Chapter 16: The Remedy

For the next week, Mark's headaches worsened daily. In desperation he finally admitted defeat and requested something for pain. "Let me talk to Cole Jones, before I start on this stuff," he told the doctor.

"As soon as he is out of surgery and able to leave his bed, you'll be the first to see him." The doctor was glad to have one bit of good news. He dreaded the probable bad news when the Mark's latest test results were back from the lab. He sighed. Doctors and lawyers were always blamed for the bad news they so often brought to others.

"Surgery? Cole? What happened?" Mark began to panic.

"That so called hospital where he was misdiagnosed never made the simplest of tests that would have detected the young man's problem."

The doctor shook his head and added, "Young Cole was injured while still an infant. A slight scarring occurred in the upper spinal cord from that early childhood injury. Because it was misdiagnosed when it first occurred, it became worse over time. It finally caused the lower trunk paralysis. We plan to remove the scar tissue. After that, with any luck your young friend should recover and regain some, if not most, of the use of his body."

"Damn those quacks," Mark spat out.

The doctor tried to forestall Mark's next rant. "Which brings us to you. You have recovered from much of the effects of the damage the stun guns did to you." He paused, then continued, "However..." He paused and tried to choose his words carefully.

"Jesus Christ on a crutch!" Mark yelled at the doctor. "Either say what you have to say or I'm going to get out of this bed and kick the shit out of you."

"Do your best to calm down, Mister Hunter. You have a brain tumor. For some reason, it has lain dormant and was heretofore undetected. Then it recently began to grow again; probably your condition was exacerbated by the abuse you suffered at the hands of those individuals. That tumor must be removed. If it isn't, you'll probably die within the year. Astroglyosis, named for the star shaped cancer cells, is not a pleasant way to end your life."

Mark's heart went "thud." He whispered to the doctor, "Give me something for my headache and leave me alone. I have to think." The doctor nodded and left. Mark reached for his cell phone. The phone fell from his grasp as he slid off into unconsciousness.

He drifted in and out of reality for two weeks and then went into a coma. Rachel came to look in on him when she could. She took Cole home while Mark lay in a coma.

At the end of the second week of in a coma, Mark regained consciousness. "Where's Cole?" he asked when he opened his eyes.

"His mother took him home. He got better," the nurse told him in a sharp voice. She did not like Mark. She knew no one on the staff cared for this rich loudmouth. She left the room before her own loud mouth got her in trouble again. The nurse hated all rich gringos.

Unaware of the Hispanic nurse's true feelings toward him, he ignored her departure. "I guess I better call her and see how Cole's doing." Mark reached for his cell phone. It was dead. No one had returned it to its charger after he had dropped it.

Early in the afternoon, the oncologist entered the room while Mark attempted to reach for the hospital phone. He felt so damned weak! "We need to operate on you as soon as possible," the doctor told him, I mean immediately. Your condition has become critical. The only reason we waited this long was because there was no one to give consent."

The doctor's statement seemed to have little or no effect on Mark. "Okay, go make the arrangements," Mark agreed absently. "Right now I need to make a phone call."

"Very well, make your call and I'll begin the arrangements." The doctor left. He thought Mark was in a state of denial.

Gina's secretary answered the phone. "I'm sorry, Rachel is in a meeting and cannot be disturbed right now," he was told.

His rage returned. Mark shouted into his phone, "I don't care if she's in a meeting with God Almighty, You call Rachel to the phone right now."

"I can't, Mister Hunter," the receptionist tried to reason with him.

"Why?" he demanded in an angry voice.

"She and Del and Will are in a conference call with a federal judge. Rachel has threatened to go to the news media, if the Whitehouse doesn't back off. She has proof of collusion between the Secretary of State and two members of congress. Cole and his new girlfriend dug it out with that super computer you bought him."

Mark forced his anger to subside. "Is Cole there in the office with you?"

"Yes, he's in one of the smaller offices with his computer." Mark could hear the laughter in her voice when she mentioned Cole.

"Call him to the phone, please." Mark took a deep breath and waited.

Sam, his bodyguard, yelled, "No!" and came into the hospital room. He had Deputy US Marshal Rita Lane in a wristlock.

"You're under arrest," she told Sam in a deadly tone of voice. She struggled to free herself from the big man's grip in her neck.

"What in hell is that bitch doing back here?" Mark demanded. His face became contorted with rage.

"I have orders direct from the White House to hold you incommunicado until a representative from the Secretary of the Interior can speak with you."

"What do I do with her?" Sam asked.

"Kill her, for all I care." Mark winced and grimaced as another jolt of pain shot through his head and his rage returned. "Kill the bitch and leave me alone," he yelled.

"Appealing as that sounds, I might get in trouble. I heard it's seven years bad luck to kill a fed. How about I turn her over to the Scripps security?"

"Christ I don't care what you do with her, just do it," Mark whispered. He became weak and exhausted again. The world and the inside of his head seemed to spin in divergent directions.

"Hello?" Mark heard a faint voice near his face. "Hey Mark, are you there? I know you are 'cause I just heard you yelling."

Mark placed the phone to his ear. The damned thing felt so heavy. "Yeah Cole, I'm here. Look, as soon as your mother gets free from whatever she's doing, tell her to get out here immediately and bring a preacher with her."

"What? You gettin' all religious on me?"

Mark sighed, "No, your mother and I are going to get married while I still have enough brains to do it. Just tell her, Cole, this is real important..." He disconnected the cell phone and closed his eyes and dropped off into a natural sleep...

Cole waited beside her door when Rachel walked out of her office with an angry, yet satisfied smile on her face. Del and Will followed her. "Mom, Mark just called and said for you to get a preacher and go marry him while he still had any brains left. He sounded worried."

Rachel stopped short. Del bumped into her from behind and Will stumbled over Del as he came to an abrupt stop. "I think you better start over and tell me exactly what Mark said."

Cole gave her an exasperated look, "Mom, I just told you. I think you better call a taxi, or something. I'm going to come along. I wanna be the best man, or give the bride away or something."

Rachel grabbed a phone off the receptionist's desk and dialed Mark's cell phone. There was no answer. "Betty, Cole just made a great suggestion; call and reserve a limo for us. There will be four adult passengers and one teen on crutches."

Betty nodded and looked up the phone number to call a leasing company.

"Don't forget the preacher." Cole grinned at his mother's confused look.

"Why do we need a minister?" Rachel asked. Then she remembered the message Cole relayed to her. "Oh."

"Mom, if you mess this up, I'm going to be real mad at you." Cole shifted on his new forearm crutches and stared hard at her." He frowned and added, "We better get his mom to go with us. I bet she wants to be there when Mark gets married."

"I had better come along. As Mark's legal representative, I should be present to attest that he is mentally sound. Right now the government is grabbing at straws to contain the scandal certain people have caused to come about," Del interrupted.

"For god's sake!" Rachel yelled at them, "Let's just bring a judge along as well. Then we can hold a competency hearing right there in his room! What is wrong with everybody?"

What Rachel thought of, as sarcastic exaggeration was taken serious. "Good thinking," Will told her. "I'll call Judge Sorenson and ask his opinion. I already have an appointment to return to see him in his chambers in a half hour."

Rachel was surprised her sarcastic tirade was treated as a serious suggestion. She opened her mouth and closed it again, then opened it once more. "I give up," she whispered and shook her head in frustration.

"I'll call your house and ask Mark's mother if she can be ready. Then I'll call a limo for us." Gina grabbed up a phone and began to punch in the number. "I'm coming as well," she added. "To herself she murmured, "I want to be there when that young jerk is tamed."

Two hours later, a sinister looking, black Lincoln stretch limousine snaked its way through the congested mid day traffic on I-5. Inside the luxury vehicle, Rachel sat in numbed silence. Gina smiled to herself and decided a luxury limo was the only way to travel. Maybe she'd ask Rachel for a raise and a company limo of her own. She laughed at her silly thoughts and nestled back in the seat to enjoy the unaccustomed luxury.

Cole looked out the window and laughed under his breath, as the people in other vehicles stared at the luxury vehicle with its darkened windows. The judge and the two lawyers discussed the probable upcoming political firestorm when the news media were informed of this latest scandal that involved the White House and the people that worked there.

As soon as the big vehicle stopped, Rachel was the first one out. "I'll go ahead," she called over her shoulder and rushed inside.

Rachel woke Mark when she came into the room and kissed him on the lips.

"What are you doing here?" he asked in a fuzzy voice.

"Mark, we all came as soon as we could arrange transportation." Rachel looked at him and worried at the obvious physical deterioration Mark's body had undergone.

His voice was unsteady when he told her, "Good, get the preacher in here and let's get the ceremony done and recorded. They're going to prep me as soon as the preacher marries us." To Rachel, it seemed that Mark had finally given up.

"We didn't bring a minister, Honey. We do have a judge with us. He can perform the ceremony. Are you certain this is what you want to do?"

"God damn it! Rachel, when I said a preacher, I meant a preacher. We don't have a license. Can't you do what I say just once?" he yelled in a weaker voice.

"Court is adjourned. If you can nag this young woman and berate her the way you just did, I'll pass on a competency hearing. You are obviously of sound mind," His Honor, Federal Judge Abel Sorenson told them from the doorway. His orders from the White House were to placate young Mark Hunter any way he could.

Will asked his honor, "Should I run to the chaplain's office and grab whomever I find there to perform the wedding ceremony? It might look better if your name is only associated with the matters relating to his competency."

"Yes, court adjourned." The jurist joked and smiled at Mark and stepped back.

Minutes later, Will returned with a Mormon bishop. The bishop held a church designed certificate of marriage in his hand. "Ah, where are the bride and groom?"

"Me," Mark answered in a husky voice.

"I am the bride," Rachel told him. She looked afraid.

"Let's get this over," the oncologist told them. "There is a surgical team waiting for this man. Hurry."

"Ah yes," Bishop Young agreed and began the ceremony.

"You may kiss the bride," someone said. Mark puckered up and fainted...

Claire came to Rachel and tried to comfort her. "Oh god, Rachel sobbed. If he dies, I won't be able to keep going. I'm so tired ... so scared." Her voice faded as Claire hugged her and Cole tried to reassure her...

One day later Mark woke in a fog. He could see and hear what went on around him, but nothing registered. He stared at the ceiling and breathed in and out. He hurt. The grayness remained with him. "Oh good, you're awake," Rachel told him. "I love you, my husband."

"Oh shit," Mark mumbled to himself.

Rachel heard him. "Mark, if you want to change your mind, we can get an annulment. I don't want to..." Her voice brought him partially out of his fugue.

Mark sighed and tried to explain, "No, this is what I wanted. You and Cole are now protected. I feel so sleep..." He closed his eyes.

From the door, Gina smiled and held up her I phone. "I wanted to record your first tender moments as a married couple. Instead I got proof Mark wasn't coerced into a reluctant marriage."

"God, Gina, you have the timing of a ... a ... I don't know what."

Gina smiled at her friend and told her, "Rachel, that little scene I just recorded might be very important in the future. Remember, the president himself is somehow involved in this mess. I don't think he necessarily had anything to do with this problem we have, but he's a politician and his friends are involved."

Mark's slurred voice interrupted them, "Screw the whole bunch. Make it public right now. Call the reporters and put it out on the Internet. Let them try to do a cover up, when it's all made public. Now shut up. I want to sleep." He closed his eyes.

Rachel hurried out to the waiting room and told Judge Sorenson, Del and Will what Mark had just ordered.

"I don't think I heard what you just said. Please excuse me while I call a taxi. I need to be home when whatever you may have said happens." The jurist grinned at the others and left.

"Smart move," Del told Gina and Rachel. "Now he can distance himself and remain a disinterested party to the proceedings. You want to bet this doesn't end up on his docket? I believe he sees this whole brouhaha as a steppingstone to a seat on the Supreme Court. There are two vacancies coming up and he sees one as his by right of desire."