Chapter Four
A long, piecing mechanical noise cut through the air in the operating theatre. Two electroplates hung dead from the cardiac machine as the commands and desperate attempts from the surgeons stopped as abruptly as the beep that was still hanging unnaturally in the atmosphere. Alyssia entered the room and was met by solemn complexions partially obscured by anti-infectious masks. Each step she took lasted a lifetime, but she eventually came to the bed where the deceased lay. A surgeon who had removed his gloves looked at his watch and duly announced in French:
"Time of death...six minutes past one in the morning of April 12th 2009."
Alyssia drew closer to the bed, but before she could look upon the dead face the doctor who had spoke pulled the sheet over the patient's body. All Alyssia saw form where she was standing at the head of the bed was the dead man's short blonde haircut, shaved at the sides, before the surgeon blanketed the head. The face had remained an enigma.
Alyssia instinctively covered her mouth. All around her people looked downcast. One surgeon removed her mask and cried softly into it. A friend put an arm around her shoulders and held her close. Alyssia stood alone, companionless and exhausted.
"How is the child that was brought in with him?" Alyssia heard another surgeon ask the doctor.
"I have heard nothing. He must be okay..." The doctor turned around and saw Alyssia. "Alyssia, how is the baby?" he asked gradually. Everything was held in a permanent slow motion to Alyssia, but as he removed his mask she recognised him instantly.
"He's...fine, Doctor Rene." She said eventually. She suddenly remembered why she had come down to the theatre.
"Doctor Rene?" She asked. He looked at her kindly and answered. "Who is Doctor Ling?"
The acted cheerfulness fell from Doctor Rene's face. "He is not from here," Rene spoke at last in his now un-muffled tone. This was a disappointing answer, and looking at Rene's face Alyssia didn't think he was going to say much else on the matter. She had always trusted Doctor Rene: he had taught her all of the medical techniques that her mother didn't, but she wasn't about to let this go. As Doctor Rene looked towards the ground, Alyssia prepared her next question. Before she could ask it though, Rene spoke again.
"Could you leave us please, Jean?" The man complied, and Rene turned and walked towards the door, beckoning Alyssia to follow. She did so, and they stepped out into the shiny corridor. They walked for a while longer, up and down the disinfected pathways and bleached entrances, until Doctor Rene finally spoke.
"Do you remember," he began his question inquisitively as they walked, "when I taught you about Hippocrates?"
"Yes," Alyssia paused, as one does when a conversation is beginning again.
"And you remember the Hippocratic oath?" Rene continued. This seemed like a strange question, and Alyssia didn't know where it was leading. However, she trusted Doctor Rene, and answered that she did remember.
"Well," Rene went on. The faked cheerful face had not quite returned. "Doctor Ling is like this generation's Hippocrates. He his respected in medical circles the world round and his techniques are second to none. He has the widest medical knowledge of anyone I have ever met." Alyssia began to feel uncomfortable; she had always had the largest respect for doctors, all except Doctor Ling.
"And yet," the doctor continued, "He does not respect the Hippocratic Oath. He is unique among doctors that he never had to swear by it."
"Why not? I thought you said that to be a doctor..."
"You must swear by The Oath, yes," he interrupted her. "But Doctor Ling has not. There is not record of him doing so. Doctor Ling moves in many circles, and it is said that he has many contacts in very high places. That is how he might have avoided it.
"That is the how," the doctor continued. He looked more tired and ancient than ever. He was only middle aged, but furrowed his brow beneath his greying hair like an old soothsayer. "Now, do doubt you wish to know the why." Alyssia nodded: she truthfully had no idea why a doctor would want to avoid the Oath. "To that, I'm afraid, no answer is available. Maybe you'll find out someday." He smiled weekly down at his young pupil, but she did not return it.
Alyssia had known Dr Rene for as long as she could remember. The earliest memory she had was of him treating her the first time she caught influenza. She could not have been more than three years old at the time, but he never once patronised her with the word 'flu. Whenever he spoke to her, it would always be as though he was speaking to a medical colleague, not the stepchild of his former lover. It had been the most embarrassing moment of her life on her seventh birthday party when she ran in and called him "dad".
Alyssia had forgotten her tiredness, but realised that she had not noticed where they were walking. The two physicians; one tall and learned, one young and learning; yet irrevocably linked, stepped towards the office marked with the gold letters that spelt out: "Dr D.P. Rene." Dr Rene unlocked the door and held it open for Alyssia. She graciously stepped inside, wondering why she had been led here.
"Take a seat, Mademoiselle." Alyssia recognised the voice immediately. It was Doctor Ling. For the second time that long night, she felt like crying merely by the depression caused by Ling's presence.
Alyssia looked towards Doctor Rene, who was shutting the door, his head down.
"What have you told her, David?" Ling asked with an almost hissing tone. With the Doctor's gold lamp flickering only partial light, Ling looked more sinister than ever.
"Nothing...of importance." Alyssia was scared; she thought that Ling would immediately notice the tenseness in Doctor Rene's voice. However, he merely smiled and said that it was good that it was so.
"Take a seat, Ms Markova." Ling repeated his instruction with greater assertion. She was filled with fear, but wasn't going to show it. She sat down with an air of defiance, and as she did so she heard the key turn in Doctor Rene's door, locking it tight.
"Excellent." Ling said, before concluding, "Well, now that we are all here, we can get down to business."
"Je ne comprends pas..." Alyssia began. She certainly did not understand; she knew not why a man she had known and trusted from her very first memory would lead her to Ling like this.
"I have heard of your considerable medical skills, Alyssia. It was my intention that you would be the one to nurse our young Mr Gurlukovich in an environment familiar to you. However, it has been brought to my attention that there are those who would find him in an ordinary hospital such as this one. They would...mean to take him from us, even though we have moved him out of the US."
"Take him?" Alyssia asked, momentarily forgetting the dead man on the operating table downstairs. "Who would want to take a baby?"
"Two men," he paused. "Two Americans who have made it their mission to bring about our downfall."
"Our downfall?" It was Rene who spoke up. He was walking away from the door towards his own desk at which Ling sat. "What do you mean? Are you still in league with Clark...?"
"Doctor Clark is dead," Ling continued calmly. Although the same age more or less as Rene, Ling still despite the lamp highlighting his features in its gold glow looked much younger. "Killed by one of his own creations."
"How...long...?" Rene breathed his words in shock.
"Four years ago, almost to the day. It was never announced." Ling paused. "I speak for the La-li-lu-le-lo."
Alyssia had been left behind, but she meant to catch up. "I want to stay here in Quebec, Dr Ling," she interjected finally.
Ling had been looking at her the whole time, even when Rene had been talking. He moved his head slightly off his clasped hands and grinned, before finally adding, "I'm afraid that's an impossibility. It has already been decided."
"No." Rene spoke again. "I'm not letting you take her to one of your FOXHOUND training grounds!"
"I think you're said enough, David."
"Oh, have I? I might have co-operated with you before, Nicholas, but no longer. You can't force her away from her mother!" Rene continued with his advance, until he could put his hands firmly down on his desk. "Get out of my office!"
Alyssia saw a flare of hatred in both men's eyes by the lamp's focused glow. She was more scared than ever, but relieved. No one she had ever met had refused one of Doctor Rene's instructions. But at that moment, a gun revealed itself from under the desk in Ling's hand. He pointed it straight at Rene's chest.
"No!" Alyssia stood up without realising it. She didn't want Dr Rene to die; with all her heart she would protect him and the baby. Even if it meant leaving her mother. Dr Rene looked at her; Ling's eyes stayed focused on his gun's tip. "I'll go. Just don't hurt him."
The look of horror in Dr Rene's face was one that she had never seen before. It scared her more than Ling's gun ever could. He screamed, and as fast as lightning went to attack Ling. Ling's gun barked, and her mentor fell sprawling to the floor, blood streaming from his wound and darkening the colour of his white coat. He was dead.
It was Alyssia's turn to scream. She looked on in abhorrence at her teacher's slumped corpse, and turned a look of revulsion on Ling.
"Now, Alyssia," Ling said calmly, retreating back into his seat. "I have business to attend to in New York tomorrow night, so let's make this quick." Her glance had caught Ling's, and they stood in eye contact with one another. As hard as Alyssia tried, she couldn't turn away from his demon-like eyes. For the briefest of moments, Alyssia would have sworn that she had seen two young girls, twins, reflected in Ling's dark pupils, both dressed from head to toe in white frocks. The image faded, and Ling began to speak. However, Alyssia didn't notice. All that she knew was that she was doing what he told her to do...
--
Author's note: This is set a day before Chapter Two, and on the same night as Chapter One. Chapter 3 continues straight from Chapter Two, i.e. half an hour later.
A long, piecing mechanical noise cut through the air in the operating theatre. Two electroplates hung dead from the cardiac machine as the commands and desperate attempts from the surgeons stopped as abruptly as the beep that was still hanging unnaturally in the atmosphere. Alyssia entered the room and was met by solemn complexions partially obscured by anti-infectious masks. Each step she took lasted a lifetime, but she eventually came to the bed where the deceased lay. A surgeon who had removed his gloves looked at his watch and duly announced in French:
"Time of death...six minutes past one in the morning of April 12th 2009."
Alyssia drew closer to the bed, but before she could look upon the dead face the doctor who had spoke pulled the sheet over the patient's body. All Alyssia saw form where she was standing at the head of the bed was the dead man's short blonde haircut, shaved at the sides, before the surgeon blanketed the head. The face had remained an enigma.
Alyssia instinctively covered her mouth. All around her people looked downcast. One surgeon removed her mask and cried softly into it. A friend put an arm around her shoulders and held her close. Alyssia stood alone, companionless and exhausted.
"How is the child that was brought in with him?" Alyssia heard another surgeon ask the doctor.
"I have heard nothing. He must be okay..." The doctor turned around and saw Alyssia. "Alyssia, how is the baby?" he asked gradually. Everything was held in a permanent slow motion to Alyssia, but as he removed his mask she recognised him instantly.
"He's...fine, Doctor Rene." She said eventually. She suddenly remembered why she had come down to the theatre.
"Doctor Rene?" She asked. He looked at her kindly and answered. "Who is Doctor Ling?"
The acted cheerfulness fell from Doctor Rene's face. "He is not from here," Rene spoke at last in his now un-muffled tone. This was a disappointing answer, and looking at Rene's face Alyssia didn't think he was going to say much else on the matter. She had always trusted Doctor Rene: he had taught her all of the medical techniques that her mother didn't, but she wasn't about to let this go. As Doctor Rene looked towards the ground, Alyssia prepared her next question. Before she could ask it though, Rene spoke again.
"Could you leave us please, Jean?" The man complied, and Rene turned and walked towards the door, beckoning Alyssia to follow. She did so, and they stepped out into the shiny corridor. They walked for a while longer, up and down the disinfected pathways and bleached entrances, until Doctor Rene finally spoke.
"Do you remember," he began his question inquisitively as they walked, "when I taught you about Hippocrates?"
"Yes," Alyssia paused, as one does when a conversation is beginning again.
"And you remember the Hippocratic oath?" Rene continued. This seemed like a strange question, and Alyssia didn't know where it was leading. However, she trusted Doctor Rene, and answered that she did remember.
"Well," Rene went on. The faked cheerful face had not quite returned. "Doctor Ling is like this generation's Hippocrates. He his respected in medical circles the world round and his techniques are second to none. He has the widest medical knowledge of anyone I have ever met." Alyssia began to feel uncomfortable; she had always had the largest respect for doctors, all except Doctor Ling.
"And yet," the doctor continued, "He does not respect the Hippocratic Oath. He is unique among doctors that he never had to swear by it."
"Why not? I thought you said that to be a doctor..."
"You must swear by The Oath, yes," he interrupted her. "But Doctor Ling has not. There is not record of him doing so. Doctor Ling moves in many circles, and it is said that he has many contacts in very high places. That is how he might have avoided it.
"That is the how," the doctor continued. He looked more tired and ancient than ever. He was only middle aged, but furrowed his brow beneath his greying hair like an old soothsayer. "Now, do doubt you wish to know the why." Alyssia nodded: she truthfully had no idea why a doctor would want to avoid the Oath. "To that, I'm afraid, no answer is available. Maybe you'll find out someday." He smiled weekly down at his young pupil, but she did not return it.
Alyssia had known Dr Rene for as long as she could remember. The earliest memory she had was of him treating her the first time she caught influenza. She could not have been more than three years old at the time, but he never once patronised her with the word 'flu. Whenever he spoke to her, it would always be as though he was speaking to a medical colleague, not the stepchild of his former lover. It had been the most embarrassing moment of her life on her seventh birthday party when she ran in and called him "dad".
Alyssia had forgotten her tiredness, but realised that she had not noticed where they were walking. The two physicians; one tall and learned, one young and learning; yet irrevocably linked, stepped towards the office marked with the gold letters that spelt out: "Dr D.P. Rene." Dr Rene unlocked the door and held it open for Alyssia. She graciously stepped inside, wondering why she had been led here.
"Take a seat, Mademoiselle." Alyssia recognised the voice immediately. It was Doctor Ling. For the second time that long night, she felt like crying merely by the depression caused by Ling's presence.
Alyssia looked towards Doctor Rene, who was shutting the door, his head down.
"What have you told her, David?" Ling asked with an almost hissing tone. With the Doctor's gold lamp flickering only partial light, Ling looked more sinister than ever.
"Nothing...of importance." Alyssia was scared; she thought that Ling would immediately notice the tenseness in Doctor Rene's voice. However, he merely smiled and said that it was good that it was so.
"Take a seat, Ms Markova." Ling repeated his instruction with greater assertion. She was filled with fear, but wasn't going to show it. She sat down with an air of defiance, and as she did so she heard the key turn in Doctor Rene's door, locking it tight.
"Excellent." Ling said, before concluding, "Well, now that we are all here, we can get down to business."
"Je ne comprends pas..." Alyssia began. She certainly did not understand; she knew not why a man she had known and trusted from her very first memory would lead her to Ling like this.
"I have heard of your considerable medical skills, Alyssia. It was my intention that you would be the one to nurse our young Mr Gurlukovich in an environment familiar to you. However, it has been brought to my attention that there are those who would find him in an ordinary hospital such as this one. They would...mean to take him from us, even though we have moved him out of the US."
"Take him?" Alyssia asked, momentarily forgetting the dead man on the operating table downstairs. "Who would want to take a baby?"
"Two men," he paused. "Two Americans who have made it their mission to bring about our downfall."
"Our downfall?" It was Rene who spoke up. He was walking away from the door towards his own desk at which Ling sat. "What do you mean? Are you still in league with Clark...?"
"Doctor Clark is dead," Ling continued calmly. Although the same age more or less as Rene, Ling still despite the lamp highlighting his features in its gold glow looked much younger. "Killed by one of his own creations."
"How...long...?" Rene breathed his words in shock.
"Four years ago, almost to the day. It was never announced." Ling paused. "I speak for the La-li-lu-le-lo."
Alyssia had been left behind, but she meant to catch up. "I want to stay here in Quebec, Dr Ling," she interjected finally.
Ling had been looking at her the whole time, even when Rene had been talking. He moved his head slightly off his clasped hands and grinned, before finally adding, "I'm afraid that's an impossibility. It has already been decided."
"No." Rene spoke again. "I'm not letting you take her to one of your FOXHOUND training grounds!"
"I think you're said enough, David."
"Oh, have I? I might have co-operated with you before, Nicholas, but no longer. You can't force her away from her mother!" Rene continued with his advance, until he could put his hands firmly down on his desk. "Get out of my office!"
Alyssia saw a flare of hatred in both men's eyes by the lamp's focused glow. She was more scared than ever, but relieved. No one she had ever met had refused one of Doctor Rene's instructions. But at that moment, a gun revealed itself from under the desk in Ling's hand. He pointed it straight at Rene's chest.
"No!" Alyssia stood up without realising it. She didn't want Dr Rene to die; with all her heart she would protect him and the baby. Even if it meant leaving her mother. Dr Rene looked at her; Ling's eyes stayed focused on his gun's tip. "I'll go. Just don't hurt him."
The look of horror in Dr Rene's face was one that she had never seen before. It scared her more than Ling's gun ever could. He screamed, and as fast as lightning went to attack Ling. Ling's gun barked, and her mentor fell sprawling to the floor, blood streaming from his wound and darkening the colour of his white coat. He was dead.
It was Alyssia's turn to scream. She looked on in abhorrence at her teacher's slumped corpse, and turned a look of revulsion on Ling.
"Now, Alyssia," Ling said calmly, retreating back into his seat. "I have business to attend to in New York tomorrow night, so let's make this quick." Her glance had caught Ling's, and they stood in eye contact with one another. As hard as Alyssia tried, she couldn't turn away from his demon-like eyes. For the briefest of moments, Alyssia would have sworn that she had seen two young girls, twins, reflected in Ling's dark pupils, both dressed from head to toe in white frocks. The image faded, and Ling began to speak. However, Alyssia didn't notice. All that she knew was that she was doing what he told her to do...
--
Author's note: This is set a day before Chapter Two, and on the same night as Chapter One. Chapter 3 continues straight from Chapter Two, i.e. half an hour later.
