75. Chapter Seventy-Five
Chapter seventy-five
Noble woke to the unmistakable smell of hospital disinfectant.
They have the same smell, more or less, the world over.
His eyes wouldn’t open, not at first. But he knew he was in a hospital bed.
He could feel the stiff gurney, the starched sheets, and hear the bustle and din of a busy nursing station somewhere nearby, along with a soft steady beep.
His brow wrinkled and his mouth twisted.
His body felt like someone had run him over with a delivery van, backed up, and run him over a second time for good measure.
Everything hurt. All his muscles ached, his throat was roughly the same size and shape as an old rubber tire, and a chorus line of razor blades danced the can-can inside his brain.
He worked hard to part his lips. Someone had filled his mouth with sticky tar.
It was a moment before he could clear the blockage with a soft wheezing cough.
“Hey, champ.”
The voice seemed to come to him from very far away, like a whisper through a bad connection on an old telephone.
“Welcome back to the land of the living.”
Noble responded with the sound of a cold diesel engine struggling to turn over on a winter morning.
It was a moment before he realized he was holding someone’s hand.
Or more correctly, someone was holding his hand.
His right fingers flexed and felt the firm cool touch of flesh.
With a heroic effort that nearly sent him spiraling back down into the welcoming embrace of unconsciousness, Noble managed to peel open one eye.
Sam’s beatific face took shape from the hazy cloud filling his vision. Her lips parted in a sublime smile, like the heavens parting and shafts of radiant light coming down.
Noble smacked his lips a few times to get some saliva to his tacky mouth and groaned out, “You look like an angel, but this can’t be heaven. I’m in too much pain.”
Sam let out a laugh that turned into a relieved sob, then back into a laugh. She gripped his right hand hard, between both of hers, and placed a kiss on his knuckles. “You’re in a hospital in Budapest.”
She sat in a hard plastic chair beside his bed, dressed in a green top and black slacks with her dark hair pulled back in a ponytail.
She smelled like hints of honeysuckle and vanilla.
Iridescent droplets beaded on her lashes.
She let go long enough to wipe the tears, then grasped his hand again, as if afraid to let go too long.
“You gave us a heck of a fright,” Sam said. “We nearly lost you. A few more minutes and you’d have been beyond all help. Why didn’t you take the antidote?”
Noble smiled weakly. “You already know why.”
Sam closed her eyes and pressed his hand to her cheek. “Guess I do.”
“You gave it to me anyway?” Noble asked.
She nodded.
“What about the cure?” he asked. He had to close his eyes and lay his head back. The lights in the room were too bright and holding his eyes open took too much effort. He said, “What’s going to happen now?”
“Doctors from the CDC were able to use the virus samples, along with the antibodies in your blood, to manufacture a vaccine,” Sam told him.
“They are working to mass produce it, but I don’t think it will be necessary.
Kadare’s lab is destroyed and all the samples of the virus have been located.
They are back in D.C. under lock and key. ”
He was trying to do the mental math on blood samples and virus cultures, and synthesizing cures. Things like that take time. He asked, “How long have I been here?”
“Four days. You’ve mostly been in and out of consciousness for the last two, talking in your sleep a lot.”
“What did I say? Anything that would get me in trouble?”
“Your cover is still intact, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Sam said. “There was a marriage proposal at one point.”
Noble’s eyes snapped open without effort this time.
Sam grinned. “Relax, I’m kidding. Besides, there was no ring, so it wouldn’t be official.”
Noble tried and failed to hide a smile. He gave her hands a squeeze. “I don’t think you’re supposed to give hospitalized patients an emotional shock. Especially not after a serious trauma.”
“Oh, please,” Sam said and rolled her eyes. “A serious trauma? So you took a face full of a deadly bioweapon? It’s not like you had to explain to your boss why a private contractor has your personal cell number.”
Noble chuckled, then coughed and had to clear his throat again.
Sam reached for a pitcher of water with a drinking straw on his bedside table. She helped him take a few sips, replaced the pitcher, and reclaimed her hold on his hand.
He asked, “You get jammed up?”
Her shoulders hitched and dropped back down. “I’m on the Director’s naughty list at the moment, but that’s a small price to pay.”
Something occurred to Noble. He tried to sit up in bed but Sam gently forced him back down. “What about Kadare?”
“Take it easy.” Sam came out of her chair and perched on the side of the bed, smoothing one hand over his brow. Her fingers felt cool to the touch. “We picked Kadare up late yesterday when he tried to cross the border into Istanbul.”
Noble nodded and allowed himself to sink back down into the pillows. “You managed to take him alive?”
“He’ll spend the rest of his life behind bars.”
The idea of the doctor back in prison where he belonged, was a weight off Noble’s shoulders. He smiled. “Thanks for saving my life.”
“Pretty sure that’s twice now I’ve saved your life.”
“Are we keeping track?” Noble asked. “Think I’ve saved your life at least twice.”
She put a kiss on his forehead. “We’ll call it even then.”
“I dunno,” said Noble. “I think we’ve got a good thing going. Let’s see if we can keep up the trend.” He turned serious and asked, “What about my mother? What’d you tell her?”
“She thinks you are on a routine assignment in Mallorca.”
“She saw right through that lie,” Noble said.
“She did,” Sam agreed.
“I’ll need to call her.” Noble glanced around the hospital room. It was a single occupant unit with a private bathroom, a collection of machines clustered near the bed, and a window. The sky beyond was dark. Noble asked, “What time is it?”
“Nearly three in the morning.” Sam stretched out next to him on the bed with a yawn. She rested her head on his shoulder. The smell of her shampoo gently invaded his senses. Her eyes slipped closed.
Noble asked, “How long you been sitting watch?”
“Not long,” she lied.
Noble smoothed a hand over her hair, down along the crest of her cheek to her chin and whispered, “You sleep now. I’ll sit watch awhile.”
Sam nodded. Another yawn stretched her jaw wide. She snuggled down next to him and said, “Jake?”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t scare me like that again.”
He threaded his arms around her slender frame, pulled her tight and said, “I’ll do my best.”