Jude returns to the room 10 minutes later.
"I have them," he says, taking the vials of morphine out of his pocket and displaying them to Kala in his hand. "I even brought you a needle." He shows her a syringe in its sterile package.
The pain had been too much.
Sun lies against the pillows, in Kala's body, a look of intense concentration on her face. It is already lights out at the prison, and she knows how to manage pain. Kala lies beside her on the bed, weak, recovering her composure.
Sun and Kala turn their attention to Jude.
"Thank you," Sun says gratefully. She looks around. "No nurses?"
"I came across two in this wing," Jude frowns, pocketing his cache. "I asked them why no one came although the heart monitor was showing your distress. They said it is symptomatic of your special condition, and told me not to worry. If you need something, you call for help. That is what they were told. They seem surprised it wasn't explained to me."
"Who told them that?" asks Sun.
"The new doctor in charge tonight, and the head nurse." He shrugs. "As I thought: shift change. They're following protocol from the damned medical order, but I don't think they're with BPO. The nurses talked about them like they've been here awhile."
Sun frowns but otherwise concentrates on inhaling and exhaling to power through the worst of the pain. She eyes Jude with less wariness, although she still doesn't believe in fully disclosing information relative to their Cluster.
Jude notes the whiteness along her mouth, suggests an alternative pain killer, one that probably won't interfere with her connection. But Sun shakes her head. "I'm fine," she says, right before Kala places a gentle hand on her shoulder, returns to her body despite Sun's disapproval. "I don't want to take anything until I assure them I'm making a clear-headed decision," she tells Jude.
He nods, gets up to pace again. "And thank you," Kala murmurs to Sun.
Doctor Shah visits them not 5 minutes later, accompanied by a resident and two nurses. Dr. Shah is relatively young, condescending. He has the resident take the assessment before telling Kala that she will be transferred elsewhere for further treatment.
She shakes her head. "No," she says firmly. "I refuse treatment elsewhere."
The resident looks nervously at Dr. Shah; the nurses grimace and exchange glances.
"Kala," says the doctor with a weary sigh, as if expecting her childish reticence, "your test results show you require treatment that we are not equipped to provide. There's a standing medical order-"
"Is it the aberration in frontal lobe activity from the EEG, and the dimethyltryptamine results from my body?" Kala watches, impressed, from the farthest corner of the room as Lito takes over, outraged and somehow managing to also look doctor is visibly taken aback by Lito's vehemence, and Lito presses forward: "I never should have agreed to be a subject in that ridiculous study. A bunch of charlatans those people are!"
Jude sits up a little, eyes her closely: Kala's mannerisms, the way she gesticulates with her hands, the cadence of her speech...
"Now they follow me everywhere!" Lito says, indignant. "I signed one little piece of paper, and they think they own me: They plague me when I need treatment for anything!" Lito gives a sudden hiss, struggles to control the pain. "Well," he continues after a moment, "if my choices are to be released to those researchers or go home, you'd better release me now. I refuse to go with them. And I don't care if I die instead!"
Kala cringes a little from the corner.
Jude peers closely. The doctor blusters his objection and consults with his entourage. Lito catches Jude staring hard and winks.
Dr. Shah returns his attention to Kala, a look of deep concern on his face. "I don't know what to tell you," he says. "I agreed to release you to the care of -"
"Those con men?" Jude interrupts, noticing the sudden tightness to Kala's mouth. Whomever is in her body is also feeling the very real pain she endures. Jude rises from his seat, his large frame causing Dr. Shah to step back involuntarily. "My fiancé has suffered enough from their experiments, all because of some benign aberrations. You may keep her here, or you release her to go home. She doesn't give her consent for any other treatment. And if you try, I will complain to every agency available."
Dr. Shah looks stymied. The resident stammers weakly that Dr. Ben had some questions about the order; Dr. Shah shakes his head. "I guess we can explain it to your doctor," he says uncertainly to Kala.
"He is not my doctor," Lito says emphatically.
Dr. Shah murmurs something and exits the room with the resident and nurses. They speak animatedly on the way out.
Jude looks at Kala curiously. Lito smiles beatifically back. "Chistoso," says Lito, before another bout of pain causes him to clench his fists. He glances apologetically at Kala - "Lo siento, hermana" - before he return her body to her.
"Are you sure you're ok?" Jude asks.
Kala nods. "Yes." She smiles faintly. "I feel like a tennis ball, but that went well."
"Yes," he agrees, slightly confused. "Your Cluster?"
Kala nods. "And we have some time before the men arrive." Nomi carefully disrupts traffic along the path of the ambulance: The siren is useless if the vehicle can't get around suddenly chaotic intersections, and Nomi updates the progress of the ambulance. "I'm not sure how much time, but hopefully enough for Wolfgang's people."
This news...Kala suppresses the terror it causes. She is petrified that Wolfgang bargained for the use of Viktor's men, and she is chilled by what that means.
But one step at a time.
Jude nods, takes the information in stride although he fidgets a little. At least, Kala reminds herself, Whispers is nowhere near; that he is in fact heading to Moscow first. She suspects that whatever plan Nomi mentioned involves Moscow, but is afraid that knowing will only make her an even greater risk to the Cluster if she's taken.
A nurse comes with Kala's dinner. It's a liquid meal of soup and biscuits, and Kala tries to eat, but is in too much pain to consume the light meal. The nurse offers her morphine or an alternative mixed narcotic, both of which Kala rejects. The nurse purses her lips together and shrugs.
When Whispers' men finally arrive with Dr. Shah, there's almost a sense of relief in thinking her moment has come: Kala has wasted too much time imaging it happen.
Kala vaguely recognizes them; the beefier of the two had been the one to administer the fluids in the ambulance. The men roll an odd looking gurney with them. Jude rises protectively from his seat beside her, pauses and thrusts his hands into his pockets.
Wolfgang stands on the other side of Kala, as does Sun who looks at him with an enigmatic stare. It is Sun's breathing, her focus that Kala channels, even as Kala holds Wolfgang's hand for support. Lito is at the corner Kala occupied earlier, watching, ready to intervene if necessary.
"Kala, I've been advised that your aberrations are potentially life-threatening," Dr. Shah tells her. He sounds simultaneously upset and alarmed. "Your brain scan-"
"Shows a merging of the hemispheres," Kala finishes. It had worked for Lito to go on the offensive. "I still refuse. I'll sign whatever you want to release this hospital from liability, but I'm not leaving with them."
"I'm afraid you must." Dr. Shah shakes his head at the series of unfortunate coincidences: "We have a very capable chief neurosurgeon, but he called in very ill today, and there's no facility nearby that I am aware of that can look at your case, let alone resolve this. You need an operation immediately, I can't stress enough how dire your situation is."
"She has no wish to leave with them." Jude's voice is firm. He reaches and holds Kala's hand, effortlessly sliding the syringe and two morphine vials to her. "We can wait until your neurosurgeon is back and get a second opinion."
"There's no time for that." The technician glances at his partner, looks over at Dr. Shah. "We're ordered to fly her back to Mumbai. There's a special medical flight chartered to take her. If you look at the standing order, you'll see that it authorizes us to remove her for her own health and safety."
"If she's not lucid," Jude interjects. "Which she obviously is."
The second technician moves to the other side of her bed, dragging the gurney, pausing just outside of Wolfgang's and Sun's space. "The very fact that her brain is merging hemispheres calls into question any kind of lucidity," Dr. Shah murmurs, scanning a document that is likely the order in question.
"Exactly," says the first technician. He approaches the bed, but Jude refuses to move from Kala's side.
"I refuse," she says steadily.
Dr. Shah grimaces, looks from Jude to Kala to the order in his hand. "This is highly unorthodox," he says, aggrieved. He frowns at the technicians. "I'll be back in a moment. Let me make some calls," he says, exiting the room. "Don't do anything until I return."
The technician frowns at Jude. He's just as large and not intimidated. "Sir," he says quietly, dropping pretense, "I don't give a shit who you are. You need to let us take her, or this will not go well with you."
"No." It's Jude who says it, but Kala blinks in some confusion. She can feel Wolfgang's controlled rage: it bleeds into her, and maybe Jude, she thinks.
The technician looks at his partner on the other side of Kala. His partner prepares a needle.
"Touch me and I will scream!" says Kala angrily, releasing Wolfgang's hand to move her arm as far away from the partner as the IV line permits.
Wolfgang's eyes narrow; he gives a satisfied grunt. "They're here," he says.
The door opens and closes with a quiet click. There is a moment of silence as they take in the two men.
"Madam," says a slender gentleman in a crisp gray suit. Tattoos are visibly peeking from under the collar of a white linen shirt and on his hands; his larger partner is similarly dressed, similarly tattooed. He takes a quick sweep of the room. "Might we be of service?" His English is rough, heavily accented.
"Yes," says Kala, relief - relief, she thinks, ironically - flooding her. "Yes, please! Thank you!"
The technicians eye each other. The larger one with the needle finishes his prep, reaches for Kala.
Jude reaches across the bed and grabs his hand, stays him. Wolfgang's face looks furious; it's with some curiosity that Kala thinks his arm and Jude's have merged.
"Don't, Brother," advises the slender Russian to the technician with the needle, his tone grim. "Do not touch the lady."
"That one has a gun," Sun observes calmly, nodding in the direction of the technician by Jude. Kala notices what looks like the outline of a handle peeking from an inside pocket. "And so does he." Sun tilts her chin at the slender Russian. For one horrifying moment, Kala wonders if they're both about to pull a gun.
Instead, there's only a tense, eerie silence while the men size each other up. The man with the needle wrests his arm away from Jude but doesn't try to reach for Kala again.
"Don't get involved in things that don't concern you," the technician tells Viktor's men. "You have no idea."
The slender Russian shrugs. "It matters to the one who sent us. So it's our concern too," he says evenly. Kala finds that she again grips Wolfgang's hand. The technicians exchange tense looks.
Dr. Shah enters with his resident behind him. Two large, very capable, and armed, security guards are there as well, and Kala is reminded that for all its idyllic location, this hospital is used to dealing with drug problems and their ancillary issues.
"And who are these gentlemen?" Dr. Shah asks, suspicious.
There's a brief pause: "Family," says Jude. "I called them here."
"Indeed." Dr. Shah stares hard. "How did you get in?" he asks.
The slender Russian shrugs. "They let us," he says simply.
Dr. Shah shakes his head, disbelieving, but too preoccupied with the situation at hand to make more issues. "I've spoken with Dr. Ben, who performed your surgery," he tells Kala. "He doesn't want to release you tonight. He is taking the drainage tube out tomorrow morning, and he wants to see how you do. He also seems a little suspicious of the brain scan, how that wasn't noted in your order." Dr. Shah turns his attention to the technicians. "I'm sorry, but we're concerned that we meet the express instructions of our patients. You may have Dr. Matheson contact me directly."
The technicians stand, uncertain.
"Were you about to give my patient some medication?" Dr. Shah suddenly notices, his voice outraged. He gestures to the security guards who flank the man hovering over Kala. The Russians smirk back.
The technicians back away from the bed, the gurney following noiselessly behind.
"Dr. Matheson will call," promises the first technician. "We'll be back."
"I hope he does," says Dr. Shah darkly. "I have some words for him myself." He waits, following behind with the resident, security guards escorting the techs.
"Joder," exhales Lito. He shakes his head in disbelief.
There's a collective relief that escapes from the Cluster: Even Jude feels the lightness in tension. "I don't trust they won't try something later," he says uneasily.
"Neither do I," agrees Wolfgang.
"Nor I," says Sun.
"We stay with you tonight, Madam," says the slender Russian. "Until you leave the hospital."
Kala presses her lips firmly and nods her head; Jude does as well. "Whose orders?" she asks the Russians quietly.
"Kala." Wolfgang grips her hand.
The Russians give her an amused look, take up spots at the door and on the seat by her bed,vacated by Jude. "Vor," says the slender one.
Kala's brows furrow, and she steals a glance at Wolfgang. He stares back.
She lays against her pillows, tired, and gestures to Jude with her other hand. He surreptitiously takes the drugs and syringe from her, puts them back in his pocket.
"Are you sure?" he asks for the 100th time, and Kala smiles faintly.
"Yes," she answers. She can't have a conversation now, in the presence of the Russians, but she looks up at Wolfgang. "And I understand," she says, "but we will talk when this is all over." Her worried eyes soften as they look at him.
Wolfgang nods.
…
Wolfgang stands calmly next to Will, occupying his body, prostrate on a rooftop in Moscow. Will is peering through the scope of a sniper rifle at the people on a balcony some distance away.
Wolfgang's mind drifts a little to the hospital where Kala is recovering, her drainage tube removed hours ago. She'd taken aspirin to dull her pain so she could sleep last night, but it hadn't been enough. This morning she'd finally taken morphine and was still intermittently sleeping off the effects. The Cluster was again down one of its eight. But before she'd broken contact, she'd told Jude somewhat blearily that she loved Wolfgang, much to the confusion of the nurses. Wolfgang smiles at the memory. He'd been present, beside Jude.
Whispers had been furious at yet another unexpected complication. He'd exchanged angry words with Dr. Shah. He would have foregone the layover in Moscow if he could have avoided it, but his patron was eager to show him off to another potential investor.
"Are you sure he can't tell?" Wolfgang asks Will.
Will pauses, tentatively feeling the tether linking him to Whispers: Whispers doesn't register that his connection to Will is being decoyed. "About as sure as I can be, buddy. Your hot aunt is keeping him busy."
Wolfgang gives a faint huff. He's silent for just a second. "You're sure you can do this?" he asks. "It's been awhile."
Will lets out an annoyed grunt. "Dude, I'm good."
Nomi stands beside Will. "Your ten minute window is closing," she reminds them, as if either needed the reminding. In an apartment in the Hebrides, Riley sits beside Will, ready with a shot of the stronger serum in case Whispers breaks through. With Matheson actively engaged in conversation, they doubt he'll try anything, but once he feels the serum wearing off…
"Six minutes left." Wolfgang looks down at his watch. "As soon as you have a clean shot, just do it."
"I will."
Two other people are with Anna and Whispers on the balcony. A man in a black jacket, jeans, stands very close to Matheson. Too close.
"Fuck."
Anna talks animatedly to Matheson, subtly maneuvering him so he is apart from the small group. She says something to one of the men and he leaves the balcony.
Anna is left with Matheson and the man in the black jacket.
The gentleman never moves far, and he blocks a clear shot. Anna talks to both of them.
"Fuck."
"Two minutes." Riley is anxious; they're really not certain how long the serum can mimic the connection. Ten minutes was the point where Whispers was always at the edge of their consciousness, and they didn't have the courage to wait longer. "You need to take the shot."
"I don't know what the fuck Anna is doing. Why doesn't she get rid of him?" Frustration sets into Will's voice. "Black Jacket isn't going anywhere. He keeps moving with them."
"Wait. . . Right there." Wolfgang tenses.
Will notices, too: an opening. The man in the jacket hangs back at something Anna says. Matheson partially turns away and leans a little against the rail.
Will pulls the trigger.
It is eerily quiet for a shot: The "pop" of the discharge hardly registers. Will's right shoulder kicks back a little, absorbing the repercussion, and Wolfgang feels it in his right shoulder, too. It reverberates among the Cluster.
And even as he feels the kick, Wolfgang sees Tyotya Anna grab Black Jacket by his lapels to stand beside Matheson.
Just in time for the bullet to fatally hit Black Jacket, grazing Dr. Matheson's chin.
"Fuck! What the fuck!"
Whispers looks surprised.
Whether from the assassination he just witnessed, or because Anna steps forward to calmly shove him over the rail of the balcony, falling 25 floors into a Moscow street, Wolfgang can't tell.
In his head he can feel the collective shock of the Cluster. His own heart is racing.
But Wolfgang blocks it all out. He's back in his body, packing his materials quickly and making his escape.
A/N: This chapter is edited for content; I apologize to anyone who read this earlier who found the material stronger than expected.
And this chapter's curse word of the day comes from Miguel Angel Silvestre, via Instagram :-) Gracias, Miguel!
Thank you for reading! And as always, reviews are much appreciated.