The Ramifications of French Kissing
The incessant buzzing of the fluorescent lighting was comforting. Riding the drowsy sway of painkillers the sound could almost be mistaken for the morning chatter of insects hidden within the tall African grassland. The savanna's song indicated that no predators lurked. How did she know that? Had she read it in the safari brochure provided by the travel agent? A soft masculine voice she didn't recognize but felt compelled to trust surfaced in her half aware state. Chloe smiled, wondering how her fiancé would feel if he knew he didn't feature in her honeymoon fantasy just weeks before their wedding. Chloe sighed and let herself relax back into the clinically white linens of the bed. She rolled her eyes open, but nothing was in focus. Light filtered past shades of white, like a Richter masterpiece. Her pulse throbbed across her temple with an icy lack of pain. Nothing she couldn't deal with later she thought, giving herself license to drift back to sleep.
VVVVV
Doctor Robert Oz ignored the military escort flanking him and swept into the private hospital room. The ipad in his lab coat had kept him informed of his patient's charts in real time; notifying him of her earlier return to consciousness. Pulling a chair to her bedside he sat and took her delicate wrist. Life bloomed across her porcelain complexion, replacing the bloodless blues and purple tones from last week. Chloe woke and blinked at him without recognition. He watched her shiver of confusion get swept away by intelligence and command. Robert smiled, Miss Tousignant was an engaging creature, a promising clue to the man his son had become. "Good morning, Miss Tousignant. My name is Doctor Robert Oz." He frowned when she failed to react to his name. "How are you feeling today?" he redirected.
Chloe studied the silvered scruff of the Doctor's worn face. His bedside manner was polished but she was too good of a profiler to miss reading that he had expected her to know him. She looked away to smooth the bed sheet while she puzzled the most likely reasons for his reaction. "I was in an accident." She concluded, "Was anyone else hurt?" She looked up to catch his response.
"Do you remember what happened?" Robert countered, probing for effects of brain damage.
She must have hit her head, he was testing her memory, she realized. Something about the doctor's eyes felt familiar. Had they met before? She struggled to produce the answer he expected. The answer that would prove she was ok and speed her recovery time, but… nothing came. Quickly she ran through a series of Amnesia related questions. She knew her name (Chloe Tousignant) , her address (2056 Rue de Demound), her employer (analyst for the DSG), her schooling (graduated top of her class at the academy. Her parents were gone but she had a sister (Natalie) and a fiancé(Jean-Michel Lion)… none of the answers came up blank, yet she still felt like she was missing something vital. Slowly she admitted she couldn't recall how she had come to be in the hospital.
Dr Oz nodded and patted her hand. They were in uncharted medical territory. Chloe Tousignant's vitals had legally qualified as dead for virtually a week. Her body in cold storage awaiting shipment to her sister in France when Robert had learned the details around the disaster of the Noah's Ark TX-14 test. The TX-14 formula she had been exposed to hadn't been complete making her death unlikely. It hadn't taken much to have General Davies divert the body to his lab for a full blood panel and autopsy. As he suspected, Miss Tousignant was not dead, just in a deep state of chemical induced hibernation. The big surprise had been finding an emerging triple helix in her genetics. A triple helix with the same junk genomes earmarking the hasty serum he had injected into his son years ago. From there his mind spun. He could only conclude that Jackson's mutation had progressed to stage two, allowing him to infect another. Telling proof that Dr Oz was running out of time, he had to find Jackson. The lack of bites or recent scarring on Miss Tousignant indicated that fluids had been passed by some means other than a bite, possibly making Miss Tousignant the key to succeeding where General Davies had failed in gaining possession of Robert's son.
VVVVV
Chloe paced the small cell of her hospital room. She gave the locked door knob a vicious shake before turning to re-pace her steps. The loose hem of her hospital gown caught as she passed her bed. She jerked it free, cussing beautifully in her native French. Where was Jean-Michel? Where was Natalie? Why was her sleep plagued by vicious animal attacks? What weren't the doctors telling her? If she had to submit to another mute technician looking for blood samples she was going to seriously harm someone. What had seemed like private hospital accommodations had quickly become more likely a padded room.
Dr Robert Oz watched Chloe on the monitor in his lab. She moved with the dangerous grace of a caged predator. There was nothing physically wrong with her. The triple helix hadn't manifested any side effects, yet. Brain activity during REM proved that the memories she failed to recall were repressed rather than the cause of any internal damage. The door to her room opened and General Davies entered with a contingent of camouflage uniforms. Dr Oz reached over to turn up the audio.
"Miss Tousignant," Davies barked, tossing a stack of clothes onto the bed. "The DSG has loaned you to the American government." Davies waved his hand and his assistant held forward a stack of official documents. "During your assignment, our facility was compromised and you were exposed to a biologic weapon that seems to have left you missing the details of the last few months." Davies put his hands on his hips and gave Chloe an assessing look. "Your assignment is mission critical. Not to be overdramatic, but the world literally depends on it; which means we don't have the luxury to wait for your memory to return." Davies sighed and shifted into an "at ease" position. His voice dropped in resignment. "Dr Oz's medical opinion is that you are unfit to return to duty. I'm here to ask you to sign out AMA; to help me catch Jackson Oz, patient zero for the pandemic killing thousands of people every day."
Chloe blinked trying to assimilate and evaluate what the General had said. Americans had a tendency to be very single minded in their point of view. The documents in her hand appeared legitimate, but it was difficult to accept that she had lost details. Understanding people, situations, and motivations was what she was good at. How could she have lost something she specialized in. It made General Davies difficult to take at his word. But staying locked in this room wouldn't find her any answers, so she gave her agreement with a solemn nod. "Oz is an unusual surname, is there a relation?"
General Davies smiled. "Dr Robert Oz's only son. Makes signing out AMA a little easier doesn't it?"
VVVVV
A military aid dropped a sheet on her desk as he passed. She sent a look of disgust at his departing back. How was she supposed to do what they asked of her without access to any information other than what they chose to feed her? For that matter, how did they expect her to believe the story they fed her for why communication channels were down making it impossible to speak to her sister or fiancée. Why she could not leave the base, could not go anywhere without an armed escort, and why MRE's were the only readily available food in the mess hall. An animal rebellion? Seriously? A nuclear apocalypse, or a contagion with a silly name like bird flu, or even a meteoric extinction event sounded more plausible. But no, they stood there with a straight face and explained that all the animals of the world, from insect to grizzly bear had suddenly been able to understand each other, communicate telepathically and were working together to wip out humanity. Oh and don't forget the added detail that some of the animals had suddenly developed super skills causing earthquakes, blood rain, lightning strikes, flash freezes and the like. What had eventually made her stop to consider was a series of fairly recent scars. They told her she had been attacked by lions in Africa. Chloe couldn't recall having gone to Africa, but every night she bolted awake, drenched in sweat, with the echoes of lion roars in her head and a desperate need to find this man named Jackson.
She spent the dark hours of the night avoiding her nightmares by puzzling how she had come to be in Africa, the destination of her honeymoon without Jean-Michel. Something else that didn't add up was how the calendar could be two months past her scheduled wedding and her ring finger was bare. Where was her wedding ring? Where was the spectacular engagement ring Jean-Michel had produced after a champaign brunch au natural, served atop silken bed sheets? She stared at the form she had filled in triplicate requesting the current location and means to contact her sister. Such an exercise in futility! Where they trying to drive her crazy? "Miss Tousignant? Are you ready for your appointment?" her armed escort for the day asked. Chloe nodded and stood to make her way to Dr Oz's lab.
Robert Oz waved her to a seat without looking up from his microscope. The armed escort cleared the room than wandered away to flirt with a medical aid. The lab was familiar, Chloe had been visiting it every day since she had agreed to General Davies terms. Today was supposed to be a final check to clear her for field duty. However she didn't have high hopes that they would suddenly allow her autonomy to move around the base. Chloe studied the handwritten notes littering the counter. A badger hissed at her from his cage. The notes kept referring to different animals, different genomic indicators. General Davies walked into the room. He made a face at Chloe then begrudgingly asked Dr Oz for a word in private. Robert looked up from his sample and nodded. Chloe watched the pair step outside the door. As the door clicked shut, Chloe lunged for the computer. Typing quickly she managed to gain access to the internet. She attempted to access the DSG network but her account had been shut down. Quickly she accessed a private email platform and shot off a quick note to her sister and fiancée letting them know she was OK. She took a few moments to skim all the news about the animals. The internet seemed to confirm the unlikely story she was having difficulty believing. The sound of a hand on the door knob forced her to terminate the window and move away from the computer.
Dr Oz gave her an assessing look, glancing at the computer and back, but said nothing. General Davies watch the Dr grab a blood pressure cuff and moved to Chloe's side. "Any progress on calculating Jackson Oz's next location?" the General demanded. Chloe glared at him, "I would if you allowed me access to any form of useful information." It was an old argument. One that Davies had no patience for. With a scowl he turned and left the room. She turned to find Robert looking at her with a raised brow. "It makes no sense, but I believe he is headed to Africa," Chloe offered. Payment for the doctor's silence about the computer. "Any luck with the memories?" Robert asked. Chloe shook her head no.
Dr Oz sighed and turned to note Chloe's blood pressure on a chart. "It's not just about the science of finding a cure." He commented.
"I understand a father's love. But you should consider if there are alternatives who could work in his place," Chloe reasoned. "You aren't the only father facing the loss of a son."
"Jackson is special; worth saving." Dr Oz insisted. "If you could just remember…" Chloe looked him in the eye and he looked away. He picked up a needle and reached for the inside of her elbow.
Another blood sample Chloe wondered. Something wasn't right. "Is this really required?"
"Elizabeth," Dr Oz redirected. "His mother," He clarified, "She is in Africa. Perhaps Jackson is going to connect with her." Robert took Chloe's hand and pressed a slip of paper into her palm. "I will find my son." He declared. "I'm hoping you will see past General Davies to help me."
Chloe slipped the paper into her pocket for reading later. "I understand it is difficult to balance the people we love with the job we must do for the greater good." She didn't want to admit that she had her own unexplainable compulsion to find this man Jackson.
"Don't mistake the obvious for the truth." Robert countered, turning back to his research in dismissal.