Two Days Of A Dream (27 page)

Kelly put her hand on his chest and pushed against him. He backed up a little, very little. Too weak to push anymore, she let her hand drop.

She breathed in deep, trying to clear her head. "I'm awake."
Unfortunately
.

"I was dreaming I was in Iraq and got shot." She sighed. "Obviously, I incorporated the wound into my dream. Other than what I just told you, I don't know what happened." She shrugged and it hurt. She couldn't still be dreaming, not with all the pain rushing back.

She thought again. She was blank. Other than her dream, there was nothing floating or lurking in her memory for Sunday, or Saturday for that matter.

Dr. Reed picked up Kelly's chart. "It's not uncommon for victims of violence to have memory lapses; it's the way the brain protects itself." He wrote quickly, glancing at Kelly from time to time.

That must be it. She couldn't remember because it was so horrible her brain couldn't handle it. Somehow that didn't comfort Kelly at all.

"I'm sorry I'm not more help. I hope you catch the rat that shot me."

The detective closed his notebook. "We're doing what we can, but we don't have anything to go on. If you think of anything, once the morphine is out of your system, call me." He held out his card, and she took it without looking at it.

She couldn't speak for a moment, and then stammered, "Why would someone use Iranian bullets? Wouldn't American bullets be easier to get?"

"Yep." He studied her face for a moment, then sighed. "If you think of anything, anything at all, call me."

Confused, she racked her brain, trying to find some shred of memory from the weekend. Nothing, there was absolutely nothing. Kelly held his card tighter.

"Thanks, doc." Hendricks held out his hand and Reed took it.

"You're welcome, good luck finding this one."

"Thanks, I'm gonna need it." He tucked his notebook in his pocket. "Goodbye, Miss Goins, I'll be back tomorrow to check on you."

"Bye." She watched him turn, feeling the hollow place in her head that had nothing to tell him.

He slipped through the curtain that surrounded her bed and she heard the door swish as he left.

The doctor thumbed through Kelly's chart as she listened to the incessant beeping from the wall of machines that were hooked up to her in some way or another. Her nurse bustled in and checked the tubes and bandages.

Kelly cleared her throat searching for volume. "Tammy, have you found my gown yet?"

"You have a gown missing?" Dr. Reed eyed the scratchy, blue hospital gown—with happy yellow and green ducks—that choked Kelly’s neck.

"Yes, white satin, have you found it?" Kelly looked from doctor to nurse.

Tammy shook her head at Dr. Reed. "No, they haven't."

"Please find my gown, it’s very important. I don't care if they had to cut it to shreds to get it off me. I just want my gown back."

Tammy leaned over and smoothed Kelly's hair. "I talked to the head nurse, and she said she'd ask around."

"Thank you, it’s so important I get it back." Kelly would do anything to have Cap in her dreams again. "Doctor, could you please talk to the other doctors? Maybe one of them saw what was done with it."

He patted Kelly's foot. "Yes, I'll talk to the ER doctors."

"Thank you so much." She closed her eyes and fought back a moan as Tammy rolled her gently to her side to check the bandage on her back.

When done, Tammy rolled her flat again. Kelly repeated her moan and clenched the sheets while the pain subsided.

The doctor flipped her chart closed. "Now, just relax and rest. Getting all anxious over a nightgown isn't going to help your recovery."

Kelly tried to reach for the doctor, but the movement made her wince. "But that gown is everything to me!" She groaned.

Tammy held her down and cooed reassuring nonsense.

The doctor checked her IV where she had tugged it. "Don't worry, we'll find it. Now relax. Breathe deep and let it out slowly." Reed watched the monitor that flashed her suddenly heightened vitals.

Kelly tried hard to follow his orders as he breathed with her. She did manage to slow her breathing and to relax a bit. The doctor went back to writing in the chart while Tammy monitored her and stroked Kelly's arm for reassurance until Kelly was ready to scream. Her thoughts were anything but relaxed.

She had to have the gown back. In her mind she still felt the hot sun and sand from her dream and yearned for the sweat to drip down her back, anything to bring Cap back. Kelly shivered. The room was too cold. But worst of all, she still felt Cap's strong arms holding her tight, his breath on her face as he barked orders and begged Talbit to hurry. He had really seemed concerned for her ... almost like … he cared. She so missed the big, brusque soldier who never existed anywhere but in her mind. She felt him hiding in her subconscious but couldn't find him. Her heart ached all the more.

Then it was quiet, and she could barely make out that the doctor and the calm voice were having a conversation. By now her curiosity had gotten the better of her, and she wanted to tiptoe to the door and eavesdrop. If it hadn't been for the myriad of tubes and the hole in her back, she would have.

She heard the door open, and Dr. Reed popped his head around the curtain. "Kelly, do you feel up to answering some more questions?"

"I don't think I have any answers, but if he wants to ask I can stay awake." Reed turned back. "Oh Doc! Please don't forget."

"I won't forget." The doctor chuckled and held the curtain aside.

In walked a tall, slender military woman with glossy black hair pulled back into a perfect bun. Her dark eyes assessed Kelly. She shifted her hat to her left arm and stuck out her hand to shake Kelly's.

She returned LaMans' strong handshake with one of her own, even with all the tubes that went along. Kelly was back in the real world so she had to act accordingly, not letting the other woman out do her.

LaMans, a pretty woman, was probably in her early forties but not an inch of her out of shape. Not even her make-up was lacking. Looking her over, Kelly thought of how bad she must look, like something the cat coughed up. Kelly didn't even have a comb to smooth out the nest that perched on her head.

LaMans took the doctor by the elbow and turned him around. "This is military business, so I have to talk to her privately, you understand, don't you, Doctor?"

Reed seemed to be taken by LaMans' pretty face but still looked over his shoulder to Kelly. "Well, I'm not sure."

"It's okay, Dr. Reed. I doubt she's here to torture me." Kelly thought of Pendle and shuddered to herself.

"That's right, Doctor, we're just going to talk." She walked him through the curtain. "The doctor's leaving. I want you two to guard the door -" The doctor spoke quietly. "Well, Doctor, we don't want the shooter getting into her room, now do we?"

Kelly hadn't thought of that. The shooter was still out there. He could come back. Her heart raced ahead of her mind and she broke out in a cold sweat.

LaMans close the door and flipped the curtain out of the way. "There, now we're alone." LaMans made a smile as she came to stand by the bed.

"That’s Ms. Goins, and yes, Detective ..." Kelly looked at the card she still clutched. "Detective Hendricks told me."

"Do you know anyone from the Middle East or who has recently returned from there?"

Kelly shook her head. "Not really. There are numerous Middle Easterners who work at Temme International with me but I don't know them very well. "

"Do you know anyone who might want to shoot you?"

It hurt to laugh. "Probably just a dozen or so. Now ask me if I know anyone who would." Kelly took a deep, steadying breath and tried to get comfortable.

LaMans smiled. "I take it you don't work in the mail room."

Kelly snorted. "Not by a long shot."

"What do you think happened?" The tall woman tilted her head to one side, she seemed intent on whatever might be dredged from Kelly’s vacant memory.

"I haven't a clue. All I know is I dreamed I got shot and when I woke I was bleeding."

"What was your dream about?"

Kelly relaxed into the lumpy pillow, with a smile. "It was the greatest dream I've ever had." She sighed like a lovesick teenager. A residual effect from the dream, she was sure.

"Tell me about it."

"I dreamed I was in Iraq with the most interesting man I have ever met. We were in a camp with a bazillion tents and we got shelled. Every time I would put on my special gown my dream would change."

"Special gown?" LaMans perked up.

"Yes, it's the one I bought over eight years ago."

"Do you always have great dreams when you wear it?" The colonel leaned in, resting her hand on Kelly’s pillow, clutching the pillowcase tightly.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it’s somewhere in the hospital, if they haven't disposed of it." Kelly’s words didn’t soothe either of them.

Something in the woman’s eyes or voice sent red flags up in Kelly’s clearing mind. LaMans was up to something; Kelly could feel it. With the cloud lifting from her brain, she was thinking clearer. Of course that meant the pain intensified too.

"What is it you want, Colonel LaMans?"

LaMans stared with narrow eyes for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I'm here to find out how an executive from Lincoln, Nebraska got shot with an Iranian made bullet, a favorite of Iraqi snipers." She leaned toward Kelly, placing her fisted hands on the edge of the mattress. "And how did you get back here so fast?"