"MICHAEL!" Sara watched in horror as the nurse tackled Michael and pinned him down long enough to plunge the needle into his arm. She couldn't believe how easy it had been for her. True Michael was probably still a little slow from the surgery and the drugs, but she knew that he was pretty fast and strong when he needed to be. It was almost incomprehensible that she had been able to accomplish it so quickly and efficiently.
Her chest filled with anguish as she watched him stop struggling, and his eyelids close, once again imprisoning him. The nurse got off of him with disgust and rolled him over with her foot. As she watched his head flop around uselessly, it felt as though an iron band was slowly tightening around her. She felt weak and nauseated, and most of all she felt very afraid.
Leaving Michael where he was, in a heap on the floor, the nurse straightened her uniform and primly walked out of the room. "You're allowed back in now", she called over her shoulder, barely acknowledging Sara's presence. No sooner were the words out of her mouth than Sara was running into the room to Michael's side. As far as she could tell, he hadn't been injured when he had hit the ground, or when she had been forcing him to stay down. The relief she initially felt was then replaced by despair. How was she going to get him onto the bed? Sara was in pretty decent shape after all the excitement of the past few months, but she knew there was no way she could lift a deadweight Michael. But she didn't want to leave him on the cold floor. It was just pathetic.
Eventually a new orderly came in, and she got him to help her get Michael to the bed. He tried to put the IV that was supplying him with nutrients back in Michael's arm, but Sara pushed him aside and did it herself. She gently stroked his face before turning to the orderly, already sitting patiently in the chair. "Another orderly said that I would be allowed to wander around this floor, so long as I didn't leave. Is that true?" she asked.
He nodded, but didn't say anything. He just reached into his bag, pulled out a crossword puzzle, and began filling it out. She gently kissed Michael on the forehead. "I'll be back in a bit".
As she left the room she pulled out her cell phone and dialed Lincoln's number. He answered on the second ring "Yeah."
"Hey, it's Sara".
"How's Michael?" He tried to hide it, but she could heat the concern in his voice. He was worried about his little brother. Sara almost laughed, which she quickly supressed. Clearly the stress was starting to get to her.
"He's…ok, as far as I can tell. They woke him up fully to make sure he's recovering properly. He doesn't seem to be experiencing any complications".
This time he didn't bother trying to cover his emotions and the relief was easily recognizable. "Good. That's good."
Sara's heart raced, hoping that was she was about to say wasn't against the rules. It wasn't a coded message, and she didn't think it would help them get out of there, but it was definitely prying into Company matters. "Can I ask you something about your mom?"
Link was clearly caught off guard by it, but he said "sure. What do you want to know?"
"Her first name. It was Christina, right?"
"Yeah, why?"
"Just curious. Something one of the orderlies said earlier. I think your mom may have been involved in the Company somehow".
She shared this last bit of information somewhat reluctantly, as she expected it to be a huge bombshell. So it was her turn to be surprised when Link replied "yeah, she was. The general told me all about it. From what I can tell, before she died she was pretty high up there".
The wheels in Sara's head began turning. The orderly had mentioned Christina, but not as though she was dead. And if she was dead, she probably wouldn't have cut herself off when she mentioned her name. There wouldn't be any reason to keep her secret, unless it was to keep the brothers from knowing that she was in the Company. But if the General had told Lincoln that she had been there, then what could they be hiding?
"Sara?" she realized she hadn't responded to Link.
"Sorry. Listen Link, I'll call you back later. I have to go" she had to get off the phone. She couldn't stay on without revealing what she was starting to suspect, and she couldn't reveal what she was starting to suspect until she had more proof.
"is everything ok?" he sounded a little bit like Michael. A lump started to form in her throat. She had thought that she was starting to adapt to the current situation, but with that one question she almost lost it again.
"Yeah, everything's fine. I just…can't really talk right now" she was impressed with how she managed to control her voice. It shook a little, but didn't betray her.
Considering Lincoln was normally the one who kept the conversations short, he seemed rather reluctant to let her go. "Alright. Michael…he's ok, right? You would tell me if they did anything to him?"
"Of course. He's ok for now. I really have to go" She hung up before he could respond. She felt guilty about it, but she had to find out what had happened to Christina. And find a way to get them to let her be in the room with Michael in three days' time when he was woken up fully again. And work out the start of a plan to get the two of them out of there before he was awake so that she could somehow start to prepare him, and get his opinion. And do all of this without arousing suspicion, because if they figured out what she was up to he would die. She had no delusions about that.
For the next couple of hours she wandered around the floor. There was more than she expected. There was a small room that she supposed functioned as a sort of library, because it was filled with books. She took one, thinking that having something to read during the night would greatly improve her state of mind. She found the kitchen, although at the moment there wasn't anyone there. She looked through all of the cupboards, not really expecting to find anything helpful, but because she was curious. There was plenty of food there, which she took note of.
Continuing on, she found a room that resembled a home theatre. It had a couch and a wide screen tv, as well as a small (empty) popcorn machine by the wall. She also found several other rooms for patients. To her surprise, Michael wasn't the only one there. There was a woman who covered in bandages, and a man who seemed to be in a coma. Briefly she wondered if he was a prisoner there as well, and then dismissed the thought. Even if he was, there was nothing she could do for him, and he could just as easily be someone from the Company receiving some sort of treatment. What she was more concerned about was whether she could expect to run into friends or family of these two. If they were with the Company it was possible. The library and theatre were there for someone.
She also found a lot of supply closets. Considering the floor wasn't really that big, there seemed to be a disproportional number of them. Most had sheets, pillow cases, things like that, but there were also three or four that had drugs, spare IV's, and other extra medical supplies. In one she picked up a bottle of morphine. For the first time in a long time, she wasn't tempted to use. Michael was relying on her, and she wasn't going to risk letting him down like that. She didn't linger, but made note of where each of them were. They might come in handy later.
One thing she noticed was that there were no windows in any of the rooms. She had assumed that they were underground, but this was confirmation for her. Whatever they were going to do, she would have to take into account that they would have to take either the elevator or the stairs, which, come to think of it, she hadn't found yet. She assumed that they would both have security cameras, which were a complication that she had no idea how they were going to get past.
Finally returning to the room, her mind was reeling. Looking at Michael, she had to wonder if this was how he felt all the time, trying to process a hundred things at once. Her head felt like it was going to explode, and all she had were questions with very few answers. She almost envied him lying there, peaceful, mind at rest. Not having to plan on how to get multiple people out of a secure facility safely and most importantly not get anyone killed.
That thought made her smile a bit. Because she was envious of Michael for not having to deal with that? Telling herself to get a grip and stop being jealous of the man who had been in her situation already more than once, and who was now being held captive in his own head.
She silently ate her dinner, and tried to read the book that she had taken from the library. She briefly thought about writing in it and leaving it for him to find when they woke him up, but that was too obvious. They would catch onto that before she even picked up the pen, not that she had one of those to begin with. And even of it worked, they might realize that it was a little out of character for Michael to just pick up a book and read for his precious half hour.
Lying in her cot, listening to Michael's rhythmic breathing, she slowly began to formulate a plan. She knew she needed him. He would see the details that she had overlooked and would know how to deal with the problems that she had identified. But it was definitely a start. As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she thought about Lincoln. Was he making any progress in retrieving Scylla? Because if he was she was going to have to move fast. One thing she knew for sure was that Michael would never forgive himself or Link if it fell back into the hands of the Company.
