Lockout

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

St. Paul’s Hospital, Denver, Colorado (10:15 p.m. MST / 0515 Zulu)

“Mrs. Reagan, can you hear me?” Dr. Wellsley asked, leaning over Gail.

“She… uses her professional name. Hunt. Gail Hunt.”

The doctor glanced at Steve Reagan with a tiny flash of suspicion which paled instantly in the face of everything surrounding this patient.

“Gail Hunt? I need you to talk to me now. This is your doctor.”

From Gail’s point of view, there was another face hovering somehow in the sky overhead, above the meadow she’d been enjoying. She tried to make her mouth work, but as before, the lips moved without sound and she tried to clear her throat.

“Okay…” she said, taking a deep breath, the last of the dream state gone. She could feel herself being jolted awake, and the pain began to reassert itself.

“Gail, your husband, Steve, needs to speak with you urgently. Please concentrate and help him out, and then we’ll let you get back to sleep.”

Steve’s face joined the doctor’s, and she smiled back at him through the confusion.

My husband? Aw-w! We’re MARRIED! Why don’t I remember…

“Gail? Honey? I need you to help me get the latest codes you wrote that will release the control unit. You said they were in the central computer. I have my laptop here connected to our server. Can you guide me in?”

“We’re married?” she asked, smiling.

“Yes, sweetheart,” he answered, trying not to look stricken at the fact he was lying to her at a vulnerable moment, playing on her loyalties to get the information they needed, and about being married no less!

“ Why don’t I remember? You know how long I’ve wanted you? I’ve wanted you to make love to me for ages!”

Steve Reagan felt his face flushing a deep red, and for a few seconds the entire reason for the marital ruse got lost in a completely unexpected kaleidoscope of images.

He yanked himself back to the present and nodded quickly at the doctor.

“Gail, we’ve got a lot to talk about, but right now, General Wriggle needs you.”

“Is he here, too?”

“No, just me. Now, darling, please concentrate.”