Chapter 42

Present – Thom – C130 landed at DIA

As I drink my cup of coffee (Maria made some damn good coffee so perhaps I might keep her around to do just that) I do some thinking, make a phone call, talk to one of the TSIFFTS doctors, grab Linus as he leaves to recover Jennifer and modify his orders.

He smiles at me and says, "Thanks Thom those changes should make this mission easier."

I answer, "Sorry I didn't think of this at first. By the way Maria makes a hell of a cup of coffee."

Linus glares at me and states, "Thom, she'd make a hell of a real asset for our team."

I grin and reply, "Well making coffee is a real asset, especially when it's this good."

He shakes his head as he leaves.

Byron looks at me and smiles, "Very nicely played."

I reply, "Yeah we need to stop making so many waves and now's the time to work on Linus - but not too much."

I watch as James and the crew wheel Hammer and Todd toward waiting ambulances and continue, "Let's go and give the guys some moral support."

We walk over to Todd first and I say, "My friend, get well soon because we miss you on the team."

He signs, "Thanks Thom. Sorry for getting hurt."

I complain, "Yeah if you guys would have followed my orders then none of this would have happened."

He counters, "But then you would be dead."

I nodded, "Yeah that's right. But you, Hammer and Byron wouldn't have been hurt."

Now it was time to talk to Hammer if I could understand him and his damned Scottish accent.

Present – Byron – C130 landed at DIA

Thom's conversation with Todd confirms my suspicion and I need to have a serious fucking conversation with him. But not now since we need to speak with Hammer first.

I squeeze Todd's hand and he signs to me. I nod, letting him knew I had the situation under control and follow Thom who was already talking to Hammer.

I walk up as Thom asks, "So do you need anything How about a clean skirt?"

Hammer shoots back, "If Ah was weel dooze Ah woods kick yer aris!"

"If I was well enough I would kick your ass!"

Thom laughs, "Well then, get well enough soon. Because I never did get a rematch for the time you got lucky and knocked me out."

Hammer laughs and corrects Thom, "Jammy mah jacksie! 'At was skill an' superiur trainin'."

"Lucky my ass that was skill and superior training!"

They wheel Hammer away and I absentmindedly state, "Thom you would have made an excellent officer."

He glares at me and coldly replies, "Byron you can kiss my ass!" Then he storms off as I think: He's acting more like an officer all the time – but this time I was wise enough to keep my thoughts to myself. I need to let him calm down some, then I need to deal with what Todd and I discussed.

Present – Linus – Mission to recover Jens

I finish removing the rest of my tactical gear, look over at the doctor Thom added to our team and start, "I'm glad Thom sent you with us."

He answers, "Yeah we should be able to get Jennifer Donaldson out in no time at all."

I am concerned for Jens because she is like my little sister so I continue, "So what the hell is going on with her anyway?"

He asks for clarification, "You want my feelings or do you want my professional opinion?"

This was really interesting so I ask, "Are they that different? If so I'd like to hear them both."

He states, "Well professionally I would have to say she is having some issues with reality. But not to the extent maintained by the bitch who committed her to the hospital."

It was good to see he felt the same way about Megan as the rest of us did. She's a bitch that needs the hell bitch-slapped out of her!

He continues, "But personally the western medical community as a whole is woefully inadequate when it comes to dealing with spiritual issues and I'm sure this is a spiritual issue."

I wasn't sure he said what I thought he said so I question, "Could you elaborate on this?"

Present – Jim and Matt – Mission to recover Jens

I'm drive as Matt and Linus take off their gear and kibitz on a hell of an interesting conversation between Linus and the doctor about our boss. I had always assumed she was a bit fucked up mentally, but she paid well.

Matt asks me, "Jim, let me take over and you can dump your gear."

I pull over and say, "Doctor, if you don't mind waiting. I'd like to hear your answer."

The doctor responds affirmativly. Matt and I switch places as the doctor continues, "I waited because I could tell that you and probably everyone around Jennifer Donaldson are concerned with her mental health. Now this isn't a professional opinion because I don't have facts to back it up. But from what I've observed, Ms. Donaldson is dealing extremely well with a major crisis in her life. And I wouldn't be concerned for her mental health since she's every bit as stable as most young women."

To be truthful the last statement didn't make me feel that good about my boss because from my experience, most women were fucked up to the max! Because the American culture had given them a sense of entitlement to things they weren't entitled to (I remembered how Sally took my guns and pawned them - the bitch!), lack of responsibility (the bitch said everything was always my fault in our marriage), and they all looked at marriage as a tool to advance their own lives (a way to increase their bottom line while decreasing that of their ex-husband). Megan's recent actions have once again confirmed my beliefs to be accurate.

Linus asks the question I was dying to ask, "But what about this connection she says she has to Ben?"

The doctor replied, "While there is not proof she can actually connect to Ben Blaine, there is also no proof that she can't. I have read examples of this happening but it was usually between twins that were separated."

I add to the confusion, "Are you trying to tell me Ben and Jens are twins?"

Linus gives me a dirty look and reminds me, "Jim did you forget that Ben is ten years older than Jens?"

I admit my error as the doctor continues, "No they can't be. I would say Jennifer Donaldson has a fatal attachment or attraction to Ben Blaine."

I blurt out, "So Jens is stalking Ben like Glenn Close stalked Michael Douglas in the movie Fatal Attraction?"

The doctor shakes his head again and explains, "Not at all. Jennifer is not suicidal and she doesn't seem to want to find Ben to kill him."

I laugh, "No, but she sure wants to kick his ass!"

Matt adds, "Hey you and I said the same thing."

Linus summarizes, "Yeah Ben Blaine has a line of people about a mile long that want to kick his ass and the line is getting longer all the time. How could he do what he did to Jens?"

I thought to myself that I didn't know all the details but this might be the only case to my knowledge where the problem was the man's fault. Yeah he definitely needs his ass kicked!

Present – Maria – C130 landed at DIA

Once inside I run right into the toilet, stuck my fingers down the back of my throat and puked up the bite of sandwich. I can't believe the old fart figured out what I was going to do and made me eat the sandwich. Even though I puke it all out, I was pretty sure it was already too late.

I wash up, brush my teeth, and go back out to look for Linus but I guess he'd already left. I make the rest of the sandwiches and worry...

Present – Jens – At the psych hospital

The backstabbing bitch! We were childhood friends and I can't believe she did this to me. What the hell is her motivation? I'm not sure but I will find out someday. It will probably be when I'm beating the shit out of her to get even for what she did to me. I'm stuck in a strait jacket, restrained to the bed and have an orderly assigned to watch me. He's sitting in my room eyeing me. I know what the bastard's thinking - he's wondering if he can figure out some way to fuck me. There's no way in hell that's going to happen because I will kill his fat sorry ass if he even tries it.

I suppose I should explain what happened.

Present – Jens – At the psych hospital an hour earlier

Megan gave me my injection, left the room and the orderly came in and escorted me to the main room. I saw my 'new friends' from group therapy all sitting at a table together so I made a beeline for the group and asked, "You mind if I sit down?"

Julia answers, "Only if you apologize for making those awful commercials."

I was still a little fired up from my workout so I think about kicking her ass but decide she doesn't deserve it yet so I lie in a manner which I hope will help, "I apologize for those commercials, I wasn't thinking straight because I was PMS."

The women laughed and Julia stated, "Well honey we've all been there before." I wanted to say speak for yourself because I don't get PMS. Instead I heard, "Pull up a chair, we were just discussing how we have all been screwed by the pigs."

One of the ladies said, "Yeah some of us have been literally screwed by them."

I tapped my fingers on the table and questioned, "I'm sorry I didn't get your name. And please tell me what happened?"

She says, "Oh yeah I forgot, you're new. My name is Sally." She points to the others and continues, "That's Anna, Macy and the quiet one in sunglasses is Britney."

I look at Britney and even without her hair and wearing the sunglasses I recognize her. But I know how I hate being recognized and hate the questions even more (even though I'm dying to ask her when she went bonkers again) so instead I give her a knowing smile which she returns.

I moved in my chair but couldn't sit still since it was uncomfortable as hell. Sally continued, "Yeah I was pulled over by the cops for burnt out brake lights." I almost laughed as I remembered Linus getting stopped for the exact same problem. "I didn't realize my license was expired. The cop told me if I let him screw me he'd let me off with a warning. I screwed the hell out of him and then he wrote me up anyway. So I hit him over the head with my purse knocked him out and then I drove off. They caught me at my apartment after I already showered. They wouldn't believe my story and put me in here."