WINDOW OF TIME (21 page)

~*~

“My bag—” Sunny took the medical kit from Dusty and knelt in front of Lucy. After she found her stethoscope, she sat Lucy forward, pulled her shirt up, and pressed the chest piece against her back. “Breathe deeply.”

“I have the flu, Sunny—”

“Shush now,” Sunny said as she listened to Lucy’s breathing like she’d done a dozen times since the fever had first appeared. It didn’t take but a few moments to hear a slight change. “I was afraid of that.”

“What is it?” Johnny asked.

Sunny turned her gaze from the apprehensive, firefighter boyfriend to the irritated secret agent under her care. “I can’t be sure without a chest x-ray, but I think you have pneumonia.”

“No,” Lucy snapped. “I don’t have time for this.”

Sunny tossed the stethoscope into her bag. “You don’t get a choice about it, but I do have something that will help.”

“What? A magic wand?” Lucy asked with her hand over her eyes.

“No.” Sunny dug to the bottom of her bag and took out a syringe and a brown vial of liquid. “A mega-dose of antibiotic.” She then found a plastic, amber prescription bottle. “I’ll give you an injection, and then you’ll take one of these once a day for five days, and you’ll be …” Sunny chuckled and said, “Fine.”

She passed the prescription bottle to Johnny and then used a pair of blunt-nosed scissors to cut a slit in Lucy’s sleeve at her shoulder. After she cleansed the small patch of her skin with an alcohol pad, she gave her the injection. “I also want to give you some Thiamin, or B-1 vitamin.” Sunny took off the safety cap of a different syringe and injected into the same sanitized slit.

“How long will it take for me to start feeling better?” Lucy leaned into Johnny.

Sunny lifted Lucy’s wrist and took her pulse. “You should be feeling your medication right about … now.”

Lucy slumped heavily against Johnny.

“Lu? Lucy!” Johnny leaned her back into her seat. Her eyes were closed and her face relaxed. “What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s asleep,” Sunny said as she replaced her equipment in her bag. “Please carry her to her bunk and make sure she’s comfortable.”

“What do you mean she’s asleep?” Johnny pressed his fingers to Lucy’s carotid artery.

“I gave her a sedative.”

“You said she had pneumonia. Did you lie?” Johnny asked, his voice rising in concern.

Dusty stood up next to Sunny. “Why did you do that?”

“My patient does have pneumonia. Right now it’s not bad, but if she doesn’t get the rest she needs then she’ll get sicker and she can die.” Sunny glared at Dusty. “I gave her an antibiotic, like I said. I did what I think was best for Lucy, and I don’t need anyone to question my decisions. Not even you.”

“What about the mission?” Adam asked. “She was sent here for a reason, and it wasn’t to take a nap.”

“I know that,” Sunny said. “I’m going in her place.”

“What?” Dusty grabbed her arm. “You’re not an operative.”

“I know what I am,” Sunny said as she pulled out of his grasp. “Look, Lucy told me enough about her assignment—in case something happened to her and we needed to call in Steele Reinforcements as backup.” She reached into Lucy’s pants pocket and pulled out the map. “But I don’t plan on infiltrating the compound, just doing some surveillance—take a few pictures from outside the fence for her.” She looked at Adam. “And Agent Sanderson’s coming with me. You’ve had field experience. Right?”

Adam lifted his shoulders. “It’s been years, doctor.”

Motioning toward the seats with her arm, she said, “I have a good digital camera. When we get back, Lucy should be coming around. If she thinks it’s all she needs to complete her mission, then we can take off. We have our sat phones in case you need anything while we’re gone.”

Rocky stepped into the main cabin. “I don’t think Lucy is going to be very forgiving when she wakes up. In fact, I think she’s going to be mad as hell.”

Sunny stood between the seats and watched Johnny carry Lucy down the aisle to the Murphy bed. “Yes, I thought about that too.”

“And yet you still made your choice of slipping her a Mickey?” Rocky asked. Grinning he shook his head. “Either you’re very brave … or very foolish.”

Sunny hoisted a backpack by its strap. “Sometimes it’s only a fine line between the two, Captain Sizemore.”

“Jim, there’s activity.”

He walked back over to the monitor and leaned over Kate’s shoulder, watching the plane’s narrow door fall forward. A big man wearing black descend the steps. “Who is that?”

She squinted at the screen. “Uh—” Kate sighed loudly. “That’s Dusty Rhodes. He’s an LA firefighter who came into the agency yesterday with Lucy and Sunny.”

“What’s he doing there?” Jim asked, raising his voice at the screen.

“He, um, he seems to be helping Dr. Pettigrew down the steps,” Junie said a little sarcastically.

“What’s she doing there? And where’s Agent James?” Jim watched the two face each other, holding hands. Another man dressed in khakis and a dark t-shirt came down the steps. Another man dressed in black followed him. “Who’s that behind Agent Sanderson?”

Kate sighed again. “That would be Johnny Cartwright, Lucy’s boyfriend.”

Jim slammed his fist against the counter. “What’s going on? Where did they come from? Why are they there?”

“Calm down, Jim,” Junie said with her hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t you call Lucy and just ask what her plans are?”

He shook his head. “I can’t. Then she’ll know we’re watching her.”

“So what?” Junie leaned closer and whispered loudly enough for Kate to hear also. “We’re spies, remember?”

“Not yet.” Jim tapped a few keys and adjusted the satellite’s view and watched as Dusty and Johnny climbed back aboard the plane while the doctor and pilot walked away. “I’ll know when to break our surveillance, but right now isn’t that time. We’ll follow Sanderson and Pettigrew to see what Lucy sent them to do.”

~*~

“It’ll take a moment to push-start it,” Adam said as he stood next to the motorcycle.

The small settlement Sunny and Adam had walked to had several semi-modern buildings, two decent looking houses facing the ocean, and no cars that they could see. But it did have several two-wheeled cycles in various states of disrepair. Adam found the best looking bike and rolled it down the road.

“Hurry up!” Sunny removed one of her tennis shoes and swept the dirt off from the bottom of her foot. Before they had left the plane, she had changed from her black battle dress uniform into those a tourist might wear in an effort to blend into the background. Adam had also.

“Cool your jets, doctor. I’m doing my best, but this isn’t like turning a key.”

“Is there gas in it?”

“I checked that first.”

“Oh.”

Adam asked, “Have you ridden a motorcycle or scooter before?”

Sunny shook her head.

Adam grinned. “Then you get to push.”

“What? I thought you could start it?”

“I will. I’m going to pop the clutch.”

“Huh?”

Adam straddled the bike, pulled in the clutch lever on the left handlebar, and toed it through all the gears. “Okay, now this is a fairly flat length of road. I need a good push to get the wheels turning, so when I let out the clutch, the engine should start.” He caught the lost look in her eyes. “The ignition switch is missing, so I can safely assume the owner of this fine piece of machinery starts it this way as a rule.”

Sunny tugged her shoe back on and then placed her hands on the back edge of the seat.

“Now, start pushing.” Adam lifted his feet as Sunny used everything she had to push a man who outweighed her by fifty pounds on a bike down a dirt road. Level or not, it wasn’t an easy task, yet a hundred feet or so later after a sudden lurch and a loud bark, the motorcycle whined like, well … a motorcycle.

Adam’s smile grew wide. “Get on before it runs out of gas.”

Jumping on back, Sunny grabbed him around his waist and said in a rush, “I thought you said you checked for gas.”

“I did. I just didn’t say how much there was,” Adam said, laughing. “Hold on, Doc. It’s been a while since I’ve flown on two wheels.”

The disorienting sensations were similar to airsickness. The wheels touched the road, but at times they skidded sideways until Sanderson regained control, and all Sunny could do was keep her face pressed against his back and wait until he found the turnoff. The two miles went by in a nauseating blur. When he stopped the bike, she lifted her head and took a deep breath of dusty air. “Where’s the road?”

“I passed it. Let me see that map again.”

Sliding the backpack from her shoulders, she asked, “Why did you pass it?”

“Agent Pettigrew, I assume you’ve had some field experience?”

She took the map she stole from Lucy’s pocket and gave it to Adam. “Yes, of course. I was a field medic for the first part of my career. Why?”

“Did you actually go on any missions as an agent, or did you stay in the background and treat the agents who were injured on the job?”

“I guess it depends on your definition of what a mission is.” After taking a quick drink from her water bottle, she said, “Like I said before, I don’t plan on going beyond the fence to take any pictures.”

“That’s good, but we’re not going to ride up to the front gate on a noisy motorcycle. It looks like the compound is only a half mile inland. I think we should walk from here.”

“All right.” Sunny slid off the back of the bike and took another drink of water, watching Adam hide the small motorcycle off the road behind a bushy palm tree. The dead palm fronds draping down spread wide enough to conceal it where only the back end of the tire could be seen. Holding out the bottle of water to Adam, she said, “We should get moving then.”

Adam took the bottle. “Yeah, but we probably should stay on the road to avoid the snakes.”

Sunny’s stare flew to the ground around her feet. “Snakes?”

“Yeah, the island is polluted with them.” Adam took a big swig of water.

“Oh, crap,” she cried, standing up on her toes. Then she heard Adam laughing. Flashing her stare up at him, she saw the water running down his chin. “Are you serious? Are there really snakes or are you trying to scare me?”

Adam wiped his face with the back of his arm. “Oh, there are snakes, but they aren’t poisonous, just a nuisance.”

Sunny backhanded him across his stomach. He didn’t flinch, but her hand stung from the impact. She picked up her backpack and strode down the dirt road.

“But you do have to watch out for the poisonous sticks,” Adam said, running to catch up.

“Yeah, right. I believe that.”

Adam grabbed her hand.

“What are you doing?” Sunny tried to pull out of his grasp.

“Look, if anybody comes down this road and sees us walking, they’ll assume we’re just lost if we look like a couple.”

Sunny yanked her hand away. “I’ll listen for an engine.” He laughed again. “What’s a poisonous stick? Or did you make that up?”

“No, I’m serious about that.” He pointed off to the side of the road. “In between the palm trees there are plants that most people are allergic to if you rub up against them.” He ran his hand up her bare arm. “You probably should have kept your long sleeves on.”

“I’ll take my chances.” They came upon the turnoff leading into the interior of the island. The road narrowed and became rougher, but it didn’t seem like such a hardship until Adam changed their plans again.

“We need to get off the road now.” Adam cut between to palm trees and headed south.

“Why?” Sunny asked without following him.

“Come on,
Agent
Pettigrew.”

Sunny heard the sarcasm in his use of the term
agent
. Not wanting to prove Adam right, that she didn’t belong there, that she really was only a doctor, she carefully stepped off the road and into the dense brush of the desert-like landscape. Holding her arms close over her chest, Sunny kept her sights on the ground as she walked—until she ran into Adam. He may not have been laughing out loud, but she’d have liked to wipe the smile from his smirking face.

“The compound should be up here.” He turned, pointing over his shoulder. “We need to be quiet now.”

“I am quiet,” Sunny slipped off the backpack. The only vital piece of equipment she brought lay inside: her personal digital camera. She knew every aspect of her Sony, and she could change settings in the dark if necessary. It would take the best pictures in the daylight that they had left, and if needed, it had infrared for after the sun went down.

“Let me hold that.” Adam lifted her backpack from the ground. “We don’t want an errant snake crawling inside when we aren’t looking, now do we?”

“Oh, crap,” Sunny whispered, looking down at her feet. “I wish I wore my boots.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll suck out any poison it bites into you.”

She froze. “I thought you said they weren’t poisonous.”