The Premise

by Andy Crossfield

  "Now hold on Kyle, I’ve only just heard of this," Colleen said getting angry at being pushed into a corner. "Let me talk to Jack before you do anything that might make your situation worse. I’ll call you back in two hours, okay?"

  "Okay, sorry to push so hard but its important. Two hours" Kyle said as he heard the call drop.

  Chapter 22 A Friend Is Lost

  The trio stepped through the broken doorframe and into the trashed outer room of Colleen’s clinic. Karen led Jack and Colleen into the room where just a week before, Colleen’s patients sat fidgeting or waiting anxiously; worried what the test results would be and hoping they would have confidence in the new young clinician that was both one of them and not. Now, all Colleen saw was the broken and splintered remains of chairs that were swept into a pile in the corner.

  As she toured the demolished interior of her clinic, Colleen kept her hand to her mouth. Her eyes grew wide and wet with tears as they made their way through one wrecked exam room after another; she repeatedly uttered a single anguished phrase: "Oh my God!"

  Jack felt the need to comfort her, but every time he tried, she pulled away, persevering through each room and the next gut-punch realization that a life’s work had been stolen.

  "We’ve made a little progress since the break-in." said Karen as she led the somber tour through the lab. Trying to be upbeat, she smiled bravely and said "I found one old computer with recoverable files on it in the storage room, I think we can build back from there, filling in the gaps with the records I sent to Dr. Moran. Lucky thing sending him copies of the records, don’t ya think?"

  Colleen seemed dazed and unresponsive to Karen's attempted cheer.

  Karen made an effort to point toward the storage room where she made her discovery and then winced as she adjusted the sling that cradled her injured left arm. Karen still had bruising that went down the back of her neck and across to her injured shoulder. She had been hit from behind, the imprint from a dull implement still visible nearly a week after the break in. Her left cheek was bruised and had turned deep purple and yellow from where she must have hit it as she fell unconscious to the floor. It hurt too much to look at her. The cut on her forehead had begun to heal enough that she had removed the oversized gauze wrapping and she had applied mascara to the eye that wasn’t bruised; her one small concession to vanity.

  As Colleen entered one of the examination rooms, Karen caught Jack’s eye. "This next room will be the hardest" she whispered, and motioned for him to go to her as they moved down the hall.

  When Colleen saw what had been her office, her knees lost their support and she crumpled into Jack’s arms. The once neat rows of patient records were scattered across the room as if thrown from an explosion. The shelves that had held them were tipped over. Her desk was askew, its drawers were open and empty, and her computer lay in one corner. Violated by the criminals that committed this total destruction of her clinic, it lay open and exposed– missing its drives. Colleen tried to speak but could only utter a weak whimper.

  Jack held her, trying to think of something comforting to say but knowing the realization of her loss had to be confronted. The enormity of it had to wash over her in order for her to summon the strength to keep going. The only thing that mattered now was that he was there with her.

  "We start back from here, Colleen," he said whispering in her ear from behind. "There are many discoveries you will make in your life, and they all will spring from this moment. You know that. You know I’m right. This moment will forever be your strength and your motivation."

  Colleen’s eyes filled with tears that spilled down her cheeks as she reached back to hug his neck. His words gave her strength. Suddenly she could put her loss aside for a moment. Her existence seemed to shift in an instant, and there was a kind of clarity about her situation. Jack was right; as bad as things seemed, she could see herself recovering. Standing in the hallway outside her ruined office, holding each other so tightly, Colleen took account of her life. No one and nothing else was in focus, the hall seemed to spin like a carousel where only the ones on the horses were not blurred.

  She spun in Jack’s arms to face him, to search his eyes for the truth that would back up his words, and she saw the confirmation she sought.

  "Did you hear what I said Colleen? Jack said in a hushed voice only she could hear.

  "Yes," Colleen mouthed, her tears flowing harder now.

  "You said we…"

  Jack started to correct her; to proclaim his faith in her courage and character, but her reply cut to the heart of what he'd tried to say. His eyes suddenly glistened at the realization and the deeper meaning of that enormous two-letter word. A small word so Freudian, that it had slipped out without his permission. Yet now, it filled the whole room with more meaning than he ever could have crafted on his own. They stood alone in mutual understanding of what began there between them, in awe of the power of the unsaid, it's meaning more powerful than words.

  "I did, didn’t I?" he whispered through a slight smile, completely captivated by Colleen’s tear filled violet eyes.

  Colleen buried her face in his shoulder and cried.

  Karen stood observing the couple, feeling exposed and conspicuous and very much out of place. She slowly backed into an examination room and began busying herself with recovering the files on the salvaged computer. She found the old sign-in log from almost a year ago and was checking patient names against retrieved patient files when Jack walked in.

  "Sorry about the scene out there, as you can imagine, this is very hard for Colleen, …and for you too, of course" Jack said, realizing again what Karen must be going through. "I mean, I can’t begin to know how you felt being here when this happened."

  Karen shrugged and winced again, feeling the pain climb up her arm and into her shoulder. "I think I was lucky, I was out cold while they were here so I don’t have any mental trauma to speak of. I’ll heal soon enough."

  Jack leaned in over Karen’s shoulder, "Well you are one helluva trooper, and I’d like to thank you for being here for Colleen. I don’t know what she would do without you."

  "Oh, don’t mention it, we were on the verge of something big, and I’m not about to let that slip away."

  Colleen entered the small room and put her arm around Jack’s waist.

  "So, any ideas on where we start?" asked Jack.

  Karen turned in her chair, "Colleen, I found this old logbook, and along with the recovered files, I think we can piece together the list of trial participants. If we can do that, and establish their baselines again, we can bring the patients back in for evaluation and arrive at updated effectiveness rates."

  "That’s a good place to start Karen" Colleen said as she began paging through the logbook. "I’ll start entering the data from the files I brought back from Vegas, and you can start bringing in patients for their evals."

  "Okay, then," said Jack, "who needs some help?" looking earnestly at the two women.

  "Jack, why don’t you work with Karen?" Colleen suggested. "I’m going to have my hands full entering the data on our progress, and I really do need to concentrate." she said stroking Jack’s face and smiling.

  "Um, here, Jack," said Karen handing him a thick patient file while trying to avoid another awkward, fifth wheel moment. "Think you can compile a list using these two sources? Besides, I’ll bet you type faster than I can one-handed!" Karen moved aside urging him to sit at the computer. "I’ll look for some other records that will help us recreate the data."

  As she started to leave, Colleen’s phone rang. She looked at her phone and turned to Jack. "It’s Kyle… I guess it’s been two hours, I completely forgot to call him back " she said in a half whisper.

  Jack gestured for her phone and answered it.

  "Hi Kyle, it’s Jack. How are you holding up? …Yeah, Colleen told me, it’s terrible, we’re just glad you’re ok. Look, Kyle, I don’t think it’s safe for you to fly out here …Uh huh, but I’m thinking…

  Yes, I heard
, but…Right, right, but let me…Dammit Kyle, will you let me speak? Okay, I was about to say it isn’t safe for you to get a flight out here, if someone is trying to kill you and Ramy, they can easily follow you out…

  "Now I didn’t say that, did I? …No, but… Kyle,… KYLE! …Will you let me speak?

  "I’m sending my jet to pick you up at Henderson Executive. It’s south of town on the St. Rosa Parkway." Jack glanced at the time on Colleen’s phone. "It will be there in two hours. Take a cab to the terminal. The flight will be listed as the Colder party, got that? Show your ID, you’re on the manifest… oh, and… enjoy the flight… and don’t drink too much! It’ll be late when you get in so we’ll see you tomorrow for the meeting with Basra. Tom will meet you tonight…." Jack started to laugh, "You’re welcome kid, see you soon."

  For a moment, Karen tried hard not to react to what she’d overheard, but finally curiosity got the better of her. "Care to read me in on that phone call?" she said, as she looked first at Jack and then at Colleen. Karen studied the two for an answer, finally zeroing in on Jack. "Some guy has a hit out on him? And, you’re bringing him here?"

  Then Karen turned to look directly at Colleen, "And Jack has his own jet? Really? This is all way too much for me to process, okay? I mean, you take one short trip to Vegas and all hell breaks loose back here! Then you come back to Chicago with an exciting life and a James Bond boyfriend? Man…talk about life not being fair!"

  "If you think that’s something, you'd absolutely love to hear how we met…" Colleen said, glancing at Jack and the memory of their first encounter.

  "We better get to work, don’t you think?" Jack said as he tried to change the subject while ignoring Karen’s stares.

  "I’m on it," said Colleen, as she turned and left Karen and Jack alone.

  After an uncomfortable pause Karen said, "You know I’ll find out eventually, don’t you?"

  "Find out what?" Jack said trying hard to play dumb.

  "Oh, the story on you two for starters. Then of course there’s the break in here, something about some 'explosion' and murders in the desert Colleen told me about while she was out there. Oh, or the guy with a contract on him that arrives tonight! Feel free to begin anywhere you want!" Karen said as she sorted through patient files. Suddenly Karen stopped going through the files and turned to face Jack. "Wait a minute, are you THE Jack Colder, …the author?"

  "Yep. You’ve read my books?"

  "Oh. My. God… I love your books! Oh my God! My mother is gonna freak! So, your life… really is like in your books? Does this stuff always happen to you?"

  "No, not at all. I have a really boring life, really." Jack looked at Karen and tried to keep a straight face but couldn’t.

  "Oh, right, I bet flying around in your own jet gets old fast. Man, life is really not fair, I mean…really not fair!" Karen said in a low voice as she turned back to her work.

  "Karen, I’m not trying to keep things from you. Really I'm not."

  Karen turned again and faced Jack, listening intently.

  "You certainly should know the truth. You’ve already been through a lot." Jack said nodding unconsciously to her bruises and injured arm. "But we know only bits and pieces ourselves.

  "Kyle’s coming out here to help us unravel a mystery we got swept into in Vegas. Colleen’s getting mugged, my kidnapping, and the attempt on Kyle’s life, …they all seem somehow related to a colleague of Colleen’s attempt to modify human DNA." Jack paused, listening again to his words. "Okay, when I say it that way, that part definitely sounds like a book plot, …but it really happened!

  "Evidently, Colleen’s old professor was trying to develop of a method to get more energy from food, but it went horribly wrong. And now, we think maybe a large corporation is trying to cover up the tragic results. And it may be that they stopped at nothing, including murdering fourteen people to do it."

  "Well, if this corporation is so evil, why did they let you leave Vegas?" Karen asked almost without thinking.

  "I’ve wondered about that myself," said Jack. "It doesn’t make sense to pursue us so aggressively and then give up. Unless they just wanted to scare us away from finding out who was responsible or why they had Mark killed, and getting us out of Vegas would lessen the chances of us figuring it out. I know they wanted his briefcase badly… but going after me is puzzling. I didn’t know Mark at all. I’m no scientist, I’m a criminologist.

  "And I have to admit, if this plot was in one of my books, the only thread that would be believable to the reader is if Colleen were a target here as well. But I just can’t come up with any reason why anyone would think she’s a threat. She never even worked on Mark’s project. And I certainly don’t want to scare her unnecessarily, she feels safe here in Chicago, and I’d like to keep it that way. Until we have more answers, we have to keep our guard up and a very close eye on her for the next few weeks."

  Jack caught Karen’s line of sight as if to emphasize his next words. "It also may be that you are in more danger now than when we were keeping them occupied in Vegas. Perhaps you should think about your own safety instead of trying to help Colleen pull the pieces of her work back together."

  Karen sat, trembling slightly as the growing weight of Jack’s words hit home. After a moment, she straightened in her chair and with a resolute look on her face, said, "If I run, they win. Whoever they are. More importantly, I’ll always hate myself for bailing on this amazing project. I’ll probably regret it later, but at least I won’t have to live knowing I’m a coward… or a quitter! And the best case is I get to help cure AIDS!"

  Colleen had been listening out of sight in the hall and came back into the room and hugged Karen. "I don’t want anything to happen to you Karen," Colleen said. "Are you sure you want to stay?"

  "I’m sure… but you may want to share some of your survival tips with me!"

  "I’ll show you how to get out of a trunk!" Jack said as Colleen rolled her eyes. She was not sure how to take hearing she might still be a target, but Colleen was grateful for the comic relief Jack provided.

  "Let’s get back to work," Colleen said, "We have a lot to do people!"

  For the next few hours Jack poured through the log and pulled files from the computer, rebuilding their patient list.

  He backed up his work on a thumb drive and slipped it in his pocket, hoping to eliminate any chance their recreated data could be lost again.

  "Karen," he said, calling for her down the hall, "I’ve found 122 patients so far. What’s the total, do you remember?"

  Karen appeared in the doorway with a large file under her arm.

  "Over 200 I’m afraid. Here, these aren’t very organized, but now that you have a good start, they should be easier to compare to your list. Do you mind working a bit longer? It will free me up to make the calls…"

  "No, not at all, I’m at your service!" Jack said, eagerly taking the file from Karen. "What calls are you making?"

  "Oh, just trying to get the patients back in for blood work to rebuild our data. I’m not having much luck though, lots of bad numbers."

  Karen hesitated at the door for a moment.

  "Jack, mind if I ask you a question?" said Karen.

  "Nope"

  "Do you really think we’re in danger?"

  "I sure did in Vegas. Colleen probably didn’t tell you, but she was mugged twice in her own hotel room. Hotel security was able to determine the incidents were related and even coordinated against her. Scary stuff when you realize someone out there has it in for you."

  "How did they know it was coordinated?" Karen asked with a frightened look in her eyes.

  "Both attackers had the same wrist tattoo of a chess piece. The one called the knight."

  Karen suddenly went pale and disappeared for a moment, coming back holding a business card.

  "Like this?" Karen asked, holding out the card for Jack to see.

  Jack grabbed the card from Karen and examined the plain white business card with a simple line drawing of
the chess piece on one side and no address or other writing. "Damn close." He said. "Where did you get this?" Jack asked as he looked up at Karen.

  "It was on the floor when I came to… after the break in. I thought it was a new gang logo, but nobody I asked had ever seen it around here before. I didn’t give it to the police, do you think I should have?"

  "I’m not sure, but I know someone who will be interested in it." Jack said as he took a picture of it with his phone and sent it off with a text message.

  "Let’s not mention this to Colleen just yet, okay Karen? She’s been through a lot and I don’t want to raise the prospect of her being in danger again… agreed?"

  "Well, okay, but not telling Colleen won’t change the fact that whoever was after her knows where she is. How do we protect her without bringing her in on the plan?"