THE DOCTOR
Suburb of Stuttgart, Germany
1:00 PM
Rehabilitation and recovery centre St. Michael belongs to the US Army
"So it is decided. That patient is yours. "
Speaking of which, the honorable director, Frank Miller, bent and signed his name on the transfer form. He was a sixty-two-year-old man with a bald head, sagging chin and black eyes like a rat's eye, always deliberately speaking quickly and acting hastily to avoid of being considered to be old and lazy.
"Done. Sign your name here. "
Miller pushed the application to his subordinate, William Moore. William was only in his forties, athletic looking, tanned skin like the Greeks, the result of a good old day playing football for his medical shcool then swimming, a new hobby William had to get used to after he broke his knee in the football match between Brown and Hayden in 1995. He was an tall, strong and nice-looking male medical student, and today he was an elegant and charming middle-aged doctor who received a lot of favor from women under fifty. Things hadnt changed much, William thought.
"Why are you insisting that I should be in charge of this patient?" William signed his name on the application "Is there anything special about him?"
"Not really. It's just he cause less trouble than other patients than you had ever treated." Director Miller rubbed his ugly chin. "After what happen between you and Laura, I think it's best for you to start slowly. "
An elegant and charming doctor didn't always mean a perfect husband. His wife always knew that and when he tried to be perfect, things got worse and worse. The crack in the dam had appeared many years ago but somehow he did not notice it and when the cataclysm came, his marriage was swept away in the muddy water. Whose fault was it William did not know, but he only hoped that Laura did not look at him with eyes that seemed to say:
"Don't be sad, honey. It's not your fault, it's just the end of us. "
"I'm alright" He tried to sound refreshed "I don't need special treatment, Chief."
"You are the most experienced doctor here and a good friend of mine. I don't want to exhaust you. As I said, please take it easy. "
It was strange that those words come from a man like you and especially they are for a man like me, William thought.
"Who is currently taking care of this… Beck Fraser?" He asked, "I need to talk to him."
"She" Director Miller corrected him "And I had called her up here to have a chat with you."
There was a knock on the door, William turned around to see a familiar figure standing behind the opaque glass. A sad smile appeared on his lip as he blamed himself for not figuring out earlier.
"Come in, Emma," The Director called out "Come in."
William got up from the chair when Emily came in, a gesture that gentlemen used to do in front of ladies like telling them that they were being respected. Sometimes, in a silly and wishful thinking, he wondered if he did the same to Laura, would their marriage be saved?
"Will, I'm sorry." The woman gently took his hand, There was sadness lurking in her brown eyes "Are you alright? Should you take more day off?"
"I'm fine, Emma." He smiled weakly "Getting back to work is much better than vacation. You know I don't like traveling right?"
" Yeah, you're right." Emma nodded and put his hand down, then she looked over at her man with affection. "How is your day, darling?"
"It can't be better," Frank Miller reach out his hand for her. "Come here, my love."
The woman walked over and kissed the director's glossy forehead, making him giggled. A normal person would be a bit embarrassed by such a scene, but William did not think the couple dared to do so in front of anyone but longtime employees like him. Emily was only half the age of Frank and when they got married, many people joked that Frank should have taken Emily to the church not her father. Of course Frank didn't know anything about that mean joke, but William wasn't sure about his wife. Women often have their own secrets and he had learn this painful leason with Laura.
"William needs to know something about the patient in room number 8." Frank kissed the young wife's hand. "You had done very good job but let Will take care of the rest."
"I understand." Emma adjusted her collar and said, "Patient's names is Beck Fraser, thirty-three years old, has several serious injuries to his face and head with many burns that we haven't yet removed the bandage, his right hand is also heavy burned but healed in time. He was transferred here about two month ago and has a memory loss. "
"But there is no serious brain damage" William mused, "Psychogenic amnesia? Post-traumatic stress disorder? "
"The medical file does not record any other lesions in the head area, so it is probably Psychogenic amnesia. Short term memory loss at best. I have prescribed sedation and pain relief for him in three week, as well as encouraging him to interact with people here, but so far no progress has been made. Sometime he did seemed to remember a thing or two but they are just flash in his mind and weird dream."
"Bringing him back home with his family would be be better." He said, "Moving him to a hospital near where his family lives would be best, those burns need to be taken care of anyway."
"We cant , William." She shook her head. "He doesn't have anyone."
"What do you mean he doesn't have anyone?"
"His profile never mentioned any relatives, including his parents. I only found one phone number written on it but couldn't make contact. I also tried to call anyone I know, even the Pentagon to verify it but they said that phone number does not exist. "
William could smell the trouble I was going to face. He had helped young people who lost their legs and arms to reintegrate into the community, showing those who suffer from paranoia that fear only existed in their heads, or recently convinced husbands to choose to spend night with their wives on the bed instead of a newly dug hole in the garden. All of that was, technically ,difficult, but William was a good doctor. Until now, he had never tasted defeat, even if the patient had schizophrenia. However, even a good doctor did not want to test his talent on an amnesia patient without a single relative. The ghost without past, that was the word for man like him and. If there was nothing to link Fraser to the previous life of his, the chances of him entirely forgetting all of it weren't small.
Yet he told me to start slowly
"I will need more information about this patient. Let's start with the unit he serves, his best friends in the army, his commanding officer, Facebook account, youtube channel, whatever as long as it tells us who Beck Fraser is. "
"Perhaps you should go to Hannah." The lovely wife suggested, "I have taken all the military files, medical records and other relevant documents to her. You will find what you need there but if you still have questions, just give me a call. "
"Thank you, Emma. You helped me too much." William smiled wryly." But there is one thing I am still not clear of. Earlier, Frank told me that he was less likely to cause trouble than others. What does it mean specifically? "
"Ah, um ... Let's see." Emma hesitated. "He was a little more quiet than most of people i treat. Just like to be alone, sometimes I found him sitting motionless and staring into empty space or a wall. From my observeation during last few weeks, Fraser is a type of person who is not sociable but also does not appear to be violent or easily agitated. "
It could be a manifestation of obsessive-compulsive disorder but William would make make a diagnosis based on speculation , he needed to directly check Beck Fraser.
"Thank you, Emma." He hurriedly stood up. "I'll get to work now, good day Frank."
"Remember to take your time my friend" Frank Miller reminded him. "Or I will give more day off."
Outside, it was wet and cold. The autumn in Germany was as cold and damp as in America, only the autumn here had a very specific nuance of Central Europe. The first fallen leaves of the autumn would begin to decompose and emit an unpleasant moldy smell after a heavy rainy week. It was unfortunate for William because the hospital was next to the edge of the forest, so at this time of the year, he always prayed for the winter to come a little earlier. He did not like this rotten smell, it gave him the feeling that the world around him was also rotten and dying.
Like the marriage of the two of us. He bitterly though. I should have noiticed the signs a long time ago but somehow I didn't.
Correcting the gray scarf on his neck, William walked down the empty hallway leading to the east of the hospital. About fifty meters away from him, on the courtyard for sunbathing and outdoors activity, a group of patients was playing the badminton. The doctor immediately recognized two people in the group. Dixon, a Marines who had one arm cut off by a old soviet mine, was trying to use his other arm to defend against weak attacks from Simon Perez, a Lieutenant lost both of his feet and half his face by a roadside bomb in Iraq. There were about ten people gathered around them but none looked like even interested at the game. Not because the performance was so bad that made them bored to death but because no one, not even two players, really wanted to play it. Frank always believed that "violent" sports would have unpleasant effect on recovery of patients and what was before William was the Director's typical example of a non violent sport..
Maybe I will build a basketball hoop pole in the middle of the yard for them. It would help their morale.
At the end of the corridor was a crossroad. On his right was the hallway that would lead him to the archive, while on the left was the inpatient care area. Without hesitation, William decided to turn left. When he was at the Academy, William always proudly told everyone that a thousand pages of documents would not be equal to ten minute of direct examination and the impressive record of the next twenty years was an perfect excuse for him to justify his laziness at reading. Moreover, today he was in no mood to sit in the middle of those dusty documents.
The inpatient care area was an old building built during World War II with Gothic decor and three separate floors. The first floor was arranged for serious injuries with half of patients was still the comma. The second floor was for patients in the recovery phase and the third floor, where Beck Fraser was currently staying was the land of lost souls. And him, Dr. William Moore would be the angle who guide him out of shadow land and rejoin the realm of the living
"Señor Moore?"
A shrill voice rang out as William stood in front of the elevator door. The doctor turned around and saw Salome's stout figure, the Mexican-born nurse with broad shoulders and big arms like men. She liked to call him señor instead of a doctor and often spoke Spanish no-stop when she got excited.
"How is New York Señor?" She gave him a bright welcome smile. "Coming home after a long time, you must be happy."
That meant that his story with Laura had not been revealed to the public yet. A good thing because he did not like people to pity his miserable marriage, a gesture that William used to call a reluctant sympathy for a corpse.
"Cramped, dusty and messy" He pretended to be excited "And it just made me miss you more, Salome"
" Eres tan dulce, Señor" she got overjoyed after hearing that. "Which wind brings you here today?" A patient I guess? "
"Yes, room number 8, third floor."
Salome's face suddenly darkened, her body stiffened, her fingers clenched into her palm and William could see that she was trembling.
"Is it Diabl .. Fraser?" She said very quietly, almost like whispering, "Mr. Beck Fraser is your patient, isn't it?"
"Right. Is there a problem with him? "
"No, nothing "The nurse shook her head." I'm sorry, Seor. I have work to do right away. Good day to you. "
After saying that, Salome hurriedly left and disappeared behind the door of the intensive care room, leaving William standing there with two questions in his mind. The first is how could a big fat woman like her be able to walk so fas in tiny shoes like that, and what the hell was she afraid of? Emma had told Fraser wasn't violent one, and to be honest, the Mexican-born nurse wasn't the kind of maiden fair who went fainted after seeing a single drop of blood to begin with.
"There's only one way to know." William dipped his shoulders and stepped into the elevator.
Room 8 was no different than other rooms on the third floor. One bed, a toilet and a small flower pot on the oak table opposite window facing the edge of the forest. When William walked in, Beck Fraser was sitting next to the table and doing what Emily called " Staring into the empty space unconsciously ".
"Mr. Fraser." William called him softly, as if he was gently waking a sleeping man. "Mr. Fraser."
The man slowly turned around. His face was wrapped in bandages from his forehead to his neck, revealing only a part of his mouth, two eye sockets, and pinch of hair on his head. Fraser's black eyes, like two coal stone, hesitated to look at Wiliiam and he could feel the confusion behind the gauze.
The man needs answers, not questions
"Mr. Fraser. I'm William Moore, your new doctor. "He introduced himself actively and glanced at the empty bed." Can I sit? "
"Y-yes, I don't see why you shouldn't "
The doctor sat down on the bed, his hands intertwined as he leaned forward, trying to be both relax and friendly at the same time. The patient's trust in his doctor was always important during the treatment process but for patients like Beck Fraser it was way more meaningful than usual. His physical condition was completely fine but it was his soul that took heavy damage.
"You must be wondering where Dr. Miller is? Please don't worry, she's still here. Safe and sound, "William assured." I am the replacement for Emily to take care of you , something I should have done from the beginning but because of some unexpected things, I had to let her take on that task while I'm absent. "
The man nodded but said nothing. William smiled wryly.
"I think Dr. Miller have asked you these questions, but due to the requirements of the treatment, I have to bother you to answer them again. First of all, do you remember what your name is?
"Beck Fr-Fraser, I think that's my name." Fraser answered. The bandage wrapped around his mouth and pharynx made his voice sound like a French trying to speak English.
"You are not sure it is your name?"
"Dr. Miller showed me the ... my…milita ..."
"Your military file, right?"
William grimaced and took out a black notebook then wrote a few dead lines on the page:
Patients have difficulty using language. Prepare room D-4 – schedule for futher tests.
"My military file, yes she showed me what was in it." Beck Fraser nodded. "I saw photos of me and my name." Suddenly there was sadness in his voice " The photo of former "me" I assume, I don't think I would look like that under these bandages, doctor."
Shit! He need to distract him to another subject right away or thing could turn badly for him and Fraser.
"You can read?" Willam looked up at him, pretending to be exicted "That's good to hear."
"A little bit but there are a few ... words I can read but don't understand their meaning."
"So do you know what this place is, Mr. Fraser?" William looked around the room. "Do you know where you are right now?"
"A Hospital" He replied
"You understand the concept of hospital or Dr. Miller told you what it is?"
"I know it's the place where they treat those are ill" He said "But Dr. Miller said this place was a special hospital."
"Yes, this is a hospital for United States military personnel and you are a soldier of the United States of America."
Beck Fraser was silent on that information. William continued:
"You were injured on the battlefield and brought here to recover. Burns on your body are gradually healed, but for your memory, we have to to wait and see. Don't worry, they will come back to you soon if treated properly. "
Beck Fraser looked down at his damaged hands which was vover with burns, most of them just newly healed, before lightly touching the bandages wrapping around his face.
"I ... Am I hurt? Th-that's ... how could ... why don't I remember? "
"We'll talk about it later." William didn't want to him push him too hard on the first day "Now, let me know what you had remembered in the past month. Take your time but don't be so hesitated. Whatever you can recall would help me very much. It can be a familiar scene, an object you used, the taste of a dish you once ate or friends you knew in the military. You must have a lot of friends, right Fraser? In my experience, brave soldier like you always have many friends. "
"No." The man answer with the dissapointment about himself and let out a sigh. "I can't remember anything."
"Nothing at all? Are you sure about that Mr. Fraser? You can tell me anything you remembered, don't be shy"
"Nothing" He repressed it again.
William set aside his notebook and walked up to where his paitent sat. He knew that he needed to be Beck Fraser's friend in these four walls, at least until he remembered his real friends of his.
"It's okay, Beck. Could I call you that?" He put a hand on Beck's shoulder and received a nod. "I think it is enough for today, you did well. Tomorrow, I will come to get you to do some tests and you will feel better. Now you should rest "
But when William was about to leave, Beck Fraser looked up at him again. Strangely, his sleepy eyes looked more alert than ever before. The doctor felt intense emotions dancing in them, emotions that even their own master could not understand.
"I saw something." He suddenly grabbed William's shirt and startled him. "In a dream, I saw a woman."
"A woman?" Surprised William "You saw your girlfriend in your dream?"
"No, she wasn't! And she wasnt really a woman either, she was like a girl. She stood there in a red dress with a heavy and long thing in her hand. I thought it was a weapon but somehow she held it as easily as she was holding a toy. She stood in the moonlight as if waiting for someone. Then she looked up at the sky and she smiled. I saw her laughing under the moonlight, Doctor "
"A red-dressed girl smiles in the moonlight?" William pretended to be surprised. He had seen more crazy things than this. "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier?"
"You just asked me if I remembered any friends of mine, doctor." Beck Fraser answered, "I don't know who she is but I have a feeling that she's not my friend."
.
William returned home at midnight with a stack of papers and an empty stomach. After leaving Room 8, he locked himself for hours in the archives, reread pages after pages about Beck Fraser in hopes of finding something useful before paying a visist to the library - something he rarely done for twenty years - then brought back a stack of reference books. The younger self of him would surely grimace at such things but now was not the time for personal ego to hinder the work.
A man should not live forever with past.
The Doctor told himself so as he put his foot on the steps of the small suburban home and noticed something unusual. Indoor lights were still on.
William lived alone and never forgot to turn off the light when going out. With inherent caution, he placed his hand on the doorknob and turned it gently.
Door is not locked
Inside, a greasy aroma wafted in the air. William flustered as he reached for the baseball bat next to the door.
SCRASH!
There was a sound of glass breaking. The doctor immediately ran to the kitchen, where the sound came from and it was there, he caught the intruder.
"Good evening, Willie." The intruder - the woman - looked up at him, fragments of porcelain lying near her black high heel. She smiled and asked tenderly "Are you going to help me making the cake with that thing?"
"Good God, Emma!" He cried out loud, the bat in his hand fell to the ground. "You scared the shit out of me."
"You act as if this was the first time." She folded her arms, pretending to be angry. "I have a your house's key, remember dear?"
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Cooking dinner for you" Said Emily "What else can I do? I saw you sitting in your office all day long and suddenly I remember you said you never liked the food at the hospital. "
"That's not what I mean. Where is Frank? "
"In Munich, another golf session for hospital directors, I don't know for sure. He received a call in the afternoon the went off "The woman replied nonchalantly and bent down to open the refrigerator door." Do you have Whiskey? It's all red wine on the cabinet. "
"Second compartment on the right."
Depressed William loosened the tie on his neck and sat down on the chair.
The couple had a night meal with omelette, ham, salad and ending with dessert on his bed. Emily's lips had a taste of apple whiskey and her skin smelled of white plum blossoms, just like the first time they hugged each other on this bed. But no tears. She had cried wet his bare shoulder when they first made love, but he was unsure whether it was tears of sadness or happiness.
They came together about a year ago, without a promise or explanation. Emily didnt like to mention them and he was afraid to ask. But there was one occasion, William gathered all of his courage and touched his hand on the surface of the lake then received an answer:
I don't know why I marry Frank anymore. Ten years ago, I was just a stray cat who needed a house and maybe because of that, I accepted his proposal. The Miller children are very cute and they need a mother so I decided to stay. Frank is a good man in his own way and that's why I waited until now to get into your bed. Do you think it is love or merely admiration plus convenience? Those at my wedding seem to prefer the latter.
William did not have an answer to that but he should have asked her whether the thing they were doing was love.
"What are you thinking?"
Emily rested her head on William's chest, her body naked beneath the thin blanket. Her hand slid down his lower body and made his manhood harden. They had had sex twice during the night and William thought he still had the strength required for the third.
"My patient." He lied.
"God!" She chuckled. "Do you really want to talk about it now?"
"I'm a doctor and Beck Fraser is an interesting case. Medically, of course, I found interest in talking about him. "
"If you think I am interested in ghost stories, then you are dead wrong."
"Ghost story?" He was surprised. "You mean the girl in red? Well, I admit it is a bit weird but that's not a ghost story. "
"Salome thought otherwise." She said, "She doesn't dare to get close to room 8 by ten steps after I told her what Beck dreamed of every night"
She was afraid because of a story coming from a person who couldn't remember her name.
William drew a long line on his lover's bare back with his finger, making her moan softly. "Actually what made you notice Fraser's condition, didn't you see it?" For a person with dementia due to psychological shock, he is unusually conscious, don't you think? "
"Sometimes it's because people deliberately forget it, Will." Her voice was a little sad. "If you were Beck, would you like to recall the time before, when there was nothing for you outside of lonliness and horrors? Maybe this is a little contrary to professional ethics, but I really don't want you to cure the poor man at all. "
"Then I am going to be disappointed." He laughed haughtily. "As I remember, I am still the best doctor here and it will be a long time before that title belongs to you."
Emily lightly pinched his thigh. "Arrogant prick."
The doctor turned to lie on his lover, clutching his small breast, his lower body was as hard as possible.
William is ready for the third time.
"Isn't that one of my lovely part, Emma? I'm arrogant, but I'm fair and if I help you to bring Fraser to Dr. Hood's place tomorrow, I'll give you a present now. "
"Hood?" Emily was surprised. "What are you going to do?"
"Nothing serious" He assured her "There's just one thing I need to clarify"
Then their lips pressed against each other, a storm of emotion broke out and swept them to the sea of lust. William was not sure what happened next, except that he collapsed like a tree after being satisfied and quickly fell asleep. It was morning, he woke up alone in bed. Emily had left his arms and arrived at the hospital as usual. A good habit when they didn't want to be seen showing up together too often.
That day, William came to work very late, and his body ached as if he had just participated in a marathon race. Standing in front of the mirror in the hospital's toilet, with dark circles formed around his eyes and a silver strands appeared near the temple, the doctor could only let out a sigh:
"I'm getting old for this."
At the age of forty, physically he wouldn't be considered to be old but when the mind had begun to get tired due to wounds of past and worries of the future, people always felt like they were older than their real age. Doctors call this the beginning of the middlelife crisis, which William was so desperated that he had to pray to the Lord so that I wouldn't experience. It would be a nightmare if he had to enter the counseling room as a patient. .
After washing and drying the face with a towel, the doctor felt a little more sober, he quickly left the bathroom and headed to the archive area. The first thing today was to meet Hannah to receive the materials he had requested from Department of Defense. William was forced to annoy some people in Washington when he couldn't find anything useful about Beck Fraser in the hospital's useless file. More than two-thirds of the pages that recorded his activity in Afghanistan were blacked out while the rest if wasnt medical records were PAX1 bills.
They act as if everyone was somekind of Jason Bourne or top serect agent and it pissed him off to no end. Since the last year information leakage at the Pentagon, security on accessing to information had been pushed to another new level just like everytime when there was a leak. No one really knew how effective these messures were but William only sees all the troubles they brought to him.
"Hello, Hannah." He knocked on the half-closed door in front of her room. "Can I come in?"
"Yes, of course, Dr. Moore." The woman in charge of the Archive politely nodded her head.
Hannah was a petite black-haired girl who was only twenty-six years old, slightly indifferent and quiet. In the past, she worked at the hospital's administrative room while the manager of the archive at that time was Forester , an old man with chronic joint pain who had just retired two years ago. Frank said that letting a person who less likely sticked her nose into other's stuff like Hannah to befriend with dusty document was a very reasonable decision and up to now, the Director's employing theory still proved it worth. William had never heard any complaints about her from anyone.
"The file I requested has arrived, hasn't it?"
Hannah gave him a puzzled look, "I has Doctor Moore, but ..."
"But what?"
The woman in charge of the Archive did not answer. She took a sheet of paper from the drawer and placed it on the table.
"When I called them under your authority, they just faxed me this."
William picked up the paper to read it and gasped in surprise. "What is this?"
"I don't know, Dr. Moore."
That wasn't the kind of paper they love to send when denying his request nor approving it. There was no doubt that paper was sent from the Department of Defense cause the seals were hard to fake but why the hell they send this thing to him?
001 434 334672
There was only a series of number looked like phone number written on the paper. Beside it, nothing else.
Code of Virginia?
"Have you called this number yet?"
"Of course not, Dr. Moore," Hannah seemed to be offended by that "It's for you."
"Please forgive me, Hannah." He quickly apologized, totally amazed at how sensitive the woman was "Thank you very much."
William left the storage room in confusion. He had been accustomed to DOD's reluctance to cooperate for many years but this was the first time they confused him. Why did they send this number without explaining a word? Even if this was phone number of the orphanage where Fraser grew up, at least there must be a few pharses explaining what was going on here . Things were weird at the beginning but now they were starting to go off the tracks so William saw the need to consult a higher authority.
His thoughts were interrupted by Emily. William met her on the stoney path ran throught the small garden that led to the director's room, where it was inadvertently the place they met most beside his comfy bed.
"William!" She called his name and walked over. "What's wrong?" Did you come to find Frank? "
"He's not back yet?"
She shook her head and laughed. "He wont be here for a few days, you know how my husband loves that fancy sport. But what's it? Something wrong? "
William then told the story to his lover, starting from the shortcomings of Beck Fraser's file to the strange fax.
"Can you believe it? They just sent me this. "He handed the paper to Emily.
"That's strange." She bit her lip. "This is the phone number in the file I saw before."
"Impossible? Are you sure? "
"Sure." Emily asserted. "I've called this number dozens of times already, this is the same one. If you don't believe me, just check it out yourselves. "
But William could not do that. He left all the file at home while driving to the hospital with a mouth full of sandwich . Many times he regretted having slept with Emily, possibly due to guilt he feltof betraying Laura and stabbing Frank in the back, but he had never been resentful to his penis like this time.
"Okay, I trust you." He surrendered his hands. "Forget it, how's Fraser?"
"Being with Hood, he wants a general check so it'll be longer than I expected." The woman suddenly gave a meaningful smile, her hand gently stroking his collar. "What should we do until that, my dear William? "
"I'll return to my room and wait."
William answered and tried to get out of there immediately. If he lingered, he didn't think he could resist the her charm. The arrogance of a man always convinced William that Emily fell to him because of his masculinity, but the reality showed the opposite. She was the one who was in charge of this relationship.
Returning to the private office, the Doctor only had one thing to do while his patient and the Director were not available.
"Let hope I'm lucky this time." He grunted as he pick up the receiver. Honestly, William was among the most unlucky gambler in the world, but that couldn't stop him burning money into roulette whenever he came to Vegas, so why it would now?
Topple ... Little ... Little
There was signal on the other side of the line! Did Emily miss it? He thought briefly and continued to wait. After about ten second, it was true that someone picked up the phone. A strong, male voice like two metal bars collided with each other answering him.
"This is Colonel Hart Sayer."
Sayer? I seemed like He had heard this name somewhere already.
"Good morning Colonel. I am William Moore, "He politely introduced himself:" Doctor of Rehabilitation and recovery centre St. Michael in Germany. "
"Oh, so it mean they moved Beck to Europe?"
"Forgive me, Colonel," William cleared his throat. " It would be rude but It is my responsibility to ask why do you know Beck Fraser? Who are you and why did the Department of Defense give me your number? "
"You just need to know that I command a combat unit of the US Army and Beck Fraser served under my command in Afghanistan." The Colonel replied, "The DOD has received a request to access documents from you and they appoint me to be your... you can call it Instructor. "
"Instructor?"
"The profile you requested contain highly sensitive info, so you need a guide, or to put it easier to understand, you only know what I allow you to know."
If I had known this before, I wouldn't have signed that fucking paper! Fuck you, Frank! With just that much, William instantly understood what he was dragged into. Beck Fraser was not a mere soldier, he was a member of unit that the US government would refuse its existence or something worse. He heard a lot of rumors about such men from his other paitents. Most of the stories were hard to verify and for a long time, in the eyes of Willam, they were nothing more than a product of fear, paranoia and gossip. However, since the SPECTER's scandal last year, he was no longer as confident as before.
"I understand." He said, "You are the one who censor the documents before it is sent to me. I understand the protocol but the question is when will I receive it? With Fraser's current condition now, the longer you delay, the more dangerous it will be. "
Somehow, William had the feeling that the Colonel was having a amused smile on the other end of the line.
"You're talking to the document, Dr. Moore. What do you want to know first?"
They discussed over the phone for half an hour. The colonel was quite open to him when talking about the time before joining army of Fraser, but when William mentioned his combat activities, Hart immediately pointed out. "We cant talk about this" Or " You have no authority to access such information. " And refused to answer.
"So does Beck Fraser have a late single mother named Walda Fraser? How did she die? "
"According to the police forensic report, it was due to a drug shock." The Colonel replied, "Seventeen years ago."
"Oh my God! He's just a kid. "William took his hand and squeezed the bridge of his nose." Did Fraser mention anything about it? "
"Not a word. Beck is a quite person and we never discuss such things in the unit. It's easy to understand why he has choose to keep quiet about this tragic and I don't think digging into such things is a good idea. "
"I would consider."
In William's experience, painful events were like a double-edged sword. It will either create a breakthrough in the treatment process or cause the patient to be agitated so that he would lose control eventually and if Beck Fraser was someone like William thought he was then he didn't want to provoke the violent part in him at all.
"How's he going?"
"Obedient like a Lamb."
"Lamb? That's good to hear, at least he hasn't forgotten who he is. "
"What did you just say?"
"Nothing, Dr. Moore." The Colonel said, " Call me back in two days and we will talk again. Goodbye"
Then he hung up. William leaned against the chair, his eyes was heavy and slowly closed. He rarely had a proper sleep in two day. If it was not Fraser's treatment, it was because of the mistress and her enthusiasm in sex that tired him out so when both he and Emily were still at Hood's place, it seemed to be a golden opportunity,
But when he slowly sank into a dream, the phone rang. William jerked and rubbed his eyes and picked it up.
"Dr. Moore listening"
"Will, you need to go to meet Hood now." It was Emily's voice.
"What happened to Fraser?" He asked in a panic and was surprised that the first idea flashed in his mind.
"No, I brought him back to his room but Hood wants to see you now. He said it was an emergency. "
"Alright, I'll be right there."
William hung up the phone. He then grap the his white blouse that hung near the door and leave.
.
.
Hood's office was in the West wing of St. Michael, the most important area of the hospital with the operating room, emergency room, recovery room, and study area connected together in a form of giant circle. The vacant land in the middle was a helipad, which once received up to ten flights a day but since the Iraq war has cooled down so far, he rarely saw it being used.
"You're late."
Eric Hood sat behind an black wooden table, the ashen shirt matched with his grey ruffled hair and his funny moustache. Judging by the appearance, he looked exactly like Albert Einstein except that Eric was not a Jew and had no interest in classical music. He was hot-temper control freak that jump on his feet when thing wouldn't go as planned and an extremist on sanitary.
"Sorry, I had an important call this morning." William pulled his chair and sat down. "What's the problem with my patient?"
Dr. Hood however did not answer, he took out a yellow folder from the drawer and placed it on the table. As the old man flipped and skim through each page then said, William could hear the sound of teeth gritting " blood test, good. Circulatory system normal. Lungs, heart and liver, nothing to worry about. Burns on paitent's body are recovering quickly. "The doctor pulled out an X-ray picture from the folder and handed it to William" And this is the reason I ask you to come here. "
The photo was the skull X-ray of Beck Fraser. At first glance, there was nothing unusual, but when William took a closer look, he saw a small tendon on the left side of the skull.
"Is this ... a crack?" William was dismayed. He still could not believe his eyes. "Where does it come from? How?"
"That's what I have to ask you!" Eric Hood sternly said, "Why can you let a patient with such a serious head injury walk around like that ? I want him to be put on special care right now and I also need the prescription Emily used for Fraser last month. God knows if those drug will affect his brain. "
"Wait, Eric." William raised his hand, confused with what he had just heard "Why is a head wound there? I don't understand."
"What do you mean you don't understand?"
"His medical record did not mention any head injury." He said, "I have read the file over and over again so did Emily. There was no way we all missed something that big. There has been some mistake here. "
"Then I am sorry to announce that both you and Emily are mistaken. It was a disastrous mistake but fortunately for us that his wound was treat very well and that explain why until this moment we have not seen any serious complications yet. "Eric Hood point the tobaco pipe at him. "Someone had treat him. The question is who? "
"The file says Fraser was injured in Afghanistan and was treated in Kabul before moving to Germany and ..."
"That's bullshit." The grumpy doctor rudely interrupted "The field hospital is not enough equipment to operate the appendix, let alone brain surgery, and even with the right equipment, the chance for him to survive was not much. Your patient should have been an a dead man for a long time, but somehow he's still alive and well. With thirty years of experience, I am sure this is the product of a hospital specializing in brain surgery with the world's top doctors. "
"But if that's true, why did they send him to us?" He retorted, "Why do they hide the wound on his head?"
William could understand why they did not tell him the true identity of Fraser, but for what reason did he misrepresent his medical record? It didnt bring any benefits apart from hindering treatment. Emily had wasted a lot of time in last month just because Beck Fraser had a hole in his head instead of his soul.
Eric put his hands on the edge of the table and lazily leaned back, his gaze filled with suspicion.
"What the hell is going on, Will? You are hiding something from me right? "
He did not know what to say because even he himself did not have the answer. He can tell his colleague about Hart Sayer, but that only made the situation more complicated and dangerous.
"No, Eric" William said, "I don't hide anything from you."
"Really?" He didn't seem to believe it "You look like there's something you want to say."
"Listen, I know nothing but the information they gave me. I didn't even know who Beck Fraser was until Frank forced me to take care of him yesterday. How can this be my fault? "
"I don't blame you for anything, it's just that I feel uncomfortable when treating a patient that even the cause of his injury is unknown."
William's eyes widened in surprise. "Don't you know why the Fraser get that wound from?"
"Usually, such a serious injury are seen in traffic accidents. The head was sometime severely wounded due to impacted, leading to skull damage and then brain hemorrhage, you knew the rest of the story. But if Beck Fraser actually had a car or helicopter accident, why was his body completely intact. If you didn't count burn on his right arm then your man had survived an serious accident without a scratch, a bone broken? It is impossible according to my experience. "
"But what cause the burns?"
"Not by fire" Said Eric Hood. "I saw similar wounds in Desert Storm, It was the work of phosphorus grenade."
William was bewildered. Did Fraser got a blast from a grenade and fell on his head against a rock? It was unlikely because a great force was needed to damage the brain, a fall simply couldn't do such thing.
"I used to think of the possibility that he was hit in the head by a melee weapon. A bat, a wooden stick, an iron bar would do but the thing is i found nothing but burns and scars from the previous surgery on his head. This proves that when it happens, Beck Fraser still wore a helmet and if you assumed my speculation was correct, things just get weirder and weirder. To cause such a strong commotion, you need to have the same power as a small car at 40 mile per hour and of course no one or any weapon can do such a thing. "
She stood there in a red dress with a heavy and sharp object in her hand.
The words in Fraser's delirium fluttered in William's ears. Did the mysterious girl have anything to do with his current state or is it just a product of fear and paranoia like William was so sure ?
No, it's not! It can't be true and I should stop thinking about it unless i want to move my room to the third floor.
Leaving Hood's place, William took a step to the Inpatient area. He met Emily at the foot of the ground floor staircase, her hands cupping a bundle of beautiful Rudbeckia, radiant like the summer sun.
"Where's Fraser?" He asked
"Still in his room." She causally answered "Are you going to visit him?"
"Yes."
"What's up?"
"Nothing."
"You men always have that serious look on your face when hidding something" Emily punched William on the shoulder and handed him a bundle of Rudbeckia. "If you don't want me to know then fine. But can you please bring this to Beck?"
Inside room 8, everything was the same as yesterday. A bed, a flower vase on the table opposite the window with Beck Fraser sitting next to it, quietly like a statue. William stepped closer and put Rudbeckia flowers into the vase. The action of his seemed to attract the attention of the bandaged man.
"What is this?" He asked without turning around, his eyes were still on the black forest outside.
"Emily's gift." He replied with a sigh. "She thinks they will make your room warmer."
"But I don't feel cold."
William laughed bitterly. "Just a metaphor, Beck, metaphor."
The doctor sat down on the bed then realizing he did not know what to say. What should he start with? Hart Sayer, the crack in Fraser's skull or they about to replace him with another doctor? And while he was still hesitating, Fraser was the one that spoke up first:
"The test results aren't good, right?"
"What makes you think they aren't?"
"You weren't here when I came back, so I guess you went to see that old grumpy doctor," Beck Fraser said, calmly and blantly as usual "You also looked more depressed than yesterday and just now, you suddenly called me Beck."
Seeing William's bewildered expression, he immediately explained:
"Doctors are only more intimate than usual when they have some bad news."
Beck Fraser was too bright for a person with dementia. William once thought his patient was smart, but he was much more than that.
"I won't call it bad news, just a misdiagnosis and you'll have another doctor."
"Why?"
"It is better to let Hood explain it to you." William plays "It's outside my specialty but since you still have my patients today, we will continue the unfinished work of the day before. Do you agree? "
Beck Fraser turned to him and nodded slightly.
"What does the name Hart Sayer mean to you, Beck?" William began. "This morning I just talked to him over the phone and he knew you."
"Not very much." The man shook his head. "I think I heared Dixon mentioned him in the yard before, he said Hart Sayer was a legend living on the battlefield, sometimes he calls him Poker. I'm not sure why, but he is quite famous to the people here. "
I knew it! It was true William had heard the Colonel's name somewhere.
"Does it give you any impression? He claimed to be your commanding officer, or once at least. "
Beck Fraser shrugged, a sad smile appeared between the white bandages. "I don't even understand what Commanding Officer is, doctor"
"Well, I don't know how to explain it either, but he's basically the one who will tell you to do this or not to do that. The man with the big hat that you have to stand solemnly whenever speaking to him or something like that. "
His patient didn't seem to have much interest in the information. William wondered if it was due to his poor interpretation or Beck really did not care about recovering his memory as Emily had warned. The bandage covered most of expression on Fraser's face while the eyes always looked at everything with a melancholy, indifferent attitude so it was hard for William to tell what his paitent was really thinking ...
"What about the woman in red? Do you still dream about her? "
"A girl, not a woman," He corrected him "I know what a woman looks like, doctor. Emily Miller is a woman, Salome is a woman but she is not. "
"I understand" He nodded. "Yesterday, you told me she wasn't your friend. What do you mean by that? "
The man shook his head again. "I'm not sure. But something told me to stay away from her. She ... She ... "His voice suddenly trembled." Her whole body… She had a smell of a something terrible. No! No, that's not right! Not just her! Everything around her was pitch black and smelly, I didn't know what it was but when I touched the ground ... I ... "
Beck Fraser's hand was turned into a fist, his head was low, his eyes were wet. "My hands were blacken and smelled like them. Do you understand, Doctor? My hands smell like they do. "
"They? Who are they?"
"They're dead." The man whispered, so softly that William thought it was a breath. "They're all dead."
William got up and walked over to Fraser. The doctor knelt down on one knee, raised his patient's face with both of his hands and suddenly saw his reflection on the two black coal stone.
"Who died, Beck?" He asked "Who?"
"IT KILLED THEM ALL!"
He roared and what happened after that was a freaking mess. William tried to control the situation by holding his shoulders down. The doctor was a tall man with strong arms but Beck Fraser was a well-trained killer. In just a blink of an eye, before William was awared of how fucked he was, the bandaged man had grasped his wrist and then bent it counterclockwise. The doctor cried out in pain before being thrown aside like a potato sack.
When William was still crawling on the brick floor with his broken wrist, Beck Fraser took advantage of the opportunity to rush out. Like every madman since the dawn of men, he ran down the hall and screamed incessantly. The entire area became turbulent, a male nurse tried to stop him near the stairs and lost two of his teeth. By the time William reached the second floor, his patient was no different from a crazy driver who would crush anything or anyone in his way.
"IT KILLED THEM ALL."
He screamed out like an injured animal. The nurses cling to each other in fear, the doctors and other employees stood where they were in shock and didn't what to do. The sound of the people calling each other, the sound of women crying, the swearing, the sound of metal bouncing on the floor, the sound of glass breaking, all of them together created a crazy symphony with Beck Fraser was the conductor and composser.
It took six assistants, two patients with a anesthetic shot to hold him down. He was tied to an ambulance handle and brought straight to the intensive care area on the day.
"What happened, Willie?"
Emily asked quietly, she covered her mouth with her hand, her eyes were teary at the scene like a battlefield on the second floor. Broken bottles scattered on the cream-colored floor, a wheeled bed with its patients lied in the middle of the hallway while doctors and nurses rushed from room to room like saliors in the storm.
"Tell me, what is it?" She repeated impatiently, "God, why did he do that?"
"Seems like ..." William wearily leaned back against the wall and sat down, his wrist twisted to the side, his whole body had lost all its strength. "...Your husband's assessment is completely wrong."
Two days later, Hart Sayer called William again as promised. The colonel sat silently listening to the doctor who detailed what had happened in the impaitent area, from the girl in red to how Beck Fraser put six hospital staffs on the treatment list.
"Did he say that?" The Colonel asked, "Did he really say that, Dr. Moore?"
"Yes, he did. But what does it mean, Colonel? I can't understand it. He almost got mad right after that. "
"I think we'll know soon, when he comes to Omega."
William knew this name. It was a hospital that was believed to be under the administration of the NSA in Virginia and of course it wasn't a regular medical facility. Those who went there were either public enemies or valuable assets to the United States.
His joke about Jason Bourne had came true.
"Are you going to transfer him there?" He asked hesitantly, "When?"
"Tomorrow" Hart replied, " The papers will come to you in the afternoon."
"But is it a little too early?"
"As soon as possible," he remarked. " Although I can't tell you who Fraser is, you have already seen how dangerous he is. However, what worries me now is Fraser is currently unable to control his own behavior and nothing can make sure that the same incident will not be repeated. I don't need to graduate from a psychological academy to know it will happen again and believe me, the next time you will lose more than a few teeth. Tell me Dr. Moore, do you really want a bomb to explode right in your hospital? "
William looked down at the bandage wrapped around his wrist. "No, I don't think so."
Later that night, William visited his paitent in the intensive care area. Since he was no longer the doctor responsible for Beck, the security guard gave him two minutes. The bandaged man was tied to the bed in a room without a window, his eyes closed like he were asleep as William entered.
"I came to let you know that they will transfer you to another hospital tomorrow." William said, "Have you ever heard of Omega?"
"Probably."
That monotonous voice of his somehow alway made William want to laugh. "Is this a proper time to tell a joke, Beck?"
"I tell the truth."
"I believe you" His eyes were sad. "Tomorrow I will see you off. At least that's what I can do as your former doctor. "He glanced at his watch." That's all, Beck. I wish I could stay longer but the Guard only gave me two minutes. "
But before William turned around and walked to the door, Beck Fraser immediately said,
"Sorry about your wrist, Dr. Moore."
"You mean this one?" William rubbed bandage wrapped around his arm and hand "Don't worry about it. I think it will heal soon. But I have to ask Beck, why are you so strong? "
The bandaged man giggled. This may be the first time he saw happiness in the man.
"Someday when I remember, I will tell you."
The next morning, William and two male nurses took Beck Fraser to the hospital gate in a state of being tied and unconscious. Eric Hood gave Beck a dose of sedation to make sure he wouldn't cause trouble on his way to Ramstein. Honestly, Willam did not see the necessary in this, but it seemed everyone was on alert after the incident so he did not speak out.
When they reached the outside gate, an ambulance in green-yellow stripes had been waiting for them. Next to it were three men. Two medical agents wore white gloves and a mid-age man in military uniform, wearing Beret.
"Are you Dr. Moore?"
Although he did not know his face, William could still recognize him by his voice, "Colonel Sayer?" Why are you here? "
"I'm on my way back from the Middle East. Nice to meet you. "He approached William and shook his hand then turned to look at the bandaged man lying motionless on the ambulance in worries." Is he okay? "
"A miligram of anesthetic" The doctor shugged "They don't want to risk it."
"That's good to hear"
"Why I may ask?"
"That mean you guys aren't stupid."
Hart took out a pocket of a silver cigarette case with his cigarettes lined up neatly and beautifully , as if they were waiting to be touched by their owner. The Colonel's forefinger had almost turned yellow.
"Does this place count as outside the hospital?" He asked before putting the filter between his lips. "No smoking in the ambulance."
"Well, it does ." William looked around then said "But who cares?"
Colonel Sayer lit the cigarette up, took a long pull and let out a warm smoke in the cold weather. Although he did not smoke, William knew Hood long enough to realize that the tobacco had a strange smell.
"Made in Alexandria alone." The Colonel whirled a cigarette between two fingers. "From two to five dollar for each."
Cant believe such poison was so expensive, William thought.
They chatted idly about the weather while waiting for others to take Beck Fraser onto the car. The Colonel looked a little different from William's imagination but in a good way, he also secretly hoped the same thing would happen to Beck when he came to Omega.
"It's time." Hart flicked the cigarette toward the grass and shook William's hand again. "Good-bye, Dr. Moore."
The Colonel chose the seat at the back of the trunk while the two medical staff sat in the front seat. Somewhat strange but in fact, at that time, William did not pay much attention to that detail. He waved goodbye and watched over the ambulance until it disappeared in the nearby turn.
After that, the doctor sighed and went back inside.
The whole day, he wandered around the hospital, returning Beck Fraser's file to the Archive, talking to Eric Hood then meeting emily at the garden of sinner. Without Beck Fraser to take care of, he suddenly became a jobless man in his own workplace, something that William had never experienced before. But there always was the first time of it, until three days ago he had never had his wrist dislocated by one of his paitent.
"I cant believe that our mummy could cause much trouble. The guy always looked like a quite and gentle one" Dixon took a sip of hot coffee and continued. "But dogs that do not bark often bite very hard, Dr. Moore."
They met in the hospital cafeteria before the lunch. William had been sitting there for a while and Dixon was coming back from a badminton match. Strangely, according to Dixon, he began to like that girly sport.
"Making a colonel come down here… Geez the guy cant be a random soldier." William nodded and took a sip. His glass was nearly empty. "You said Beck was a member of a special task force 22, right? What is special about these people anyway? "
"Task force 22 is the home of hardcore veteran and they are commanded by the toughest bastard of the US Army, Hart Sayer. A very formidable force back in Iraq"
William grinned "Someday you have to tell me the legend of this guy because this morning I saw nothing but an fancy officer and a heavy smoker. Do you know every cigarette of his costs five dollars? Have you ever seen anyone pay five dollars for a cigarette? "
The Marine stared at William as if he had just committed a sacrament.
"No way!" He said "You must be wrong, Dr. Moore."
"Hell no, how could I be wrong? He showed me his cigarettes and said they were wrapped in Alexandria right in front of me. "
"Hart doesn't smoke," Dixon insisted. "Never smoked a cigarette in his life. I still remember the time when he whipped up a Captain because he dared to smoke in the commander's tent. "
William raised his eyebrows in surprise and just before he could say anything, he heared the familiar music of the DW channel's daily news on the small TV at the food serving counter.
"The news just arrived, the pedestrian just spotted a car falling down the ridge in Wettenburg, sixty miles west of Stuggart. The initial report showed that there were three people in the car, two medical workers and a man wearing American military uniform. According to witnesses present at the scene, all three died. Police are conducting investigations and local authority contact with relevant parties including the US military to determine the identity of the bodies. We will come back with more information on the program at 8 o'clock."