Dah, dah, dah, dan, dah, dump!
The director frowned.
'Sorry,' he said. He reached for the virgil to shut it off, but saw
Jay's face on the tiny screen. If Gridley knew he was here, he
wouldn't have bothered him if it wasn't important.
'Jay?'
'Looks like John Howard is gonna make it. Boss.'
'Thank God!'
'Already sent a few prayers in His direction.'
'I appreciate the call, Jay,' Michaels said. He discommed, then looked
at the director.
'Howard is going to pull through.'
'That's good news, at least. Why don't you see if you can't add to
it?'
Tuesday, June 14th Anchorage, Alaska
When John Howard awoke, the first face he saw belonged to Sergeant
Julio Fernandez. With consciousness came the awareness that he was in
a bed, in a hospital room, and that his right side and belly hurt like
hell. He also had a headache, his mouth was dry, and his arm had an IV
tube running into it. His last memory was of passing out in the woods,
and of all the hoopla before that--he knew what had happened. He had
been shot.
'He's awake,' Fernandez said.
'How bad?' Howard asked.
'John!' That was Nadine.
He turned his head slightly--that was a good sign, he could do that.
'Hey, babe. Julio?'
'You're shy a loop of small intestine, but you won't have to poop into
a bag for the rest of your life or any 1
thing. Won't even have a bullet scar in the front, they took that out
when they went in to fix your plumbing, but you will have one in the
back--round went right through, didn't hit anything else worth
mentioning. Missed a kidney by a cun--uh, by a hair.'
Howard nodded.
'Thanks.'
Nadine was there then, and there were tears and hugging.
After which she called him a few names, the least of which was
'stupid.' Man, he was glad to see her.
'Dad?'
'Hey, son.'
Fernandez cranked the bed so Howard could sit up.
Tyrone came over and smiled at him.
Howard said, 'Where's your little friend?'
Tyrone frowned, then saw Howard grin and realized it was a joke.
'She's in the waiting room. I'll go tell her you're okay. They
wouldn't let anybody but family in.'
Howard looked at Fernandez. He shrugged.
'I told them I was your brother. They decided it wasn't worth arguing
about.'
