Project Armageddon

by Michael Stephens

  “This is going to hurt,” Abbie warned as she poured half a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the fabric and the wound. The peroxide immediately foamed and bubbled on contact with the material and the wound underneath it.

  Josh’s body involuntary flinched from the cold liquid as he winced in pain.

  Abbie repeated the process a couple more times until the bloody fabric no longer stuck to the hole in Josh’s shoulder. The wound started to weep fluid and blood as Abbie inspected it.

  “So,” she paused as she moved her head in different positions to get as much of the refrigerator light on the wound as possible. When that was not enough light, Abbie would use the flashlight.

  “What?”

  “There’s no wound on the back of your shoulder.”

  “That’s good, right?” Josh asked. “One hole versus two?”

  “That theory normally is a good one. One problem.”

  Josh stared blankly at Abbie. He was tired, in pain, and had lost a lot of blood. If Abbie expected him to display his exceptional thinking power, she was in store for a tremendous disappointment.

  Abbie asked. “Where’s the bullet?”

  Josh study Abbie's face as he let the words to her question permeate into his brain and then… it hit him. “Oh shit!”

  “Yep.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “Nope.”

  Josh rolled his eyes. “Now what?”

  “I need to take the bullet out,” Abbie said plainly.

  “Come again,” said Josh with his eyes open wide.

  “The bullet? It’s still inside you. It needs to come out?”

  Josh inquired. “And you know how to do that?”

  Abbie shook her head in a wishy-washy side-to-side motion. “Kinda.”

  Josh’s eyes opened wider. “Kinda? What the hell does that mean?”

  Abbie smiled. “I’ve seen it done on TV.”

  “You said you didn’t watch TV.”

  “I don’t,” she said, her lips growing into a sarcastic smile. “It was a while ago.”

  “That’s not making me feel any better.”

  Chapter 56

  Abbie removed a prepackaged scalpel from the first aid kit and unwrapped it. She moved closer to Josh to get a clear view and easy access to his wound.

  “You probably shouldn’t watch. Tell me about yourself.”

  Josh shrugged. “What’s to say? I’m the friendly neighborhood Lyft driver turned Jason Bourne.”

  Abbie stuck the scalpel in Josh’s shoulder. She pulled it down, making a vertical incision across the bullet hole.

  Josh flinched. “Okay, maybe not quite Jason Bourne.”

  Abbie dabbed the wound with gauze. She exchanged the scalpel for a pair of hemostats. “I didn’t know being a Lyft driver paid so lucratively.” She dug the hemostats deep into the wound, searching for the bullet.

  Josh spoke while he gasped. “That’s just one of many jobs, which I’ve likely lost since our little adventure.” He took a deep breath as Abbie continued searching for the bullet in his shoulder.

  “Sorry.”

  “They were shitty jobs anyway.”

  “Why do you work so much?”

  “Bills. Somebody’s gotta pay em.”

  “Why so many bills?”

  Josh smiled at Abbie. “Getting kinda personal, aren’t we?”

  Abbie answered. “I do have a metal tool buried in your shoulder.”

  Josh nods, agreeing with her logic. “Medical bills for my mom.” Josh paused briefly to keep his composure. “Cancer of all things,” he said with a slight laugh.

  “I’m sorry,” said Abbie as she dabbed the blood draining from the wound and continued feeling for the bullet. “Is there anyone else, your dad?”

  Josh laughed. “Ah. The sperm donor—that’s all he was.”

  “What happened?”

  “He left when I was eight. That was probably the best thing he could have done. Always drunk or yelling. When he left, mom sat me down and said, ‘Josh, all men are assholes. Do not grow up to be an asshole.’”

  Abbie laughed.

  Josh joined her. “Hey, I’m doing pretty good so far. I’m only about one-tenth an asshole.”

  Abbie continued to laugh. “Hey, I’m not complaining,” she said as she pulled the hemostats out of the wound in Josh’s shoulder. Clamped between the tongs was a bloody lead forty-five caliber bullet.

  Abbie held a gauze pad over Josh’s bleeding wound. “Hold that,” she told Josh.

  Josh reached across and did as he was told. “It was then when she said she would take care of me, and she did. Mom worked three and four jobs to make ends meet. Every night she checked my homework before going to work. She was there the next morning to make me breakfast and get me off to school.”

  Abbie returned to his wound with a suture needle with a long strand of suture thread dangling from it. “I got it,” she said as she took over holding the gauze.

  Josh let go of the gauze and continued. “She kept her word. She took care of me. Made it to every football game—home or away. She was always there. I remember the day I signed my letter of intent.”

  “College?” Abbie asked as she began suturing up his wound.

  “Yes, ma’am. The full-ride—four years. She was so happy she cried.” Josh stopped talking. He briefly lost himself as he reminisced about his past. The needle pricking his skin returned him to reality. “Now, she cries because of the chemo.”

  Josh wiped the pool of tears that puddled in his eyes with his thumb and index finger, “Anyway, she got sick, and I dropped out of school. When she was diagnosed, I told her it was my turn to take care of her. That’s what I’ve been doing ever since.”

  “How are you managing?”

  “My jobs keep the insurance premiums paid. Everything else—let's just say I’ve exhausted a very lucrative comic book and baseball card collection.”

  “That’s sweet,” said Abbie. She tied the end of the sutures tight and cut away the excess thread. Abbie then cut off four strands of medical tape. She centered a three-inch by three-inch gauze pad over the sutured wound. She stopped when something caught her attention.

  With the bleeding stopped, the bullet removed, the wound cleaned and sutured, Abbie’s attention returned to Josh’s muscular, well-defined manly physique. His skin was smooth, with firm muscles that rippled underneath. It was warm and pleasant to the touch.

  She noticed his pectoral muscles created beautiful definitions both vertically and horizontally that intersected in the center of his chest. She never paid attention to it before. But the beauty of it stirred something in Abbie. She followed the vertical definition down to his abdomen, where hard muscles rippled across his stomach. The view was alluring, exciting, and arousing.

  Abbie snapped out of her daze. “There ya go. All better.” She said.

  Josh popped his head up and opened his eyes. “What?”

  “All patched up. You okay?”

  Joshed blinked quickly. “Not sure, I feel weird… kinda weak.”

  “That’s reasonable,” said Abbie. “You were shot.”

  Josh’s eyes were glassy. He blinked quickly again as if he was trying to clear his vision. He squinted at Abbie and then opened his eyes wide again.

  “You know. You’re beautiful.”

  Abbie laughed. “You’re just a little loopy from the blood loss.”

  “No. You really are beautiful.”

  Abbie picked up the trash that surrounded them on the floor when she felt Josh’s forefinger and thumb gently catch her chin and pulled it up. He starred at her face and into her eyes.

  Josh’s gaze burned a fire and yearning in Abbie. She saw him smile.

  Josh cupped the side of her face in his large hand. He caressed her cheek with his thumb.

  His touched sparked a warmth in her. She felt him pull her head toward his. She felt the warmth of this breath and body as he placed his lips on hers and kissed her long and soft. The t
ingle started at her mouth and flowed down the rest of her body. Abbie liked the sensation. It was sweet and innocent. No one had ever kissed her like that before. She never felt that way from just a kiss. It was electrifying.

  Abbie held the back of Josh’s head with both hands. She firmed her lips and kissed him back. She wanted to make sure he knew the feeling was mutual.

  Their lips slowly separated.

  Josh leaned back quickly like he lost his balance. “Wow. You made me woozy,”

  Abbie blushed. She raised her fingers to her lips as if she was rubbing the kiss into them. “You’ve lost a lot of blood. You need to rest.”

  “Aye Aye, Doc,” He said with a smile. His eyelids were already half-closed.

  Abbie finished cleaning up the mess from treating Josh. She closed the refrigerator door. The room was dark other than a small sliver of moonlight that peeked through the blinds. It was just enough light to make out Josh’s face.

  Abbie watched Josh as he slept. He looked peaceful. He wore a small smile. Abbie discovered she wore the same smile as well. She sat on Josh’s left. She brushed his long locks of hair back from his shoulder. She rested her head on his shoulder and snuggled against it.

  Josh woke from his sleep. He felt Abbie snuggling on his left side. He put his left arm around her and pulled her close.

  Abbie responded. She nuzzled close to Josh and held his arm tight. She drifted into a pleasant sleep where she felt safe in by his side.

  Chapter 57

  The early morning sun pierced through the small slit in the blinds. The warm rays woke Josh like a firm smack to his face. He squinted away from the blinding sun until his eyes adjusted to the bright light.

  Josh tried to move, but a heaviness pinned his left side against the wall. He rolled his eyes toward his shoulder. He saw her. He saw Abbie, her head against his shoulder. She was sound asleep. He watched as she innocently exhaled while her eyes danced behind her eyelids.

  Abbie shifted her head. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and opened them. She saw Josh’s brilliant green eyes watching her. “Good Morning.”

  He smiled. “Morning.”

  Abbie pushed herself off Josh’s shoulder and sat up. “How ya feeling.”

  “Spectacular.”

  “Really?”

  “No.” He smiled again. “I feel like shit.”

  “Do you remember last night?” Abbie asked.

  “What?” Josh questioned with heightened concern.

  Abbie found Josh’s reaction a bit extreme. “What’s gotten into you?” she said defensively.

  “I wake up groggy as hell with you sleeping on my chest,” said Josh, “and you ask, ‘Do you remember last night?’”

  After hearing the question again, Abbie understood why Josh reacted like he did. How far can I take this? Abbie smiled. “Well? Do you?”

  “I don’t remember shit. What happened?”

  “Huh. That’s too bad,” said Abbie with a smile. She moved around Josh and used the refrigerator handle to pull herself to her feet.

  “What’s too bad? What happened?”

  Abbie ignored his questions. She opened the refrigerator. After a few seconds, she returned to the floor with two large glasses of orange juice. Abbie handed a glass to Josh. “You lost a lot of blood. You need to drink this.”

  Josh reached for the glass with his right hand but pulled it back as he winced. He quickly took the glass with his left hand.

  “Must have pulled a muscle or something.” He said as he shrugged off the pain.

  “Must of, huh?” Abbie jokingly agreed with him.

  “So,” said Josh after he took a large gulp of juice and swallowed, “you going to open that case?”

  “Now?”

  “We’ve been dodging bullets since we got it,” said Josh as he leaned forward to push himself up, but then immediately favored his injured shoulder. “Maybe dodged is the wrong word, but you get the point. Are we carrying around a cure or a curse?” He added. Josh made it to his feet but relied on the wall to balance himself.

  “Keep drinking,” Abbie said as she put the briefcase on the kitchen counter.

  Abbie swirled the case around to face her. She popped open the display and quickly entered the password she previously used with her father’s laptop. Her finger pressed the small enter key on the keyboard. The sturdy metal tabs on each side of the case sprang open, which startled Abbie. She quickly jerked her hands away from the briefcase.

  Josh asked, “You okay? You need me too--”

  “I’m good.” She answered politely.

  Abbie lifted the lid to the metal case while Josh looked over her shoulder. Staring back at them at the bottom of the case was a soft, molded foam insert that securely protected three large vials of a translucent purplish substance. Safely stored in the foam next to the vials was a small two-inch solid-state hard drive. Etched in the metal of the hard disk: “Project Armageddon: Compendium.” Beneath the words was the bible passage that was familiar to Josh and Abbie.

  “Purple juice,” said Josh. He reached for a vial.

  Abbie’s hand intercepted his and smacked it. She gave him a parental stare.

  “Hey!”

  “We don’t know what this is,” cautioned Abbie.

  “I thought it was—”

  Abbie interrupted. “It could be a deadly biological weapon. We need to find out what it is.”

  “There’s a hard drive—your friend have a computer around we can use?” Josh asked.

  “If that’s filled with data,” Abbie nodded toward the hard drive in the case, “it's likely to have years of data. No, the quickest way is to look at this under a microscope.”

  Abbie pondered where would be the best place for her to quickly identify if the mysterious purple liquid was as at least safe. Then, she closed the lid of the briefcase as the idea bounced to the front of her brain.

  “The hospital,” she said.

  “What?”

  “The hospital… where I volunteer.”

  “We’re probably all over the news. You sure it's safe?” asked Josh. “We still have Colonel what’s-his-nuts after us, and I am sure he is pissed off.”

  “They all know me. I worked with them in the lab. It’s part of the Oncology Department my father started a while back.”

  “Yea, but would they turn you in.”

  “I think they would help, especially if they knew the magnitude of what this could be. I need to look at that purple stuff at a cellular level under a microscope—it’s the quickest way to tell what it really is. Considering its a liquid—it’s unlikely to go airborne.”

  “How unlikely?”

  Abbie nodded her head from side-to-side with a face that made Josh feel like she was making something up on the fly. “Fifty-fifty…maybe,” she said in a tone that confirmed she was ball-parking the odds.

  It took Abbie and Josh twenty minutes to leave the Hoffmans’ apartment. Abbie found one of Emma’s purses—large enough to securely hold the three vials of purplish liquid without fear of them breaking and the hard drive that she and Josh presumed held all her father’s research. She also took Emma’s hospital badge… just in case.

  Josh made it to his feet and was walking without any issue. He was a little weak, but the orange juice was working its magic on him. Soon after he started moving around, most of his energy returned. He still pampered his right arm, but otherwise, he was recovering well. Josh’s biggest problem was finding a shirt that would fit him. David, Emma’s husband, was not a small man, but his arms were undoubtedly not near the size of Josh’s. The chances of finding a shirt that would fit him were running low until he came across an oversized hospital scrub top.

  A few minutes later, both of them dashed out of the apartment and headed toward the hospital in the beat-up Durango they stole the night before.

  Chapter 58

  Abbie turned the SUV into the rear parking lot of County Regional Medical Center. She led Josh through the maze of cars up to the back
entrance that led to the hospital kitchen and locker rooms.

  Several minutes later, Josh and Abbie donned white coats as they blended in with the hospital staff. They cautiously made their way through the first floor as they headed toward the main elevators.

  Abbie and Josh entered the main hall where two elevators on each side of the wall served the lobby crowded with people. Abbie pushed the button to call the elevator near the rear of the lobby. She waited among the small crowd of visitors, patients, and hospital staff.

  Abbie felt a strong tug on her sleeve and was dragged out of the crowd and behind the wall opposite the elevators.

  “What the hell, Josh?” asked Abbie

  Josh held his index finger perpendicular to his lips to quiet Abbie. He hugged the wall with Abbie close and in front of him. He leaned her forward, just enough to peek around the wall into the lobby where people waited for the elevator.

  Past the elevator on the far side of the lobby stood Colonel Daniels with a half-dozen men behind him. The men waited as Daniels finished a conversation with a member of hospital security.

  Daniels turned to his men and dispersed three groups of two by pointing to different directions in the hospital.

  Abbie and Josh returned behind the corner with their backs to the wall.

  Abbie asked. “How the hell did they find us?”

  “It doesn’t matter. We need to get out of here,” answered Josh.

  “The stairs,” said Abbie, “We can take them to the basement.”

  Josh nodded and gestured to Abbie to lead the way.

  Josh and Abbie kept their backs to Daniels as they retraced their route toward the elevators. The deviated from their path and headed down the hall, opposite the locker room doors, that lead to the stairwell.

  Josh followed Abbie down the long corridor that bent to the left. At the bend, was a brightly lit green exit sign.

  “There.” Abbie pointed.

  Abbie and Josh increased their pace to a fast walk. They were less than fifty feet away from the stairwell door when Daniels and two of his men they had seen in the lobby turned into the corridor, blocking the stairwell.