Nemesis: Innocence Sold (40 page)

A tree trunk that was so overgrown with climbing plants that it was no longer recognizable as such would give him sufficient cover to get an overview. It was only at the last second that he noticed a silvery flash on the leaf-covered ground. A trip wire. He carefully uncovered the metal and was finally holding a fragmentation grenade in his hand. Considerably more attentive than before, he again approached the tree trunk and observed the three men. Their equipment appeared to be military-issue but out of date, as did the weapons each of them kept close at hand, ready to be picked up. Neither insignia of rank nor other clues gave Daniel any indication of the identity of the men. When he realized one of them was treating a fourth man who lay curled up on an improvised bed, he spontaneously wanted to offer his help, but the SEAL in him won out over the physician. The high-level security suggested the men were professionals, and they wouldn’t be protecting their resting place without good reason.

Some minutes later, the wounded man had still not reacted; one of the soldiers who had watched the treatment from a safe distance with a concerned expression stepped over to them. “Leave it, Greg. It’s no use. You’ve done everything you could.”

Now Daniel recognized this soldier. He was considerably younger than he had been at the time of their last encounter in California, but his striking profile was unmistakable.

He wiped his sweaty forehead and narrowed his eyes. But the scene didn’t change. He still saw his father, Hector Russell, and two unknown soldiers, one of whom had just died.

“Why him, Hector? What damned rotten luck.” His father’s shoulders trembled as he bent over the fallen man.

With an empathy of which Daniel would never have thought him capable, Hector laid an arm around Daniel’s father’s shoulders. “It’s not in our power, Greg. We have to keep going. Don’t go crazy now. Think about your family. At some point this will come to an end.”

His father’s head shot up. “Sometimes I don’t know how I’m ever going to live normally with my family after all this, but I’ll tell you one thing: I’ll do anything to keep my son from having to go through this.”

Hector pulled his friend to his feet and grabbed one of the dead soldier’s dog tags from his neck. “You mean it would be better for Daniel to become a ballet dancer than join the Navy? Are you sure he’ll look good in pink?”

His father emitted a croaking laugh. “There are respectable professions that would spare him this shit. If you read something besides the sports pages once in a while, you’d know that ballet dancers are real artists and athletes. They’d easily pass all of our athletic tests and make considerably more money than we do.”

“I’m sure that’s true. I don’t get anything out of all that jumping around. It just looks stupid, and the music gets on my nerves.”

“When we’re back, I’ll invite you to a performance at the Met. Then you can take back every word.” His father rubbed his face with both hands. “How far do we have to go before we reach the landing zone? I want to take Paul with us; we owe Carol that much.”

“A mile or so. We can make it.”

A dull rushing in Daniel’s ears swelled, and his vision blurred. He had the feeling that he was falling and tried to hold on to the tree trunk. When the world around him came to rest, he saw the brown eyes of his father resting on him. It took some seconds for him to realize that the environment had changed. The jungle had disappeared; they were sitting on the balcony of his parents’ house in San Diego, dressed in jeans and T-shirts.

“What’s happening to me?” Daniel asked and didn’t recognize his own voice. His mind worked perfectly; he remembered every moment with Paulsen. Then he thought he understood. He didn’t need to express his fear; his father understood him anyway.

“Don’t be afraid, my boy, you’re not dead.”

“But—”

“Look for a scientific explanation later. Call it an intense dream or an excursion into your subconscious.” As though nothing had happened, his father filled two wineglasses and handed him one. “So your mission achieved something good, after all. I can explain how much I regret trying to keep you away from the SEALs.”

“It would be better for you to apologize to the other applicants. I imagine the selective training wouldn’t have been as hard otherwise, and more than three would have passed.”

With the quiet laugh Daniel had painfully missed, his father raised his glass in a toast. “I thought the connection would become clear to you at some point. But the training was within the usual limits, though it was certainly at the upper end. Can you forgive me?”

“I forgave you long ago, of course. And there’s nothing I should need to forgive. Tom’s grandmother always says there’s a deeper meaning behind everything. Really, I ought to be grateful to you. Otherwise I would never have joined Mark’s team, wouldn’t have come to Germany, and wouldn’t have met Sandra. Why didn’t you tell me this long ago? All those years I thought you were angry and disappointed because of my job.”

“A guilty conscience and the fear of losing one’s son are poor advisors.”

“Then you suffered considerably more than I did. Well, apart from the beginning in Coronado—that was pretty nasty some of the time.”

With that, they changed the topic and enjoyed the wine and the sunset. It wasn’t until the stars were shining and Daniel could barely make out his father’s face in the light of a garden lantern that his father stood up. “It’s time for you to go, my son.”

Reluctantly, Daniel stood. “Will we see each other again?” he asked in a brittle voice.

“Of course. You know what Tom’s grandmother always says:
No one disappears entirely.
”

After a close embrace, the rushing in Daniel’s ears swelled again. Again he had a feeling of falling, and when his environment finally became steady again, he saw nothing. Darkness surrounded him, and an irritating, steady beeping reached his ear. A dull numbness lay over his body. He knew Paulsen’s shot had hit him but couldn’t say where. There was no pain to give him a clue to the location or the extent of his injuries. He concentrated on opening his eyes. His hands clenched into fists, and he succeeded. Blinking, he waited for his vision to focus. Again brown eyes looked at him. “Dad?”

He knew the raw, deep laugh, but it definitely didn’t belong to his father. “I’d definitely like to bend you over my knee, but I’m not your father, Daniel,” Mark said with a smile.

“Sorry . . . I—” Daniel began and broke off. His throat was raw. Every word hurt; presumably, he had been given artificial respiration. A coughing attack made any further words impossible.

Mark seemed to be able to read minds. He held a cup with a bent straw out to Daniel.

After a few sips of water, his throat felt better, and his thoughts were completely clear. While he had only noticed Mark earlier, he now saw Sandra, who was leaning on his boss, asleep. Mark had his arm around her, keeping her from falling off her chair. “Welcome back, Daniel.”

“How long was I out? And why?”

“Four days. They almost lost you during the operation, and you fell into a coma. When Konstantin gave us the news it was difficult. But Henrik has assured us it was relatively normal after such an injury and operation, particularly because you were somewhat battered already.”

“How am I?” Fear shot through Daniel. “Will I be able to . . . ?”

“You will be completely healthy again. Five weeks from now at the latest, I want to see you on the obstacle course. The bullet missed the most important internal organs but scratched some things up, and vessels had to be repaired. Your colleagues can explain the details to you.”

“I’m not sure I want to know about it in that much detail.”

Through narrowed eyes, Daniel looked at the various devices that were monitoring his body; then he reached out a hand and, with effort, touched a switch. “That’s superfluous,” he said. “What I would like most is to . . .”

“What? Get up and walk? You know, Daniel, I remember what you did to me when I had similar thoughts. And there are some people waiting outside you didn’t mess around with when they got hit. As soon as the relief is gone, you’ll be done. You’re going to be good and lie here until Konstantin and I allow you to get up. Understood, Lieutenant?”

Still rebellious, Daniel returned Mark’s look. “I’m responsible for medical matters, Captain. Not you!”

Rather than continuing their usual argument, Mark laughed and bent forward, to the extent this was possible with his arm around Sandra. Carefully, he laid a hand on Daniel’s shoulder. “I’m damned happy you got through this, Daniel. In the next few days, I’ll think about whether your behavior was brave or stupid.”

A leaden weariness descended on Daniel, and his eyes were threatening to close again when the voice of his team leader pulled him back. “Put your arm out to the side some.”

Daniel did what Mark asked, although he didn’t understand why. Then he saw with blurry vision that Mark had lifted Sandra. She made a sound of protest and snuggled closer to Mark, who raised an eyebrow, grinning, and gently laid her on the bed next to Daniel. “I have no idea what regulations this violates, but it feels right to me.”

Daniel nodded as Sandra, sleeping, nestled against him. “Keep my colleagues away from me. I want to sleep for a few more hours. Then they can start in on their crap.”

“I’ll see what I can do. Sleep well, Doc.”

Daniel heard Mark being assaulted with questions as soon as he had opened the door. He knew the voices. Everything was as it should be. With his arm around Sandra, he fell asleep again.

CHAPTER 36

A prickling in his arm, in combination with quiet, clearly angry voices, tore Daniel out of his sleep. Confused fragments of thought only partially made sense, and until he had definitively identified his environment, he wouldn’t show that he was halfway awake. He tensed the arm that was hurting and saw Sandra’s head lying on it. He could live with that, but this was definitely not his bedroom. His memory returned slowly while he listened to the whispered conversation.

“I think this is going too far,” a woman said.

“Now calm down, or you’re going to wake them. Do you really want to take on the head physician?” a second woman, who spoke with a strong East German accent, said.

Silence, then a quiet snort. “I’d rather take on Konstantin von und zu Blücher, who’s a gentleman, than one of those guys out there. None of them seems to know what a razor is—and some of them are carrying guns. I thought that brown-haired guy was going to shoot me when I protested about the number of visitors in the room.”

It was getting to the point where Daniel had to keep himself from laughing. He would have loved to have known whether it was Dirk or Mark that had put the fear of God into the nurses. Amused, he listened to the typical sounds caused by the changing of infusion bags and the readying of new cannulae. There was busy silence; then it continued. “I’d like to know what’s behind that. VIP treatment like this isn’t normal, and then Dr. Fischer came by right away. He’s
the
expert on coma patients and so on. He must have other things to do than drop by here morning, noon, and night. Maybe he’s a famous actor? And the others are bodyguards? The guy with the long hair looks like he would be on television. First I thought he had something going on with our mysterious patient, because he never left his side until that brown-haired guy threw him out. But that wouldn’t fit with the girl.”

Too bad Sandra hadn’t heard that—that would have been interesting.

Paper was crumpled and thrown away, accompanied by a deep sigh. “Finally, something interesting happens here for once, and I have no idea what’s going on. Life’s unfair.”

By this point, the other woman sounded impatient. “Oh, stop it. Curiosity is fine, but you’re overdoing it. The readings look good, in any case, and don’t let Dr. von Blücher hear you speculating like that. His instructions were clear.”

When the door closed Daniel knew he was alone with Sandra again and opened his eyes. His amusement over the nurses disappeared when he took a closer look at her. Dark shadows lay under her eyes, and for the first time he noticed fine wrinkles at the corners of her mouth. Although she was sleeping peacefully, she looked so lost and exhausted that he felt pain shoot through him. With clenched teeth, he tested the extent to which he could move his arm and pulled her closer. Instead of nestling against him as expected, she opened her eyes and looked at him, blinking.

“Daniel? My God, what happened?”

“Mark thought you’d be more comfortable here.”

“Mark?” Puzzled, she looked around; then she seemed to come to her senses. “You’re finally awake,” she said.

“In contrast to you, it seems.”

Finally, the sparkle in her eyes returned. She sat up and grinned, much more relaxed than before. “Sure. I haven’t slept through the past four nights. I just can’t believe I fall asleep and wake up and then you’re finally back. I think I’m dreaming.”

“Should I pinch you so you know it’s real?” Daniel asked with a smile.

“No, just hold me.” She cautiously embraced him and fought against rising tears. Although the position and embrace required effort from him and triggered a painful pounding in his stomach, he held her until her shoulders stopped shaking. “I’m sorry,” she said, reaching for a stack of paper towels on a tray next to the bed.

For the first time, Daniel didn’t know what to say; after all, in a way it had been his fault she had suffered so much—although he would do the same thing if he had it to do over again. There had been no other options.

“Will you tell me about everything I’ve missed?” he asked.

“Yes, I will. Will it hurt you if I snuggle up to you again?”

“No, and if it does, it will be worth it. I fear we don’t have much time before the doctors come back.”

“I don’t understand where everyone else went. Tom had been here the entire time, too. But eventually Mark threw him out. He was completely exhausted and has two broken ribs. Just don’t ask me when that was, because my sense of time is completely gone. Stephan only went out to make phone calls and for a brief visit to his family, and then there were the others, of course. Oh, your sister’s here, too. Mark talked to her on the phone, and she wanted to come no matter what, so Mark arranged a flight for her.”

“Ann?”

“Do you have another sister?” she asked, needling him. “Why, what is it?”

He was gradually getting used to having her read him like an open book, so he wasn’t surprised she had immediately seen how uncomfortable he felt. “I just don’t like the idea that you and Ann and the others have been worried. The long flight alone must have been horrible for her.”

“Then you had better not get in the way of any bullets in the future. But she wasn’t alone; she came with a friend, and Tom brought her together with Henrik, Shara, and Konstantin. That distracted her quite well.”

“What friend?”

“No idea. I’ve forgotten the name; sounded like the name of a dog. An older guy. He was just here briefly and then drove off somewhere with Jake and Andi.”

That sounded like Admiral Hector Russell. Perhaps he would take the opportunity later to find out to what extent his jungle experience had corresponded to reality; at the moment that didn’t particularly interest him. His ability to concentrate was still extremely limited, and he was as tired as if he had been awake several nights. He studied the label on an infusion bag. He had no objection to painkillers, but their side effects were considerable, and he wanted to have a clear mind. Despite Sandra’s shocked gasp, he stopped the flow of liquid and detached the tube from the cannula. “That’s enough. That stuff’s keeping me from thinking clearly.”

“That’s what I was afraid of,” a well-known voice said from the door. With large steps, Konstantin approached Daniel’s bed and gazed at him with disapproval. “I’m afraid a few clarifying words are in order here. To begin with, I’m of course glad you’re awake and able to converse. But I cannot definitively rule out a brain injury at this time. I’ll put this simply: you patient, me doctor. You do what I say. Do you understand so far, Daniel? I must be able to depend on you not to discontinue your medication on your own initiative. It’d be news to me if you had had the opportunity to study your chart. The operation wasn’t child’s play, and I expect you to behave reasonably. Do you understand?”

Daniel nodded. He wasn’t in the proper condition for a lengthy exchange.

With a snort, Konstantin sat down on the edge of the bed, which made a creaking sound under the weight of a third person. “I don’t understand why this had to happen to me, of all people. Thanks to my own experiences with Pat and the stories relayed to me by an esteemed colleague at the Bundeswehr hospital in Wandsbek, I know that as patients, SEALs make unreasonable demands on doctors, and I, of all people, get one who is also a valued colleague. When you leave the hospital, I’ll probably have an ulcer.”

“So how would it be if you released me immediately?” Daniel said.

Konstantin’s smile contained a dose of malevolence. “So this is clearly a brain-damage case,” he said, registering Sandra’s laugh with obvious satisfaction. Then he stood up and clapped his hands. “That’s enough fun. Sandra, would you please go out and keep the horde at bay for about fifteen minutes? Then a short visiting period will be permitted, in connection with which I have already waived the restriction on the number of visitors to a maximum of two at a time. But in one hour there will be peace and quiet here, or I’ll alert the MEK, the SEK, GSG 9, the CIA, the NSA, Starfleet, and whoever else occurs to me. You need peace and quiet, and I’ll see to it that you get it.”

“Have you ever thought about a career as a staff sergeant?” Daniel asked.

“No, maybe a side job at a day care center—my experiences with you would be of use to me there. Now get out of here, Sandra. I don’t need a concerned girlfriend keeping an eye on me while I carry out the necessary tests.”