by Joni Parker
“That’s it, lass! Keep it up.” The man opened a small bottle and shook some powder over her open wounds. Alex recoiled—it stung. The man shouted in her ear. “This is a blood coagulant. I used it all the time in the Army. It’ll keep you from bleeding out. Stings a bit.”
She nodded and shut her eyes. The next thing she knew she was on a gurney and a blurry face of a woman stood above her.
“Can you hear me, love? Stay with me.” She patted her shoulder. “Stay with me.”
But it was too much of an effort for Alex to keep her eyes open. The next time she opened them, she was in a room with a bright light. The room was quiet, too quiet.
Am I dead?
A woman leaned over her. Who was she? Alex didn’t remember if she was the same woman or not. She wore a blue uniform with a clear plastic mask over her face. “You’re safe now. We’ll take care of you.” Her eyes smiled and Alex blinked.
“Triage and prep her,” a man said. “Then wheel her into the operating theater.”
Alex’s clothes were cut off and the woman left, carrying the scraps away. A mask covered Alex’s mouth and she breathed—her mouth felt dry; she had no saliva but could feel cool air against the wound in her cheek. Two clear bags of fluid hung from poles with tubes that ran down to her arms. She glanced down and saw she was covered with a green sheet. Her head fell back. Then she remembered what happened and recalled the scene in her head. Jeffrey went through the arch. He’ll tell them what happened.
Across the room, a digital clock display read 12:34. Alex inhaled deeply. The pain had eased and the fluids gave her renewed strength. She closed her eyes and focused on her healing blue light—first in her hands, then her arms and shoulders, up to her neck and face. She exhaled and inhaled, commanding the healing light to the rest of her body. When she opened her eyes, her hands glowed blue. In fact, her entire body glowed blue. She stared in amazement as she looked under the sheet. She touched her face and felt her cheek where a wound had been. Nothing there. She smiled and sat up in bed.
Across the room, the digital clock now read 12:35. Only a minute had passed. She was healed. Even she was amazed. Her situation had been critical, just a minute ago. Now she sat up in bed. Was this all a bad dream? She looked under the green sheet and saw her naked body still covered with blood. No, not a dream.
The woman in blue stepped in the door and froze when she saw Alex sitting up and glowing blue.
“Where am I?” Alex turned her head to her.
She gasped and held her hands up. “Oh, my God! You’re blue!”
“You’re blue, too.” Alex grinned.
“No, I mean, you’re really blue. Now, lie still. I’ll get a doctor. You’ve been severely injured. We’re about to take you into the operating theater.”
“I’m fine. I want to leave.”
“Stay where you are.” The woman checked the machines to her right and examined Alex’s wounds, but found only dried blood, no injuries. She swallowed hard. “Wait here and I’ll be right back.” She rushed out, leaving Alex alone. While she was gone, Alex closed her eyes and relaxed. The blue glow went away. As she waited, she heard the woman shouting in the hall.
Within minutes, the woman returned with a man, also dressed in blue. She introduced him as the surgeon and she was his attending nurse. He held his hands in the air as if to let them dry, but his jaw dropped when he saw her awake. With a stethoscope, he checked her heart and listened to her breathe. He checked the machine sitting beside the bed and looked at Alex, as if he was comparing the two.
“I want to get out of bed, but I need my clothes,” Alex said.
“No. Not yet. Nurse, get her a gown. I need to examine her first.”
The nurse held out a gown for Alex and slipped it over her arms, tying it in the back. The doctor lowered the rails on the side of the bed and pulled her gown aside to check for her injuries, but couldn’t find any. He shook his head and glanced at the nurse. She removed the patch on Alex’s neck and found smooth skin.
“All right. Let’s see how you do.” The doctor helped her sit on the edge of the bed. “Slowly.” He grimaced. “You came here with multiple gunshot wounds, but I don’t see any of them.”
“See? I’m fine.” Alex’s feet touched the ground and she stood up, taking several steps to the window, where she sat in a cushioned chair.
“Obviously, you no longer need surgery. But we have to evaluate your condition and have some therapists come by to check you over.”
“Sure.” Alex pressed her lips together. She didn’t want to tell him about the blue light that healed her, certain the man would think her delusional. Am I? “How long have I been here?”
The doctor touched the computer tablet screen. “A few minutes. They brought you in by helicopter. We didn’t think you were going to make it. You were shot at least ten times and lost a great deal of blood. We were prepping you for surgery.” He looked up as the nurse escorted Detective Sergeant Smith into the room. Smith stopped at the door; his mouth hung open.
“What happened?” Smith came over to the chair.
“I was shot,” Alex said with a nod.
“I know you were shot. You were almost dead when we brought you in here.”
“The key word is almost. I’m fine now. Do you think you can talk to the doctor and see if I can leave?”
Smith looked up at the doctor who shook his head. “We’ll discuss it. In the meantime, just kick back and relax.” He motioned for the doctor to step out of the room. In the hall, he asked, “What the bloody hell happened?”
The doctor shrugged. “I wish I knew. I was about to operate on her when the nurse came in and told me she was sitting up in bed. I don’t know how it happened, but she appears to be completely healed. We’ll move her into a room as soon as we set one up. She’ll have to stay here for observation for a few days.” The doctor returned to the room.
Just as Smith pulled out his mobile, Pennington called. “Where are you, Smitty? Tyler wants an update.”
“I’m at the hospital, Pen. You’re not going to believe this. The girl’s fine. She’s sitting in a chair and wants to leave.”
“Come on. Quit it.”
“I’m not joking. When we brought her in, I didn’t think she was going to make it. She’d lost a lot of blood and had bullet wounds all over. But I just talked to her. She’s fine.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.”
“Let me talk to her.”
Smith barged into the room and went up to her. “Detective Sergeant Pennington wants to speak to you.” He put his mobile on speaker. “You’re on speaker, Pen. Go ahead.”
“How are you feeling, Lady Dumwalt?”
“What do you want?” Alex frowned and looked at Smith.
“This is Detective Sergeant Pennington. D.S. Smith said you made a miraculous recovery. I’ll be there shortly to check on you. But for now, I have to tell you this. By order of the British government, you are under arrest. Guards will be posted in the hall to make sure you don’t escape again. As soon as you’re released, you’ll be taken to jail to await a hearing. I want to make sure that you understand that you do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defense if you do not mention, when questioned, something which you may later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand? Yes or no.”
“Yes.” Alex rolled her eyes and sighed.
Smith turned off the speaker function and put the phone to his ear. “I’ll call Tyler.” He stepped out to the hall.
“No, that’s okay, Smitty. I’ll call him. He wants an update. Call the office and have them set up guards outside her door.”
“On it.”
Pennington took a deep breath and sat back in her chair. She wasn’t sure how she was going to explain this to Tyler. After a few seconds, she called him on her mobile.
“Tyler here.”
“Inspector, this is Pennington. I have an update on the girl’s condition.” She pau
sed.
“Well?”
“She’s fine. As a matter of fact, Smith said she was sitting in a chair when he talked to her. He put me on speaker and I told her she was under arrest and--”
“Wait a minute! She’s sitting in a chair? The girl was shot at least ten times, if not more.”
“I know. No one knows what happened. I told Smith to get in touch with the office to have guards posted outside her door.”
“Good. Keep me informed.” Tyler stared at his phone. How…? His thoughts trailed away in confusion. Then he stared down at his left hand, the one with the broken finger she’d healed. Could she…?
In the hospital, a nurse arrived at the door with a tray of food. Alex was disappointed to find broth, crackers, and water, but ate it anyway. A few minutes later, she was moved to a private room with a telly on the wall. Over the next few days, Alex received visits from a number of therapists and was able to meander around the floor without help, but under guard. She was x-rayed, scanned, and hooked up to wires before she was deemed to have recovered completely. In addition, she was asked a thousand questions but never revealed how her injuries were healed.
***
By the end of the week, Tyler showed up, accompanied by two female officers. “Good news, Lady Dumwalt. You’ve been released from hospital. These two officers will escort you to jail. Here are some clothes.” He smiled widely. Then he leaned closer to examine her face. No scars. “How did you recover from your injuries so quickly? I don’t even see any scars.”
Alex shrugged.
“Did you use that blue light of yours?”
She shrugged once more.
“Where are the bullets? The x-rays didn’t show any.”
She shrugged again and remained silent.
He gritted his teeth, knowing she wasn’t going to tell him anything.
One of the women handed her a plastic bag with men’s underwear, a gray sweat shirt and matching pants, socks, and slippers.
“Where are my clothes?” Alex asked.
“Destroyed. They were cut off in order to treat your injuries,” the Inspector said.
“This is men’s underwear.” She held them up.
“It is. We don’t have women’s underwear. You’ll have to buy some.”
“What about my boots?”
“Destroyed with your clothes. We salvaged a pin from your cloak and a necklace with a green stone, along with the documents we gave you.” He held up a small plastic bag with the items. “We’ll hold them in our evidence room.”
Alex clenched her jaw. Those were her favorite boots. The uniform could be replaced, but it was hard to find a pair of boots that fit so perfectly.
“Put your clothes on.” Tyler left the room, but the two police women remained inside.
Alex did as she was told. The clothes weren’t much, but she was covered. One of the women came up behind her and pulled on her right arm, slapping handcuffs on. Then she pulled the left hand back and attached the other side. Alex pulled her hands around to look at them. She knew how to remove them but decided not to. She had nowhere to go, no one to help her, no hope. Her head drooped and her shoulders slumped as she stepped forward.
Tyler watched her leave in the van and shook his head. He pressed his lips together, knowing he still had to deal with the press. How could he explain her recovery? Surely, he couldn’t tell them about the blue light. He’d been able to hold off any press inquiries. Without photographic evidence, eyewitness reports could not be deemed credible.
Chapter 21
DAMAGE ASSESSMENT
In the lower basement level of a nondescript high-rise building in London, Admiral Collins entered Admiral Teller’s office to submit his letter of resignation in person.
“What’s this about, Collins?” Admiral Teller read the letter and looked up at him.
“My resignation, Admiral. I will assume full responsibility for this botch-up.”
“What’s the full damage assessment?”
“We have to replace the doors and walls in both of our offices, rewire the security system, and rebuild our entire computer network and servers. Even our cloud was damaged. We did find the window she used to escape, but she did something to it that made it impossible to repair. We’ll have to replace the entire wall.”
“How do you know she used this window?”
“The glass in it is now backwards. It has a mirrored film on one side, so no one could see in. I’ll never figure out how she got it out and put it back in without damaging it. It’s six-feet wide and extremely heavy.”
“How much in total?”
“Over a million pounds, not including the cost of sending out the search teams for her, Admiral. Scotland Yard is still assessing that.”
“From now on, you should be more careful about who you get angry, Collins. Let this be a lesson to you—never piss off an Elf.” Admiral Teller chuckled, shaking his head in disbelief. He handed the letter back. “I do not accept your resignation, Collins. If I have to stay, so do you. You have too much work to do. Get everything fixed, but you need to make it Elfproof.” He laughed again.
Admiral Collins rolled his eyes and felt his face flush. The indignity of it all. If he could have crawled under a rug, he would have. He’d hoped someone else would come in and clean up the mess, but the Admiral wasn’t going to let him out of it. He hated this man and for many more reasons than because he was black. He was also a better officer.
“By the way, Collins, what story did we come up with to tell the world about the return of the crew?”
“The official press release said that they were picked up by an American fishing vessel and returned to us. The Americans have agreed to this story. They want their sailors back, too.”
Admiral Teller nodded with a tight smile. “The girl’s alive and her injuries miraculously healed, I understand. Perhaps we should ask her how she did that.”
“I might mention that the remains of that potion were tested. So far, our scientists can’t tell what’s in it, other than water and salt. We’re also testing her eating knife. It’s made of an unusual metal alloy and the type of wood for the handle hasn’t been identified.”
“I’m beginning to believe in Elves.” Admiral Teller chuckled again.
Admiral Collins grimaced instead. He didn’t believe in Elves. Just then, Admiral Teller’s phone rang and he picked it up.
“Yes, send him in. It’s Tyler.”
Tyler marched into the room carrying a locked briefcase. “Good day, Admiral Teller, Admiral Collins, good to see you.” He shook hands with both of them.
“Please sit down, Inspector.” Admiral Teller led him to a small sitting area in his office.
“Thank you for seeing me without an appointment, Admiral. I thought you’d like a copy of my report for your records. It’s classified top secret, so I’d appreciate proper handling.” Tyler unlocked his briefcase and handed a folder to Admiral Teller, who put on his reading glasses to read the first few paragraphs.
“Yes, of course. I heard from Admiral Collins that she healed your broken finger. Is that true?” Admiral Teller took off his reading glasses and held them loosely in his hand.
“Yes, I went to my physician to have him look at it. He took an x-ray of my finger and said it had healed so well that there was no evidence it had ever been broken. He was very surprised.”
“How’d she do it?”
“There was a blue glow from her hands when she touched mine. I felt some warmth and that was it.”
“Absolutely amazing, don’t you think?”
“She’s a fraud.” Admiral Collins frowned.
“Then how did she heal so quickly from her wounds?”
“That reminds me. The girl has been released from hospital and she’s on her way to jail to await a hearing,” Tyler said.
“Yes, I heard that. What do the doctors say about her healing so quickly?” Admiral Teller asked.
“They can’t explain it and she won’t tell them anyt
hing. They kept her for a few days for observation and physical therapy—she’s completely recovered.”
“Do you think she used that blue light to heal herself?”
“I don’t know, Admiral. It’s possible.”
“I’d say probable. What about the press? I haven’t seen anything in the papers.”
“We’ve been able to quash the reports. The press doesn’t give much credibility without photos anymore. Does his Majesty’s Navy still want to press charges?”
“Yes, by order of Admiral Chestermann. I disagree, but he believes she’s going to lead some sort of invasion of Earth. I don’t blame her for not cooperating with us.” Admiral Teller puckered his lips as if something was distasteful. “I believe we turned our backs on her. She’s the only one who knows where our sailors are and can bring them back. She asked for nothing in return. We betrayed her trust. I’d be surprised if she cooperates with us at all.”
“She didn’t put up any resistance when we took her to jail.”
“Is she being held separately or is she with the rest of them?”
“With the general population. She’ll be fine, I’m sure. It’s only for a few weeks until the hearing.”
The Admiral leaned forward. “Let me ask you a question, Tyler. Why would you put a trained Special Forces assassin amongst the general population in jail?”
“I doubt she’s a real assassin.” Tyler pressed his lips together to hide his smile.
“I think you underestimate her.”
“Possibly, and there were six unexplained murders the night she escaped.”
“Who was murdered?” Admiral Collins asked.
“A homeless man in the park, who was identified as a known rapist and thief, and two men and one woman were in a car that exploded somehow. One of those men was identified as Blackjack, the mobster. We also found two of his men dead in the alley near the Gold River Casino.”
“How did they die?” Admiral Teller asked.
“The medical examiner doesn’t know on the homeless man or the two men behind the casino. Three people in the car died when their car flipped over and exploded. The subsequent fire killed them, but there’s no reasonable explanation for how it happened. It was in the middle of the street.”
