There Must Be A Mistake Ch. 23

"We have some at the station."

"I will reimburse the hospital. Thank you ladies, I appreciate your being here."

Dan kissed Margaret more passionately this time. "Don't you dare have another heart attack; I'm not sure if I could bring you back the next time. You have to make a phone call to our best friend, and give him the news."

Dan pushed the speed dial, and handed the phone to Margaret. She put the phone on speaker.

"Hi Dan, how is she doing?"

"It's me Lucius, and I feel much better. He bought the act, lock stock, and barrel. I hooked him; he's mine."

Dan yelled, "I'm going to kill both of you. You two set me up again?"

Lucius said, "Dan, how can you be such an idiot, and a General Officer at one time. Could Margaret fake a heart attack? Did you see the monitors on the wall for yourself? Didn't you see her go flat line? If I knew you were this dumb, I would have put you on the witness stand as a defense witness. I would never have been thrown out of the Army."

Dan looked at Margaret, who had her hand covering her mouth stifling a laugh.

"Woman if you weren't dead already; I would be forced to kill you."

"Lucius told me you were easy, but I never knew you were this easy."

"Where do you want to hold the wedding Dan?"

"It has to be here. I won't pull that many bodies away from the NEST."

"I agree. I'll talk to Stephano; his wedding was held outside, under a huge tent. I'll ask him about everything, and see what we can do about it."

"Don't forget, we're going to hold it on Valentine's Day."

"How could I possibly forget Margaret; I started that rumor."

"I swear to God Lucius, I should've killed you years ago."

"You must admit Dan; I add a lot of spice to your life."

"The spice you add is the kind I can do without."

"You're no fun anymore Danny. I have to talk to you when you leave the hospital. You must smell ripe by now."

"He could use a shower Lucius."

"Will you two leave me alone?"

"Oh, when you leave the hospital, would you check on my flowers please? You have to buy a big vase for them. Promise you won't get into an accident."

"Okay, I promise baby; I promise. You get some rest; I'll be back this evening, after I shower, shave, and kill Lucius."

"Watch out for that little guy; you will probably fall into another one of his traps."

"Don't remind me about traps again Margaret; I may believe you."

"Did the two of you forget that I am still listening?"

"No you are not." Dan hit the off button on his phone.

"He will be calling me back in a minute; I will see you later baby."

"Be safe Dan. Lucius will not call you. He will let you wonder why he hasn't, until you call him."

"How much do you want to bet?"

"One Dollar."

"You are on."

"Later Dan."

"Later Baby."

******************

112. Once More into the Breach

Here I was again, standing outside the stone, steel, and glass edifice that I hated, and loved. The pain that's all this place reminded me of, except of course, the people inside this building saved my life.

M.D. Anderson Hospital, Houston Texas. I did not want to go back inside, especially in this fucking wheelchair. Unfortunately, my Mafia contingent, who was still in charge of my body, was standing behind me. They would not miss this chance to humiliate me, in public, for the world. I should have been ruling them, or at least Jennifer should have been ruling them, but she had abrogated her responsibilities and laughed at me every time Hannah stuck me with her pin, Janice gave me physical therapy, or Tammy gave me the look that could freeze stone.

As the automatic doors opened, and I was pushed into the main lobby of the cancer center, I was again treated like a rock star. I smiled politely, and waved my hand to those who greeted me. We got into the elevator, and as soon as the doors closed, Hannah was on my case.

"I hope you enjoyed that Doctor, because if you fail the tests in here today, and tomorrow, you will be seeing those people very frequently."

Tammy disagreed. "He will not be seeing those people; he will be in the east wing. He will meet a new group of people, and he will find out what sickness really is. Maybe he will stop complaining about our treatment of him."

"He will never stop complaining Tammy. He can't take pain; he's a pussy."

"I have a pussy, and I don't complain like he does."

"That's because you use it wisely."

"Are you three finished now?"

Someone hit me from behind.

"There are four pussies back here, you idiot."

"I'm sorry Jen, I didn't count your pussy; I abuse it often enough."

I got hit four times for that remark. I could tell you which woman's hand was responsible for each of them. Damn, Hannah was strong; but Jennifer was no lightweight either. Then came Janice, and finally, Tammy. It was probably her only weak point as my nurse."

They rolled me into Doctor Seine's office. He did not acknowledge my presence, until he finished reading the reports in front of him. I sat there completely annoyed with him, until he raised his head, and frowned at me.

"Not good, Doctor Luck, not good at all."

I was heartbroken. I would never get back to work. I would never see 'The Best Luck' fly.

"What do I do now Doctor?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to go back to work. I want to finish my spacecraft. I want to prove to people that it is possible to put good people together and do things that others say can't be done can be done."

"Well Doctor Luck, what's stopping you? Everything in these reports tells me there's nothing more we can do for you. Live your life to the fullest, and tell those naysayers to go fuck themselves. You are cured.

We are going to do some tests, while you're here, but your lab work tells me you are ready to go."

"Does that mean I can get rid of these three evil people?"

"No it doesn't. Where you go, they go. They are going to make sure you don't overstress yourself for the next two months. They are still in charge of your body. They are my eyes, ears, and brains. They are the reason you have come this far this quickly."

"Quickly, it feels like a decade."

"You have no right feeling as good as you do right now. It's a tribute to the amount of money you were able to spend on individual care, and the nurses you were able to steal from us. We want them back, but not before we know you are completely capable of performing your daily duties."

"Can I trade these in the three nicer nurses?"

Janice said, "I offered him Roland, Doctor, but for some reason or another he refused?"

"I can't imagine why Janice, the first time I walked into Roland I thought I walked into a wall. I wish I had walked into a wall, because he was walking the other way, and I wound up on my ass. That man has one hell of a sense of humor. He picked me up, using one hand, and held me off the floor with it.

People look at him, and think he's an orderly, because he's big and black. They don't realize he graduated college 3.80 GPA, and nursing school with a 4.0. He's one of the best nurses on staff."

"Doctor, if he's that smart why didn't he go to medical school?"

"Doctor Luck, I asked him the same question. He said, "Doctors don't heal patients, nurses do. I want to work with people. I want to watch them heal, and ease their pain. Doctors never see that, only nurses do. That's the reason I wanted to be a nurse."

"You can't argue with his reasoning, or his dedication to his work. He is as tender with a child as he is with the elderly. Everyone here calls him a pussycat, because he is."

"Do you mean if I put him and Hannah in a ring together, Hannah would win?"

"The only way Hannah would lose is if Roland would fall on her, accidentally."

"Oh Lord, I am doomed."

I immediately tensed, or needed eyes in the back of my head to see which way I was going to get hit. It turned out it didn't matter. All three of them hit me at the same time, and with equal ferocity.

Jennifer turned my wheelchair towards her.

She looked at me sadly, and asked, "Did they hurt you baby?"

Then she bit my nose. I didn't see that one coming. I couldn't win for losing, and I wasn't going to win for at least two more months. There was a bright side. I could go to work, even if it was on a limited basis. I could see my beloved ship, my scientists, my engineers, and my friends on a daily basis. As Doctor Seine said, "I had no right to complain."

It felt like déjà vu all over again. Eight vials of blood, marrow taken out of my hip, a PET scan, MRI, CAT scan, and then my favorite of all the abdominal ultrasound.

You ladies may be familiar with this one. The Republicans want you to have this one to make sure you are not beyond the 22-week pregnancy mark to have an abortion. There is only one problem in my case; I do not have a VAGINA. Do you want to guess where they stick this probe up? Yip, that monster goes right up the poop shoot, and the female technician that shoved it up there, I'm sure wore leather on the weekends.

"Relax Doctor this is a very easy exam if you relax."

She said that to me as she was smiling, putting a condom onto this monster, and holding it in front of my face.

"I'm sure you know the drill Doctor. Get onto your knees, get your backside high into the air, and breathe evenly."

Breathe evenly my ass. Then again, it was my ass. It wasn't as bad as I thought, it was worse. It burned like hell. I felt like I had to take a shit, but I did not feel pain. It was the constant burning feeling that annoyed me to the point of screaming. However, I was a man, and men don't scream. Like hell I didn't scream, I screamed until the walls in that room shook. I swear she put menthol on that probe. My ass was burning so badly, I thought it was on fire.

That test took six minutes, and I must have screamed for five of them. When the technician finally pulled the probe out of my ass, she said the bathroom is over there.

She was correct; I barely made it. If it was in my colon, it came rushing out. I think I lost 3 pounds.

When I walked back into the room, I said to her, "Why does it burn so badly. I felt no pain, but what did you lubricate that thing with; it burned like hell."

"That's why I wear earplugs Doctor Luck. It's part of the medication that is in the lubricant. It is helpful in seeing the pancreas and the liver. It's easier than opening you up again and taking a look."

"In that case, I guess I can live with it."

"Now that it's over with you can. I can always ask the Doctor if you want to do it again."

"Thank you, but I think I'll pass."

***************

Almost 6 hours had passed as they rolled me out the front door, hopefully not to see the inside of this building again. It had served its purpose, and me, very well.

The helicopters we purchased were sitting on the helipad waiting for us to depart. Jennifer was going to ride back with our security detail, or so she thought.

I made an agreement with Logan. If I was able to go home, Jennifer was going home, with me, in my helicopter. He was to give her a short acting anesthetic, and have two of his men put her in the helicopter and strap her in. If any of the nurses objected, they would to ride back with the security troops, in the SUVs."

We drove out to the helipads, and as was usual everyone followed me up a ramp. I turned to Jennifer, held her head in my hands, and kissed her.

As her head was steady, Logan jabbed her in the neck with the needle, and she was unconscious in seconds.

Hannah and Janice ran towards her believing she had fainted. They were surrounded by a phalanx of my security guards, and told what was happening.

Jennifer was carried to the helicopter and strapped in. I walked to the helicopter, waving at my nurses, with a huge grin on my face. I knew when I got home, I was going to pay dearly for this, but it was worth it.

Tammy climbed into the helicopter with us, because she was the most docile of my nurses. Even though I got the look she was noted for, I still was able to smile.

She checked Jennifer's pulse, and blood pressure, as we lifted off.

"You are a real prick Doctor Luck."

"You have called me a lot worse over the past six months. I can accept that."

The pilot came over the intercom. "Doctor, the nurses in number two would like to speak to you."

"I am sure they would Steven. Tell them my headset is not working, either that or my ears are not working."

"I'll go with number two Doctor. They will believe that one."

We were 40 minutes into the flight, when Jennifer began waking up. The first thing she noticed was the earphones on her head. Then it was the roar of the helicopters engine. The next thing that happened drowned out every bit of noise around us.

Jennifer saw me strapped into my seat, sitting across from her, and realized she was in a helicopter. She let out a scream that would have curdled God's blood.

"Get me down. Get me down on the ground. I want to be on the ground Even. You will never work another day in your life, if you don't put my feet on the ground in one minute. I will kill you where you sit. Do you hear me Doctor? You are a dead man. Get me down on the ground. I will kill our children I will kill you, and I will kill me. Get me down on the ground."

"Jennifer don't you think you're overreacting?"

"Overreacting my ass, the last time I was in one of these things it crashed. It's not going to happen to me again."

"So what you're saying is I should never fly again, because I was in an aircraft accident. That accident brought me to your door, after I walked 40 miles pulling my friend behind me. That meeting solidified my feelings for you, and that evening I asked you to marry me.

The next morning I should never have gotten on that airplane and flown home with you and Gordon to Denver.

We should have gotten onto a train, but there was none.

I guess we could have taken a bus, but again there was none.

I could have rented a car and driven the 6000 miles to Denver, over the worst roads and mountains imaginable, in Alaska, Canada, and the contiguous United States to get us home, and to get married.

We should never have flown to New York, where we got the financing we needed to build our spacecraft.

We shouldn't have taken another aircraft to Charleston where we made the announcement for our venture into space.

We should never have flown back to Denver on another airplane to get home. Just think how many times I would have died in all those plane crashes. How stupid of me. I must have no sense at all.

Flying is no way to die.

After all, airlines flew over 71 Trillion Passenger Miles in 2014, and including the aircraft that was shot down over the Ukraine, and the aircraft that landed short of the runway, in San Francisco, 562 people were killed.

I'm sure driving a motor vehicle is much safer.

Only 100 people die in motor vehicles every weekday, and holiday. In the United States 33,600 people die every year on the roadways. Our people were less than 2 miles away from Margaret's home when they were hit by that truck.

We lost Tonya. We almost lost Margaret. Liz had a punctured lung and a bruised heart. We could have lost the three of them due to one careless act."

"Why did this happen; a drunk driver didn't obey the law. He got behind the wheel of his truck, instead of calling for a taxi. He saved $30, and nearly killed three of our people in the process. We will watch this case very closely. If this gentleman gets off with a slap on the wrist, like vehicular homicide, I can guarantee you that certain people will make his life very short."

" Even no one can take the law into his own hands."

"I agree with you wholeheartedly."

"You just said at this man's life would be cut short."

"No one knows how long a person's life is supposed to be, do we?"

"Even you're playing with words."

"I nearly lost three of my people. Those are the only words I care about."

Over the intercom the pilot said, "Prepare for landing."

"You cock sucking sonofabitch. You did this to me purposely. Wait until I get you home. I'm going to beat the crap out of you."

"Tammy, you heard her. If I wind up with a battered and bruised body, you will know the reason why."

"Doctor Luck, if I didn't know what you were doing to her, I would've been on the floor laughing."

"Don't you start with me to Tammy?"

"How can't I Jennifer? You were ready to kill your entire family, until he got you to talking. Then you forgot everything you were going to do and listened to all the numbers he was spouting. He could've started giving you numbers from the sports pages, and you would have sat there listening to him. He hypnotizes you, and you are like a deer in the headlights. You are so in love with that man, you would do anything for him, including going into space."

"My children are going, what else am I supposed to do?"

I was stunned. "Baby, if that's the only reason you're going, don't go. You must never tell anyone what I'm about to tell you, because if you do he will know instantly it came from me. He may never talk to me again."

"Holden is not coming with us. He has his own plans, and they are great ones. I will not steal his future from him. I will not tell you what they are. He has a great mind, better than Gordon's and mine. He may even be smarter than Newton, and I heard that from Newton lips.

You know I will not live very long, while I am in space. My sister has told me so many times she is going to take me to her. I believe the best thing for us to do, if you wish to stay with Holden, is to sign divorce papers. Once our spacecraft has passed Pluto, and we get a message back to you that we have gone beyond light speed, you know I will not be returning. Have Rod serve them to the court for you. I will still have many hundreds of millions dollars left in my accounts thanks to Stephano.

He is only taking money equally from everyone instead of taking everything from me first. He thought it was only fair to do it that way. There is another surprise coming that I cannot tell you about, but it is a good one. You are wealthy in your own right, and you have our home in Idaho Springs. "

Jennifer was about to reply, when the wheels of the helicopter bounced on the ground. There were tears in her eyes. I knew she was conflicted. Should she stay with her husband, who was not going to live very long, or with her 10-year-old son who had a star filled future ahead of him?

We would discuss this in private, when we got home.

I looked at Tammy and she nodded her head. She knew this was not a topic to be bandied around with anyone, not even her fellow nurses.

******************

113. Is Anyone Ever Truly Prepared

"I'm home Lucius, what's going on?"

"I received a text from Paul. We are expecting 24 guests; he didn't say where they're coming from, when, or how. I've been in touch with Moorhead, and Patti Valentino.

Morehead swears that as soon as she gets word from the VP we will know seconds later. She is so frightened, I believe her.

Patti will have more information for us tomorrow afternoon on this group. I didn't ask how, but she is as good as they come with a computer."

"Why now Lucius, there's nothing going on?"

"The same thing ran through my mind general. I'm wondering if they're trying to catch us flat-footed. All I know is that when these guys hit the ground, they are going to disappear quickly. I am not going to kill them; I'm going to make them an offer they cannot refuse. Once upon a time, these guys were our warriors, and I believe they deserve a second chance. They are working for money, and I will offer them enough to disappear. If they accept it they live, if they don't, well that's their mistake."

"You seem to have this all worked out."