that lump of whatever. He would have asked what kind of stuff
had been in it, but he knew it would do no good. There would be no trace of a third
party. It would be ruled an
accident no matter what he said.
“Thank you. I’ll remember that in the future.”
The
fireman nodded. “At least you still
have your house. Good thing that
garage wasn’t attached. Try to have
a good night, sir.”
“Yeah,
thanks. You too.” He watched as the man climbed into the
big red fire engine, and it pulled away.
He sighed. His phone
rang. He grabbed it from his
pocket. “Now listen, you
bast--”
“Anytime,
anywhere.” Then
silence.
Quickly,
Ron hit call return. The phone on
the other end rang. “Ron
MacNamara’s office.” His secretary’s voice startled him.
“Frances?!”
“Yes,
Ron? Where are you? Your car is still
here.”
“Never
mind that. Frances, is there
someone in my office?”
“No.”
“Nobody? Are you sure? Have you seen anyone out of
place?”
“No. Ron, what’s going
on?”
“Go
in my office and then pick up the phone in there.” He waited as she did as he
asked.
“Okay,
now what?” she asked.
“Nothing
out of place?”
“No. Well, there’s an envelope
here.”
“Open
it.”
She
sighed. He could hear the paper
rustling. Then she
giggled.
“What?
What is it?”
“Somebody’s
being funny today. It’s just a
sheet of paper with one of those goofy smiley faces on it and the line ‘have a
nice day.’ Somebody’s trying to
play a joke on you?”
“Yeah,
I guess. Something like that. See
you tomorrow, Frances.” He hung
up. “Damn you to hell, Peter
Devereaux.”
Alex
walked into Pete’s office with a satisfied smile on his face. The man’s usually somber expression had
been replaced by an expression of mischief. It was nice to see. Alex was all too often too serious. Pete often teamed him with Kit and/or
Jesse just so he could see Alex smile occasionally. He and Kit worked well together from the
start. It had taken Alex longer to warm up to Jess, though, probably because
their personalities were so opposite.
Jess was laid back. Alex was
intense. Even with the twinkle of
trouble in his eyes, the intensity was still there.
“I
predict that you will be hearing from Mr. MacNamara any time now.” Alex tossed a file on Pete’s desk and
then folded his lanky frame into a chair.
“You’re
my favorite person.” Pete grinned
as he flipped through the real and complete story, complete with notes on a
sentinel breeding program and possible genetic research to create new sentinels
from non-sentinels.
“Right,
for how long this time?”
“Until
Maggie brings me my dinner, then she’ll be my favorite person.” Pete closed the file.
“Figures. Anyone ever told you that you are a
fickle bastard?”
“My
ex-wife. All my ex-girlfriends, as
a matter of fact.” The phone rang
and Pete held up one hand and waggled his eyebrows at his friend and
operative. “Could it
be?”
“Could
be.”
“Should
I let him sweat?”
“Nah,
seen him sweat. It’s not pretty.”
Pete
finally picked up the phone on the fifth ring. “Hello? Peter Dev--”
“Ron,
I’m not fucking at all. If I were
fucking, I wouldn’t have answered the phone. Women kinda get pissed about that kind
of thing.”
“Oh
Ron, you’ll do nothing of the kind.
See, here’s the deal. I have
an appointment with Senator Adams in two days. You remember him, right? Head of the Oversight Committee? Well, he’s been very concerned about
corruption in your little organization and I just happen to have some
very interesting information for him.
I keep very detailed files, Ron.
I take note of names and dates and places and such. Not to mention, I have a very complete
copy of your file on your last little operation. I wonder what the good senator would
think about your plans. He’s a
pretty conservative guy, right?
Family values and all that?
A human breeding program isn’t gonna sit well with
him.”
The
man’s whole tone changed. “What is it you want from me?”
“Well,
let’s see. How about the Eiffel
Tower and the Taj Mahal?
Gift-wrapped, of course. And
Ron, don’t get the cheap kind. I
hate that cheap stuff that rips if you look at it hard. So annoying.”
“Damn
it, Devereaux, just get to the point!”
“Well,
Ron, ask a stupid question and get a stupid answer. You know damn well what I
want.”
“I
can’t just let Ellison go! Don’t
you understand what we could do with somebody like
Ellison?”
“Tell
it to Senator Adams, Ron. Good-bye,
Asshole.”
“No! Wait! I’m not at the top of this,
Pete!”
“Okay,
give me a name. I’ll give him to
Adams.”
“I
can’t.”
“You
can’t because there is no one to give me.
You’re it. Your choice. Give it up and release Jim or I’ll turn
over everything I have on you and it doesn’t stop just at this operation,
Ron. You told me you have stuff on
my men? Well, did you think that I
wouldn’t have anything on you to use as an equalizer? I protect my guys, Ron. So, what’s it gonna be? Jim’s not doing you any good
anyway. He’s not a sentinel
anymore. If you turn him loose, you
can go after Barnes. I certainly won’t stop you. Don’t, and it’ll be you going down, not
me.”
“You’ll
keep your mouth closed and call off your men?”
“Sure. I have someone else I can give Senator
Adams that will make him just as happy.
Oh, Ron, there is something else.
Blair Sandburg.”
“What
about him? He’s
nuts.”
“That
may well be but I refuse to let him be remembered as a fraud. You and I both know he’s not. He never lied.”
“Yeah,
but what do you expect me to do?”
“Well,
I have a few ideas about that, but I need to talk to Jim first. I’ll get back to you. You can just have Jim brought to me
here. Soon. And Ron, try to weasel out and I’ll bury
you.” Pete hung up the phone.
“Do
you think he’ll live up to his end?”
“Oh
yeah, I think he will. We have a
history, Ron and me. Besides, he’s
too afraid of prison and of you not to.
However, when this is all over, he’ll come after
us.”
“Then
we need to eliminate that possibility, don’t we?” Alex
asked.
“Maybe. You know, Jesse would have a screaming
hissy fit if he heard us talking this way.”
Alex
smiled. “The kid’s such a boy
scout. We just won’t tell
him.”
“Like
he wouldn’t find out. You can’t
hide anything from Jess. You should
know that by now. At any rate, let
me think about it.”
Alex
nodded and left, leaving Pete to worry about how best to deal with
MacNamara.
“But--”
The flustered nurse shuffled through the papers again.
“But
nothing. Mr. Sandburg would like
his brother released immediately.
We could get a court order if we have to but that certainly would bring
your facility some unwanted and unflattering attention.”
“You
don’t understand! He’s
catatonic!”
“That
is beside the point. Mr. Sandburg
has the valid power of attorney for his brother. Jesse wants his brother
released.”
“I
can’t authorize that!”
“Then
I suggest you find someone who can.” Kit folded his arms across his chest. This was going to work. He felt like a jerk trying to intimidate
the petite woman but it had to be done.
He had to get Blair Sandburg out of this hospital. She fumbled with the phone and paged a
Dr. Schiller.
“I
want to see Blair now,” Jess demanded as she hung up.
“Um,
I think he’s in the rec room right now.”
“Where
is it?”
“Down
that hall but, sir, you shouldn’t go in there.”
“Thank
you.” Jess started down the
hall. Kit followed. So did the nurse, repeating over and
over that they were not supposed to go in there. Jesse veered right and stormed through a
set of double doors. It took them a
few minutes to locate Blair. As a matter of fact, Kit bypassed him twice before
he recognized him.
“Shit,”
he whispered.
“What?”
Jesse asked.
Kit
pointed and Jesse finally saw. “Oh
my god.”
“You
cut his hair,” Kit snapped.
“Dr.
Martin felt it was best. It’s
easier to take care of that way.”
“You
better go find that doctor,” Kit told her.
He left the woman standing there and made his way over to Blair. An orderly moved toward him but one look
sent the man back to his original position. He knelt in front of the
wheelchair. He swore under his
breath. They had Sandburg strapped
to the chair. Apparently, he had
been that way for a while.
“Oh
man.” Jesse’s presence registered
then and he turned to look at his friend.
“Help
me get these restraints off and let’s get him out of
here.”
Dr.
Schiller picked that moment to enter the room. “What the hell is going on
here?”
Kit
stood and stalked toward the balding man.
Schiller took two steps back.
“We have papers that give Jesse Sandburg the right to remove his brother
from this hellhole.”
“Mr.
Sandburg’s records don’t mention a brother.”
“He’s
adopted.”
“I
need to clear this with Dr. Martin and Captain Banks.”
“Really? Why don’t you go call them then? While you do that, I’ll make some calls
too. A TV station or two. The newspaper. Maybe the good folks of Cascade would
like to know that you strap down catatonic patients and leave them there until
they soil their clothes. That’ll
look real good on the front page and the five o’clock news, won’t it? I tell you what you need to do, Dr.
Schiller. You need to sign that
release before you piss me off.”
Only
minutes later, they were leaving River Haven. With Blair
Sandburg.
Jim
eyed the pudgy man with suspicion when he opened the door to Jim’s prison. “What now,
MacNamara?”
“Come on out of
there.”
“More
‘tests?’”
“No, you’re
leaving.”
“I’m
what?”
“Leaving.” MacNamara pushed a fifty-dollar bill
into Jim’s hand. “There’s a taxi
waiting outside. He knows where
you’re going. Now, get out before I
change my mind.”
Jim
stared at him. “What is this? Will the gate guards be getting a
message that I’m escaping?
What? I can’t be a sentinel
so I get shot escaping?”
“You’re not escaping. You’re being released. We made a mistake, Mr. Ellison. We’re sorry.”
“Who the fuck are you and
what have you done with MacNamara?”
“You ever hear that saying
about not looking a gift horse in the mouth? Try taking the advice and get out while
you can.”
“Where is the cab
going?”
“What’s with the freaking
questions, you moron? Just go! Devereaux is
waiting.”
“Pete?”
“Yeah.”
Jim
laughed ruefully. “What’d he
do? What’s he got on
you?”
“Are you leaving or should I
tell him you’re happy here and wish to stay?”