"Okay, hopefully the Lincoln Tunnel will be opened up soon and traffic will get back to its usual snail's pace, but if there are supplies that we normally get from New Jersey, start looking for places we can order in New Haven, Providence or Boston to be on the safe side. Thank you." Colleen ended the phone call as she spotted Zara and George heading down the hallway to meet her with one of the worms following.
"You think there's some sort of problem?" Zara asked. "What's wrong?"
"It might not be a problem. I'm not entirely sure." Colleen said. "But when we brought supplies up the last time, I noticed the stock of IV fluids are getting lower than I would like." She waved for them to follow her to the area containing the supplies in question. "I'm guessing that we have a couple of days worth left, which probably isn't a critical emergency, but under the circumstances…."
"We definitely need more." George agreed. "I can't see any of our current patients not needing a drip for at least the next four or five days, and probably longer for the worst ones. And if there are any accidents or illnesses…. Wait, would normal saline work for alien patients? I probably should have asked about that before."
"We can generally get it to work at least with normal saline." Zara said. "We have to bolus it for some species or hang something to run together to get the chemistry balanced, but it works pretty well. There are some species that need something entirely different, but thank heavens not species that would be likely to bevisiting Earth due to atmospheric incompatibilities. We definitely need to get more fluids in stock. I don't like what we have on hand either. Do you know how the MIB handles supplies?" She asked the worm who had followed them. "Back home we just order the stuff, although I know the pharmacy can make it if there was ever a disaster big enough to call for it. Thank heavens that's never happened since I've been working there."
The worm thought about it for a moment. "Zeeltor probably knows how to make it, but I think Zed orders most supplies."
"Okay, Zeeltor's currently poisoned, so that's out." Zara said. "So we need to figure out where the medical supplies are ordered from and see about a rush restock,"
"It would be on Zed's computer, but Zed always locks it every time he steps out of his office." The worm told them. "He doesn't want anyone changing supply orders without permission." Like the time they had tried to increase the coffee supply order by ten, but he wasn't going to mention that.
"I know a local company." Colleen offered. "We don't necessarily need to get the supplies from where they usually come from as long as we're able to work out a way to get them. And this company's had to deal with a few calls from some of my board members who don't quite grasp how the supply chain and keeping it running smoothly work. They're used to odd calls. I can place the order if I have an account to bill it to. I would offer to just run it through the hospital and get reimbursed later, but thanks to the head of the board's behavior that got him a few of his numerous indictments, someone at the IRS or the DOJ might be monitoring the hospital's finances a bit closely at the moment."
"X has a MIB credit card!" The worm offered. "He had to use it to pay for the ice cream and the coffee for the party."
"I will call my cousin and get the card number and any other information they might need." Zara said.
"Good. We'll see what we need and get a list together so we can place an order as soon as you have the payment information." Colleen said. "With any luck they can put a rush on it. They were able to when the head of the board accidentally clicked something wrong on a staff computer and somehow erased three days of supply orders."
An hour later Zara was heading through the main room, with John following her, heading for the garage.
"Where are you two going?" Edie asked, as she spotted them and the keys in Zara's hand.
"Supply run. Want to come with us? We could use some more help, probably. I don't know how well the warehouse we're going to have to run to will be staffed at this hour." Zara said.
"Supplies? Is there a supply problem?" They really didn't need any more problems right now. But Edie was sure she could definitely go with them. Until the bug issue was taken care of, they were basically on standby. "Let Aileen know I'm going out, okay?" She called to one of the worms. "And let her know I'm not doing the driving."
"And when my cousin gets back, get that credit card from him." Zara added. "I don't want to have to call him back for the numbers again if we need more supplies."
"There isn't an emergency issue with the supplies." Zara explained to Edie as they headed for the garage. "The stock of IV fluids is getting lower than any of us would like though. We're going to pick up more to be on the safe side. Doctor Harper knows a company that could get an order together fast."
Edie didn't know much about medicine beyond first aid, but not having fluids seemed like a bad idea to say the least,, especially under the current circumstances. "I can help load stuff anyway." She said as they reached the garage and the containment vehicles. "Will this be big enough?"
"Hopefully depending how they package things." Zara said as she got in and John and Edie got in on the other side. "If we have to, we can make two trips. I would rather we end up with more fluids than we need than not enough. It's okay if you leave right now, right? With the bug on the loose…."
"Until we know more about the bug and make sure a queen isn't involved, we're pretty much stuck on hold. With how much damage a queen could do, we'll need all hands on deck and fast if It turns out there's one on the loose. But a supply run, I should have time for help with that. Are we running low on anything but the fluids?"
"Thankfully it doesn't look we are so far." Zara said. She should probably have someone do an inventory of the drug supply to be safe, though. She knew that Doctor Weaver and X had had to use a lot of the first line drugs when they were trying to get Kay stabilized. She hoped that had been restocked. "We might have to get some more supplies later but for now this should hold us. I really appreciate the help with it. And thanks for helping clean things up in Zed's office." She told John.
"No problem." He replied. "And it wasn't that bad, not like what happened when that lady from the state board of education ended up having her baby beside the copier. Of course, that might not have been nearly as bad mess wise if Mrs. Miller hadn't been making all of those copies of a math test at the time."
"Someone gave birth next to the copier?" Zara asked, eyes going almost as wide in the human suit as her eyes normally were. ""It didn't occur to anyone to try to get the poor lady somewhere more comfortable than next to an in use copier?"
"She was pretty determined to finish the school's evaluation." John said with a shake of his head. "By the time she admitted things were a bit far gone the contractions were thirty seconds apart and there was pretty much no way she was moving. Luckily one of the kids' grandma's a midwife and she was dropping off her spare inhaler at the time so at least someone who had an idea of what to do was there. I know you have the medical stuff covered pretty well, but if you happen to need any more help, she would be willing to help, I'm sure. And she stays calm about pretty much anything, so I'm sure she would be fine with aliens."
"A midwife, let's hope there won't be more call for her services until things calm down. But I'll definitely keep it in mind. Babies have a bad habit of picking the most inconvenient times to decide to be born, sometimes." Zara replied as she pulled the van up to the warehouse and climbed out.
"You're here to pick up the supplies that Doctor Harper ordered?" A man called from the loading dock.
"Yes, we are. We really appreciate your getting an order together on short notice. I'm one of the people filling in for the regular medical staff, and all of the information about where supplies come from is currently in a locked down computer so we really appreciate your help."
"Locked computer, I hope it was locked for safety reasons and not for whatever that guy from the hospital board with all of the indictments did a few months ago." The man said with a shake of his head. "It's going to be tight, but I think we can fit everything in one load. I'm glad there's more than one of you, though. Most of my crew isn't due in for another hour or so."
"We're glad to help load stuff." Edie said. "You're helping us out big time on short notice, after all."
"I'm glad to do it, especially for people who aren't yelling at me for not doing things faster. Right through here. I have everything pulled. It just need loaded."
The group had just secured the last of the fluids in the back of the containment van when there was a loud clattering noise from the back of the warehouse.
"What was that?" Edie asked.
"Jimmy?" The foreman looked from the direction the noise had came from to the trio in confusion. "He's security. It might have been him but….. He should have came up front when you pulled up, though. I just realized he didn't. Jimmy? You okay?" He turned and took a step in the direction of the noise.
"Stay here. I'll check it out." Edie said. "What's back that way?"
"Just medical supplies. Some electronic stuff, but nothing that people would want to steal. I mean, people see the medical supply sign at the gate, and they do think we have to have drugs here but really there's nothing and…. Jimmy?"
"Just say here. I'll handle it." Edie said before turning and heading in the direction of the noise herself.
The warehouse was like a maze, and it took longer than Edie would like to locate the source of the problem. Her eyes went wide as she spotted the all too familiar figure holding the security guard in his grasp with one hand while routing through a box with the other. Alpha. Edie knew that she wasn't capable of taking on Alpha alone. She needed to get back to the van and contact Aileen for backup, as well as getting Zara, John and the warehouse foreman to safety. She really didn't want to leave the guard in Alpha's clutches, though, but…..
Before Edie could debate more, she saw movement out of the corner of her eye, and then suddenly John was there, easing around a stack of boxes on Alpha's left side, using them as cover. How in the world had he…. Edie started to try to motion for him to get back, although from where the two of them were, she wasn't sure John would be able to see her.
Before she could think of anything else to try to warn him, John suddenly was moving, and somehow he had a gun in his hands, and he was firing, aiming by the security guard's head, with two shots that would have taken Alpha in the head if he hadn't jerked back at the last minute. As it was, at least one shot must have hit some place, because he dropped his hold on the guard with a hiss ad fled, trailing blood.
"Sorry." John rushed over to the guard. "I know that isn't fun. Sorry!"
"How did you do that?" Edie demanded as she hurried over as well.
"The guard must have dropped his gun. I saw it, and I guess I must have seen something like that on tv or something." John said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I saw it some place, anyway, and I thought I could do it. Is he okay?"
"Edie? John?" Zara called as she came hurried through the maze. "What happened?"
"Check the guard, would you?" Edie asked. "He had a gun fired right by his ear. His head has to be ringing like crazy." Better to not mention Alpha until they were alone.
"What's going on?" The foreman came rushing up as well as Zara started to examine the guard. "Jimmy, you okay?"
"I feel like I have a bell going off in my head all of a sudden but I'm okay." The guard said as Zara started to check him. "Must have been another addict looking for something to get high with. We really need to change the name of this place so they know we don't have drugs here."
"I think you're going to be okay." Zara told him. "No sign of bleeding or fluid so you didn't rupture your ear drum. That's good. You might want to see a doctor to get checked, but hopefully after the ringing dies down, everything will be fine."
"Listen, we need to get this stuff back." Edie told the foreman. "Lock everything down behind us and stick together until more of your people get here, okay? I doubt he'll come back but…."
"Not the first time and addict's broken in." The foreman said with a shake of his head. "Jimmy's probably right that we need to rename this place so they know we don't have drugs here. Go on. We'll be fine. We appreciate the help."
"Who was that?" Zara asked as soon as she was behind the wheel of the van, with the others beside her.
"Alpha. We need to get back to headquarters and let Aileen know that he's out there. And that somehow you managed to shoot him." Edie said with a look at John."
"So it's good that I shot him?" John asked. "Because the way he was holding that guard, I thought he was a threat but…."
"Pretty sure shooting Alpha will get you on Kay's good list for the rest of your life.. He's a major threat. What's puzzling me is how you got where you were and of course the entire shooting thing. I didn't hear you behind me, so how did you end up where you were?"
"I kind of worked around to the back of where I though the noise was coming from." John said after a moment. Honestly, now that the situation was over, he was confused himself about what just happened. "I saw someone do it like that once. It must have been on some tv show. I wish I could remember which one. The episode must have been really good. The guard must have dropped his gun. I just picked it up and…."
"And you managed to save the guard and wound Alpha. Let's hope badly enough to make him go to ground for a long while." But in case….. "Zara, take any shortcut you can find. We need to get back to headquarters to let Aileen know what's going on."