As he headed toward Spike's room, Jet failed to notice the three men following him. The men kept their distance as Jet turned to go into the room.
"All right, you guys know the job," one of the men said. "Take both of them out, and don't worry about making a mess of the place." The other men nodded as they turned the safeties off of their weapons.
"So what name did you register me under?" Spike asked, finally able to sit up straight as he struggled to put his pants on.
"Brian Jones," Jet said deadpan.
"Brian Jones?" Spike repeated. "As in the one guy from the Stones who died young? Thanks for the good karma, Jet."
"He was also the heart of the band," Jet snapped. "It was the first name that came to mind. Anyway, a couple more days and we're out of here. Doohan should be done with the Swordfish by then, too."
"What's wrong with it?"
"You forgot that you should park your ship farther away from a building when you plan to blow it to hell. It got beat up pretty bad by debris. Nothing major, but it's not easy to find parts for that old relic."
Spike put his feet on the floor and struggled to his feet. He managed to move a few steps before the pain in his abdomen forced him to brace himself on the wall.
"You really should stay in bed," Jet said, his nose still in his book. "No need to rush things."
"You obviously don't know how much I hate hospitals," Spike replied, leaning on one of the empty beds as he examined the blood-stained mattress. "Even ones as shady as this one."
"Yeah, well, better for you to heal here than to have you taking up precious cargo space on the Bebop." Jet quipped.
"You know, you're all heart, Jet," Spike said between grunts of pain as he bent over to tie his shoes. "And I thought the only thing cold and artificial on you was that arm."
The men approached the door quietly, their long coats hiding their weapons but not making them look less suspicious. A doctor approached the three nervously.
"Can I help you gentlemen?" he asked, quivering slightly.
The leader pulled out his shotgun and pumped a shell into the chamber, enjoying the terrified expression on the doctor's face.
"No, thank you," he said. "We're just here to visit a friend."
The doctor turned and sprinted down the hall as the man waved his comrades into the room first. Shinjo would pay handsomely for this hit, and if one or both of his partners happened to go down in the process, there would be more money for him.
Jet noticed the doctor sprinting in front of the door out of the corner of his eye and put down his book, instinctively reaching for his gun.
"What is it?" Spike asked. He had been trying to put his shirt on for several minutes. The shoes were painful enough, but this was too much. His view of the door was obscured as Jet ducked the gunfire and took cover behind the bed. Spike moved quickly, acting more on instinct than anything else, as he shoved the nearest bed into the path of the first two men, hitting one of them squarely in the ribs and knocking him into the second man.
Jet took advantage of the opening and fired three shots into the third man through the door, the third shot catching him squarely between the eyes, causing his sunglasses to shatter in the middle and fly off his face. The other two men had no chance, as Spike emptied the clip from the gun Jet had slid to him across the floor, although the recoil hurt more than he had expected.
Both of them sat in silence for a moment, eyes fixed on the doorway in case any more thugs were trailing behind. The two security officers who came to the door nearly met their fates, but fortunately Jet had put his gun down and Spike's weapon was empty.
"What the hell's goin' on here?" blurted the officer, armed with a harmless-looking stun gun.
"Uh, it's nothing," Jet replied calmly, pocketing his gun. "We were just leaving."
Ed rubbed the dust off her goggles as she perused the ISSP's files on Serj Harashi. Ein sat comfortably on the couch as she hovered over her terminal on the floor. Ein's ears piqued at the sound of the communication channel beeping. "Aloha, Jet," Ed answered the beacon.
"Ed, we're on our way back to the ship," Jet grunted as he helped Spike down the hall. "We'll be there in a few minutes, so open the hanger for us. I need you to watch and see if anyone is following us. And get ready to take off once we get on board."
"Right!" Ed yelled as she rolled over and leaped to her feet. She headed to the cockpit and punched several buttons to prepare the Bebop for their arrival.
Jet squeezed forward into the Hammerhead as he dislodged from the medical frigate and headed back to the ship. Even if no one else was after them, the medical frigate's security would no doubt call the local authorities to question them about the disturbance, and there was no point in wearing out the ISSP's hospitality so soon.
"Anyone out there?" Jet asked into his radio, trying not to move around too much so he wouldn't cause Spike any unnecessary bumps.
"Nopers!" Ed replied.
"Good. We're coming in now. Get us ready to go."