Amoeba (The Experiments) (87 page)

A young corporal in dress uniform opened the back door of a black car that stopped in front of the hospital. First his legs then the rest of Jake emerged, looking so official in full uniform. Jake held a huge bouquet of long stem roses, across his arm was a garment bag, and in his free hand another black bag. He looked up at the hospital then to the corporal who saluted him as he shut the door. “Half hour soldier. Just pull around. I’ll be out.”

“Yes, Sir.”

Jake looked at his watch, then moved ahead into the hospital. He walked strongly across the lobby following the directions he had been given to go to the maternity floor to pick up Cal. But where on that floor she was, Jake didn’t know.

Taking the elevator, he ste
pped off and approached the nurse’s counter. “Excuse me, ma’am.”

The nurse behind the counter paus
ed in her paper work to look up. “Can I, uh . . . help you?”

“I’m looking for my wife. She was being checked out by a doctor here. Mrs. Jacob Graison.”

“Oh, yes, she is being seen by Dr. Mason.” The nurse indicated. “Down this corridor, hang a right. Last room on the left.”

“Thank you.” Jake nodded once,
and with his arms full, he proceeded to follow her directions. He paused on his way to get Cal to look in the nursery window at all of the babies, crying and lined up side by side. They were so loud, red faced. Jake winced, then moved down the hall. He could hear Cal’s voice carrying out, saying something about zombies, and Jake knocked once on the partially opened door and walked in.

“Jake.” Cal smiled. She wore a robe,
and her hair was wet. “Look at you.” She looked at him so proudly as he approached. “For me?” She saw the roses.

“For you.” Jake kissed her and handed them to her. He laid the rest of the stuff on the bed.

“What’s that?”

“We
’ll get to it.” Jake walked over to the doctor. “Jake Graison.” He extended his hand to the doctor.

“Dr. Mason. Caldwell had me check out your wife.”

“And?” Jake asked.

“She is doing excellent. Babies are fine. The stress test turned out great. A little
weight gain is needed, but otherwise, she’s good to go.”

“Fantastic.” Jake smiled. “And we will work on the weight gain. Pretty much she’ll do nothing the rest of this pregnancy.”

“I would advise that,” Dr. Mason said. “Multiple pregnancies can take their toll. And we don’t want to chance a premature birth.”

“No, we do not.” Jake nodded.

“Great. I’ll let you be. And I’ll make sure that we get all the information to your doctor back home.” He moved to the door. “Good luck to you Mr. and Mrs. Graison, and good luck to those babies.”

Cal lifted her hand in a wave as the doctor left. “Thanks.” She turned to Jake. “O
kay, what’s in the bags?” Like an excited kid she rushed to peek. “Jake?” Cal looked at the name on the garment bag. “Jake, this is on Rodeo Drive. Did you shop for me?” Cal smiled as she undid the bag.

“A few things,” Jake
said, sitting on the bed and moving the other bag her way. “All the stuff from the island is old now and, well, I told you, I wanted you to be comfortable for this pregnancy. I think, Cal . . . I think I want to pamper you.” He winked.

“Pamper me? Jake, you don’t pamper me.” Cal laughed.

“I do now. At least until you birth our children.”

Cal lifted the two piece black maternity outfit. “This is nice. Did you pick it out?”

“Hell no.” He opened the other bag. “I told the woman your sizes, told her you needed items for a few days, you know, until we can get you home and get you more. I told her all our luggage and accessories were lost. Of course, it set me back, get this . . . eight thousand dollars.”

“Oh my God.” Cal s
hook her head. “But look at it all. Underwear, make up. Jake? Look at these shoes. So feminine.”

“Yes, well
, she said all the clothing she picked is guaranteed to make you feel so good, you won’t feel pregnant.”

Cal ran her hand down her round stomach. “I doubt that.”

“All right, here’s the deal.” Jake took the items from Cal’s hands, reached out and grabbed her hip and slid her in front of him and between his legs. “Get dressed. I got our hotel room. I have to go do the debriefing and a transport is taking me out to Fort Irwin to do that. I should be back at the hotel by, let’s say eight?” He tilted his head. “Then, you, me, and Rickie will have a late dinner. Sound good?”

“Sounds good.” Cal wrapped her arms around his neck. “I’ll get ready.”

“You get ready.” Jake’s hands slipped through the opening of her robe, gripping Cal’s bare back as he pulled her closer to him. He kissed her. “I want to go check on Billy before I go. So pick it up.” He slid his hand down, smacked her backside and caused Cal to shriek.

She pulled away. “I’m hurrying.” She grabbed her things and moved to the bathroom stopping at the door.
“Oh, Jake. It’s good to be back.”

Jake couldn’t agree more. He sat on th
e bed waiting for Cal, and he realized that just like the last experiment had brought new meaning to his life, so had Iso-stasis thirteen in definitely more ways than one, and Cal’s growing body was proof of that.

^^
^^

Greg walked from Billy’s room with Dr. Jefferson and a third man. He handed the third man a stack of papers. “Make sure you file those with the home office right away.”

The man nodded and tucked them in
to a folder he carried.

“Greg.” Dr. Jefferson pointed to the end of the hall. “Look.”

Greg did. Jake and Cal were coming his way. “I almost forgot they could look normal outside of the experiment.”

Jake rolled his eyes as he approached the dastardly pair by Billy’s door. “Look Cal, it’s the corpses.”

Dr. Jefferson greeted them with a smile. “Welcome back. Cal, you look great.”

“Thanks.” Cal smoothed her hand down her outfit. “Jake shopped for me.”

Greg reached out his hand laying it on Cal’s stomach. “I hear the babies are fine. Did you um . . . get to see them?”

“The one. Then the ultrasound machine petered out.” She shrugged. “How’s Billy?”

“Billy’s great.” Greg looked up
at Jake. “Good job out there. Infection is able to be put under control and the amputation is shrinking perfectly.”

“I was worried about that
,” Jake stated.

Dr. Jefferson nodded. “Us
, too. If you hadn’t bandaged it properly and worked the leg like you did, Billy would not have been a viable candidate.”

“Candidate? Candidate for what?” Jake asked.

Dr. Jefferson answered. “Billy’s agreed whole heartedly to volunteer. He just signed the papers. We’re transferring him to Atlanta day after tomorrow, to a clinic we have there. He’s going to be going through a series of experimental surgeries with our bionics division.”

“Now I’ve heard it all.” Jake scoffed. “Excuse me.” He walked into Billy’s room. “Cal.”

Cal hesitated before going in. “Will he be able to walk again?”

Greg held up crossed fingers. “We believe in time with our research, he’ll be able to walk as if he never lost his leg.”

Cal smiled. “Thanks.” She rushed into the room. “Hey!” She called out to Billy who sat up in bed with Jake on one side and Rickie on the other. “I hear you’re gonna be the bionic man.”

“Yeah.” Jake held his hand out. “And what the fuck is up with you agreeing to volunteer for this
?”

Billy, still looking pale
, said weakly, “They said they’ll give me back my leg. Or . . . at least another one that works. I want that, Jake. Wouldn’t you?” He saw neither of them had an answer, and as Cal drew closer, Billy reached out his hand to grab Cal’s. “Guys.” He shifted his eyes between Cal and Jake. “I just wanted to let you know, I wouldn’t have made it off that island alive if it wasn’t for you two.”

“Sarge!” Rickie shrieked out. “Oh! Dude! He made it off the island and he’s gonna live. You know what that means.”

“Rickie.” Jake grumbled his name.

Rickie started to chant in an instigating way. “Billy and Cal, sitting in a tree. M-a-r-r-
i-e-d.”

“Rickie!” Jake blasted him.

Billy snickered “Jake, trust me. I won’t hold you to that deal.”

“Bill
,
trust
me.
I wasn’t going to stick with it. What do you think, I’m nuts? I’m gonna give my wife up?”

“Sarge.” Rickie s
hook his head with a tsk. “Going back on your word, guy. Man, you should keep your deal. I can’t believe you made a death bed promise with no intention of keeping it.”

“Rickie?” Jake raised an eyebrow.

“Yeah?”

“One more word out of you and you don’t stay at the hotel with us tonight.”

Rickie pretended to zip his mouth closed.

Jake shook his head. “I have to go. Cal, I’ll send a car. They’ll take you to the hotel.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Bill
, get better. Rickie?”

“Yeah?”

Jake opened his mouth, shut it, shook his head, and waved his hand at Rickie. “Nothing. See you guys later.”

“Jake
,” Billy called out to him.

Jake stopped. “This is becoming a habit.” He turned around. “Yes
, Billy?”

“Just tell me one thing. Did you bring my boxes back
? I don’t remember.”

“We brought your boxes back
,” Jake said with irritation. “Okay? Now you can break your big story.”

Billy leaned back in the bed and smiled. “Oh I will. I definitely will. The world has a lot to learn about Caldwell and the Iso-Stasis experiment.”

“And you tell them Bill.” Jake looked at him with a closed mouth and left.

Rickie looked at the peaceful expression on Billy’s face as Billy stared at Cal. “So.” He interrupted. “Are you gonna
, like, break the big story guy?”

“Yes
,” Billy answered.

“Can I give you some food-a-
mundo for the Billy thought process?”

“Sure Rickie
, why not.” Billy looked at him.

“Like
, before you break the big, Caldwell is a bad guy story, think about this. Dude, you’re, like, missing a leg, and they’re, like, giving you a new one.” Rickie snickered “You may find yourself walking around with two right feet for the rest for your life.”

Billy’s mouth dropped open, he quickly looked at Cal
, and at the same time they both shook their heads with a ‘Nah.”

“All right.” Rickie tossed his hands up. “But think about how far they go. Look at me
, guy.” Rickie held out his arms, smiled, the tilted his head with a snarling face. And then Rickie growled.

Greg rushed into his own office, casually dressed, Levis and all. He saw Dr. Jefferson sporting similar clothing behind his desk as he rummaged through the papers. “Almost done?” Greg asked. “We have to catch that flight up. You know what Dr. Morrison said. Any day.”

“Yes.” Dr. Jefferson lifted papers with such an awe look on his face. “This is amazing.”

“Isn’t it?”

“The amount of responses to next
the experiment’s funding.” He tossed a letter. “You’ve really done well.”

“I know I did.” Greg’s eyes shifted to the television. “Watching Billy?”

“Um . . .” Dr. Jefferson peered up. “Yes. Actually, a tape of last night’s segment on the experiment. Did you catch it?”

“No, I had, get this . . . a date.”

Dr. Jefferson whistled. “You should see it. Rewind it for a few seconds and catch the end.”

“I will.” Greg grabbed the remote. “And we can bring those papers with us.”

“No need to.” Dr. Jefferson lifted a check. “Let me ask you this. What in the world are you going to do with thirty-seven investors?”

Greg smiled as he pressed play. “I have plans.”

“I bet you do.” Dr. Jefferson dropped the check. “It’s baffling how easily people can be bought.” He turned the chair to see Billy on the television, a lab behind him. “Oh, this is my favorite part. Turn it up.”

Greg did.

Billy moved a little across the shot holding out his hand. “ . . . right here in this lab.” Billy faced the camera. “Medical technologies. New drug development. Fertility manipulation. Valuable stress research that will benefit generations to come. Without Caldwell and the Iso-Stasis experiments to trial and test for a better tomorrow, in this reporter’s opinion, there wouldn’t be a better tomorrow. Until next week, I’m William Griffith.”

Greg shut off the television. “Offers for investments have increased since his series on us started.”

“He certainly has been a great help.” Dr. Jefferson stood up. “He was so adamant about being the journalist who would break us. How in the world did you get him to change his mind?”

“Put it this way. A weekly spot of his own. A book that comes out in six months. A new leg . . .” Greg walked to the door with Dr. Jefferson. “How did you put it
, it’s baffling how easily people can be bought?”