Young Offender, Part 39:
Jet found the nearest place to land was Japan, once again. This would be a temporary stop to recover. And, once again, they headed towards Kozumi's doorstep. It was late at night. Albert, carrying Ivan's unconscious form, warned everyone to stay alert.
The Japanese scientist, when they arrived, got them in a car and rushed them to his laboratory at Tokyo University. It was secure and underground. The first thing the man did was help Gilmore check Ivan out. They made sure he was stable as he lay on a metal autopsy table before leaving him to Francoise's watchful eye and turning to Jet.
Jet felt his heart thud as Gilmore grabbed up an instrument that looked like pliers and said, "Let's get that junk out of your mouth."
"I don't know. Maybe you should leave it in," Albert said. Jet knew the man was joking, but it stung hard. Albert, who was slumped over on a chair, elbows on knees, was watching him. Jet figured there must have been something that conveyed his hurt because Albert's face went from a sly smirk to a concerned frown.
Jet whirled away and sat in a chair across the room, his back to Albert. Gilmore held up the pliers and Kozumi a syringe. He shook his head at the pain killers. "But this is going to hurt," Gilmore explained.
Jet shook his head again, leaned his head back, and let them pull apart his lips. Gilmore didn't lie. The pain to his gums was unbearable. He caved into to pain medicine half way through. Once it was finished, and his mouth was free, Kozumi dabbed a yellowish goo on his gums and helped him rinse his mouth out at a sink. Jet leaned over the sink, but glanced over his shoulder when he felt cool metal touch on his upper arm. It was Albert.
"Come on. My turn to take care of you for a while."
Jet opened his mouth to tell Albert to go take a jump off a cliff, but his voice was totally gone. His eyes went wide and his hands flew to his throat in shock.
Albert gave him a reassuring smile. "It'll come back after a while. You haven't said a word in three months or more. I've lost track of the time. Don't worry; rest and a little food will do you some good."
Jet felt too weak and shaky to resist Albert's orders. He glanced to make sure Francoise was dozing on an upholstered chair beside the table Ivan was on before he totally submitted to Albert. Kozumi brought some blankets and a futon out of a cupboard and said, "It's all I have. Tomorrow I'll get some food."
"It's kind of you to help us like this again, Herr Doctor," Albert said, nodding his thanks. Gilmore found a comfortable chair on the other side of the room, wrapped himself in a blanket, and dropped off soundly. Jet watched Albert make a pallet on the cold, linoleum floor and motioned Jet over.
Jet stumbled over and collapsed on the futon and scratchy wool blankets. Albert said, "You're probably used to sleeping on the floor now?"
Jet looked up at him, for once nothing came to his head to say. Usually, he could always think of something clever, but there were no words. Albert turned off the lights, only a dull, greenish lamplight from across the room provided light. Albert then sat beside Jet on the futon.
Albert whispered, "I never did thank you for everything you did back there. You have incredible strength, and I admire that."
Jet felt as if the breath were knocked out of him. He wouldn't, no couldn't, listen to Albert's voice any longer. It dredged up all sorts of conflicts in his head he was too tired to deal with.
He forced the word, "Night," out, but it was craggy and pitched all wrong. He turned his back to Albert and rested his head on his out stretched arm. His sleep was as fitful as that one night back in the Paris apartment he had shared with Albert so long ago.
At that time, he'd really disliked Albert a great deal. He was too overbearing and way too dour. Now, Jet had no clue what was bothering him so much about Albert. All Jet knew was he suddenly wanted to run as far away as he could from the older man.
The next morning, Francoise sat around a laboratory table with her two, awake cohorts and the Jewish scientist. All of them were silent. It wasn't long before Kozumi joined them with some fruit and bread, fresh clothing as well.
"Well, I called around to a few people I know. The Black Ghost is going around the scientific community trying to find you five."
"Figures. We cost them a lot of money," Jet hoarsely, and bitterly, spat out in German. Francoise hoped Jet's voice wasn't going to sound like that for the rest of his life; it reminded her of chalk on a blackboard.
"We need to move... by this afternoon," Albert said. "Jet recommended Paris, and I still think that should be our plan."
"Yes, most certainly," Francoise agreed enthusiastically, smiling for the first time in months.
"Certainly. Of course, you'll have to get to an airport and then you can get a flight. I can get you tickets through the university," Kozumi offered.
"Good idea, but we have to move fast before the authorities are on the look out for us," Albert said. The man nodded and left quickly. "Doctor Gilmore?"
"What is it, 004?"
"Are you sure you want to come with? You could stay here."
"Yes, I'm sure I want to escort you. Besides, we need to get Kaminari to figure out what to do about your arm. You need a better power source. We can come up with something together, I think. But... that man tries my patience something fierce!" Gilmore said with balled up fists.
"If you're sure. If you're caught..." Albert started.
"I know perfectly well what the consequences are. I intend to atone for what I've done," Gilmore snapped, a hard look in his eyes as Albert turned over the rook shaped power source from his arm. "Besides, you and 003 will start feeling withdrawal from the painkillers they've been pumping you full of. I need to monitor you both."
Francoise felt her heart flutter with the dreadful though of withdrawal. Her mind dredged up beatniks sitting around cafes. She sighed and started pacing. Jet caught her sleeve and tugged it. His eyebrow was quirked, and he didn't need to say a thing for her to understand the question.
"I'm fine, Jet. I just want to get back home."
They were greeted in Paris with a torrential downpour. They quickly left the airplane; they were mixed with the other passengers, but separated into smaller pairs. Albert traveled with Kozumi, acting as a music professor. They were supposedly meeting at a convention for education professionals at the University of Paris. Since Albert actually had teaching credentials, it wasn't hard for him and Kozumi to travel without suspicion.
Gilmore traveled as a grieving father bring his son's coffin back from a fateful trip to Japan; Ivan was nestled in a coffin resting deeply in the cargo-hold. Many people offered solemn looks, but most wouldn't intrude on Gilmore's supposed grief and pain.
Jet and Francoise played the part of young newlyweds, both reluctantly. They didn't bicker, but they certainly didn't seem natural. Several eyes would drift over to them, casting baffled expressions. It wasn't until they were walking by themselves in the terminal that Francoise gave Jet a scrutinizing look he didn't much care for.
He prayed the others would join them soon, so he could stop pretending to be something that made him painfully uncomfortable. He stopped fidgeting from foot to foot when she laid her hand on his elbow; her brow was furrowed. A thunderclap and flickering florescent lights cut off what she was about to say for half a minute, but she asked him the same question she had asked him on the plane.
"Really, Jet, is this how you treated all your girlfriends?"
He glared down at her and said, his voice still hoarse, but a little better, "Would you stop with the girlfriend nonsense? You noticed I didn't go seek out any dames when we were back in the Big Apple. That's not how I used to spend my time."
"Surely you must have a girlfriend or two."
Jet rolled his eyes and took a deep breath. He figured he'd have to be a little more blunt. "Dang! You sound just like my ma. Frannie, the few girl's I went around with were pretty loose. I didn't pick them to go steady, if you know what I mean."
Francoise blushed and shook her head. "That's very sad. You should try to find the right girl and settle down."
"What? When? We're on the run all the time, if you didn't notice."
Now she glared and snapped, "Oh, I didn't notice at all, being on that resort island for several months."
Jet flinched back in shock and slowly smiled. "Wow, great come back."
"I've been hanging around you too much."
"Not again," Albert said, walking up with a bright smile.
"We aren't fighting," Francoise insisted with a sigh. "So why are you so happy?"
"We made it to Paris. Now we can start over again," Albert said. "Gilmore and Kozumi are going to meet us with Ivan. They're at the same hotel we were taken from."
"Wow. You really are a badass cat, Al. We better beat feet before the fuzz start looking 'round."
"Did you understand a word he said?" Albert asked Francoise in English. Jet knew it was to tweak him; he saw the taunt behind those cool, steely eyes.
"Not a one, but I think he complimented you," she replied in English as well. "But I guess we'll have to sharpen our English."
"Okay, I'm tired and hungry. I ain't sparring with you two," Jet said barely above a craggy whisper, stalking off towards the glass doors and the pouring rain outside. He smirked as they caught up to him and walked side-by-side into the intense night weather.
When they got to the hotel lobby, Albert booked two rooms: one he'd share with Jet, and the other for Francoise. He also inquired if Dr Kozumi had made it. Albert found out that he and Dr Gilmore were safely tucked away in their shared room. He wondered where they had stored Ivan, but he had faith they were taking good care of him.
They escorted Francoise towards the elevator, but Francoise grabbed Albert's arm and pointed to a sign on an easel by a huge, lush, green plant. His eyes scanned it quickly. It was an advertisement for Ballet de l'Opéra national de Paris.
He gave Francoise a baffled look, but she explained, "We have no leads, so we may as well start with Natalie. Jean-Paul may have contacted her."
"Why would he do that?" Jet scoffed.
"Because he's a gentleman who would want to make sure she was safe, in spite of what she's done. Trust me. I know Jean-Paul," she said with such conviction, all Albert could do was nod.
"Dr Kaminari won't be here until tomorrow. May as well," Albert agreed, but he gave her a stern look. "However, we go together."
Francoise nodded as the elevator opened. The three of them ambled in and rode the elevator up to their rooms on the same floor as the two doctors.
To be continued.