Double blind

Chapter Twenty-five

At precisely 4:00 that following Thursday morning, Congressman Regis J. Smallsreed placed a call from his Virginia estate to Simon Whatley, waking the physically exhausted district manager out of a sound sleep to demand a verification that the "sensitive material" on their project had been delivered as ordered.

Having no idea what Smallsreed was talking about, Whatley mumbled something to the affirmative… and immediately fell back to sleep after the congressman snarled "good," and hung up without any further comment.

Smallsreed immediately called Lt. Colonel John Rustman to advise his field project leader that everything was back on schedule and a "go" as far as he and his clients were concerned.

Much later that morning, a more or less rejuvenated Simon Whatley would not remember receiving Smallsreed's call.

At precisely 7:00 A.M. the six youthful wildlife special agents of Charlie Team met for breakfast at a small diner a few miles outside Loggerhead City to decide what to do next.

After considerable discussion, they came to the very logical conclusion that their first field operation wasn't likely to go anywhere at all until they found and talked with the elusive Special Agent Wilbur Boggs.

At precisely 8:32 that Thursday morning, the floor nurse at Providence Hospital took her fingers off Wilbur Boggs's wrist, made a notation in the chart, then looked up as the resident physician entered the room and quietly shut the door.

"Any changes?" he asked in a soft voice.

She shook her head.

"How long has it been this time?"

The resident nurse looked at her watch and consulted Boggs's chart.

"Almost twenty hours since he last regained consciousness," she replied.

Pursing his lips in concern, the resident physician took the chart and quickly scanned the last series of notations.

"If his vital signs weren't so steady, I would seriously consider another CAT scan," he muttered mostly to himself as he handed the chart back to the floor nurse. As he did so, he noticed the chart still read John Doe "Wilbur."

"Any more luck on tracking him down?" he asked.

The floor nurse shook her head again. "Nothing so far."

The resident physician sighed tiredly.

"Well, I suppose someone is bound to come looking for him eventually. Keep me posted, and have someone notify me right away if anything changes in the next twenty-four hours," he said as he walked back into the hallway to continue his rounds.