Chapter 9: Changes

I heard the voices first. Then, slowly the light crept in, the world changing gradually from black to gray, and then, finally, my eyes fluttered open.

"Docteur, il se reveille."

"Merci. De l'eau, s'il vous plaît. Ah, mon jeune ami ... Non, non. N'essayez pas de vous asseoir. Comment vous sentez-vous?"

Fear gripped me as my surroundings came into focus, and I tried to ask where I was, but all that came out was a croaking sort of cough.

"Ne bougez pas, s'il vous plait." He put a hand on my chest lightly to restrain me. "L'infirmière est en train d'apporter de l'eau."

Once I realized that there were no restraints holding me to the bed, and that there didn't seem to be anyone around but the doctor attending me — and he didn't really strike me as dangerous — I tried to relax and catch my breath.

"About time you woke up," Jamie said. "Relax, these aren't the bad guys."

"I figured that out," I said, "but how did you know?"

"I've been awake watching everything. Not that it did much good; I couldn't so much as lift a finger. Whatever happened, it knocked the shit out of us, and all I could do was watch. On top of that, I can't understand a word they're saying, and I have no idea where we are. So far that's all the bad news. The good news is about ten feet to your left."

Ow! Turning my head hurt like hell! Moving slower, I managed to look, and there was Allison, two beds away with an oxygen tube in her nose and an IV in her arm. Instantly I forgot about my pain and tried to go to her. Just as quickly, my body reminded me that I really shouldn't push it quite so hard. The doctor was also much more forceful in his resistance this time.

"Non! Je sais que vous vous inquiétez mais elle va bien. Le danger est passé et elle dort, ce que vous ferez aussi si vous ne vous contrôlez pas."

"Damn it Jimmy, relax! Do you think I would have said it was good news if she wasn't okay? Now lay the fuck down and behave yourself, or so help me, I'll bubble your ass and handle this myself."

I collapsed back against the bed and said, "Your bedside manner sucks."

The nurse was coming back in with a glass of water and some ice chips.

"Oh yeah, and you're just a dream of a patient."

The doctor took the water and the ice, set the ice on the small table next to the bed, and spoke to the nurse. "Merci. Les rideaux, s'il vous plaît, peut-être qu'un peu de soleil lui fera du bien."

He held the water up for me to sip, pulling it back after I took just a little then returning it once I had swallowed. That first swallow always feels like someone is dragging a ball of barbed wire down your throat, but it gets better quickly. After the third sip, I felt like I could risk speaking again. As I was learning to swallow again, the nurse moved to the window and opened the blinds. Sunlight flooded the room. What time was it? It had been early morning when I went after Allison. Now we were apparently in a hospital, and from my limited perspective it was close to mid-day.

"Thank you doctor," I said. It wasn't much more than a whisper, but it wasn't a croak, and it didn't hurt, so I was happy with it

"Ah, you speak English," the doctor said with a smile; his own English carried more than a slight accent. "That is something at least. How do you feel?"

I thought about it. "Tired mostly," I finally said. "How is ... she?" I had started to say 'my sister, ' but Jamie jumped in and changed the word at the last second.

"She is going to be fine. Her lungs are clear, and there are no signs of permanent damage. The bump on her head was not serious. As for your being tired, that does not surprise me. Swimming in the ocean is tiring enough by yourself; swimming for two is much more difficult. Do you remember how you came to be in the water?"

"Careful hero, I think this is one of those times where the less we know, the fewer questions they will ask."

"Right. Thanks." I cocked my head like I was trying to remember, drawing only a twinge this time. "There was an explosion, and then we were in the water."

The doctor looked surprised, "An explosion, you say, then you were on a boat?"

"Yes."

He turned to the nurse and spoke urgently.

"Téléphonez aux garde-côtes, et prévenez-les qu'il peut y avoir un navire en détresse quelque part près d'ici, dites-leur de rechercher d'autres survivants."

I heard a faint call, "Jimmy?"

"Go!" I told Jamie. "Tell her I'll be there in a minute."

"Has she woken up at all?"

"No, not yet, but we expect her to come around soon. It is a bit surprising that she has slept so long, but not wholly unexpected."

"Where are we? How did we get here?"

"You are in the Mamao Hospital on the Avenue Georges Clemenceau. You were brought in by ambulance after you collapsed on Temea Beach. Apparently, you walked up out of the water with the girl in your arms and passed out. Thankfully, there was the usual compliment of late night couples enjoying the beach. Two of them saw you and summoned assistance, and you were brought here."

"I'm sorry, I'm where?"

"French Polynesia. You know where that is, yes? No? Tahiti, perhaps?"

Tahiti! What the... "How long have I been here? What day is it?"

"Not long," he said. "You were brought in early this morning. It is Saturday, the fourteenth of October."

I needed to get out of there.

I finished the water and set the glass down. "Is there a bathroom nearby?"

"Pardon me? Bathroom? Ah, yes, Les toilettes! Certainly, let me help you." He helped me out of the bed and began leading me across the room.

I was stiff at first, but the pain receded with every step, and as we reached the door to the bathroom I stopped and said, "I got it, thank you."

When he turned and went to check on Allison, I paused to look into the little room, created a copy in dreamspace, and stepped across, letting the door close behind me on its own. I stayed just long enough to heal myself, stepped back across, and assumed the customary position on the porcelain throne. Once I was sure my body wasn't going to fall off when I left, I shifted my awareness back into dreamspace, this time going to the cabana, where Jamie was waiting with Allison.

"Jimmy!" Allison cried, flying into my arms and hugging me. "Jimmy, what's going on? Jamie wouldn't tell me anything."

"It's a long story, and I don't have time to tell you everything. You're in a hospital in Tahiti. Don't ask me how you got there because I'm not really sure myself. Right now I'm there with you, but I won't be for long. As soon as you wake up, ask for a telephone and call Rod; he'll take care of everything from there. Don't tell anyone your real name; use the new ID Rod gave you.

"As to why you're there," I said. "It was Henslith; she grabbed all of you a couple nights ago." I could see the panic in her eyes. "No, it's okay. Mom and dad are safe, and this time Rod's putting you all into hiding for real. Actually, he's handling IDs, and then you're hiding yourselves. I was thinking Hawaii, but here looks good too. Of course, you'd have to learn French ... What's important is that you're safe, but Allison Matthews is dead, got it? Okay, I have to get back before the doctor thinks I fell in and comes looking for me. Jamie can start filling you in on the details. I'll be back soon, I promise. Kiss me."

"Okay, I love you." She kissed me and turned back to start grilling Jamie, and I went back to the bathroom. The next big shock came as I stepped in front of the sink to wash my hands. The face staring back at me wasn't mine. Instead, I found myself staring into the face of my best friend. The last time I had seen that face I was kissing his mother and sister good night before he drove them home. How was this possible, and if I looked like Mark, why hadn't Allison said something? I thought about it while I was washing my face and decided that she hadn't noticed because my 'dream' self is just a reflection of how I see myself at the time, and since I hadn't known that my physical appearance had changed ... Of course, that didn't explain how I got Mark's face in the first place, but ... one thing at a time.

The doctor was amazed at how much stronger I was.

"Better," he asked.

"Yes, doctor, thank you. Where are my clothes?"

"Your clothing?" he asked with a chuckle. "You were wearing only a swimsuit when they brought you in. Not knowing the extent of your injuries, I am afraid they cut it off you during the examination. Now, there are many questions that the administrator would like answered. For a beginning, perhaps you could give us your name and the location where you are staying. Surely there are others who wish to know where you have disappeared to."

I reached for his hand, as if preparing to introduce myself.

"Sleep," I said as soon as he took my hand. His head dropped to his chest, and I reached out to steady him so he wouldn't fall. "I'm really sorry about this doctor, but I'm afraid I am going to need your clothes..."

I didn't actually need his clothes. I could just as easily have transitioned directly to the apartment, but I didn't want it to look like I had just disappeared. Otherwise I could have left directly from the bathroom. This way, he'd remember me coming out and shaking his hand, but nothing else.

Even though it's a lot farther away, the time difference between Vegas and Tahiti is the same as it is for Hawaii. That was partially due to the fact that the time-zone lines wander around, but mostly it's geography; believe it or not, Tahiti is actually farther east than Hawaii, so with daylight savings time it's only a three hour difference, and I was amazed to discover that it was only ten o'clock when I stepped back into the apartment, making it seven in Tahiti. I hadn't even been close on the time: Maybe the sun reflecting off all that water just made it seem brighter. I had only been gone about six hours.

The first order of business was food. I was starving!

Allison was the omelet maker in my family. The best I could ever do was scrambling stuff together with the eggs and dropping a little cheese on top. Right now I didn't care. A big glass of orange juice took the edge off while I chopped, whipped, and cooked. I was just about to head out to the pool with my breakfast when I remembered seeing Mark's face in the mirror. Leaving my food on the counter I went back into the bathroom and sure enough, my best friend was still staring back at me. Using the doorway as a threshold I dreamed up a duplicate bathroom and stepped across into dreamspace.

Have you ever tried to picture yourself? I converted the sink into a full length mirror to see if any of the rest of me was different. Nothing jumped out at me so I decided to try the KISS approach — you know, 'Keep It Simple Stupid' — closed my eyes and just thought, "me".

Apparently it was the right approach because when I opened them again I looked like me again. Breathing a sigh of relief I stepped back across into the apartment.

Pain flashed through me, leaving nausea and weakness in its wake, and I fell to my knees, barely catching myself on the edge of the bed. I was still there, trying to catch my breath when Jamie came back.

"What the hell are you doing?"she demanded.

The good news was that I felt a lot stronger with her back. Of course 'a lot' is a relative amount and I still wasn't sure I could stand.

"It's complicated," I said, struggling to my feet. "I'll tell you about it over breakfast."

"Oh good, you're eating."

"Are you kidding? It's almost eleven o'clock; we had dinner at like eight last night — I was starving."

"Yeah, well, that may not have all been due to the time. I think we used a shitload of energy last night. I wish Lizzy was here to take a peek."

"You and me both," I assured her. "How is Allison?"

"She's Allison," she said as we slowly made our way back to the breakfast bar. "Once she got over the shock of everything that had happened, she jumped in and started making plans. You've never seen someone so happy to be dead. Is that supposed to be an omelet?"

"Everybody's a critic." I said.

I made my way out to the patio table — the warm sunshine felt wonderful — and had just taken my first bite when the back door of the house opened, and Doreen stepped out.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked.

I did my best to swallow the large bite I had in my mouth, took a sip of juice to make sure it got all the way down, and answered, "Please," as I stood and held a chair for her.

"Well, aren't you sweet? Have you ever considered giving classes? I know women all over this valley would pay for you to show their men how it's supposed to be done."

"Yeah, but I don't know how many of them would put up with my teaching methods. I'm lucky Regina didn't have me arrested for slapping Bobby around like that."

Bobby was Doreen's sixteen-year-old grandson, and we had met the day I came to purchase her deceased husband's car. I had been appalled at his disrespect of his grandmother, and it only got worse after his mother arrived. Eventually I had reached the breaking point and bitch-slapped him all around the front yard before making him apologize for his bad behavior. I'd had a pretty good idea of what his problem was — problems actually; it's never just one thing, and we'd talked about it while he held the ice pack to his cheek and waited for the swelling to go down. His father had abandoned the family a few years earlier and ... fill in the blanks, no solid male role-model, social pressure, peer pressure, yada-yada ... I'd made some suggestions and given him a job cleaning the pool to take up some of his free time, give him a little money, and — most importantly in my mind — the satisfaction of having earned it.

"Are you kidding?" she said in a sassy voice. "Most of them would pay extra to see that!" Her voice softened after that. "David, is everything okay? You have hardly said a word to me all week, and it's not like you to sleep this late. I bet you didn't even hear Bobby out here cleaning the pool this morning, did you?"

I had to smile at that. "No, I can honestly say I didn't. I don't sleep a lot, Doreen, but when I do you could drop a bomb on the place, and I probably wouldn't notice. My sister was the same way."

"Well now, you never told me you had a sister. What's her name?"

It took me a moment to compose the right expression, "Her name was Allison."

She gasped and put her hand on mine. "Oh David, I'm so sorry. Me and my big mouth..."

"It's okay, Doreen. Like you said, I never told you, so how would you know?"

"You miss her a lot, don't you? I can see it in your eyes."

"Yeah, I do." That much was true even if she was still alive. I'd been missing her ever since the night Britney was kidnapped ... Jesus, was that really only... seventeen days ago? How could that be? I felt like I'd been gone for months.

"I understand," Doreen said, compassion warming her voice. "So you still haven't answered my question. Is everything okay? I haven't seen your friend Christine since that first day." Her voice took on a catty tone as she asked, "Is that what's been keeping you tied up so much?"

"Doreen!" I barked, almost choking on the bite in my mouth and doing my best to cover my mouth with a napkin.

She was laughing so hard her whole body shook as she clutched at her bosom and tried to catch her breath. Finally, I handed her a fresh napkin to wipe the tears trickling down her face.

"Oh, my word! I don't remember the last time I laughed so hard. David, the look on your face!"

"Well, I'm glad you enjoyed it!" I said. "I almost choked to death! I could have died right here, and you would have laughed right through the whole thing. Seriously though, I'm sorry I haven't been to see you; it's actually been a busy week for me. As for Christine, she went back to Georgia to meet with the movers who are bringing her stuff out. She's bringing her cat, so she's driving back instead of flying. She'll probably be here tomorrow or Monday. Most of her stuff is going into storage while she looks for an apartment."

"An apartment? And here I thought she was going to be staying here with you. I must be losing my touch, why one look and I could swear she was ... Well, never mind, it's none of my business. You two can sort that out for yourselves. Did you say she was bringing a cat? She better keep it inside if she don't want to lose it. 'Round here, what the hawks don't get the coyotes do."

"She's an inside cat," I said. "Lived her whole life in Christine's apartment; of course, with Christine's schedule, she was alone most of the time. I imagine the hardest part for her will be getting used to people being around. Of course, between flight school and working for me, Christine's still going to be gone a lot of the time."

"Uh-huh," she said, a knowing smile on her face. "She ain't going to be too happy about sharing her mommy with no strange man neither. Sure don't sound like you expect her to be getting no apartment."

"It's still kind of up in the air," I said, "but it's her decision either way. Oh, and just so you know, there's a chance the FBI might be coming around asking questions about me. I met the local director earlier in the week, and she's checking me out. I've done some work for the Los Angeles Bureau in the past, and I think she's trying to figure out if I'm safe to play with."

"Some work with the Los Angeles Bureau," she said derisively. "David Malcolm, I am not stupid, and I do read the paper — what else is there to do around here all day? And according to the paper, it was you found that missing girl last week, and saved her and her sister before the man that took them got to messing with them."

"The paper exaggerated, Doreen; I found Amy, but someone else rescued her sister."

"Uh-huh. Well, you tell Dominique Spencer if she has any questions, she better drag her lazy white butt down out of her ivory tower and come herself, because I ain't answering no questions from no junior flunkies."

"You know Mrs. Spencer?"

"Of course I know her; didn't I tell you I was in insurance for thirty years?"

"Really? No, you said Theo was in insurance; you never mentioned anything about yourself, so I just assumed you were a stay at home mom. What kind of work did you do?"

"Lord, what didn't I do? I started as a mail clerk, and when I left my official title was administrative assistant."

Wheels were already turning in my head.

"Doreen. I don't suppose you'd like to supplement your income consulting for me would you?"

"Don't look to me like you need any help finding things all by yourself."

"Ah, but I'm new in town and just getting started, whereas you know who all the real players are. You could save me a lot of time and money. Tell me, Doreen, what do insurance companies do when property is recovered that they have already paid claims for?"

"Well, once the claim is paid. the property legally belongs to them, so it can be tricky getting them to pay for anything. But, depending on the item being insured, there is generally a long waiting period before they pay out the claim. The higher the value, the longer they generally want to try and recover it. And then there are those pieces that have continued to appreciate while they are missing; art work and such. Most often there are rewards posted for recovery. Sometimes they just want the satisfaction of putting someone behind bars for costing them so much money. Every situation is different, but there is money to be made if you are careful negotiating your contracts."