Hamelyn's Curse
Prologue
He found it one miserable afternoon, having entered the pokey little Junk shop. In an attempt to escape a sudden rain storm. The artifact had clearly lain - gathering dust on the shelf. For many a long year.
Yet even before he picked up the long wooden instrument. He felt the power emanating from it.
It cost him more dollars than he could really afford. Including his bus fare home. But now the walk in the pouring rain did not dampen his spirits.
It was as if the object boosted his ego. The mere feel of it, through the plastic wrapping, elated him. Four days later he found the suit. A small part of the man wondered? If the flute itself had some how directed him to the second thrift store?
Chapter Two
Don prised the cap off the vial of smelling Salts and wafted it under Colby's nose. He coughed as the acrid fumes jerked him back to consciousness.
At that moment the elevator door swished open and the Chief Medical Officer with two assistants burst out of it. Dragging a gurney.
The CMO - Doctor Pearson was deeply concerned. When he learned his patient was Colby Granger. He knew the agent's history and the torture he had undergone. At the hands of the Chinese and their spy.
Colby had come round and was dying of embarrassment as everyone stared at him.
Pearson pushed his way through the crowd, around the agent on the ground. The amount of blood on and around the man and the floor suggested. He had had some sort of aneurysm.
If he had thought it was cold before the episode? Colby now felt even worse. He was shivering and his teeth chattered.
David still kneeling before him asked with a worried frown. "Colby what the heck just happened?" Colby wasn't even sure. He tried had to convince himself. He had fainted because of the cold and dreamt the sojourn in the weird old fashioned town. But the image of the black rat rose in his mind. Colby shuddered again. He hated rats He always had done. Nasty verminous creatures. They had scared him since childhood. When he had first learned of them in school and the horror they had visited upon the Middle Ages. Rats were his greatest phobia. In the daylight of the modern world He could push his fears away. But at night he often had nightmares. Unless he was staying over at David's pad, Colby slept with the light on.
Pearson took one look at the sheet white agent covered in blood and ordered his two assistants. To pick him up. Colby was whisked away to the main infirmary. David followed - hovering anxiously as his partner was cleaned up. Then enscounced in a clean bed Set aside in a small private room. Pearson's second came in and tested all his vital signs. Doctor Baines was as concerned as the CMO. Colby's stats were all over the place.
In the VCU Charlie abandoned all attempts. To pick up the thread of his lecture. No one was listening. All the conversations centered on Colby and his sudden affliction. The current case was effectively shelved.
Don went down to the sick bay early the next morning. A nurse pointed him to Colby's room. Granger was sleeping.
Don shook his head.
David was dozing in a chair beside the bed. Don knew in an instant. Sinclair had remained at Colby's side all night. He put out a hand to shake him awake Just as the Chief Medical Officer himself bustled in. David woke blinked twice - confused. Then his memory returned. He came wide awake. Colby also woke as the Doctor loudly entered. Don looked straight at the CMO. "How is he? Can you tell us what happened?" Pearson smiled at the chief of the Violent Crimes Unit. Another had entered. Colby properly awake now, inwardly groaned It was Director Wright. Colby flushed red, mortified! By now the whole damn building would know. He had fainted. It was going to take weeks. Months even. For the subject to be dropped.
Wright like Don was keen to know exactly what had occurred. Pearson smiled at the nervous men. David too was now fidgetting behind his two superiors. Pearson consulted a data-pad he was holding. "All the signs indicate Agent Granger was struck by an ischemic shock."
A what?" David frowned. Pearson looked at him.
An Ischemic Shock is a sudden trauma in the brain. In this case I believe it was caused by a small blood vessel bursting." Wright's face registered a degree of fear.
"How bad is that?" Peason again consulted his pad. "I do not believe this is anything more than a one off event. Most likely an after effect of the torture. He underwent a few months ago. However in these instances. It is wise always to err on the side of caution. So I am afraid I have to insist on Agent Granger. remaining here. At least until the end of the week. Just to be sure!"
David released the terrified breath He was holding. Wright nodded also relieved. Agent Granger was now the poster boy for the FBI. He had to be protected at all costs. A lot of people had vested interests in him. Don knew it too. Colby Granger was special.
An hour later. There was a massive thunder storm over Los Angeles and the weather broke. By nightfall the temperature was dropping back to a more normal level.
TBC