“Missile!” Mike said, unnecessarily in my opinion.
I then heard the unmistakable throb of another helicopter . However, despite searching what sky I could see, there was no trace of it. I was then distracted by a naval patrol ship steaming past to intercept the trawler, and watched, fascinated, as a puff of white from one of the guns fires across the bows of the smaller vessel, which stopped dead in the water.
At that moment, the sky filled with a Royal Navy Merlin Helicopter, which came over tilted almost sideways with the large side door open. I smiled as a distinguished figure wearing a white helmet waved at us from the open door.
I sat down, suddenly feeling very tired. Howard had come through, yet again.
Chapter Sixteen.
How I hate hospitals!
This time, however, I was grateful that I wasn’t the one having to suffer the indignity of being incarcerated. I walked down the corridor feeling confident and damn pleased with myself. The last twenty-four hours since returning to the mainland had been hectic, but after my debrief, I’d had a good sleep and a bath, so I felt fresh as a new pin. I’d dressed in jeans, boots, a thick jumper and a leather jacket, foregoing the impractical skirts and tights for a change. A pair of young male doctors stared at me with openly admiring expressions. I simply smiled at them and walked past feeling completely at ease with myself. I reached the room at the end and entered without knocking.
“Rebecca, you’re looking good. Thanks for coming,” said Mike from the bed.
“You look like shit,” I said, just to cheer him up, kissing him as I would any friend. I gave him the bag of fruit, with the half bottle of bourbon inside and sat in the chair next to the bed.
“So, is it all over?”
“For the moment, I suppose so. Howard seems pleased, how are your bosses?”
“I guess they’re relieved. I think they’d rather we’d got the data out in one piece. What’s happening to Standing?”
“He’s at a secure location, that’s all I know.”
“We’ll want a crack at him,” he said.
“That’s up to my boss and your’s to discuss. Us foot soldiers can relax and let those paid more to sort it all out.”
“So, when do we do dinner?” he asked.
“Ah, I’ll have to get back to you on that. It seems I may have another little job first.”
“Already, don’t you Brits have anyone else to send?”
I laughed, but couldn’t say any more as a nurse entered and checked his chart before fiddling with the drips. I didn’t envy him at all.
“So, what’s the damage?” I asked.
“I had a heap of metal, three pieces, imbedded in the leg. Lost a lot of blood and the big bit damn near severed the artery. I need to rest for a few days and let the tissue heal before walking again. You saved my ass, so I owe you.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
“Remember the boat?” he asked with a wry grin.
“The boat, what boat?” I asked.
For a moment, he looked pained and then saw I was teasing, so laughed as well.
“Yes I do, and can I say, I think I’m glad we didn’t.”
“Glad, why?”
“Because I want my first time to be a little more special than in a nasty smelly fish hold.”
That stunned him.
“First time, you mean, you mean, you’re a ….”
“Yup,” I said, smiling.
“How come?”
“That’s a tough question, but, this time round I suppose it’s always been a case of not having the opportunity.”
“Not the inclination?”
“Oh, the inclination is okay. The other problem is that I tend to scare most guys.”
“I can’t think why.”
We chuckled together. He was a nice guy, but not for me. He frowned, as his mind went over what I’d said.
“What do you mean, this time round?”
“Ah, I was waiting for that. Do you believe in reincarnation?”
“No, well, maybe, why?”
“Well, let’s say I have memories of another life, and leave it at that.”
“For real?”
“For real.”
“Now I gotta take you to dinner and find out more,” he said.
Smiling, I stood up and kissed his cheek.
“I have to go. You look after that leg and call me for that dinner, okay?”
“Do I detect that it will just be dinner?”
I shrugged. “Who knows? Call me.”
“I will. You take care, now, hear?”
“Oh yes, I hear. Bye.”
As I walked out of the hospital, I relaxed and breathed a sigh of relief. I unlocked my car and sat behind the wheel. Howard had been so pleased to have not only Standing, but also all his research notes on the hard drive as well. He told the Americans that it was corrupted and unusable. He even gave it to them and asked them to try to decipher it. Unbeknown to them, he’d removed the data and then corrupted what was left, I mean there are allies and allies, aren’t there?
I took out my phone and pressed some numbers. The call went to voicemail.
“Hi David, it’s Rebecca. I’m at a loose end after today, so I was wondering whether we could get together. Call me, okay?”
Glancing at my watch told me I had an hour before my next appointment, so I had time to get there, just.
Howard sat me down in a small office. With him was a man in a white coat, shifting nervously from one foot to another. I assumed this was Roger Whiteside, only I had yet to see his face.
“Okay, Rebecca, now I suppose you want to know how they managed to do what they did to you?”
“It would be quite nice, but to be honest, I’m not that bothered, unless there are other dangers I don’t yet know about.”
Howard turned to the other man.
“Doctor, this is our agent whom your device damn nearly killed. Would you like to tell her how it managed to change the man you saw into the person you know see?”
Whiteside licked his lips, staring at me with some consternation on his face.
“There’s no way this could be the person in that chamber,” he said, his voice as I recalled.
“Believe me, I am, but don’t start feeling guilty, as I have to admit that your device improved the old me quite considerably.”
“Doctor, you’ve read the medical reports, trust me, this is the same person, now, how did it happen?” Howard asked; his voice cutting through the other man’s nerves.
He then launched into a highly technical description that neither Howard nor I understood. Howard asked him to rephrase it in layman’s terms.
“The devise uses high frequency vibrations as well as focussing particles and atoms in a concentration to form an impenetrable shield. By also utilising a molecular trans-poser to divert molecules from one location to concentrate into the shield, we can only assume that somehow your living tissue was inside the collection area of the beam, so was drawn in, altering your whole DNA in the process. Actually, it was an important discovery, as we hadn’t taken the size of the human body into consideration, as the previous test subjects were rodents.”
“Am I in danger?” I asked.
“No, but I’m afraid we will not be able to reverse the effects until we get a clearer understanding as to how it happened.”