Of Blood and Angels (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 3) (12 page)

Chapter 9

Shelly

Dear Shelly,

Thank you and the Admiral for intervening
on my behalf.  It turns out that I am only getting a reprimand for using an
unauthorized weapon.  Command is not going to charge me with murder for killing
Prince Akan.  One of the Admirals even suggested I should get a medal for it. 
What a relief!  We're all doing better now although I'm stuck in this nasty,
itchy cast for at least six more weeks.  Senya is heading back to Takira-hahr
tomorrow morning when the spaceplane meets us at the next base.  He's feeling
much better.  In fact, too much better.  I'm afraid he'll be out doing what he
was doing that got him into this mess in the first place. 

Please let Thad know he has been my rock
through all this and I owe him big time.

Love,

KdK

Dear Katie,

I'm so glad you are feeling better and
everything has worked out.  I see that Ron is back in the office but I'm not
sure he is feeling well.  He seems to be seriously disturbed by something and
we are all watching him anxiously.  He's cancelled all patient appointments for
the time being even though Thad says he's working around the clock in the
corporate offices.  Thad doesn't know what is taking so much of his time
though.  Thad also wants to know if you're going to be at the board meeting at
the end of the month.  He thinks if you possibly can, you should.  Especially,
if Ron is going to be acting as weird as he has been lately.  We don't want the
Board of Directors scared away.

Shelly

Message sent scrambled and security coded
from an internet kiosk on Spacebase 43
.

Dear Shelly,

Please don't share this email with anyone,
especially Admiral Tim. 

While Senya was ill, I made a very bad
decision.  The Alliance was holding the Mishnese contingent that had
accompanied Akan to Spacebase 37 and were responsible for the destruction
there.  I told Berkan to ransom the contingent with SdK-Rehnor funds.  The
Mishnese government doesn't have any money and SdK does, so I felt it was the
right thing to do.  I didn't think it fair that the Allied taxpayer should have
to pay to imprison these guys for the rest of their lives especially when they
were only following Akan's orders.  I also thought it would demonstrate that
Senya was very generous and forgiving.

Berkan and Thad both disagreed with me on
this and they insisted that Senya would not allow it but I pulled rank on both
of them which is the first and last time I am ever going to do that because
they were right.  When Senya found out about this, he was livid.  He was beyond
livid.  I've never seen him like that.

The money I used was supposed to go to
some big project the Rehnorian company was working on and would have really
helped the economy in Mishnah which is seriously bad.  I don't know how many
people we would have employed, but it would have been a lot and in addition,
there would have been thousands of collateral jobs generated too.  I guess I'm
personally responsible for the continuation of the Mishnese recession.

To make matters worse, Senya said that the
Allied government is corrupt and all the ransom money isn't going to go to the
survivors and victims of the attack but squandered by the politicians, so all I
did was pay them off, not help anybody.

He yelled at me to stay out of SdK
business and Rehnorian government business and then he left and I haven't
spoken to him since.

K.

“I'm sorry, Dr. Ron isn't seeing any
patients right now,” I told Mrs. Griggs.  “Dr. Jason can see you on Tuesday.”

“I want my husband to see Dr. de Kudisha,”
Mrs. Griggs demanded.  “I will pay whatever is necessary.

“It's not a matter of money,” I told her. 
“Your insurance coverage will pay.  How does 2pm on Tuesday sound?”

“With Dr. de Kudisha?”

“No, with Dr. Jason Eckland.”

Mrs. Griggs stomped her high heeled foot
and pursed her expensive plastic lips. 

“What if I gave you a hundred dollars?”
she said.

“Me?” I laughed.  “You're trying to bribe
me for an appointment?”

“If that's what it takes,” she said snippily. 

I was just about to let her have it.  I
was thinking up my best retort when lo and behold the door opened and the devil
himself walked through.

“Dr. de Kudisha!” Mrs. Griggs declared to
which he walked right past her as if she didn't exist and disappeared into his
own office.

“He's busy,” I said haughtily. 

She turned on heel and slammed the door as
she left.

“What was that?” Janet asked, coming out
of an exam room with some files. 

“Nothing,” I replied, looking at Ron's
closed door.  I had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.  Janet called
another patient in to see Jason and I typed up a few insurance claims that I
had waiting on my stack.  Ron's door stayed closed.  I wanted to know what was
going on with Katie.  I rang him.  He didn’t answer.  Janet came back with more
files.

“What's the matter?” she asked.  “You're
looking nervous.”

“I'm going to see if Ron's alright,” I
said. 

“You think he's not?”

“Maybe.”  I knocked on his office door. 
No answer.  I looked back at Janet.  She shrugged.  I opened the door and went
in.  At first I didn’t see him.  He was in the corner by the window, behind the
desk.  He was sitting on the floor, holding his head.  It reminded me of the
first time I saw him in the RSI hospital room.

“Are you okay, honey?” I said cautiously,
realizing of course that he was not okay.  “Do you have a migraine?  Can I get
you anything?  Do you want Jason or Donak to come here?”

“No.”

I went and squatted down in front of him
just as I did that first time.

“Senya,” I said.  “Let me help you.  Tell
me what you need.”

He didn’t respond.  I could see his hands
were trembling.  Rising to my feet, I went back to the door and told Janet to
ring Donak.  Then I shut the door and went to sit down beside him.

“My son Larry would never tell me
anything,” I said.  “Thad tells me every thought he ever has but Larry would
always clam up and suffer by himself.  I learned early on with Larry that all I
could do was sit patiently next to him and wait until he was ready to tell me
what was wrong.  Sometimes it took hours.  Sometimes it took days but
eventually he would open up and then I would help him get through it.  That's
kind of what a mother does.”

“You cannot help me.”

“Yes I can.  Oh, I know you've got major
big problems like I can't even imagine but sometimes it helps to tell someone
who will listen, someone who cares about you, who even though she didn't give
birth to you loves you like a mother anyway.”

He turned his gaze on me.  His eyes were
exceptionally bright.  I wondered why Donak was taking so long.

“You love me?”

“Well of course I do, sweetheart.  You and
Katie are our family.  Tim and I are so very proud of the both of you.”

“Tim does not like me.”  He was trembling
as if he had a fever.

“Tim adores Katie,” I laughed.  “He
doesn't like you because you aren’t good enough for her.  Nobody would be good
enough for her.  Not even a future king.”  I winked though he didn’t see it.

His hands were shaking violently now and
his teeth were chattering.  I grabbed one hand and tried to hold on.

“I waited too long again,” he started to
sway, “I am sorry, Shelly.”

“What are you sorry about, honey?”  It was
all I could do to hold onto his hand.  “It's not your fault.”

“I cannot understand how to stop this,” he
stuttered through his teeth.

“You'll figure it out, sweetheart.  I know
you will.”

“No,” he said and then opened his mouth
but all that came out was a strange moan.  The light flashed from his eyes,
blinding me for a moment and then it went dim as his eyes rolled back in his
head.

“Janet!” I screamed as his whole body
convulsed.  “Janet!  Janet!”

Janet and Jason ran in and immediately,
Janet pulled me away.

“Stay over there!” she ordered and threw
herself on top of Ron to try and pin his limbs down while Jason tried to hold
his head down and shove a mouth guard in so he wouldn’t bite off his tongue. 

“What the hell is that?” I cried as a
horrible roaring noise sounded outside.  Several patients who were in the
waiting and exam rooms peeked in through the door.

“Get out!” I shouted and was about to slam
the door when Kenak and Donak came racing through.

“What is that noise?” I asked them.

Donak was already kneeling next to Jason
as Kenak ran to the window.

“It's dark, terribly dark,” he cried and
pointed at the sky.

“Oh lord!” I gasped at the mass of
swirling yellow, red and grey clouds.  “It's a tornado!”

“More than one,” Kenak pointed, “oh dear,
oh dear, what do we do about such a thing?”

The roaring was coming closer and it
sounded like it was heading straight for us.  Kenak and I watched in horror as
trees were ripped from the ground, speeders were picked up, tossed into the
swirling masses and then propelled outward across the parking lot.  The sign
from atop one of the buildings was in the twisting heap as well as street lamps
and park benches. 

“Hold him still!” Donak called and for a
moment, I glanced back to see that Donak had started what looked like an IV but
was actually supposed to work the opposite way, drawing blood out instead of
putting fluid in.  Ron was shaking violently and blood was splattering
everywhere.  Donak's needle flopped out.

The first tornado looked like it was
heading right for us.

“Get away from the windows, Kenak,” I
screamed and grabbing his arm, we ran to the back of the office.  The windows
shook and rattled as if a giant monster were outside trying to break them in. 
The tornado passed over us and then another one came.  A speeder crashed
against the window and the glass shattered.  Thankfully, it still held.

“What the hell is going on?” Janet
screamed as a second speeder rammed our window.

“Hold him, Jason!” Donak yelled as another
needle flopped and a river of blood drained on to the carpet.

The patients were pounding on the door,
the vids were ringing and the noise outside was horrific until all of a sudden,
it just stopped.

“He's stopped,” Janet said, lifting
herself off Ron a little ways.  “I think he stopped.”

“He did,” Jason agreed, wiping the sweat
from his eyes.  Kenak went back to the window and looked outside.  The sky was
bright pink and there were odd colored clouds still swirling but they were high
and far away now.

“It's a mess out there,” he said. 

“It's a mess in here,” Janet replied,
sitting back on her heels.  “Shelly, can you go tell the patients to shut up?”

I opened the office door and squeezed
through.  There were four or five hysterical people in the outer office. 

“The storm is over,” I told them.  “Go
home.  We'll ring you to reschedule as soon as we can.”  They filed out just as
Thad came racing in.

“Are you okay, Mom?” he asked, grabbing my
arm and even though I felt like collapsing into his arms, I nodded yes and took
him back to Ron's office.  “Another seizure?”

“Yes,” I said. 

Inside, Ron was now sitting up, leaning
against the wall though his head was sideways.  His eyes were closed and he was
mumbling something.

“Dude, you're on Rozari,” Janet was
saying.  “Speak Rozarian, dude.”

“Are you alright, Sehron?” Donak prodded. 
I saw that the latest IV had fallen out again.

Thad knelt next to Ron, getting blood on
his trousers.  “She's not here,” Thad said.  “She's off in space.  She'll be
home next week, remember?”

“You speak Mishnese, Thad?” Kenak asked
astounded.

“A bit,” Thad replied and turning back to
Ron, said something.

“Ay yah,” Ron responded, along with
something else.

“It's okay, dude,” Thad replied in
English.  “I didn't see any lightning.  It was pretty wild out there though. 
Tornadoes seem to be your weather system of choice these days.”

Ron mumbled again.

“No, I don't think anyone was killed,”
Thad said.  “You wrecked a few speeders.  You want me to drive you home?”

“Ay yah,” Ron sighed.  His eyes were
nearly closed with only a little bit of light escaping.

“Come on, dude, let's get you up.”  Thad
griped him under the arm and Jason took the other one and between the two of
them, they got Ron back on his feet and stumbled out the door.