#FreeDailyReadingFix - Wild Child 1, Part 13

<= Previous Part

<<= Go to Beginning

Kyle slipped his hands underneath Briana’s bandaged torso and legs and picked her up.  She put her arms around his neck, and he wove his way through the woods as fast as he could without dropping her.  She felt like she weighed no more than 80 pounds.

He was aware of her looking up at him, her face plaster-white in the moonlight.

“Kyle?” she whispered, as he slowed down to step over a log.

“What?” he said.

“I’m sorry I said you were a major snooze.”

“It’s all right,” Kyle said.

“If I don’t make it, I want you to know that I—“

“Shhh,” he said.  “Don’t talk like that.  You’re going to make it.  Just hang in there.”

When they reached the water, he set her down gently on a rock.  The helicopter was now only about 50 yards away, rounding the point where Briana had entered the water the day before, where the fisherman had been.

Kyle stripped to his underwear and threw his clothes into the bushes, then started putting on the scuba equipment.  After he strapped on the tank, the fins, and the mask, he reached behind his head and opened the tank’s air valve.  He held out the hose to Briana.  “You remember how to be breathing partners?”

“I remember,” she said softly.

He stuck the hose into his mouth and took a few breaths to make sure it was working.

She laughed, surprising him.

“What’s the matter?” he said.

“You look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon.”

Kyle smiled, not because he thought it was funny, but because he hadn’t heard her laugh all day.

 Kyle glanced over at the cooler.  He had planned to take it down with them, but now that he had put on all the scuba gear, it didn’t seem feasible.  He would have to come back by himself and get it while Briana was in the cave, nursing her wounds. 

Kyle hid the cooler behind some bushes.  He glanced up at the helicopter—it was still getting closer.  Hopefully, they wouldn’t spot the jeep while he was gone.

He handed Briana the underwater flashlight.  “Can you hold this while we go down?”

She nodded.  He picked her up in his arms again and carried her into the water.  Now, he really did feel like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, slipping and sliding on the rocks with his fins, descending into the murkiness, carrying a bleeding, blonde maiden in his arms.

When the water was up to Kyle’s waist, the helicopter’s searchlight swept dangerously close to them.  He could even feel wind from the chopper’s rotor as it sent ripples across the surface of the water.  “Hold your breath,” he said, as he leaned forward.  They both slipped into the chilly water.  He immediately pulled her down to the bottom.  A few seconds later, the searchlight beam whisked across the water above them, creating a blinding white flash.  He only hoped the water was too cloudy to see through.

He started swimming along the muddy lake bottom, pulling her with him.  He kept one hand around her waist and followed the downward slope out into the middle of the lake, handing the air regulator to her and taking it back every thirty seconds or so.  As they went deeper, the water felt ice cold.

After a couple of minutes, he was astonished to find that Briana had started swimming herself.  Within a minute or two, she was pulling him along.  She slowed down a little bit, handed him the regulator, and after he put it into his mouth, she surged ahead again, picking up even more speed.

The green water’s got hold of her, he thought.

He stopped kicking, realizing that now it was only slowing them down.  She drove them both forward faster and faster, the water pulling hard on the oxygen tank, the weight belt, and his fins.  He had trouble relaxing, afraid that she would bump into something in the dark, but he knew she was tuned into some kind of internal homing signal that would lead to her sacred spring.

He closed his eyes and finally felt himself relax, letting her pull him deeper and deeper into the blackness, picking up more and more speed, the water roaring past his ears...

In that moment, he completely trusted her, and he felt a strange sense of inner peace.

They soon began to slow down.  He sensed that they were approaching the opening of the cave.  Not a second later, he felt the tentacle-like thing brush against his legs, as he had the first time.

Briana turned on the flashlight.  The opening of the cave was no more than a jagged, two-foot wide hole in the rocks.  He glanced below and let out a small underwater shriek.  There was a huge catfish lying just underneath the opening.  It was fat as a hog, its mouth open, its lips pulsating slowly, revealing a few teeth that looked like miniature elephant tusks.  Kyle’s skin crawled as he realized that he had brushed his leg against one of its thick, spindly whiskers, which were splayed out a couple of feet on either side of its head.

Briana nudged him and motioned for him to swim through the opening.  He didn’t move, wondering if there were more catfish—or worse—on the other side.  She seemed to understand his fear and handed him the flashlight, then swam through the opening herself.  She looked like an injured mermaid in her bloody hospital gown, swimming gracefully through the water, her bandages leaking blood that left swirling, smoke-like trails.

She extended her hand through the opening to help him.  Just before he started to join her, the flashlight beam shined on something that scared him even more than the catfish.  A boulder was poised precariously above and to the left of the opening, one edge propped up on another large, triangular-shaped rock.  The boulder looked like it weighed a couple of tons.  If it slipped, it would completely block their exit.

Kyle heard the sounds of Briana yelling at him underwater.  Before he could protest, she grabbed his wrist, her grip now strong, and literally dragged him through the opening.  He reached for the air regulator, but she yanked him upwards before he could get a hold of it.  They quickly accelerated again.  Fighting the pull of the water, Kyle finally managed to get the regulator in his mouth.  A moment later, they broke through to the surface at the same spot they had the first time, in the big room full of stalactites.

Briana let out a gleeful shriek and helped Kyle climb out of the water.  He took off all the scuba gear and laid it down on the rocks, catching his breath.  She led him away from the water, up the flat boulder, towards the green light.  They soon weaved their way through the gigantic plants and over to the shimmering pool of green water.

Briana threw herself into it, thrashing around, rolling over and over, drinking greedily.  “Thank you, God!” she yelled, her voice echoing crisply off the cave walls.

Kyle just watched her for a while.  She waded out into the water until it was up to her neck, then discarded the hospital gown.  It floated on the surface for a few seconds, then disappeared into the greenness.  She began to carefully unravel her bandages, moaning softly.  But it was a moan of pleasure, not of pain.

She became so engrossed in what she was doing that she seemed to forget Kyle was there.

“Well,” he said, “I better go back and get the cooler.”

She turned his way, then cupped a handful of the green water and held it out to him.  “Are you sure you don’t want to...”

“No,” Kyle said, but with regret.

Briana looked disappointed and let the glowing liquid run out of her hand and back into the pool.

“I’ll be back soon, okay?” Kyle said.

Briana looked at Kyle as if she didn’t want him to leave, but then said, “Okay.”

Next Part =>

#FreeDailyReadingFix - Wild Child 1, Part 12

<= Previous Part

<<= Go to Beginning

Chapter 1.17

When they were about five minutes away from the marina, Briana looked over at Kyle and spoke for the first time since they had left the hospital.

“I don’t think I can swim.”

He had hoped that she would have perked up a little when they got closer to the lake, like she had the day before, but she looked worse than ever.

“You don’t have to swim,” Kyle said.  “I brought my dad’s scuba gear.  I’m going to take you down to the cave myself.”

She looked skeptical, and Kyle knew why.  His father only had enough gear for one diver.

“We can share the air tank,” Kyle said.  At that moment, he noticed a pair of headlights in his rearview mirror.  He slowed down a little bit.  Whoever it was slowed down, too, leaving a gap of maybe ten car lengths between them.

“Uh-oh,” Kyle said.

“What’s wrong?” Briana asked.

“I think somebody’s following us.”

They were approaching the road that led to the marina, which was on the right. Kyle turned on his left-hand turn signal and pulled into the left lane.  He watched the other car through the rearview mirror.  Its turn signal didn’t come on, but Kyle saw it slowly move into the left lane behind him.

He immediately flipped his turn signal lever over to the right and pulled over into the right-hand lane.

At first, the car continued on into the left-hand lane, but slowly edged its way back to the right.

Kyle slammed his fist against the steering wheel.  In an instant, everything became clear to him.  He knew it had all been too easy.  He reddened with humiliation, feeling exactly like the naive college boy that Brawn and Brains saw him as.  All that cloak-and-dagger crap with the nun’s habit was a complete waste of time.  He should have known that they would have had a backup plan, just in case he hadn’t shown them the real location of the spring.  They had just been patiently watching and waiting for him to lead them to it.

“What are we going to do?” Briana said, as Kyle pulled up to the stop sign.  The car slowly pulled up behind him.  Kyle could barely make out the silhouette of two men’s heads through the rearview mirror.

“I don’t know,” he muttered.  He couldn’t tell what kind of car it was, but it looked big.  He was sure it could outrun his jeep.

But...

He looked down at the shift lever that put the jeep into four-wheel drive, then looked over at Briana.  “Maybe you better sit down on the floor.”

She seemed to understand what he planned to do.  She slid down onto the floor in front of her seat and rolled into a ball.

He turned right and headed towards the marina, watching the headlights in his mirror.  The car stuck close to them now, as if the occupants knew he was about to try to lose them.  When he came to the road that led down to the boat ramp, instead of turning, he continued to go straight ahead, toward a fenced-in area where large sailboats and trailers were kept.  He followed the road around a curve until the gate came into view.  It was closed, as he knew it would be.  There was a small rock wall on both sides of the road that led to the gate.  Short enough for the jeep to jump over, but too tall for a regular automobile.  At least, Kyle hoped so.

“Hold on,” he told Briana, dropping the shift-lever into four-wheel drive.

Kyle stomped on the accelerator and they zoomed directly toward the gate.  He glanced in the rearview mirror—the car behind them had closed gap even more.  It now trailed only ten or twenty feet behind.

At the last possible moment, Kyle jerked the wheel to the left.  The jeep swerved and lurched over the rock wall, bouncing and bucking violently.  Briana let out a muffled shriek.  He could hear tires screeching behind him.  Through the mirror, he glimpsed the pursuing car as it lurched over the wall, or attempted to.  The front end made it, but the rest of the vehicle was too low-slung to pass over it.  Sparks flew from under its belly as it slid along the wall, like a derailed train.  Two seconds later, it slammed into the chain link fence and came to an abrupt stop.

The jeep careened up the grass-covered hill for a few seconds before Kyle got it under control.  Briana was still screaming—he knew all the bouncing and vibration must have been excruciatingly painful for her, but there was nothing else he could do.  When he reached the corner of the fenced-in area, he turned right and began to slowly pick his way through the thick woods towards the water. 

Chapter 1.18

It was a good fifteen minutes before Kyle finally found that they had reached an impasse.  A huge fallen maple tree blocked their path.  The top of it went all the way down to the water, and the other end was rooted in a gully so deep that Kyle was afraid he might cause the jeep to overturn if he tried to go around it.  But he had driven at least a mile from the marina, maybe farther, following the curve of the lake around to a point within swimming distance of the cave.

He turned off the lights.  Briana let out a long groan.  She was still curled up in a ball in front of the passenger seat.

“Are you all right?” Kyle said, helping her up.

“I’m okay,” she said weakly.  She leaned back against the head-rest and gazed out through the woods at the water.  The moon was out, about half-full.  In the dim light, her face looked as white as porcelain.

“I’ll get the scuba gear,” Kyle said, but she took hold of his arm before he could get out.

“Kyle,” she said, “I can’t make it.  I really can’t.”

“You’ll make it, Brie.  You have to think positively.”

“But I’m bleeding so bad.”  He looked down at her nun’s habit.  Even in the moonlight, he could see that it was soaked with blood.  “Pretty soon my stomach’s going to open up again and—”

“I brought some more bandages,” Kyle said, as he reached into the back seat and pulled out a paper bag.  He got out of the jeep and went around to her side and opened the door.  He ripped open one of the boxes of elastic gauze, and before she could protest, pulled up the bottom of her nun’s habit and started wrapping the bandage tightly around her thigh, not bothering to remove the blood-soaked bandage that was already there.  When he finished, he gently pulled the bloody black garment over her head and tossed it into the bushes, leaving her only in her hospital gown.  The thin, light blue material was blood-drenched from the waist down.

“Let’s do your stomach now,” Kyle said, helping her lean forward.  He tore open another box of gauze, reached under her gown, and wrapped the bandage around and around her midsection.  He ripped open two more boxes of bandages and repeated the process.  “That ought to do,” he said, when he finished.  He glanced down at his blood-soaked hands and arms—they looked like he had just delivered a baby. 

He went around to the back of the jeep and started loading himself down with the scuba equipment—a tank, regulator, mask, fins, a weight belt, and an underwater light.  Just as he set the light on the ground, he heard the tell-tale chop-chop-chop sound of a helicopter somewhere in the distance.

He stepped around to the front of the jeep and scanned the horizon in all directions, but couldn’t see much through all the treetops.  The sound got louder and louder.  Suddenly, a searchlight beam shot down out of the sky off to the left.  The chopper was hovering just above the shoreline, perhaps a half-mile away.

Briana looked over at him, her face pale and frightened.

“Sit tight,” Kyle said.  “I’ll be back in a minute.”  He gathered up the scuba gear and toted it down to the water, keeping an eye on the helicopter.  The chopper was steadily moving towards them, running its searchlight back and forth along the rocky shoreline.  At the opposite end of the lake, perhaps three miles away, he saw a faint cluster of lights and what he thought to be another helicopter.  It was in the same spot where he had told Brawn and Brains the cave was located, at least two miles from the true location.

Kyle hid the gear under some bushes and went back to the jeep.  He had brought a cooler from home, and he unloaded it and set it on the ground.  Inside was a bag of ice and eight sterile baby bottles he had bought when he had gotten the bandages.

Kyle began dumping the ice into the cooler and packed the bottles in it.

“You think it will work?” Briana said, understanding what he was planning.

“It has to work,” Kyle said, glancing through the woods at the helicopter.  It was no more than 200 yards away.  He wasn’t worried about their spotting the jeep—the trees were so thick he was sure it was completely hidden—but they would be completely exposed out on the shore.  He trotted down to the water this time, dropped the cooler in the bushes, and ran back to get Briana.

Next Part =>

#FreeDailyReadingFix - Wild Child 1, Part 11

<= Previous Part

<<= Go to Beginning

Chapter 1.15

As Kyle drove away from the hospital, he felt uncertain about what had just transpired.  It had all been too easy.

He drove a few blocks towards home, glancing in his rearview mirror, but no one seemed to be following him.  Maybe they were no longer interested in him or Briana, now that they thought they knew the location of the spring.  He and Briana were small potatoes...

He really wanted to believe what he was telling himself.  He decided that he would have to believe it, at least for the time being, and continue to move forward with his plan.

He drove straight over to a Pizza Hut that was only a few minutes away.  The nun idea had come to him on the way over to the hospital, and he had called Tanya from a pay phone to tell her where to go and wait for him.

He parked, and started to go inside the restaurant to find her, but she stepped out the front door and trotted down the sidewalk to his jeep.  She jumped inside, looking scared out of her wits.

“Where’s Brie?” she said breathlessly.  “These two men came to our house this morning, and I told them I didn’t know where she was, and—“

“She’s in the hospital,” Kyle interrupted.

“The hospital?”  Tanya looked shocked.  “What’s the matter with her?”

Kyle wondered how much Briana had told her.  “Why did she say she needed to stay in your tree house last night?”

“She said she was in trouble with her mom.  She didn’t explain.  Why?  What’s the matter with her, Kyle?  I didn’t think she looked right when I left for school this morning.”

“She’s kind of sick,” Kyle said, backing up the jeep and heading out of the parking lot.  He decided that there wasn’t time to explain everything, not that Tanya would have believed it.  Besides, if she went along with his plan, the less she knew, the better off she would be.  “She drank some water from a spring out at the lake yesterday, and it must have been bad.  Those guys are from some government agency—they wanted to find her to do some tests on her.”

“I knew she didn’t look right,” Tanya said.  “She said she was just tired and wanted to sleep today, but I thought something was wrong...”  She turned to Kyle.  “But last night, she was on top of the world.  I’ve never seen her in such a good mood.”

“It has kind of a delayed reaction,” Kyle explained.  He pulled out into the street and glanced over at Tanya—she had on a pair of tight shorts and a top that showed too much skin.  It was hard to imagine her playing the part he was about to ask her to play.  But he couldn’t think of anyone else.

“What do you want me to do?” she said.  “You said you needed my help.”

“We do.  We both do.  We need you to help us get Brie out of the hospital.”

Tanya looked puzzled.  “How can I do that?”

Kyle glanced at her outfit again.  “Do you think you could pretend to be a nun?” he said, trying not to sound too doubtful.

“A what?”

“A nun,” Kyle repeated.

She was quiet for a moment, and he glanced over at her again.  She was looking at him like he had lost his mind.

“Come on, Tanya I think you can do it.  We can rent a nun’s habit from the costume shop and stop at a bookstore and buy a bible.”

“I can’t act like a nun!”

“Yes, you can,” Kyle said patiently, though Kyle knew it would be a stretch.

“No I can’t!”  Tanya looked panicky.  “Anyway, I don’t see how that will get her out of the—“

“I’ll explain how,” Kyle said.  “Just listen to me for a minute.”

Chapter 1.16

This time, a middle-aged nurse served as the escort from the waiting area down the hallway that led to Briana’s room.  Kyle and Tanya trailed a few feet behind her, Tanya walking slowly and reverently, with her head down, as Kyle had instructed.  The nun’s black habit looked perfect on her.  She had applied a little bit of makeup, giving herself some laugh lines around her eyes and highlighting the creases around her mouth.  She still looked young, but she could have passed for a 25 year-old.

They came around a corner and Tanya slowed down a little when she saw the MP.  He was still sitting at the desk outside Briana’s room, reading a magazine.  He was a beefy fellow who looked like he took pride in his job.

“I know it’s a challenge for you,” Kyle whispered to Tanya, “but try to think pure thoughts.”

She elbowed him through the nun’s habit.

The MP looked up at them as they approached.

“This is Sister Mary Louise,” Kyle said.

The MP looked her up and down, as if he had never seen a nun before.

Kyle waited patiently.  He prayed that the MP wouldn’t ask for any identification.

The MP’s eyes stopped on the bible in her hands.  To Kyle’s great relief, he reached over and opened the door for her.

As Kyle stepped inside the hospital room, he hoped that Briana wouldn’t laugh when she saw Tanya’s face.  He remained outside and pulled the door shut.  He smiled cordially at the MP, who barely acknowledged him and went back to his magazine, some kind of fitness journal.  Kyle put his hands in his pockets and leaned against the wall.

“Been in the Army long?” Kyle asked.

The MP looked up at him and frowned.  “Why?”

Kyle shrugged.  “Just wondering.  I’ve thought about joining up a few times.”  Of course, this was an even bigger lie than Tanya pretending to be a nun, but Kyle wanted to distract him in case there were any unusual noises from the room.

The MP looked him over.  “You don’t look like the type, bud.”

“Oh?  What type is ‘the type’?”

The MP shrugged.  “Hard to say.”  He went back to his magazine.

Kyle started to say something else, but changed his mind.  It was obvious the man wasn’t interested in making conversation, and he didn’t want to push his luck.  Instead, he jangled the change in his pockets and paced slowly up and down in front of the room, dragging his sneakers across the floor so that they made squeaking sounds.  The MP glanced at him a couple of times.

“Why don’t you sit down, kid?” the MP finally said, nodding to a chair across the hall.  “You’re getting on my nerves.”

At that moment, the door to Briana’s room opened.  The nun stepped out.  She gave Kyle a wan smile.

“Did you make any progress?” Kyle said, looking into her eyes.  They were teary, but he knew the tears weren’t emotional—they were from the physical pain she was in.

“I think so,” she said softly.

The MP peered into the room, as Kyle looked nervously over the big man’s shoulder.  Tanya was in the bed, but under the covers, turned away towards the window so that only the back of her head was visible.  Fortunately, Tanya’s bleached blonde hair was close to the color of Briana’s.

The MP seemed satisfied and pulled the door shut.  He watched Kyle and the “nun” walk away.  Kyle hoped that Briana wouldn’t wobble or collapse until they got out of his line of sight.

As soon as they stepped around the corner, Briana stopped to lean against the wall, gasping softly.

“I can’t make it,” she said.

“Yes, you can,” Kyle said, supporting her by the arm.  “It’s not much farther.”

She gritted her teeth and continued on, wavering slightly.  A passing nurse glanced at her but kept moving.

“Just a little farther,” Kyle whispered, as they went back out into the waiting area.  It was still empty.  He led her out the door and down another hallway that led to the elevator.  They fell in step behind an orderly who was pushing a cart of dirty linen.  On the right, Kyle spotted a door with a red EXIT sign above it.  He quietly pulled Briana through it and into the stairwell.

She promptly collapsed.

Kyle caught her in his arms.  He picked her up and carried her down three flights of stairs.  When they reached the bottom, he set her back down and leaned her against the wall.  He noticed a smear of blood on his right forearm.  He quickly wiped it away.

Her eyes were slowly opening and closing, as if she was drifting in and out.

“Brie,” he whispered, gently shaking her.  “There’s no way I can carry you through the lobby—we’ll get caught for sure.  You’ll have to walk out yourself.”

“I can’t,” she said.  She looked up at him helplessly.  “Kyle, it’s no use...”

“Yes it is, Brie.  Do you want to spend the rest of your life in an army hospital?  When they find out the truth about that green water, they’re never going to let you go.  You’ll be nothing but a human experiment.  Didn’t you see that form to transfer you to Walter Reed?  That’s in Washington, D.C.  They don’t have any intention of keeping their promise, don’t you understand?”

Her eyes opened a little wider.

“Wait right here,” he said, moving her over into the corner, behind the door.  “You don’t have to walk—I’ll get you a wheelchair.”

Kyle let go of her as she slumped against the wall.  He was afraid she would fall down again and propped her back up.  “Just lean here for a minute, okay?”

She closed her eyes.

When he let go again, she slumped a little further into the corner, but looked like she would stay put.  Kyle went back out into the hallway and walked briskly down the corridor, glancing in every doorway he passed.  He spotted a wheelchair in a room where an elderly woman was sleeping.  He slipped inside, grabbed the wheelchair, and rolled it back out the door.  Several nurses passed by, chatting with each other.  One of them glanced at him, but they were absorbed in their conversation and just kept walking. 

When he pushed the wheelchair through the stairwell door, he found Brie in a semi-squatting position.  She was panting and her forehead was dripping with sweat.

He carefully picked her up and set her in the wheelchair.  She slumped over to one side, but Kyle straightened her back up.  “I’m going to get you out of here, Brie,” he said, hoping to inspire her a little.  “I’m going to take you straight to the green water.”

When the last two words crossed his lips, she looked a little more alert.

“Good.  Now, try to act like you feel great.  Pretend you just drank five gallons of the stuff.”

She gave a trace of a smile.

“Perfect,” Kyle said.  “Now hold that pose.”  He got up and pushed the door open, hoping that nobody would notice the fact that they were coming out of a stairwell, and guided the wheelchair out into the hallway.  He looked ahead of them, to the lobby.  It was only fifty feet away.  Kyle pushed the wheelchair straight down the hall, mentally telling himself to look as if he knew exactly what he was doing and had every right to be doing it.  But he was certain he would run into Brawn or Brains or the guy who had first ushered him up to Brie’s room.  If that happened, it was all over.

When they reached the lobby, a few people glanced at them, but nothing more.  He pushed her straight over to the wheelchair access door, fighting the impulse to break into a run, and they went down the ramp.  As soon as they were out in the parking lot, Kyle broke into a trot, weaving the wheelchair in and out of the rows of parked cars, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who might try to stop them.

“This feels good,” Briana said, her nun’s habit billowing around her in the cool breeze.  It was dusk, and the temperature felt like it was somewhere in the low sixties.

It only took them a minute to reach the jeep.  He scooped her up and set her in the front seat, then rolled the wheelchair in between a couple of parked cars and jumped in the driver’s side.

“Just hang in there, Brie,” he said.  “You’re going to make it.”

Next Part =>

#FreeDailyReadingFix - Wild Child 1, Part 10

<= Previous Part

<<= Go to Beginning

Chapter 1.12

“I’m only going to ask you this one more time, son,” Brawn said.  “Who cut up your friend?”

Kyle was sitting in a chair in his living room, facing the two government men, who sat side by side on the couch.  His father sat off to one side on an ottoman, leaning forward, watching Kyle intently.

“I told you,” Kyle said wearily.  “She got hit by a speedboat.”

Brawn looked over at Brains, shaking his head.  “And then she swam down to the bottom, went into the cave, fixed herself up with the magic water, and swam back to the boat.”

“That’s right,” Kyle said flatly.

Brawn let out a frustrated sigh and looked over at Kyle Senior.  “Did you raise your son to fabricate whoppers like this, professor?”

“That’s enough,” Brains said.  He looked at Kyle Senior respectfully.  “I apologize, sir.  You have to understand, this is a stressful situation for both of us.  There’s a great deal at stake here.”

Kyle Senior gave him a slight nod, but regarded Brawn coolly.

Brains looked back at Kyle.  “I give you my word.  We will give you both round-the-clock protection until we catch whoever it is.  You have nothing to fear.”

“I’m telling you the truth,” Kyle said.  “There’s no one to catch.  Why won’t you believe me?”

Brains studied Kyle’s face.  “Whoever it is, they’ve scared the living hell out of you, that’s for sure.  Is it somebody from a foreign country?  A terrorist?  Who?”

“It’s NOBODY!” Kyle shouted.

Brawn leaped off the couch.  “Then why won’t you tell us where the water IS, you little punk!”

“Don’t you yell at my son like that!” Kyle Senior said, jumping up from the ottoman.

“Hold it, hold it,” Brains said, waving his hands in the air.  “This is getting us nowhere.  Both of you just plant your asses back in those cushions and calm down.”  He pointed at Brawn.  “And if you can’t act like a professional, I’m going to report you and have a replacement brought in.  Is that clear?”

Brawn just looked at the floor, a surly expression on his all-American face.

Brains spoke slowly and carefully.  “Kyle, even though my hot-headed associate here has a little trouble expressing himself in a diplomatic manner, he does have a point.  If this far-fetched story you’re telling us is indeed true, then why won’t you tell us the location of the spring?”

Kyle said nothing, trying to organize his thoughts.

“Answer the man, son,” his dad said.

“All right,” Kyle said irritably.  “I’ll tell you why.  If I show you where the spring is, I’m afraid you won’t let Brie have access to it any more, and she’ll die.”

Kyle’s father shook his head and stood up, as if he couldn’t bear to listen to any more.  He walked over to the window and gazed out at the front lawn.

As if talking to a small child, Brains said to Kyle, “Well, what if I promise to see that she gets as much of it as she wants?”

Kyle felt a twinge of hope.  Maybe the man would keep his word.  “You’ll let her drink as much as she wants?  Let her bathe her wounds in it?”

Brains glanced over at Kyle’s father, who was still shaking his head.  “If she agrees to receive medical help.  After she’s recovered, if she still wants to drink it, we’ll let her have as much as...”

“Why can’t her mother just sign for her?” Kyle’s father broke in.

“Because the girl is eighteen years old,” Brains answered patiently.  “Not that her mother is in any condition right now to sign anything, anyway.”

Kyle Senior rolled his eyes and looked back out the window.  “What a family.”

“Son,” Brains said to Kyle, “I give you my word.  After she’s recovered, she can drink as much of that water as she wants to.”

Kyle wanted to believe him.  “Do you have a piece of paper?” he asked.

Brawn stepped forward, smiling for the first time since Kyle had met him.  “We can do better than that—we have a satellite map of the whole lake.”

Chapter 1.13

Kyle pulled into the parking lot of the Veteran’s Administration Hospital, where they had taken Briana.  As he got out of his jeep, he noticed four big Army helicopters flying along the horizon, in the direction of the lake.

They don’t waste any time, Kyle thought.

When he went inside the hospital, no one at the front desk could find any record of a Briana Fox having been admitted.  Just as Kyle was beginning to get angry, a tall man in a gray pin-striped suit walked up.

“Come with me,” he said.

Kyle followed him; they took the elevator up to the third floor.  He led Kyle past an MP who was sitting at a desk in the hallway and into an empty waiting area.

“Wait here,” the man said simply, and left.

The room was stark—no magazines, no ash trays, nothing—only a few flimsy-looking plastic chairs.

After a minute or so, the door opened again.  Brains entered the room.  His face was expressionless.  He sat down in a seat directly across from Kyle and sighed.

“She still won’t sign the papers.”

Kyle wasn’t surprised.  “You told her about our agreement?”

“Didn’t make any difference.  She still won’t consent to treatment.”  He shook his head sadly.  “She’s making a big mistake, son.  She needs those cuts sewn up.  They’re not going to heal properly without stitches.”

Kyle nodded, but he knew that it would take a lot more than a few stitches to get her back to normal.  They didn’t know the extent of her wounds.  But why would they?  They didn’t know that she had ingested some strange healing substance that was wearing off and causing the injuries to steadily worsen.  Well, maybe they knew it, but they still didn’t believe it.

“Maybe if you talked to her,” Brains said, “she’d see reason.”

Kyle watched the man for a moment, anger slowly welling up inside him.  “You can cut the dramatic act.  I don’t buy it.”

Brains’ eyebrows shot up in surprise.  “Excuse me?”

“You don’t give a damn about her.  All you care about is having a healthy warm body to use as a guinea pig to see what effects the water might have on it.”

Brains regarded him coldly.  “You’re wrong about that.  We’re interested in any applications this new isotope might have, positive or negative.”

“Really?” Kyle said, glancing around the room.  “Then how come you locked her up in this army hospital?  Why isn’t she over at University Hospital, where all the high-powered research goes on?”

“Because we can arrange for better protection here.”

“Protection?”  Kyle couldn’t help laughing.  “Protection from what?  Nobody’s worked up about this water but you guys.”

Brains eyed Kyle knowingly.  “And whoever cut her up.”  He leaned forward and lowered his voice.  “Have they paid you off to keep quiet, or what?”

Kyle shook his head and got up.  “Where is she?  I want to see her.”

Chapter 1.14

The MP opened the door and Kyle stepped into the room.  He found Briana sitting up in bed, the covers pulled tightly around her neck.  She looked pale and very tense, but relaxed when she saw Kyle’s face.  He smiled at her.

He turned back to Brains and the MP, who were both standing in the doorway, watching him.

“Can we have a little privacy?”

The MP looked at Brains.

“It’s all right,” Brains said.  They left and pulled the door shut.

Kyle turned back to Briana.  “You’re looking better,” he said.  He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead.

“Don’t lie, Kyle.”

He looked around the room, checking for a tiny video camera, but didn’t see one.  But there was probably a microphone hidden somewhere.  On the table beside her was a clipboard, thick with release forms.  There was a ballpoint pen sitting on top of it, tip extended.

“Ready and waiting,” Briana said, eyeing it coldly.

Kyle pulled up a chair and sat down.  They looked at each other for a moment, and then her face became cloudy.  “I’m mad at you.”

Kyle picked up the clipboard.  “I figured that.”  He thumbed through the forms.  There were a few that were marked “U.S. Army” in the back with titles like “EXPERIMENTAL SIDE-EFFECTS DISCLAIMER” and “OFFSPRING DEFORMITY RELEASE.”  On the bottom was a form titled “PERMISSION FOR TRANSFER TO WALTER REED ARMY HOSPITAL.”  He wondered if she had read them all.

“I had no choice, Brie,” he said, looking back at her.  “I had to tell them where the spring was.”  Making small, stealthy movements that he hoped wouldn’t be caught by a camera, he picked up the pen and wrote in the margin of the top form, I didn’t tell them where it really was.  Don’t say a word—the room might be bugged.  Just play along.

“You really have to sign these forms,” he said, holding the clipboard out so she could see what he had written.

“I’m not going to sign...”  Her voice faded momentarily as she read the message.  “...those forms, Kyle.”

“Why are you so stubborn?” he said, as he scratched out another message.  He thrust the clip board at her.  “You have to sign, Brie!”

I have a plan to get you out of here, he had written.

She nodded, then looked like she didn’t know what to say.  “I want the water!” she blurted out.  It sounded melodramatic, even to Kyle.

“Well, you have to sign these forms to get it.”  He looked back at the clipboard and touched the pen to the paper, quickly writing:

 Say that you have to talk with Sister Mary Louise before you decide.

Briana bit her thumbnail.  “I really need to talk to Sister Mary Louise, before I decide,” she said, sounding even more melodramatic than she had before.

She was no actress—Kyle knew he had to wrap this up quickly.

“Do you want me to get Sister Mary Louise for you?” Kyle said.

“Yes.”

“All right,” he said.  He got up and kissed her again.  He slipped the release form he had written the message on into his pocket and put the clipboard and pen back down.

Opening the door, he smiled briefly at the MP and saw Brains emerging from a door down the hall.  They both went back out into the waiting area.

“Well?” Brains said.

“She wants to talk to a nun first.”

“A nun?” he said, sounding surprised.

“Yeah.  She’s kind of religious.  She was raised Catholic.”

“Oh,” Brains said.  If he had been eavesdropping, he was doing a good acting job.  “What nun?”

“Sister Mary Louise.  She’s Brie’s half-cousin, or something.  They’re real close.”

“Where does she live?”

“At a convent downtown.”  Kyle paused.  “I can go there now and get her, if you want me to.”

Brains glanced at his watch.  For an instant, Kyle thought he saw a flicker of suspicion cross the man’s middle-aged face.  “Yes,” he said, “that would be helpful.  I’ve got a lot of things to do.”

Yeah, Kyle thought.  Like maybe taking a little run over to the lake to see how your scuba-diving operation is coming along.

Brains turned to the MP  “He’ll be back with a nun, Sister...”  He turned back toward Kyle.  “What was her name?”

“Mary Louise,” the MP answered.

“Right.  She has my permission to see the girl.”

Next Part =>