The Fifth Profession

“Why?” The resident studied him. “Are you in pain?”

“You bet I'm in pain.”

“But where? Your chest? An arm?”

“Everywhere.”

“What?”

“I want…What I need… is a full-body X ray.”

“A full-body…? Why would you…? Describe your symptoms.”

“I ache from head to foot. I can't bear the pain anymore. I have to know what's wrong. Just give me the X rays.”

“But we can't just…”

“I'll pay.”

“We still can't…Does your family doctor know about your pain?”

“I travel a lot. I don't have a family doctor.”

“But without a diagnosis…”

“I said I'm willing to pay.”

“Money's not the issue. We can't give X rays needlessly. If your pain's as severe as you indicate, you'd better come into the ward. Let me examine you.”

“Your name, please,” a young woman said.

Savage turned toward a civilian, who'd replaced the nurse at the counter.

“And the name of your insurance company.”

“I changed my mind,” Savage said.

The resident frowned. “You don't want to be examined?”

Savage shook his head. The resident's suspicious gaze bothered him. “I thought if I asked…My friend here was right. Be calm.”

“But something is wrong with you.”

“You're right about that. The question is what.Don't worry, though. I'll take your advice. I need a family doctor.”

15

The elderly physician, who had a gray mustache, wore suspenders, and didn't mind ordering full-body X rays for anyone willing to pay him five thousand dollars, came out of a door marked TECHNICIANS ONLY. Instead of sending his patients to one of the hospitals, he'd chosen a private facility called the Radiology Clinic. As he crossed the waiting room, Savage, Akira, and Rachel stood.

“Well?” Savage asked.

“The films are excellent. We won't need to take a second set. I've studied them carefully.”

Savage couldn't keep the anxiety out of his voice. “But what did you find?”

“You paid so handsomely to have your pictures taken, why don't you come along and see for yourselves?”

The doctor led them through the door. They quickly entered a dimly lit room. To the right was a counter with cupboards above and below. To the left was a wall upon which a row of X-ray films hung from clips, illuminated by fluorescent lights behind them.

Various skeletal segments were revealed in shades of gray.

“These are yours,” the doctor said, gesturing to Savage. “And these farther over are yours,” he told Akira.

They leaned toward the films. After thirty seconds, Akira shook his head and faced the doctor. “I don't know how to read them.”

“You asked me to determine how well your injuries had mended. My response is, what injuries?”

“Jesus,” Savage said. “I was right.”

“I'm not sure what you mean, but I'm sure of this.” The doctor traced a pencil along bones on the various films. “I'll save you the medical terminology. This is your upper right leg. Your lower. Your left leg, upper and lower. Right ribs. Left ribs. Various views of the skull.”

The doctor shifted toward Akira's X rays and used the pencil to draw attention to the images of his bones as well. “Completely intact. No sign of calcium deposits where the bones would have mended. Why would you tell me that each of you had suffered broken legs, broken arms, broken ribs, and a fractured skull, when none of those injuries obviously ever happened?”

“We thought they did,” Akira said.

“Thought?Traumas that extensive wouldn't leave you in doubt. Your suffering would have been enormous.”

“It was,” Savage said.

He trembled. Rachel gripped his arm.

“Howcould you have suffered?” the doctor asked. “If the injuries didn't occur?”

“That's a damned good question. Believe me, I intend to find out.”

“Well, while you're at it, find out something else,” the doctor said. “I don't like coincidence. Both of you claim identical injuries, though they never occurred. But both of you do have signs of surgery”-he gestured with his pencil toward two X-ray films-“which weren't the result of broken bones.”

“Yes, each of us had our spleen and appendix removed,” Akira said.

“You showed me those scars,” the doctor said. “They're exactly as they should look if those organs were in fact removed. Your X rays aren't detailed enough to verify my conclusion, of course. Only further surgery would prove it. But that's not my point The surgery I'm referring to wasn't on your chests and your lower torsos. It was on your skulls.”

“What?” Savage said.

“Of course. Because of the fractures,” Akira said.

“No.”The doctor kept gesturing toward separate X-ray films. “These tiny circles? One above each left ear? They're unmistakable evidence.”

“Of?”

“Intrusions into the left temporal lobe of each brain.” The doctor pivoted toward Savage, then Akira. “And neither of you is aware of the surgery?”

Savage hesitated.

“I asked you a question.”

“No,” Savage said, “we weren't aware.”

“That's hard to believe.”

“It wouldn't be if you'd been with us for the past few days. Please.” Savage swallowed bile. “Help us.”

“How? I've done what I could.”

“No, where do we go? Who do we ask from here?”

“All I can tell you”-the doctor turned to the films-“is the surgeon was a genius. I'm merely a Pennsylvania general practitioner about to retire. But I haven't ignored the latest medical texts. And I know of nothing this sophisticated. The juncture between detached skull segments and each skull itself is almost perfectly disguised. The procedure was magnificent. Where do you go from here? Where money buys superstars. The best neurosurgeons at the biggest institutions.”

JAMAIS VU