The Colonel Vs. The Angel of Death Chapter 10 "Two for One Sale"
Recap: Colonel Casey has been wounded with a poisonous dart that caused him to have a heart attack. At the same time, his woman, Parson Annie Coburn, is fighting for her life after being stabbed by the same criminal. Time is running out on all concerned as new mysteries are revealed and the attacker gets too close.
"Dr, Williams" stepped out of the eighth floor elevator onto the Cardiac Rehab level. He walked confidently to the nurse's station, and leaned over the desk to the nearest nurse.
"May I help you," she asked, jumping back a little at his proximity.
"Why, yes, Margie" the man looked at her name tag and smiled, though it never reached his eyes.
"I'm Dr. Donald Williams, and I was sent over from West Hills General to shadow Dr. Devon Woodcomb for the day. I was told at the main desk to come to this floor. Do you know where I can find him?" Margie found his Australian accent charming, but a dark vibe was emanating from the doctor, so she quickly looked up the information and passed him a sticky note with the room number on it. As he grabbed the note, she noticed a unique emblem welded on a large gold band on his left hand, but she hurried over to the printer and away from the strange man.
He left without speaking and began to walk the halls to find the room. As he was turning the corner, he spied Colonel John Casey, upright, obviously armed by the bulge under Casey's jacket, and standing in the doorway of the room the nurse had directed him too.
"No, it can't be. I killed him" The Aussie assassin stepped back to hide quickly, As he did, he bumped into a woman in blue scrubs. "Sorry, " he mumbled and stared at the woman with the long dark hair, and sparkling green eyes.
"Oh, I'm so sorry I should have watched where I was going." she smiled openly at him, and say his name tag. "Oh, Dr. Williams, I'm Dr. Ellie Woodcomb." At the sound of her last name, the man flinched, but recovered swiftly and began to move away from her. "Dr. Williams, is that right? May I help you in any way? She called out to him, but he was moving back down the hallway to the nurses station and he never replied.
"Some men." Ellie shook her head and looked up at Special Agent Chad Shelton at Colonel Casey's room. He nodded his acknowledgment, and as she neared him, she patted his arm. "How is he, Agent Shelton?" He grunted and moved out of her way to watch. The Colonel was awake, sitting up in bed, but beside him in the hospital bed, was his wife, curled up on his chest sleeping soundly. Casey looked up rather sheepishly, and whispered, "I'm sorry Ellie, she escaped, and came looking for me. Thanks to Chad, she has been sleeping in my arms for over 2 hours. "
Ellie smiled at the two, and then turned to wink at Shelton. "Humm, co-conspirators in a jail break, right? I would love to hear what other break outs you two were in on." As Ellie bent to check Annie's vitals both men said, "And we would have to shoot you then!"
Ellie laughed softly, realizing how much alike the two brothers were. She looked up and saw Sarah and Chuck standing beside Shelton and the Colonel beaconed them into the room, his finger shushing them.
Annie stirred and lifted her hand slowly up to smile at Sarah. She grabbed some ice water for Annie, and John helped the parson sip some water down. He shook his head when Chuck offered him some, but grimaced slightly when Annie rested on his chest scar.
"Pain pill, John?" Ellie looked at him and reached for the call bell. He shook his head again, but lowered his head to Annie and asked, "honey, you need some pain meds?"
Annie raised her head, looked around the room at this extended family of hers and smiled. "I'm all right with all of you here. Maybe, in a little bit, Ellie?"
"Sure hon, you let me know. John, I'll go let Devon know your vitals and see if there is anything else he needs to have from you." Ellie touched Annie's head and soothed her forehead before she skipped out of the room, punching Shelton's arm one more time.
"What was all that about, bro.?" Casey asked, but Shelton just continued to ignore his brother, and he seemed to scan the hallway for any suspicious people. It was then he caught another glimpse of the same doctor who he had seen earlier. Chad stepped further out in the hallway, but the doctor turned swiftly away, the man's shoes squeaking on the waxed hospital floors. Shelton noted the expensive leather of the shoes, so out of place on a doctor, and he tapped his ear bud, and spoke quietly, "Shelton, to Love, do you copy?" He waited for a moment, and when the other agent answered, Shelton quickly gave him a description of the doctor and sent him on surveillance duty over the doctor. He stepped back into the room, and stared at his brother. Colonel Casey tensed as he saw Shelton draw his Sig out of the holster and check the safety.
"Walker, Chuck, I need you to take Annie away now to 9th floor, room 923. Annie, can you get up?" Casey's body language had already alerted Annie to something wrong, and she began to move slowly away from him. Chuck lowered the bed, and Sarah grabbed the wheel chair. Between the two of them, Annie was moved fairly easily to the chair. However, as they turned her away from Casey, she reached out and grabbed his hand tightly.
"Vios con Dios, my love." Annie looked intently into the deep pools of her husband's blue eyes. He sat up in bed, and slowly stood up. He leaned over, placing a kiss on her lips, and then released her hand. "Vio con Dios, my beloved Annie." He then grabbed Chuck's arm, and commanded him, "Now Chuck, avoid the south doctor's elevator. Chad told me of a murder of a Doc. Williams down in the hospital basement this morning by lethal injection We can assume it is the Costa Gravas' assassin, and he's roaming the hallways of this hospital in William's place. We know he will make a stab at Annie first, and I don't care how you do it, don't let him near Annie. You understand?"
Chuck nodded vehemently. "I would give my life for her, Casey. You know that." Casey nodded, "now go you three! Chad, you and me have some planning to do." Casey motioned his brother into the room, and the last glance Chuck say of the two men. they were stripping clothes off.
Being seen by a should have been dead Casey was unnerving the assassin more than he would admit. His hands were shaking, and his plan to eliminate Casey's woman was fast becoming the furthest thing from his mind. He needed time to replan, rethink, so he left by the doctor's elevator and punched a floor number on the elevator without thinking. He found himself on the 9th floor, and after scurrying past a janitor, he popped in the first available empty room. He collapsed down in the nearest bed, breathing heavily. "God in heaven, what now?" he grumbled, and fumbled opened the leather pouch at his waistband. Within the pouch, two filled hypodermic needles rested. His plan will still work, two needles, two victims, two dead. He grinned at that thought, and then snapped the pouched shut and rose. He walked confidently to the door, his left hand, with the ring , grabbed onto it and pulled. "it's him, it's the ring!" A woman's voice sounded out in the hallway, and there were Sarah Walker, Chuck Bartowski and Casey's hated woman staring at him. He grabbed the wheelchair and pushed it out of his way, all the time reaching for one of the hypos. Annie glanced down and saw the leather shows, confirming who the man was. She grabbed his arm, screaming out to her friends, "It's him, it's him."
Chuck flashed swiftly and tried to karate chop the man's armed hand. Unfortunately, Annie tried to rise out of the chair to get away, and promptly deflected Chuck's blow, The chair tipped, spilling Annie out, and preventing Sarah from chasing the man. She vaulted over the wheelchair, and called out to Chuck, "I'll go after him. Stay with Annie, Chuck. Casey will kill you if you leave her now."
Chuck called out to the nurses at the station and several came to help him get Annie back into the chair. "Chuck, you got to get a hold of John!" Annie kept her head in it all, and knew Casey needed some advance warning.
Chuck swiftly dialed the number and as Ellie came to stand guard over Ellie, he began to go down the stairwell. "Casey, he struck. You were right. No, no, she's fine but he's coming after you. Sarah should be there, and I'm 30 seconds out now." His long legs jumped several steps and as he came out on the 8th floor, he raced swiftly down the hallway. He came to a quick stop, his tranq gun locked and loaded. Sarah, too, had her gun drawn, the red target sight flashing on Casey's chest.
The assassin had Casey, his hospital gown flapping in the wind, in a choke hold, and the hyperdermic needle was over the agent's jugular. "Step back, if you don't want me to plunge this into your precious Casey." The hatred in the man's voice was deep seated and he tightened his hold. Casey began to choke, his arms trying frantically to pull the arm away. Casey brought his arm down to try and punch into the man's abdomen, but the assassin was quicker and plunged the needle in partially. Casey gasped, and began to fall to the floor. It was just then that a shot was heard from behind the assassin, and the killer fell forward over the N.S.A.'s body, the bullet hole perfectly centered in back of the man's head.
The N.S.A. Agent pulled the needle out and slowly tried to get up. Gasping for breath, he eyed the man, barely standing in his suit clothes, wobbling slightly at the open door to Casey's room. "John, did you have to wait that long to shoot, man?"
"Chad, you are SO going to do several rounds of defensive tactical hand to hand with me in the next few weeks." John Casey grunted at his hospital gown garbed brother, and then laughed. "By the way, Chad, your butt's showing."
Epilogue
The rewedding was a small affair, conducted by General Buckman at the pastor's church up in the Pacific Northwest. Chuck, Morgan and Devon stood at Casey's side as he waited nervously for the entrance of his wife. After Ellie, Sarah, and Alex came down the aisle, the Wedding March began and Annie entered on the arm of Chad Shelton. Proudly, Casey's brother escorted her and solemnly reached out to shake the hand of Casey. In a display of rare affection, Casey hugged his younger sibling and whispered, "thanks brother, for saving my life." Chad clapped him on the back and growled affectionately back, "Again, bro, again. How many times has it been?" He then smiled and sat down at the front pew to watch the rest of the revows with the small audience. Because of heightened security, the wedding was not opened to the public but Casey and Annie were having a reception in their home for the wedding party and the church members. As the day wound down, Casey and his wife shared many laughs with their friends, and the last ones to leave were Ellie and Devon.
"John and Annie, we are so happy and proud for you two. We want you to know something." Ellie began as she passed a gift bag to Annie.
"Yeah, General Beckman has offered to hire us both on full time at the N.S.A. Hospital. I won't have to pretend stuff any more to Ellie." Devon interrupted and shook Casey's hand.
"When did you ever successfully pretend, idiot?" Casey laughed, and nodded his head. "You two will be very good for us all, and I'm glad she went and offered you the positions. We will be returning soon to Burbank, but I need some down time with my renewed wife."
The Woodcombs said their goodbyes and Casey turned to his wife, who now was showing the baby bump of their preborn infant. His eyes darkened at the sight of his beautiful woman, and he reached for her, inhaling the delicious smell of her peach scent.
"God in heaven, thank you. What have I ever done to deserve this?" Casey murmured prayerfully and kissed his wife's lips, gently propelling her toward the bedroom they never had used yet as a married couple. She began to laugh at his lips and turning, she sprinted forward into the room, taking the gift from Ellie with her. This time she didn't close the door, but called him in, watching him strip as the closer he got. Just then the package from Devon and Ellie tipped its contents out onto the bed's comforter. When John got sight of it, he began to actually snicker and then wholeheartedly laugh.
There on the bed were two items: a little blue binkie and a pink baby bonnet.
The End
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