“I tried to hold my own without crossing the line,” she said. “Raymond told me…,” she said, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye.
“I know. It’s hard. Sarah I am depending on you to hold that department together. I know it will cause a horrible ripple in productivity, but it can’t remain that way for long. Our enemies won’t take a holiday,” he said.
“I agree. I appreciate your confidence in my leadership and I will work to the best of my ability,” she replied.
“That’s all I could ask and I know you will get the job done,” he said, “The announcement will be made after we release the news of Raymond’s death. It will become official at that time,” Sampson said.
“Yes sir. I will say nothing until I am told to do so.”
“Thank you Sarah. I am truly sorry for your loss as well as mine. He was a great friend to both of us.”
Somehow she had managed not to cry all the way back to her office, but once inside, she closed the door and the tears started to flow. She sobbed quietly until she could cry no more. Poor Raymond. He had been so excited about the new challenge he was facing and now he was dead. What a waste of talent and of a good person, she thought.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
Angie noticed that a security person was hovering around almost constantly. It was apparent that they were keeping an eye on her. It would have bothered her less if they had tried to be a little less obvious. It was like they were challenging her to do something so they could pounce on her. It was so strange. She had always gotten along with everyone. They had all been patients at one time or another. It was like she had suddenly become the enemy. What the hell was going on around here, she wondered? She realized that General Devin had gone over the deep end and was extremely dangerous.
A break in the treatment of patients and flu shots gave her a moment to put a plan into action. She called the S-4 facility and asked to speak with Dr. Yurris.
“Doctor Yurris.”
“Hi doctor. This is Angie from the infirmary.”
“Hi Angie. How are you?”
“The question is how are you? How are your fingers doing?”
“Sore as all get out but I’m taking the pain pills and they help a great deal. It’s only when I do something stupid that it really hurts. Like eating, sleeping, breathing. That kind of stuff,” she said, laughing.
“Well, I called because you need to come by if you want to save those nails. We need to drain the blood out from under them. If you don’t, not only will you lose them, but they will never grow back right,” she said, exaggerating the seriousness.
“Well, I don’t know. It is hard to find the time to get clear back to the main base,” Lynn said.
“It’s up to you but I think you are creating some potential long term problems, not to mention that it will take longer to heal. I just wanted to make the offer. It’s your call,” she said, trying not to sound like she was begging her to come.
“Maybe I should. How long are you there at the infirmary?”
“I usually leave around 6:00 p.m.,” Angie told her.
“I’ll tell you what. If we are at a breaking point before then, I’ll have someone run me over so you can drill a hole in them. If I don’t make it over, it’s because we were at a critical point and I just couldn’t get away,” Lynn said.
“Whatever. You know where I am. Just be very careful, it wouldn’t take much to really cause you some serious long term damage,” she said nonchalantly.
Nothing was ever easy, Angie thought. She wasn’t sure if anyone was listening in, but considering the attention she was getting, she wasn’t about to take that chance.
The rest of the day seemed to drag by. Other than the security guard and an occasional person dropping in for a flu shot, it was as dull as it could possibly be. It was going on 5:45 p.m. and she decided that Dr. Yurris was not going to show up.
She started to close up shop and head home. She was headed toward the door when she saw a white Cherokee pull up out front. She could see Dr. Yurris in the front seat.
“Sorry, I hope I’m not keeping you,” Lynn said when she came in.
The security guard was with her.
“No problem. I glad you decided to have me take a look at those.”
“Well, nails are important. I may be a scientist but like you said, I’m still a woman,” she said chuckling.
“By golly, if they are important to you, they are important to me. Let’s just see what we can do about saving them,” said.
Lynn sat down on a stool and Angie unwrapped them and took a look.
“Still terribly sore I would imagine.”
“Only when I breathe.”
“Yes. I can sympathize with that.”
The guard had maneuvered to get a look at her fingers. Angie noticed it and assumed he was to report back if the injury was real. She would give the bastard something to report.
“They are healing, but slowly. The blood is building up under those nails. That’s why you feel that throbbing. We need to release the pressure under them or they are going to continue to hurt and you will eventually lose them. Once the pressure is relieved, they will heal better and a lot of the pain will subside,” Angie told her.
“I’m all for that. It’s hard to do much with them like they are.”
“Now, I want to be truthful up front. It is going to hurt when I press the blood out but once that’s done I promise it will feel a hundred times better.”
“Just give me a stick to bite on,” Lynn joked.
“You ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be,” Lynn said.
“I’m going to heat up this paper clip I’ve straightened out. Then I will touch it to the back part of your nail. It will poke a hole in the nail, and when I press on it, the blood will come out and the pain will subside considerably.”
“What about when it burns through the nail?”
“Hey, trust me, I’m a professional. Maybe not a rocket scientist like you, but I’ve done this a hundred times. That part won’t bother you at all,” Angie assured her.
“Let’s do this before I chicken out.”
Angie held a flame to the bottom of the wire until it was red hot.
“Hey, why don’t you make yourself useful instead of just lurking around,” she said to the guard.
He shot her a dirty look.
“What do you want?”
“I want you to hold her hand steady. She can’t move when I place this wire on her fingernail. Most people want to jerk away,” she said.
He reluctantly placed his hands around Lynn’s wrist.
“Here we go. You can close your eyes.”
“Don’t worry, I intend to,” Lynn replied.
Angie touched the hot wire to her nail and it quickly went through the layers and blood started to ooze out.
“Hold her,” she said to the guard as she continued pressing down on her finger.
Blood squirted out of the opening and sprayed on the guard’s uniform.
“Ouch. Damn. Ohhhh. Golly that hurts,” Lynn said.
“Ah shit,” the guard said, “You got it all over my uniform.”
“Sorry. You never know how it’s going to come out. Sometimes it just sort of oozes and other times, well you saw what can happen.”
“Crap,” he said.
“Go put some cold water on it. If you don’t, it will set in and it will never come out. Use the sink over there, and don’t spare the cold water. Make sure it’s as cold as it gets,” Angie said.
When he walked over to the sink to try and get the blood off his shirt. Angie quickly showed Lynn the note wrapped around a badge. She slipped it into Lynn’s pocket and shook her head to say nothing. Lynn had a puzzled look but knew better than to say anything.