FULL CIRCLE
Chapter 5
His wish was not to be granted. They were barely thirty minutes out of National when the plane encountered some heavy turbulence. Passengers were told to stay in their seats and fasten their belongings.
Miles fastened his seatbelt and sat back to ride it out. The up and down motion made him feel like he was riding a roller coaster. And he really hated being on one of those things.
By the time they got out of the turbulence an hour later, Miles was already beginning to feel a little sick from the constant up and down motion. And his headache had apparently decided to settle in and stay. When the flight attendant began bringing around bottles of water for the passengers who wanted any, more specifically the ones who'd gotten sick, he gratefully accepted one.
Natalie had been quietly observing the younger doctor, noticing that he was having a distinctly uncomfortable time riding out the turbulence. When she saw him go back to rubbing his temple, she retrieved a small bottle of aspirin from her purse and placed it on his tray table.
He took the aspirin and quietly told her, "Thanks," glad that she was keeping her concern low key as not to draw attention from the rest of the team.. Swallowing the aspirin with the aid of the water, Miles abandoned all thoughts of studying and just settled back to ride out the rest of the flight. And fervently hoped there'd be no more surprises.
The rest of the flight went fairly smoothly and then the plane was approaching San Francisco. Miles found himself gripping the arms of his seat as they coasted in for a landing.. If he had his way, he'd be working at the hospital with Natalie and leaving Stephen to handle the nursing home patients. But the way his luck had been running today, he knew it would probably be the opposite.
Sure enough, once they'd gathered their luggage and equipment, Stephen handed out the assignments he'd decided on. "Natalie, I want you to get set up in the hospital lab. Eva, you and Miles head over to Bay View. Gather all the data you can on the patients. See if you can find out how they got exposed. Frank and I will see what we can find out about the nursing home staff."
"I'll flip you for the keys," Eva said as she and Miles headed off to rent the vehicle that they'd be using for the duration of their stay.
"You drive," he replied, thinking about how much he really didn't want to be going to Bay View.