Chapter 21

The sun had long since gone down but even in the dark of night, there wasn't a moment they could waste. Michael was driven immediately to Rudy's office with Russ assigned to stand witness to their meeting, while Oscar and two high-level penguins met with Jack Hansen in Oscar's office. A list of all who had been 'influenced' slowly began to take shape...and it was frighteningly longer than anyone had expected. It took Oscar's breath away as he began to realize just how many were out there, working to undermine the OSI...and to harm Jaime and Steve. As the list slowly but steadily grew longer, it became apparent that Anna truly had fashioned herself a small army. Some of them were among Oscar's most trusted penguins, others were from the NSB and from the old Security staff at National Medical. Did Michael truly have the ability to return these dozens of unwitting pawns to normalcy...and could he be trusted to do so?

Rudy listened carefully to everything Michael told him. He looked at the test results that had led to this discovery and he reviewed Michael's notes. He had worked alongside Michael for many years, and yet even Rudy was stunned by the brilliance that had enabled the young neurosurgeon to look at a series of test results and come up with this!

Was it mind control? Not really. As Michael detailed the device and what it could do, Rudy realized it was more along the lines of 'mind correction'. What it would do to a normal, unaltered brain was unclear. Michael's scrambled eggs remark was a possibility. It was equally likely that a normal brain would experience no effects at all. Further in-depth study might give an answer to that but for now, Oscar needed a more immediate opinion. Could Michael, by the use of his new device, remove all untoward influences from the minds of 'Anna'a Army'? It appeared that he could.

Could Michael be trusted to do so, and not try to create the 'scrambled egg' brains he had spoken of, both to Oscar and again several times to Rudy? Rudy had witnessed the seemingly amazing results achieved with Jaime. He'd heard from Oscar how Anna had - apparently - been turned into an obedient pussycat. Still, an entire list of people that might need to be subjected to what was at best still an experimental treatment?

Rudy had some serious soul searching to do - and not much time to do it.

Steve lay very quietly in bed, propped up on his one good elbow and watching Jaime as she slept. There was a peaceful smile on her face, which put one on his own. Her transformation today had been from that of a semi-invalid (easily frustrated and even more easily angered) to a cheerful, fully capable, normal-seeming mother and wife. Marchetti had (it appeared) NOT turned her into a Stepford Wife, either; she was very close to the same Jaime she'd been before a bullet lacerated her brain.

Steve hadn't been sure he could trust Jaime's doctor before...and while he was immensely grateful for what had apparently occurred that day, a small part of him wondered if Michael had somehow also influenced Jaime in a way that might make her more susceptible should the doctor decide to make another 'play' for his patient...

Stev'e other worry had nothing to do with Michael and everything to do with Jaime...and Oscar. He couldn't keep away the knowledge that if Jaime's current upswing was permanent, she was now likely to be considered 'fit for duty'. Was she aware of this - and how would she react - both to the thought of possibly working again AND to having to accept orders from Oscar?

Jack Hansen was releasing names for the 'list' slowly, appearing to be painstakingly searching his memory for each and every detail, each and every person. The fact that he was even verbal and coherent again after spending so long mutely staring at a wall was another apparent Marchetti-miracle. Would the effects hold long enough to finish the ever-growing list - and would they then hopefully be permanent? Perhaps, Oscar thought, there was even hope of Jack returning to the NSB in some capacity in the future!

The list kept growing, making it clear that the OSI still remaining intact (and the Austins at least recently unharmed) was a fluke and a lucky break. Anna's army was truly that - a small army from every branch of government and every imaginable type of support personnel. IF the conclusion from Rudy about Michael's device and his intentions was positive one, these people would need to be rounded up and...then exactly what would happen to them?

''Juice!'' came the happy chirp from Becca's room just before the sun came up. ''Juice, juice, juice!''

''I'll get her,'' Jaime offered, instantly awake and energetic (instead of pulling the covers over her head and groaning as had often become her norm). Rather than step carefully one foot and leg at a time from the bed and then taking a few moments to collect her balance, Jaime threw back the sheet and bounded from the bed, excited to begin a new day, even at an unGodly early hour.

Jack Hansen looked up from his work and reached for a cup of coffee. ''That's it; the last of them,'' he announced. ''I'm finished.''

Oscar wondered where his former colleague should be sent now that he appeared normal. Then he picked up the sheet from the table...and nearly choked on his own coffee. There was suddenly a far bigger problem to deal with than where to send Jack Hansen. The last name on Hansen's list was Michael Marchetti.

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