Adrift (Dawson's Star Book 1)

by J. P. Larson

  * * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  Alex opened his eyes. “Don’t tease.” He looked around, noting his surroundings. And promptly squeezed his eyes shut again.

 

 

  Alex opened his eyes and looked at his wife. “Was anyone else hurt?”

  “Just you. You saved Mother’s life.”

  “I remember. She told me I was being childish and rude.”

  “That was earlier. You went to her room to beg forgiveness.”

  “She told me to call her Liz. Then she told me I had to call her Ms. Grey.”

  “You can call me Liz, Alex,” Elizabeth said from behind Pamela. “Thank you for saving my life.”

  “I’m so confused.”

  “We know, Alex. You’ll feel better later on.”

  He looked at the three faces. “Why are none of you surprised that I can’t remember straight?”

  “We expect our men to be a bit confused, Alex. That would be normal around here.”

  Alex looked at her, trying to figure out what she was saying. “You’re trying to make me more confused,” he finally told her. His eyes moved to the doctor. “You tranked me.” He looked at Pamela. “You let her.”

  Alex let his eyes closed, started to drift off, then pulled himself back awake with a start. “No! Not sleeping.” He focused on Doctor Tate. “Tell me.”

  “It was a clean wound. It bled like crazy, which is good. There should be no infection, and it should heal quite quickly. The real problem is your right arm. You took several scraping thrusts from a large knife.”

  “Is ‘bled like crazy’ a technical term?” he asked her.

 

  “No tendons were cut, but I’m somewhat concerned. We’re going to have to keep a close eye on it. The good news is you will still ship out with your wife.”

  “I’ll have to wait a couple of weeks for you, Alex, but we won’t leave without you. We’ll spend the time shaking the ship down, short hyper jumps, then right back home.”

  “No,” he told her before falling asleep.

  “No?” she asked, turning to Elizabeth. “No?”

  “That’s what he said.”

  * * *

 

  Alex heard rustling. Someone was in the room with him, trying to be quiet.

  “Who?”

  He felt someone move to his side. “It’s Nurse Anders, Mr. Grey. Your wife asked me to keep an eye on you.”

  Alex opened his eyes and looked at her for a moment, then let his eyes take in the room.

  “Please tell me this isn’t the same room.”

  “It was available. How do you feel?”

  Alex shifted, wincing. Then he looked at his right hand, bandaged from elbow to fingertips, but didn’t say anything.

  “I owe someone on this planet a piece of my mind,” he said after a moment. “How long have I been sleeping?”

  “It’s late afternoon. You came in last night. Would you like some water?”

  “When can I go home?”

  “I don’t think it’s going to be today. Maybe tomorrow. You took a lot of blood. We want to make sure you don’t need a second refill.”

  * * *

  The door opened, and Alex turned to see who it was. Pamela and Elizabeth slipped in quietly, then noticed he was awake.

  “I want to go home, Pamela. Take me home.”

  “What? No ‘hello’? No kiss? Just orders to take you home?”

  “Please? I don’t want to be here.”

  “I’m sorry, Alex. Maybe tomorrow.”

  Alex turned away to stare out the window.

  “We brought you something to eat. Are you hungry?” He shook his head. “Are you tired? Do you want us to leave.”

  He looked at Pamela. “I want you to leave,” he said. “I need to speak to the Prime Minister.”

  Pamela tried not to react, but her face fell. “All right,” she said quietly, turning away.

  “Bring some tea when you come back? You can help me eat.”

  Pamela turned back and smiled. “Okay, Alex. Will ten minutes be long enough?” He nodded, and Pamela moved quickly out of the room, closing the door again.

  “That was gracious, Alex,” Elizabeth told him. “You’re shaking the drugs.”

  “I am going to kill this person, Prime Minister. Tell me who it is. I may be in no shape to do it myself, but I know people. I know lots of people. Do you know how many important people’s children I have saved? I can call in favors, get a whole squad of assassins. Maybe Mom will give me a nuke. Just a small one, won’t do too much damage.”

  “Alex, we are going to stick to our plan. You are going to catch this person in the act. You are going to give her to me. And I am going to crush her beneath my heel. She will spend the rest of her long years defeated, alone, and utterly, utterly miserable. To quote those old movies you’re so fond of: ‘if you kill her, she won’t learn nuthin’.”

  “I’m not in any shape to catch anyone, Liz. I feel terrible. Wendy totally tranked me up. She’s set me back weeks.” He held up his hand. “This is the hand I use to shoot with. I can shoot with both, but not so great with the left. This is also the hand I run a computer with. And it’s the hand I hold a cane with.”

  “All she gave you was something to make you groggy. And there’s nothing wrong with your hand. She was concerned about infection, but we got it all cleaned out, and there’s no sign of any.”

  Elizabeth smiled. “You gave a wonderful performance for the press. It’s amazing, but two reporters managed to sneak past my security. I just can’t imagine how they did it. They got great footage of you. You mumbled incoherently, your heavily bandaged hand in plain view. Blood was still dripping into your veins, and the monitors were making all those beeping noises you hate so much.”

  “My hand is fine?”

  “Tip top shape.”

  Alex smiled for the first time. “Liz, you’re nearly as sneaky as I am. I’m very impressed. What did you tell Pamela?”

  “I told her if everyone thinks you’re harmless, you won’t be a target. She thinks she’s protecting you. I told her to get you off planet with her so you weren’t caught in any more crossfire. Alex, we can change the plan if you don’t think you can pull it off. We can hire those assassins you mentioned. I have to put my foot down about the nuke, however.”

  Alex laughed. “With both of us working the case, Liz, she doesn’t stand a chance. You know who it is, don’t you?”

  “I have a suspect. There aren’t very many people with access to the sort of resources being used.”

  “Someone you know?” Liz nodded. “Tell me about her.”

  “She’s just a suspect, Alex. What if you count on the information I give you?”

  “Liz, I’m used to probabilities in my business. Tell me how sure you are, then tell me about the woman. You don’t have to give me a name if you don’t want to, but anything about her personality would be great.”

  “Pamela is on her way back up. I’ll
tell you this. The woman has a powerful mind, but only average intelligence. Her psionics can be overwhelming, but quite clumsy. And, well, I’m afraid she tends to be a bit overconfident.”

  “How convenient,” Alex said.

  There was a knock on the door, then it immediately opened. Alex slouched in his bed and tried to look vacant. Pamela entered and closed the door again.

  “Too tired to eat, Alex?” she asked him.

  He turned his head slowly, letting his eyelids continue to droop. “A little tea would be nice,” he told her.

  “He’s teasing you, Pamela,” said his mother. “He’s starving.”

  Alex sat up. “I wasn’t teasing. I was practicing. That was my ‘tired, droopy’ expression. Did you like it? Want to see my ‘drugged out’ expression?” He looked at her empty hands. “No tea?”

  “We brought it with us,” she said. “Doctor Tate said you might be hungry this evening. The cooks had great fun putting together stuff we could carry with us.”

  * * *

  Alex woke slowly. He listened, but didn’t sense anyone in the room with him. He opened his eyes, looked around, and decided he was alone.

  “Oh good,” he said. “I can get some exercise in before…”

  The door opened. Alex fell back to his pillow and tried to look dazed.

  “Good morning, Mr. Grey,” said Nurse Anders cheerfully. “How are we this morning? Still acting?”

  Alex looked at her.

  “I’ve been leaking information to the press about you,” she said. “You are definitely not doing very well, but the doctors are confident you’ll recover in due time.”

  “When do I go home?”

  “Your wife and Doctor Tate are standing near the nurses’ station arguing about that right now. Doctor Tate is adamant you stay here for several more days. Ms. Grey keeps talking about how you have been begging to just go home, that you don’t like hospitals, and surely she could borrow a nurse and whatever equipment is needed to take care of you.”

  “How much longer will this argument last?”

  “Long enough for you to eat breakfast. Then we’ll load you onto a gurney, put you in a nice ambulance, and send you home. And of course, your personal nurse will need to travel with you to make sure your care is well handled.”

  “So you’re taking a few days off and staying as a guest of Liz?”

  “No. I’m going to make sure you are well cared for. You have been shot, Mr. Grey. And knifed, and lost a lot of blood, and you only have a few more days before you’re completely off the pain killers. We want to make sure all that goes smoothly and that you don’t contract any infections. Now, how about breakfast?”

  “How about we wait until I get home to some real food?”

  “You don’t want the meal your wife sent you?”

  “Oh. Why didn’t you say so?”

  * * *

  Pamela told him.

 

 

  * * *

  Pamela was giggling. “That was fun.”

  “For you. I’m hungry. Do you think we could go get some lunch and maybe a stroll around the grounds?”

  “The grounds are visible from the road.”

  “Well, lunch at least? Can we get this thing off my hand? I want to walk to lunch.”

  “What would be nice, Alex. Mother is taking today off and was hoping we would join her for lunch, actually.”

  Ms. Anders unwrapped Alex’s hand, but kept his arm bandaged. Alex looked at it. “I’ll want to see what it looks like.”

  “I’ll change the bandages this evening. You can have a peek then.”

  Alex looked at his hand, clenching and straightening the fingers a bit. “It’s stiff.” He grasped the arm of his wheelchair and squeezed until the knuckles turned white. “But it works.” Then he frowned. “Pamela?”

  He looked at his wife, who was holding a bracelet in her hands. “I thought you didn’t even like them.”

  Alex held out his arm. Pamela paused. “Please, Pamela. They remind me of you.” Pamela smiled before wrapping the bracelet around his wrist.

  Alex looked at the bracelet, then at Pamela. “Would you do that again?” he asked her. “Take the bracelet off, then put it back on again?”

  “Why?”

  “Humor me?”

  Pamela eyed him warily, but removed the necklace. Alex frowned, then nodded. His frown deepened after she replaced it again.

  Alex looked at Pamela again, cocked his head, then turned his attention to the bracelet on his right wrist. It grabbed it when his left hand, then concentrated.

  “Alex? What are you doing?”

  He concentrated for another moment, then relaxed. “I felt how you did that. I think I can get it off.”

  Pamela smiled. “Oh, I don’t think so, but you can try.”

  So Alex tried, while Pamela watched. Finally, she spoke again. “Well, see? Alex, you’re not going to get it off. Let’s go to lunch.”

  “Hmm,” Alex said after another moment. “We’ll see.” He looked at his wife, who was smiling at him. Alex returned her smile, then looked around for his cane. “Where’s my-“

  Pamela held his cane out to him.

  Alex planted his feet and the cane, then noticed that nurse Anders and Pamela had taken flanking positions, Pamela on his left. “I think I can stand without help.”

  “You haven’t been on your feet in two days, Mr. Grey. During that time, you have had a variety of drastic things done to your body, including the injection of a number of drugs. You will probably be a little dizzy when you stand. We will steady you. That’s all.”

  “I seem to be a bad influence on you, Ms. Anders. You are politely explaining things to your male patient instead of telling him to shut up and do as he’s told.”

  “I believe, Mr. Grey, that is exactly what I told you. I just used more words.”

  Alex laughed, checked to see everything was still planted properly, then stood. Four hands steadied him as he straightened. He paused, swaying slightly. “You’re right. I’m dizzy.”

  “Back into the chair then, Alex,” said Pamela. “We can roll you to lunch.”

  “I would like to walk it off.” Alex raised his left hand to Pamela’s shoulder, using her as an extra brace. “Walk with me, Pamela?”

  There were some adjustments at the various doorways, but Alex walked slowly to lunch, his cane tapping against the floor with each step, his hand on his wife’s shoulder. Arriving at the dining room, he saw Elizabeth was already seated and waiting for them. No one else was in sight, and Alex gratefully accepted Pamela’s help sinking into his chair.

  Ms. Anders joined them for lunch, and the conversation quickly turned to the arrival of the Grey Ghost, which was to happen late in the evening, and the formal reception and dinner still scheduled for the next night.

  “I wanted to go with you to meet them,” Alex told Pamela.

  “Absolutely not!” insisted Ms. Anders. “You will be firmly in bed long before then.”

  Alex looked at her sadly. “I know. Thank you for caring.” He turned back to Pamela. “Are the Random Walkers staying on board the Ghost?”

  “Mother offered the guest house. She suggested I ask you what you thought. There’s plenty of room there for them.”

  “It’s not a small guest house, then.” Pamela shook her head. “Why am I not surprised?” He turned to Elizabeth. “Prime Minister, father’s last letter mentioned one or two people who are coming. People I know. At least one of these people is used to being armed and will feel naked without at least a couple of concealed weapons.”

  “I can not allow that, Mr. Grey. All such gear will be safe if it remains aboard the Ghost. You have my personal guarantee.”

  “Are they at least allowed a small knife or two?”

  “How small, Mr. Grey? I do
believe I might have a different definition of ‘small’ than you do.”

  Alex held his hands about a half meter apart and stared into Elizabeth’s steely eyes. He slowly brought his hands closer together, then held up hand and squinted between the thumb and index finger. “Very small, Prime Minister. I promise. Maybe a paring knife or an old fashioned razor blade.”

  Elizabeth laughed. “You did say ‘concealed’, Mr. Grey. I better not see any of these paring knives.”

  “Thank you, Prime Minister.” He smiled at her, then turned back to Pamela. “Captain, seeing as how I can’t go with you to greet my countrymen, would you carry a letter for me? I’ll introduce you, that sort of thing.”

  “I’m sure that won’t be necessary, Mr. Grey. I can introduce myself quite well.”

  Alex pursed his lips. “Permission to speak freely, Captain?”

  “Are you about to argue with me?”

  “That is my intention, Captain.”

  Pamela looked at her mother for support. “Don’t look at me. It’s your ship, your crew.”

  “And if I tell him the issue is closed, what will you say, Mother?”

  Elizabeth smiled. “I guess I might comment that a good officer listens to her crew. I might comment that a good officer especially listens to her security officer. And finally, I might officially ask you, in my position as Prime Minister, that when it comes to greeting citizens of Random Walk, you consider the opinion of the closest thing we have to a Random Walk Ambassador to our home.”

  Alex did everything he could to suppress a smile.

  “Why do you feel so strongly about this, Mr. Grey?”

  “Captain, these people will have heard the same stories about Dawson’s Star as I have. They do not know what they’re getting themselves into. They know I am here. They are expecting me to meet them to provide a gentle introduction and smooth things over. If, instead, you go up there and start barking orders at them, you will confirm their worst fears. These people never go anywhere unarmed, some of them. The first order you give them is to deprive them of the ability to defend themselves? They won’t be happy.”

  Pamela glared at him. “Are you telling me they won’t follow orders? That they aren’t any better at it than you are?”