Sam studied Sir Richard’s eyes. “You want me to talk Jazz into uploading ‘Acid Rain’ to RVI’s database? Are you kidding? Sir Richard, I’d rather not deal with Jasmine. We had a – ah – misunderstanding. I’m surprised she even let me know about Forrest.”
“Then maybe you know someone else there, who could help us.”
Sam snorted. “Sir Richard, I’m not interested in re-establishing my… female connections. Besides, now that Richard and Donna are married, I’ve sort of set my sights on someone else.”
Sir Richard arched an eyebrow. “Anyone I know?” he hedged.
Sam swallowed hard and said the first name that came to mind. “Dr. McGowan.”
Sir Richard’s eyebrows shot up. “Really? It’s nice to see you’re moving on. Let me give you a word of warning. Her older brother – Timothy McGowan – is extremely protective of his little sister and can carry a lifetime grudge. He won’t hesitate to rearrange your face.”
Sam pursed his lips and winced. “I’ll… keep that in mind.”
Sir Richard waved it off. “Anyway, getting back on the subject. Will you consider asking Miss White if she’ll help us?”
“Is this an order?”
Sir Richard grinned. “It could be, but I’d rather have your cooperation.”
Sam studied Sir Richard’s eyes. He forced the air from his lungs. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Sir Richard looked at his watch and stood. “Use that playboy charm of yours,” he softly chuckled. “VICi, has Lady Triplet finished with her call from Amsterdam?”
VICi; Checking line. Negative. The line to Lady Triplet’s infirmary room is still engaged.
“In that case, I’ll go see what Donna found out first.”
Sam’s head jerked up. “What do you mean, Sir?”
“I just talked to Gary. Donna was analysing the samples from the first set of tests.”
Sam stood; his eyes widened. “Let me get lunch, and I’ll go back with you.” Sam approached the counter. “Two meals and two fruit salads, with poppy seed and lemon dressing, Alice. Sprinkle a handful of pomegranate seeds over the top, please, and make those to go.”
Alice smiled as Sir Richard approached the counter. “Will that be all?” she asked.
“Add another fruit salad to that,” Sir Richard interjected. “I’ve changed my mind. I’ll have lunch with you four, and then go see Mum. Maybe she’ll be in a better mood, after her phone call. I want you to work with John and Gary and get this thing sorted with Miss White.”
Sam groaned and collected the lunches. “I’ll see what I can do, Sir, but like I said. Jasmine and I had a misunderstanding.”
Sir Richard grinned and patted Sam’s shoulder. “I’m sure you can sort it out.”
------------
The RVI doctor was solemn. “Mr. Forrest, I’ve checked your test results. The new treatment isn’t working. I’m afraid the only thing I can do for you, now is give you morphine, and other pain killers to keep you reasonably comfortable, but that’s about all. You haven’t changed your mind, about the other thing we talked about?”
“No!” Forrest groaned. “I don’t want to die a fucking zombie. I’ll deal with the pain. When the end is near, I expect my wishes to be carried out.” The doctor stood to leave. Forrest grabbed his arm. “All… of my wishes,” he warned.
The doctor studied Forrest’s eyes and nodded. “Of course, Mr. Forrest. I’ll check on you later. I’ve left orders for you to be given pain killers every six hours. If you wish to remain alert, that’s about all I can give you. Try and get some rest.”
Forrest squeezed his eyes shut. It was beginning to dawn on him that if he had handled the situation with Donna differently, she probably would have helped him. It was too late to start feeling remorse now.
------------
Donna, Richard, Gary, Sam and Sir Richard gathered around the table, in the genetics lab lounge. Sam passed out their meals. Gary and Richard had bangers and apple mash, spring greens and mint sauce. For dessert, they had apple rhubarb crumble with custard and cream. Donna swallowed hard when she saw what they were having.
Cautiously, she lifted her lid and sighed with relief. She glanced at Sam and softly smiled. Her mouth watered, now eager to get tucked into her lunch. “It’s good to see you’re taking my advice,” Donna said to Sir Richard.
Sir Richard smiled. “I trust your judgement.”
“Too bad Richard won’t follow suit,” Sam grumbled.
Donna looked at Richard’s plate and shook her head. “He’s right, you know. The way you eat, it’s a good thing we were successful. Otherwise, I might have to raise this baby alone.”
Sir Richard’s head jerked up; his eyes twinkled. “What did you say?”
Sam studied Donna’s eyes; one corner of his mouth turned up. “The test was successful?”
Richard smiled. “You have a working virus?”
Donna reflected his smile. “As far as I can tell, yes, and I was right. The EHG works fast. All we have to do now is run more tests and study the long-term effects.”
Sir Richard frowned. “How long will that take?”
“That’s difficult to say, Dad. I wouldn’t feel safe using it on a human, until I can make sure cell growth stays under control. So far, the tests I’ve run indicate rapid regeneration – the same results we saw in Missy, and Alan - with no carcinoma.”
“How is Alan, by the way?” Gary asked.
“He’s doing fine,” Sam spoke up. “However, he is having a slight problem.”
Sir Richard’s smile faded. “What kind of problem, Son?”
“He said he’s been feeling incredibly randy lately, and he hasn’t felt that way in years,” Sam laughed. The other men laughed along with Sam.
Donna pressed her lips into a thin line and shook her head; her cheeks showing some colour. “I might have known,” she groaned. “Anyway… I think we’re making some real progress, now.” She swallowed hard. “And, whether anyone wants to give him credit or not… we have Jared to thank for that.”
Sir Richard smiled. “Yes, petal… we do.”
------------
Liu drove back to Coalcleugh and set up his radio transmitting equipment. If there was an event taking place, he wanted to know what it was about. He flew his bug around the room to find the best possible position, and decided to land it on the ceiling in the middle of the room facing the door. He adjusted the camera angle to maximum zoom and called Forrest.
Eli and Forrest were talking, when the call came through to Forrest’s cell phone. Forrest read the name. “It’s him. Keep it down. What is it Liu?”
“Everything is set up, and I’ve got good news. By listening to random conversations in the cafeteria, I’ve managed to find out what the celebration is about.”
“What is it?”
“Apparently, Triplet’s son has built his new wife an entertainment hall, in the complex. He’s planning on presenting it to her tonight, as a wedding present. Considering she’s the centre of the celebration, all we have to do is wait.”
“What about the cure? Has she perfected it?”
“I’m hoping that’s something else we’ll find out, tonight, at the party.”
Forrest roughened his voice. “It seems you and I have a different definition for ‘good news’ Mr. Liu. We still don’t know jack shit! You said my screen would come back on. I still can’t see a fucking thing!”
“I’m sorry, Sir. I was about to connect the link. There… is that better?”
Forrest grinned. “Yes, at least you did that right!” he growled and started coughing and wheezing. “I have to go now. The nurse has brought me some more pain killer. Notify me when you know more.” Forrest ended the call and turned to Eli. “Is everything set up on our end?”
“Yes, it is.”
“You might show a little more respect for a dying man.”
“I’m sorry. Yes, it is, Sir. Is that better?”
“Arrogant asshole. I have a chore for you. Since it’s likely I’ll be speaking with Sir Richard, sometime tomorrow, I want to be prepared, beforehand.”
“In what way?”
“As you know, I’ve been waiting for this moment for a long time. Go to our hotel suite, and bring back one of my finest suits. I intend to look my best. I want you to bring in a makeup team and hairdresser. I want you to go out and buy me a box of cigars.”
“Against your doctor’s advice you’re going to smoke a cigar?”
Forrest responded quickly. “No! Are you kidding? I’m not going to smoke the fucking cigar. It’s just for appearances. I have to make this look good. Now get out of here and do as I told you!”
Eli groaned. “If you don’t plan on talking to Sir Richard until tomorrow, what’s the big hurry?”
“Because that prick just might pull it off tonight. I want to be ready, in case he does.”
Eli groaned again and stood to leave. “Sometimes I wonder why I put up with you,” he said and left the room.
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Lady Triplet was quite shaken after her phone conversation with Victor Van Holden. When the call ended, VICi automatically disconnected the line, but Lady Triplet didn’t know what to say to contact Sir Richard. She started shouting for someone. When no one came, she got out of bed and stumbled to the door. “Is anyone here?” she shouted again.
Sheila was in the exam room, dealing with another patient. She rolled her eyes. “Would you excuse me a moment, please? Mrs. High and Mighty has her knickers in a twist.”
The miner sitting on the exam table gave her a strange look. “Eh?”
Sheila waved a dismissive hand. “Never mind. She’ll wake the dead, if I don’t see what she wants. I’ll be right back.”
“Whey aye,” the miner chuckled.
“Lady Triplet, will you keep it down. What is your problem?”
“I need to speak to my son immediately. Where is he?”
Lady Triplet staggered; Sheila caught her arm and started leading her back to her room. “I don’t know, but if you’ll give me time to get finished with this patient, I’ll see if I can locate him for you. Now get back in that bed and stay there.”
Sheila pulled the covers up around Lady Triplet. “That patient can wait! This is important,” she insisted and tried to get back up. Sheila pushed her back down.
“Lady Triplet, don’t make me sedate you again.”
Lady Triplet glared at her. “Do that and you’ll regret it – mark my words – young lady! Where’s Joyce? Isn’t she supposed to be in charge of patient care?”
“She’s not here, today. She wasn’t feeling well.”
Lady Triplet arched an eyebrow. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’ll be here tomorrow. If you want to know, you can ask her then.” Sheila turned to leave.”
“Wait a minute! Where are you going? I told you I needed to speak with my son!”
“Fine!” Sheila groaned. “I’ll go find him now.” She went back to the exam room. “I’m sorry, about that,” she said as she taped the bandage and snipped off the end. “There, that is going to be sore for a few days.” She reached into the cabinet and handed the miner a tube of antibiotic cream and some fresh bandages. “Are you married?”
“Aye.”
“Before you get ready for bed tonight, get her to put some of that cream on it and change the bandage.”
“Thanks, Doc,” the miner said and left.
Sheila waited until he was out of earshot. “VICi, where is Sir Richard?”
VICi; Sir Richard is in the genetics lab lounge.
Sheila crossed the corridor and entered the room. She glanced at Sam and softly smiled. “Excuse me, Sir,” she said, turning her attention to Sir Richard. “I’m sorry to disturb your lunch, but your mum is demanding to speak to you at once. She says it’s very important.”
Sir Richard stood. “I better go see what she wants.”
“Please do, Sir. She’s been wailing like a banshee.”
Sir Richard chuckled. “Thanks, Sheila,” he said and left.
One side of Sam’s mouth turned up. “Hello, Sheila.”
Sheila reflected his grin. “Hi, Sam. I have to pop back to the infirmary for a second, but I was about to go to lunch. Care to join me?”
Sam glanced at Donna out of the corner of his eye and stood. “Sure. I’ve already had mine, but I’ll tag along and keep you company. Richard. Gary. Pretty Lady. I’ll see you later,” he said, offered Sheila his arm and led her out into the corridor. “Why don’t we have lunch in the park?”
“OK. I’ll meet you there,” Sheila said and went in the infirmary.
------------
Donna sighed, gathered the empty food containers and put them in the bin. She took Richard’s hand and laced her fingers with his. “It’s going to be a while, before I can collect samples from the primates. I think I’d like to spend some time with my husband. If that’s all right with you?”
Gary shrugged. “Yeah – sure. I think I’ll drop by the electronics lab and bug Jeff.”
“We’ll see you later, then,” Richard smiled. “If I let her out of my arms.”
“TMI, Richard,” Gary groaned.
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“Forrest had planned to have one of his goons on the roof across from St Nicholas, with the intention of kidnapping Richard and Donna. Worse than that, and just to show you how mad he is….”
Sir Richard tightened his jaw and held up an imperious hand. “Forrest had plans to do what, to Richard and Donna?”
“I have it on good authority that Forrest’s plans were to shoot Ricky in the gonads to prevent him from fathering a child with Donna or any other woman. He’s trying to destroy the bloodline. Richard we have to do something! We have to strike back!”
“I know that Mum, I’m just not sure how we’re going to do that, now.”
Lady Triplet narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”
“Forrest is back in the intensive care room, at the RVI. Unless Sam can convince his friend to help us, there’s not a lot we can do, but hope this will be the end for him. If Sam comes through, someone is going to make sure Forrest’s medical record has a ‘do not resuscitate’ order on it.”
“That man will never go that easily, Richard. You know that, but we could make sure he does.”
“How? Forrest is not going to let anyone get close to him. It’s too risky, Mum!”
“What about Donna? Surely she could develop a discreet method of getting rid of him.”
Sir Richard sat on the side of the bed. He shoved a hand through his hair and sighed. “Mum, you know how she felt about our original plan. I don’t think it would be easy to convince Donna to ‘get rid’ of anybody. She’s dedicated to preserving life, not destroying it.”
Lady Triplet slapped the bed; Sir Richard started. “Donna is part of this family now, and like it or not, she’s inherited the problems that go with it. We have to make Donna see what kind of monster we’re dealing with!”