Two Evils (26 page)

“Don’t you worry, Wayne,” Gabe told him. “We’re going to take care of the kids too.”

John looked to Billie and asked in a low voice, “Are you going to tell them about Eddie?”

“They deserve to know, but Wayne’s in bad shape,” she murmured in reply. “I don’t want him to have another episode while we’re in the car.”

He nodded. “Agreed. At the safe house, then?”

Billie nodded, and for the next six hours they were silent…for the most part. Wayne’s “demons” began to haunt him again about halfway through the trip and he’d gotten restless. His ranting woke Darren, who’d fallen asleep again, and it took assurances from him, Gabe, and Billie to once again settle their haunted brother. John hoped they wouldn’t need to restrain him at the safe house. He wondered if not being free to move around might also be contributing to the man’s problem, and thought maybe the doctor could give him a sedative or something to keep him calm so it wouldn’t be necessary.

The familiar sights of Langley loomed on the horizon sooner than it seemed possible, but despite the still-murky days ahead figuring out what, if anything, they could do about Wainright, John was happy to be b
ack. Part of it was because it was home. And part was because Billie seemed so much more relaxed than she had been when they left yesterday. He imagined that the trip to Hocking Hills had been rather cathartic for her, and hoped that she was finally going to be able to heal and move on with her life.

No, that didn’t sound like a self-serving thought at all, you jackass
, his conscience said snidely. Snorting slightly, he wished his snarky inner voice were a real person so he could tell it precisely where to go. While he had begrudgingly admitted that he was attracted to Billie and would like to pursue something with her, he had accepted that she wasn’t ready for a relationship. It sucked for him, having had a taste of the woman within, but it was what it was. She needed time to regain her footing in the “real” world without any interference from him. Perhaps, like Gabe, he needed to admit total defeat and move on himself.

He took George Washington Memorial Parkway and got off at
the Chain Bridge Road exit, then turned onto Crest Lane and backtracked to the safe house’s address. John had dialed Rex as soon as they hit the city limits in order to give a brief report on the two soldiers’ conditions as well as confirm that the security team and the doctor would be there. Rex assured him that help was ready and waiting.

That was his only piece of good news.

B
ad news, as always, was immediately following. Rex had been unable to locate Dr. Hernandez or any of his research on IQ-56. All calls to General Wainright’s office had not been returned. He then admitted that all the run-around was beginning to leave a bad taste in his mouth, and that Billie had probably been right to keep finding her friends under wraps for the time being. When John had asked if ICE had paid him a visit, Rex surprised him by saying no, that he’d heard nothing from ICE or the upper echelons of the CIA. Perhaps, he’d said, it was because he’d been a good boy and backed off as soon as he’d gotten his first warning.

“Then it looks like we’re going to have to stop being good to get to the bottom of this,” John had said. “I’ll get back to you.”

When they pulled into the driveway of the safe house, John stopped and showed his ID to the guard who had stepped in front of the car. The man nodded and waved them up, and he pulled forward to turn and park behind the house. As he and Billie were helping Darren out of the car, a woman in a white coat came out.

“Now I see why I was pulled from my rounds at the hospital,” the brunette said. “Let’s get him inside so I can have a look at him—he was shot, is that right?”

Billie nodded. “A through-and-through to the left shoulder. This is Major Darren Peck, Doctor. He’s also got a laceration to the left temple and I believe he suffered a concussion,” she said as they walked Darren up the steps and into the house behind her. “I stitched him up, but I imagine you’ll want to undo my work and put in your own sutures.”

“What did you use?” the doctor asked.

“Plain dental floss.”

The woman actually grinned behind her glasses. “Haven’t heard of that one in a long time. If your ties are still tight and there’s no sign of infection, I see no reason to take the floss out at this time. It would put undue stress on my patient to unstitch and re-stitch his wounds.”

“We have a second patient for you, though I’m not entirely certain what you’re going to be able to do for him,” John said.

The doctor pointed to a chair at the dining table. “Sit him here so I can take a look at him,” she said. “Rex told me about the other guy—some sort of psychotic episode, right?”

“I’m not crazy, Doctor,” Wayne himself replied as he and Gabe stepped inside. The security man from outside came last, carrying the three soldiers’ duffle bags. After setting them inside the door, he turned around and walked back outside.

Her eyes flicked to Gabe, who introduced himself and then Wayne. She looked at the latter squarely. “I didn’t say you were, Colonel. But the fact that you went UA, shot a man whom you call your friend in the shoulder after putting his head through a window, and are presently standing before me in handcuffs says that there is something very wrong with you. As soon as I take a look at your friend, I’m going to take a blood sample from all three of you, see if I can’t get a handle on this IQ…whatever the fuck it’s called.”

Wayne stared at her for a moment and then nodded. “I hope you can make them go away,” he said at last.

“Them?” she returned.

“The voices, Doc. The demon voices,” he told her. “It’s not so bad now, but they’re still there, still trying to convince me that what ain’t real is real.”

“I’m going to do my best to help you, Marine, but you have to help me too,” she told him. “And right now, I need you to take a seat and wait your turn.”

Nodding, Wayne moved around her and sat at the end of the table. John noted that a second security man, an agent he’d worked with before on safe house detail, stood in the doorway to the living room. He turned his attention back to the doctor, who was shining a pen light in Darren’s eyes. She then directed him to follow her finger, which he did, then with Billie’s help removed Darren’s borrowed t-shirt.

“Say, what’s your name, Doc?” Darren asked.

“Dr. Stone,” she replied.

“Don’tcha got a first name?”

Dr. Stone only grinned as she took care peeling the bandage off the front of his shoulder, then removed the one on the back. Darren continued trying to get her to tell him her name, at one point prompting her to tell him to guess. So as she declared Billie’s stitching to be in good shape, cleaned and redressed his shoulder with items from the open first aid kit on the table, then removed the bandage on his head and did the same, he went through every female name he could think of.

It wasn’t until a necklace had slipped out from under the collar of her shirt that he got it right—the pendant on the thin gold chain was a capital R with red stones in it.

“I’ve got it!” Darren declared. “Ruby!”

“At last,” she said with a grin. “Now maybe you’ll shut up for five seconds, Major. Longer would be even better—has anyone ever told you that you talk too much?”

Billie, Gabe, and Wayne laughed. Even John had to grin. Darren leaned closer to Dr. Stone and said, “Talking is my specialty, baby.”

She lifted her eyebrow as she stood straight. “Well it’s an annoying habit. Kindly put a muzzle on that mouth so I can do my work in peace, will ya?”

Darren feigned a flinch, placing his hand over his heart as he said, “Doc Ruby, you wound me.”

Stone rolled her eyes as she straightened, looking to Billie and saying, “Is he always like this?”

Billie grinned. “Sorry, Doc. Can’t blame it on the concussion, I’m afraid.”

Shaking her head, she
said that there were definite signs of a concussion, but that Darren appeared to be recovering well. She then turned around and faced Wayne, who looked up at her with a smile on his face. “Funny thing about Darren, Doctor,” he said. “Nerdy girls—no offense—are his weakness. He’s going to be after you like a dog with a bone.”

Stone had raised her eyebrows at being called nerdy, but as though emphasizing his point, she pushed the glasses on her face back up her nose. “Thanks for the warning,” she replied in a dry tone as she took her penlight back out of her pocket and shined it in his eyes. “Pupils are reacting normally. Follow my finger,” she directed, holding up a hand with her index finger extended, moving it from side to side for Wayne to follow.

Straightening once again, she asked, “Do you have any other injuries I should know about?”

“I…I got in a fight with Billie and John. I wasn’t myself then,” he told her. “But other than some bruises courtesy of She-Devil, I don’t think so.”

Stone turned to Billie. “I take it you’re She-Devil?” Billie nodded. “Interesting nickname—I’d ask how you got it but I’m kind of afraid of the answer. What’s your real name, if I may ask?”

“Wilhelmina Ryan,” Billie replied. “Smart people call me Billie.”

Stone raised an eyebrow. “Do I even want to know what that means?”

“It means you won’t ever call her Wilhelmina if you know what’s good for you,” Gabe warned. “We all know from experience why it’s a bad idea.”

“Speak for yourself pal,” John quipped lightly. “I’ve never been that stupid.”

“As I already know who everyone else is, you must be Agent John Courtney,” Stone said, turning to him. “Rex said you were the one running the show here.”

“With all due appreciation to my buddy Rex, this is Billie’s show,” he replied, gesturing toward Billie. “I’m just a resource.”

The doctor’s eyebrow came into play again and he wondered if she had ever considered becoming an actress, as she’d have been fabulous as a Vulcan on
Star Trek
. “These men are her friends and former teammates,” he explained. “I was tasked with locating Billie and bringing her back to the U.S. in the hopes of finding them after they went UA.”

Stone nodded. “Right. Rex said something about that, come to think of it. Now, forgive me for looking at this from a civilian standpoint, but if they’re Marines who went UA, wouldn’t that make this a military matter? Why is the CIA putting them up in a safe house?”

“Because there is a lot more going on than you know, Dr. Stone,” Billie replied. “I’m assuming you have worked with the CIA before or you wouldn’t be here. I know from my own years as an OO that relationships with doctors and nurses are cultivated so that your talents and skills can be utilized in just such an occasion as this. I’m afraid we don’t have all the details, but suffice it to say there is a reason we need to keep these men safe.”

Stone held her gaze for a moment and then nodded. She then proceeded to pull three empty vials from the black doctor’s bag next to the open first aid kit, as well as a hypodermic needle. She turned to Darren first and made quick work of drawing blood into one of the tubes. Once she had labeled it, she repeated the procedure on Gabe.

When she was ready for Wayne, she looked up at John and asked, “Who has the key to the handcuffs?”

“I do,” he replied.

“Well, I need you to take them off. It’ll be much easier for me to do this if he can put his arm on the table,” Stone told him. “Or hold it out.”

The guard in the doorway, who had remained silent throughout the en
tire exchange thus far, stood straight and said, “Are you sure about that, Doctor?”

“Agent Presley, have you ever tried to take a blood sample from someone’s arm while it was restrained behind their back? I didn’t think so.”

“Everyone, please…” Wayne spoke up. “I know I was out of my head before. I know I keep telling you how I keep hearing the voices and that they’re giving me a splitting headache. But please…stop acting like you’re afraid of me. It’s making things worse on my end.”

“Wayne, we put you in those handcuffs for a reason,” John reminded him.

Wayne looked over his shoulder at him. “I know you did. I understand why. But there’s security here—this Agent Presley and the guy outside. And there’s Gabe and there’s you. I’m not going to… Please, let me at least appear to be a functioning adult.”

“Let’s get one thing straight right now, Col. Scofield,” Stone said. “I am not afraid of you. I am concerned for your well-being.”

He looked up at her. “Thank you for that, Doctor.”

Stone nodded and looked at John. Wordlessly, he stepped forward and pulled a key from his pocket. A moment later Wayne’s hands were in front of him and he was massaging his wrists. “Thanks,” he said. “Now I feel a little less like a criminal.”

The doctor took his arm and wrapped the rubber band around his bicep to get a vein to pop up. With a quick insertion of the needle, she had her third vial filled and labeled in seconds.

“I’m going to head back to the hospital so I can get these samples to the phlebotomy lab,” she said as she packed them carefully in her bag and gathered her things.

“Why don’t you let Billie and I take you back, so that neither of the security guards need to leave?” John suggested. “We should be going ourselves anyway.”

Billie nodded. “I need to check in with my father, see how he’s doing after what happened to his neighbor.”

John looked to her, and the unspoken message in her eyes was clear: she wanted to make sure her father was okay. Two of the four men from the Sardetsky crew—including Andre Sardetsky himself—were still at large. Andre knew where her father lived, and he possibly knew what two of her brothers looked like. He nodded and turned to Gabe.

“The fridge should be fully stocked, so help yourselves. The bathroom should have grooming supplies… You guys will be set for a few days.”

“And I’ll be back to check on Darren and Wayne tomorrow,” Stone said, “though if there are any medical complications, Agents Presley or Green can get word to me through Rex. I hope to have the test results back soon and will let you know what they say.”

“Thanks, Doc Ruby,” Darren said. “I mean that.”

“You’re welcome, Major,” she replied.

After Billie had said her goodbyes to her friends, she headed for the door after the doctor. John followed, and with a last look over his shoulder he shut the door.

“It feels very strange to be leaving them here,” Billie said as she was putting on her seatbelt.

“They’ll be all right,” John assured her as he started the car.

“I know, but it still feels strange,” she said.

Agent Green, as Stone had called him, directed them out of the driveway. It wasn’t until they were on the road and headed back toward town that the doctor asked, “Do I even want to know what happened to the back window?”

After dropping the doctor off at Georgetown University Hospital (of all hospitals, Ruby Stone happened to work at the one where Wainright’s daughter had given birth), John headed toward the Ryan house. Billie was quiet for a while, before turning to him to say, “What are we going to do, John? We can’t open up an official investigation based on coincidence and gut instinct.”

“What about doing what you said before—going to some higher-up general?” he suggested.

“Again, my gut feeling isn’t going to carry much weight,” she said. “I might be the deadliest female sniper in military history, but the fact of the matter is, I only made it to the rank of captain and I’ve been out of the service for six years. There are many who are upset with me for abandoning the Marines for the CIA.”

“What organization you’re with doesn’t matter as long as you’re still performing a service to your country, Billie,” John told her.