Chapter 16
I was on the couch in the Lieutenant‘s office and somehow, Murphy and Reilly had managed to call the whole team in without waking me. I opened my eyes and fourteen sets of serious eyeballs and was taken aback. "Whoa," I breathed.
"Looks pretty healthy for a dead boy, don‘t he?" Smitty asked. He grinned and it made his eyes crinkle, his bald forehead lifted those bushy eyebrows that looked like a dead squirrel had dropped his tail on his head.
"Am I glad to see you dudes," I said and moved my legs. Stopped as a massive cramp of abused muscles seized me worse than an engine without oil. I groaned. Reilly slid his arms under my shoulders and eased me into a sitting position. Another brought me a glass of water and a small yellow pill. I turned my head creakily towards Reilly.
"Take it, Jade. It‘s flexeril, it‘ll help with the stiffness and pain. Your whole body is black and blue. You‘ve been asleep for six hours on a couch you‘re going to be stiff."
"I feel like shit. I also did a three point landing on that concrete pad." I groaned and swallowed without water.
"You look like it, too. Tell us, where the hell have you been?"
"I was kidnapped by the FBI, DIA, and NSA, one of those alphabet soup agencies. Some secret branch of the Air Force. They did all kinds of tests on me, made me find a lost airplane with live missiles out in the desert and then sent me to Boston. Some nuts from MIT were going to dissect me alive, study my brain. I tried to get free," I shuddered at the memory, whispered, "I didn‘t want to die, Murphy. Not like that. Then, the van we were in was rear-ended, flipped and these dudes---they all look alike, called the Dursvan, rescued me and took me to this ginormous skyscraper in downtown Boston. You should see it; it had this enormous tree inside the atrium and a lobby like a jungle with a fountain."
"I‘ve seen it. The Celene Foundation. They‘re a multi-billion dollar corporation, are into gemstones, gold, real estate and shipping. It‘s run by a confederation of old men and a sharp CEO named Revenal Juris."
"That‘s the name of the man who rescued me. Revenal Juris," I said slowly. "He calls me Lord Jadewyn, said I was some kind of war leader."
"Well, you‘re doing a great job so far, Lord. You‘ve broken your neck and nearly broke your ribs and back. You need to rest. We‘re trying to decide what the safest place to stash you is."
"Until when? The US government and twin alien forces want me. You think you can keep me safe? Good luck. I figure I have maybe two days to stay alive."
"Maybe we need to contact these Dursvan and let them hide you," Murph said.
"I‘m sure they‘ll be showing up here soon enough," I commented sleepily. Seems that‘s all I‘ve been wanting to do lately. My stumbling feet dragged as the two of them half carried/walked me into the precinct‘s detective division and hustled me to the SWAT locker room. I missed the gaping faces on the detectives but saw them as they trailed us into SWAT
HQ. Murph picked me up, set me on the cot in the holding cell, pulled my legs up, and threw a blanket over me. I vaguely heard him tell the others I was out for the night due to the drug he‘d given my injuries and me. He would take turns watc hing me and expected they would help. I rolled over ponderously, felt the collar sticking me and went to sleep; even the annoyance of it wasn‘t enough to bar me from dreamland.
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Four ugly faces that needed shaving stared back at me. Two sets of bro wn eyes, one blue and one gray. One of them had egg crumbs on the corner of his mouth and all four needed some serious mouth washing. I gagged and choked back vomit, tried to raise myself and groaned in misery and self-pity. Every inch of me complained in some fashion. I felt like the entire SWAT team had sacked me.
"You dudes need to do some oral hygiene," I complained. "Gimme a hand." Four sets of hands pulled me up and my head swam. I held on until the vertigo left me and Reilly checked me over again. "Stomach still pukey?"
I nodded, swallowing bile. He handed me more pills. "More flexeril and some Tylenol for the headache. I would give you some vicodan but it‘d knock you loopy and I‘m not sure if having you semi-conscious is safe. We decided to case this Celene Foundation, check it out and see if you‘d be safer there. Federal cops are already nosing around the precinct."
I tried to climb to my feet and he held me. "Anyone seen those big guys with the gorilla arms?"
"A couple of them tried to access the Loo‘s office this morning. He was out on a scene,"
Murph grinned. I was surprised, the Loo hardly ever left his office, and he was always accessible to everyone. Unless he wanted to hide from his wife.
"He forgot his cell phone, too," Murph added so I knew he was avoiding his boss, the Chief of Police.
"You dudes have been here all night? With me?" I had a huge lump in my throat. "You know you might end up like my Dad?"
"We might get hit by the falling debris from the Space Station, too," Smitty sneered.
"What‘s an alien assassin to a Boston SWAT Sniper team?"
"They play with lightning bolts," I mumbled. Looked up. "You got anything to eat in this place?"
Creason handed me a MacDonalds bag. Inside was a Big Breakfast with hot cakes and sausage. I held it and burst into tears. Every one of them hugged me and patted my back, a team of hardassed snipers cried with me. When I could stop, I dug at my eyes and wiped them on my shirt. Mumbled my thanks and swallowed a biscuit. It made my stomach squirm and twist as if I‘d swallowed worms.
When I was able to walk, they stayed close to my side as if they expected me to wobble and fall down. "Where am I going? I suppose the whole 4-7 knows I‘m here?" I tried to pretend that I hadn‘t bawled like a five year old. I spotted the Loo coming down the hall and his face looked gloomier than usual. He jerked his thumb towards the bathroom and all four bundled me that way without losing step. From the locker room, we exited into the service hallway and down to the evidence lockers, out to the garage and downtown.
"Take him outta here," the Loo ordered. "The quicker the better and don‘t tell me where so I don‘t have to lie." He retreated to his office.
"You guys are in so much shit," I murmured. "If anyone sees you in a squad car, they‘ll think you got busted back to Patrol. Hell, if you‘re caught with me, you‘ll be lucky to get busted to Patrol. They might just kill you."
"Shut up, Jade."
"Hey, you‘re talking to a...Lord," I complained. "I could just send you to the dungeons or something. Where are we?"
"Harvard and Lawson. Four blocks from the Celene Towers."
"Anyone following us?"
"Not that I can spot. Who follows a police cruiser?"
"You got a point." I sat up and peered out the window. His erratic driving was making me carsick, especially when he slammed on the brakes because of a pile-up in front of us. Two yellow cabs had hit and were tangled together, the drivers screaming obscenities at each other.
Their passengers were adding to the mess. Traffic was at a standstill as the taxis had blocked the intersection. The light pole was hanging loose overhead and the cycle was off, both sides red.
One of the dudes got out to direct traffic and clear a space so we could get through. Smitty was driving and he hit the lights and siren but it only added to the noise and confusion. People started screaming. I heard the sound of gunfire and something rocked the car. Smitty cursed, said, "Stay inside! Don‘t get out and keep your head down!" He left me.