forth?”
“Everything is in my legal name.”
“Your legal name. So Donovan Creed—”
“Was my third name.”
“You people are insane,” Nadine said.
“That your professional opinion?”
“Don’t start with me,” she said.
Dr. Howard entered the room and injected something into my IV.
“Did you just give me a sedative?”
“You’ve been through a lot today,” he said.
“You’re at least going to let me try to walk…”
He sighed. “The natural tendency with these things is to try to make up the time you’ve lost right away. But it’s much more complicated than that. Your brain shut down for a reason, and we need to find out what it was, so we can prevent a recurrence. In the meantime, relax, take it easy, and understand you’ve got all the time in the world.”
“That’s easy for you to say.”
“Look, we’re trying to avoid a blood clot here,” he said, “or worse. Don’t worry, I’ve been ordered to get you moving as fast as possible, so your rehab is going to be supervised by the best in the business. You’ve waited this long, what’s another day?”
“You contact them yet?”
“They’re on their way.”
“Okay.” I gave him a mock salute.
Nadine said, “How is it you’re completely lucid after being knocked out with a sedative?”
“I test weapons for the military.”
“So?”
“Sedatives are like candy to me.”
“Wait. You test
“Uh huh.”
“What sort of weapons?”
“Death rays, psychotic drugs, torture devices, live viruses, that sort of thing.”
She gave Lou an exasperated look. “I can’t believe I wasn’t told this before. How do you expect me to do my job if you won’t tell me what I need to know?”
“You’re the psychiatrist,” Lou said. “How would we know what you need to know?”
“To think that fourteen years ago I had a legitimate practice,” she mumbled.
“Why’d you give it up?” I said.
She shook her head. “When your government calls you into service, you tend to believe they can’t save the world without your help.”
“I’ve heard that lecture myself. Many times.”
Chapter 45
“The difference between a good
