Road Trip - A Look before the Leap
The author thanks Bellasarius Productions, Universal Studios and any other creative entities responsible for Quantum Leap.
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Day Four - A Visitor from the East
By the time dawn came both men were awake. If Al remembered his nightmare he wasn't letting Sam in on it and Sam didn't want to pursue anything that might upset the man. He'd been through enough. They didn't talk much. They were both still tired.
Al found the control on his bed that got him sitting up. "What time is it, Sam?"
"Almost eight."
"Then I haven't eaten in about 20 hours. No wonder my stomach sounds like a pit stop at the Indy 500."
Sam laughed. "Yeah, it's been awhile. I'm hungry too. I'll be right back." A nurse was at the desk nearby Al's room. "Hi, I'm Dr. Beckett."
The young woman stood up and held out her hand. "Good to meet you, Dr. Beckett. I checked in on you and the Admiral about an hour ago. You were both sleeping pretty good."
"Must have been. I didn't hear you."
"I'm Lavonda Robbins, sir. Admiral Calavicci's vitals are all within normal range."
"Normal? Now, that's one word I rarely hear in the same sentence with Al's name."
"So I've been told. It's really an honor to meet both of you. You might not believe this, but we don't get many astronauts or Nobel Prize winners in Ft. Wayne."
"Suppose not." His face blushed a little and he had to change the subject. "The Admiral is hungry and he can eat a lot."
"I called down to the kitchen about twenty minutes ago. Breakfast for two should be up soon. In the meantime, since the Admiral is awake, I need to change the bandage on his head."
"I can do that. Don't bother."
"You are not going to keep me from meeting an astronaut. I'll be right in. I have to get a tray."
Sam saw that they were in good hands. Lavonda took her job seriously. She was the guardian at the gate.
The staff at the hospital treated the Admiral like the VIP he was. Lavonda worked hard keeping curious staff and patients away. She was even more protective when the occasional reporter started hanging around. Only one visitor made it through her gate and it was a surprise to both the Admiral and Sam.
The tall man in a Naval officer's uniform had a briefcase in one hand, a topcoat in the other and a look of near panic on his face. He stormed into Al's room and demanded, "I want to know why you didn't listen to me, you God damn son of a bitch."
Al had just gotten back from a CAT scan and he didn't want or need scolding. "Can it, A.J. Just get that bastard in prison and dishonorably discharged."
The JAG attorney ignored his friend and talked to Sam. "Is he really okay?"
"He will be. Bed rest for a few days, then nothing strenuous for a few more. We were lucky, A.J. Chuck was trying to kill him."
"I'll need your statement, yours and anyone else who witnessed this pig." The anger in A.J.'s eyes was sharing space with tremendous upset, and fear that his friend could have been killed. Making his way to the Admiral's side he looked down and said, "Do you know that I was personally summoned by the President to come here and take care of this. He woke me out of a sound sleep last night. What I want to know is why you didn't call me thirty seconds after this happened."
"Like I was in any position to call you!. Al waited and when he figured A.J. was done raving, he decided to speak. "Anyway, nice to see you too, Captain. It's usual to salute a superior officer."
"When I see one, I will."
"Stop bawling me out. I didn't plan this, but since I'm going to be fine, I'm glad he tried it. Gets him out of Katie's life and into a jail cell."
A.J. put his hand on the Admiral's arm. "I didn't pull your sorry little ass out of that pit in Vietnam just to have some prick throw you into a lake to drown." He dropped his own sorry ass into a chair and relief spread through him. "Damn it, Al. You scared me. I haven't been scared like this in years."
Sam didn't even know he spoke aloud. "Me either. He came close."
A.J. looked at Sam for a true answer to his next question. "How close, Sam?"
"When we pulled him out of the lake, his heart was beating, but he wasn't breathing. He coughed out a lot of water. That's why we started IV antibiotics right away."
Al wanted the conversation to lighten up. "The asshole ruined my custom made dress blues. That uniform fit like a glove. The shoulders were just right. Add destruction of private property to the charges."
"I have to admit it, Al. You may be a lot of things, but boring isn't one of them. I am going to nail this guy. Charles Harvey Zdenek is dead meat."
Sam and Al unisoned, "Harvey?"
A.J. put his briefcase on Al's bed and opened it up. He pulled out a camera and knew exactly the reaction he'd get when he said, "I need pictures."
Al tightened up. "Of what?"
"What he did to you."
"I don't think so."
A.J. had to get the pictures, but he knew more about Al's hesitation than anyone else did. "It's got to happen, Al. Every bit of evidence I can gather will help keep the guy in prison. Would you prefer Sam took them?"
It hadn't occurred to him that anyone would need to see the marks on his body and it wasn't even the bruises that bothered him. Cameras aren't selective. If it took a picture of the bruise then the marks he bore from his past would be there as well. Just three days earlier Senator O'Reilly accused him of using his time in Vietnam as a tool to manipulate. Now, these photos would be in evidence and again he could be accused of using his years of torture to influence a decision. But he shook the idea from his head. His distress was ridiculous. He wasn't a psycho case. Let him take whatever pictures he wanted. "Just do it, A.J."
With Sam's help, A.J. took two rolls of pictures. The camera clicked, the flashed popped lights and after five minutes it was done. Throughout it all, Al kept his eyes shut. He didn't need any visual memory of the event. "All done. Thanks, Al." Sam helped get Al back into the hospital gown. "He really did a number on you. You lucked out, buddy. According to his personnel file, Chuckie is six five and weighs 237 pounds most of which is muscle." A.J. sat back down. "I'm going to put him away, Al. I'll make sure he'll pay. This time, I can do something. I'm not going to let you down."
"You never did let me down. Why would you start now?" The palm of his hand pushed against his forehead trying to get rid of the headache starting to punch at him.
Sam adjusted the bed and got Al in a better position to sleep. "Listen, nod off for awhile. You've had a busy day."
Al didn't argue and that just confirmed Sam's decision to insist on at least one more day of rest in the hospital. His friend had to be a little stronger before they went back to the camp. He nodded toward the door and A.J. followed him out of Al's room leaving the Admiral able to close his eyes and rest.
"I need to find a place to stay. Where would you recommend?"
"My cousin's camp. You need to come out there anyhow so we can show you exactly what happened and you'll be able to get all of our statements."
"Thanks. I'll take you up on it." They walked down the hall. "Is he really going to be okay, Sam? He looks like shit."
"I need a cup of coffee. Want one?" Sam pointed toward the elevator. "I need something to eat too. The cafeteria is upstairs."
The two men sat at a table. The tray in Sam's hands held a couple of sandwiches, potato chips and Sam's coffee. A.J. opted for a coke. "Sam, you didn't answer me before. Is he going to be okay?"
"Should be, but I'm worried about him."
"He's got you being a card-carrying member of the club, too?" Sam was chewing and couldn't answer, but he looked incredibly puzzled. A.J. tried to explain. "There are about half dozen of us." A.J. slugged down most of his coke. "Even though I knew him from before, he got me back in '73. When we pulled him from that camp, I would have sworn he'd be dying in a few hours. Then he not only survives, but makes it into NASA where he crash-lands a shuttle. Sometimes I think he has a death wish. Can't say that I'd blame him if he did."
"How did you get him out of Nam?"
"That's a story for Al to tell, not me. He's closed up about what happened to him there so I just figure that whatever my wildest imagination can conceive, it had to be worse. You know, Sam. I was a SEAL and I thought I was tough. I acted like it in Vietnam, but when I pulled Al out of that pit, my life changed. I was rotated back home about two weeks later and when my wife met me I held onto her and cried and I couldn't stop. That made my decision for me. I went back to school and became an attorney. I wanted options and I lucked out. I still get to be a Navy officer, but now I serve in JAG." He finished the coke. "If they call me back for combat for whatever reason, I'll go, but it will be a different man who'll go this time. None of the fake glory stuff. There is no glory in what happened to our guys in Nam, guys like Al. There's only sadness and he's still paying for it. You and I both know why he didn't want me taking pictures."
"I can understand not wanting people to see them all the time, but they're a badge of honor. There's nothing to be ashamed of."
A.J. laughed. "Spoken like a true civilian."
Sam insisted, "But there is nothing to be ashamed of."
"Torture just isn't a physical thing, Sam. They did things to humiliate and denigrate our men, things to make them feel like inhuman, lowlife scum. Now, I probably shouldn't say this, but Al spent his life pulling himself out of the gutters everybody and their brother threw him into. Then he gets housed by the most sadistic commandants at the most deplorable prison camp history has seen. Trust me, the physical stuff isn't what eats at him."
They finished lunch talking about music and getting driving instructions to the camp. A.J. left Sam to talk to Chuck in the jail cell he'd been transferred to in Ft. Wayne. Back at Al's room, the doctor found his patient sleeping. He sat down and just watched the Admiral's chest rise and fall in rhythm. The last few days were overwhelming for him and he wasn't the one lying in a hospital bed with a bruised kidney, a skull fracture and 14 stitches in his head. He made a decision. There would be no more questions about the past. Al had reasons for staying quiet and Sam would respect them and the Admiral even more than he had before - if that were possible.
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: All rights to this story are reserved. Neither the whole nor parts (with exception of short excerpts for review purposes) may be published elsewhere without written permission from the author. Thank you.