The Ghosts

Chapter Six

“He’s fine,” Jesse said. “Scared shitless and making no sense. But he’s fine.”

“That’s enough,” the medic said. “Give me some room, now.”

Jesse squeezed my hand and went over to the gathered security agents. I could just imagine them pulling straws to see who was going to tell Gregori. I saw several detach and head down the entrance, all armed to the teeth.

“Well, well, well,” a familiar voice said. “Ms. Vertigo. We meet again.”

I looked at the second medic who arrived and squinted.

“Ben?”

“Brad.” He smiled. “Nice try though. Figures you’d be my first call.”

“What the hell?”

He just grinned and took a look at my ankle. “Oh my, you did a number on this. It’s swelling up real nice.”

He took off my boot and I hissed at him. “That hurts,” I said.

He just ignored me and probed my ankle. “Good news is it’s not broken.”

The first medic lifted my eyelid and checked my pupil dilation. “Equal and reactive,” he said. “BP and heart rate are normal.”

He touched my cheek and I winced. “Several of these will need to be cleaned and sutured before they heal. Can you sit up?”

I made to sit up but I hissed in pain as the gash in my side stung and throbbed in protest.

The medic looked it over and took some gauze out of his bag along with a roll of bandage.

“You may have a broken rib or two.”

“Bruised,” I corrected. “I remember what a broken rib feels like. This doesn’t compare.”

Brad chuckled. “The bad news here is you’ll have four nice long scars down your calf for your trouble.”

“Great,” I mumbled. I could just add them to the other ones I had.

The first medic called for Jesse to come help. “I need you to apply pressure,” he instructed. “I need to wrap this around her.”

Jesse did as he was instructed and the medic wrapped me up like a mummy. Brad was doing much of the same with my ankle and several of the other deeper scratches. “Just how I remember you,” he said.

“Shut up,” I snapped.

He just grinned and continued his work. The group that went down came up. The leader told them to gather the men and get the body bags from the truck. He came over and knelt down next to Jesse. I recognized him as David Harvey.

“Well, Princess. You made quick work of them.”

I smiled. “You doubted?”

“You? Me doubt you? A tiny thing like you? Doing all that damage? Never.” He grinned and looked at Jesse. “Our girl here has grown up. She managed to put at least a dozen of the bastards out of their misery.”

“Twelve?” I said. “Are you sure? It seemed like less.” I hissed again and looked at Brad. He just smiled and continued to wrap. “Bastard.”

“Now, now, is that any way to talk to your medical professional?”

“Oh no, no, no. You are NOT my medical professional.”

“Time to go,” the first medic said. “We need to get you out of here before more people see you and start to ask questions. They’ll think we killed a terrorist cell down there.”