by Loki Renard
Amidst shouts and yelled threats, Zora pushed the door open and managed to spill out onto the ground. Looking up, she saw the same pristine blue sky that had given her hope earlier, but it was quickly obscured by armed men pointing assault rifles at her. There was a loud ringing in her ears, a rushing sound. She could just hear her name being spoken, then there was blackness.
She woke up in a pristine white hospital bed, the scent of iodine and medical grade disinfectant hanging in the air. “Urgh,” she uttered, putting her hand to her head. It was bandaged for reasons she couldn't quite understand. It was her leg that had been hit, wasn't it? Pushing back the sheets, she saw that her right leg had been bandaged, which was an encouraging sign insofar as she did remember where she'd been hit and she appeared to have been patched up.
Looking around, she tried to ascertain where she was, but the sterile walls and floors gave nothing away. The window next to her bed showed that the sun had set and though she thought she could make out the fence around the compound, she wasn't certain of her location. She could have been in any medical center anywhere on earth. She was alone, which made her scared. If Anja was prepared to open fire in public, what was going to stop her from hunting her down in a hospital?
“Hey!” She yelled toward the white hanging curtains that cordoned her bed off from the rest of the world. “Can I get some service please?”
A harried looking nurse with wild wiry gray hair in a halo about her head bustled in. “Hush,” she said, patting Zora's hand a little too sharply to be construed in a purely comforting fashion. “You're causing a disturbance.”
“Well sorry,” Zora muttered, pulling her hand back. There was a pink mark from where the nurse had smacked her. “No need to injure me further. Just wanted to know where I am.”
“Hush,” the nurse said again, not paying nearly enough attention to Zora's comments for her liking. Hardly appreciating being ignored, Zora kicked out with her good leg and managed to knee the nurse in the thigh. “Well I never!” The nurse exclaimed, rubbing the spot through her pinafore. “You can consider yourself reported.”
“Good,” Zora said sweetly.
The nurse hustled away muttering dire threats. Zora laid back on her pillows and hoped that whoever she was being reported to had better listening comprehension skills than the woman.
“She's in there, kicked me she did!” It took quite some time for anyone to show up again, but when they did the nurse's outrage had not diminished one bit.
Zora broke into a grin as Tex rounded the curtain, largely ignoring the nurse who hung back with a kind of awed respect. “I had no idea shopping was such an extremely risky proposition.” His gravelly drawl floated to her.
“I seem to be able to turn everything into a risky proposition,” Zora shrugged, trying to hide how pleased she was to see him. It wasn't so much that it was him that made her feel better, more the fact that his presence meant she was probably safe and that there were no unbalanced military assassins lurking about the place waiting to take her out.
He smiled down at her, his eyes warm. “How are you?”
“You tell me. The nurses here aren't doing anything but complain. Where am I?”
He answered her questions in quick and succinct fashion. “They say it's a flesh wound. It should heal fine. And you're home.”
“I guess that's something good anyway,” Zora said. “Does Savage know?”
“He's on a plane, so no.”
Zora's face fell and she nodded wordlessly. Of course he didn't know. He probably wouldn't even be told until he returned.
“Mind telling me what happened from your perspective?” Tex interrupted her growing sadness with a pointed question.
She transferred her sadness to sarcasm. “Well I was going to go shopping, but I thought I'd get a quick fire fight in before lunch.”
“You're being flippant, Miss Matthews.”
She managed a little smile. The bullet hadn't removed her enjoyment of provocation one little bit. “I am aren't I.”
His brow rose smoothly. “You think you are beyond punishment in that hospital bed?”
“I think I don't care anymore,” she said, pretending to be beyond emotion. “No matter what happens it's all the same.”
He gave her a hard look that told her he wasn't buying the martyr line. “What happened?”
“I got shot.” She knew she was being obstreperous and unhelpful, she just didn't much care.
“Miss Matthews,” Tex said. “Do you need a spanking?”
She blushed bright red at the threat. “No, of course not.”
He put his hands in his pockets and fixed her with a no-nonsense look. “Then I suggest you behave yourself and tell me what I want to know.”
“It was Anja. A complete bitch who used to be on one of Savage's teams. She saw me and she shot me.”
Zora's embarrassment turned into indignant anger as she played the incident over in her mind. Anja had barely hesitated before pulling the gun and trying to shoot her like a dog. “You were supposed to be protecting me. What the hell happened?”
Her fury was matched by his calm. “We may have underestimated how keen they are to get you back, my little reservoir of state secrets.” He patted her arm condescendingly.
“I don't think they want me back,” she said, her voice snarky. “I think they want me dead. It's a subtle distinction, but one that matters quite a bit to me. Now what are you going to do about it?”
“I suppose we'll have to keep you in.”
The solution was not to Zora's liking. “No. I'm not swapping one prison for another prison for another damn prison.”
“You don't have much choice, Ms Matthews. I've already taken the liberty of confiscating the keys to the car. ”
Little did Tex know that she'd made several copies of the keys, one of which was in the engine bay. Another was secreted in the upholstery and a third was being held over the muffler by a small magnet. If she wanted out, she'd get out whether he liked it or not.
“Won't they just come here? This place isn't exactly hidden,” she argued.
“No. In fact they're denying the incident entirely, which opens up the possibility that the soldier who shot you was acting on her own.”
She shook her head emphatically. “Anja wouldn't act on her own. She doesn't know how to take a dump on her own.”
“Zora please,” Tex said, wrinkling his nose in disgust.
“Aw you know it's funny.”
She couldn't be sure, but Tex looked to be visibly fighting back a smile. “It is not, and I'll thank you to start behaving yourself.” He moved away towards the door, clearly intending on not giving her any more opportunities to argue. “Stay quiet and let yourself heal before you do something stupid,” he admonished her from across the room.
“Breathing is starting to feel stupid right now,” she muttered under her breath.
She did not expect to see anyone else that evening, but she was not alone for long. Before she could get too far into contemplating the possibility of getting out of bed and wandering around for a bit, a young man appeared. He was dressed in black fatigues and sporting a grin almost wider than the face that contained it. He was not precisely short, but compared to the super hulk types Zora had become accustomed to being surrounded by he seemed small. His hair was short, dark and just a little spiked, an attempt at some form of individuality.
“Hey!” He said, waving at her. “I'm Johnny.”
“Hi Johnny.”
“Hey.” He grinned his grin again. “I'll be guarding you this evening. In case someone tries to shoot you again.”
“That's nice of you,” Zora said. The young man had an enthusiasm that was contagious. It was impossible not to like him even though she was pretty sure that he was really only there to make sure she didn't escape.
“It's my job.” He shrugged and slung himself into the chair next to the bed. “Johnny Wise, meat shield at your service.”
She cracked a small smile.
“Your name's really Johnny Wise?”
“Yeah,” he said. “And I've heard 'em all. Wise guy, wise ass, all of it. So you don't need to try any of those jokes.”
“Noted,” Zora nodded.
There was but a moment's silence before Johnny filled it with inane chatter. “You gotta boyfriend? I gotta boyfriend.”
“Oh yeah? Good for you.” Zora smiled. “I don't know if I have a boyfriend.”
Johnny cocked his head to the side. “You don't know if you have a boyfriend?”
She shrugged. “It's sort of complicated.”
“Oh yeah,” he nodded sympathetically. “I've been there.”
Zora very much doubted he had been there, but she didn't say as much. It wouldn't have been polite and she found herself wanting to be polite to the nice young man.
“Boring in here, huh?” As if reading her mind, Johnny reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cards. “You play?”
“Sure.”
His dark eyes sparkled. “I gotta warn you, I'm pretty good.”
“Warning taken,” Zora smiled as he began dealing.
They played a few hands of five card draw using latex gloves as chips. She let him win out of indulgence. It was nice to relax and just drift mindlessly in easy social interaction. Johnny didn't strike her as a complex sort of guy, he wasn't full of plots or ploys. He was precisely what he seemed to be and in that respect he was more like her than anyone else she'd met in the place.
“You're not lucky in cards or love,” he said, grinning after she'd lost the seventh hand in a row.
“Guess not,” she agreed.
He shuffled the cards and glanced at her leg. “So how'd you catch the bullet? You don't really look the type.”
“Thanks,” she said dryly, feeling instantly old. “But bullets don't discriminate.”
He smiled and dealt again, letting the question go. That made Zora like him even more. Someone who understood when they were getting close to a nerve and shut the hell up. That was a nice change. Being in his presence wasn't just pleasant, it was easy, relaxing. She stretched and yawned, feeling fatigued.
“You go to sleep,” Johnny said, stopping dealing. “I'll stay here, make sure no-one comes for you.” He gave her a little flicker of a friendly wink that made her smile.
“Nobody is going to come for me, not here,” she replied, calling him on her suspicions. “You're just making sure I don't run away.”
“A little of both,” Johnny agreed honestly. “Though you wouldn't get far with that wound anyway.”
“Want to bet?”
He chuckled. “You're a crazy lady if you walk on that now.”
“Not crazy, just sick of being cooped up all the time.”
“Tell me about it,” Johnny agreed. “I did a five year stretch once. It blew.”
“Five years? What for?”
“Nuthin important.” He dodged the question and she let him. “You're not exactly locked up here though,” he said, changing the subject. “You can walk out at any time. You got tagged in the city, right?”
“Yeah,” Zora agreed morosely.
“So quit yer whining,” he said, a small smile to show that he wasn't trying to be cruel.
“Thanks, so motivational. So inspirational,” she rolled her eyes and pushed back the covers. Leaning over to the little cabinet beside the bed she was pleased to discover some clothes and her possessions neatly placed inside. Like Tex had said, the car keys were gone, but the credit card was still there. “Turn around,” she said to Johnny.
“Unless you're hiding a really big secret, there's not much you have that I'm interested in, but okay.” He turned his back in gentlemanly fashion whilst she pulled on her skirt and top.
“My secret would be plenty big if I had one,” Zora smirked.
“They all say that.” He looked over his shoulder to check if she was done dressing. “What are you doing?”
Zora straightened her ugly shirt. “Walking out of here like you said I should.”
His expression took on an aspect of dismay. “Hey I didn't say you should, just that you could.”
“Could, should, one letter difference, pretty much the same thing.” She put a little weight on her leg and gritted her teeth through the burning hell fire that shot up her thigh. Johnny watched, looking stunned as she half limped – half hopped towards the door. She turned when she reached the door and turned back to look at him. “You coming?”
He scratched his head. “Uh, you should probably get back into bed.”
“Mustn't sit there and whine,” she said, doing a fairly rubbish impersonation of his voice.
“Come on Zora,” Johnny said, trying to be reasonable. “Go back to bed.”
“What do you care?”
“Tex is not going to be happy if you get hurt on my watch,” he pointed out. “You'll get us both in trouble.”
“Well I guess you better make sure I don't get hurt on your watch then.” Her voice floated to him from the hall as she found a wheelchair and lowered herself into it.
He trailed her as she wheeled herself out of the hospital wing all the way down to the reception desk and logged onto the receptionist's computer. It was password protected, but the password was easily found on a sticky note stuck to the bottom of the monitor.
“That's what happens when you hire machine people,” she muttered to herself. “No common sense.”
“What are you doing?” Johnny's inquiry was made far more out of interest than censure as he looked over her shoulder.
“Going to get some decent clothes.” She grinned and flashed the credit card Tex had given her.
His expression brightened. “Seriously? You did all this just to shop?”
“Yep.”
His approval was as enthusiastic as it was genuine. “Nice.”
She reached down and rubbed her aching leg. It didn't help. “It will be nice once I find something not ugly. Is everything in this place mandatorily ugly?”
“Tex has Mormon sensibilities. Count yourself lucky you don't have to cover your hair,” Johnny quipped.
She scratched her head, momentarily confused. “Isn't that the Amish?”
“Maybe, I can't keep up with it all from one day to the next,” Johnny said, leaning against the table next to her as she began searching through clothing sites for something she didn't hate. He wasn't shy about offering his opinion and she wasn't too proud to take it.
They got thoroughly caught up in their shopping, a little too caught up for their own good. “Earth tones, you suit earth tones,” Johnny was saying when the door at the far end of the hall opened. The area they were in was dark, lit only by the glow of the monitor. Whoever it was would be able to see them, but they could only stare into black space as footsteps scuffed and echoed in the darkness. The urge to run and hide was almost overwhelming but Zora was trapped in her wheelchair, unable to move as the unseen and menacing figure drew steadily closer.
Chapter Eleven
Zora almost stopped breathing as the tall figure emerged into the pale light. “What are you doing?” Tex's voice was short and clipped and sharp. He was, to Zora's delight, wearing slippers and a smoking jacket over black velvet pajamas. Clearly he'd been roused from his bed, which tickled her immensely. His eyes darted from her to Johnny, suspicion and irritation clearly marked in their expression.
“Shopping online,” Zora said, playing it cool.“What's this place's address?”
Tex ignored her perfectly reasonable question and turned his wrath on the younger man. “You're supposed to be watching her.”
“I am watching her.” Johnny said simply. “Would you like a location on her?” He mimed checking his wrist as if there was some location device on it. “I have her at the computer in the reception area. Over.”
Zora snorted a little too loudly at the unexpected cheek. Tex looked pissed. His lips had grown so thin from being pressed together that his mouth was in danger of disappearing altogether. “Get her back to
the hospital wing then report to me.”
“Then who will watch her? She's faster than you think,” Johnny smirked.
“We can probably find someone who doesn't abandon his post.” Tex almost snarled the words.
Johnny lifted his chin and defended himself. “I didn't abandon my post. My post is busy trying to work out whether her ass looks better in CK or Diesel.”
“It's really not his fault,” Zora chimed in before Tex eviscerated Johnny where he stood.
She managed to get Tex's attention back on her. “You mean to say you're such a potent bad influence you can turn anyone insubordinate within an hour?”
“He's not being insubordinate. He's trying to subordinate very hard,” she said with a little smile. “I dragged him into this. Actually I wheeled him into it.”
Tiring of the argument, Tex jerked his head towards the hall door. “Johnny, back to your quarters. Send Sanders.”
Johnny might have been a smart ass, but he didn't disobey a direct order. Zora felt bereft as he walked down the hall. Something about the way he looked disappearing into the darkness put her in mind of the way Savage had left. “You're going to send everyone I don't completely hate away from me, aren't you?” She made no effort to hide the bitterness in her tone or the loathing in her eyes as she glowered up at the man who ruined everything.
“You might want to worry more about yourself and less about everyone else,” Tex replied. “You have a bullet hole in your leg.”
“Really? I'd forgotten.” Her tone dripped sarcasm. “Tell me more about myself.”
“I'm going to put this down to the concussion,” he said, remaining patient in spite of her misbehavior. “But tomorrow you better have a more respectful attitude... ah Sanders.” A behemoth of a man emerged from the shadows like a cross between an ox and a wraith.
Zora looked up at the newcomer with a mixture of awe and irritation. Unlike Johnny, Sanders conformed to the stereotype she'd come to expect. Large and serious, he had his blonde hair cut into a flat buzz cut, lest anyone think his light locks reflected any lightness of spirit. Sanders might once have had a range of facial expressions, but it had long ago been replaced with one of blank disinterest in the world.
