Edge of the Heat 6

by Ladew, Lisa

  Dani. Where was she? There. Sitting in the very back, next to another soldier in a camouflage uniform whose yellows were too bright, and whose blobs of colors were too rounded. He blinked hard, trying to clear his eyes. Then the doctor spoke to Sara and he understood. Australians. They weren’t American soldiers at all.

  Dani. Sadness fell over him. He’d like her so much. She was such a queer mixture of strength and sensitivity. Of beauty, and practicality. But she’d lied. Why? He still didn’t understand why she would lie about such a serious thing. If she knew her uncle had been behind everything they had gone through, she had a duty to tell, to share, to confess. Even if he was family. Especially if he was family! His mind doubled in on itself. Had he accused her of being in on it with him? The thought speared guilt through him. Why had he done that? She wouldn’t do that, would she?

  He looked at her again, trying to read her soul. Trying to see honesty or deception stamped on her face, in her body language. She was looking out the window, almost curled up in a ball on the seat, as if she were trying to disappear altogether. Her eyes were flat, like inanimate marbles. He could read nothing on her face but heartache.

  He turned away, feeling a bit of heartache himself. Sara. Let Sara sort this out. He couldn’t deal with it right now.

  He felt the helicopter start a descent. Where were they landing? The doctor squeezed his hand and said, “We are at Camp Patriot. How are you feeling?”

  He didn’t answer. He didn’t know. His body seemed unimportant and far away. All of it but his heart. It was there. Beating. But scarred and gun shy. Women, he thought. How is it they can put you though the wringer without even trying?

  The helicopter landed and he was rushed into the clinic. Nurses and doctors threw questions at him and poked him endlessly. He looked around the walls, remembering that Shane had been here little more than a week before. When he was alive. Shane had sent him an email from here. He looked at the faces of the people around him, wondering which one was the civilian nurse who let Shane use her phone. Her? Her?

  A large male doctor wearing green scrubs with a silver eagle over his pocket snapped his fingers in front of JT’s eyes, saying “Can you speak son?” Fuck you, JT thought in slow motion. Even if I can, I don’t want to. He turned his face away so he didn’t have to look at the man anymore. Oxygen. The room had no oxygen in it. He pulled in a breath, sucking it in harshly, but still he felt winded. Liquid filled his throat. Hot liquid that tasted like iron. He gagged and spat some out.

  The big doctor with the Colonel’s rank on his scrubs called “Surgery, get him into surgery right now! Pulmonary hemorrhage!”

  JT’s hospital bed rolled swiftly into the surgical ward with him on it, his brain thinking oddly of dots swimming across the sun, his heart hurting in a way he hadn’t felt in years.

  ***

  JT woke all at once to darkness and pain. The hood. The damnable hood. He wanted it off and he wanted out of here. A beep, beep cut into his thoughts. He couldn’t possibly have the hood over his head. They’d escaped. They’d walked through the desert. He’d shot Clarkson. Killed him. Dani. Dani had lied to him. Dani was related to Clarkson. He moaned aloud as the events of the last few days slammed into consciousness.

  “Shh. Shh, Jon, it’s OK.” A female voice said and a cool hand rested on his brow. Dani? He opened his eyes, half-hopeful and half-wary. A woman he’d never seen before stood over him, a slight smile on her lips. He swore he didn’t know her, but she looked familiar. Her wavy, brown hair hung long and thick around her kind face. Her eyes were a startling blue. He knew those eyes. But he didn’t know her. In fact, she’d called him Jon, and not JT, which told him everything he needed to know about whether he knew her or not. He didn’t.

  She put a cell phone to her ear. “He’s awake,” she said into it, still smiling gently at him.

  JT ran his tongue over his dry lips. She saw and got him an ugly hospital cup with a straw. She held it to his lips and he took a giant swallow. The water tasted heavenly. He wanted more. “The doctor said only small sips for a while so you don’t sick it up,” the woman said to him.

  Another woman swam into his vision on his other side. “Sara,” he said, testing his voice. It worked OK.

  Sara smiled at him too and took his other hand. That one hurt horribly, but he still squeezed her hand, almost to prove that he could. “We made it. Thank you,” he said.

  “You are welcome, JT. I would say anytime, but I hope to never do that again.”

  He laughed a little bit and it hurt deep in his chest. He felt like an invalid and that pissed him off. He struggled to a sitting position. The two women watched him, Sara helping him while the other woman tried to push him back down.

  “Help him up Vivian, he wants to sit up.”

  “But the doctor…” Vivian said, looking around.

  “The doctor will want him to move around soon anyway. He’ll be OK.” Sara spoke soothingly. Vivian considered for a moment and then helped him, but the worry-line on her forehead never smoothed out.

  “So you’re JT, not Jon?” the woman said to him.

  “Yeah, JT. That’s me.” He tried to lick his lips again and she got him more water. As she put it down on the table he opened his mouth to ask her who she was, but the door to his room opened and more people streamed in. 2 big men, both with an air of para-military about them, and a pretty woman with strawberry blond hair. The woman rushed right to him and grasped his face between her hands. She kissed him directly on the lips and he caught a scent of vanilla on her hair. He pulled back into his pillow a little, feeling confused and insecure at the affection. He didn’t know her either. And yet, she looked familiar too. Again it was her eyes. They were the same color as the other woman’s. And the same color as your own, a voice spoke up in his head. Reality folded a little in his brain, and he thought he almost knew what was going on here.

  “Who are you?” he whispered. The two women looked at Sara, disbelief in their eyes. One of the men chuckled behind the strawberry blond.

  Sara held her hands up, palms facing the women. “It never came up,” she said.

  “Oh my,” the brunette said. “You don’t even know that you have sisters do you?”

  Sisters. He did know he had sisters. His mom had told him. And these were them. His sisters. He should have known it when he first looked at them. They both had his eye color. The brunette had his face shape, but not his eye shape. The strawberry blond had his eye shape but not his face shape. They were lovely and fresh and sweet and they were related to him. His heart pooled with something like gratitude and he let out a long shaky breath and retrieved his hand from Sara. He held it out to the strawberry blond.

  “You’re Vivian,” he said, looking momentarily at the brunette. “And what is your name?”

  She laughed and he smiled at the smooth sound. “I’m Emma.”

  “He’s JT, not Jon,” Vivian whispered to Emma and JT marveled at their easiness. Their obvious affection. Their acceptance of him. The rightness of the moment. He felt a slipping of the world around him and realized it was his life, changing for good. He wasn’t alone anymore.

  ***

  The doctors came and made everyone leave so JT could rest, but not before he’d been introduced to Emma’s husband, Craig, and Sara’s boyfriend, Jerry. Vivian had a husband too but he was also injured in another room in the hospital. They promised JT would meet him tomorrow.

  The last word anyone spoke to him was Sara. “I have to interview you tomorrow also, about what happened in the hotel room. Will you be up for it?”

  JT had nodded then slipped off to sleep. He awoke 12 hours later, with sun from the window falling on his face, heating a patch of it. A nurse changed a bag of fluid at his side. “Morning, handsome,” she said.

  He looked at her blankly. It was morning? The good feeling he’d ended the night with before he fell asleep had fled, and he knew why. He’d had the dream again. But this time, it had been Dani he couldn’t save. No
t Tina. And now in the daytime he didn’t know how he felt about Dani. He mulled it over, but had to push it aside as the door opened and the doctor that had ordered him in to surgery stepped in.

  “Gunnery Sergeant Taylor. How do you feel?”

  JT rolled his shoulders and shifted in the bed. “I feel OK. Thirsty. Hungry.”

  “Good, good. We’ll get you some food right away.” He walked to the bed and picked up JT’s right arm, not gently at all. He poked and pulled and peeked under JT’s bandage. “Good. This is all coming along nicely. Has anyone told you anything about your injuries?”

  JT shook his head no, feeling the tightness and pain along his right side at the movement.

  “The bullet entered your body at the very apex of the lung, tearing a small piece of it away. It lodged there, saving you from drowning on your own blood, for a while. You were very lucky you made it back here when you did.”

  JT nodded, blessing Sara and her team.

  “We dug the bullet out of your lung and stitched you up. There was some muscle damage, but nothing too bad. You should recover from it just fine.”

  JT smiled weakly. Good news.

  “But.” JT’s smile faltered and died at the word. “But the electrical testing on that arm is not good. It seems you have suffered nerve damage from the prior injury and having your hands secured behind you for so long. We won’t know how much until you have rehabilitated and are able to do physical therapy. But that’s not something we can do here. You’ll be rotating stateside to Camp Pendleton for that.”

  JT could read between the lines. “Are they kicking me out of the Marines?”

  “No son, no. You aren’t being kicked out. You’re just being shipped back home for a while. No decisions will be made about anything until they see what kind of function you retain in that arm.”

  JT turned his face away. Function. That was a killer of a word. If his arm didn’t function, he was no good to the Marines and he knew it. 11 years in the Marines, and it might all be at an end. He felt strangely flat and void of feeling, like it didn’t matter anyway. Well, there was nothing to be done now, except move forward.

  “Thanks, Doc,” he said, still looking at the wall.

  “Of course son. And we’d like to see you up and moving today, if you think you can.”

  JT nodded, suddenly wanting his sisters.

  The doctor left and JT had a few minutes to ponder his future. But then the door whooshed open and Emma and Vivian crowded in, bringing smiles and laughter with them. JT felt the hand squeezing his heart let up just a little bit. He wondered what their lives were like. If he left the Marines, maybe he could live near his sisters. Sisters. The concept still felt strange and unreal to him. But welcome. He was glad he had a distraction from the rest of the mess of his life right now.

  They swarmed him, kissing him and fussing over him. JT felt their soft lips on his cheeks and thought back on the missed 30 years of sister-kisses with a sense of loss. But here they were, now, both talking at once and bringing a smile to his face.

  Vivian bubbled over with excitement. “How are you feeling? Because if you are OK I want you to meet Hawk. His doctor says he can come down here and sit in a chair. And Sara and Jerry are coming too.”

  “Yeah, bring him down. I can’t wait to meet him.” A thought struck him. “Is Jerry related to us?”

  Emma laughed and a look passed between Emma and Vivian. “No, not by blood, but he might as well be family. He’s my partner.” JT nodded, confusion on his face. “We’re Firefighter/Paramedics in Westwood Harbor.”

  JT nodded again, but it still didn’t make sense. “What are you doing here? And how did you find me? And who exactly is Sara and how are you partners with the boyfriend of the only woman in the world who could walk into a terrorist camp and make it out alive with two hostages?”

  Again that look passed between the two women. JT wondered when he was going to be a part of that look. “It’s a long story,” Vivian said. “A really long story. Let’s wait till everyone gets here and we’ll fill you in on all of it.”

  JT nodded, knowing it would have to do. His curiosity swirled and peaked while people filled the room and his breakfast came. Finally, Hawk made his way into the room slowly, his right arm in a sling and taped to his body. He found he liked Hawk immediately. Hawk had a quiet air of strength and masculine sensitivity that he identified with.

  JT sat on his bed, Jerry, Sara, Craig, and Hawk sitting in chairs around him, and his sisters sitting on his bed. Vivian massaged his right arm while Emma fed him eggs from the breakfast tray. He felt a little silly, but he also felt pampered, fussed over, loved. He listened to the conversations the friends were having and, although he didn’t get most of their references, he felt like an insider. Like he belonged with these people. His mom’s face appeared in his mind’s eye and he smiled at her. Thanks Mom, he thought. For everything. And then he blinked and looked at Emma. “Hey Sis, you promised me some answers.”

  Emma laughed. “OK Bro, what do you want to know first?”

  JT thought. What did he want to know first? He wasn’t feeling tired yet, so he probably had time for a few hours of talking. So he wanted to know everything. But first… He turned to Sara. “Who are you, really? And how did you manage to get in that camp and get us out of there? And how do you know my sisters?”

  Sara started talking. She began with her story. A rough sketch of who she used to be. How she met Jerry. The strange events of the past month that had ended with her being a direct consultant to the President. And she ended with the news story showing JT and Dani taken hostage and Emma calling and asking for her help.”

  JT winced at Dani’s name, but didn’t let his thoughts flow to her.

  Sara looked at Emma. “I know Emma was just asking for me to maybe be a consultant to the people who were going to rescue you, or maybe for me to intercede with the President so what happened to the other soldiers didn’t happen to you guys, but the more I thought about your situation, the more I decided that me going in, alone, gave the highest chance of getting you two out alive.”

  JT looked at Jerry. “And that didn’t scare you?”

  Jerry pulled Sara close to him. “It terrified me. But I knew she was right. I love Emma as if she were my own sister. Vivian too. I couldn’t let my own selfishness get in the way of their desire for you to be safe.”

  JT shook his head. He understood sacrifice. He understood doing what was right for the people closest to you. But none of these people even knew him when they decided on this gutsy, crazy plan. Family. Blood. Were there any stronger bonds? But that made him think of Dani again. Dani and her uncle. He chewed on his lip and pushed the thought away.

  JT looked at Emma and Vivian. “My mom died two weeks ago. She wrote me a letter in the hospital saying she had adopted me and that I had two sisters. Up until then I didn’t know you existed.”

  Emma smiled softly, tears in her eyes. Vivian laughed and clasped her hands together. “We didn’t know you existed either JT, not until a few weeks ago ourselves. In fact, we only found each other a bit over a year ago. Isn’t that a crazy story though.” Again the look. But this time after they looked at each other, they both looked at JT. He felt a zing down his spine at those two sets of eyes, so like his own, sharing a moment with him.

  “Who are our real parents? Do you know them?”

  Emma sucked in a breath through her teeth, like it was complicated. “They are both dead,” she said gently. “And it’s not a nice story how it happened. In fact, our father was kind of a monster.” She looked at Vivian again, and so did JT. Vivian’s face had fallen and she was nodding sadly. JT looked past his sisters to the rest of the group. They each wore identical grim expression, even Sara. His heart lurched. A monster? That was an awfully strong word. His own father? A vision of Dani flashed in front of his eyes. Dani pulled almost into a ball in the helicopter seat. Heartache from his rejection stamped on her face. At the time he hadn’t been able to dredge up any com
passion for her. But now his heart stuttered and tried to go to her. He leaned his torso back on the pillows and waited for his sisters to go on.

  ***

  JT heard screaming and realized it was him. He tried to get to her even as he screamed. Tried to help the woman who was part Dani and part Tina escape from the mugger. The gun raised big as a cannon and JT knew it was about to flash fire and end the life of the woman he loved. An angry roar erupted from his throat and he pulled at the hands that held him back.

  “Sergeant Taylor, stop!” A female voice chastised him and broke through the nightmare. His eyes fluttered open. A young nurse in flowered scrubs held a bandage to his arm. “Sergeant Taylor are you awake?”

  He nodded weakly, trying to remember where he was, what was going on.

  “You had a nightmare. And you pulled your IV out.” Her voice was offended, accusatory, like he did it on purpose.

  His memories flooded back. His father. Definitely a monster. Killed his mother. Killed himself. The story that Vivian and Emma had spilled out over three or so hours, with occasional help from Craig and Hawk. And then exhaustion had settled in his brain. He had taken it all in, but couldn’t process any of it. How could he be related to someone like that? He had said he was going to take a nap. But it was now dark?

  “What time is it?”

  The nurse looked at her watch. “It’s 4:30.”

  “In the morning?”

  “Yes in the morning. You’ve been asleep since yesterday afternoon but the doctor said not to wake you. So we didn’t.” The nurse took his right hand and placed it over the bandage. “Hold pressure there.” He did, feeling his right side ache and howl. She pulled out a needle and some packets of antiseptic. “I have to start a new IV.”

  JT let his mind go. It crawled over everything he had heard the day before. He felt the prick of the needle and heard the nurse talking lightly to herself, but none of it seemed important. His mind worked and turned and sifted his new knowledge, like a gold digger looking for nuggets.

  Finally, the nurse let him be. He closed his eyes so she would think he was sleeping. But inside he was active. His identity re-forming and trying to stay clean.