by T S Paul
Gen glared at him for the thousandth time. “It’s Gen. Stop calling me Genevieve, Herman.”
Hermod snorted. “I will when you will. My name is Hermod.”
“Eh, it has an H in it. How much longer do I need to hang with this guy? Trust me when I say that Bill is cool and all, but there are more fish in the sea if you know what I mean,” Gen replied.
“Fish? Sea? What is this you speak of?” Hermod looked at her strangely.
Gen rolled her eyes. “More bad guys to kill. Justice to bring. You know, the job we do?”
“Hm. We do the job our Lord tells us to do. Nothing more, nothing less. I still cannot understand why HE brought you into the order. We hunt the lawless, not recruit them. You can’t even ride properly,” Hermod shook his head.
“I know how to ride. That horse was just defective. Who rides horses anymore? You’re changing the subject. What about Agent Maxwell? Can I leave him and get back to work?” Gen pleaded.
Hermod glanced up for a moment in surprise. His head cocked to one side then his eyes widened suddenly. “You need to go back down there.”
“Back to Agent Maxwell? What’s going on?” Gen asked him.
The former Viking lord looked her in the eyes and told her.
<<<>>>
Bill was sitting up in bed when his doctor finally appeared after what seemed like weeks.
“Well Agent Maxwell, it seems you are leaving us.” The tall doctor started without any preamble.
“Is my leg strong enough now?” Bill asked.
“The last x-rays show a marked improvement over the ones a month ago. Plus, the nursing staff says you’ve been out on the trails working those muscles. Your willingness to help yourself, makes all the difference when you want out of here, Agent. Good work.” The tall doctor smiled as he flipped through the charts.
Bill frowned. Self-help? “Doc, I owe it all to nurse Vogel and her physical therapy program. You sent her to me.”
The doctor stopped reading and looked down at his patient. “I did? We don’t have a PT program at this facility.”
Bill’s mouth dropped open as he choked out, “What?”
Doctor Petersen looked to Nurse Batler standing next to him. “Do we have a Nurse Vogel on the staff?”
“No sir, not to my knowledge.” She turned to stare at Bill.
“But… My leg. I swear I’ve had help out there!” Bill pointed out the window.
Nurse Batler smiled gently at him. “Agent, we at the nurse's station have seen you go outside by yourself every day for the last couple of weeks. We rarely see such improvement from our patients.”
Bill could remember all the conversations and help that Gen gave him. She was real. She had to be. If she wasn’t really there, was he going crazy?
A slight knock at the door made everyone in the room look. The door opened, and one of the pharmacy nurses stood there with her tray. “Time for your medications.”
“Oh, good. Did you have any questions for me, Agent?” Doctor Petersen looked back at Bill.
Still reeling from the idea that his physical therapist didn’t exist, Bill could only stare at the man. The nurse with the drugs pulled the door closed behind her and took a step toward the bed.
Suddenly the door swung wide open forcefully as if someone slammed it open. The doorknob caught the pharmacy nurse broadside propelling her forward and tossing her tray of pills up into the air and onto the floor.
Doctor Petersen reacted immediately, grabbing the falling nurse just before she hit the ground. “Are you alright?”
Bill looked up from the nurse to the door that hit her, but could only see one of the maintenance staff looking in.
The doctor led the nurse over to the chair in Bill’s room and sat her down. A faint crunching sound signaled the demise of some of the medication. “Nurse, are you injured? That was a sudden blow.” The doctor carefully checked her over.
Shakily, the nurse spoke. “The door got me in the back.” She looked around in shock. “Doctor, the medication!”
He waved her off. “Forget about that. I’ll notify the pharmacy what happened and they can bring fresh doses up. Your safety and well-being are what is most important. Can you stand?”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied.
“Go down to Emergency Services and have them check you out. That’s going to be a nasty bruise. Did you see who pushed the door open like that?” He asked as he looked toward the hall.
Nurse Batler spoke up, “I didn’t see anyone, doctor. There was a maintenance fellow out there a moment ago. Do you want me to have him check the door?”
“If he’s still around, yes, please. I will report this to them as well. This woman could have been seriously hurt.” Doctor Petersen replied to her as he carefully helped the other nurse stand. Turning he looked at Bill.
“I will have new doses send up to you, Agent Maxwell. If you have any questions about anything, just tell your nurse.” The doctor stepped out of the room followed by the slightly stooped over pharmacy nurse.
“Well, that was an adventure. I’ll have one of the orderlies clean this mess up. For now stay in bed. You’ve had enough exercise this week.” Nurse Batler told him. She like the others had completely forgotten about the missing physical therapist.
<<<>>>
Dammit to hell! Charles Jenkins cursed to himself when he saw that strange new nurse hit the door. The shriek of the pharmacy nurse and pills flying everywhere told him that his mission had failed. He told his superiors that it was a long shot, anyway. They told him to stay the course.
This hospital was to blame. It was just too old. All the modern facilities had these neat little dispensers inside the patient's rooms that dispensed the exact meds that were asked for. They were the machines he was trained on. He could reprogram them or even take them apart in his sleep. Not this place though. Here the pharmacy was in a locked room surrounded by cameras and guards.
The single, solitary weak spot was when the nurse left the room. She would place the drugs inside a special trolley and transport them upstairs. The only way he could switch drugs was to either replace or gain access to the trolley. He should know. It took two full months to integrate himself into everyone's routines and even find another med trolley. Once he had it, switching the drugs was easy. All this trouble for a single FBI agent. Now he would have to be much more direct if this mission was to be completed. Charles pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
“We have a problem, the med switch failed. I need the backup team at my location.” The voice on the other end yelled several expletives at him, but he stood firm. “It’s the only way to do this properly. I understand the risk it puts on the organization. This guy put a lot of people in jail. Pick one, and we’ll do a frame job on them. Trust me on this. We can still complete the mission.”
Charles closed the phone. Tomorrow was going to be very busy.
<<<>>>
Was it all a dream or was it real? That question kept Bill up all night. He remembered the conversations. He could even remember the strength of Gen’s hands on his arm and shoulder. How could those memories not be real? She knew things that he couldn’t have known. There was no way she came out of his subconscious mind. She had to be real. He was still questioning himself when he wife came calling at ten in the morning.
“Bill, are you ready to go home?” Judi Maxwell peeked around the door into his room.
Looking up at the intrusion, Bill smiled at his wife’s voice. “In here, hon. Sure, let me get dressed.”
Judi stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind her. “Why aren’t you dressed? Do you still want to go home?”
Bill stood up from the bed and crossed the floor. Giving Judi a big hug he laughed. “Sorry, I heard something from the doctor last night that freaked me out. All I could do this morning was to think about it.”
His wife pulled back in alarm. “What is it? Is your heart OK? You know that’s what killed your father! Why didn’t you call me
right away? We need to get you to a specialist right away if that’s the problem.”
Bill looked at Judi in surprise and started laughing. He laughed so hard tears began leaking out of his eyes. As he wiped his face with his fingers, he looked in his wife’s direction, Judi was glaring at him.
“A situation like this is not funny, Bill Maxwell! What did the doctor say?” She all but yelled at him.
Still chuckling Bill held up his hands in supplication. “It’s not like that. The doctor told me that this hospital doesn’t have a physical therapist on staff here.”
Judi stood stock still for a moment. “So you aren’t sick?”
“No. I never said I was,” Bill replied.
Judi grabbed a magazine off the bedside table and started whacking her husband with it. “Why did you make me think that then! You scared the hell out of me!”
Bill covered his head with his hands as he tried to fend off her attack. “Sorry! Sorry! Honey I never…”
Nurse Batler arrived at the very next moment. “Whoa, whoa Mrs. Maxwell!” The large nurse grabbed Judi’s arm as she reared back to whack her husband.
“Please don’t make me call security!” Nurse Batler snatched the magazine from Judi’s hand.
“He… He… He scared me! The bastard!” Judi started crying and plopped down beside Bill.
Bill wrapped his arm around his distraught wife and smiled up at the nurse. “She gets excited easily.”
The nurse shook her head. “I see that. Try not to let her put you back in here, OK?”
Bill nodded and cuddled his wife. “I’m sorry I scared you. I need to think sometimes before I speak. Do you remember me telling you about Gen, the physical therapist?”
Judi dried her tears and looked up at her husband. “You’ve been doing physical therapy? When did you start that?”
It was his turn to look shocked. Bill shook his head. “I called you a couple of weeks ago, remember? I told you all about the program them put me on and that Nurse Gen was helping me. Didn’t I?”
Judi shook her head at him. “No. You called to say you might be getting out soon and to call the gym we go to. You wanted to set up a therapy routine or something. Who’s this Gen person?”
Bill scratched his head. “That is the question of the year. You’re sure I didn’t say I was in a program?”
“Pretty sure,” she replied.
“Weird. Let me get dressed then. Nurse Battle-ax out there just can’t wait for me to leave and I want to go.” Bill grabbed the pile of clothes off the end of the bed and started getting dressed.
“That Director of yours called me this morning. She wanted to know when you could come back to work,” Judi informed her husband.
Pulling his pants on Bill asked, “what did you tell her?”
“That I wanted some ‘us’ time together. I know the game here, Bill. It’s what I get for marrying an FBI agent. I’m your wife, but the FBI is your mistress.” Judith sounded resigned as she watched him get dressed.
Bill winced. “If you need me at home, I can tell them to wait. I love you more than the FBI, and you know it.”
Judi snorted. “You need to learn to lie better is what I know. Agatha called as well. She said to tell you the perp is a rogue in Jackson, Tennessee. Do you know what she means?”
Bill sat to tie his shoes. “Yes, a rogue means it’s a Were hunt, and if it’s in Jackson, that means the Moon Pack is involved.”
“Moon? Isn’t that the owner of that barbecue place you like so much?” Judi asked her husband.
“Yes. Blood Moon barbecue is owned by Adam Moon. He’s the alpha of a Werewolf pack based out of the restaurant. Our team went through there last year. It wasn’t pretty,” Bill answered.
“Oh?”
Bill looked at his wife. “Oh, is right. The team is down two members without me. They need help. I’ll recommend a couple of guys to the director when we get home. I’m not at a hundred percent yet. I’ll rest at home until then, OK?”
“It’s what I want. What did your doctor really say?” Judi asked.
Bill bowed his head. “The same. Take it easy and no major gun battles for a while.”
“Ready to go?” She asked him expectantly.
“Yes. Let’s go face the music. Wanna bet the Battle-ax is out there with a wheelchair?” Bill guessed.
“No bet on that. I’ve seen it out there,” Judi replied.
Bill crossed the room and opened the door. Sitting right in front of it was the chair in question along with one of the many hospital orderlies. Nurse Batler stood behind him. “Nice chair for you, Agent. Please sit in it.”
Holding up his hands Bill didn’t even try to argue. He sat down in the chair, allowing the man to make the adjustments.
“All your paperwork is signed, sealed, and on its way to the FBI. Get out of my hospital and don’t come back,” Nurse Batler said with a smile.
Bill smiled and looked back at the orderly. “Forward my good man. The car awaits.”
The orderly looked to the nurse who nodded her head. Gripping the handles, he pushed the chair towards the elevator. Judi Maxwell slipped onboard the car as the orderly pressed the down button.
“Busy day?” Judi asked.
The orderly glanced in her direction, “not really. You should see this place at Christmas or New Years. Pure chaos would be a good description.”
Bill looked up and over his shoulder. “Why then?”
“We cater to quite a few government agencies and big businesses. You wouldn’t believe the number of people that overdo it at those time of the year. This place is a good refuge for many to come down, come off, or clean out. Drugs are the enemy you know,” he replied with a smile.
“I can see that. So this is more than just a rehab hospital?” Bill asked.
The orderly snorted. “You didn’t hear it from me, but we do lots of government business if you know what I mean.”
Bill shook his head and looked up at the obvious camera set up in the ceiling. “I don’t know, but I get the picture. I’m just a guy recovering from a stray bullet.”
Judi looked at him with a puzzled expression on her face, but Bill shook his head at her. “Outside,” he mouthed at her.
The elevator lurched to a halt before the doors opened with a creak. Bright white tiles and eye-searing orange and blue furniture dotted the lobby. This was definitely a hold-over from the 1970s just like Gen said it was. Thinking of Gen just confused him, so Bill physically shook his head to clear it.
Looking concerned Judi leaned down to him. “Bill, honey, are you alright?”
“I’m fine. Let’s just get out of this place,” he replied irritated.
“Ma’am, parking lot or sidewalk? Your choice.” The orderly pointed.
Judi looked up and replied. “Just park him over there on the sidewalk. My car isn’t far. Thank you.”
The orderly wheeled Bill over to the edge of the entrance circle and locked the wheels of the chair. “Just leave it here. I’ll come back for it in a bit. Have a good rest of your day.”
Bill mumbled his thanks as the young man walked away from him. It was a warm day, and the sun beat down on him. Looking around, he could see what might be his wife’s head bobbing above a row of bushes on her way to the car. The hospital was on a small hill, and he could see the main avenue at the bottom. A city bus was dropping off people and turning to come up the hill.
Pulling out his cell phone Bill started checking his messages. Even though he said he would rest, the call of duty and work was ever there. Halfway through a long update he heard the roar of a large diesel engine and looked up. The city bus was gunning its engine and gaining speed up the hill.
“What the flaming hell!” Bill cried out as he pushed with his feet trying to roll the chair backward.
The bus’s front right tire jumped up on the curb as it tried to make the turn around in front of the hospital. His chair was right in the path of a bus!
Scrambling he realized the wh
eels were locked, so he stood up. His bad leg and foot got tangled in the footplates when he tried to step away. A loud horn sounded as he fell. Bill could see his entire life flash before him as the concrete grew closer. Suddenly he stopped. A strong arm pulled him away from the ground and out of the path of the bus.
The horn blast of the bus loud in his ears he looked to his right to see who saved him. Gen stood there still gripping his arm.
“Breaking in a new pair of feet there, Agent?” she asked.
Bill began to laugh, then stopped suddenly. A surprised look on his face as he started to fall backward. The crack of a gun echoed across the front of the hospital.
“NO!” Gen started forward with a shout. She flashed out of existence as she transitioned between realities.
Standing in shadow Bill could see his body lying on the sidewalk, a pool of blood surrounding it. His wife slammed her car into the curb and was racing across the grass to get to him. Hospital security and some staff were running out of the hospital doors. None of that mattered to him anymore. A glowing woman stood before him. She was dressed as if going into battle. A shining sword, shield, and wings marked her as a Valkyrie.
“It’s time for you to make a choice, Bill. You’ve fought your entire life to protect the world from evil. This gains you entry to the halls of heroes. You can spend the rest of eternity reaping the rewards of your life, or you can join something greater,” Gen told him.
“I don’t understand. Who, why, what are you? Are you real, Gen?” Bill asked.
Gen looked at her friend somberly. “I was sent to protect you, and I failed. Humanity is but the sock puppets of the Gods. They can direct our movements, but we are given a small amount of free will at the same time. Choices. Left, right, or center? The way you go decides the play. If I had let the bus get you, the sniper might not have shot. I could only foresee one death. I am sorry.”
Bill stared at the glowing warrior in front of him and past her. His wife clutched his body to her chest and cried. Several of the hospital staff was trying to remove her.
“What if I fail to choose?” Bill asked.
