A nurse came in later that afternoon while Lauren was napping. She had a wheelchair ready, but hesitated.
Lauren stirred, lifting her head. “What?”
“The doctor wants me to take you down for a CAT scan,” she said.
“Why? What happened?”
“You had a little accident,” the nurse said. “The doctor is worried about your memory loss and he wants a scan to see what’s going on.”
“Oh. Okay.”
The nurse sent Rowan out for a few minutes while she took care of a few things and he could only assume she was removing the catheter and disconnecting the monitors. He could hear running water and washing hands, and the ringing of a washcloth.
* * *
When he was allowed back in, Lauren had been cleaned up a little and had her hair combed and pulled back in a low ponytail. Her eyes brightened as she gazed up at him. He helped get her into the wheelchair and fell in beside her as the nurse wheeled her to the elevator. He’d mentioned to the doctor his concern for her lack of recollection, not just of the events in the forest, but her inability to remember conversations that had only occurred a few minutes before.
“You’ll have to wait out here,” the nurse said to Rowan when they reached the imaging lab.
He leaned down and kissed Lauren. “I’ll be here when you come back.”
* * *
An hour later, the orderly brought her back out. “Hi, honey,” she said faintly. She looked exhausted.
He stood and forced a smile. “Hi,” he said. He couldn’t remember her ever calling him honey. “Ready to go back to bed?”
“Do I have to?”
Rowan tilted his head at the orderly, who nodded.
“It’s been raining on and off for days,” Rowan said as they walked down a long hall of windows. “Mostly on. I miss San Diego. If it rains there, it’s usually just a short cloud burst. Here, it never seems to stop.”
“Where are we?”
“Washington State,” he said. He wasn’t surprised she didn’t remember.
“Oh. Bigfoot country,” she said. “We should do some Bigfoot hunting while we’re here.”
At least she remembered that much. “Maybe next time.”
* * *
Once Lauren slept again, Rowan tried to watch television, but he was restless. His iPhone chirped. The text message was the welcome diversion he needed.
Sending video clip for you to watch — emailing to your laptop. Watch carefully.
It was from Jean-René. Rowan got up quickly and went to his bag over in the corner and pulled out the small laptop. It took a painfully long time for it to boot up, and even then, he didn’t have internet access. “Dang it,” he snapped, folding it shut, tucking it under his arm.
* * *
Rowan sat in the coffee shop across the street from the hospital, staring, transfixed to the video loop Jean-René had sent him. He turned up the audio clutching his noise-cancelling headphones to his ears as it replayed. In the video, Lauren had turned on her laptop’s webcam to record a video blog entry that would eventually go up on their website. Halfway through her introduction, a loud noise echoed in the brush behind her. She gazed over her right shoulder, reaching for something just out of the camera’s view to her left. She froze, glancing at her screen with eyes wide. “Did you hear that?” she said. The camera image showed her knees. A moment later there was a frantic rustling, followed by heavy footfalls that shook the camera and the sound of something making a ragged breath as it approached quickly. The camera got smacked around hard, as Lauren screamed, and a monstrous roar made the image tremble. A flash of something dark whipped past the frame, and a cacophony of cries and roars were followed by a sudden silence. Then Lauren wasn’t there anymore.
It all happened so fast. There was hardly time for him to comprehend what must have occurred in those scant moments that looped before him. He felt the blood rise to his face. His hands were trembling as they fell from his ears to the table. He nearly knocked his coffee over.
He was used to analyzing video clips like this. He was accustomed to the bizarre and even the frightening. But this was too much to take. He’d witnessed the exact moment of attack, and there was no doubt Lauren was the target. He sat wondering, as he tried to compose himself, folding his arms over his chest, leaning back gazing at the still of the dark flash across the screen.
This was not the first time she’d been attacked. Something or someone had jumped her in the bushes, and he had to think that there was more than just happenstance at play. But why Lauren?
Was it her native blood? Perhaps her Cherokee heart beat in a rhythm the creature recognized. Perhaps it was something in her eyes as she gazed into the darkened forest, seeking answers. Maybe it was her hair, or the smell of her skin. A thought came to him and chilled his soul. Maybe it was because she was a woman. What if that thing was looking for a mate? No! That couldn’t be it. Lauren wasn’t the only woman on the expedition. Bahati. Who else? Did Abby come? No. Her mother had passed away a week before and she’d stayed behind. Carmen hadn’t gone with them since Tibet. Monique had a baby six months ago.
Lauren and Bahati were the only women on the expedition. Perhaps the creature hadn’t recognized Bahati as female. She was a beautiful woman, but long and slender, with subtle curves that might not have been obvious beneath the cold weather gear. No, Lauren was a more obvious choice. She was curvy with her long raven hair, which she wore in braids for easy care during their investigation. What had that thing done to her?
No wonder she didn’t want to remember anything. He rose abruptly and slammed the computer shut, tucking it under his arm as he dashed back to the ER.
* * *
“A what?”
Ben had been in the middle of his rounds in the ER when Rowan caught him pausing at the nurses’ station to chart orders for a patient.
“Did you perform a rape exam on Lauren?” Rowan trembled, gagging on the words. He struggled to keep the contents of his stomach down.
Ben stared at him blankly. “Why?”
“She was missing for ten days. She has no memory of where she was. Suppressed memories. What if there’s something she doesn’t want to remember. If she was ... raped ... that would explain a lot.”
“Aren’t you the one who told me she’d been abducted by a Bigfoot?”
“I know.” Rowan was shaken and could no longer hide it. “I know. I know. But look at the evidence. Lauren was attacked twice. She was the intended target both times. This creature, or whatever it is ... whoever it is, baited the team away—lured them from her. It must have circled back to get to her. It wasn’t attacking at random. What if ... what if it was looking for a mate?”
“You talk about this thing as if it were a rational being.”
“Animals are never rational when it comes to mating,” he said. “They lose their damned minds. Nothing matters more. Some animals go days, even weeks without eating while they’re in rut. They’re like most men. They’ll do anything to get ... to get lucky.”
“I’ll order the test,” Ben said without changing expression.
“It terrifies me to think of what someone ... or something might have done ...” Rowan’s voice faltered.
Ben’s hand went to his shoulder. “We’ll do everything we can for her.”
“Wait.” Rowan caught Ben’s arm. “Does she have to give consent for the test?”
“Of course,” Ben said.
“I was hoping to spare her of the trauma of being violated a second time.”
“Presuming she’d been violated the first.”
“Her clothes were torn ... her jeans ... her underwear. I didn’t even think about it that way until now,” he said. “I can’t imagine the thought of some animal ... that thing touching her.”
“Rowan.” Ben took his arm. “You’re going to give yourself a stroke.” He steadied his friend. “Look, you don’t need to go through this either. I can take care of it.”
“No. I shou
ld be with her.”
“Suit yourself,” Ben said. “But I need you to calm down. You’re no good to her like this.”
Rowan took a deep breath. “Just help her.”
Ben eyed him warily. “I’ll do what I can.”
* * *
Rowan followed him upstairs. Ben leaned on the nurses’ station and asked for Lauren’s chart. “When was her last dose of morphine?”
“The computer shows she hit the trigger about ten minutes ago,” she said.
“I need a favor,” Ben said. “One without a lot of questions.”
The nurse furrowed her brow. “Of course, Dr. McGuiness,” she said. She had no idea what she was agreeing too.
“I need an OB-GYN exam room, and a rape kit,” he said. “And a chaperone.”
The nurse stood fast for a moment. He could see her hesitation. Ben pulled her aside. “I’m not doing anything illegal or unethical, if that’s what you’re thinking. Dr. Grayson’s privacy is my only concern.
“I can set you up in exam room six,” she said.
“Thank you.”
Once she walked away, he calmly went behind the station to the meds room, looking until he found a particular bottle and a syringe. He made an entry in the log, as required, before he tucked them into the pocket of his white coat. Doctors made obscure entries all the time. Chances of anyone questioning his medical decision were slim to none.
Rowan watched, wondering how much the nursing staff had been told. He didn’t know if Lauren was just a lost hiker to them. Being on television they were often recognized, but not always.
Ben nodded, drawing Rowan back, and then went into Lauren’s room, finding her napping. “Good afternoon Miss Grayson,” he said, leaning on the bedrail. “Do you remember me?”
She stirred. “You’re the cute doctor who’s taking care of me.” Lauren yawned.
“You do remember.” He laughed. “Look, we need to run a few more tests to find out what’s going on with you. Is it okay if we let you sleep and take you down the hall for the tests?”
“Sure,” she said, dreamily. Rowan didn’t like her flirting with another man but blamed it on the head injury. “Yeah, that would be okay.”
“That’s my girl.” Ben glanced cautiously at Rowan but reached for the medication in his pocket. He added it to her IV.
“What was that?”
“Don’t ask questions,” Ben said, softly. “It won’t hurt her, but she will sleep for several hours and have no memory of most of the day. It’s a powerful medicine, but by the time of her next blood draw, it should be out of her system, and it isn’t routinely tested for.”
“She’s already having enough trouble with her memory.”
“This won’t make it any worse ... or better,” Ben said.
Chapter 18
“There don’t appear to be any signs of trauma,” Ben said when he came back out from the exam room. “We’ll know for sure in about 24 hours.” Rowan hadn’t realized he was holding his breath. He let it out slowly, relieved that this was over.
He stood numbly as she was wheeled back toward her room. “Why do I get the feeling we just broke every rule in the book?”
“Management and Care of Victim protocols require us to care for the patient in accordance with her needs and in her best interest. That’s what we did.” Ben justified it. “We did what was best for Lauren.”
“God, I hope so.” Rowan rubbed his red eyes.
Lauren slept all day. Even Bahati couldn’t wake her up for dinner. He hadn’t mentioned his fears — or their earlier escapade — to her. He didn’t plan to. This was his worry to bear alone. Rowan paced all evening until he was ready to drop.
He watched the video clip over and over for hours on end. He couldn’t look away, and he couldn’t make sense of it. He felt helpless and afraid. It wasn’t something he was accustomed to. He had always been able to maintain his cool, even when everyone around him lost theirs. It was his military training that carried him through.
Serving in the Middle East had tested him to his limits.
On one reconnoiter, his unit went into a small town in Al Anbar province one cold morning. A chemical manufacturing facility had been found a few days before. Their unit was there to determine if it was still in use. As they rolled into town, the normal morning life in a rural farming community was all but silent. “Pierce.” His buddy had nudged him. “All the livestock is dead.” He gazed at the corpses of a fallen flock of sheep. The faint odor of wet hay lingered in the air — the tell-tale sign of phosgene gas. No one in the village had survived.
The feeling that washed through him then was the same one he had now. It was that gut-twisting fear of knowing something was wrong, but not knowing what.
* * *
“Rowan?”
He sat up with a start. He was not in Al Anbar anymore. He hadn’t had flashbacks in years. It frightened him.
“Rowan?”
Lauren reached out her good hand to him. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I’m fine.” He shook off the ghosts that haunted him. He rose to take her hand. Sitting on the edge of her bed, he brushed her hair away from her eyes and kissed her knuckles. “How are you?”
“I hit my head,” she said. “I think.”
He had to smile. That seemed to be all she could remember. “Yes,” he said. “You did.”
“What’s for dinner?” she asked.
He glanced at his watch. “It’s three a.m. I think you missed dinner.”
“I did?” She furrowed her brow. “I’ve been so sleepy. I can’t seem to stay awake.”
“It’s the pain medicine.” He wasn’t lying. “It’ll wear off when you’re not in so much pain.”
“I’m hungry,” she said.
That was encouraging and Rowan said as much. “Tell me what you want. I’ll go find it.”
“It’s three a.m.,” she said. “I’ll take whatever you can find.”
“There’s a coffee shop across the street, and a Taco Bell not too far away.” She wrinkled her nose at that.
“A bagel with cream cheese would be good if you could find one.” She remembered watching Jean-René eat one after they got home from Peru.
He rose, smiling. “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he said. Finally, something he could do.
* * *
He came back with a dozen donuts of every kind, and a bag full of bagels with cream cheese. He had two large coffees. One was spiked with cream and sugar to her taste. He slathered cream cheese on one of the bagels. Lauren made short work of a chocolate-frosted cake donut while he did.
He watched her eat. It gave him the first real glimmer of hope he’d felt in days. It was good to see her appetite had returned. He was amazed that she could each that much. In truth it was half a bagel and a donut. When she was done, she gazed at him dreamily as she leaned back on her pillow.
“Better?” he asked.
“Yeah,” she said. Her eyelids grew heavy in the euphoria of the feast. “Thank you.”
“Can I get you anything else?” he asked.
“No.” She shifted in her bed to make herself more comfortable. Rowan was envious of having a bed. “Come here.” She lifted the blanket, making room for him.
He hesitated a moment, but she insisted. Wearily, he made himself comfortable in bed beside her. She curled up in the crook of his arm and lay her head on his shoulder, yawning. “Wonder if there’s anything on TV?”
“Let’s see,” he said. He kissed her head and found the remote beneath her pillow.
He groaned, finding that the only thing on at four in the morning was The Veritas Codex. It was the episode at Eastern State Penitentiary. No one had gotten hurt on that trip, though they’d all gotten the piss scared out of them by the shadow of a dark form that passed between Lauren and Rowan. It was captured on film passing through Jean-René. It frightened him so bad he dropped his camera.
They’d managed to salvage the footage right up until the black shadow cons
umed the shot and the camera fell. That episode earned them their first Emmy nomination for Best Reality Television Series. Unfortunately, it hadn’t won. Still, it was one of their favorite episodes.
“The Veritas Codex,” Lauren perked up. “I love this show.”
Rowan answered with a heavy snore.
Chapter 19
The news was on when Ben came in to check on his patient. She was awake. Rowan was still sound asleep. “He’s exhausted,” she whispered.
“Yes, but you need your rest too.” Ben scolded.
“Just leave him be. I am fine.”
The doctor didn’t argue. “You look a bit more alert this morning,” he said. He noticed the half-empty box of donuts. “How’s your headache?”
“Better,” she said. “My arm still hurts, though.”
“That’s to be expected. I’m going to try switching your pain meds a bit. We need to wean you off the opioids. Just let the nurse know if your pain isn’t well-controlled.”
“I will,” she said.
He crossed his arms, considering her. “So, do you remember any of what happened to you?”
She thought for a moment. “I hit my head,” she said. “But I’m not sure how. I think we went camping.”
“Why would you go camping?” He was testing her. “It’s still early in the season and the weather on the mountain can be unpredictable.”
Lauren furrowed her brow. “We do it all the time,” she said.
“What do you do for a living, Miss Grayson?” he asked.
“I’m a research assistant,” she said, without missing a beat. “For Cal Tech. I’m working on my PhD.”
“And what do you do as a research assistant?”
“I go out and I research stuff,” she said. The strain of trying to recall details showed on her face. “Wolves primarily,” she added, smiling as the information came to her. “I also do some work in television.” Now Rowan was awake and watching her cautiously. His brow furrowed. “Ever heard of the show Nova? It’s on PBS. Maybe you’ve seen it?”
“Lauren, you haven’t done that for almost ten years, not since you were a grad student. That was before you got your PhD,” Rowan said.
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