Chapter 28
Gordon was finally waking up. It started with a twitch of his fingers and progressed rapidly to his eyes opening briefly and him trying to move. The doctor was feeling more optimistic as was Em. Finally, Nurse Morton talked the young woman into taking more than a two hour nap as the vigil by Gordon's bedside began to take his toll.
His head hurt. Matter of fact he hurt all over. That was good. He cautiously began testing each limb to make sure that he wasn't paralyzed again. The annoying beep of machines began to bother him especially as they were going faster.
"Mr. Tracy? Gordon? Can you open your eyes?"
He pried open eyes that seemed to weigh at least one pound each and were glued together with spit and sand. A face seemed to waver over him. His mind began to grasp at details. Nasty smell. Hospital. Hurt. Hospital. Nurse. Hospital. Hospital. Hell. He closed his eyes again and then wrenched them open. Em! Em!
"Ahhhmmmmmm." the patient groaned. "Errrrrmmmm." His eyes were darting around the room, unable to focus properly.
"I'll go get the doctor, and your wife. She will be glad to see you awake." Nurse Morton said cheerfully.
Oh God no! Not Charlotte! Gordon thought muzzily. She must have come here which meant that Em...Em had to be dead. "Noooo." he whispered and it was easy to slip away into the dark.
He struggled against the ropes that bound him to the cold wall of the cave. His captor chortled.
"That won't help you." He twiddled his long drooping mustache.
"Ming of Mong!" Gordon recognized the archvillian immediately. "Flash Gordon will defeat you. He always does."
The evil villain hissed theatrically and raised a sleeve to hide his face. "Not if he doesn't know it's me!" A cloud of antiseptic smelling smoke filled the cave and he was confronted by a large over dressed dragon wearing an appalling amount of jewelry. Most of which appeared to be paste and copper as it's scales were an unhealthy green tinge. It was a fire breathing dragon as it carelessly lit up a cigarette with a puff from a wide nostril and settled down for a casual smoke.
"You won't get away with this." Gordon strained against the restricting ropes.
Gordon moaned and moved restlessly. Em was trying to hold his uninjured hand, but he pulled it out of her grip. "Get away.." he muttered.
"Gordon...dear..." Em again found herself close to tears. She sniffled and stroked his cheek gently.
"My dear..." The dragon purred, blowing smoke rings to the ceiling, "Can't you come up with more original lines? Or something more - recent?"
"This town isn't big enough for the two of us?" Gordon eyed the dragon. It was rather skinny for a dragon. They were in a cave that was furnished in Early Salvation Army and rocks kept falling down. Gordon tried to duck as a small landslide made for him.
"Hey your house is falling down!" He yelled.
"Whaaat?" The dragon belched a cloud of overheated steam and picked at one of the walls causing it to cave in." It can't be..." the dragon muttered. "I just bought it." A small family of mice were jumping up and down and squeaking in panic as their home crumbled. Gordon wasn't terribly surprised to see a blue rat wearing an International Rescue hat leading the rest of the mice to safety.
An annoying beeping noise from one of the many machines hooked up to Gordon Tracy brought Em Jones to her feet in terror.
"Gordon!" she cried.
"Zo Flash Gordon, you tink that you and Indiana Jones can fool us about the location of the treasure, eh?" The dragon had changed it's scales and was now parading about in an old WWII German uniform. It kept its long tail however which kept getting in the way of the parade stomping around.
" What do I have that you want?"
"Give me what you hold closest to your heart." The tail twitched violently knocking over a few priceless looking ornaments and an old Coca-Cola automat. Bottles started rolling around on the floor.
"Thunderbird 4?"
"No you twit, Indiana Jones .Tell me where you have hidden her!"
"Never! I'll never tell you."
"We haf ways of making you talk."
"And you complain about my clichés. I think you're crazy..."
The German officer had long red nails that dug into his throat cutting off his air. "I'll make you live in the house with the mice and the termites. It will serve you right." The laugh turned into a long annoying overly high pitched screech.
Beeeep BEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEE......
Doctors and nurses came running into the room.
Piiip Piiiip PIIIIP
Jeff started out of a sound sleep. He was lying on his bed in his robe, a half read book on his chest. He was hoping to hear from his errant son. He was rapidly going beyond the stage of anger to one of worry. The noise that woke him was the vidphone.
"Gordon!" He began as he flicked it on. "Oh, sorry Mrs.Pearson. I thought Gordon was calling." He smiled wearily at his secretary. "What are you doing in on..." He consulted his watch, "Sunday?"
"Escaping football, but I'm sorry to call you so late Mr.Tracy. I came in to do some work and found several urgent messages on the answering machine. Your son Gordon has been in an accident!"
"Where? When?"
"The young lady called in the first time on Thanksgiving Evening. She has left about five messages...I don't remember if she said her name, but she was a pretty redhead..." Mrs. Pearson's voice trailed off uncertainly. "Luckily I came in, you wouldn't have heard for another 24 hours! County General Hospital in Millerton, New Hampshire." She added, seeing the distress on her boss' face.
"That's about 20 miles from where we used to live..." Jeff growled. "Charlotte" He muttered under his breath. "Thank you Mrs. Pearson. I'll take over from here."
Jeff Tracy took a deep breath and started dressing. He should have trusted his instincts that something was wrong, especially when it looked like Charlotte Jones had entered their lives again.
He went and tapped on Scott's door. A light sleeper, Scott woke up quickly.
"What is it Father? I didn't hear the call out for International Rescue."
" Gordon has been in an accident. I need you to be here to run things."
Scott was throwing on clothes as his father explained what little he knew. "You want Virgil to fly you?"
"No son, I think he would be better off here. I'll take Alan."
"What about Granny?"
"She'll kill me for not taking her, but if it is for nothing I don't want her there."
"And if it is bad?" Scott asked quietly.
"Then all of you will come." Jeff paused. "It couldn't happen twice." His mind obviously on the accident that had almost taken Gordon from them. "I'll go prep the jet. You go wake up Alan."
"Right Father."
Gordon was finally waking up. It started with a twitch of his fingers and progressed rapidly to his eyes opening briefly and him trying to move. The doctor was feeling more optimistic as was Em. Finally, Nurse Morton talked the young woman into taking more than a two hour nap as the vigil by Gordon's bedside began to take his toll.
His head hurt. Matter of fact he hurt all over. That was good. He cautiously began testing each limb to make sure that he wasn't paralyzed again. The annoying beep of machines began to bother him especially as they were going faster.
"Mr. Tracy? Gordon? Can you open your eyes?"
He pried open eyes that seemed to weigh at least one pound each and were glued together with spit and sand. A face seemed to waver over him. His mind began to grasp at details. Nasty smell. Hospital. Hurt. Hospital. Nurse. Hospital. Hospital. Hell. He closed his eyes again and then wrenched them open. Em! Em!
"Ahhhmmmmmm." the patient groaned. "Errrrrmmmm." His eyes were darting around the room, unable to focus properly.
"I'll go get the doctor, and your wife. She will be glad to see you awake." Nurse Morton said cheerfully.
Oh God no! Not Charlotte! Gordon thought muzzily. She must have come here which meant that Em...Em had to be dead. "Noooo." he whispered and it was easy to slip away into the dark.
He struggled against the ropes that bound him to the cold wall of the cave. His captor chortled.
"That won't help you." He twiddled his long drooping mustache.
"Ming of Mong!" Gordon recognized the archvillian immediately. "Flash Gordon will defeat you. He always does."
The evil villain hissed theatrically and raised a sleeve to hide his face. "Not if he doesn't know it's me!" A cloud of antiseptic smelling smoke filled the cave and he was confronted by a large over dressed dragon wearing an appalling amount of jewelry. Most of which appeared to be paste and copper as it's scales were an unhealthy green tinge. It was a fire breathing dragon as it carelessly lit up a cigarette with a puff from a wide nostril and settled down for a casual smoke.
"You won't get away with this." Gordon strained against the restricting ropes.
Gordon moaned and moved restlessly. Em was trying to hold his uninjured hand, but he pulled it out of her grip. "Get away.." he muttered.
"Gordon...dear..." Em again found herself close to tears. She sniffled and stroked his cheek gently.
"My dear..." The dragon purred, blowing smoke rings to the ceiling, "Can't you come up with more original lines? Or something more - recent?"
"This town isn't big enough for the two of us?" Gordon eyed the dragon. It was rather skinny for a dragon. They were in a cave that was furnished in Early Salvation Army and rocks kept falling down. Gordon tried to duck as a small landslide made for him.
"Hey your house is falling down!" He yelled.
"Whaaat?" The dragon belched a cloud of overheated steam and picked at one of the walls causing it to cave in." It can't be..." the dragon muttered. "I just bought it." A small family of mice were jumping up and down and squeaking in panic as their home crumbled. Gordon wasn't terribly surprised to see a blue rat wearing an International Rescue hat leading the rest of the mice to safety.
An annoying beeping noise from one of the many machines hooked up to Gordon Tracy brought Em Jones to her feet in terror.
"Gordon!" she cried.
"Zo Flash Gordon, you tink that you and Indiana Jones can fool us about the location of the treasure, eh?" The dragon had changed it's scales and was now parading about in an old WWII German uniform. It kept its long tail however which kept getting in the way of the parade stomping around.
" What do I have that you want?"
"Give me what you hold closest to your heart." The tail twitched violently knocking over a few priceless looking ornaments and an old Coca-Cola automat. Bottles started rolling around on the floor.
"Thunderbird 4?"
"No you twit, Indiana Jones .Tell me where you have hidden her!"
"Never! I'll never tell you."
"We haf ways of making you talk."
"And you complain about my clichés. I think you're crazy..."
The German officer had long red nails that dug into his throat cutting off his air. "I'll make you live in the house with the mice and the termites. It will serve you right." The laugh turned into a long annoying overly high pitched screech.
Beeeep BEEEEP BEEEEEEEEEEEEE......
Doctors and nurses came running into the room.
Piiip Piiiip PIIIIP
Jeff started out of a sound sleep. He was lying on his bed in his robe, a half read book on his chest. He was hoping to hear from his errant son. He was rapidly going beyond the stage of anger to one of worry. The noise that woke him was the vidphone.
"Gordon!" He began as he flicked it on. "Oh, sorry Mrs.Pearson. I thought Gordon was calling." He smiled wearily at his secretary. "What are you doing in on..." He consulted his watch, "Sunday?"
"Escaping football, but I'm sorry to call you so late Mr.Tracy. I came in to do some work and found several urgent messages on the answering machine. Your son Gordon has been in an accident!"
"Where? When?"
"The young lady called in the first time on Thanksgiving Evening. She has left about five messages...I don't remember if she said her name, but she was a pretty redhead..." Mrs. Pearson's voice trailed off uncertainly. "Luckily I came in, you wouldn't have heard for another 24 hours! County General Hospital in Millerton, New Hampshire." She added, seeing the distress on her boss' face.
"That's about 20 miles from where we used to live..." Jeff growled. "Charlotte" He muttered under his breath. "Thank you Mrs. Pearson. I'll take over from here."
Jeff Tracy took a deep breath and started dressing. He should have trusted his instincts that something was wrong, especially when it looked like Charlotte Jones had entered their lives again.
He went and tapped on Scott's door. A light sleeper, Scott woke up quickly.
"What is it Father? I didn't hear the call out for International Rescue."
" Gordon has been in an accident. I need you to be here to run things."
Scott was throwing on clothes as his father explained what little he knew. "You want Virgil to fly you?"
"No son, I think he would be better off here. I'll take Alan."
"What about Granny?"
"She'll kill me for not taking her, but if it is for nothing I don't want her there."
"And if it is bad?" Scott asked quietly.
"Then all of you will come." Jeff paused. "It couldn't happen twice." His mind obviously on the accident that had almost taken Gordon from them. "I'll go prep the jet. You go wake up Alan."
"Right Father."