Betrayed (13 page)

WHO IS DR. GLENN?

For some strange reason, that question was the first on Gaia's mind as she began to wake. “
Began
to wake” was definitely the appropriate phrase, as she was so utterly groggy, she knew it would be one of those mornings when it took her an hour of pressing the snooze button before she could even lift her head from the pillow.

The offensive talk radio was already driving her insane. She wanted to reach over to her alarm to turn it off, but she couldn't even get her numb arm off the side of the bed to pound the button. She must have slept on it again. She
hated
when that happened. And could her room be any brighter? She must have forgotten to close the shade again. Or maybe Tatiana forgot to close it. Hadn't Gaia told her a million times that she despised the morning sun?

“Dr. Glenn, can I just double-check this with you?”

Dr. Glenn again.
Who the hell was Dr. Glenn? Was he some annoying new talk show host?

“Tatiana,” Gaia croaked through her dry and crusty mouth. “Can you
please
turn that off? I can't move my arm. And will you
close
the damn shade, please? How many times do I have to tell you?”

“Who is she talking to?”

“Oh, don't worry—that's to be expected. That's just the sedatives wearing off.”

“What?” Gaia muttered, trying to fight off the bright light and adjust her eyes. “Are you talking to me? Tatiana? Natasha?”

“Don't worry, Ms. Moore,” a woman's voice said rather loudly. “You're doing just fine. We'll have you out of here in a jiff, all right? Here you go, Dr. Glenn.”

“Ah, perfect. Thank you, Nurse.”

Nurse?
Gaia had to open her eyes no matter how much they were fighting her. What the hell was going on this morning?
Forget the blinding light, just push them. Push those lids open.

Slowly but surely, Gaia managed to crack open her eyes and adjust them to the bright lights in the room.
Way too much white.
White walls, white lights, white sheets, and white coats…

“All right, folks, we lift on three. And one, two…”

Gaia felt her entire body lurch upward. Someone was lifting her. No, a few people were lifting her.

“Very nice. Just a few more details and we're good to go.”

“Wait a minute,” Gaia uttered, shaking her head from side to side, trying to shake off the thick veil of sleep. “Where am I?”

“Ah, I think she's finally coming out of it,” a man said as his face leaned over her and smiled. The face was much too close. Everything suddenly felt much too close. “Good
morning,
Gaia,” he announced jovially. His voice was so loud and overexcited, it felt like he was calling a baseball game in her face. “
Great news.
Looks like you're well enough to be moved back to the medical facilities back home, so sit tight and we'll have you back in no time, all right?”

“Wait. What are you talking about?” She was positive she wasn't dreaming. But if this was real life, shouldn't
something
have made sense by now?

Finally the rest of her memories came flooding through. She remembered midnight snacks on the roof. She remembered falling asleep in Heather's room. But that was it.

Finally her vision was clear enough to see all the details. She was still in Heather's hospital room, but now it was bustling with nurses and orderlies, and they were all hovering around this one doctor. Doctor Glenn.

Heather. Find Heather.
She flipped her head to the side to check on Heather.

Heather was gone.

“Where is she?” Gaia groaned, forcing out more and more volume as her eyes darted from stranger to stranger. “Where is Heather? What did you do with Heather?”

“Well, of course Heather's coming home, too,” Dr. Glenn said.

“Who
are
you?” Gaia barked, locking her furious eyes with the doctor's.

“Oh, Gaia.” He smiled, waving his finger at her. “Let's not play
that
game again, all right?” He turned and signed off on a few more pieces of paperwork from the nurses and then made not-so-subtle eye contact with a few of the orderlies. “The straps are secured?” he muttered nonchalantly.

“Secured, Doctor.”

“Good. Well, then, let's get this patient back home, shall we?”

Straps?
She'd been so disoriented and groggy, so obsessed with figuring out what was happening here—where Heather was, what on earth everyone was talking about—she hadn't looked down.

She hadn't been able to move her arm when she woke up because it was securely strapped to the mobile bed she was now lying on. Both arms were strapped down. And her clothes were gone. Someone had put her into a hospital gown. No, not
someone.
Dr. Glenn.

“Who the
hell
are you?” Gaia screamed. “Get these things off me
now.
” She began to appeal urgently to the nurses and orderlies. “I'm not sick. This man is
not
my doctor. This is a trick. Get these goddamn straps off me!”

“I'm sorry,” Dr. Glenn said to the nurses. “I was hoping she wouldn't disrupt the hospital. I'll have her out as quickly as I can. Like I said…a bit too rebellious for her own good. This is why I wanted the straps.”

“It's quite all right, Doctor,” the nurse replied with a pleasant smile. “I've seen much worse than this—”

“Listen to me!” Gaia howled. “I am
not
even a patient here. I was here visiting Heather Gannis.
Where
is Heather Gannis? Where are my clothes? Just take these straps off and I'll explain everything.”

“All right, let's get moving,” Dr. Glenn said, signaling the orderlies to push Gaia out the door.

“No! No, listen to me, goddamn it!”

“Yes, all right, Gaia.” The doctor smiled condescendingly. “We'll have plenty of time to talk back home.”

“Doctor,” the nurse said, “I'm really sorry for that mix-up. I'll talk to the night nurse this evening. I don't know how we could have misplaced her chart.”

“Not a problem,” the doctor assured her as he led Gaia's stretcher out of the room. “I know all about glitches in paperwork. I'll have my assistant fax you copies.”

“You asshole!” Gaia screamed. “Where's Heather? Where the hell is Heather?”

The moment they were out the door, the orderlies began to pick up speed. Dr. Glenn led them toward the elevator. Gaia pushed with every ounce of her strength to break free from the straps, but it was impossible. And the screaming only made her look like a raving psychopath. So she tugged. Again and again. She strained her aching wrists and biceps, clenched her teeth, and kept tugging with complete futility, watching helplessly as the ceiling rolled by in a blur.

ED SKATED WEST ON TWELFTH STREET.
He'd sworn off all stunts for the rest of his life, but the board still made for some of the finest urban transportation in New York City.

He checked his watch. 9:50.
Perfect.
He'd make it to the hospital in five minutes and have enough time to check in on Heather and Gaia and still make it to school with three minutes to spare before Spanish.

He had the distinct feeling that everything was going to be a little brighter today. Maybe Gaia's uncle had just up and died in his sleep last night? Maybe Heather would have a little breakthrough with her sight? Why not? Why shouldn't things finally be a little less dark and painful for a change?

So Ed went ahead and convinced himself. He could do that now. He simply convinced himself that Gaia's uncle had given up and headed off to Greenland to retire. He convinced himself that Heather would be a little better when he walked into her room. Mind over matter. That's all it took. Even if Heather wasn't quite there yet, that wouldn't be a problem. Ed had enough optimism for both of them right now. Because he was only five minutes away now.

Five minutes to his fifteen minutes with Gaia.

Oh, come on, Ed. Fifteen minutes? You call that optimistic?

Right. He could be a little less conservative today….

Five minutes to the rest of his life with Gaia.

THINK, GAIA. THINK. HOW DO YOU KILL
someone when you can't move?
That was one of the only two thoughts in her head. How could she kill Dr. Glenn without moving? And what had they done with Heather? Gaia had sworn to herself that she'd protect her, and it was fast becoming another dead promise in her life.

The orderlies seemed to be taking pleasure in it. Who was she kidding, they probably weren't even orderlies. Just more of Loki's idiot thugs. That's what they were. And they
were
enjoying it. They were practically grinning as they watched Gaia writhing around furiously in the straps, her limbs turning purple from the incessant strain and the lack of circulation.

I swear to God, when I break out of these things
…
whenever someone is stupid enough to unfasten these straps, I'm going to rip those smiles off all your faces. Literally.

Dr. Glenn looked a hell of a lot more nervous now as he scanned back and forth across the ambulance lot every two seconds. Being a doctor was clearly his forte. The actual kidnapping part was another story. “Come
on,
” he said, jerking his hand at the orderlies and guiding them toward a wide ambulatory truck that was parked out on the street just beyond the hospital's ambulances.

For one second, Gaia was out in the open air on Seventh Avenue, just two feet from hundreds of New Yorkers with their beautifully banal lives—rushing with their five-dollar coffees and their
New York Times
es, leaving their normal wives and lovers, walking their normal dogs, going to their normal jobs. Gaia had never envied them so much in her life. Strapped to a hospital gurney, being shoved along to who knew what fate. So pathetically helpless that all she could do was scream. Scream at those normal sons of bitches and beg for their help—beg for someone on the street to be intelligent enough to realize that doctors didn't roll patients along the goddamn
bike
lane of Seventh Avenue.

Wake up,
she wanted to scream.
Can anyone see that something isn't right with this picture?
Of course not. The hospital's own
nurses
couldn't even put two and two together.

Ten more seconds and Gaia's little visit with the real world had ended.

The doors of the truck flew open, and Gaia cocked her head forward to get a good look. She honestly could not believe what she saw.

She'd known he was behind the whole maneuver; she just hadn't expected to see, well…
him.
Not yet. But there he was, sitting right there in the truck. Loki in the center. And a Josh on either side of him. It was such a surreal image that Gaia even stopped thrashing around just to take it all in. All her enemies, gathered together. Shoulder to shoulder. Waiting for her.

The orderlies lifted her up into the truck and slid her in. And lying next to her was the answer to at least one of her questions. Heather. Still breathing, but unconscious on the gurney next to hers. Gaia turned back to her uncle (her father?).

And now that she was closer, she realized that the image was even more surreal than it had been at first.

There was something wrong with his face. His face and his body. His mouth kept twitching on the right side, repeating the same sick little half smile over and over, as if someone had filmed his face for three seconds and then looped the tape to repeat endlessly. His left shoulder had the same disturbing pattern—jutting upward every few seconds as if he were being poked in the back with an electric prod. And then there were his eyes. Stretching wide open and then blinking in two or three rapid flutters at a time.

They hadn't even closed the door to the ambulance, but ten good seconds of staring at Loki's (it was definitely Loki) maniacal face and Gaia was already getting motion sickness.

“What the hell is the matter with your face?”she asked, trying to decide if she could bear looking him in the eyes while his face continued its unwatchable workout.

His shaking hand pulled a bottle of pills from his coat pocket, which he struggled to open. He slapped two of the pills into his mouth and then shoved the bottle back in his coat. And then he smiled. If you could call it a smile.

“I know you're none too pleased to see me,” he said. “But that no longer bothers me, Gaia.”

“How nice for you.”

“Oh, if you only knew how nice.”

Gaia quickly eyed the faces of the two Joshes on either side of him. It was strange. One of them looked quite vindictively pleased to see Gaia strapped down and completely at their mercy. That was, of course, what she would have expected. But the other…he looked oddly dissatisfied and sour. In fact, he wasn't even looking at Gaia. His eyes didn't stray once from Heather.

“It's really a shame that you hate me so much,” Loki went on. “Especially now that we have so much in common, you and I.”

“I have no idea what you're talking about.”

“Yes, well, I'll explain it all a bit later. When we have some more privacy. For now, why don't you get some sleep. Dr. Glenn,” he called out of the truck. “Shall we?”

Sleep?
What did he mean, sleep? She'd just finally gotten up.

Dr. Glenn stepped into the truck, tapping a syringe to be sure it was clear of air. He leaned down toward Gaia.

“No!”
she howled, writhing madly in her straps again. “No!”

But she knew her protests were useless. The doctor injected her at will. And within a few more seconds, it was all fading to white. Loki's repellent, jittery face finally disappeared from view.