Resurrection (The Stork Tower Book 7)

by Tony Corden

  As the thousands in the city descended on the hospital, and the bridge, the authorities were quick to assure them that Michael would be alright having come out of a drug-induced coma. The authorities were quick to share that it was clear he’d been drugged long before the other man had been killed. They also mentioned that blood in the back of the van had clearly been identified as Atherleah’s and that her blood had similar drugs to Michael still evident in her system, although in much lower concentrations.

  News, and the feed from a first responder, showed several heavy bollards near the railing with a chain hanging over the edge. Blood gathered from the plastic ties attached to the chain had been tested, and it too was Leah’s. Throughout the night, the crowd who had gathered in the centre of Brisbane was given updates by the authorities to keep them pacified. Even so, there were several incidents with another eighty arrested and one fatality.

  The river had been closed as the police scoured it with searchlights. They blared out a message calling Leah’s name, hoping Leah would hear it. At four that morning, one of the boats discovered the body of Billy Morris, a known acquaintance of Earl’s. He was also dead and had also died of a broken neck. There was no sign of Atherleah although boats continued to drag the river throughout the day.

  John plotted where the body of Billy Morris had been found and sent Johan, Lacey and Wes to the Bulimba hideout. He reasoned it was the only place Leah knew near that area. With the authorities actively trying to placate the crowds by sharing information, most of the people had finally left the city. However, there had been several violent clashes. Even as the poor headed home, mostly because they were unable to buy food in the city, the level of threat hadn’t diminished. It was palpable in most cities within Australia. Anti-Australian sentiment was at an all-time high around the world with candles and wreaths laid outside Australian Embassies, both in the real world and at the much larger virtual embassies. Beside the wreaths were slogans blaming the authorities for what had happened.

  As the sun set for the second time since Atherleah had been taken, John stood looking out over the property as Michael was brought home by ambulance. The crowd of several thousand parted to let the ambulance through, each person coming to their feet out of respect. When Michael was inside, John gave him a few minutes to talk to Lin and Conner before knocking on the door to get an update and to give one.

  Michael’s PAI still had the usual settings and wasn’t permitted to record audio outside the virtual worlds without a person’s express permission. He knew nothing from the time he slumped unconscious in the back of the car until waking up in the hospital. After John shared everything that had happened, Michael slumped in his chair as Lin moved close to console him. Conner said, “John, do you think she’s alive?”

  At the question, both Michael and Lin looked up. John said, “I don’t know, Conner. I have no idea how she killed the two men if she was not only drugged but zip-tied and hanging off a chain from the side of the bridge. The police have searched both sides of the river from here to the port. I hear they even pulled up another four bodies they weren’t looking for. I suspect that they haven’t found her because she doesn’t want to be found. I doubt the police would hold her, but she has good reason not to have them find her. Either way, they will keep looking tomorrow once it is bright enough to see.”

  Lin just shook her head and sobbed into Michael’s shoulder. John was trying to get a short nap in when Marie tapped him on the shoulder and whispered, “John, it’s almost eleven. Johan’s just sent a message. Apparently, Leah crawled into the yard at the house. Whoever took her burned-out her chip causing damage to her skull and her nervous system. She can’t see, hear, speak or smell. She admitted to killing the two men in this state and then after falling in the river made her way, by feel alone, to the house. She’s got burns over her entire skull, cuts and abrasions almost everywhere. Johan thinks she’s also got cracked ribs and several broken bones in her feet and hands. After he cleans her up, he’ll return. John, he is angry, as is Lacey. He wanted me to let you know quietly because he said if people find out what’s been done to her, the city will burn. He said if she can’t be fixed, he’ll light the fires himself.”

  John’s face had turned to stone as Marie whispered. When she’d finished, he had tears running down his cheeks, but his eyes were burning with rage. It took him almost a minute before he could say anything. He said, “Send a message to Jimmy saying he needs to be here. Don’t give any details but if we leave him out, he’ll tear the place apart to find us afterwards. I’m going to wake Michael and Lin and then brief them. How long do we have?”

  “Johan said he’d need an hour to make sure her wounds are cleaned. He also said he needs clothes for her before someone sees her. All she had on were a bra and panties, and they were torn. He has her wrapped in a blanket. He didn’t want to dress her there without her mum to console her just in case it brought up memories.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Yeah, Lacey wants to know who is going to tell Thad.”

  “No one. Not yet. Let’s see what’s happened before we set him loose. After I see Michael, I will talk with Leah’s virtual doctor and see what she says.”

  Michael, Lin and Conner were still up. The pastor of Lin’s church was there as well as Father Andrew. They were praying for Leah. After getting their promise to keep what he was going to say secret, John told them what Johan had said. Into the stunned silence, but before they could let their growing rage and dismay out, John said, “You all need to calm down. Leah had the presence of mind to save both her life and Michael’s. Have no doubts about that. Those men were going to kill both her and you, Michael. She stopped them and then made her way past the hundreds of police looking for her by touch alone. Wait and see what she thinks before we do something we’ll regret.”

  Conner said, “How? How could she get past the drones, the sensors, the cameras?”

  John sighed and said, “I don’t know, Conner. Don’t overthink it though. People can get past anything if they put their mind to it. It was probably more luck than anything that she wasn’t found, but I wouldn’t bet on it. She’ll tell us when she gets here I expect.”

  “How? How can she tell us if she can’t talk, or hear?”

  “Apparently she writes words on your hand with her finger. Just be thankful she’s alive. Now, I need to get going because I want some medical advice before I see her.”

  As John left the room, he saw Jimmy walking up the stairs. John took him aside and shared the details again. It was much harder to calm Jimmy down than it had been to calm Michael and Lin. John and Jimmy discussed how to deal with Leah’s return, then after promising to wait, Jimmy went to talk with Leah’s family.

  As John exited the Pod after talking with Dr Roberts, he found Jen waiting. Jen said, “Is it true?”

  “Is what, true?”

  “Leah’s alive.”

  “Yes, she’s alive and on her way back.”

  “And the rest?”

  “That depends what the rest of it is.”

  “No one will say anything. Jimmy and Marie look ready to kill anybody who pisses them off in any way, and you look worse. What’s going on?”

  “If I tell you, will you keep it quiet?”

  “I can keep my mouth shut.”

  “Jen, this isn’t something that can get out at the moment. If it does, I expect the people who travelled into town yesterday will lose control. They’ve settled down, and when they hear she’s back, they’ll be happy until they see her. If her real condition gets out, then imagine all those people feeling like Jimmy but without his self-control and his understanding of the bigger picture.”

  “OK, I promise.”

  As they walked, John told Jen and then had to drag her into an empty room to remind her of her promise. When he’d finally calmed her down a little, he said, “Now, we need to go tell people that Leah has been found and is coming home. She’s tired and needs to see a doctor before she has visitors
. You need to help me sell that, can you do that?”

  Jen wasn’t happy but understood the need and agreed.

  When the car was ten minutes out, Lacey gently woke Leah and said, “Leah, we’re almost home. Everyone has been really worried about you.”

  When she didn’t get a reaction, she realised her mistake, then, with tears running down her cheeks, she took Leah’s hand and wrote, ‘HOME SOON’.

  Leah turned Lacey’s hand over and wrote ‘PEOPLE ?’.

  Lacey wrote, ‘Y LOTS’.

  Leah didn’t do anything for a minute then slowly sitting up straight she took Lacey’s hand and wrote ‘OPEN WINDOW’.

  Lacey said, “Johan, Leah wants the windows opened.”

  Johan turned to look at Leah then said, “She’s probably right. Turn her face a little, so she’s looking out the side window instead of at the inside of the car.”

  Lacey reached over and gently turned Leah to face the window. She saw Leah take a deep breath and then try and put a small smile on her face. Lacey wanted to scream but instead held Leah’s hand, gently stroking it as they moved past the thousands of people who looked in hoping to see Leah. They got their wish as they saw her, wrapped in a blanket, and smiling gently back at them, her gaze unwavering.

  The car drove into the compound as the thousands outside gave a massive cheer. John had no idea what the cheer was for until the car pulled close to the door and he saw the window down and Leah still smiling. Lacey turned Leah’s hand over and wrote, ‘HERE. WALK?’

  Leah nodded, and as John stepped toward the door, Lacey shook her head and motioned for Jen to step forward. As Jen opened the door, Lacey said, “Jen, help Leah out and hold her hand. She’ll need to be guided, but she wants to walk. I have no idea all that’s happened, so I think it’s best to keep the boys back until we find out. Just let me tell her who you are.”

  Lacey was still holding Leah’s hand and carefully wrote, ‘JEN’.

  Leah nodded, and as Jen reached in, she put out her hand. Jen gently helped pull Leah upright, then holding tight she gently pulled Leah toward the door. There was a step and as they approached Jen gently lifted Leah’s hand. Leah had been expecting something and raised her foot. She misjudged slightly and came down harder than expected which almost threw her forward, but Jen held her up. Moments later, they were inside, and Lacey took Leah’s other hand. The two led Leah to the steps going up to the family’s small set of rooms on the upper floor.

  5

  December 20 2073

  REAL WORLD

  Once they were inside, Leah let Jen and Lacey lead her up the stairs. She’d spent the day thinking through her options and had expected the crowd to still be there. She hoped her acting had calmed things down a little. Leah wondered where John was, but when Lacey had said Jen was there, she thought through the options and knew she’d have to clear up some things. It wasn’t that she wasn’t traumatised, it was just that the people who had promised to rape her were dead. Well, all except Nathan, Meredith and Suzluk. She didn’t feel guilty about Earl or Billy yet and hoped any guilt stayed away until she’d dealt with the others.

  As she’d been thinking, she’d lost count of her steps. Strangely, she found the disorientation of not knowing where she was harder to cope with at home than she had when swimming in the middle of a river. As Jen approached the small room set aside for the Carrolls, she pulled back a little on Leah’s hand to let her know to slow down. As Jen led Leah inside the room, Lin stepped forward, and with extreme gentleness stepped close to Leah, and put her arms around her. She leant in to rest her head on Leah’s shoulder, touching her but applying almost no pressure at all.

  Leah had no idea if the room was full or empty, but she simply collapsed into Lin. Lin would have fallen if Michael hadn’t been there on his crutches to hold her up. Leah was sobbing noiselessly on Lin’s shoulder, her body moving up and down as she let all the stress and pressure of the last two days drain out.

  Without saying a word, Lacey moved everyone, including Conner, out of the room and closed the door. She turned to Conner and said, “Leah has things she might want to tell them she won’t want you to know just yet. I want you to stand there and not let anyone in until your dad or mum come out, not me, not John, not Kevin, no-one. Can you do that?”

  Conner nodded then Lacey motioned John away. He led her and Johan to a nearby room where Jimmy was waiting for an update. Inside the room, Leah cried herself out then had to be helped to a seat. She took Lin’s hand and asked about Michael. The conversation was difficult, and after two hours, Lin and Michael were fairly sure they only had the bare bones. Leah had told them who had done this but not what exactly had happened. Lin had asked about rape and Leah had said it was attempted, but she’d killed the person. She couldn’t have been more surprised when Lin just wrote, ‘GOOD’, on her hand.

  Leah asked about Conner, and Michael went to get him. When she was sure her family was OK, Leah asked for John. When John arrived, he had some food for the family and a range of antibiotics, nutrients, and neural antihistamines for Leah. Some were in tablet form, some in a suspension and others were given by injection. John wrote that these were prescribed by Dr Roberts and Kevin. He said the police had heard about Leah’s return, but Olivia was dealing with it. John had told Olivia what had happened but said that at the moment, the police did not have a need to know anything.

  After Leah had taken her medicine, Kevin insisted Leah have a shower before he checked her wounds. Then he said she needed to rest. Lin and Mia helped Leah have a shower and then stayed while Kevin rechecked all her injuries. He spent a long time trying to clean Leah’s head but said he would need to get some other things to clean out the grooves in the scalp. Kevin also suggested they get another opinion on the scalp as he wasn’t comfortable doing a skin graft with all the metallic slag pitting the bones. He said there was now newer technologies that would help it heal faster, safer, and with no scarring.

  Throughout his entire checkup and clean Leah didn’t move, or even let any expression cross her face, except a bland disinterest. When he’d finished, she asked for John. When John arrived, he sat opposite Leah, and she pulled his hand close. They talked this way for almost an hour before John finally stood, then, after squeezing Leah’s hand, he left. Lin helped Leah to a bed that had been brought in, and after taking something Kevin had mixed for her, Leah dropped off to sleep.

  As John left Leah, he found Lacey, Johan, Marie, and Jen all waiting in the room where he had left Jimmy. As he walked in, they all looked up expectantly. Sitting down, he took a beer from the room’s small fridge, and after opening it, said, “OK, I’ve been given my orders. I’ll share them only once tonight, and then I want everyone to leave it until tomorrow. There is to be no discussion until then, not with me, or between yourselves. Leah should sleep until late with what Kevin gave her. Dr Roberts thinks Leah’s symptoms could improve with time. She may even get everything back with therapy and time. Nathan used a high voltage taser on her chip. It is a cruel and horrific act favoured by some of the drug cartels and Asian crime rings. Most organised crime syndicates see it as a direct declaration of war. Usually, the person is left alive, but they live in complete sensory deprivation except for an ability to feel pain. Most are not able to do anything, even move. The fact that Leah can walk, fight, swim, sneak and kill is more amazing the more I think about it.

  “What Leah wants is this. Until she knows more, Nathan and Meredith are off-limits. They belong to her, those are her words. She agreed if she doesn’t get any better, then she’ll farm out what she wants done. Jen, Leah wants you to contact Kate and have her invite Thad, Wisp and Amy to Kate’s personal space. He wants you to tell Kate what has happened first and then tell Thad and the others. Leah said that after Thad stops ‘acting like a baby’, again, her words, tell him she’d like him to find out everything he can about Suzluk, his temples, and his followers. Apparently, Nathan somehow brought Suzluk out of the game to show him what was done to Leah.
It was payment for services rendered. Tell Thad from me that if he needs help, all he has to do is ask. Also, it seems Suzluk threatened to hunt down Leah’s friends. They should be on the lookout.

  “Jimmy, she wants John Welford. You and I are to plan a break-in at the hospital. Leah needs a new chip, and she wants almost the very same process as before, and she wants the same type of chip. Welford has the information to get us in and out safely. Leah needs to come with us, so we need to work out how to make that work. Lacey, Johan, you two will probably need to help plan and set that up. Leah wants this done within forty-eight hours. We may have to argue about the time constraint, but I just listened at this stage.

  “I have other orders for Leon, Tesfaye and several others I can’t talk about. Leah may be deaf, dumb, and blind but I’d still put her up against these guys. Now, go back to your pods or whatever. As soon as Leah is up, I’ll let you know.”

  Johan stood first and said, “Let me say two things, John, OK?”

  John nodded, and Johan said, “When I found her, she was crawling on her elbows and knees. I called, but it made no difference. All I did was touch her arm, and she almost killed me. She is fast, and if she hadn’t held back, then I would be dead. Do not underestimate her, and please make sure she isn’t spooked at all, make sure people tread warily. She has to have some form of combat stress, and she’s on a hair-trigger. Second, John, if you get to go after these guys, then I will be with you. Now, good night.”

  With that, Johan walked out followed by everyone except Jen. John looked over and said, “Jen, Leah said one more thing. She said she was terrified, not for herself but in leaving people she loved. People she hadn’t taken the time to share exactly how she felt. Then she asked me who I would be terrified for. She didn’t let me answer, she just left it hanging. You were the only one I could think of. I know this is a shitty time to do this and I can’t even take time out to really show you how I feel. I wanted to be all romantic and special, but I need to do it now in case something happens to either of us. I love you, and I want to be with you all the time. Will you marry me?”