Author's Note:
Thank you so very very much for the reviews I got for the previous chapter.
Hope you will enjoy the next one too.
xxx
Chapter 7
"Sydney!" a nearly bald man, dressed in a brightly colored shirt and a mismatched pair of pants, called out as he came barging into the room, clearly excited, even a bit agitated, by what he had just seen.
Scanning the big area that acted as both his colleague's office and laboratory he nervously chewed on his bottom lip before calling out again, "Sydney, are you here?"
"Over here Broots," he heard his name being called softly from somewhere at the back of the room and without a moment's hesitation he hurried over to where he thought the voice had been coming from.
"Sydney guess what! He's…" he started of, out of breath, but as his mind finally registered that something was amiss with his friend, his words trailed off into nothingness and instead he asked, "Why are you sitting here in the dark by yourself?"
Wiping away with his finger at the corner of one eye the older man rose slowly from the wooden bench he had been sitting on and in a husky voice he replied, "Do you know it happened exactly a week ago?"
"What…oh…t-the thing with Ms Parker," looking uncomfortable Broots added softly, more to himself than addressing anyone in particular, "I know."
After second or two of slightly rocking on the balls of his feet and being obviously unsure as to whether he should express what was on his mind he finally said, "I…I miss her too…terrible…it is hard to believe that she is actually gone. If only…" Once again his words trailed off into nothingness.
Nodding his head in agreement Sydney rested his hand on his younger colleague's shoulder in silent commiseration and sadly whispered the same words that had been uttered by Broots only a few seconds before, "I know." For a few moments both men allowed their thoughts to be taken up with memories of their late friend. It was eventually Sydney that broke the silence by removing his hand from Broots' shoulder and straightening his shoulders before changing his demeanor back to the professional one that most people got to see every day. "So Broots…what was it that you wanted to tell me just now?"
"Uh…" swallowing Broots turned his face to stare nervously back towards the door he had just came from, almost like he was afraid that he had been followed, before answering, "You see I had been visiting Sabrina, you know the one with the one false arm and leg and boy-."
"Broots," was all that Sydney needed to say, his tone of voice clearly stating that he had no patience that morning for any long-winding story.
Blushing Broots murmured, "S-sorry," before continuing in a much more subdued voice, "I saw him."
Frowning, not understanding what he was talking about, Sydney asked, "Saw who?"
It was at that moment that a man suddenly entered Sydney's office, took a deep breath and without waiting for any acknowledgement exclaimed loudly, "Man it is good to be back."
Both Sydney and Broots turned around at once to stare at the intruder in what was their only sanctuary at the Centre, the one's face was impassive while the other one showed clear nervousness.
"Lyle," Sydney finally acknowledged him with a small nod of his head.
"What? I've been gone for a week and all that you can say is Lyle." Descending down a small flight of stairs Lyle started approaching them at a leisurely pace, his hands tugged inside his pants' pockets. His lips were twisted in a grin and from the glimmer in his eyes it was clear that he was in an extremely good mood.
"I thought you were taking time off to mourn your sister's dead," Sydney retaliated in a soft but dangerous tone. Having worked closely together and as such gotten to known his friend quite well Broots darted his eyes from Lyle to Sydney, he was quite sure he had sensed clear animosity coming from the older man but he was not sure as to the reason for it. After all Lyle had just lost his twin-sister and therefore, at the very least, surely deserved to get some sympathy from the two of them.
"Well…" taking a deep breath and slightly shrugging his shoulders while his smile increased in size at the same time, "you know me. I went, mourn and now I'm back, back to abiding to the Centre's every whim. That is the way my sister…" upon saying sister he turned his gaze mockingly to the ceiling, "bless her soul, would surely have wanted and maybe still want it to be. Besides I'm sure she is somewhere up there or-," his smile widened a bit more as he pointed a finger upwards, "most like down there-," his gaze moved from the ceiling to the floor to emphasize his statement, "but wherever her finally resting place may be I'm back."
"You sure don't look like someone that's been mourning his sister's death," Broots replied and immediately his eyes widened at the realization of the bravery he had just displayed.
At first Lyle said nothing, merely narrowed his eyes and walked forward until he was standing barely a few inches away from Broots. "Careful Mr Broots," he stated after a while, all signs of humor suddenly gone from his face and speech, "it will be wise for you to remember whom you are addressing here."
Swallowing, not quite sure how to respond, Broots could only manage to lower his head before nodding in reply.
Taking out a hand from his pocket Lyle patted the younger man on the cheek and in a condescending tone said, "Good boy."
During the exchange of words Sydney had said nothing but as Lyle was busy patronizing Broots he was unable to ignore the barely discernable, but still very much noticeable, scratch marks on Lyle's wrist. Frowning he turned his gaze upwards and could see something similar on his one cheek and small scabs zigzagging across his lower lip. From the rawness of the injuries on his face it was clear that they were acquired more recently than those on his wrist. Sydney was just about to remark on them when he suddenly noticed a faint powdery outline bordering each of the injuries and to his surprise he realized that make-up, clearly expertly applied, had been used to cover the full extent of the injuries.
"What?" Lyle snapped and suddenly turned his attention to Sydney, clearly having felt how the older man had been scrutinizing him.
Straightening himself Sydney stared at him for a couple of seconds before saying, "Nothing."
"It didn't look like nothing when you had been eyeing me like that just now." Lyle growled angrily.
Lifting his chin Sydney appeared deep in thought for a little while before finally replying, "Just couldn't help but notice the injuries you obtained. You must have gotten them…while you were away?"
Reaching out a hand to touch the side of his cheek and lower lip Lyle pretended to be confused before answering, "Oh…these. Totally forgot about them."
When neither Sydney nor Broots said anything a smile formed across Lyle's lips again and turning around he started walking toward the entrance door to the office. Over his shoulder he called out, "Don't worry about them guys. Got them during a fierce fight with a wild cat I had happened to acquire from a friend during the past week, but I can promise you that I won the fight and managed to subdue the angry feline."
As he opened the door to leave Lyle paused and appeared to be in thought for a second before adding, "Hopefully the creature won't take too long to learn who's in charge at the end of the day."
xxx
"Daughter hurt. Daughter in trouble, brother bad," Angelo whispered over and over again from where he had been observing the exchange of words from a hiding spot behind an air-vent.
When Lyle finally left the office after a while he shook his head. Turning around he put an old-looking DSA between his lips before crawling back the way he had came from. As he went along he murmured to himself, "Angelo help daughter."
xxx
"Doctor come quick," a nurse called out frantically before turning around and running back to a hospital room where the noise of people yelling, things falling and breaking, and above all the voice of a man shouting at the top of his lungs could be heard.
Frowning, unsure as to what was going on now in what was normally a very quiet hospital in a typical small American town, the Doctor in question rushed after the nurse without a moment's hesitation.
When he finally entered the room, that was making provision for four patients, he was at first confused as to what was happening in front of him.
A young man could be seen jumping from one bed to another, clearly trying to find a way out of the room while yelling all the time, "She needs me! Don't you understand…I need to go and save her!"
Surrounding him was two bulky security guards, a couple of nurses and in two of the other beds patients were staring at the commotion with shock and even a bit of amusement on their faces. Taking a step forward the Doctor noticed how some of the hospital staff were frantically trying to coerced the young man to come down from the beds, or at least to calm down, while others where threatening him with force if he did not comply immediately.
"What the hell is going on here!" the Doctor barked as he started to realize the full extent of the situation.
For a moment everybody went quiet at the sudden unexpected intrusion in their party of destruction.
"Please…" tears were running down the young man's face and he stretched a pleading hand towards the Doctor, "Please, let me go. She needs me."
"Who…" The Doctor started walking slowly toward the agitated patient, hoping that he did not appear threatening in any way, "Who needs you?"
"She needs me! She's in danger!" the man kept on repeating over and over again. His face was warning that unless he got some sort of assistance he was going do something irrational and very soon.
"What's your name Son?" the Doctor decided to try a different line of approach. Somewhere at the back of his mind he remembered how he read somewhere that the easiest way to calm down an agitated person was to establish a relationship of trust and to do that he needed to be able to start calling the person by his first name.
For a second the other man appeared to be confused, almost like he had forgotten his name, before finally answering, "Ethan. My name is Ethan."
"Well…Ethen-"
"Ethan," he was corrected immediately.
"Sorry…Ethan," the Doctor quickly covered his mistake. "What is this all about?" Upon saying that he waved his hand around the room to indicate what he was referring to.
"Just allow me to leave…please. That's all I want," Ethan whispered, his eyes were still pleading with the Doctor to understand his feeling of desperation.
"Uh…" The Doctor struggled for a while to think of anything to say next. After a little while he finally stated, "You were involved in quite a serious accident barely a week ago. Your one arm's fractured in a couple of places and needs time to heal and you sustained a bad knock to your head which I would like to monitor for at least a day or two more." Smiling he concluding softly in a condescending tone, "Maybe then we can discuss all of this again."
For a moment it appeared as if Ethan was going to comply, he even appeared to make an attempt to get off the bed.
It only lasted for a moment.
Pretending to stumble slightly as he was getting off he allowed one of the nurses that immediately rushed to his side to come close enough before, without warning, grabbing the poor woman with his one arm around the throat in a death grip.
"Get back or I'll snap her neck," he warned between clenched teeth.
"Whoa…nobody is going to hurt you," one of the guards tried to calm him down and at the same time to direct his attention from the other one that was trying to approach him slowly from behind.
Sensing the presence behind him Ethan turned halfway around with the woman still firmly pressed against his chest. "Get back!" he warned again in a threatening tone.
"Okay…okay. Whatever you say," the Doctor quickly interrupted; trying to calm down a situation that was threatening to return to the chaos of before. "Tell us what you want, just down hurt her," the Doctor added quickly when it did not appear as if he was going to get any reply soon.
"Nothing. I just want to go. Why can't you people understand it? Just-let-me-go," Ethan stated in irritation before slowly taking a few careful steps to the door, his eyes darting nervously between the different parties in the room.
"Okay…sure. Whatever you want," the Doctor stated calmly and took a step backwards, at the same time indicating with his eyes to the others to follow his example.
Ethan took another step towards the door. From the corner of his eye he noticed how one of the guards was trying to sneak up on him once again.
Turning in that direction he exclaimed, "I don't think so," before forcefully shoving the woman towards the guard and then, without waiting for any reaction, he made a dart for the door. He managed to dug between a couple of arms that tried to restrain him and also to jump over a chair that suddenly stood in his way before finally reaching the corridor and without any hesitation he started running at full speed towards the sign reading, 'Exit'. Somewhere behind him he could hear people shouting for him to stop but he ignored them, the only thought that he could concentrate on was the fact that he needed to find his sister before it was to late.
When he finally reached the double doors that would lead to his freedom he barged through them and only stopped once to quickly apologize to an old lady that he had almost run over in his haste to escape.