The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  “Yes, sir.” Elliott nodded. “I’ll be up there waiting.”

  “Oh, Elliott,” Dean spoke out when Elliott started to leave. “Nothing about this to . . .” He pointed to the lab, got an agreement from Elliott, and then went back inside.

  “Everything all right?” Ellen asked.

  “Oh, yeah, sure.” Dean nodded. “I have to aid Elliott with something. Will you be all right?”

  “Yes. I want to look at these some more.” Ellen pointed to the x-rays then noticed Dean in the medicine locker. “What are you . . .” She stepped closer. “Bunny Thorazine? That’s a strong dose.”

  “I know. Elliott thinks he found a killer baby trapped and I want to knock it out for long enough to set it free,” Dean set it in his medical emergency bag on the counter.

  “That’s nice of you, Dean.”

  “Yes.” Dean smiled. “I’ll be back.” Kissing Ellen on the cheek, he took a second to give an encouraging look, then he swiped up his medical emergency bag and walked out.

  Ellen returned to the x-rays. Perhaps something inside of her was hoping she’d see something different, anything different. They were the same as when Dean put them on the board to show her and nearly twice as heartbreaking to view because she stood alone.

  The lowering of her head and breathy expiration of sadness lasted only for a second. She halted every minuscule bit of moving and breathing the moment she heard the clearing of a throat.

  Whispering out, ‘Joe’. Ellen turned around.

  “Hey.” Joe cleared his throat again and closed the door. “You don’t mind if I . . .”

  “No. No. Please.”

  Joe gave a short smile and with his hands in his pockets, he walked to Ellen. “You’re not . . .” Joe’s hand smoothed over the counter and he tilted his head with one closed eye. “You’re not mad at me, are ya?”

  Ellen could only close her eyes and exhale a sound of her ‘no’ answer as she stepped right to Joe and placed her arms around him as tight as she could. “Joe.”

  “I’ll take it by this hug that you aren’t.”

  “Oh, God, Joe. No . . .” Ellen whispered as she separated from the embrace. “Why in the world would I be mad at you?”

  “A few reasons. One, you didn’t know and my reaction in the office. I’m sure the biggest one is my attitude towards this all.”

  Ellen shook her head. “Not one of those is a valid reason to be angry.”

  “Not even my choice?”

  “Not even that,” Ellen spoke softly.

  Joe exhaled. “I’m glad. But I suppose I’ll at least get an argument from you.”

  “Do you want one?”

  “An argument? No.”

  “Then you won’t get one,” Ellen said. “It’s your choice, Joe. I understand why you’re making that decision. Who am I to get mad at you, to force your hand, or any of that? You do have to understand Frank’s reaction.”

  “Oh, yeah, I do.” Joe nodded. “Frank’s my kid. My boys are the most emotionally charged men I know. They may be strong, but I have this feeling they won’t handle this. That’s why I didn’t want them to know. And Dean . . .”

  “Dean has his own inner battle and prejudice against can . . . against it.” Ellen lifted her hand. “He lost his mother to it.”

  “I understand that. Maybe that’s why he’s the way he is about it all.” Joe shrugged. “He’s brilliant, Ellen, but he fails to see that science can be fallible. His optimism at times contradicts the scientist that is supposed to be a realist. It’s hard to hear what he says because Dean has an ‘I can save the world’ attitude at times.”

  “Dean can save the world, Joe,” Ellen spoke seriously. “I truly, one hundred percent have faith in that. If we were ever given the opportunity to go back in time and give him the knowledge of the plague, the knowledge he has now, Dean would save the world.”

  “You’re right.” Joe smiled almost sadly. “So . . .” He looked at the light board. “Is this me?”

  Ellen nodded. “Yeah, Dean was showing me these and telling me what he wanted to do.”

  “Feel like explaining what I’m looking at?”

  “Sure.” Ellen lifted a pen and held it to the x-ray. “This is your left lung. Up here, the upper lobe. See these four spots.” Ellen tapped the pen to each spot. “Here and here are larger than these two. Four lesions. By this . . . well, they look like inner surface lesions.”

  “Meaning?”

  “Meaning, it’s not imbedded deeply in the lung. Without a full body scan it’s impossible to tell, but Dean believes it is confined to this area. What Dean wants to do is remove the lesions from the lung to prevent any further spreading and infuse the operation site of the lung with an almost skin graft of fresh cells. He wants to use the healing accelerator we used on Frank. It worked tremendously. We let the lung heal, then dose you with milder treatments like we gave Elliott. Then we monitor you and see.”

  “What do you think?” Joe asked.

  “Well, Dean says . . .”

  “Stop.” Joe lifted a hand to her. “You gave me the rundown of what Dean wants to do, what Dean thinks, and what Deans says.”

  “Joe, Dean is the mastermind here. He’s the brains.”

  “He’s not you, Ellen. What . . . . do you think.”

  “Why . . .” Ellen’s breath escaped her for a moment as she locked eyes with Joe. “Why do you want to know what I think?”

  “My God, Ellen. I know what Dean is. And I know what you are. You are my daughter. I don’t give a rat’s ass how intelligent the man is, he speaks through his optimism and arrogance. You . . . you’ll speak to me through your heart. No matter what I have ever projected, know I have never, never lacked faith in your ability. When it comes this . . .” Joe pointed to the x-rays. “I trust you more than anyone on the face of this planet.”

  Ellen’s mouth parted and her lips quivered. “I love you, Joe.”

  “I love you too, Kiddo.” He put his arm around her. “Now” He turned her to face the board, then kissed her on the cheek. “Give it to me straight. You tell me. What should I do?”

  ^^^^

  In their near sprinting walk back to town, Elliott handed Dean the tranquilizer gun. “I don’t understand what happened to him.”

  “Are you sure he was out?” Dean asked as he loaded another chamber in the gun.

  “Yes.”

  “Where did you hit him?”

  “I wanted to avoid the upper torso so I hit him in the rear.”

  “We should have had three hours out of that.” Dean paused to make sure the tranquilizer gun was loaded correctly. He handed it to Elliott. “This one should knock him out solid for an hour at least, then I can get him with the Salicain if he refuses to put the monitor back on.”

  “We’ll have to first find . . .”

  “Ryder!” Frank’s voice boomed across the main street of Beginnings.

  “Shit.” Elliott looked up.

  “Just get ready to shoot him again,” Dean told him. He then flashed a smile to Frank. “Hey, Frank.”

  “Ryder.” Frank stepped chest to chest with Elliott. “Did you fuckin shoot me with that tranquilizer gun?”

  “No.” Elliott shook his head.

  “Oh,” Frank said with a nod. “I thought you did.” He scratched his head. “Dean, I’m having blackouts.”

  “You’re not having blackouts, Frank,” Dean told him. “Elliott knocked your ass out because you wouldn’t calm down.”

  Frank’s eyes widened in his look at Dean, not seeing the cringe from Elliott. “Then Ryder did shoot me with the tranquilizer gun?”

  “Yeah, Frank. Yeah he did,” Dean snapped back. “You need to calm down and put the monitor . . .”

  “Wait,” Frank said. “Just to be clear. He . . .” Frank pointed without looking at Elliott. “Raised a weapon, aimed at me, and shot?”

  “Yes, he hit you with a tranquilizer for your own good,” Dean responded. “And there’s nothing you can do about it.”


  “Oh, yeah? How about this?” Frank’s eyes only left Dean for a moment to make sure he correctly landed the hard punch he delivered to Elliott that rang out an ear piercing ‘crack’.

  The tranquilizer gun flew from Elliott’s hand and landed on the ground, spinning a few feet away. Elliott stumbled back and nearly hit the ground completely, but his hand caught his fall and he was able to spring back up.

  Dean’s angry yell of, ‘Frank, you asshole’, did not seem to be heard. By the time Dean looked back up, all he saw was the motion blur of the two men sailing toward each other. “Enough!” Dean raged to the two big men at the same time they locked to each other in both body and eyes. Their fists raised in an intention of their fight.

  With his jaw twitching, Frank’s eyes glared. “Go ahead, Ryder. Make your mistake.”

  “If you think I’ll back off, you’re wrong.” Elliott’s voice was low.

  “Enough,” Dean tried to intercede.

  Frank ignored Dean. “You’re out of your league here, Ryder.”

  “And you’re forgetting the first basic rule of engagement. Never underestimate your opponent.”

  “What the fuck is this . . .” Frank shoved Elliott back hard from the hold. “This arrogant shit.”

  “And what the fuck . . .” Elliott, with his footing firm, shoved into Frank. “Is this angry shit toward me?”

  Dean tossed his hands up. “I quit.” In his walk away, he picked up the tranquilizer gun.

  Standing at the bottom of the clinic steps, Joe gave an upward motion point of his head, toward the building confrontation between Frank and Elliott. “Emotionally charged and unable to handle it. See, this proves my point.”

  Shaking her head, Ellen rushed forward, past Dean. “Frank! Stop it.”

  With a confused and surprised, ‘what?’, Frank spun his head to Ellen. “Me?”

  “Yeah, you, Frank.” Ellen snapped. “What is wrong with you?”

  “He!” Frank swung a point to Elliott. “Started this whole thing. He shot me with a tranquilizer gun, El. I’m supposed to lay down and take it?”

  Elliott mumbled, “He’s supposed to be knocked out.”

  Frank bit his bottom lip and lifted his hand. “This close, Ryder. This close . . .”

  “Frank!” Ellen screamed. “I know you’re upset. I know you’re angry, but taking it out on Elliott isn’t going to solve anything. If he tried to knock you out, do you think perhaps he had a good reason?”

  Frank’s head flung back in disgust. “Oh!” he grunted out in outrage. “Fuck this. You hear me? Fuck it.” He threw out his hand. “Let’s defend Elliott fuckin Ryder. He can do no wrong. Well, defend him all you want!” Frank blasted loud. “I don’t care! In fact! The next time you come running to me, turn around and run to the fuckin horse soldier. Let him get your ass out of trouble! Because I fuckin . . .” Frank’s eyes widened. “Fuck . . .”His head moved from left to right. “Don’t care.” His knees buckled, his eyes rolled back, and Frank dropped face first to the pavement.

  Dean let out a small breath of relief. “Thanks, Joe. I appreciate it.”

  “My pleasure.” Giving a blow on the barrel like some sort of Dirty Harry move, Joe smiled and returned the tranquilizer gun to Dean. He took in the feeling of slight enjoyment and with a smile on his face that he needed, he walked to Ellen so they could finish where they had left off.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  Ellen’s foot pounded on the floor to adjust her shoe that didn’t seem to want to fit correctly.

  “Here.” Dean grasped her leg, bent down, took off her slip-on tennis shoe and fixed it. “You’re nervous. You were nervous all through dinner.”

  “I know. I’m sorry.” Ellen let out a breath.

  “I’m glad you decided to go.” Dean stood up.

  “Joe would be mad if I didn’t.”

  “No, he wouldn’t.” Dean removed Ellen’s still damp hair from under the collar of the coat, then fixed the twisted garment. “You’re going because you need to.”

  Ellen nodded. “I still would rather not.”

  “I know. Do you know what is going to be said?”

  “I have a feeling.” She kissed him softly. “Thanks. I love you.”

  Dean ran his hand down the side of her face. “Good luck.”

  “Yeah.” Ellen reached out her hand for the door, saw it trembling, then retracted it into a fist. “Could you make sure all the kids are settled and in bed. They’re gonna need to be if this goes as I think it will.”

  Dean blinked a few times in confusion. “Sure. They’ll be tucked away. Why?”

  “I’ll let you know.” Again, Ellen reached for the door, only this time, she gathered the courage to open it. “Here I go.”

  The cold air hit her the second she stepped out, but it really didn’t pelt her as much as the vision of Frank walking toward Joe’s house.

  “Frank,” she called out to him, wanting to catch him before he went inside.

  Frank kept walking.

  “Frank.” Ellen ran and caught him. “Didn’t you hear me?”

  He was just about to step on the porch. Frank turned and looked at her. “Yeah, I heard you. I just chose not to answer.”

  “Frank.” Ellen grabbed his arm. “You really can’t be mad at me.”

  “What?” If it was possible to yell in a whisper, Frank did. “How can you even make that statement?”

  “Because this is stupid.”

  “Stupid? El, I woke up in a fuckin hospital bed two hours ago from being knocked out . . . again.”

  “There were reasons to do that. Your heart . . .”

  “I don’t give a shit about my heart!” Frank yelled. “If . . .” He dropped his voice to a graveling one after looking at his father’s front door. “If you even remotely understood what I am going through.”

  “I do.”

  “No! No you do not.” Frank shook his head. “You haven’t any idea what I’m going through. You defended Elliott Ryder.”

  “That is no reason to be pissed at me. You were fighting with him.”

  “We, El, him and I were fighting. You stepped in. You defended him. I am at a low point. Do you know this?”

  “Yes.”

  “Do you care?”

  “Yes!” Ellen said, offended.

  “Bullshit.”

  “What?”

  “I can remember a time when no matter what and no matter who, you were on my side.”

  “OK, stop.” Ellen lifted her hand. “You’re angry. Before you start speaking through your anger and saying things you can’t take back, I’m just gonna stop this.”

  “Yeah, I’m angry, El, but I’m being honest. Who am I kidding? I’m chasing you around and waiting for what? Your fuckin return to me? Your loyalty? Playing second fuckin fiddle to a man you married behind my back? No, wait. Third fuckin fiddle, I come after Dean, then after Ryder. I have for a while. I just pretended that it wasn’t that way. Well it is and I’m done with it. If you can turn your back on me when I needed you, I don’t need to deal with you.” Frank turned to go inside.

  “This!” Her one word yell caused Frank to stop. “This is exactly why I wanted to stop this before you said anything hurtful Are you happy, Frank? You did.” Ellen threw her hands up. “I didn’t turn my back on you. Your anger and hurt is making you think that I did.”

  “No, El. Your selfishness is making you think you didn’t.”

  Grunting Ellen shook her head and just moved to the porch.

  “Whoa. Wait.” Frank stopped her. “Where are you going?”

  “In there. Joe called a family meeting.”

  “Yeah, that’s right. A family meeting. Family. Your last name stopped being Slagel a long time ago.” Frank flung open the door and stormed inside.

  Ellen couldn’t move. His hard deliverance of hurtful words cemented her right where she stood. More than anything, Ellen wanted to go in the house but she didn’t. Frank would have enough to deal with in the house without
having to deal with his anger over her presence. So Ellen put her head down, slowly turned, and went back home.

  ^^^^

  From his three sons seated on the living room furniture, to the door then back to his watch, Joe glanced. He shook his head as he stood before them. “As soon as Ellen gets here, I’ll start.”

  “She’s not coming.” Frank picked up his glass of water from the coffee table, finished it off, and set it down angrily, rattling the remaining ice.

  “What do you mean she’s not coming?” Joe asked. “How do you know?”

  “I know.”

  Hal rolled his eyes in irritation. “Can you just give him a straight answer?”

  “She’s not coming.” Frank looked back to his father. “This is a family thing.”

  Hal sunk back into his seat. “You’re pissy with Ellen so today she isn’t family.”

  “She stopped being family when she stopped being my wife,” Frank told him.

  Joe grunted. “You’re an asshole, Frank. Robbie, go get her.”

  Robbie stood up from his chair.

  “No.” Frank rose up in anger. “No, if she comes over, I’m leaving.”

  “Robert, go,” Joe instructed.

  “And I say . . .” Frank interjected strongly. “She comes. I go. Make your choice. I don’t want her here. It’s her or me.”

  Joe stormed toward Frank. “Why do you have to be such a goddamn asshole?”

  “Ok,” Hal stood, stopping the confrontation. “Can we not fight? He’s not gonna budge on this, Dad. Just tell us why you brought us here.”

  Joe let out a breath. “Fine. Sit. All of you.” He watched Frank return to his chair, Robbie to his, and Hal on the couch. “All right. I had this all set out in my mind but since Ellen is not here, I’ll make some adjustments.” He stepped closer before them, his voice soft. “There’s some things I want to say to each one of you first.. Just some things I have never said or not said in a while . . .”

  “Stop.” Frank stood up.

  “What, Frank?” Joe asked as Frank moved to the door. “What are you doing?”