Chapter 57

FLORIDA, 6:00 A.M. WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 9

Carla walked into the room and gently rubbed the shoulder of her dozing mate as he sat in the bedside chair. When Fred opened his eyes, she smiled and kissed him on his beard-rough cheek. Quietly, she asked, knowing the answer, "Any change?"

Fred sighed as he looked back at the still form on the bed. "She just lies there with the machine breathing for her."

"And Brenda?"

"I think she's as amazed about this as we are. I know it was her idea, but she..." Fred wound down. "She has hardly anything to say."

Carla stood looking for a moment at the girl on the bed, then, to Fred, "Why don't you go to the restroom and freshen up. I'll stay with her while you're gone. After that, there is a large table set up by the nurse's desk that has about everything on it you could ever think of for breakfast. The deputy's sister-in-law is in the right profession; she has a talent for it. Not only is the food good, but the presentation is even better than it was last night. When that tummy of yours is full, I think you should go to the RV, shave, take a shower and get some decent sleep."

Fred was shaking his head as she finished. "I slept some sitting here in the chair. I'll just shave and clean up. I'll be fine."

"Baby, I've spent many nights sitting with Sam before he died. Dozing while sitting up doesn't do anything for you, except maybe put a crick in your neck and make you feel worse. Now get some breakfast and sack out for a while in the RV. I'll be right here and call you if there's any change."

Instead of answering, Fred said, "She's pretty, isn't she? How can someone so young just throw her life away? Why did she ever take that first hit?"

"Go, Baby."

"I will, but I'm going to wait until the doctor makes his rounds. The nurse said he would be here about 6:30."

"Well, go get some of that fabulous food the caterer brought. You'll see the doctor when he comes into the unit. I promise you I'll sit right here and hold her hand just like you're doing."

Fred stood and kissed Carla on the cheek, turning his face away as she tried to kiss him on the mouth. "My breath is terrible," he apologized.

Carla opened her purse. "I brought you a toothbrush and toothpaste. Go use it, then go eat — please."

THE RETREAT:

Shortly after breakfast, with Alesha and Caitlin on the way to work, Jeff walked into the kitchen where his wives were just finishing cleanup. The phone rang as Jeff passed, and he stopped to pick it up. "Matthews' residence. Jeff speaking."

"Good morning, Colonel," General Whitworth said.

Jeff, wondering why the General would call on a non-secure line, almost stumbled with his speech. "Uh, Sir. I think you misspoke there. I'm only a lowly major," he laughed.

"So, Colonel, are you in the habit of correcting your general?"

"Uh, no Sir," Jeff got out, wondering what was going on.

"Colonel, I'm about to..."

UNIDENTIFIED HELICOPTER APPROACHING FROM THE NORTH, the computer announced as the big monitor came on at the end of the kitchen.

The General, having heard the computer, asked, "Who was that?"

"My security system noticed you. That was my computer you heard."

"Not bad," Whitworth said, "Not bad at all. We just topped the mountain, and your system detected us immediately ... Permission to land, Colonel?"

"Uh, certainly, Sir. The helipad lights ... are on," he finished as the computer beat him to the switch. "Looks like we had some snow last night, but as you get closer you can probably see the pad lights through the snow. The pad is on the north side of the building."

"Colonel, I have someone with me who is unable to walk, and I also have my wife with me. I brought several pieces of luggage and some ... equipment. I have personnel with me to move everything, though."

"One vehicle enough?" Jeff asked.

"One of those big SUVs you mentioned to me should do it."

"I'll be there shortly," Jeff said.

Jeff's wives, Kayla and the girls stood at the other end of the kitchen staring, having heard parts of Jeff's end of the conversation. Jeff turned to them.

"We have company. The General has brought his wife and someone who can't walk," Jeff said as he put the phone back in it's charger. Looking at Arlene then, "We need a wheelchair at the top of the steps in the inside garage."

Arlene smiled and ran out the door with Kayla right on her heels.

"Di?"

"I'll take care of the welcoming committee," Diana said. Then under her breath, "Might have been nice to know they were coming."

Jeff went out the kitchen door and jogged hurriedly down the hall. Grabbing a coat, he donned it as he ran down the steps to an Escalade to find Kayla already waiting behind the wheel. Vehicle started, Kayla hit the remote. As soon as the door was clear, she backed out into the snow and headed for the helipad just as the big copter began to slowly descend. As it neared the ground, its rate of descent slowed even more as the pilot blew the fresh snow away with the rotor blast.

When the craft was down, Kayla waited until the rotors had stilled, then moved the Escalade so its right side was close to the copter's stairs that were coming down even as she stopped. Kayla popped the hatch release as Jeff jumped out and opened the right rear door when a sergeant, a corporal and a medic exited the copter, the sergeant carrying a collapsible wheel chair, the corporal with luggage in each hand, and the medic with two small cases.

Whitworth, dressed in civvies, walked carefully down the steps with a woman in his arms, another woman following him. Jeff could barely see the face of the woman Whitworth was carrying, since she was wearing a long coat and had a blanket wrapped around her as well. The other woman, presumably the General's wife, appeared to be around fifty years old and had short, dark brown hair with sprinkles of gray. The heavy coat she was wearing prevented his telling much about her physical build, other than he would guess her height around five feet two inches.

The General's wife nodded to Jeff, but didn't say anything as she hurried around the Escalade and got in the back seat to help situate the woman that Whitworth was carrying. Whitworth carefully sat the woman in the seat and slid in beside her, quickly closing his door. His wife fussed over the woman, rearranging her blanket as the men made another trip to the copter. When they loaded the last item into the back of the Escalade, Jeff sat in the front passenger seat as Kayla pressed the button for the hatch to close. Whitworth slid his window down for a moment. "Sergeant, I'll call when I need you."

"Yes, Sir, General," the sergeant said as all three men saluted. Whitworth gave a typical general's salute, and closed the window.

Kayla had set the heater on high immediately after starting the Escalade in the garage, but the engine was only beginning to warm up a little, and the door had been open. "Let's get..." the General started to say as Kayla dropped the SUV into gear and headed for the back, hurrying to get the obviously sick woman out of the cold.

"That's my wife Ellen sitting behind Lieutenant Fisher. The lady I'm holding is my sister-in-law and my second wife, Barbara," Whitworth said.

"Glad to meet you, Colonel," Ellen said. Barbara didn't acknowledge at all.

"Nice to meet the both of you," Jeff returned, his mind locked on what the General had just said. No wonder he didn't make such a big deal out of my multiple wives. And Kayla knew the General had more than one wife, too, I'll bet. That explains a lot.

"I'll talk to you about things later," the General said gruffly, "but right now we need to get Barbara inside and out of this cold."

"Yes, Sir," Jeff answered, and a moment later as they approached the inside garage, Kayla keyed the remote and the garage door slid back up. All of Jeff's wives, and the new girls were waiting at the top of the stairs, Arlene standing behind a wheelchair.

Whitworth looked at the women. "That's a lot of women, Son."

"Uh, yes Sir, it is," Jeff said, wondering about the "Son," but he had already figured out why the General was here.

The women descended the stairs en masse when Kayla stopped the Escalade and the garage door closed. Kayla popped the hatch of the SUV as some of the women headed for the back of the vehicle to get the luggage and equipment the General had brought. Whitworth started to open his door, but stopped and looked over at Jeff, then quietly said, "I need to get Barbara in bed ASAP. She's in a bad way."

Jeff stepped out of the vehicle and caught Diana's eye. "The lady needs to be in bed just as fast as we can get her there."

"First suite on the left will do for now," Diana quickly responded. "Jennie, you and Melissa hold the doors open for us." Kayla had hurried around the vehicle and opened Whitworth's door. As he carefully stood with the woman in his arms, "This way, General," Diana continued.

At the top of the stairs, Diana asked, "The suite is about a hundred feet down the hall. Do you want to put her in the wheelchair, or continue to carry her?"

"I'm fine. I'll just carry her," Whitworth said as Barbara snuggled her head against his shoulder.

Arlene dashed on ahead to turn down the bed.

A few moments later, Jeff waited in the sitting room of the suite until General Whitworth walked back out of the bedroom. "Ellen, Lieutenant Fisher and your wives are getting Barbara into bed," Whitworth said.

Helen came out of the bedroom. "Jeff, the girls and I are going on to class. No use all of us being in there and maybe disturbing the sick lady."

"Thanks, Baby."

Jeff stood and said to the General. "I imagine you and I need to talk. We can get a cup of coffee and sit in the kitchen, or the living room, or we can use one of the conference rooms, if you want to be a little more formal."

Whitworth glanced toward the door to the bedroom he had just left. Jeff cleared his throat. "Sir, my wives will take care of her. Let's just go have a cup of coffee. Respectfully, Sir, you look like shit."

The General gave a morbid-sounding chuckle. "Thanks, Colonel. That's exactly what I needed to hear."

Jeff fought back a grin and escorted Whitworth out the door. Shortly, they were sitting in the kitchen with coffee in front of them. "Now what brought on the impromptu visit? Is it the sick lady? If so, why didn't you put her in the healing chamber on the ship?"

Jeff noted that there was a slight tremble to the General's hand as he took his first sip of coffee. I'll bet he hasn't had much sleep in the last couple of days. I've never seen him the least bit rattled before. What's going on?

The General looked Jeff in the eye. "Didn't take you long to nail it down, Colonel."

Jeff hesitated with his cup almost to his lips. "And what's with this 'colonel' thing? We both know I'm damned sure not a colonel."

Whitworth grinned at Jeff. "I brought you a set of uniforms with your new insignia on them. The rest are at the base. You were promoted the day you left the base."

"Sir, I..."

"As you are well aware, we're far removed from any regular military outfit. I can do as I fucking well please. When someone else brings me a few million dollars like you did from the Ingles' mission, not to mention a spacecraft, I'll probably promote them, too. Now, that aside, I've come with my hat in hand..."

"The lady?"

"Yeah," Whitworth said, his voice gruff. "As I said, she's my sister-in-law, and ... my second wife. No one knows that she's my wife, though. Everybody at the base thinks she is just my sister-in-law who has been living with us after her husband died ten years ago." The General hesitated, then continued, "I think Fisher suspected; well, I guess she probably figured it out, but I need to keep it that way for everyone else."

Jeff stared at his general. "Again, why not the healing chamber on the ship?"

Whitworth set his cup down with a thump. "The fucking thing won't work. I put her in it myself. The top didn't close; the mist didn't come on. I tried every fucking one of the healers — nothing. My only hope is your healer. Barbara is dying. Leukemia. Fucking Leukemia! She's been in remission for about three years, and we thought we had it licked. Last month it came back — with a vengeance. Nothing the doctors have done appears to even slow it down this time. The doctor told me last night that she might have a week, but could go at any time."

Jeff slid his chair back and stood. "We need to get moving then." Jeff inwardly cringed as Whitworth downed his cup of hot coffee in three gulps, then stood.

The men left the kitchen and walked with powerful strides, side-by-side, down the hallway. Shortly, they entered the bedroom as Diana turned from the bed, "Jeff, she's..."

"I know," he responded as he pulled his collar open and Little One, already alerted by her Prime, flowed out into his hand. The General's jaw muscles twitched and Ellen gasped, putting the back of her hand against her mouth.

"I didn't know they could do that," Whitworth said as he stared at the Healer.

"They can't; she can," Jeff replied as he turned toward the bed.

Sitting on the side of the bed, he smiled as Whitworth's sister-in-law opened her eyes.

"I guess we haven't been properly introduced," Jeff tried to say tactfully while he wondered if the woman even heard the introduction in the SUV. "I'm Jeff Matthews and I sometimes work for your husband. Since you obviously know about the healers and the ship," (Whitworth heard the breath intakes of Jeff's wives and saw Diana's eyes widen at the word "ship," then saw Diana lock her eyes on her husband), "I'm sure you recognize what I have in my hand. Only thing is, she isn't an it. She is far more than just another of the healers." Jeff smiled at the woman, "And today she will heal you from that awful condition you have. She has just told me she recognizes what is wrong with you and is anxious to take care of you. Are you okay with this?"

Barbara reached over and put a shaking hand on Jeff's, her grip so light he barely felt it. "I'm dying anyway; can't hurt," she tried to tease as she struggled to put a smile on her face, her voice barely more than a dry rustling.

Jeff felt a lump form in his throat. His voice suddenly hoarse, he said, "Sleep now. When you wake, you will be fully recovered. I promise." Ellen shivered when the blue beams came on and Barbara closed her eyes.

"I need to put Little One directly on her body..." Jeff started.