The flight to Victoria General Hospital was rough, noisy, and fast. He would never know for certain if it was the four serious looking combat soldiers running into the Emergency room with Zen on a stretcher that made it happen but she did not have to wait long to be assessed by the duty neurologist. She was rolled into the Neuro-ICU less than an hour after lifting off from the campground in Parksville.
Chapter 28
Show Down
He sat beside Andi watching her breath; Dr. Sing had begun the process of bringing her out of the induced coma. They started raising her body temperate an hour ago, at around the time the military helicopter touched down on Vic General’s helipad. He listened to her soft steady respirations and the sound of life calmed him. Her eyelids fluttered as he held her hand and spoke quietly to her.
“I’m here Andi, I’m waiting for you to come back. Everything is okay now I want you to be here with me. Do you hear me Andi?” he said.
The nurse instructed him to speak softly and use her name and use short phrases emphasizing the expectation that she will soon awaken and rejoin him. Before she left the room she reminded him to be patient, it can be along process. He spoke steadily to her and after ten minutes she squeezed his hand. He knew this signaled the beginning of awareness as she began her journey from the depths of unconsciousness.
The ICU nurse instructed him in great detail how to support Andi as she regained consciousness. He found it helpful but she could not or would not give him any indication of what to expect when she awoke. The staff did not know if she had suffered brain damage or if she would be able to fully awaken.
He was using positive thoughts and words to will Andi back to him. It did not matter how changed she was he wanted her back; no matter the damage she may have suffered he would care for her. He tried to make his words sound light and cheerful and not let the deadening fatigue he felt seep into his voice.
His head was bowed and his eyes were closed when her eyes fluttered and opened. When her vision cleared she turned her eyes towards him.
“Lee?” she whispered.
He looked up and saw her eyes and knew at once that she was back. Those wonderful beloved eyes told him she was awake and present and most importantly, she was there.
“Hi,” he said.
He was smiling then grinning, trying hard not to cry, relieved to see the spark of intelligence in those beautiful eyes focused so intently on his face. When she smiled that was all the assurance he needed.
He did not notice the nurse enter the room, she was behind him watching. An alarm at the nurses’ station alerted her to Andi’s wakefulness and changing condition. She waited as long as she could trying not to break the spell of Andi’s awakening but something she saw on the over head monitor caused her to abruptly ask him to wait outside. Upon waking, coma patients may experience a drop in blood pressure which can be life threatening; Andi’s pressure was headed for zero.
He stood up numbly watching as she called the code.
Another nurse guided him out of the room reassuring him it was a routine precaution as a crash team raced down the corridor and into Andi’s room pushing equipment laden carts ahead of them. The nurse in charge told him it would be awhile before he could go back in and be with Andi and directed him to a waiting room on the second floor. He would head there and try to rest for a few minutes but only after he checked on Zen.
He was fatigued and wandered the empty predawn hallways until he spotted a familiar landmark and found his way to her treatment room. A nurse intercepted him at the door refusing to let him in. She assured him Zen was okay and resting and told him there was a patient conference happening in the waiting area on the second floor.
When he arrived he saw Dr. Sing, the neurologist, heading into the room and he followed him. He told Sing that Andi had regained consciousness and the ICU nurse made him leave. There was a problem with her blood pressure.
“They told me it was routine. You are probably going to be paged momentarily,” he said, his statement conveying the worry he felt and the unspoken question—will she be okay?
The neurologist recognized him and thanked him for the update and told him not to worry it was routine but then he looked confused when Mann announced to Ellie and Tyler that Andi was awake.
“Dr. Mann, are you also connected to Hazen Michaels?” he asked.
“Yes, but it’s complicated Doc. How is she doing?” he asked.
Ellie was watching Sing with tears forming in her eyes waiting to hear about her daughter’s condition.
“First of all I can tell you Hazen is going to be fine. We administered medication to control her seizures and they’ve already stopped. She is sedated and resting now and will likely be awake in an hour or so,” he said.
Ellie let out a sob of relief at this news and Mann put a comforting arm around her shoulder and felt her sag against him. When he looked at Sing again he noticed he had a mischievous smile on his face.
“The other good news,” he began and paused waiting to be certain he had their attention.
“Hazen will not lose her baby.”
“Baby?”
They spoke in unison and the neurologist could not help but laugh.
“I suspected as much,” he said, smiling broadly. “According to the blood work your daughter Hazen is pregnant. Congratulations. Her pregnancy is very early and I do not know if she is aware she is pregnant so I would caution you to be…” he considered his words, “circumspect about speaking to her about this. She is a strong young woman but she has already suffered a severe shock to her system.”
It was clear Ellie was stunned by this news. She turned to look at Tyler with an unreadable expression on her tear-streaked face. Tyler must have heard what Doctor Sing said but he gave no outward indication. He never took his eyes off the rerun of The Price is Right playing on television. His only comment came over his shoulder.
“Gene,” he said.
Dr. Sing looked from Mann to Ellie and shrugged questioningly. Mann nodded his head as if to say, yes he is the father, to which Sing commented rather comically.
“Oh, my.”
Sing looked back at Tyler and wondered, but did not ask, if the boy had a disorder. He did not dwell on it as his pager was vibrating in his pocket and he needed to discuss one more thing before he leaving. He got their attention again when he said.
“There is another issue we need to discus and in some ways it’s as serious as Hazen’s health issues. It is clear from your statement upon admission that, and the burns and bruising on her body confirm it, she has been assaulted. She has received injuries from a restricted weapon and by law I must file a police report,” he said.
At that point Mrs. Knight who had been sitting quietly observing events stood up and spoke for the first time.
“Doctor Sing may I have a word.”
Mann saw her reaching for her ID wallet as she took the bemused doctor by the elbow and steered him out into the hallway.
When Mann turned around he saw Ellie staring at Tyler. There were outward signs of strong emotion on her face but, as far as he could tell, they did not contain lethal intentions. They sat down to wait each lost in their respective thoughts. An hour had passed before a nurse came in to tell them Zen was awake and they were encouraged to go and see her.
He stayed with Zen for a few minutes assuring himself that she was going to fully recover. The room was crowded and he squeezed her hand once more before he left; he wanted to get back upstairs to see how Andi was doing. Ellie and Tyler stayed with Zen and he smiled at the knowledge he was escaping a tense situation in a room full of unsaid things.
He was buying a cup of coffee from a vending machine and wondering what the energy would be like in the room with Tyler and Ellie and the knowledge of baby Gene. He was still smiling thinking about that when Mrs. Knight caught up to him.
“We need to talk and it can’t wait,” she said.
He frowned he did not feel like talking but she looked upset and
he owed her for saving Zen so he followed her back to the waiting room. It was empty and he flopped down in a green vinyl chair and began to work the tension knots from his neck while she paced the floor.
“Owen is dead.”
She had left him behind to coordinate the search for Sedulca and his partner while they were flying Zen to Victoria General. When the police arrived they discovered his body inside the rental van, he was shot to death. She flopped down opposite him on a two person loveseat and, leaning back, closed her eyes.
“I’ve been on the phone to Ottawa, it looks like your buddy McLean and his partner tried to cut a side deal with the Yanks,” she said, “they tried to cut Western out of the deal agreeing to deliver Tyler and the virus to them in two days,” she said.
Fatigued, she spent the last half hour on the phone with the director of CSIS, and appeared to be half awake as she spoke.
“The Director has received additional information from reliable sources which convinced him Tyler is the creator of this viral weapon,” she said.
She waited for a response; he was slumped in the chair across from her sipping ugly vending machine coffee making a face.
“There is no virus,” he said, his tone emphatic, “Does the US Government condone the kidnapping of children?”
“Don’t be absurd Doc, the NSA was laying a trap and CSIS was in on it from the start. Contrary to what you may think neither Government engages in illegal activities,” she said.
He glanced at her over the rim of his coffee cup with an expression of disdain and snorted, “I’m too tired to debate that one Barbara, so your point is what?”
“One of the observed effects of Tyler’s virus is the victim curling into a fetal position and is unable to move,” she said.
He looked at her through mostly closed eyes to see if she’d been watching his face when she said it. She was, damn!, he thought.
“Barbara, no legitimate researcher in the field of virology or genetics would believe for a moment that anyone, let alone a sixteen-year-old, could create such a virus. Labs with real scientists and real budgets could not create something with the attributes you are ascribing to this thing. If it were possible to do that kind of work it would require, a team of scientists, a huge budget, and years of research,” he said.
“Not many sixteen-year-olds have a geneticist for a father as a matter of fact I can only think of one,” she said.
He did not recall telling her he was Tyler’s father but then he had not tried to keep it a secret.
“I met him for the first time three days ago. Prior to that I didn’t know I had a son,” he said.
“Unfortunately Lee the only person who can corroborate your story is upstairs in a compromised state,” she said.
She said the words with no threat or accusation or even unkindness behind them she was stating the facts as she knew them.
“Believe me or not Barbara, that is your decision to make but before you act on a hunch please keep in mind we are talking about the lives of a couple of kids. You are a parent, I’m sure you can imagine what will happen to them if they get caught up in this mess. Their lives will be over,” he said, “and as for your assertion that I created your imaginary virus, all I will say about that is, I will be asking the warden for a day pass to collect my Nobel Peace Prize.”
He didn’t know why, possibly it was the fatigue, they both laughed at this way more than it warranted and then sat quietly for a few long contemplative minutes.
“Okay, Doc I agree we don’t want the world to jump all over these kids so what do I report back to my boss about the virus?”
Mann shrugged and closed his eyes and yawned.
“If you didn’t create the virus,” she continued, “and for the moment I will take your word for it, that means you are unaware of its side-effect. A small but significant percentage of our infected military personnel had extreme reactions from being exposed to the virus. They become hyper-violent.
This information is, for obvious reasons, not widely known and I ask that you keep it to yourself. The deadly nature of this side-effect was discovered when they debriefed the soldier who recovered the stricken members of his sniper team. It turned out he destroyed an entire village. He killed every man, woman, and child, as well as all of their animals. It is our belief the late Colonel Western was one of that small percentage of people who were affected in this way. We think that is why he shot and killed three people in a Vancouver hotel room. We are hoping the autopsy will tell us what caused him to do this,” she said.
That was not what he was expecting to hear but it made some sense. At any time a viral agent could spontaneously mutate or maybe Tyler missed something along the way. He wondered if the boy knew about this side-effect and that was why he was determined to finish his project.
“The effect we are seeing, though our sample is small, does not seem to be a statistical anomaly. There must be a common denominator amongst those who become hyper-violent and we are looking for it. There is a team of researchers working on the problem as we speak.”
He lolled his head back and stared at the ceiling. He was tired and there was so much to consider but this new development, if it is true, was not good.
“Do not take what I am about to say as acknowledgement or admission of anything. I am not promising anything but an anti-virus may be possible. I will do my best to help your people sort this problem out but right now I need to see Andi,” he said.
***
He groaned with fatigue as he got up and threw what was left of his coffee into the trash. He was exhausted and opted for the elevator over the stairs to go up the two floors to Andi’s room.
He was at the end of his energy reserves and he would need real sleep soon; he was at the point of being almost dysfunctional. The nurse smiled at him and told him it was okay to go in but not to tire her.
The light in Andi’s treatment room was dim to help her adjust to wakefulness. There was no one else in the room and she was awake but groggy and disoriented.
“Hi, babe,” he said.
He spoke softly and smiled at her warmly. He took her hand and she smiled at him and there were tears in her eyes.
“Everything is all right now,” he said.
“Where’s Tyler is he-?”
Her voice was hoarse from disuse and she slurred the words a little when she spoke.
“He is downstairs waiting to see you. They have rules about allowing kids on this ward,” he said. It was a lie but a handy one given the circumstances. He was not certain he could convince him to leave Zen to come and see her.
“Where is Tyler?” she said again.
“I will go downstairs and get him,” he said.
He tried to let go of her hand but she would not let go.
“No, don’t leave me,” she said.
He sat down in the chair beside her bed and they talked. He asked her questions about their time at University of Toronto and his apartment gently probing to see if her memory was intact. Aside from some blurring of details there did not seem to be any deficit. Her memory and her mind were both intact and he allowed himself to feel relief; it was clear she was going to be all right.
With Andi recovering everything else they faced was easier to handle. They would work through the problems together and with any luck, in spite of all the lost years, maybe they could be a family. He felt a deepening sense of optimism arise within his heart. After all that happened in their lives he was hopeful things were going to work out for them. He smiled when he wondered how Andi would react to the news she was to become a grandmother. Maybe I will wait a while before I tell her, he thought, given how she views Zen. She was asleep again and he decided this would be a good time to find Tyler convince him to come up to see her.
V G H Staff Parking
Jonas McLean parked Sedulca’s car in the staff parking lot and waited until he saw what he needed. He saw the woman and timed it in his mind. He got to the door at exactly the right moment with his arm
s full and smiled gratefully at the young nurse who held the security door open for him. She assumed he was supposed to be there why else would he be at the staff entrance wearing a lab coat? This simple courtesy allowed him to bring the gun into the building without being detected.
He tucked the CSIS agent’s weapon into his pants, dumped the empty box, and stopped at the computer terminal at the first empty nursing station he came to.
He found today’s password written on a sticky note underneath the keyboard. He did a search for Worthy and found her in neurology, room 323 on the third floor. He took the stairs and entered the section smiling distractedly at the duty nurse as he passed by. He was scanning an empty patient chart and she naturally assumed he was supposed to be there. He found room 323 and took a chance and ducked into the room.
Good, she was alone.
***
Tyler was sitting in the treatment room with Zen as the nurse was preparing her for discharge from the hospital. He refused to leave when she asked him to and by the time Mann came in she’d given up trying. He went to Zen and took her hand.
“How are you feeling?” he said.
She looked shaky but aside from that and the dark circles under her eyes she looked good considering all she had been through.
“I’m okay but my mom is really freaked out,” she said.
It occurred to him Zen was the only one who was not aware that at least part of the reason her mom was upset was her pregnancy. He wondered if he should tell her, it was an awkward situation to contemplate and he decided against it. It would be up to her mom or Tyler to give her the news, he did not feel any great need to put himself in the middle of yet another tense situation. There was enough for him to sort out as it was and that is when the thought struck him, I’m going to be a grandfather, and his mind recoiled.
“Ellie has been through a lot and she’s worried about you,” he said and squeezed her hand then he turned to look at Tyler.
The Zen Gene Page 26