Chapter Sixty-Four
Trapper slept the entire time the phlebotomist was in the room taking Leah's blood. He slept through Gonzo's admonishment to her for sitting without propping her foot up. He even slept while she changed into the pajamas and robe she kept in her office out of habit now and through the noise of moving a chair next to his bed close enough to lay her foot on the bottom corner of the mattress.
All the while, she watched him, waiting for him to open his eyes. Through all that diligence, he saw her first and watched until she raised her head from its bowed position in her hand. Smiling, she took a deep breath of relief and slowly let it out.
"That bad?" Trapper asked rather hoarsely.
"Mm hm," she answered, nodding slowly. "You gave me a good fright."
"I'll try to do better next time."
"The only way you can do better is by not getting shot trying to protect me." She winced as soon as the words were out of her mouth, knowing they might incite him to be defensive. "But thank you. You probably saved my life…again."
He chuckled and groaned, moving his arms over his chest, his answer of "anytime" coming out in a wheeze.
"Laughing is not on the list of today's activities." Moving to the side of the bed, Leah sat down and leaned over him, cradling his head in her hands and kissing his forehead before she laid her forehead on his and closed her eyes, trying to hold back more tears.
His left side was sore because of the surgery, so his hand remained idle on the bed, but his right hand moved up her back to the nape of her neck where he squeezed before he kissed those tears away. "That was a lot to go through just to get you to say it."
She raised just enough to look into his eyes. "Say what?"
"What you said to me in recovery."
"You were unconscious. You couldn't have heard anything."
Smiling, he said, "You called me 'John.'"
Sitting up, Leah sucked in a breath and looked away. "So I guess it's time for you to run for the hills."
He moved his hand to her thigh and grasped firmly. "Not gonna happen."
When she looked up toward the ceiling, he tugged on her arm, though he wasn't strong enough to pull her toward him. Even so, he didn't stop tugging until she was leaning over him again. "What happened to your arm?"
"We shared the bullet," she said softly.
Closing his eyes, he said in a weary voice, "I thought I was thick enough to stop it."
"It evidently came from a high-powered sniper rifle. But I'm fine. Gonzo's keeping me here for observation tonight, so…" she pointed to the other bed, "we're roomies." Brushing the back of her fingers down the side of his beard before she gently kissed his lips, she finished, "You're tired."
"But we have a lot to talk about."
She moved closer to his ear and whispered, "Later. Rest for awhile." She sat holding his hand until he drifted off to sleep, and then quietly slipped off the bed and wandered into the hall. No one was at the nurse's station, but when she looked down the hall, it appeared the waiting room was bursting with white coats and uniforms.
"Excuse me," Leah said as she pushed through the crowd watching the television. Standing with Gonzo on one side and Ernie on the other, they listened intently to the breaking news story. It started with federal officers bringing suited men out of the front doors of Xanda National Laboratories handcuffed and leading them to waiting vans.
"As you can see behind me," said the news reporter, "a raid has taken place at Xanda National Laboratories here in Livermore. At this time, no charges have been revealed, however, a reliable source tells us that upon what was called a surprise inspection, it was discovered that reactor-grade plutonium scheduled for storage in an undisclosed location has disappeared, possibly heading overseas toward a Middle Eastern country. Our look at Xanda began earlier this week when two Xanda scientists were discovered in a trash compactor in San Francisco literally crushed." The picture changed to that of the two scientists being rolled into the hospital. "It had been reported that both scientists died, but since then, we've received information that one of the two scientists is alive and recuperating thanks to a team of surgeons at San Francisco Memorial Hospital lead by Chief of Surgery John McIntyre." A posed picture of Trapper appeared on the screen.
"Where'd they get that?" asked Jackpot.
Ernie snorted. "Probably from Arnold. He'll do anything to promote the hospital."
"We have also learned that Dr. McIntyre and a woman who also works at the hospital were shot by snipers during an Army maneuver involving moving a patient to a helicopter on the roof the hospital. We have not yet confirmed the patient was Ms. Ellen Frank, one of the two scientists who might have been trying to inform the government of the missing plutonium. Dr. McIntyre and the woman who was shot are recuperating at the hospital. We'll stay on top of this story, and let you know the facts as soon as they are available."
The newscast returned to the reporter in the studio who added before moving on to the next news story, "Even though the missing plutonium was reactor-grade, it's still powerful and deadly enough to be used in nuclear weapons."
Everyone started to leave the waiting room, but Ernie and Gonzo stopped and looked at Leah who was absently staring at the television screen. "Leah, is something wrong?" asked Ernie.
"Huh," she said, turning. "Oh…no. I was just thinking about the break-in in the basement. All the men Agent Allen took into custody looked Middle Eastern."
"Well, it's over," said Gonzo. "And you should be resting." He moved his arm around her and walked with her to her room. "The beds here are actually pretty comfortable. And besides, your dinner is coming down the hallway now," he said, pointing to the food cart.
"I can't eat in front of Trapper if he's not eating."
"He's having a light dinner, so you two can eat at the same time and talk over old times," Gonzo said with an impish grin. "Actually, what you can talk about is how the two of you are going to relax while you recover. I'm prescribing no stress and no excitement for at least two weeks. Probably longer for him."
The head of Trapper's bed had been raised enough that he could eat on his own by the time Leah got back to the room. Trays were already occupying both over bed tables. Taking the chart hanging on the end of Trapper's bed, Gonzo read through it.
"Anything interesting?" asked Trapper.
"Not much. Just the normal stuff for a gunshot victim."
Trapper chuckled sourly. "Two and a half years in a war and I was never wounded."
Nodding, Gonzo said, "I'm heading over to the Titanic. You two eat your dinner and get some rest. Doctor's orders."
Leah moved her over bed tray beside Trapper's bed and sat in the chair as the two ate dinner together while watching a national news program. The host was briefly discussing the headlines of the day which included the raid at Xanda Laboratories.
Trapper ate only a little of his dinner before he pushed the table away and lay back, periodically closing his eyes. "Your suspicions were right from the beginning, kiddo. What made you jump on the nuclear material?"
"Allen mentioned nuclear material, so I made an assumption. I had just read an article in Scientific American that covered the range of nuclear utilization from radioisotopes in medicine to nuclear warheads and everything in between. It posed the question of reusing nuclear waste destined for storage in underground bunkers; if reactor-grade waste material could still be effective for use as weapons, why not other applications?"
"You read Scientific American?"
"Well, you read all the medical journals, don't you? I am a scientist." Trapper raised an eyebrow. "My curriculum was called computer science, I studied in the mathematics and science department, and I do have Bachelor of Science degree."
"I'm not arguing."
"Your eyebrow is," she said, giggling.
"We need to talk."
Leah moved from the chair to the bed and held Trapper's hand. "We don't need to talk right now. How about tomorrow?"
"You're putting this off."
"No, I'm deferring to your condition. I'd rather talk when you're not hopped up on pain killers. You tend to drift in and out. Gonzo said he was going to have you up for a walk tomorrow, so he's expecting you to make a quick recovery. Oh, and before I forget, Melanie was here earlier. She said she'd stop by tomorrow."
"Melanie?"
"Yes, your ex-wife. You do remember her, don't you?"
Trapper smirked with his eyes closed. "Are you telling me you spoke to Melanie?"
"Yes. We had coffee together."
"Oh. Maybe I should wait until tomorrow to talk."
"Don't worry. It was actually a nice visit."
After a long silence, Trapper said. "All right. We'll talk tomorrow. You just make sure you're here and nothing else comes up. We're not putting this off again."
Leaning over him, Leah kissed his nose and looked into his sleepy eyes. "John, I'm not going anywhere."
They kissed, and then Leah adjusted the head of his bed and pillow before she turned his light off and watched him drop off to sleep. She left the over bed tables and chair where they were, crawled into her own bed and turned off the light.