The Edge: Of a Volcano
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan
Over the next few days, Matt's shoulder is healed enough for him to be able to help Sam with most things. Sam is healing slowly but he still finds it difficult to walk so he kept in the confines of a wheelchair whenever traveling, which was mostly to see his father. Jason is 'recovering nicely' as his doctor had put it but there could be some permanent repercussions even with extensive physical therapy. Sam spends nearly every day in his father's room either sitting in his wheelchair or if they felt like being bad boys, Jason would help his son into the bed to lay with him. Although it was against protocol, the doctors and nurses couldn't bring themselves to disturb the sleeping father and son, Sam curled into his dad and Jason's protective arms wrapped around his boy.
Sam wheels himself into his daddy's room just as the doctor is in the middle of a deep conversation with General Braddock.
"Oops!" He squeaks quietly, realizing he has interrupted.
He looks around trying to figure out how to turn himself around when he father speaks.
"Samuel, come here, son. It's alright, we are finished here, aren't we doc?" The doctor nods politely and skirts out of the room, being careful to not hit the young Master Corporal with the door.
With great effort, Sam manages to wheel himself over to the bed.
"Sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to interrupt. I could have left, really! I'm sorry." He hangs his head.
"Oh Sammy, don't talk like that. You were not interrupting, we were finished. Don't be even a bit sorry, I love seeing my Pooh Bear." Jason smiles widely.
'He looks lonely.' Sam notes. 'Has he even gotten out of bed yet? Have they helped him walk around at all?'
"Daddy, have you walked around yet?"
The General licks his lips and swallows before putting on an almost sickeningly fake smile. "Not just quite yet, Sammy but don't you worry sweetheart they're going to help me later tonight."
"No they're not." Sam quickly notices his father's lie. He could always tell when his daddy was lying.
His father sighs heavily. "Fine, they're going to start doing PT next week. They say I'm not ready yet and you don't need to worry about me."
"Are you still sick, Daddy?" Sam asks, worry thick in his voice as he clutches his father's hand.
Jason pats Sam's hand and gently squeezes back. "Just a bit." He answers. A few moments pass before The General turns the attention on his son. "Have you been up and walking any?"
He expects that his son has not and considering the extent of his injuries especially to his back, that is very acceptable. To his surprise, Sam nods.
"Matt has helped me walk a little, but I haven't left the room or anything. I just want you to get better, Daddy." He whimpers, tears welling in his eyes.
"I want you to get better as well." He comments softly.
Just as he reaches over to wipe the tears from his son's eyes, the door suddenly flings open. Five heavily armed men dressed entirely in black enter, guns raised and pointed at the father and son.
Sam, startled by the noise, jolted backwards to the corner on his father's left hand side adjacent to the bed, his eyes wild and frightened. Jason stares helplessly at his son, unable to comfort him since Sam is now out of reach. A female voice begins speaking.
"You, Jason, are a very hard man to kill indeed." She growls. "Two bullets to the chest, nearly six and a half miles away from the closest compound and you still lived? Impressive. You would never had made it if it weren't for Samuel." She spats, angrily stressing his son's name. "Today is different, however. You will die. Both of you; for I am sick of dealing with your ongoing shit and excuses. Sure, the chateau was nice but nothing will be better than revenge. The rightful General will take his throne this afternoon after your tragic deaths. I guess you should have told someone about your PTSD Jason, before you turned your gun on your onlyson and then on yourself."
Jason stares in horror as he hears how this will all go down and how these people are going to cover-up their 'murder.' No, he will not allow anyone touch his son. Sam was his baby and only his.
"Come out and say it to my face, bitch." He growls dangerously.
A figure emerges from in between the hefty men, a smug smile painted on her face.
"Hello, Jason. Miss me?" She asks snarkily, the smile never leaving her face as he clenches his jaw very tightly.
She surveys the room, smiling icily at Samuel. 'Perfect. They are both immobile. This should be very, very fun.' She crouches down in front of Sam as Jason's anger boils since he cannot protect his son.
"Do you remember me, Sam?" She asks quietly but her tone biting as she raises his chin so his eyes meet hers. She has made one, very big mistake in her perfect plan. Touching. Sam's. Face.
Inside, Jason is screaming for joy and turning cartwheels, on the outside, he allows himself to crack a smile as his son goes ballistic.
"YOU FUCKING BITCH! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING! GET YOUR SLUTTY HANDS OFF ME! DON'T YOU DARE LAY ANOTHER HAND ON ME! DON'T EVER THINK YOU CAN TOUCH ME AGAIN!" He screams bloody murder.
He pushes her away with a shocking amount of force as she stumbles backwards into her 'crew.' All guns are trained on Sam. Jason holds his breath as the hand she had been holding up slightly in the air signaling to hold fire, drops.
"SAM!" He screams throwing himself at his wheelchair-bound son.
The force of the two bullets knocks the wind out of Jason as he collapses half across his son's lap. He struggles for breath as he pushes himself off Sam and frantically turns to check on his son.
"Sam! Sammy no! No!" He cries, pushing his son's head up. "Look at me baby! Talk to me! Please! Don't give up on me now, sweetie!"
Sam's eyes are only slits as a hand is shoved into the hole dangerously close to his heart in attempts to staunch the blood. He gasps for air and his eyes are growing duller by the second.
"No, no baby, stay with me. You're going to be okay, Sammy. I'm going to take care of you. Please don't give up on me, Pooh Bear!" Jason begs.
Sam weakly lifts his head to see the attackers that will very likely be his murders.
"Mom?" He asks horrified, his mind registering the face that she had done the unthinkable – she had, had touched him. Touched him! Yet, worse, touched his face! No one, no one, touches Samuel William Braddock's face except his father.
She smiles smugly at him. "You remembered." She sounded as if she were speaking to a young child and slightly surprised.
His hurt, betrayed face burned itself her memory. 'He was such a handsome boy.' She thinks watching his eyes close for what is most likely the final time before she turns around. She hears her husband shout his son's name as he catches his limp body that is falling forwards out of his wheelchair. She doesn't need to see, to know what is happening. Jason is cradling his son, pleading for him to hang on a little longer.
'He'll be weakening soon himself and finally let Sam rest in peace.'
She had nothing against Sam other than he was the final obstacle that was preventing her son from becoming the General and he such an easy target for her to take her anger out on.
Jason feels the vital substance leaking out of his own body. He painfully looks down at his chest which is now fully covered in his own blood. His breath catches in his throat as he glances back at his son. His hand is stained with Sam's blood. His own bullet wounds aren't too bad, only the highest one pierced through his body and embedded itself into his precious son's chest. The second bullet had hit a bit lower, both had cleared his heart by miles it seemed.
"Jaqueline!" He chokes. "Why? Why are you doing this to Sam?!" He sobs, holding his son's hand with his free one.
"Well, Jason he was the weakest link in the family: the child. He had to be disposed of. Jason, you need to take care of yourself if you want to live a little longer. Just face it, sweetheart; Sammy isn't going to make it this time." She places a hand on her husband's shoulder. "But you, you might be able to talk me out of – let's say, leaving you both here to bleed out and die." She paws at Jason chest, her eyes uncharacteristically sincere.
"How?" He squeaks.
"Maybe, you could – you know, give me some of your love." She states hopefully, fingering through her husband's thick blonde hair.
Jason seems to contemplate this proposal for a moment, he is honestly just trying to find words to describe even a tenth of his emotions.
"You're a fucking crazy bitch!" He shouts, anger and astonishment that she wants to have sex after she just put two bullets through him and could have killed his son. "What the hell is wrong with your brain?! Here? Now? In front of everyone?! Have you lost your damn mind?! Yeah, I'm gonna drop my pants to give a bitch like you some love? It's not like I'm trying to keep my son alive or anything right now! Not that you didn't order he be killed! Get outta my face, whore! You killed my son and you want sex?! Or do you want to molest Sam a little more before he's dead?! You're – you're a ******************************!"
Jaqueline seems to be taken aback quite a bit at the slew of angry comments.
"Fine. Your choice. I might take you up on that part about Sam."
Jason just about pukes in her face. "Go to hell. You go straight to hell. You have done enough to this boy without needing to force yourself on him anymore. You molested him and fucked up his entire life!"
"Jason I was joking." She says rolling her eyes. "Anyway, since you denied my offer, we'll have to do this the hard way. Secure the doors." She snaps as Jason begins screaming for help. "Snap out of it. No one is going to hear you and no one is going to come to your little rescue because of your order for no one but doctors to enter. Your own security sealed your own death." She states, sitting down in a chair. "You know, if you change your mind, just interrupt me and we'll let you go."
"Go to hell." Jason growls.
She raises her eyebrows as to say 'fine, whatever.' "You're the stupid one. You -"
"I am going to be the General!" A loud, young voice booms.
"Alexi! I told you to wait outside. This is a personal matter." Jaqueline snaps, eyeing whom Jason assumes is her son.
"And you're just as crazy as your mother." Jason mutters loud enough for the boy to hear.
"What did you just say?" Alexi growls.
"I said you're just as crazy as the bitch that gave you life."
"Ha! Well, that being said by the dead man I think I'm doing pretty good. Your son is going to be dead soon, too. So who's going to be the next General? Hmm…well Mrs. Braddock has a son and since he's the only male child with the Braddock name, he must be General." Alexi smirks in Jason's face.
"You can't be more than eighteen. You honestly think the Canadian military will allow an eighteen-year-old with no army experience whatsoever to be The General of all Canada's army? You must be on crack." Jason scoffs.
"Mum, is he right? You promised this would be easy, that this would get me in automatically. Does he speak the truth?!" Alexi shouts.
"Alexi, settle. I told you what I told you, now do you not believe, son?"
"I want to know if this is going to work! I want to know if he speaks truth!"
"Alexi,"
"NOW!" He shouts furiously.
'Sheesh, what a brat. She must've married another Canadian, it must have been my Russian bloods that kept Sam so grounded.' Jason thinks, smiling a bit. He had no idea of Alexi's nationality but he was sure he was only a brat because of the women who raised him.
While still tending to his son, Jason notices his wife (from whom he really needs to get a divorce) raising her hands in the air, surrendering.
"Okay, Alexi, listen to me and please don't get upset." She pauses. "Yes, Jason has a point. There is a very slim chance of you being placed in Jason's position without years of tours and rising in the army's ranks; but there is a chance of you being fast-tracked so you would not have to complete all of the extensive tours." She rushes.
"How could you lie to me like that?! You said this would fix it! This would fix everything! You said I would be the General tonight! How could you do that to me?!" The teenager shouts furiously.
He glares angrily to his right where Jason is sucking for air, his face grey but he continues to apply pressure to his son's wound. He can still feel Sam's weak heart beating. There is still hope. Alexi's face immediately softens as he stares in horror at what his mother had done to these two men – his step-brother and -father.
"Oh my God. Oh my God! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" He cries sinking to his knees in front of Jason. "Let me help! What can I do to help?"
"Towel. Get me a towel." Jason labours on his words. Alexi hurries back with a towel, ignoring his mother's hunch-men's angered grumbles about him helping the enemy.
"Now what?" He asks as his step-father takes and shoves the towel into his own bloodied chest.
It then dawns on Alexi that The General has been shot as well, not just his son.
"What about him? Should I get another towel?" He asks hurriedly.
Jason shakes his head 'no'. "The blood is already clotting. If I move my hand, he'll start bleeding again and surely bleed out then." He stares with tear-stained cheeks at the motionless boy he cradles in his arms and lap.
"Please! What can I do?! I didn't know; I didn't know! I'm sorry! Please let me help him!" The emotional teenager pleads.
"Get help." Jason whispers weakly, his eyes beginning to close from the excessive loss of blood.
Alexi nods and runs off, pushing his way through the startled men.
"Let him go." Jaqueline states loudly as her men begin to follow her son to take him down. "They surely won't survive surgery, if they even make it that far. Come. We are finished here. It is done." Just as quickly as they had come, they are gone.
Jason struggles with every breath but he must keep fighting – fighting for his son who lay dying in his arms. Sam's pulse is fading quickly, he has lost too much blood. He is surprised he survived this long. Just as Jason's body could no longer fight the overpowering blackness, Alexi burst through the door with teams of doctors and nurses. They rush to Jason first but he viciously objects.
"Sam." He croaks, trying to hand his near lifeless son to the doctor just as all his strength has left him from the energy expended opening his eyes.
The doctor understands. He and his team gently lift the JTF2 Master Corporal onto the awaiting gurney and rush him down the hallway into the OR shouting for instruments and bags. The second team has more of a struggle with Jason. He can hardly move yet they help him stand and lay down onto his stretcher as they follow the same procedure as they did with his son. Alexi runs down the hall with him, holding Jason's hand whimpering 'I'm sorry' until they pry him away from his unconscious step-father.
Three Days Later:
The General's eyes slowly open for the first time since they had slid shut on the frantic trip to the OR. He remembers his step-son had been running beside him, holding his hand tightly whispering his apologies until he had slipped unconscious.
'Sam.' He thinks, frantically finding the call button and pressing it ten thousand times.
Three nurses come running in, gently pressing him back down onto the bed. "Sam. Sam!" He keeps repeating. "Where is my son?!" He finally shouts.
"He's in a Post-Op ICU room next door, sir." A nurse states gently.
"Oh my God. Oh God! He's alive?" He squeals joyfully. "Oh thank God! Is he going to be okay?"
"He has been okay so far, sir." She answers.
"I need to see him. No, he needs to be in here with me. We need a full protection detail. A group of people tried to murder my son and me." He rushes.
"Yes sir, we are aware of the situation and you are very protected as is your son."
"No, I need to be with him. He needs to be with me. You don't understand! He will be scared and needs to be with me, ma'am. Now." Jason states with urgency as weak as he is.
"Yes sir, I'll speak with his doctor to see if we are able to transport him." She states calmly and leaves to find Sam's doctor. She had to ruffle a few tail feathers but managed for Sam to be transported into his father's room but she needed to warn Mr. Braddock of a few things before he saw his son.
"General Braddock, sir?" She asks. He nods and she continues. "They are prepping your son for transport now but I need to inform you that Sam is currently on life support. The surgery went well but sir, there was a significant amount of damage to parts of his organs due to the excessive blood loss. We have been giving him plenty of blood and fluids but he is still in what some call a 'blood deficiency coma'. Typically, once the body has been given enough blood and rest, the patient will wake and everything will begin going back to normal."
Jason swallows hard. "But he will be okay once he wakes, right?"
"Yes sir, almost every patient we have had with this has been just fine."
The General allows a sigh of relief to escape him. Through the slit of the window in the door, he spots Matt's worried face.
"Ma'am? Am I allowed no visitors at this time?" He asks, genuinely unsure of the answer.
"The hospital has placed several armed guards in front of both you and your son's rooms. No one but a single nurse and your assigned doctor is allowed entrance." She answers.
"Oh. If I may, can I request a short list of people that could visit us?"
"I can ask the doctor as well as security and I'll get back to you on that right away, sir."
"Thank you." Jason states softly as he lays his head back down on his pillow thoroughly exhausted.
A few moments after the nurse leaves, a team of nurses and one doctor steers his son's bed into the room, locking the wheels so the bed does not move. Jason weakly turns his head to view his motionless son. Bags of blood and fluids drip into his son's body, his heart monitor beeps slowly, his ventilator hisses with every false breath forced into his lungs, a pulse oximeter is clipped onto his index finger and the BP cuff makes a whirring noise every time it takes his son's blood pressure. He reaches across and slowly lays a hand on Sam's cold one. Tears well in his eyes as his and his son's doctors enter the room.
"Oh, good, General Braddock. You're awake." Sam's doctor, Dr. Keshri, states rather happily. "I'm sure the nurse has briefed you on your son's current condition."
Jason nods, struggling to brush the tears from his eyes. "I apologize for my uncontrolled emotions, doctor."
"That is quite alright, General Braddock. You and Sam have been through quite a lot." Dr. Keshri reminds him. "You are both very strong men and I assure you that as soon as Sam's body retains enough blood to be able to function on its own, he will be just fine."
They exchange a few more words before Jason falls asleep, exhaustion from the past few days claiming his body. Over the course of the next day, he comprises his short list of people allowed to visit them including Matthew and Alexi, if he wanted. Both young men, as well as Sam's CO spend plenty of time with their fallen friend. Sam still has not awoken and The General is growing anxious. Jason is becoming much stronger and is able to walk a bit on his own. The only thing keeping him in the hospital is his son but he never leaves Sam's side.
1 WEEK LATER
Sam's dull blue eyes open slowly as he glances around the room.
'I don't think it used to look like this. I must be in a different room. This might not even be the same hospital.' He notices a strong ammonia smell and much brighter lights than the dim compound lighting and dusty scent of his K-Bar camp. He notes how large the room is and how someone else is sharing it with him. Sam weakly reaches for the large remote that lays beside his hand. He presses the 'call' button for a nurse.
A fair, ginger-haired nurse enters slowly, holding a syringe of clear fluid in her hand.
"It's alright Master Corporal Braddock." She soothes.
"Where am I?" Sam whispers hoarsely.
"Kabul. You were transferred here from your compound in Kandahar yesterday. You are a very hard man to stabilize for transport." She chuckles gently, trying to lift the heavy mood. "Your father, General Jason Braddock, is resting in the other bed. He had to be heavily sedated in order for them to get him on the plane. He wanted to make sure you were going to be okay. You have been given your medications as prescribed and we were going to keep your father mildly sedated until you woke. We feared he would injure himself if he awoke and found you in such a state. You have been in very serious condition, Master Corporal."
The twenty-one-year-old sighs heavily.
"Tell Daddy I love him. I gotta go. Beddie-bye-time now." Sam mumbles sleepily, his eyes quickly drooping closed.
The nurse smiles and gently pulls the sheet over her patient's sleeping form, injecting the pain medication into his IV. Jason wakes later that evening, very pleased to be told Sam had woken earlier and fallen asleep. Both father and son wake the next morning around eight. They are both on a very slow road to recovery but they cherish every moment they have with each other.
Another week later, Jason is firmly holding onto his son's shaking body as and two nurses help Sam walk across the room. They irrupt into cheers as the Special Forces Master Corporal reaches the opposite side. A wide, lopsided smile is painted on his face as his father scoops him up, placing a gentle kiss on Sam's nose.
"I'm so proud of you." Jason whispers into his son's ear.
That night, he lowers Sam into his bed and climbs in next to him, wrapping his arms around the young body curled into him. The twenty-one-year-old sleeps soundly in his father's arms and both are asleep by twenty thirty. The next day, Matt arrives at the hospital. As he is about to enter, he notices Jason and Sam talking about something that looked very important. He stays behind the door and watches the interaction between father and son through the small panel of glass. He smiles as The General pulls something out of his pocket and hands it his son: the keys to his prized red Corvette at home in Ottawa. Jason smiles gently and fully embraces his son.
"Happy 16th birthday, Sammy."
In a dark room very far away:
"They survived." A thick-accented man growls murderously. "They will be taken care of…very, very soon. We simply have to wait before we strike." He snaps the neck of the rabbit he had been petting in his lap and drops it to the ground; two King Cobras come slithering out of the darkness towards their dying prey. The man's hollow, ominous laugh fills the room with an eerie uneasiness before – in unison – the snakes strike.
A/N: Thank you so much for reading! Please review! This is Book One in the E3 Trilogy. All book titles begin with the letter 'e', have three chapters each and it's a trilogy (hence the name). We'll see what's going to happen with the Braddocks and just how the snake-man plans to strike in Book 2. Chapter 1 of The Escape is coming up next and will be posted very shortly! Please review!