by Katy Jordan
“That’s good, that’s… that’s really good,” Rocket said, drifting off.
They loved Jack.
They were really glad that he was okay.
But, none of them could hide the fact that they were hoping there would be news about Bullet.
Lab shuffled past them to head back along to the infirmary. They turned to look at The Spectrum who was merely beaming at them.
“You hoped it was Bullet she had news about,” he stated like he read minds.
Although, their faces said more than their mouths did.
“Yeah,” Youth admitted, Gecko and Rocket nodding in agreement.
“Oh, yeah! I forgot to tell you!” Lab cried out from behind them, watching them all spin on their heels to face her.
She flashed them a warm and happy smile.
“Bullet’s asking for you.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
Lab led the boys down to the infirmary. All three of them were dying to break into a run, but for some reason didn’t want to seem too needy.
“Shouldn’t we radio Sparrow and the girls to let them know?” Gecko offered.
“No,” The Spectrum replied bluntly, “they have a very important job to do. This will only distract them, if not bring them back before they’ve finished.”
“They’re gonna be pissed at us for not telling them,” Youth pointed out.
“So, be it.”
They entered the infirmary to see Jack sitting up in bed.
“Hey sleepy head, nice of you to join us!” Rocket said, walking to his bedside.
“Yeah… thanks…” Jack croaked. “Where’s Bullet? Is she okay?”
“She’s in the back room, Jack. She’s awake, but very in-and-out just now. She’s got a long way to go yet, much longer than you do,” Lab explained to him.
“You guys go see Bullet, I’ll stay here with Jack for a while,” Rocket suggested.
Gecko and Youth said nothing as they near enough sprinted for the door of the consultation room.
Bullet lay limp on the bed, seemingly in the same state as before, but the box around her head was open.
“What was that for?” Youth asked Lab, pointing to it.
“She had mild carbon monoxide poisoning. That was to clear it out of her system. Having the air pressure slightly higher when providing oxygen replaces it quicker.”
Gecko approached her bedside.
“Bullet,” he whispered, “it’s Gecko. You awake, honey?”
The boys watched as Bullet’s eyelids fluttered, her iris rolling forward from the back of her head.
“Hey… hey you. God, you scared us,” Youth whispered as he stroked her hair gently.
Bullet’s lips moved slightly but no sound came out.
“Don’t try and talk, honey,” Gecko pleaded, “you got trapped in the fire, you were flirting with death for quite a while.”
Lab stood at the bottom of the bed watching her.
Bullet’s lips continued to move.
“What’s she doing?” Youth panicked. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine, she’s just… she’s trying to talk,” Lab said, eyeing her carefully.
After a few moments of trying to mimic what she was doing with her mouth, Lab rolled her eyes and smiled at Bullet.
“Jack’s okay, sweetheart. He’s outside, he’s awake.”
Bullet’s eyes drifted shut again, relief flowing through her. She felt as though she was being pinned to the bed.
She couldn’t move.
Bullet couldn’t recall ever feeling this weak before. The room was spinning slightly and the lights were a little too bright for her eyes to handle.
Jack.
Where was Jack?
“Screw this,” Lab outburst.
She leaned behind Gecko at Bullet’s left-hand side and clipped the machines to the frame of the bed before going around to Youth’s side to do the same.
“Open the door for me, Gecko,” she instructed.
Gecko hopped to it, instantly.
“What’re you doing?” Youth jabbed at her anxiously.
“I’m a sucker for romance,” Lab replied.
She rotated Bullet’s bed in the room and then carefully rolled it towards the door, eyeing each side of the bed to make sure it didn’t batter off of the door frame on the way out.
Cautiously, Lab wheeled the bed around to the main area of the infirmary and pushed it up beside Jack’s bed.
“Hey, pal,” Rocket said as he jumped up at her sudden arrival.
“Bullet… Bullet, it’s Jack, can you hear me?” he grunted, trying to turn on his side.
“Woah, woah, woah, no moving around yet, mister. I sat you up; I said that’s all you were getting for now,” Lab called out, running around to his side and pulling him back down on the bed.
“I just… I just want to look at her,” he uttered.
“In time, darling. In time,” Lab promised him as she guided him back around on to his back, adjusting the pillows behind him.
Bullet’s head turned slowly to her left, looking at Jack sitting beside her. A smile gradually crept on to her face as he looked at her, longingly.
Like they hadn’t seen each other in years.
“Is she going to be okay?” Jack breathed, not taking his eyes off of her.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she is,” Lab assured him.
The Spectrum, Lab and the guys watched on as Bullet and Jack continued to hold each other’s eyeline.
“Let’s give them a minute…” Gecko suggested.
They all departed the infirmary, leaving Jack alone with Bullet.
“Hey,” he whispered, tears rolling down his cheeks, “I don’t remember much… I remember Gecko’s voice talking to Neon. I remember hearing the gunshot. But, then everything went black. I know that gunshot was you. I know I’m alive because of you, and you nearly died to make that happen. I’m so sorry. I thought the plan would work, I’m so so sorry.”
Bullet used every ounce of energy, every fibre of her being, to force a slight nod at him. Her eyes were desperate to close.
She wanted to just drift off.
But, she wanted to keep looking at Jack.
She didn’t want to ever stop looking at Jack.
Jack strained himself and reached over to take her hand, groaning and grimacing as he did so.
Lab and the guys came back into the sight of Bullet and Jack sound asleep; their fingers intertwined in the space between their beds.
“I was planning on putting her back in the consult room, but… I guess I’ll just leave her out here with him,” Lab said, welling up at the sight of them. Bullet and Jack got into the mess that they each were in for the other.
After everything, they were still clinging on to each other.
The pair were holding on to one another as they recovered.
Love story of a lifetime.
“Guys… you should go back to what you were doing,” Lab insisted, “right now, the sleep to conscious ratio for these guys is in favour of sleep. Whether you’re here or not isn’t going to make much difference, I’m afraid.”
“But, we want to stay with her,” Youth pleaded.
“I know you do, darling, but she’s not awake to see you all being there for her and routing for her. She doesn’t need to see it, but I’m pretty sure she knows it nonetheless. Come back along tomorrow. You guys need your sleep too, remember? Please?” Lab implored.
Youth hung his head like a kid who had just been told he can’t get another toy, and they all shuffled out of the infirmary.
“Sir,” Rocket turned back to The Spectrum from the doorway, “what do we do with Watt?”
“Un-cuff him. Give him the guest room by my office, and make sure all the windows are locked as well as locking the door behind him.”
Rocket left with his orders.
“Thank you, Lab,” The Spectrum said.
“For what?”
He averted his eyes to B
ullet and Jack and reverted back to looking at her over his glasses with his hands overlapped behind his back.
“Oh… that’s my job, sir. And that’s my girl. I’d never let anything happen to her. Or him.”
“You went above and beyond with her. I’ve never seen you deal with anything that was as complicated as this was. You did it efficiently, and you didn’t get anyone’s hopes up. You have my sincerest gratitude for that.”
“We all have pasts, remember?” she teased him slightly. “I’ve done this before. Go back to your team; I’ll look after her.”
“I know you will,” he smiled at her, before taking a brisk walk out of the infirmary and down the corridor.
“Silver Sparrow to The Spectrum, we’ve completed our investigation. We’re on our way back to headquarters.”
“The Spectrum to Sparrow, drive carefully. It’s late. Temperatures have dropped drastically and they’ve to continue dropping as the night goes on.”
“Sparrow to The Spectrum, copy that. Our E.T.A is one hour.”
The Spectrum reached Gecko and Youth who were in deep discussion outside of the guest room just before his office.
“Where’s Watt?” he interrupted their conversation.
“He’s in there with Rocket. We brought him some food. Rocket’s just turning the water on for the room so that he can shower and stuff,” Youth explained.
“Good. And I take it you heard the radio?”
“Yeah… why didn’t you tell them about Bullet, sir?” Gecko asked.
“The roads are icy. I don’t want him to speed. Especially, with Flare in the car, she’d be hounding him to step on it as a means of getting back quicker. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“Yes, sir, I would,” Gecko said with a smile.
Rocket walked out of the guest room and locked the door behind him.
“Windows are sealed?”
“Yes, sir,” Rocket confirmed.
“Gentlemen, retire to your quarters. You’ve had an abrasive few days, and they’ve been anything but pleasant. You heard Lab; sleep is a must.”
“Goodnight, sir,” they all uttered, relieved at his order as they walked past him down the hall.
The Spectrum made his way to the conservatory.
He leaned against the railing, squinting through his own reflection in the window that stared back at him due to the bright lights on the ceiling meeting the dark sky outside. He could just make out the entrance on to the property.
This is where he would stand until Sparrow’s arrival with the girls.
Anticipation was eating him alive. He should radio them to find out the situation.
Did we have proof of death?
Was Neon still a threat to them?
He could understand Gecko and Youth’s questions about him not informing them of Bullet’s recovery. But, he meant what he said.
He didn’t want to distract them from maintaining their own safety.
How ironic it would be that they should kill themselves trying to witness their friend’s recovery from a brush with death.
No.
They would remain in the unknown until they got back.
Strangely, the hour seemed to fly by as The Spectrum saw headlights turn into the premises of Colour Coded. He made his way down the glass stairs, observing the girls getting out of the car while Sparrow turned off the engine.
Their red cheeks were glowing as they entered out of the cold from searching the burnt out warehouse all night.
“We have news, sir,” Flare outburst as soon as she saw him.
“It can wait. No matter what the answer is, it can wait.”
Tide and Flare looked at him confused as Sparrow walked in behind him, shuddering from the nippy air outside. As soon as he joined him, he knew he had just walked into the middle of something.
“What now?” he moaned.
“Is she okay?” Tide punctured Sparrow’s words.
“Yes,” The Spectrum confirmed, turning his back to head up the stairs again. “She woke up earlier, as did Jack.”
“How is she?” Flare pried. “Can I go see her?”
“No, she’s sleeping now. She’s nowhere near the clearing from the woods just yet. But, she’ll get there, with rest and the correct treatment from Lab.”
“What do you want us to do then, sir?” Tide asked.
“Sleep,” he said simply, “it’s been a horrific few days, uncomfortable for everyone here. Rocket, Gecko and Youth are already in their quarters. I, myself, am about to head to mine. I’d like for you three to do the same. After you,” he said as he extended his arm ushering them to go to their rooms.
He watched them go.
The suspense was killing him; he knew he would never sleep.
But, he knew that they were all needing to.
The tension from trying to rescue Jack and almost losing Bullet had built up to bursting point in everyone, and yet they had to continue to work as though everything was just fine. He asked for a lot from them throughout everything, and they never wavered.
They never did falter with any task he set him.
He was very aware that his rescuing Flare, Rocket, Sparrow and Bullet from Neon was the best decision he had ever made. Taking on the rest into the team was just as good. He was very aware that he had the best team under his wing.
Never would he knowingly jeopardise that.
The Spectrum walked back to the infirmary and sat in the chair by Bullet and Jack’s beds. The Lavender Lab was sound asleep across from them so that she was close, should something happen. He eyed Bullet’s still and weak body.
His blatant stubbornness almost got her killed.
She fought his orders, but he forced them to be followed.
Her death would have been entirely on his hands.
Through the night, he observed her.
Jack, too.
But, mainly her.
His girl.
The Black Bullet.
The glue that held this entire unit together.
The Spectrum recalled the first day he met her.
She had gone out for a walk, and they crossed paths. As soon as he saw her, he knew something was troubling this girl. She was pale and exhausted and told him that she and her friends had nowhere to live. And so a relationship formed.
A beautiful father-daughter relationship.
He had always wanted a daughter. He had always wanted kids.
Alas, the opportunity never presented itself to him.
It wasn’t long before the sunrise greeted him during his pleasant journey on the train of thought he had embarked upon. He could feel the heat hit the back of his neck like a UV ray in a tanning salon. Time flew by as he watched Bullet slowly and painfully get slightly better, and before he knew it, it was the late hours of the morning.
“YOU’RE OKAY!” Lab sprung to life behind him as her dream came to an abrupt halt.
He didn’t even stir.
“Sir… what’re you doing here?” she asked, swinging her legs off the bed and joining him.
“I’m just watching over her.”
“I slept right opposite her all night.”
“I know. I’ve been here all night.”
“You ordered everyone to sleep, but you stayed awake?” she quizzed him.
“I wasn’t in the least bit tired. I knew everyone else was. They’re young, they’ve been working hard, they deserve their rest.”
“You knew she was okay. You knew I was here… why couldn’t you sleep?” Lab pried, pulling a chair over next to him and propping herself down on it, facing him.
Her eyes bore through him.
The Spectrum spoke to her. Easily.
Being in her mid-forties, she understood more. The Spectrum also had a suspicion that she had some form of training in counselling.
“I know the news that Sparrow, Flare and Tide have come back with is not good.”
“How? They haven’t even said anything yet.”
“Precisely.”
/>
“I don’t follow.”
“They haven’t said anything. If Neon was dead, if they found his body, they would not have hesitated in telling us.”
“Well… you didn’t tell them about Bullet until they got back.”
“That was my choice; I wanted to make sure they got home safe in the low temperatures last night.”
Lab caved.
She knew he was right, she just wanted to deny it until she was blue in the face. Without a word, she got up and checked Bullet’s monitors before moving over to Jack’s.
Sparrow shuffled into the hospital wing in his shiny silver dressing gown, his usual gel-filled, spiky hair, now fluffy and dishevelled.
He shook his head, and without a moment’s hesitation, The Spectrum placed his finger into his ear.
“This is The Spectrum. All members please come to the hospital wing. A situation needs Colour Coded.”
After a few minutes, the team walked into the infirmary in robes and slippers, yawning the morning away as they ran their fingers through their hair and rubbed their sleepy eyes.
“I was hoping to let you all sleep until whatever time your bodies woke you up at. I’m sorry for not fulfilling my original agenda.”
“No worries,” Rocket replied, “so, what did you guys find last night?”
“We don’t have proof of death,” Tide said, choosing not to beat around the bush.
Flare walked over to Bullet’s bedside and perched on the side of the bed, taking her hand and kissing her forehead while sighs of annoyance fluttered through the hospital wing.
“Oh, come on!” Rocket yelled, kicking a nearby chair and turning his back as it flipped noisily on to its’ side.
“Take it easy, son,” The Spectrum said softly. “Do we know how he got out?”
“We think he was escaping even before Gecko made it out with Jack,” Sparrow answered.
“There was another exit?” Gecko probed.
“Yeah… a tunnel. The door was disguised as a panel in the wall of the lower bunker. Which, by the way, I can assure you that Jack is the luckiest guy on earth to still be alive… the amount of blood down there was horrific,” Flare interjected.
“Did you find its exit?” Youth asked, ignoring Flare’s comment about Jack and pulled out one of his many tablets.
“Yeah, that’s why the investigation took so long to complete,” Sparrow continued, “he had a passageway dug all the way through the hill that sat to the west of the warehouse. You lift a boulder at the other side and you’re halfway up the hill and free to go wherever you want from there.”
