Chapter Seventeen
Seventeen
Note to self. When in trouble, ask self WWTD—what would T. do?
Because T. had just walked in there and gotten her operative literally out of hot water. Heath had just sat there in quiet mockery, nodding now and then at T.’s questions, as she handed Helen the towel. T. had then moved to his side.
“I heard that Julie Cummings likes whips and chains,” T. had murmured.
That one sentence had succeeded in Heath taking his eyes off Helen and turning his head to stare up at T.
“Is that right?” he asked, in a rhetorical way.
“Whips, chains, and just enough pain,” T. had continued, leaning a bit closer. “I made a bet with Jed that you wouldn’t be able to handle her, that he’d have to take over and find out her husband’s location himself.”
“Is that so?” he’d asked softly.
T. had smiled bewitchingly. “Yes, that’s so.”
Helen had watched them as she secured her towel. T. was her mentor and obviously knew how to handle these commandos. Second note to self. Learn from the best.
Not long after, T. was helping her into the elevator to her quarters.
Third note to self. Never get into the spa tub naked at this hour of the night. Or day. What the hell time was it?
Helen gave a mental sigh of frustration. She was limping more now. She supposed she was in for a lecture from both T. and Dr. Kirkland.
T. glanced at her. “Overkill has always been my favorite nickname for you,” she remarked. “Or maybe it’s Hellbent.”
“Please, I really don’t want to have a tongue-lashing right now,” Hell said, as she gingerly stepped into the elevator.
She could feel T.’s probing gaze on her, taking in her condition, analyzing, making conclusions. She knew there was concern in there, too, but T. was, first and foremost, her chief. Their friendship was second.
“I should be saying, ‘What were you thinking?’ But I think that’s the problem here. You aren’t your usual self, not without sleep, not with you dealing with remote-viewing downtime as well as exhaustion.”
“And you’re going to ask next, ‘Why aren’t you in bed?’” Helen joked. Everyone was asking her that, so she might as well do it for them. “I’m trying to get there, T. I can’t sleep right now.”
“So you’d rather hang around and let each of them test you?”
“Why are they testing me?” Hell leaned against the elevator wall for support. She was feeling both hot and cold at the same time and had to work at concentrating on T.’s words instead of the sensations.
“Because they are predators, darling, and predators can smell a good hunt. They’re also all males and you were in their domain yesterday and left your mark everywhere. And, now, you’re at your most vulnerable, and each of them thinks he can get you before the other one does.”
Helen stared at T. for a moment. “You worked with them for two years. Pretty closely. Did they do that to you?”
T. shook her head. “I came in at their most vulnerable, after a few of their own were killed, and both our agencies were scrambling a bit. Different circumstances, Hell. I’m not one of them, but you’re going to be part of their team.
I never used this serum. Some of them have and they know some things they can’t or won’t share with me.
Obviously you’re having certain effects from it or you wouldn’t be stupid enough to be in the same room with Number Eight while he’s in interrogation mode.
” The “pling” of the elevator announced their arrival at Helen’s floor.
T. offered Helen her shoulder. “Need help?”
Helen noticed that T. didn’t attempt to touch her. She placed a hand on her chief’s shoulder for support. She suddenly realized that touching didn’t make her feel; it was being touched that was causing the problems. T. seemed to understand that.
“Thank you,” Helen said, and she didn’t mean just for the offer of support.
“You’re welcome.”
“That doesn’t mean I couldn’t have handled Heath,” Helen said as they walked slowly.
“Of course,” T. said with a small smile. “Now tell me why you think you can’t sleep when you look like you’re falling over from exhaustion.”
“Actually, I’ve only been feeling the exhaustion the last fifteen minutes. Before that, the pain and tiredness were barely there. I was hoping the swimming would accelerate it and maybe it did, but the other stuff hadn’t gone away.”
“What other stuff?”
Helen told her about the strange sensations, how she had been overwhelmed by them, and how she had to really focus on conversation or physical activity to take the edge off.
T. listened silently, not asking questions, as she continued to try to explain what was happening, including what Armando had told her.
They reached Helen’s quarters and Helen keyed in the access codes.
The grayness of the surroundings was, for once, comforting.
The color had been found to be suitable for remote-viewing activity because it behaved like white noise to the senses, cutting out mental interference.
Whether it was true or a bunch of BS, it was working for Helen just enough that she felt some control returning. Just a little bit.
“They’re going to wake up Dr. Kirkland now that you’re back in quarters,” T.
said. “When he calls, let him know I’m here supervising you and that it won’t be necessary for him or his assistants to help you.
They can monitor your vitals and do all that brain wave entrainment stuff from their control room. ”
Oh, good. Helen nodded. That had been partly the reason for not going to bed sooner. She hadn’t wanted anyone to touch her. Even in her strange mood, she’d been aware that physical contact was setting her off. T. was obviously coming to that conclusion too.
“This thing that Armando said was part of the aftereffects—the reckoning—I’m thinking that he’s telling the truth,” T. said. “I know he’s cryptic. He’s like that, even before I brought him in for training.”
“You brought him into CCC?” Helen asked, surprised. She pulled out a large T-shirt to sleep in from the chest of drawers by her bed.
“Yes. He isn’t a full commando yet, but he’s as bad as they are.
But the cryptic talk, he did that before the drugs.
He was, in another life, one of the many young siblings under the Triad brothers, and they all tended to learn to talk in double meanings, mostly because of the power struggles within their crime and cultural framework. ”
The communication module buzzed, interrupting T.
It was Dr. Kirkland, his voice scratchy from sleep.
Poor man. Helen felt bad that he’d had to be woken up several times because of her.
She told him that T. was there to help her with setting up for sleep, and that there wasn’t any need for him or Derek to come by.
He agreed and told her to note down the time she activated the brain entrainment machine, just to double check with their records and reading tomorrow, and after asking her how her leg was, he bade her good-night.
“Go on, T., hearing about Armando’s background helps me understand.
” And concentrate on getting ready, instead of getting distracted by the way her T-shirt had slid over her skin and the softness of the blanket on the bed as she busied herself turning it over.
“That cart next to you with all the gadgets goes to the right side of my bed, by the way.”
“Read the files tomorrow,” T. told her. She pushed the cart Helen had indicated and watched as Helen poured herself a glass of water from the jug on the nightstand.
“Back to what Armando told you about the body chemistry compensating once the serum is gone from the body. I think he might have your problem in a nutshell.”
Helen took a long sip of water. She was thirsty suddenly. She took another gulp. Yeah, she was definitely winding down.
“If it’s true, then now what?” She finished her drink and set the glass down for another refill. “I’m getting tired. Very quickly.”
“Maybe it’ll go away after you sleep.”
On cue, Helen yawned. Maybe she could finally sleep after all. “I hope so.”
“We’ll talk more about this tomorrow when you can think more clearly. Perhaps comparing your vital stats pre-and post-operation will provide Dr. Kirkland with a clue. Do you want me to talk to him for you?”
Helen looked up in surprise. She hadn’t seen T. so protective in ages. Of course, it’d been two years since she had actually been around T. during an operation. Her chief was probably worried that her being out of the field for so long had made her a wimp.
“No, I’ll do that,” Helen said. “I just didn’t feel like being handled by anyone tonight, but once this condition goes away, it’ll be okay. I’m really fine.”
T. studied her for a moment. “Ready for bed, then? Tell me what I have to do with these things,” she said, gesturing to the equipment on the tray.
“Look scary, don’t they?” Helen asked, with a small grin.
“I put on these tabs on my pulse points. That’s the ear plugs for the brain entrainment machine.
As soon as I’m ready, that’s the switch and once it’s powered, it’ll transmit information to their control room.
I need you to record down the first reading so they can pinpoint where to start their comparison from their charts. ”
T. handed her the tab transmitters and watched her fix them on different parts of her body. “Before I go, I want back the ring I gave you,” she said.
Aha. Now she knew why T. had been looking for her. She pulled off the ring and handed it to T. “Are you going to tell me why you gave it to me in the first place?” she asked casually.
T. pocketed the ring. “After your rest. I would tell you tonight, but you’ll be asleep by the time I’m done. You truly look like hell now.”
“Thanks.” She’d probably feel like hell when she woke up, too. If she weren’t getting so tired, she’d laugh at her own pun. “If you talk to my monitor before I do, tell him the RV session details were exact as we saw them. I’ve made a recording with the microdigital. Give it to him.”
“Okay.”