Chapter 9: Taking The Fight To The Enemy

I thought I had Chapter 9 pasted already, but it didn't show up - So here it is again and of course Chapter 10, the final. Hope you like it.

"Take the message back to us yourself." I turned my head and saw a stranger standing in the door. "I should have known those brainless fools would screw things up. He moved toward my bed like a dangerous predator. As I looked into his eyes all I could think of was a great snow leopard. He seemed to glide across the floor. He punched Saul in the solar plexus. Saul dropped where he stood and lay on the floor gasping for breath.

When the stranger reached the side of my bed he poked me in the chest with his middle finger. I screamed, the room began to grow dark. "There is no message for you to send anywhere, it's too late. Run if you can." His voice had a snake like quality to it.

Dimly I saw Julie try to shove him out of the way. He backhanded her the way a fly would be brushed away. From somewhere I mustered a burst of energy and grabbed his middle finger. It was the one he had poked me with, and snapped it.

He didn't utter a sound. He turned back and rapped my chest with his other hand. I don't remember screaming but I heard a scream. It was instant lights out. I dimly came awake again. There were bluish lights overhead. Aliens were walking back and forth shouting something. I heard, "Clear, again!" My body arched as a horrible jolt shot through me and all went dark again.

When I came awake again I was on my hospital bed. I had trouble thinking. "Oh hell!" I hissed to myself and tried to draw a deep breath. I couldn't. My chest seemed to be held in a vice. I struggled against that vice and gave in to panic.

"Don't, John, don't." It was Julie. She seemed to float across my field of vision. "You are tightly bandaged. There is an oxygen tube in your nose. Please, dearest one, don't fight it."

"Wanna fuck?" I asked her and passed out. I don't remember saying any such thing but Julie assured me I said it in just those words.

I came back awake again, a bit at a time. Everything seemed to be in a gray fog. A part of me knew I was doped to the gills, but that part was also so numb it couldn't protest. For the longest time I would wake up, go back to sleep and wake up again. Finally I came awake.

"Uh, that time is it?" I asked.

"Friday, Mister Mayor," Bucky said.

"Friday what?" I asked, as my eyes started to focus.

"Now isn't that just like a politician? Just as soon a he gets elected he goes all stupid on us and forgets every one of his promises. It's Friday afternoon." He came over and looked down at me. "You had us all worried there for a while. How you feeling?"

"Like hell. Get these needles out of my arm. The bastards drugged me again." I tried to move my arms and couldn't. I was in restraints. "Get me out of these things."

"I can't, the doctor ordered them." Bucky looked down at me; worry showed in his face.

"To hell with the doctor. I want these things removed now." I jerked and fought against them. Somehow the IV bottle came loose and fell to the floor. Instead of liquids pouring into my arm, blood began to flow out.

I watched as the clear plastic tube turned red. An alarm sounded in the distance and a nurse ran into the room. "Oh!" she exclaimed and righted the IV. She reached for a fresh bag of saline.

"Get that sucker out of my arm right now," I rasped at her. "I mean right now. And get me out of these cuffs."

"I ... I can't, the doctored ordered..." He got no further.

"Get those damned things off me and that needle out of my arm or I'll tear them out. I told you people no damned drugs. Move it." My anger seemed to counteract whatever painkiller they put in me. I started to struggle again.

"Look out, fool," Bucky told the nurse and shoved her aside. He pulled the tape and removed the needle from my vein. He told the nurse, "Bandage that." I was bleeding from where the needle had been removed." Wordless, the nurse placed a small gauze patch on my inner elbow and taped it into place. Bucky removed the leather cuffs and I was able to flex my arms once more.

"Bring me my clothes. I'm getting out of here before those bastards shove more dope into me." I tried to sit up and couldn't. Sharp pains shot through my upper body. "God damn it!" I moaned.

"Get me a wheel chair, I'm out of here if I have to crawl."

"But the doctor said..." The nurse tried to assert some sort of authority and couldn't. She rushed from the room while Bucky helped me to sit up on the side of the bed.

The whole room swam in and out of focus, my head spun around inside. "What is going on here?" a man's voice sounded from the door.

"I'm getting out of here. I said no drugs and that meant no drugs." My voice became stronger. I tried to take a deep breath and couldn't.

"I'm afraid I can't allow that," the doctor stated.

"Bucky, smash this son of a bitch like he was a bug if he gets in the way. Get me a wheel chair." I felt weak as a kitten.

"Please!" the doctor said, "They have my daughter. I was told to keep you incapacitated or they'd kill her." His face betrayed his total misery.

"Sorry. I'm out of here. Help me walk, please," I said to Bucky. With Bucky's help I slid slowly off the bed. My bare feet touched the floor. The doctor rushed from the room. Bucky placed his big right arm under my shoulder and supported me with no effort at all. With difficulty I shuffled out of the room. I had a lot of help from Bucky. Everything spun in dizzy circles.

As we went by the nurse's station the doctor was talking into the phone. "I do believe that man is talking to the wrong people." Bucky's voice brought me back to the present. He eased me down into a wheel chair parked by the nurse's desk. I leaned back, sighed and slumped forward.

When we got to the elevator he pushed the down button and we waited. A few moments later the door slid open and two cops with drawn guns started out. Bucky grabbed one gun hand and twisted. The revolver dropped to the floor. The other cop tried to bring his gun to bear on Bucky and screamed as the big man squeezed the hand with the gun in it. The man's wrist was bent back and the gun went off. The cop fell to the floor. "Give me their guns," I ordered,

Bucky placed both guns in my lap. " I took one in each hand and waited while Bucky pushed the button to get us to the ground floor. As we closed we left behind us screams and shouts of confusion. Bucky wheeled me out of the elevator. Once outside he hurried us toward white van with a security company logo on it. He opened the door on the passenger side and lifted me in and buckled me up.

"Stop by a hospital supply company and get me a power wheelchair. I'm going to need it." I knew my hurts weren't going to go away.

"Okay then, and after that where, Mister Mayor?" he asked me.

"What is this 'mister mayor' stuff?" I asked him.

"Well, the election was last Tuesday and you received damned near every one of the votes. The ex-Mayor Wembly is trying to get the tallies set aside on the grounds someone stuffed the ballot boxes. Things are real crazy right now."

"You know where Julie is right now?" I was worried about her.

"I think she's at the city hall with the Channel three news team. She's been giving speech after speech. They tried to arrest her but I had already sent my four best men to protect her. Like I said, things are real crazy.