“Newsflash, Hugh,” I said. “I’m dying. There will be no trial. And if I’m dying, so are you.” My sight was going, but I wasn’t about to let go now. I leveled the gun at his chest, lowered it fast, and shot him in the leg. As he bent over, I hit him over the head with the gun and pointed it at Damon. “You’re next.”
“Let’s talk about this.” He got to his feet. “What do you want out of life?”
“I want you to die, so cut the psychology junk. No one makes me into a sleeper without my permission. No one. Got it?” I shot him in the leg and hit him over the head. The rest of them were downstairs. I knew they were unarmed, at least I thought they were. Tilvin and Jordan were bleeding, so that left Assam and Vladimir.
I looked downstairs and saw outlines of figures, whom I assumed were Assam and Vlad. I just wished I could see better. “Come up here,” I said. “I want to shoot you, too.”
“We’re unarmed,” Vlad said.
“That’s fine with me. I’m feeling yucky and want to take a few people with me when I die.”
“Can I treat the wounded?” Assam asked.
“No. Let ’em die.”
“Can we negotiate?” he asked.
“Get me the antidote and I’ll think about it.” I sat on the top step and put my head on my lap. I was dying. I felt the worst I’ve ever felt. I heard the door open downstairs.
“Harley?”
“Good. Take over.” I dropped the gun and fell to my side. That’s all I remembered.
Chapter 38
I had the worst headache. If I were dead, it couldn’t feel like this.
I forced my eyes opened and saw Jim asleep on the chair near the bed. “Are you infected?” I asked.
He woke up and jumped to his feet. “You’re awake.” He ran out the door, returning with Kent beside him.
Jim checked my eyes with his stupid light. “Harley, are you with us?”
I pushed it away and sat up. He lifted the top part of the bed, making it easier.
“How long have I been out?” I asked.
“It’s been over three days since we found you. Today is Saturday. You called me on Wednesday after being kidnapped on Monday.”
I must’ve looked very confused, because Jim and Kent stared at each other with a grin.
“So what have you guys been doing when I got my beauty sleep?”
Jim laughed. “I’ve been here a lot, because our prize agent can’t be left alone.”
“Prize agent? Are you insane? You must’ve gotten the sickness.”
“No, but you had it. It was a mutated version of yellow fever, more powerful than anything we’ve ever seen before. Combined with the drugs in your system, it was just nasty. But we got the bad guys and they’re in jail. The people you shot will live, and you’ve been given the antidote. It was almost too late for you, so you’ve been asleep.”
“That’s just downright mean.” I turned toward Kent. “Damon said it was really hard making me into a sleeper, but he finally figured it out. Hugh had Dieter tell you I was a sleeper, but I wasn’t. However, according to him, I am now.”
“Damon told us and we’ll work on it. I’m so sorry I doubted you.” He looked at me with a very sad face. “Do you forgive me?”
“Sure. So everyone’s safe now?”
“Yes. Everyone who’s come in contact with you or Jordan has been given the antidote.” Jim glanced over at Kent. “Can I be alone with her for a moment?”
“Yep.” Kent winked and walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him.
I faced Jim. “What’s up?”
He pulled a chair up beside me, sat down, and took my hand. “I thought I’d lost you. When you dropped the gun and passed out, I thought that was it. Your heart rate was almost nothing and it wasn’t good. We forced Assam to give us the antidote for you and for us, but it was scary. You almost died.” He seemed so sad. “I know you did the best you could, but I don’t want you to be in that situation ever again.”
“It’s my job.”
“No, dying isn’t your job. Harley, we ran pregnancy tests, and you’re not pregnant. I just don’t want you to be in that situation again, if you are pregnant. You don’t know what I went through when we couldn’t find you.”
“I can only imagine. The drugs they had me on were really nasty and I was hallucinating.”
“I can only imagine. Everyone was worried about you, even the President of the United States.”
“The president?”
Jim reached over and lifted a box from the table. “You saved so many people that he wanted you to have this.”
He handed it to me and I stared at it. “A medal of honor?”
“Sure. That sickness you had was so potent, it would’ve wiped out the Northern Hemisphere in a matter of less than a month. They’re pretty sure it’s contained now, and they’re inoculating everyone even near the site, telling them it’s a flu shot. That also includes all the people in Señora Bonita and everyone on our team, just in case.” He leaned up closer. “Tell me about Jordan?”
“He turns at the phrase ‘sladkiye mechty.’”
“‘Sweet dreams’ in Russian?”
“Yeah. He’s really messed up and needs extensive help.”
“We know. But we didn’t know what to use. That’s helpful.” He wrote it down on a piece of paper from his pocket. “Damon won’t talk, so we don’t know your trigger.”
“I tried to get him to tell me, but he wouldn’t.”
“We’ll figure it out. At least we know you weren’t a sleeper.” He looked down at my stomach. “I want a kid. Do you think that’s a possibility?”
“Some day, but not today, if that’s what you’re thinking. This bed isn’t that comfortable.”
He chuckled. “That’s my Harley. We’re going underground for at least a month, because the Russians are still looking for you. Boris is in custody for a while this time. The Feds don’t want us at our house, because the terrorists seemed to know where we lived.”
“Hugh told them.”
“He did? What a rotten thing to do. Anyway, they’re going to fix up our house and put it on the market. They’re also replacing my car, but I’m not sure what I’m getting. It could be a tank, for all I know.”
“I bet you hold out for them to fix up your car.”
“I’d like that.”
“I’d like my bike, too.”
He shook his head. “Nope. That’s going to be sold.”
“What? But that’s my personality.”
“Time to grow up.”
I sighed. “Then you need to grow up, too, and get a decent car.”
“We’ll see. We’ll be moving somewhere else. In the meantime, we’re going on our honeymoon.”
My smile grew. “Really? Where?”
“It’s a surprise, but first, we have to find the trigger word and remove it from your head. That may take a while and Dr. White will be doing it.”
“I figured as much. Is it safe here?”
“Yeah. It’s a military hospital in Texas. I also had a chat with the military guy who talked to Pearl from here, and let him have it. What he did was unprofessional. He also knows everything is classified. The American people will never know what happened in Señora Bonita, and life will go on. Eventually, all the people they removed from that town will be allowed to go back, but for now, the CDC is cleaning up everything. They also found the other three towns and are cleaning those up, as well.”
“The other agencies finally agreed to help?”
“Yes, and the FBI and DHS as well as various other agencies. If we wouldn’t have been there, and they had tested the drugs they gave to you, it would’ve been disastrous. Thank you, Harley, from a grateful nation. I’m to tell you that, on behalf of the president himself.”
I reached out, grabbed his white coat, and pulled him closer. “And thank you for saving me. You, sir, are one hot doctor.” With one kiss, he moved to lie beside me. Life was good, once again.
; Thank you
Thank you for reading ‘Murders on the Edge.’
I hope you enjoyed it.
~~~~~
Visit Andie Alexander at www.andiealexander.com for more books,
or go to www.sweettalebooks.com to see all her pen names’ books.
She writes as every author on that website, covering various genres.
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About the Author
Andie Alexander resides in Wisconsin with her husband, three adult children, and various pets.
Find her books at www.andiealexander.com. All of her pen names’ books are located at www.sweettalebooks.com. She writes as all names on that website.
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