Edge of Tomorrow (83 page)

He rolled on top of her and the future faded
and gave way to the present.

• • •

Even though the flight took a little over
eleven hours, because of the time difference they landed in Miami
at 8:05 P.M. Wednesday night Miami time. The Triple Eye chopper got
them to Klaus Haus by nine o’clock, where Mrs. Chamberlain had
drinks and snacks ready for them. She was happy to see all of them.
Things could get back to normal now. All of the trouble was left
behind, was it not?

Klaus Haus, Florida

Thursday, August 30, 2001

2:00 P.M.

Jet lag took its toll and Hatch, Sara, and
Syd were not up and around until the afternoon. They had Bloody
Marys, Denver omelets, hash browns, and toast at 2:00 P.M.

“I think it’s easier going the other way,”
moaned Sara.

“I agree,” said Syd as she sipped her Bloody
Mary.

Hatch had left the table to go make some
phone calls and check in on his financial empire—and grab a smoke.
Syd had called Karen when she first woke up, and things were going
fine in Monterra—at least, Karen said they were. Syd was sure she
heard Bruno in the background.

Smitty and his crew were still in Arizona
putting Shadow-5 through operational testing, so Sara didn’t have a
lot of work to do, except to get caught up on her paper work as
Manager of a Triple Eye office. She had promised Jane Forbeson, the
new CEO, that she would.

After breakfast, Syd called the University of
Miami and touched base with her Dean. Everything there was still on
course. She needed to check out her new condo in Miami and make
arrangements to move her things to it and close down her condo on
Marco Island.

Mrs. C. had faxed three choices to Syd while
she was in Italy. Unknown to Syd, the one she had chosen had become
a problem. The owner had changed his mind about leasing, and
decided to sell instead. Mrs. C. had called Hatch about this, and
he had solved it easily by buying it. He was Syd’s new landlord,
but he did not want her to know, because she was insistent about
taking care of herself until they were married. Hatch wanted her to
stay at Klaus Haus and use the chopper to go to Miami everyday, but
Syd wouldn’t hear of it. Her new condo was only three miles from
the University and she planned on running to and from there every
work day. She needed to get back to her exercise regimen. She
pointed out that he could use the chopper to visit her—or stay with
her when he was in town. There was plenty of room.

• • •

On Saturday, September 1, they used the
Triple Eye chopper to move Syd’s things to her Miami condo.
Everything was in place by 10:30 A.M., so Syd told Hatch she wanted
to go check out the pool area and the club house. They were
standing beside the Olympic-sized pool and admiring the landscaping
when a helicopter appeared. It swooped down and hovered over the
pool. Syd used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and peered
at it. She was trying to get its number so she could report it for
a violation. It was definitely too low.

Hatch was looking up also, and stepped to his
left, accidentally bumping Syd as he did so. The slug caught him in
the left chest and knocked him back into a lounge chair. Syd spun
to her right, and when she saw the blood on his shirt, she
screamed. As she stepped toward him, her sandal hit a wet spot and
she slipped and fell backward, just barely catching herself before
hitting the concrete deck. The second slug hit the lounge pad an
inch from Hatch’s leg. Syd moved toward him again and knelt at his
side, then looked back up at the helicopter. It was banking away
and beginning to climb. She was only able to get part of its ID
number.

“Hatch! Are you all right? Shit! Talk to
me!”

But he was unconscious and didn’t respond. A
tenant came running over and Syd yelled for her to call 911.

The man by the pool house slipped away
without being seen.

Miami, Florida

Saturday, September 1, 2001

11:19 A.M.

Syd was all cried out. Her eyes were red, and
all of her makeup was rubbed off. Sara sat next to her with her
right arm draped over Syd’s shoulders. Her face was a mess also. As
Dr. Jenkins walked toward them, they both jumped up.

“How is he?” Syd blurted.

“Please, sit back down,” said the doctor with
a wave of his hand.

They sank back down onto the uncomfortable
waiting room couch, their hands clasped on their knees.

The doctor said gravely, “Mr. Lincoln is
still alive, but he is in very critical condition. The bullet is
lodged against his heart. Fortunately, it was deflected by a rib.
It must be removed soon, or he will die.”

“Then
remove
the fucking thing!” snarled
Sara.

“It is a very delicate operation, and …”

Syd interrupted, “Who is the most qualified
surgeon in the world for this type of operation?”

“The top cardiothoracic surgeon is Dr. John
Brent at the University of Chicago Medical Center, but we have very
qualified people here …”

“But he’s the best?”

“I would say so. I know he has done
similar surgeries, but he is
very
expensive, and hard to schedule,” Dr. Jenkins answered. “And
he is in Chicago, and the patient is here—moving the patient is out
of the question. It would certainly kill him. How he survived the
ambulance ride is a mystery.”

Syd was panicked! She had to save Hatch
somehow! She asked the doctor, “Do we have enough time to get that
Dr. Brent down
here
?”

“It would have to be as soon as possible, but
I would doubt if he would drop everything and rush down here. Mr.
Lincoln is getting weaker by the moment, however, so a decision
must be made very soon.”

Syd turned to Sara and said, “We have to get
that doctor down here now! How do we do this, Sara? We have to pay
whatever it takes!”

Sara frowned and replied, “I don’t
have
that
kind of heat, but I
can call Jane and see what she can do. At least, she could call
Martin Winsocki and see what he would do.”

Syd had a light go off in her
head:
Winsocki
! That was the
man Hatch had mentioned to her in Greece!
Call him if you need help!

“I just thought of something, Sara! We
don’t need to call all over the friggin’ place to get help!
I’ll
call Winsocki! Can I borrow
your Blue Phone?”

“Syd, it is nearly impossible to get him on
the phone! I thought Jane might be able …”

“Just give me the fucking phone!”
snapped Syd as she felt herself losing it. “I’m
sorry
, Sara! I’m losing it! Please, the phone.
This
has
to work!”

Sara looked at Syd and thought,
She’s really gone off the deep end! What does she
have in mind? This is a waste of time!

Sara retrieved her Blue Phone from her
purse and handed to Syd, knowing she did not know how to use
it—certainly not how to reach
Winsocki
! Syd took the phone, punched buttons as
Hatch had taught her, scrolled to Winsocki’s name and
punched
Dial
. Each Blue Phone
had the caller’s ID Code programmed in, so Syd had overridden
Sara’s phone’s code with Hatch’s code. A receptionist at Lincoln
Industries in Langley, Virginia answered the phone and Syd said she
needed to talk to Martin Winsocki immediately. The secretary would
have blown her off, but her console indicated that Van Lincoln was
calling, so she put Syd on hold and told Winsocki that a Sydney
Steppe was calling him with Mr. Lincoln’s code flashing on her
console.

Sara asked, “How do you know Winsocki?”

Syd replied, “I don’t. It’s a name Hatch
mentioned once.”

“Hello, Ms. Steppe? This is Martin Winsocki.
Would you repeat your name for ID purposes, please?”

Syd did so, remembering that she had put her
voice print in the system, then he said, “You’ve been verified.
What can I do for you, Ms. Steppe?”

Syd said, “Are you aware that Hatch—Mr.
Lincoln—has been shot, and is on the brink of death?”

Winsocki gasped, “No! My God! How bad is
it?”

Syd gave him a short synopsis of what the
doctors had told her, then continued, “There’s a very expensive
specialist in Chicago—the best cardiothoracic surgeon in the
country, I’m told—and I want him down here immediately! Is there
anyone in Hatch’s friggin’ conglomerate with the authority to get
this done? To get things moving?”

“Why, of course, Ms. Steppe. You do! I
have your Power of Attorney on file, as well as Hatch’s taped
instructions concerning your powers in situations like this,” he
told her. “In Hatch’s absence, you are him.
You
have the power to do anything,
ma’am.”

“I do? OK, first of all, call me Syd, Martin.
I want this Dr. John Brent in Chicago on a plane now! Bribe him!
Pay him whatever it takes! Can you handle this?”

“Of course, Syd. I’ll call him. I can be very
persuasive when I have a blank check,” said Winsocki. “I know of
this doctor. The Lincoln Foundation built a wing on his hospital a
couple of years ago. I think he’ll be cooperative, and I’ll rent a
Lear Jet in Chicago and get things moving. As soon as he is
airborne, I’ll call you. Nice meeting you, Syd. Hatch will be proud
of you!”

“Nice meeting you, Martin. And thanks! I’m in
a panic here!”

“Call me Marty, please. A little housekeeping
chore first. I see here on my monitor that you’re calling on Sara
Smith’s phone using Hatch Lincoln’s override code. Right?”

“Yes. How do you know that?”

“These phones are very smart. They
transmit the phone’s serial number, the preprogrammed user code,
and a GPS location of the phone. You, of course, overrode the
preprogrammed user ID to get my attention, eh? Clever! What I’ll do
is assign you your own personal user code so you won’t have to use
Hatch’s. That way, I will know when it’s
you
calling.”

He gave her the five digit code 00002. Syd
said, “I would have thought that was your number, since Hatch is
number one.”

He laughed and replied, “No, Hatch has been
saving that number and I suspect he was saving it for you. My
number is 00666—very appropriate, I think, since most people think
I’m the devil incarnate. You’ll need your own phone and pager. We
are very careful about the phones, so I’ll send a courier to bring
the phone and pager to you. I don’t want to use FedEx. Let’s see,
if I get right on that, he should be there by this evening.”

“I really appreciate all of this, Marty. You
don’t even know me,” said Syd.

“I
don’t need
to—Hatch knows you. He made the decision to make you number two.
Now, let me get on this Dr. Brent thing. I’ll call you on Sara’s
phone. Later.”

Syd switched off the Blue Phone and sank back
against the hard cushions of the couch.

Sara blurted, “What’s happening? What did you
just do?”

Syd smiled wanly and replied, “I think we
have Dr. Brent. Hopefully, he will be on his way shortly, if this
Mr. Winsocki has the heat he thinks he has.”

“Oh, Winsocki
is
the fucking heat. He’s Hatch’s hatchet man.
He makes all of Hatch’s wishes get fulfilled.
He’s
going to handle this? How did you pull that
off?”

“I forgot that Hatch gave me a Power of
Attorney while we were in Greece. You know, when you were taking
down Koko and his merry band of assholes. He told Winsocki about
it—we even put my voice in the security system—so Marty Winsocki
says I can authorize anything. So I did! I’ll spend every friggin’
penny of Hatch’s money if I have to—to keep him alive!”

Sara looked at Syd in amazement and said,
“Wow! Good going, gal! I’m glad you remembered! Do you realize that
you’re my boss now? You’re everybody’s boss if Winsocki takes
orders from you! I’m going to call Jane Forbeson now and brief her.
She’ll want to know about Hatch, and I’ll point out you are calling
the shots, for now. How’s the doctor getting a plane?”

“Marty’s going to rent a Lear Jet for
him. And I’m not
anyone’s
boss! I don’t have the knowledge or inclination to get
involved in any of Hatch’s businesses. I just want this doctor to
fix him up—
now
!”

“Just stay calm, Syd. It’s great that the
doctor may be on his way! Let me give Jane a buzz, then I think one
of us should tell Karen and Carmelo what’s happening.”

“Oh, shit! I forgot all about them! How
self-centered of me!” moaned Syd.

“I’ll take care of it, then let’s get out of
this fucking hospital for awhile! There’s nothing we can do until
that doctor gets here. We both need a stiff drink!”

• • •

Sara and Syd were sitting in a cocktail
lounge not too far from the hospital when Marty called Syd and
reported that the doctor was airborne. Dr. Brent was conferring by
phone with Dr. Jenkins, telling him everything he needed when he
arrived. Marty had called Jenkins and authorized any expenditures
necessary to get the equipment or people Dr. Brent needed. Syd had
thanked Marty profusely.

“You’re a sweetheart, Marty!”

“Now,
no
one
ever called me
that
before,” he chuckled before he hung
up.

“It’s happening, Sara! Dr. Brent is on the
way! Hatch tried to lecture me once on the power that money gave
him, but I never understood him until now,” said Syd. “What did
Jane Forbeson have to say?”