Chapter 13: Secret Healing

"You guys do whatever it takes to keep on keepin' on here. I think it's about time to bring in Military Intelligence."

"You better think twice before going that route," Zelda cautioned them. "That bunch Creel was associated with seemed to own the military." She urged Jack up from the table. "Let's get you back into the bedroom. I want to get the rest of that junk out of your back. Anyway I hope this is the last of it."

"I have a couple of friends I would like to contact. There is too much going on here at the same time. I'll call you later." As Gordon headed toward the back door, Jack noticed his friend's lack of sorrow over his dead wife.

Suddenly the lawyer turned as he started to open the door, "My daughter is due in from Philadelphia on the nine o'clock flight. I hope you don't mind that I gave her your address. I'll try to pick her up this evening. He closed the door behind him and left Jack and Zelda staring at each other.

"I think Gordy is trying to duck an issue," Jack told her in a bemused voice. Zelda didn't answer. He stiffly walked toward his bedroom and lay down flat on his stomach.

Zelda hurried to his medicine cabinet and returned with the alcohol and fresh gauze pads. "This might hurt," she said as she used the tweezers to break through the skin.

"Hell yes it will hurt. You say that each and every time." The lump she chose gave up two more of the black filaments. She grabbed hold of one and pulled. It resisted for a moment and Jack grunted in pain. Quietly she went to the next and the next until all nine of the clumps of fibers were removed from Jack's body.

Zelda gently wiped his back with alcohol. "Jack, just lie on your stomach a while longer. Right now I'm scared. This is way, way beyond anything I have ever heard of. What if this stuff is multiplying in your body?"

"It's not," he told her flatly. "I have a crazy idea that might not be so crazy after all. What if I was accidentally shot with the wrong ammunition? Now don't be too quick to tell me no. What if the wrong clip got loaded in the wrong weapon? I just remembered something. There was supposed to be another senator who was very anti-the whole war in the Middle East. Originally he was scheduled to come along with us. The silly bastard drank some of the local water to prove he was one of the good guys and got nailed big time. He had the screamers so bad he couldn't leave the latrine for more than five minutes before he was back again. What if he was supposed to be the target? But why go to such extremes? There has to be a simpler explanation." He slowly rolled over and pushed himself into a sitting position. "Well, whatever the hell is going on can wait while I get dressed."

Zelda was worried for Jack. "Jack, take it easy," she told him. "Don't overtax yourself."

As he eased himself off the bed he turned toward her and said, "You know, you sound just like an old mother hen the way you fuss at me." He saw the angry look forming on her face and quickly added, "It's nice to have someone to fuss over me. I might as well get used to it." She smiled and kissed him.

"Jack, you big fool, I'm so afraid something is going to happen to you. Now that I know what love can be, I don't want to lose you. It would kill me."

His look turned grim, "I don't want any of us to get killed." He paused then added, "Creel's death doesn't change anything. Creel was an errand boy for other interests. That retarded clown in the White House is nothing but a flunky himself. Until we find out who the guiding force really is behind all this and why, none of us are safe. I intend to send Melissa and you as far away as possible. I'm scared, Zel, really scared for the first time in my life."

Melissa came back into the room, "Send me away where? Don't I have any say in the matter?"

"Damn them all!" Zelda exclaimed. Why can't they just leave us alone?" Jack had no answer to give her. He looked down at the floor and shook his head.

"I need to run an errand," he told the speechless two women. He got dressed and slowly shuffled over to his wheel chair. He sat in it and rode out of the house. As he went out the door he called over his shoulder, "Have the glass company send someone over to fix the window." He rolled down the ramp, onto the sidewalk and was gone, leaving two confused women behind.

"I wonder what that's all about," Zelda mused. "Oh well, the lord and master of the manor says to get the window fixed so let's fix it."

"You know how to fix houses?" Melissa asked.

"Well, I can't do it all, but after Hugo was arrested and sent to prison I had to learn to do things for myself. He always had one of his druggie friends do repairs when we were together. Then I'd have to re-do some of it. I learned. You'd be surprised how much stuff you can pick up on the Internet if you start looking. Let me get my toolbox and we'll make things ready for the new pane.

"Will you let me help?" Melissa called after the older woman. Zelda was the first adult female friend she had ever had. Under her breath she muttered, "Dad, you are a fool if you spoil this relationship."

A half block away from the house Jack shoved the joystick all the way forward. As he approached Melissa's old apartment house he slowed down to reconnoiter. Finally he steered up to the base of the steps. "Hey asshole," he yelled, "Get out here."

A woman's voice called out from the open window on one side of the porch, "What you want?"

"Tell your old man to get out here, we need to talk. He can either talk to me or to my friends. If I get real pissed off I'll send my old lady over here and she'll pull this building down around your ears. She gets real cranky this time of month." Jack grinned to himself and whispered, "If Zel heard that she would get pissed at me all over again."

The remaining uninjured one of the three brothers stepped out on the porch warily. "What do you want?" he asked in an unfriendly voice.

"Was James Lytle here last night?"

The big biker looked furtively back toward the interior of the apartment. "Ah," he said and tried to think up an answer.

"Lytle, get your ass out here or I'll come in after you!" Jack yelled as loud as he could. He sat back and waited.

Lytle stepped out on the porch and stood to one side of the bigger man. "What do you want?" he demanded in a surly voice.

"Well, you dead for starters. But that wouldn't be practical. I came here to give you one last warning. Back off or die. I know all about how Creel was groomed to become president and replace Junior in the White House. Now all I have to do is find out which bunch you run errands for." He paused then added in a bitter voice, "I know what was done to me. I know about the oil and the gold. But there's more to it than just that."

Lytle sneered unconvincingly at Jack. "I can make one phone call and you're history. Then what will that red head do without you as her meal ticket? Hugo's friends might take her back."

Before Jack could respond the big biker on the porch beside Lytle said to him, "Shut the hell up, you dumb asshole and get away from me. Your bullshit got both my brothers hurt bad. We're going to have to sell Shane's scoot to help pay for a hip replacement. I want your ass away from me right now."

He looked at Jack and said, "We messed up bad comin' after you, man. We'll back off if you back off. Okay?"

"Suits me," Jack answered. "What do you want for your brother's ride?"

"It's worth thirty grand. What you want to know for?" He looked suspiciously at Jack, as if he expected a trick.

"You know where I live. Bring it over and if Zelda likes it I'll pay cash if it isn't hot. Fair enough?"

"Why you want Shane's bike?" he asked. He still looked for a trick.

"Oh, I thought Zelda might want it as a souvenir. Bring it over and if she likes it I'll give you full price. Fair enough?"

"How charming," James Lytle sneered. "Now we can all kiss and..." He shook his head. "I thought you were tougher than that. You let this cripple in a wheelchair scare you? What am I paying you for?" He shook his head.

"Hey, asshole, I don't see you down there on the sidewalk trying to kick his ass. As for pay, you owe us big time and we want our money. All you did so far is come around and give us a few hundred for a couple of easy errands that were harder than you said. My old lady says her sister won't have anything more to do with you. She says you disgust her."

"Bring the bike over later on today and we'll talk." He turned the wheelchair away and left.

He heard a scream and turned quickly around. Lytle was lying on the sidewalk. "You get the fuck away from me, man. You want him dead you do him. Beat it." He looked at Jack and shook his head. Jack grinned and went to run his second errand.

He rode quickly down town and made his way into a florist's. "I want a bouquet of orchids." He told the clerk behind the counter.

"You want a bouquet of orchids?" she asked. She cocked one eyebrow.

"Yeah, I'm in a romantic mood and I want to tell her. Women like that stuff, you know," he told her confidentially.

"Sir, are you joking? Don't you mean roses? Red roses are used to say 'I love you.' Orchids are for more formal occasions." She looked at him as if she wasn't certain who or what she was talking to.

"Well, I want to say, 'I formally love you.' So make me up a big armload and deliver them to my house."

"I don't have any more time to waste on this nonsense." She looked down at the man sitting in his wheelchair, "You take your stupid games and leave here right now."

Jack reached in his shirt pocket and brought out a thin roll of hundreds. He peeled off three of them. "Is this enough to get your ass moving?"

"Oh," she answered in a small voice. "I apologize. But nobody has ever ordered anything like this before."

Jack gave her his address. "Send them over in two hours. Okay?" She nodded and he left.

Zelda had a putty knife in one hand and a glob of glazier's putty in the other. She didn't hear Jack come up the sidewalk. Melissa turned and grinned as he rolled up the ramp. "We put the window in ourselves, Dad. Zelda showed me how." She gave her father a proud smile.

"Where did you go, Jack?" Zelda asked. She looked worriedly at him.

"Oh, I just did a little recon and explained to Jimmy boy he ought to leave us alone." He shook his head, "That dumb retard doesn't have the brains to realize I'm through trying to get along with him. Where do you two want to go while I get this settled?"

Zelda's chin stuck out, "Nowhere, Jack. We stay right here with you. We'll be as safe here as anywhere. If they really want to find us it doesn't matter where we run to."

"She's right, Dad." Melissa looked nervously at her father. "I feel safer right here than anywhere else."

Jack nodded yes in reluctant agreement. "I'm going to go into the house and see if I can maybe even the odds some."

Two hours later Zelda ran into the house. "Jack, you fool," she exclaimed, "What is this about orchids? Orchids! Oh Jack," she whispered as she kissed him.

"Good," he told her and tried to hide his feelings, "Since orchids are for more formal occasions, I now formally love you. Okay?"

"Dad, you do know how to get a girl's attention." Melissa looked at her father fondly. She shook her head in amazement.

"I'm trying to learn about this romance stuff because I want you to stick around, Babe," he told Zelda. "I intend to be out of this wheelchair permanently before much longer. Then we'll go on a real honeymoon to wherever you want."

That evening the young woman whom Gordon claimed as his daughter arrived in a taxi. She rang the doorbell and entered as Zelda opened the door and stood back. As she stepped into the house she looked around. "Hi," she greeted them timidly, "I'm Trish."