Chapter 8

Hey guys, here's another, i hope you like.

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Prohibit the taking of omens, and do away with superstitious doubts. Then, until death itself comes, no calamity need be feared.

...

Jim Hastings and Laura half dragged Steve to the cabin after a long drive into the woods. Steve was going in and out of consciousness, half the time mumbling inarticulately. The cabin was not impressive, just a roof and four walls, no creature comforts of any kind.

Hastings noticed Laura appraising the shabby cabin as they dragged Steve in to lay him on the floor.

"Sorry it's not up to your standards Doc, the best I could do under the circumstances. Better than the alley you were in, right?" Hastings said.

"No no…it's…perfect actually. Just…put him on the hard ground, he'll recover quicker."

"You being sarcastic?"

Laura did a double take. "Oh, absolutely not. I meant, he's sweating, with his fever, a bed wouldn't be ideal. We need a cool, hard ground. And if he codes, it will save time having to drag him down to perform CPR." Laura said in explanation.

Hastings nodded in understanding. "But you won't be getting a better place to sleep either."

"Oh, trust me, I've known worst." She said dismissively then turned to look at Hastings as a thought hit her. "You…you do know who…"

"Oh, I know who you are, Doc." Hastings said, crouching down to make Steve a bit more comfortable as he could under the circumstances, rolling him to lie on top of a sleeping bag for whatever comfort it might provide. "So, uhm…I doubt there's much food in here, been here more than a year ago. Haven't felt much like hunting of late." He shrugged nonchalantly. "But I'm sure I got jerky, the never go bad kind. Don't touch the tinned beef, it should be poison by now. But you got a bottle or two of water, that should help some."

"Sure, thank you."

"Yeah, and uh…restroom…somewhat." Hastings shrugged again, pointing to an adjacent door. "It's a hunter's cabin. Rarely used."

"It's ok, I get it." Laura said, adjusting Steve's I.V and attaching another bag of normal saline. She took the remaining sleeping bag and adjusted it beneath Steve's head for a pillow.

"Uhh…you're gonna need that." Hastings said. "We don't got plenty of those lying around."

"Oh, it's ok, I'm good."

"Yeah, right. In this Jersey freezing weather and that little hoody of yours you're good." Hastings snorted.

He kind of spoke like Danny, Laura noted. With that Jersey accent.

"Oh look, we have logs." He said going to the fireplace. "I'll make some fire for you before I leave. Ought to keep you warm, somewhat." He shrugged.

"Before you leave?"

"Oh yeah… uh, I've got to go find Williams. If he's still breathing, I might lend a hand."

"You…you think…he might be…?"

Hastings shrugged, "There's no way to tell. The people who are after you a rather dangerous Doc, don't you think? Any idea who they are?"

Steve moaned and thrashed at that moment, giving Laura just the distraction she needed. She turned to attend Steve, soaking a cloth with bottled water and started dabbing at his forehead and neck. Hastings scoffed and turned to make himself busy with the fire.

"Oh, don't light it, it won't work well with his fever.' She cautioned.

"And are you just gonna freeze in here?"

"I'll be fine. i'll light the fire once his fever has broken, he'll need warmth then, but not right now."

"Well, aren't you all Florence Nightingale. Suit yourself. I gotta go." Hastings turned to leave the place. "You got this handled?" He asked, nodding towards Steve.

"Yeah, uh…I got it."

"Ok then. I gotta go see what Danny's up to. My friend is trusting you with his best friend's life. Just don't do anything stupid." Hastings said, a lot more serious that she had seen him thus far. He leaned closer to deliver his next statement more meaningfully. "Because I'll find you."

It was said with such menace Laura was left in no doubt as to the meaning of it. She better not dare make a run for it. And Steve had better not die.

….

Steve was running, something was chasing him. He was in a jungle, alone, but he could hear his Commanding Officer hollering at him.

"Run Lieutenant! Run! Move it!"

"Sir, yes Sir!" Steve yelled back. He could not see his Commanding Officer, but that voice was so near, propelling him forward.

"Run Lieutenant!"

"Sir, yes Sir!" He could see the light now; He was getting closer to the light and away from what was chasing him. He was getting there. He was almost there.

…...

Danny could feel that he was now being followed, he had made contact; he knew his signal had been pinged. Now, the breeze he felt at the back of his head might just be paranoia or someone was really following him. Unlikely though, not so soon. But he could be sure they were now on his trail and if he didn't make an escape plan soon, he really would have a bullet at the back of his scull. He was more familiar with this side of Jersey, having been a Police Officer in Jersey for most of his career, he kind of was familiar with most of it.

He needed a stray dog or a wild cat. He hated cats; he really did. Dogs, he could deal with, cats, not so much. They rarely listened to instructions, they did whatever they wanted and what he wanted done would require compliance. This side of the suburbs though, it would be hard to find a stray anything. The lawns were neatly cut, white picket fencing so short he could just jump over them. A few had dogs, most resting in their kennels on the yard or inside the houses. Not much noise in this part of town. He needed a dog, but it was going to be difficult to coax one to do his bidding at this time of night. Most of them would be on high alert for intruders. Danny was pretty good with dogs, but he was sure at this time of night, being a stranger, he would be dog meat before he even began his dog whisperer trick. He would prefer a cat right about now. They couldn't care less about intruders as long as they were well fed. The disloyal, slow, vicious little creatures. He was a dog person; he could do this. But he sure wasn't looking for a vicious hound.

He found one, barely older than a pup, busy barking at something it had sported at a distance, but it was chained inside the short picket fence. It did look eager to venture outside on a chase for whatever it had sported out there. Perfect. Exactly what he needed.

He whistled to the dog and it's attention was immediately turned towards him, barking at him now, fiercely. It wouldn't be a very good dog if it wasn't at least belligerent towards a stranger at this time of night. But he had dealt with vicious dogs a lot when he was patrolling the suburbs of New Jersey back when he was with NPD.

He whistled to the dog, "Hey buddy, hey hey, it's ok."

The dog continued to bark. Nobody came out to check what the dog was so worked up about. Jersey folks. Danny shook his head. It was a blessing at this moment though.

He patted the dog, tentatively, afraid to get bitten. But the dog seemed to get his cooing and calmed down. He did have a way with dogs.

…...

"Danny…Dan…nononono…. run…danger…run…" Steve was murmuring over and over. Laura could deduce that he was having another nightmare with Danny in danger this time.

She walked over and felt his temperature again. He was so much worse now. She felt for his pulse, It was weak and thready, not a good sign. Steve was getting dangerously worse and she didn't know if she still could do anything about it. She was out of her element here. She was not a medical doctor and genius or not, this was getting out of her control.

…..

Danny hoped his dog trick had bought him some time as he searched for a payphone to call his team.

"Hey Danny. Don't tell me Jersey wasn't all that and you're already feeling homesick." Lou joked.

"Hey Lou. Uhh…well Jersey turned out to not be so great, so far. Disastrous for Steve, I'll tell you that."

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"Listen uh… it looks like somebody is trying very hard to make sure that our prisoner doesn't get to court tomorrow."

"Are you guys ok?" Lou asked, now alarmed.

"We've been better. You need to let the Governor know what's happening. Tell her we're gonna need the whole cavalry, I'm talking Marshalls, Army...whatever you can get. This is looking to be a little higher up than we had thought. Tell her the Judge needs to be in protective custody now. Do this discreetly please. So far, we already know that Newark PD is bugged or compromised in some way. The Judge would be in danger too. Put someone on him."

"Ok Danny, you got it. But who can she trust if NPD is already compromised?"

"I don't know. I don't know …I don't know if the Marshalls are even a safe bet but…just let her know not to let the CIA anywhere near this. I know the roaches are everywhere but…try, will you?"

"The CIA are in on this?"

"Oh, this has got their fingerprints all over. What I don't yet know is, why."

"Alright, I'll get a move on this. Just stay safe bro."

"Thanks buddy. I gotta go."

…...

The professional was following alright, the signal was showing on his own electrical gadget, showing exactly were his prey was headed. He followed at a higher speed, seemed like his prey was now in a moving vehicle.

Then the signal stopped. Got ya now. He readied his gun, got ready to shoot as he neared the dumpster where the signal had stopped. He didn't take a moment to wonder why the signal had stopped at a dumpster, it was as good a place as any to hide, so he shrugged it off.

He stealthily approached the huge pile of bins, gun read and cursed at what he saw. A dog and a cat, fighting. The dog had a phone attached to it. His signal.

Damn! Again!

He made the call.

"You go them?" The voice on the other end asked.

"I got a dog and a cat fighting; it was a decoy."

"Shit!"

"Yeah, this is becoming predictable. You can do better than this, we don't have much time."

"So…Damn it Damn it! We don't have a clue as to where they are?"

"Oh, I believe I have an idea where to start. I do believe I won't be following your signals anymore. I'll report back when I have something."

"Wait, tell me you got someone on the Judge."

"As we speak."

….

Judge Mason could not sleep. He had been tossing and turning since he had retired to sleep four hours ago. It was a big day tomorrow. He was probably going to make headlines for this. Once the disturbing documents had been put in his custody, he had known he could not just leave well enough alone and go on with his life. He was a Judge and the people who had brought this to his attention were expecting justice. They were themselves dangerous and untrustworthy, but the evidence wasn't. Tomorrow, all will be decided and so far, things had been kept so secretive that the media still had no idea. So far, things were going according to plan.

Suddenly, he heard a loud noise coming for his front door. It had been bust open and the alarm didn't go off. He felt a cold chill creep up his spine as he sat up in his bed and waited. He could not hide, where could he hide? He had known that this critical move in is career was going to be dangerous. The good thing was he was alone in the house, it would be better if he just died alone. He had failed, but at least they would just kill him, and his family would be left out of it. At least he hoped so.

…

Steve saw Joe yelling at him to move it. Then he saw his mom and dad, they were standing together with Joe. He really needed to go there. They seemed so far, yet so close. If he could just reach out.

Laura had lied to Hastings when she had said she got this. She didn't got this. Not at all. Steve was getting worse, his fever was not going down, only worse. How was that possible? She had done the experiment correctly; the measurements had been correct. At least to her recollection. But to be fair, she hadn't been near chemicals in ten years. And even then, she had just been a rooky chemical engineer. She may have made a mistake. Because Steve's fever should have broken by now. According to her calculations.

"Mom…Dad?" Steve was mumbling. He wasn't thrashing and fighting anymore, he was more relaxed now. And Laura didn't think that was such a good sign.

"No no…she's …knife…run…ma…run…no don't…!"

Steve started trashing again, restlessly but weak. Laura didn't know how to help him. She got his trashing hand in hers and held on.

"It's ok, it's ok. I'm here." She whispered comfortingly to Steve.

"Mom?"

"It's ok. I'm here. It's ok Steve." Laura assured as she moved to sit on the floor and put Steve's head on her lap. "I'm here. It's ok." She kept murmuring, and it seemed to calm him some. She brushed his shoulder. He was burning up too much. The fluids he was losing through sweat were too much compared to what he was taking in through an I.V. Which, by the way, was already running out again. Laura felt trapped with no plan. She tried to give him water from the bottle but most of it was just falling out. She was only wasting it.

"Wo fat!" Steve said the name like a curse in his delirium and then stilled. Then he started thrashing so violently Laura could not continue to hold him or she would get hurt. It was like he was in a fight for his life and he was sweating even more.

Ok, she had no plan here. She could either stare at Steve and watch him die or…or she could make a plan. She had no plan. It wouldn't be said she hadn't tired. What could she do? She grabbed the sleeping bag that Steve had been using as a pillow and ran out the door.

…..