TRUTH REVEALED
The Soofki General Hospital boasted one of the most modern medical facilities in the Middle East, with state-of-the-art equipment, highly skilled personnel and profoundly respected specialists in many fields of medicine. The Interpol police helicopter sped toward the hospital, medi-vaccing the Racers as quickly as possible, with Speed cradling Trixie in his arms as if she were a fragile, priceless jewel. He was truly terrified for her pallor and shallow breathing belied the fact that she was barely alive, she was so deeply unconscious. He murmured soft words of endearment and encouragement to her as he fought back his tears. However, he was totally oblivious to the seriously injured prince who was laid out in the rear of the chopper.
Moments later, the dark helicopter hovered over the rooftop pod of the hospital as several staff came scurrying out to meet them. Inspector Detector had his pilot radio ahead to alert the hospital of the cargo. The craft touched down and the hatch was thrown open as nurses and orderlies reached to place Speed's wife and the ruler of Soofki on stretchers to rush them to the emergency room. They rushed down the corridors, with Speed sprinting right beside them. They came to a halt at the emergency room doors where several nurses met them and pushed the distraught racer away.
"B-but that's my wife," Speed protested as he was physically removed.
The resident doctor informed him. "I'm sorry but we need to attend to your wife. If you can wait out here, we'll let you know anything as it happens." He withdrew and firmly closed the examining room door.
Speed sighed heavily and turned to sit in the waiting area. He slumped into a chair and held his head in his hands, feeling completely helpless and bereft. He shook his head as he imagined the pale visage of his wife, her sooty lashes resting on her cheekbones as her chest barely moved. How much chloroform did those fiends make Trixie inhale? She was barely breathing when I got to her. Please, please, God, she's gotta be all right, she just has to, she's my whole life!
Speed pulled his head back and began studying his left hand, where his wedding band was on his ring finger. He was never one for rings but since his wedding the gold band never left his finger. He absently stroked the ring and thought about the day Trixie slipped it on his finger. That day was etched forever in his mind as vivid as if it were yesterday, and he relived the ceremony in his thoughts as he waited for the doctors and nurses to bring her out of the apparent coma.
He was still steeped deep in his anguished reverie when a soft hand began caressing his shoulders and startled him. He whirled his head around and came face to face with the lovely, lying face of Sibana dripping with pseudo concern.
She stood before Speed and entreated him, "Oh Speed, I came as soon as I heard. How is dear Trixie?"
Speed looked up into the peacock blue orbs and was amazed by the fact that at one point in his life he actually felt an attraction to this vile woman whose beauty was nothing more to him now than a pretty package to the bubbling cauldron of evil and deceit in her soul. He shrugged her hands away and recoiled, her presence actually sickening him.
"Please get your hands off me," he said coldly. "I know the truth, Sibana, and I want to know how you have the nerve to show your face here, after being involved in the nabbing of my wife."
Her eyes flew open in assumed shock. "Speed, how could you think that about me? I would never, ever have anything to do with harming your wife."
Speed shot to his feet, his cobalt eyes flashing. "Don't lie to me! I have it on very reliable authority that you and your slimeball cousin, Omar planned to take Trixie. If she doesn't make it, I'll kill him and gladly spend the rest of my life in prison." He leaned forward and glared right into Sibana's eyes as his voice became soft and deadly. "And I have never struck a woman in my life but if my wife dies, I'll make you sorry you ever laid eyes on me as I break your pretty neck. Now get the hell from my sight!" He turned abruptly from her as if she were the most despicable creature he had ever seen.
Sibana was speechless with surprise, her eyes wide as saucers as she opened her mouth to retort but she was interrupted by the door sliding open and the arrival of Sparky, Mom and Pops Racer, Inspector Detector, two of his men, and Kim Jugger who all rushed up to where Speed stood.
"Speed, son, we came as soon as we heard," Mom Racer said as she embraced her middle son. "How's Trixie?"
"I wish I knew, Mom. She's in there with the doctor now and even though I'm her husband they won't let me in to see her." His voice was tinged with dread.
Pops clasped Speed's shoulder. "Take it easy, son. She'll be okay, I'm sure."
"I really hope so, Pops. The reptiles that took her gave her so much chloroform, she was out cold and barely breathing when we brought her in." Speed sighed as he began to pace.
Meanwhile, Sibana, remembering the loathing she saw in Speed's eyes toward her before rushed up to the tall, ramrod stiff form of Kim Jugger. Quickly deducing that she had lost any slight chance of having Speed, she threw herself at Kim in a heady embrace, who was quietly standing apart from the Racer family circle. She beseeched him with her wide blue eyes.
"Oh Kim, I'm so glad to see you! I have missed you so and I'm so sorry that I treated you so shabbily at the ball. Please forgive me!" Her eyes filled with crocodile tears as she sobbed loudly.
Kim glanced down at the woman plastered to him, his arms stiffly at his side and felt a mixture of disgust and pity. Whatever love or affection he had for her in the past evaporated as he regarded her with a sneer curling his full mouth, his amber eyes like cold chips of gold. He forcibly grasped her shoulders to push her away.
"Save the sniveling begging of my forgiveness, Sibana sweet. I have little use for it and even less for a woman who would participate in the kidnapping and attempted murder of an innocent woman."
"But Kim I--" Sibana cried but Kim held up his hand and Inspector Detector stepped forward to address the woman. At his motioning the two men that accompanied him grasped her arms, immobilizing her. She snorted in indignation.
"Inspector Detector I demand to know what is the meaning of this?"
"Lady Sibana, I regret to inform you that you're under arrest for being an accomplice in the kidnapping and attempted murder of Mrs. Speed Racer."
"Bah! What proof have you that I was involved in the unfortunate action against Mrs. Racer," she scoffed haughtily.
Inspector Detector replied evenly, "I had an eyewitness verify that he heard you and your cousin plotting to capture her earlier before the race began."
"Oh indeed? And who, pray tell, is this so-called eyewitness?" Sibana wanted to know, her heart sinking.
Inspector Detector opened his mouth to reply but Kim smiled coldly as he ran a mocking finger on her cheek. "I hear the prison life is a hard one, my sweet. Do make the best of it, as I am sure you will."
Sibana's eyes flew open incredulously, the realization dawning on her. She squealed in protest, drawing the attention of all there in the hospital waiting room as Detector and his men began to drag her away. She screamed at Speed.
"Speed! I did it all because I love you, Speed! I'll always love you, Speed!" Sibana's cries echoed as the police hauled her out of the hospital.
Mom, Pops, and Sparky were sitting there, still astonished by what had transpired and what had been going on right under their noses. They all knew that women had constantly thrown themselves at Speed from his pre-teens but they had no clue how far some women would go to have the handsome coal haired racer. They were shocked by the revelation that this particular woman would go so far to have Trixie kidnapped to get Speed.
Speed shuddered in revulsion as he watched Detector take the woman away. "I wish I could feel sorry for her but she was involved in trying to take away Trixie, my reason for living. I just can't forgive that," he said in a hard voice.
"Sibana's always been spoiled since she was a child," Kim remarked matter-of-factly. "Chief Zuma gave her everything. Now she's going to learn that she can't have everything she wants, nobody can."
Speed walked over to the swarthy racer and clapped him on the shoulder in sympathy. "I'm sorry, Kim. I know you loved her."
Kim grinned crookedly. "That's quite all right, my friend. As I told you before, I'll be fine. I'm actually quite relieved, I found out before I completely surrendered my heart. And who knows, maybe after a few years in prison, she'll be changed and a sweet side that I know she has will come out permanently."
"Hope springs eternal," Speed said philosophically as he turned and looked at the closed examining room door. He sighed and said impatiently, "How long are they gonna keep Trixie in there, I'm goin' crazy."
Mom came up to her son and grasped his shoulders to comfort him. She was debating whether or not to tell Speed about Trixie and the baby. But she found that she didn't have to because the examining room door swung open and a doctor stepped out.
"Mr. Racer?" he inquired as Speed rushed over to him.
"Yes, that's me. How's my wife?" Speed asked anxiously.
The doctor, a tall, gaunt man with piercing black eyes and a thick accent approached Speed with a smile. "She's completely awake now and the chloroform had no ill effect. Both mother and baby are fine."
Mother and baby? At those words Speed did a double take and grabbed the doctor's shoulders. "Wait a second, doctor. Did you say 'mother and baby'? Are you tellin' me that my wife is pregnant?"
The doctor blinked in amazement. "You mean you didn't know? I'm sorry but I thought you knew. Yes, your wife is eight weeks pregnant."
Speed stepped back with a dazed expression on his face as the news sunk in. So that's why she's been acting so crazy and is so moody. My baby's havin' our baby. He entreated the doctor "Can I see her now?"
"She's being transferred to a room to stay overnight for observation. You can see her in about twenty minutes," the doctor informed him as he turned and left. Everyone came over to the flabbergasted young racer to offer their reactions to the joyful news.
"Hey, Daddy, congratulations," Sparky clapped his best friend heartily on the back.
"And only three months married, that's my boy," Pops beamed proudly as Speed blushed profusely.
Mom Racer's cornflower blue eyes were brimming with tears. "Oh Speedy, it's so wonderful isn't it?" She had a wide smile through the tears and something about her manner caused a question to arise in Speed's mind.
He eyed his mother with mild suspicion, "Mom, why do I get the feeling that you've known all along? Why didn't you say something?"
Mom bit her lip. "I'm sorry, sweetheart. Trixie said she would tell you before the race, I guess she forgot. Actually I was with her when the hotel doctor confirmed our suspicions the other day."
"And you never told me?" Pops admonished his wife.
"I was sworn to secrecy," Mom said defensively. "I promised my daughter-in-law that I wouldn't say anything and I didn't." She stood there with her arms crossed, the Racer stubbornness in full force.
Speed decided to clear the tense atmosphere. He went to his mother and embraced her, kissing her cheek. "It's okay, Mom. I understand and I forgive you."
Mom smiled at her second born. "Thank you, Speedy."
"I forgive you too, honey," Pops added as he went over to wrap his wife in his large arm and kiss her. She rewarded him with a sweet smile, all ruffled feathers smoothed and misunderstandings forgotten.
Kim came over with a genuinely warm smile. "I'm very happy for you, my friend. You and Trixie have my sincere wishes and prayers for the future." He proffered his hand and he and Speed shook hands in friendship.
A nurse came out and addressed the group in the waiting room. "Mrs. Racer has been transferred to her room and she is asking for you. If you will all follow me, I will guide you to her room." She started down the hall.
"Let's go see Trixie," Speed said and he led the way as everyone followed.
NEXT---EPILOGUE—THE THRESHOLD OF A DREAM
