= = =CHAPTER 9= = =
SEATTLE - METRO MEDICAL
MAY 5, 2020
12:25 AM
Max was still out when Ariel was making her last check of the patients on her floor before she went off duty. She checked Max's EKG readout, blood pressure and temperature, satisfied that everything was steadily improving after her surgery.
"You're on your way back," Ariel informed to Max with a smile she had long ago reserved for her patients. Max still hadn't regained consciousness and although this worried her Ariel sensed that the woman was a fighter and wasn't about to let a drunken joy rider take her out.
"Ariel-" A nurse with shoulder length curly blonde hair and dressed in pink scrubs poked her head through the door. "There's a call for you. Some guy who claims to know your patient."
Ariel replaced Max's chart back at the head of the bed and exited the room through the door the other nurse held open for her. "If this guy knows her well enough to care if she's been in an accident why doesn't he get his ass down here and see her?"
"Beats me," the blonde nurse responded walking with Ariel to the circular nurses station desk positioned in the middle of the tiled floor. A black old cord style phone was off its hook on the desk.
"He sounds hot," the blonde announced to Ariel after Ariel picked up the receiver. "If he's not with her in a married way I might take a run at him."
"Don't you get enough action after work?" Ariel asked answering the call. "This is Nurse Ariel Randolph. Can I help you with something?"
"You have a patient there, a Max Guevara-"
"Yes Sir that's correct," Ariel agreed. "Can I ask what your relation to her is?"
"She's my niece," Lydecker lied from his cell phone while driving his SUV through the dark streets of Sector Nine filled will beggars and drunks.
Although he sounded sincere Ariel had a nagging feeling inside her – something just wasn't right about the call. "Mr. – I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."
"Donald Lydecker, COLONEL Donald Lydecker," Deck answered, emphasizing his military rank.
"Colonel Lydecker," Ariel corrected. "Forgive my manners on that Sir. But more to the point; Ms. Guevara had no form of identification on her other than a Sector Pass and we had no record of her family contacts whatsoever. So how is it that you were able to track her down here?"
The woman was clever; Deck had to give her that. "Nurse – Randolph is it? My niece was just in an accident. I don't appreciate being placed under your microscope just because you have a problem with me."
"I'm sorry Colonel, but I have an obligation to protect the safety of my patients."
"Just what do you think I'm going to do?" Deck asked. "Unless you've traded in your pink scrubs for a badge and a restraining order you haven't a shred of credibility to warrant your scrutiny."
"I'm not a detective no Sir but-"
"Then might I suggest that you stop with the piss poor attempt and understand that I was never ASKING your permission to see my own niece. Do we understand each other Ms. Randolph?"
Ariel bit back as sight. "Yes Sir." She hung up the phone quite naturally despite the fact that she was extremely annoyed at being reprimanded by a complete stranger.
"He sounded like fun," the other nurse stated.
"Oh yeah," Ariel agreed sarcastically. "He rivals having sex with a porcupine. But then again he and porcupines have a lot in common – they're both pricks."
"So does this mean he's available?" the blonde asked hopefully.
"You really need to work on your timing," Ariel stated.
"Is that a yes?"
Ariel rolled her eyes. "I've got other patients to attend to. Let me know when you're done humping mental dick." She exited the nurses' station and disappeared down the eggshell colored washed hallway.
XXXXXX
After being hung up on by Ariel Lydecker dialed a privately secured line into Agent Sondaval's cell phone. A quick sputtering ring emitted over the line before Sondaval picked up.
"Agent Sondaval here."
"What is your location?" Deck ordered.
"Still holding at the stairwell per your orders Sir," Sondaval replied. "Did you make any contact with the hospital staff concerning the girl?"
"A shift nurse received my call but she wouldn't tell me much so I couldn't ascertain anything about X5-452 except that she had been admitted."
"Sir if her injuries are more substantial then we're aware off she might not survive the trip back to Manticore."
"My kids are tough," Lydecker corrected. "A car wreck is not going to stop them – I'm 15 minutes out alert all units to be ready for engagement."
"Haven't you alerted Director Renfro on our progession status yet Colonel?"
"Say that name to me again Agent Sondaval and you'll be entering Metro through the morgue," Deck threatened with quiet venom. "Understand?"
"Colonel Lydecker I-"
"I said understand?"
Sondaval gave a paused sigh from his end and finally responded: "Yes Sir."
Deck disconnected the call and pushed the SUV's speed higher.
XXXXXXXX
SEATTLE – SECTOR NINE
Zack completely took his eyes off the road to reach into a forest green backpack and pulled out a cloudy silver semi-automatic handgun. "You strapped?"
"I'm about to attempt a rescue from a hospital that's about to be descended upon by a heavily armed military Attack Team Unit; what do you think?" Logan returned holding up his black handgun for Zack to see.
"That's not exactly hard firepower," Zack announced. He slid a loaded clip into his gun and cocked it
"The funny thing about guns is when they go off there tends to be people caught in the crossfire and I'm not about to let Max be one of those people." Logan snapped.
"Those soldiers are gonna be carrying a hell of a lot more sophisticated equipment then this and bringing two stick matches into a propane war can only end one way."
"It's so great to be in the presence of another Manticore cynic." Logan said tucking the gun into one of the interior pockets of his jacket.
"If Max were sitting here you wouldn't be saying that," Zack said matter-of-fact.
"But Max is out there Zack remember?" Logan corrected in a growl. "And we have to get to her so I think that any remarks not geared towards that end should be stifled." He normally had more patience with people but with Zack he would make an exception.
Zack didn't buy into Logan's vision of a more goal-oriented driving environment coming out of not speaking his mind. "If Maxie didn't have such a fuckin' thing for you I'd a dealt with you a long time ago; but for her I've developed a tolerance for you existence – but even tolerance has its limits."
"I'll catalog that under the meaningless lessons I've learned from people over the years," Logan deadpanned. He didn't like Zack and Zack didn't like him, but they were stuck together for this. And so long as Max got out safe Logan could deal with the uncomfortable side affects that came from being in the company of Zack for so long.
The glow of Emergency lights around Metro Hospital finally peaked over the stretch of black road. Zack immediately went on the offensive as soon as he saw the hospital and cut off the headlights. Though it served a critical purpose to keep their approach a secret it now made the road pitch black.
Logan couldn't see anything in front of him except the tiny orange dots of Metro's emergency lights. But despite the almost zero visibility the Aztec remained on a straight path because of Zack's Manticore genetics that –like Max – allowed him to see in the dark.
"Company's ahead," Zack stated honing his vision to the side of Metro's outer walls. "Soldiers camped out on the fire escape."
"How many?" Logan asked.
"Six," Zack answered. "Standard size for a military Attack Team Unit."
"How about your old friend Lydecker?"
"He's not there," Zack replied giving Logan a sideways look. "Guess your hunch was actually right. The unit at the stairs is a decoy. Deck won't show his sorry ass until they've cause a sufficient diversion."
"You're a soldier too; what do you think that diversion will be?"
Zack snapped his attention fully on Logan. "Six Special Op soldiers armed with Class One high powered M-20's – they're sure as hell not gonna start mooning people."
"You're just full of useful information tonight aren't you?" Logan threw back.
"And you're just full of shit," Zack growled sticking his loaded gun into the pocket of his jacket. He glanced over at Logan with the look of a man who had gotten shortchanged on a war partner.
Finally the Aztec pulled up to the almost completely abandoned parking lot of Metro that was reserved for doctors. However before they could venture down a long line of Mercedes and Jaguar X-Types Zack cut around an empty parking space and headed in the opposite direction, towards a one-lane road that was used by the hospital maintenance crews to gain access to the transformers situated at the back end of the building.
"What are you doing?" Logan asked risking sounding stupid in front of the X5.
"Staying out of sight is a required procedure for a covert project," Zack responded. "Unless you really have a thing for broadcasting yourself in front of Lydecker's men."
The small road was straight but so dark that it made the road that they had just driven on look like a well-lit area. Zack held the Aztec down to a crawl as they pulled up to the rear side of Metro in case one of the Attack Team members was smart enough to position himself back there and could pick up on the engine's noise.
The motor cut off a minute later. "I'm about to take on Manticore's second finest soldiers with a single semi-automatic and a civilian cyber journalist," Zack proclaimed. "Let's make it hot." He exited the car and stepped out into the cool night air. The overcast from the rain that day had somewhat departed revealing a trail of tear like stars against the ebony sky.
Logan shut his door with barely a sound because blowing their cover over something as trivial as a car door slam was too stupid of an error to make. He felt the gun inside his jacket, reassured by the feel of its cool metal on his fingertips. But even his reassurance was tainted. There was no glory in taking human life. It was merely what had to be done sometimes in extreme circumstances. And he really didn't want tonight to be one of those circumstances.
XXXXXXXX
Renfro picked up her phone as soon as the first ring sounded. "Yes?"
"He's approaching Metro now," Agent Sondaval alerted her on Lydecker's location.
"Has he had any updates on the status of X5-452?"
"None that he's alerted me on Ma'am. But from what I gather she's been banged around pretty good."
"So long as her injuries can be rectified at Manticore I don't care how banged up she got," Renfro stated getting up from her chair and moved to stand in front of her art sculptured styled desk. "After you've extracted her I want her back here in a brig hospital room. Deck's kids are like lab rats. Once they discover they're in a caged environment they'll try to bolt at the first presented opportunity."
"What should I tell the Colonel?" Sondaval asked. "He specifically ordered to have 452 debriefed by him personally after her arrival at Manticore."
"Am I to understand that you're intimidated by Lydecker Agent Sondaval?"
"No Ma'am," Sondaval backpedaled pacing the small length of the iron stairwell landing. "Lydecker just gave a direct order-"
"I'm Lydecker's superior. I have the authority to override any orders he gives you, am I understood?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Good. Contact me after you've returned with the girl," Renfro ordered.
XXXXXXX
Lydecker sat in the SUV having just listened to the last words of Sondaval's conversation with Renfro. He had bugged Sondaval's phone with a microtransmitter a month earlier after it became clear where the Agent's loyalties lie.
"Yes Ma'am." Sondaval responded. The call disconnected.
Deck reached across the seat to retrieve his radio. "Private Collins this is Lydecker. I have an assignment for you."
"Go ahead Colonel." Collins responded.
"Pull two of your men off the target area and have them reconvene at the south parking lot of the hospital to await further instructions."
"Copy that," Collin's affirmed ending the transmission.