The Memory Agent & Fool Me Once (8 page)

A short time has passed.
 
Outside of Duke’s room Claire sits next to the cop, waiting,
worrying.
 
The doctor exits the
room, closing the door behind him.
 
He stands in front of Claire.

“It was just a seizure.
 
A result from the wound.
 
He does have his memory back though.
 
I told him I was obligated to alert the
authorities.”

The doctor walks away.
 
Claire removes her cell-phone from her scrub pants pocket and calls
Whitmore.
 
“He remembers.”
 
She says into the phone.
 
She hears him respond, “I’ll be right
there.”
 

Claire stands up and paces for a while, a bit nervous about seeing Duke
now that he has his memory back.
 
She contemplates whether to wait for Whitmore to arrive, let Duke know
she’s not a nurse or keep up the ruse until after the surgery for his safety
and sake.
 
By the look in her eyes
she’s chosen the later.
 
She enters
Duke’s room.

Claire approaches Duke.
 
He's now hooked back up to several monitors.
 
His expression is dour.

Claire tries to lighten him up.
 
“Please tell me you're not married to a broad that goes by the name of
Mean Jean or that you own a Chihuahua.”

“Guess you heard.”
 
Gone is
the playful, flirtatious, vulnerable
Duke,
back is the
strong, silent Duke.

“The doctor told me,” Claire says softly.

“He's calling the police.”

“He told me that, too.”

“You don't want to know me, Claire.
 
I am a criminal.”

“The man I have come to know,
and care about
, is not a criminal.”

“I've done time.”

“Whatever has happened in the
past,
is in the
past. It's how we move into the future that matters.”

“I liked it better when I couldn't remember.”

“So you have a few more thoughts happening in that head of yours, it
doesn't change anything.
 
Not for
me.”

Duke's eyes lock with Claire's.
 
He really needed to hear her say those words and looks grateful for
it.
 
He takes her hand is his,
their eyes still locked.

The moment is broken when the cop guarding the room peeks in.
 
“Nurse, you’re needed.”

Claire removes her hand from Duke’s and leaves the room.
 
She joins Whitmore who has just
arrived.

“You should interrogate him, Whit.
 
I’m keeping the nurse ruse up until he makes it out of surgery.”

“Fine,” Whitmore responds.

“Duke is at a fragile point.
 
With the right encouragement you could get him to cooperate.
 
Please be kind, gentle.”

Whitmore takes out his cell-phone and hits a button.
 
“I'll be on line two.”

Whitmore enters Duke's room leaving Claire in the hallway with the
cop.
 
She turns her cell-phone onto
line two so she can listen in to Whitmore's interrogation.

Whitmore approaches the bed where Duke lays handcuffed.
 
Whitmore’s demeanor is anything but
kind and gentle.
 
He’s doing his
best to act commanding, intimidating, menacing.
 
He's gung ho to play bad cop and ignore Claire's advice.

“Duke Reeves,” Whitmore snarls.

“I know it now.”

“So you know what you did.”

“I was on look out.
 
I got
to the scene just as the security guard shot at my brother.”

Whitmore puts a photo of Brent on Duke's lap.
 
“He wasn't a security guard.
 
He was an undercover agent for the FBI.”

“You're a fed?”
Duke sounds surprised.

“Yes.
 
That agent is dead.”

“He shouldn't be, my shot was a flesh wound.”

“It wasn't your shot that killed him.
 
It was your brother's.
 
He hit the young agent straight between the eyes.
 
He fired the kill shot after you fired
the wound shot.
 
The agent, Brent
Langer, was newly married.
 
His
wife is pregnant.”
 
Whitmore
informs Duke with venom dripping off of every word.

Duke is mortified to hear this.
 
“He wouldn't do that, why would he do that, why would he kill if he
didn't have to?”

Whitmore places a photo of the dead jewelry
store
owner
on Duke's lap. “Why don't you ask this woman's daughter?
 
Your brother shot and killed this woman
for no other reason than he's a psychopath.”

“There's no way, not my big brother.” Duke looks like he's been pierced
in the heart learning this horrible information about his beloved brother.

“You already did time for your brother once, don't do it again, because
this time, we're seeking the death penalty.”
 

Duke is overwhelmed and it's affecting him physically.

“Tell me where your brother is
!!”
Whitmore
hollers.

Whatever hope there was that he'd help the investigation is now
gone.
 
Duke, his head in serious
pain, shaken, turns away from Whitmore.
 
He’s physically and emotionally spent.

Whitmore storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

In the hallway Claire paces like a caged dog. She. Is. Pissed.
 

Claire glares at Whitmore. “What the hell was
that?!
 
Did you have to be so hard on
him?!
 
He's
having major surgery tomorrow.”
 
She hisses at Whitmore.

Whitmore steps back, stunned by Claire's attack.
 

“You completely blew that interrogation
!!!”
Claire
continues with her verbal assault on Whitmore. “Duke was ready to talk, all you
had to do was guide him there.
 
And
you had to play John
friggin
' Wayne
!!!”

Whitmore's eyes fill with
anguish
. “
Ohmygod
.”

“What
??!”
 
Claire flabbergasted asks.

 
“You care,”
Whitmore
responds quietly, the pain in his voice evident.

“About getting Riker.”
 
She
snaps, covering.
 
She stomps away
from Whitmore and enters Duke’s room.

Duke's back faces the door.
 
Claire approaches the bed.

“How did it go?” She quietly asks feigning ignorance about the
interrogation.

He turns to her, upset. His emotions are most definitely affecting his
brain/head trauma.
 
He's beet red
and wracked with emotional and physical pain.

“I need to see my brother.
 
Find out what's going on.
 
This fed just told me that Riker's killed two people.
 
In cold blood.
Could that be true or would the fed say that as a ruse to get me to turn on
him?
 
My big brother is no
murderer, Claire,” Duke says firmly believing this to be true.

One of the monitors begins to beep, activated by Duke's elevated blood
pressure.

Claire, worried first and foremost for Duke's safety, tries to calm him
with her touch and soothing tone.
 
“Duke, please calm down. The only thing that matters right now is you
and your health.
 
We'll figure
everything out after the surgery.
 
Blank all this stuff out of your mind right now. Please.”

The doctor rushes in to check the monitors. “What's going on?”

“A federal agent just interrogated Duke.”
 
Claire tells the doctor as she steps out of the way so he
can examine Duke.
 

Claire keeps her eyes on Duke.
 
Her warm, reassuring smile calms him.
 
Until his eyes flutter shut and he goes unconscious.

“What happened?
 
Is he
okay?” Claire asks sounding concerned.

“I just gave him something to settle him. We’re going to move up the
surgery.”

Claire sits in a pew in the hospital’s multi-denominational chapel.
  
The place is empty, except for
Claire.
 
The lovely stained glassed
windows illuminate the small area with a warm, colorful glow.

Aunt Rita enters. “Now this is the last place I ever thought I'd find
you.
 
Thankfully you gave me the
coordinates.”
 
She says as she
takes a seat next to Claire.
 
“I
smell jasmine.
 
Nice.”
 
Aunt Rita compliments.

“You and your ‘stop and relish the fragrant blooms’ is what got me into
this mess.”

“No mess is ever so big you can't mop it up.” Aunt Rita reassures
Claire.

“Not this time, Aunt Rita.
 
I've crossed so many lines in the last few days I'm a bigger criminal
than he is.”
 

“Than who is?”

“Duke. And really, the one serious crime he's committed is having too
much blind faith in his brother.”

“Are you about to share things with me that could send me into witness
protection?”

“I've been pursuing his brother for over three years.
 
And now the only thing I can think
about is
Duke
. How horrible is it that I want Duke to
live, to survive the surgery so desperately I would willingly sacrifice getting
Riker.”

“It's not horrible, it's human.
 
Knowing you and how tenacious you are, I bet you'll get your man.”

“Which one?
 
If I do my job
right I have to sacrifice one for the other.”
 
Claire says as she wipes tears from her cheek.

*****

Claire composes herself and takes a deep breath before entering Duke’s
room.

Two orderlies are prepping Duke's bed, getting ready to wheel him to
surgery.

As soon as Claire enters Duke turns his head towards her and smiles, the
vulnerable Duke is back.
 
“Jasmine.”

Claire looks at the orderlies. “Would you mind giving us a minute?”

The orderlies leave the room, leaving Claire and Duke alone.

Claire approaches the side of Duke's bed.
 
It's been raised so he's now at chest level.

Duke looks at Claire, at her red eyes, concerned.
 
“When was the last time you got any
sleep?”

“Before I met you.
 
And I
don't plan on getting any until you are safely out of surgery.”
 
Claire tenderly touches the side of
Duke's face, giving him an encouraging smile.
 
“Everything will be fine.”
 
She reassures him.

“You sound so sure.”

“I am sure.”

“What about afterwards?”

“We'll figure it out then.
 
No worries now.
 
Focus and fight, Duke.
 
Please.”

Duke, knowing that this could very well be his last opportunity, looks
intently into Claire's eyes.
 
“There's only one thing I've ever truly wanted in this world, with or
without my memory,” he whispers.

Claire leans closer so she can hear it.
 
Duke, with his lips inches from her ear utters.
 
“A kiss from you.”

She turns her head.
 
Her
lips meet his.
 
It's tender,
sweet.
 
She pulls away.
 

Inspired by feeling and not reason, she goes back down for another
kiss.
 
This kiss has way more meaning,
heart, heat,
passion
.
 
If they had their way, it'd go on forever.
 

Claire reluctantly pulls away.
 
“You'll get another one of those after the surgery.”

“Now that gives me something to fight for,” Duke smiles.

The orderlies re-enter the room.
 
“We need to get him to prep.”
 
They inform Claire.

Claire stands aside.
 
The
orderlies wheel Duke to the door.
 
Her eyes stay locked with Duke’s until he’s out of the room.