Anlon let go of Jennifer’s hand and opened his arms. “We’ve come to rescue you.”
Hospital General de Chetumal
Chetumal Mexico
October 2
“Is he awake? May I see him now?” Anlon asked. In his hand he clutched the handle of the dented steel case he had carried to Calakmul.
The nurse exiting Mereau’s room nodded and gave Anlon permission to enter. The Munuorian captain sat against the raised back of the hospital bed. He smiled and waved his bandaged hands. Both legs were casted; one below the knee, the other extended all the way up his thigh.
“Halas, Anlon,” Mereau said.
“Hello, Mereau. I see you are in good spirits,” Anlon said.
“Yes, a great weight has been lifted from my spirit,” Mereau said.
“I imagine so.” Anlon took a seat on the guest chair next to the bed. “I’m sure Malinyah will feel the same way once she learns Muran is dead.”
Mereau nodded and asked, “You recovered Eleanor’s Sinethal?”
“Yes. It took a while, but I have it in here with Malinyah’s Sinethal,” Anlon said.
“Excellent, I’m happy you found it.”
“Me, too. Good hiding spot, by the way. Must have been really dark inside that tunnel,” Anlon said.
“Not so. I used Dreylaeks to light my way, just as we do when our ships are submerged.”
“I see. Interesting,” Anlon said. Mereau’s comment about the Munuorians’ ships piqued Anlon’s curiosity, but he had a more important topic to discuss. “Mereau, I need your help.”
“I know. I’ve sent Henri to the plane to retrieve my Taellin and Tyls. He will be back soon. Then, we will go together to reunite Eleanor’s mind with her body,” Mereau said.
“It’s going to be complicated, I’m afraid,” Anlon said.
Anlon went on to explain the dilemma. He told Mereau that the EMTs at Calakmul had insisted on airlifting Pebbles to the hospital. Once there, the emergency room staff had treated her injuries and determined she was comatose.
She had then been moved to the hospital’s small intensive care unit for further tests, after which the ICU doctor-on-duty had explained to Anlon that Pebbles had incurred severe brain damage. The doctor speculated that she had suffered catastrophic oxygen deprivation caused by strangulation. While Pebbles’ autonomic brain functions appeared intact, the physician had explained, she was not aware of her surroundings. He had labeled her condition “unresponsive wakefulness syndrome.” The physician had said only time would tell if the condition was temporary or permanent. “Some people wake from comas within weeks, some never do.”
Anlon told Mereau he had listened to the doctor with a degree of concern. While Anlon knew the real reason for Pebbles’ apparent coma, the doctor’s description made Anlon wonder whether Pebbles’ brain had indeed been damaged when Muran strangled her. After he explained the doctor’s diagnosis to Mereau, he asked, “What do you make of it? Should we be concerned?”
“You have visited with her?” Mereau asked.
“Yes,” Anlon said.
“And she seemed fine? You noticed nothing unusual about her manner?”
“I didn’t notice anything unusual, but I’m more worried about damage to her brain than her memories on the Stone.”
“Hmmm...I do not know the answer. There could be complications. For instance, she may be blind for a period of time after the transfer, just like I was. Beyond that, I cannot tell,” Mereau said. “You must remember, Anlon, placing a person’s memories into a new body was a banned practice among my people. While I have assisted fellow Andaers in moving their memories to Sinethals, I have never moved a mind back into a body. Yes, I showed Mathieu and Henri visions of how to do it before they transferred my mind into Mathieu’s body, but I’ve never done it myself.”
“Not the answer I was hoping for,” Anlon said, rising from the chair. He paced to the room’s window and gazed out at the parking lot. “If we do the transfer, and her brain is messed up, she might never recover.”
“Unfortunately, that is true,” Mereau said. “What does Eleanor have to say about it?”
Anlon stood and shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans. With a frown, he said, “I haven’t told her yet. I wanted to talk with you first.”
“Ah,” Mereau said.
After a moment’s silence, Anlon returned to his seat and opened the case. He lifted out Pebbles’ Sinethal and a Naetir and said, “Guess there’s no time like the present. I’ve got another Naetir in the case. You want to visit with Malinyah while I talk with Pebbles?”
“I have already visited with Malinyah. Henri brought her to me earlier this morning. She is at peace,” Mereau said.
“Excuse me?”
“Malinyah’s Sinethal was not in the case. I replaced it with mine when I visited with her before we departed for Calakmul.”
“What?”
“I am sorry for the deception, but I could not risk Malinyah falling into Muran’s hands.”
“Why didn’t you tell us?” Anlon asked, stunned by the news.
“I thought it best to keep it to myself.”
“But what if Muran had actually exchanged Pebbles for the case? You would have lost your Sinethal.”
“I had no intention of allowing Muran to leave with the case under any circumstances. I came to end her curse or die trying. If she had prevailed, it would have meant she had killed me. But then Muran would have discovered she had been given an empty Sinethal and the Omereau forgery.”
“So, that’s what you meant when you told her both were forgeries. I thought you were bluffing,” Anlon said.
“No, I told her the truth. I saw no reason not to. At that point, I’d already found and hidden Eleanor’s Sinethal and destroyed the Taellin. I wasn’t sure she would believe me, but it wouldn’t have mattered if she hadn’t. She was trapped and she knew it, despite her claim to the contrary.”
When the mist cleared, Anlon found himself in a familiar place — his boat on a sunny afternoon on Lake Tahoe. Pebbles was sunbathing on the aft bench while the boat stereo played an Ice Zombies tune. From behind, Anlon heard the roar of Jet Skis. Turning, he spotted Jennifer and Griffin bouncing on the water’s surface as they raced by. Their wakes jostled the boat, causing Anlon to wobble and grab the starboard railing. As the Jet Skiers disappeared into the distance, Anlon was distracted by another noise from the below-deck cabin. Directing his attention toward the cabin’s open door, he received quite a shock. Anlon saw a clone of himself mixing up lemonade in the galley. So weird.
“Pebbles,” Anlon said.
Without looking up from behind her sunglasses, Pebbles stretched and said, “Yum. Lemonade time.”
“Uh…wrong Anlon,” he said.
Pebbles’ head slowly turned toward him. She lifted her sunglasses and stared at the Anlon standing before her, and then at the other one belowdecks. She said, “So weird.”
She rose from the bench and the lemonade-concocting clone disappeared from the vision. She approached Anlon and wrapped her arms around him. “Is it time?”
“Kind of,” he said, hugging her back. “Got a bit of a wrinkle to talk to you about.”
Anlon felt her apprehension flow through his body. She asked, “What’s wrong? I can tell something’s wrong. You’re nervous.”
Proof positive the emotions of a Sinethal experience flow both ways, thought Anlon. “Uh, yeah. I am kind of nervous. Let’s sit and talk.”
Once they’d settled on the back bench, Anlon explained the situation to Pebbles and related his conversation with Mereau. He finished by saying, “What happens to the brain during a coma is a mystery. How, when and why brain cells reconnect and start firing again, nobody really knows. Point is, there’s risk, but I can’t tell you if it’s a small risk or a big one.”
Pebbles took the news better than Anlon expected, as evidenced by the sense of calm he felt pass from her mind into his. Without hesitation, she gripped his hands and said
, “Let’s do it.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to think it over?”
“I’m sure,” she said. “Now, give me a kiss and let’s get this show on the road!”
“How on Earth are we going to pull this off?” Anlon said.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get you all the time you need,” Jennifer said.
“Yeah, don’t sweat it, Anlon. Everything’s going to be just fine,” Antonio said.
As Anlon looked between his two friends, Jennifer took him by the arm and whispered in his ear, “Positive thoughts.”
“I know, I know,” Anlon said. He took a deep breath and started for the hospital elevator. When he reemerged from the elevator a few minutes later, Anlon was accompanied by Henri and the wheelchair-bound Mereau. In Mereau’s lap was a large gift box containing all the Tyls necessary for the transfer, including his Taellin.
As they approached Pebbles’ room, Anlon looked up to see Jennifer and Antonio taking positions on each side of the door. Over Jennifer’s chest swayed a lanyard connected to Agent Li’s FBI badge. On her face, she wore a menacing “don’t even think about entering the room” look. Antonio crossed his arms and widened his stance, adopting a similarly stern expression.
Although Pebbles was in a private ICU room, she was hooked up to all manner of diagnostic devices. The devices would go haywire and alert the nurse’s station the moment Mereau began to zap the Taellin on Pebbles’ head with a bolt of electricity fired from the Tuliskaera. A nurse or doctor or both would then likely head for Pebbles’ room in haste, and that would present a problem.
Once the transfer started, Mereau had warned earlier, there could be no interruptions until the process was complete. So, it was imperative to either distract the nurses or disable the devices. With Jennifer and Antonio’s assistance, Anlon crafted a plan to do both.
After Henri pushed Mereau and his wheelchair into Pebbles’ room, Anlon joined them. He locked the door, sat down in a guest chair next to Pebbles and removed his shirt. While Henri helped Mereau prepare the Tyls, Anlon disconnected the first of the sensors adhered to Pebbles’ head and reattached it to the corresponding spot on his own head. One by one, he repeated the process with the rest of the sensors dotting Pebbles’ body. He did the same with the pulse oximeter and blood pressure cuff. Once complete, he asked Henri to switch off Pebbles’ intravenous fluids. Lastly, Anlon leaned forward to kiss Pebbles on the cheek before Henri slid the Taellin on her head and placed the Sinethal in her hands.
Fifteen minutes later, Henri unlocked the door and invited Jennifer and Antonio in. They came through the doorway to see Anlon exchanging hugs with a conscious and smiling Pebbles. Cheers rang out and soon there wasn’t a dry eye in the room.
As had been the case with Mereau’s transfer into Foucault’s body, Pebbles was blind, but that didn’t dampen her euphoria. They kept asking her if she was okay, but she was too emotional to speak. She just nodded her head while reaching out to hug anyone and everyone who came within range of her outstretched arms.
The understaffed nurses working the ward had been too busy with other patients to notice the changes in Pebbles’ diagnostic readings, or otherwise stop in to check on her during the transfer, but the commotion emanating from the room afterward attracted the attention of a nurse walking down the hall. When she reached Pebbles’ room, the nurse was so excited to see Pebbles awake and interacting with others, she ran out immediately to find a doctor. The physician soon arrived and shooed everyone out so that he could examine Pebbles.
The doctor emerged a short while later, astounded by Pebbles’ sudden recovery. “I don’t know how to explain it. I’ve never seen anything like it. With the exception of her eyesight, she seems completely fine.”
From inside the room, the group heard Pebbles call out, “Better than fine, doc! I feel awesome! Now, everybody come back in. I want to make sure I’m not dreaming all this.”
Everyone, including the doctor, laughed. Anlon wiped tears from his eyes and turned to thank Jennifer, Antonio and Henri. Lastly, he bent over and hugged Mereau. “On behalf of Pebbles, on behalf of all of us, kaeto!”
Chapter 23 - Illumination
Hospital General de Chetumal
Chetumal Mexico
October 3
The following day, while Pebbles napped, Anlon stopped by Mereau’s hospital room to check on his progress and to follow up on a few unanswered questions that had been rattling around in his mind since leaving Calakmul. Anlon brought along Cesar Perez, who had flown into Chetumal the previous night. Anlon found the Munuorian captain in good spirits once again.
“Mereau, this is a good friend of mine, Cesar Perez. He is an archaeologist and someone who’s eager to speak with you.”
“Very well, come in, come in. Halas, Cesar. I am Mereau.”
“An honor indeed,” Cesar said, bowing.
For the next half hour, the three men chatted casually about Munuorian culture and history. Although Anlon had gathered snippets of both through Pebbles’ recounting of past visits with Malinyah, he learned many new things during the brief conversation. Cesar and Mereau seemed to bond during the discussion, and Mereau invited Cesar to visit him once he returned to Foucault’s home in Pézenas.
“What do you plan to do, Mereau? Will you live there? Take over Foucault’s life, as it were?” Anlon asked.
“No. I will help Henri settle Mathieu’s affairs, but after that I am not sure what I will do. Mathieu’s body, my body, is not well. Mathieu seemed to believe he only had a few years left to live, so I will have to ponder how best to use the time left to me,” Mereau said.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Anlon said. “Maybe Mathieu was mistaken. You seemed pretty strong leaping around Calakmul.”
“Believe me, it required every ounce of energy Mathieu’s body could conjure, but I will see what I can do to reverse some of the disease. Enjyia is powerful, and there are other Munuorian medicines I can create. Mathieu’s gensae is strong, so I might be able to extend his body’s life,” Mereau said.
“I hope you do. You let me know what we can do to help,” Anlon said.
“A very kind offer, Anlon. Thank you.”
“The very least I can do for all you’ve done,” Anlon said. “So, before we go, I wanted to ask you a few questions about Calakmul. You up to it?”
“Yes, of course. What is on your mind?”
“How did you find Pebbles’ Sinethal and the rest of Muran’s Tyls?”
“I didn’t sense Muran’s presence when we arrived at the pyramid. I assumed she was lying in wait, so I went to look for her,” Mereau said. “When I went around the side of the pyramid, I saw her come from behind the other structure in back.”
“What do you mean you didn’t sense her presence?” Cesar asked.
“Her gensae. I could not see it at first,” Mereau said. “The stones of the pyramid provided her cover until she stepped into full view.”
When Anlon probed how Mereau had been able to detect Muran’s gensae, the Munuorian captain explained that Foucault had consumed enjyia for four hundred years, supplemented by a cryptochrome-rich diet. The combination had boosted the cryptochromes in Foucault’s brain and eyes, ultimately allowing Mereau to “see” Muran’s gensae, her magnetic aura, in the dark.
“But if you were able to see her gensae, how come she didn’t see yours?” Anlon asked.
“Her gensae was weak. It may have been too weak,” Mereau said.
Their conversation turned to Muran’s purpose in storing her Tyls at Calakmul. Mereau reminded Anlon that he had predicted the possibility that Muran would bring her Tyls. “Whether the exchange went as planned or not, I believe she and Kora intended to switch bodies so they could escape the jungle unnoticed.”
“Speaking of Kora, I meant to mention that Cesar and I met her less than two weeks ago. Can you believe that? She fooled us both pretty good,” Anlon said.
“Oh?” Mereau asked.
“Yeah, you and Cesar will hav
e a good old time chatting about a tapestry she was interested in. A tapestry featuring a mythical god named Aramu Muru,” Anlon said. “Or, should I say, Omereau.”
Cesar piped up. “Yes. I am most interested to learn more about Omereau. Perhaps a good starting point when I visit you in France?”
“Very well. Only, he was no god. He was a man. A tremendously gifted man, albeit unlike any other,” Mereau said.
“Forgive my curiosity,” Cesar said, “but was he one of your race? A Munuorian?”
A smile spread across Mereau’s face. “What an intriguing question.”
Down the hall from Mereau’s room, Jennifer stopped by Elizabeth Li’s hospital room to return her badge and to thank her for her help. When she entered her room, Jennifer found the FBI agent with a cell phone pressed to her ear while she maneuvered a finger on the touch screen of her laptop. Surrounding her on the bed were piles of paper and photographs. While Jennifer waited for Li to finish the call, she took note of the agent’s ebullient demeanor. It was a far cry from the stressed-out, intense carriage Li had displayed in Ticonderoga.
When the call ended, Li smiled. “I love it when all the pieces fall into place.”
“Me, too,” Jennifer said. She handed over the badge. “Thanks for this. Turned out we didn’t need it, but I appreciate your willingness to help. How are you feeling?”
“Good. Mereau’s pilot stopped by this morning and gave me some of their elixir,” Li said.
“Ah, no wonder you’re in a good mood. Enjyia does kind of give a boost. From what I understand, it should help you heal faster, too,” Jennifer said.
“That’s what Henri said, too. I hope it’s true. I need to get out of here and down to New Caledonia, ASAP.”
“New Caledonia?”
“Yep. A few agents were dispatched to search Aja Jones’ home there. They hit the jackpot.”
“Really? What did they find?”
Curse of the Painted Lady (The Anlon Cully Chronicles Book 3) Page 36