by Margaret Kay
Once inside the elevator, Diana spoke. “That was quite a reunion.”
“Angel hasn’t seen her mom in person in nearly ten years. Her mom, Sister Bernice John, has been serving in Africa. In this folder I have a confidentiality agreement I need you to sign that covers information such as this.”
“Vic told me about your confidentiality agreement. I’m not opposed to signing it as I would never disclose anything I’ve learned while with a patient.”
“I do believe you, but this agreement is standard. I plan to have your massage therapist, Lexi, sign one when she is here Monday.”
“How did your session go with her today?” Diana asked. She’d already talked with Lexi and knew that from Lexi’s point of view it had gone well.
The elevator door opened, and Shepherd motioned her out first. He followed. “It went well. It was less chaotic when she arrived.” He chuckled. “As I’m sure you gathered, the team just arrived back from a case. They are stowing their gear, otherwise I would have Doc sit in on our session to observe. I’ll make sure he is available on Monday.”
Diana watched Shepherd open the door. She entered his residence in front of him at his prompting. “Have you spoken with him yet about taking on some of your physical therapy?”
“No, but I know he will not be opposed.” They went directly to his workout area. He handed her the manilla folder. “I’ll let you look that over while I change my clothes.”
Diana read the agreement. It prohibited her from even disclosing anyone’s name who she came in contact with as a result of her work with Colonel Sam Shepherd as well as anything learned or overheard while in direct contact or communications with him or anyone associated with the office. She found it confusing that he would need such a document.
“We provide armed security and investigations services. Our clients are many, from private citizens, to high profile individuals, to government and military entities. Some of our work deals with National Security issues,” he said after he had reentered the room, and she hadn’t noticed because she was focused on the agreement.
Shepherd’s voice startled Diana. “I would never disclose anything about any of my patients. I have no problem signing this.” She took a pen from her bag and signed the form. Then she handed the folder back to him.
“Thank you, Doctor Diana,” Shepherd said.
“There is one thing I’d like to discuss with you before we get started.”
“Anything,” Shepherd said.
“Vic told me why you wanted to talk with him outside as you were leaving my office yesterday. I don’t understand. I thought you were confident with me and my treatment plan. You asked him for a referral to another provider.”
Shepherd saw the determination on her face as she spoke. He respected her direct approach. Many, women especially, did not have the courage to bring up tough topics or call another person out for something like this. And they didn’t have the ability to do it in such a matter of fact, professional, and civil manner. “I’m very confident in you and your plan. Vic said you are the right person. But I am concerned that coming to your office and having a rigid treatment schedule, even when you can come here, will just not work for me.” He pulled himself onto the treatment table. “Like today. The team will need about twenty minutes to unpack and stow their gear, but I hate asking them to hang around another forty minutes for our meeting.”
Diana nodded. “I can understand that. It’s already past five p.m. and I’m sure they just want to get home to their families.”
“You’ve had a long day, too. What time do you leave for Racine in the morning before class?”
“I’m on the road before seven,” she admitted.
She motioned him to lie down. She began the therapy session. By the end of it, she had him loosened up. It was much easier when the massage immediately preceded the therapy, just as an adjustment held better if it immediately followed a massage. She would have to see if they could tweak the schedule so Lexi could come just before she would arrive on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.
“By the way, I meant to ask you, did you feel anything different at all yesterday after your adjustment?”
“I was really sore. I came home and submerged in hot water as you recommended. That helped, but later in the afternoon, I was very stiff and ached all over. I repeated the hot tub soak after dinner.”
“Was the sciatica-like pain at least diminished?”
“It seemed to be less,” Shepherd said. “And, Doctor Diana, after you adjusted my hips, while I was still on the table, I’m pretty sure that for just a few minutes, the numbness and pins and needles sensation stopped.”
“Really?” She was elated. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was trying to evaluate if that was what I was really feeling.”
“But it didn’t last long?”
He sat up and faced her. “No, before I rolled over, the same numbness returned.” Shepherd saw her disappointment.
“Okay, that’s a start. I need you to let me know when we are working together right away if any sensations are different, or if there is an increase or decrease in pain, anything.”
“I will,” Shepherd promised.
“And I need you to realize that it could take a few months of treatment for you to see real and lasting results. I understand your concerns that this schedule won’t work for you, but I need you to commit to a few months of treatment before you pull the plug on it. I’ll do everything I can to be as flexible as possible.”
“Doctor Diana, you already are going above and beyond. I want to be fair to you too. Let’s commit to two weeks and we’ll reevaluate it then.”
“Okay, that’s fair.” She couldn’t help but feel disappointed that he wouldn’t commit to longer. Hopefully the results would convince him during this two-week period. “We’ll call that done for today, so you can get to your meeting,” Diana said.
Shepherd transferred himself back to his wheelchair. He pulled an Army hooded sweatshirt on. “I’ll see you out. What’s on your agenda for the rest of the evening?” He asked, trying to make normal conversation, and he was curious. It was Friday night. What was her personal life like?
“I have a date with six chapters in my Medicinal Herbs as a Replacement for Western Pharmaceuticals textbook.”
Shepherd laughed. “That sounds like a riveting read.”
Diana laughed as well. “After your meeting, what does the rest of your evening look like?” She asked, not sure if she should be asking him something so personal. But she wouldn’t even think twice about this question with any of her other patients.
“Two hours here in the gym, followed by a lengthy hot shower, and if nothing work-related comes up, I’m hoping to read some articles I have bookmarked on my favorite news sites.”
“That sounds like an enjoyable evening,” she said as she stepped into the hallway.
The elevator door opened on the fifth floor. As Diana stepped from it, a group of at least eight people came up the stairs, including the man who’d been wearing the flight suit. He had changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. There was one woman with them. She also noticed that several wore holsters with guns, including the blond woman.
“Doc,” Shepherd summoned him, before he entered his office with the rest of the team. “This is Doctor Diana Palmer, Vic’s replacement.”
Diana looked over the man. He had gray hair peppered into his dark blond, closely clipped hair. But it was his eyes, an unusual shade of gray with a serious expression that caught her attention. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you.”
“You too,” Doc said, shaking her hand.
“I’ll bring you up to speed after our meeting, but I wanted you to meet her,” Shepherd said. He turned back to Dr. Diana. “Let’s see you out so you can get to your chapters.”
Diana followed him to the door out of the inner office area. “I’ll see you tomorrow at noon at my office.” She glanced back one last time before passing out of the exterior do
or and into the hallway.
Shepherd watched her leave, knowing she’d seen the sidearms worn by the team. Vic’s words came back to him. He hoped that hadn’t scared her off. He did feel bad that Vic had told her he requested the name of a different provider. Hopefully she understood it was nothing personal.
Pushing thoughts of Dr. Diana from his mind, he returned to his office. He wheeled up to the head of the table, his normal spot. “Good work on this one. It was more difficult than anticipated.”
“That seems to be the norm whenever the CIA is involved,” Garcia complained. “Not that the DEA is any better lately.”
“Speaking of which, any developments on the DEA front while we were gone?” Lambchop asked.
“Negative. I had to reschedule the meeting with Manning. It’s now tomorrow afternoon. I’d like Cooper, Garcia, and Lambchop to sit in. Expect invitations.”
The three men nodded.
“The agency is at a point that I believe we have better positioning to pick and choose the types of missions we accept,” Shepherd said. “I’m inclined to accept any mission that protects and rescues Americans, both domestically and abroad. I think the DEA Partner Missions are important, but not if they unduly put our personnel at risk, like that last one. I’ve been upfront with you about the amount of revenue that contract brings to the agency, but I am ready to walk away from it if control of the raids isn’t given to us, either that, or the agreement is modified that we will not take part in them. But if that revenue stream is severed, it has to be replaced by something else. I’ve had several meetings this week with potential clients, private citizens that would bring us more traditional security agency cases.”
“Any cybersecurity cases?” Garcia asked.
Shepherd chuckled. “I know you and the digital team could handle such cases, but they do not engage the rest of our Operators. I wouldn’t expect a steady flow of them. Three of the five cases I discussed this week were in-office, white collar crime investigations.” He chuckled again when six of the nine Operators leaned their heads back and pretended to snore. He was surprised that Lambchop was not one of them. “Yes, that’s how I thought you’d feel about them.”
“What were the others?” Cooper asked.
“One was with a pharmaceutical company, wanted enhanced security measures and an in-house investigation as they fear their latest cancer research is being ripped off by a competitor, probably through an employee.” He watched the facial expressions of the team members morph into smirks that clearly showed they wanted no part of such a case. “I turned them down and referred them to an agency more suited to their case.”
“Thank God!” Lambchop said. “Shepherd, I’m sure I speak for most of us when I say we appreciate the balancing act you do in vetting our cases, maintaining the connections with the government entities, and standing up for us like you are doing with the DEA. The cases we specialize in are not traditional security company cases, and I don’t think any of us want to go in that direction.”
“And your skills lend themselves more to different types of cases,” Shepherd said while nodding. “But those cases are often muddied in the bullshit of partial information that comes with dealing with the CIA or DEA.”
“Tell them, Shepherd,” Cooper prompted.
“The CIA has approached me and offered us a very lucrative contract chasing down leads from foreign intel, domestically.”
“And the legality of that?” Madison asked.
“Sketchy at best,” Shepherd answered. “But so are the methods we use to make DEA cases.”
“Do you trust Mason?” Garcia asked in a way that everyone in the room knew he did not, and he had ample cause not to. They all did.
A grin pulled at Shepherd’s lips. “Not for a second. But knowing that going in, we can be extra cautious and keep enough files to cover our asses.”
“My problem with the CIA is the shit they stir up in foreign countries. As long as we are working domestically only, I’m fine with it. I don’t want to be in some jungle shithole fanning the flames of the next revolution that will take down some sovereign nation, that may turn out to not be in the U.S.’s best interest,” Cooper said.
“I don’t want to operate in any foreign shithole ever again, if we can help it,” Sherman chimed in. “Unless it’s to rescue an American.”
Shepherd nodded. “I’ll keep you informed as the conversations with Mason continue. There is one more thing,” he said. “Within the next few weeks, Doc and I will be making a trip to Walter Reed Hospital. Alpha Team will be at HQ until I return, running the day-to-day. Jackson will not be staffed for any cases, unless it is a dire emergency, until after the baby is born. Delta Team, you will be primary for any cases that come in. You’re on thirty-minute standby until further notice. Okay, that’s it. Take off. Doc, please stay.”
After the others filed out of the room and the door was closed, Doc spoke. “Your appointment is two weeks from Monday.”
“I’ll block our calendars. That’s good timing. I only committed to treatment from Dr. Diana for two weeks.”
“What’s the story?”
Shepherd filled him in on her lack of availability and the schedule he’d agreed to. “With Alpha Team in the office, I can probably make it work.”
“You know I am more than willing to take on any of the physical therapy that I can,” Doc said. “But if Vic thinks she is the one who should treat you, don’t you think you should give it more than two weeks to see if it will work?”
“We’ll see how it goes,” Shepherd replied.
Golf
Shepherd arrived in the parking lot at Dr. Diana’s practice at eleven fifty hours. Doc would meet him there. He anticipated being there for over two-and-a-half hours again, just as he was on Thursday. Cooper was at HQ, running things. His meeting with Deputy Director Manning of the DEA was scheduled for fifteen-thirty hours. He knew if he entered into an agreement with the CIA, his team’s time to conduct the DEA Partner Missions would be either limited or his people would be busier than ever.
A knock at his window startled him out of his deep thoughts. Doc stood there. He hadn’t seen his dark blue SUV pull up beside him. He opened his door and lowered his lift. After he unlocked his wheels and rolled off the lift, he hit the button on his key fob to retract the lift and close the door.
“At least you’re finally getting use of this tricked out beauty,” Doc said. “For what it’s worth, I think you getting out of the office a few times a week is a good thing.”
“You and everyone else seem to hold that opinion,” Shepherd remarked harshly as he powered his way towards the door. He didn’t share it. He’d spent months on end in bunkers while he was on active duty, or in camps in desert hellholes, never needing a change of scenery. “Do me a favor and don’t mention our upcoming trip to Walter Reed to Dr. Diana.”
Doc swung the door open. He rolled in, expecting to see Peggy behind the counter. She wasn’t there. An African American girl, who looked all of fifteen, stood there. “You must be Colonel Shepherd,” she said with a welcoming smile and a squeaky voice.
He nodded his head. “Where is Peggy?”
“She doesn’t work on Saturdays or in the evening.”
“Is Lexi ready for me?” Shepherd asked.
“Lexi doesn’t work on Saturday either,” squeaky voice answered. “Doctor Diana has you with Debra today.”
“Fine,” Shepherd said, trying not to sound like an ass.
Miss squeaky voice motioned to the chairs. “Deb is just finishing up with another client. Please have a seat.” Then she seemed to realize what she’d said. “I mean your friend as you are obviously already sitting.”
Doc crossed the room and took a seat in one of the chairs. Shepherd could tell by the look on his face that he was amused by this amateur hour. He wanted to tell Doc that Dr. Diana’s mom, Peggy, was very competent. He felt protective of Dr. Diana’s image and didn’t want Doc to have a bad opinion of this practice that he knew Dr. D
iana had labored, long and hard to build.
Just as a matronly looking woman came through the sliding barn door that led to the massage rooms, Dr. Diana and a man entered from the hallway behind the reception desk. Shepherd’s gaze went to her and stayed there. “Tay, can you schedule Andrew for Tuesday, please?”
“Sure,” Miss squeaky said.
Dr. Diana came up to him. She motioned the other woman over. “Debra, this is Colonel Sam Shepherd, the patient I told you about.”
She presented her hand to him. “It’s nice to meet you.”
“And his,” Diana paused, not sure what to call Doc. “And this is Doc. He also treats Shepherd.” Her eyes went to Doc. “Are you going to sit in on the massage too, in case you need to step in for that as well?”
