The Agent's Daughter (32 page)

“
Hey sleepy head!” Melina
said as she switched on the light and walked over toward her dad.
Evan twitched and moved his head on the pillow but continued
sleeping.

“
We should wake dad up by
giving him a wedgie,” Travis said as he laughed and pointed his
finger at the obvious opportunity.

Angela gave Travis a smack on the back of
the head, and Melina rolled her eyes. She would never understand
the fascination that middle school boys had with the butt.

Travis feigned a hurt head, staggered over
to the couch, and collapsed.

“
Daddy, wake up,” she said
as she grabbed her dad’s arm and gently tugged on it.

Evan opened his eyes and leaped to his feet,
his fists up ready for a fight.

“
Good morning, Daddy,”
Melina said, standing with her arms crossed in front of
him.

“
Uh … good morning kiddo,”
Evan said as he strained to focus his eyes.

“
Did you sleep well?”
Melina asked.

“
Yeah, I had a decent
night,” he said. “I woke up a lot, but nobody tried to get near
Mom.”

“
Maybe the two agents
posted outside had something to do with that,” Angela laughed,
pointing toward the door. “Have you heard from Arthur this
morning?”

“
He called earlier. He
said that he was going to stop by here later this morning to give
me an update on the progress the chemists were making. He said they
were close. They just had some testing to do.”

“
That sounds encouraging,”
Angela said.

“
You would think. But he
seemed evasive on the phone when I asked him if he were sure the
antidote was going to work. Maybe I am just making something out of
nothing. He does have a lot on his mind.”

“
Ya think,” Angela said.
“The biggest scandal in agency history was exposed last
night.”

“
That’s true. In fact, he
has an emergency meeting with the agency oversight committee this
morning. They want to know the extent of the damage to the agency
from William’s activities.”

“
Oh my,” Angela said,
cringing. “I would not want to be Arthur at that
meeting.”

“
It wasn’t so bad,” Arthur
said, standing in the doorway. “They didn’t use the thumbscrews
this time.”

“
Arthur!” Angela said as
she turned to the doorway.

“
It’s delightful to see
you, Angela,” Arthur said as he stepped forward and gave her a hug.
“You left before I arrived last night, so I didn’t get a chance to
see you. I want to thank you for all you did.”

“
Not a problem, Arthur,”
she said. “Once an agent, always an agent.”

Arthur smiled at her and then looked at
Evan. “Evan, can I talk to you outside.”

“
Sure,” Evan said as a
worried look overtook his face.

Arthur turned and walked back through the
doorway. Evan followed him through the door and then caught up to
him, walking by his side as Arthur continued down the hall.

“
Okay, give me the bad
news,” Evan said. “Are the chemists having problems with the
antidote?”

Arthur looked over at Evan with a puzzled
look. “Heavens no, my boy. The chemists had no problem at all
synthesizing the antidote. William left extraordinarily detailed
instructions on how to make it in his lab notebook. Remember, he
left these instructions in case he was exposed, so it was in his
best interest that the instructions be thorough. The chemists are
in the final stages of testing the antidote on a substitute life
form this morning.”

“
You mean a lab rat,” Evan
said.

“
The chemists prefer to
call them substitute life forms, but yes, a lab rat. They
successfully put a rat to sleep with the nerve agent and then woke
it up with the antidote that they synthesized. When I left, they
were observing it for side effects. If that goes okay, the antidote
should be here sometime this morning.”

“
So what is on your mind?”
Evan asked. “Why did you want to talk to me alone?”

“
Evan, I resigned this
morning as head of the agency,” Arthur said. “After last night’s
debacle, the committee has lost faith in my leadership. Since I was
going to retire soon anyway, I figured I would spare the agency the
embarrassment of having to fire me.”

“
I’m sorry Arthur,” Evan
said, putting his hand on Arthur’s shoulder. “That’s not right.
What happened with William was not your fault.”

“
Maybe, but don’t feel
sorry for me, Evan,” Arthur said, winking. “At least now I’ll have
time for some fishing.”

“
Let me know if you need a
fishing partner,” Evan said.

Arthur smiled. “Now, I want you to know that
I recommended you to the committee as my replacement. I know that
you told me that you weren’t interested, but I still think that you
would do an excellent job.”

“
I don’t know what I want
anymore,” Evan said. “I’ve always been an agent. It is all I know.
But I’m not a young man anymore, and there is something to be said
for staying home. You know, to spend more time with the kids. I
certainly need to reconnect with Laura.”

“
Either way, I wouldn’t
get your hopes up,” Arthur said. “The committee said that they
would take my recommendation into account when they evaluated
potential candidates, but I’m afraid they still have concerns
putting an ex-agent in charge. I’m sorry.”

“
That’s okay, Arthur,”
Evan said. “Thank you for telling me.”

They had walked around the entire floor of
the hospital and now were back at Laura’s room.

“
Mr. Roberts,” said a
voice behind them.

Evan turned around to see Laura’s doctor,
Dr. Johnson approaching them.

“
I’ll see you inside,”
Arthur said as he opened the door to Laura’s room. Evan nodded and
turned back to Dr. Johnson. He reached out his hand as the doctor
approached and they shook hands.

“
Good to see you Dr.
Johnson,” Evan said.

“
Mr. Roberts,” Dr. Johnson
said. “I want to apologize for not figuring out what was wrong with
Laura. We were so sure that she was in a coma we overlooked that
there could be any other explanation for her not to wake
up.”

The agency had not told Dr. Johnson the
truth about what had happened to Laura. That was classified
information. He was told that a psychotic man had poisoned Laura,
which was not far from the truth.

“
That’s okay doctor,” Evan
said. “The man that did this had everybody fooled. Fortunately,
there is an antidote. It should be here any minute.”

“
It’s here now,” Dr.
Johnson said. “I was just paged that a chemist has arrived and is
waiting in Laura’s room. I’m here to administer it.”

“
All right then,” Evan
said. “Let’s go wake up my wife.”

The two of them went into Laura’s room. Evan
walked over and sat on the couch next to Melina.

“
What do you think kiddo?”
Evan said to Melina. “Are you ready to get Mom back?”

“
Dad, I have been waiting
for this moment for a long time,” she said with a giant smile on
her face. “I have missed Mom so much.”

Evan put his arm around her shoulder. “I
know you have kiddo.”

Melina looked over at Dr. Johnson as he
prepared a syringe with the antidote on a tray next to the bed. The
syringe was massive. She had never seen one that large. And it was
filled with a pale blue, opaque liquid.

“
How long will it take to
work?” she asked Evan. “Will she wake up right away?”

“
Arthur said that the
chemists told him that the effect is immediate,” Evan said. “Like
you are being woken up from an anesthetic.”

“
Okay, we’re ready,” Dr.
Johnson said toward Evan.

Evan jumped up and went to Laura’s side.
Melina and Travis went to the foot of the bed and held onto the
railing.

Laura lay motionless on her back. Her eyes
were closed, and her breathing was shallow but steady. Dr. Johnson
turned her arm over palm up and wiped an area of the inner arm with
an alcohol wipe. He grabbed the syringe off the tray and held it
straight up in front of his face. He squeezed it until a minute
ball of the antidote formed on the tip of the needle. Then he
brought the needle down to the spot on Laura’s arm that he had
prepared and plunged it in. When the needle was fully inserted into
her arm, he squeezed the syringe until all of the pale blue liquid
was gone.

“
It’s all in,” Dr. Johnson
said as he pulled the needle from Laura’s arm and stepped
back.

Nobody said a word as everyone scanned up
and down Laura’s body, looking for any indication that she was
going to wake up. Melina never took her eyes off her mom’s
face.

And then Laura moved. Melina saw it
first.

“
Her eyelids!” Melina
cried. “Her eyelids moved.”

Everyone focused on Laura’s eyelids, waiting
for her to move them again.

A gasp went through the room as Laura’s eyes
batted a few times and then slowly opened.

Her head did not move, and Laura’s
expression remained frozen as her eyes began to move to the side.
She stared right at Evan and arched her brow. Her expression
changed to one of confusion and her eyes began to drift around the
bed, pausing to focus on each person present.

Laura’s eyes made their way back to Evan,
and her lips began to move. A dry whisper sound came out of her
mouth.

“
Here, give her some of
this,” Dr. Johnson said, handing Evan a glass of water with a
straw. “Laura hasn’t used her voice in a long time. Her throat will
be a little dry.”

Evan held the glass of water in front of
Laura and put the straw in her mouth. She closed her lips around
it, and he watched as the water level dropped. When it stopped
going down, he drew the glass away.

Then Evan heard the six words that he would
remember for the rest of his life.

Laura leaned her head forward and whispered
to Evan in a gravelly voice, “Your elbow is on my hand.”

Not quite poetry, but they were the first
words she spoke.

“
What did she say, Daddy?”
Melina asked.

Evan stood up fast and looked at Melina. He
had a weird sheepish look on his face. “Um… well...”

Laura smiled at the look on Evan’s face. She
waved to him to lean back down to her. “Evan, help me to sit up,”
she whispered.

Evan reached back behind Laura with both of
his arms, lifted her until she was upright, and bent at the waist.
He grabbed both of her pillows and stuffed them behind her, so she
had something to lean on. She sat back against the pillows and
looked out toward the foot of the bed. Melina and Travis were a
bundle of excited energy, jumping up and down at the foot of the
bed, huge smiles on their faces. Evan had told them to stay back,
so the doctor had enough room to work. But he had forgotten to tell
them that they could move to their mother’s side when the doctor
stepped away.

Laura took care of that. She held out her
arms wide in their direction. “All right, who wants a hug?”

Travis was at her side instantly and was
swallowed up by one of Laura’s arms. Melina arrived a close second
and was corralled by the other arm. Laura took turns kissing the
tops of each of their heads.

“
We missed you so much,
Mom,” Travis said. His face still smashed to Laura’s
chest.

Melina did not talk. Words did not exist to
describe her feelings. She just smiled and held on to her mom.

“
I suppose you are
wondering where you are and why you are here,” Evan
said.

Laura looked up at him and smiled. “Oh, I
know exactly where I am. And what happened. My daughter has kept me
well informed.”

Melina looked up at her mom. “You could hear
what I was saying?”

“
Not all the time. There
would be days that I could hear you like I can hear you now and
other days … well, I just wasn’t awake.”

Evan looked down and covered his face with
one of his hands.

Laura gave him a curious look. “What is the
matter, Evan?”

He got down on one knee, took one of her
hands and looked up at her, a tear making its way down his
cheek.

“
I should have listened to
Melina. All this time, you could have heard what I was saying. I
only visited you for the first time in a long while yesterday. I am
so sorry that I was not here for you-”

Laura put one of her fingers to his lips. “I
was awake when you visited yesterday. I remember every word you
said. I understand what you were going through. How you blamed
yourself for what happened to me. I forgive you.”

Evan jumped to his feet and put his arms
around Laura, his eyes closed with his chin resting on the top of
her head.

“
I love you so much,” he
said, tears now streaming down his face.

After a moment, Evan heard a noise at the
back of the room, and he opened his eyes. He looked around, and his
eyes were drawn to the door. He wiped the tears from his eyes and
saw two men, each wearing a dark suit standing on either side of
the door. He recognized one of the men. He smiled as he gave the
man the standard guy greeting of pointing his finger at him. The
man stood firm, but smiled and nodded his head in recognition.

Evan stood up and turned to Melina and
Travis. “How would you guys like to meet the President?”