seconds, then got
up and left the table without saying a word. Contented
smiles spread across all our faces, and Red Beard winked
at me as if to say, That'll teach the bastard to have a
little respect.
Right on, brother, I winked back. Right on!
The rest of the day was a breeze compared to the "un¬
der the microscope" treatment I'd suffered through at
breakfast. Our surgeries were all scheduled for tomor¬
row m o r n i n g — m i n e was penciled in for 10:00 A . M . in
operating room #2—but before we could go under the
knife, we had to pass our pre-op physicals. Records
were made of our blood type, heart rate, blood pres¬
sure, and temperature. They collected blood, urine, and
stool samples, checked our vision, took X-rays, and
brought out another stack of forms that needed to be
filled out in triplicate, again. They asked about aller¬
gies, childhood illnesses, sexual diseases, and any other
relevant health issues—past or present—that Dr. Mar¬
shall needed to know about. It was all bullshit, really.
They'd done their background checks on all four of us,
and I was willing to bet they already knew the answer
to every single question they asked before we'd even been
approached. Still, I guess it didn't hurt to double check
to make sure their records were up to date and correct.
All the running around managed to take up the entire
morning, and we didn't sit down to lunch until 1:15 P.M.
Thankfully, Drake and Dr. Marshall didn't join us so it
was nice and peaceful. After we'd eaten, we had the rest
of the afternoon to ourselves. The other guys took ad¬
vantage of the break to catch up on a little shut-eye. Not
wanting to look out of place, and still trying to avoid
Drake, I also went to my room and hid until supper.
Even supper was rolling along without incident, ev¬
eryone making small talk and stuffing their faces until
Bill Smith silenced the room by asking, "So, any chance
we can pop up and visit your son tonight, Doc?"
The surgeon froze in place with his fork halfway to
his mouth, and Drake nearly swallowed his, he was so
caught off guard. Wheels and Red Beard thought Bill's
idea was marvelous, so I quickly chimed in my two cents'
worth of approval, too. They were serious, but I j u s t
wanted to see how Dr. Marshall was going to get him¬
self out of this predicament.
"There's a small problem, I'm afraid," he began. "To
night's not a good night to visit Andrew. I was up seeing
him earlier, and he isn't feeling very well. He might j u s t
be nervous about tomorrow, but let's give him the beneft of the doubt. Let's get through our surgeries, guys,
and then you'll all have time to get to know Andrew.
Fair enough?"
Small problem, my ass. Not a good night to visit him, on
account he doesn't even exist!
Still, I had to admit that Dr. Marshall sounded sin¬
cere. He either believed what he was saying, or he was
an incredible liar. No one at the table doubted his sin¬
cerity. Even I did a double take when I saw the pain on
his face when he'd said Andrew wasn't feeling well. Maybe
it was me that was crazy here. Maybe, somehow, I had
this all twisted around and was mistaken about the
doctor. Man, I was confused.
Then confront him. Do know, Mike. Stop fucking around
playing secret agent and just flat out ask him about what you
saw.
I was tempted to do j u s t that, and I think I would
have if I hadn't noticed the way Dr. Marshall and Drake
kept giving poor Bill Smith death stares. They'd glare
over at him, then nod slightly to each other as if shar¬
ing some secret message. They thought they had their
man. Bill had inadvertently asked about meeting An¬
drew and the chief of security was on him like a blood¬
hound on a fresh scent. To Drake, Bill's harmless remark
was the slip of the tongue he'd been waiting for all day.
Dr. Marshall remained civil but Drake was practi¬
cally drooling beside him, grinning like the village id¬
iot, t h i n k i
up and left the table without saying a word. Contented
smiles spread across all our faces, and Red Beard winked
at me as if to say, That'll teach the bastard to have a
little respect.
Right on, brother, I winked back. Right on!
The rest of the day was a breeze compared to the "un¬
der the microscope" treatment I'd suffered through at
breakfast. Our surgeries were all scheduled for tomor¬
row m o r n i n g — m i n e was penciled in for 10:00 A . M . in
operating room #2—but before we could go under the
knife, we had to pass our pre-op physicals. Records
were made of our blood type, heart rate, blood pres¬
sure, and temperature. They collected blood, urine, and
stool samples, checked our vision, took X-rays, and
brought out another stack of forms that needed to be
filled out in triplicate, again. They asked about aller¬
gies, childhood illnesses, sexual diseases, and any other
relevant health issues—past or present—that Dr. Mar¬
shall needed to know about. It was all bullshit, really.
They'd done their background checks on all four of us,
and I was willing to bet they already knew the answer
to every single question they asked before we'd even been
approached. Still, I guess it didn't hurt to double check
to make sure their records were up to date and correct.
All the running around managed to take up the entire
morning, and we didn't sit down to lunch until 1:15 P.M.
Thankfully, Drake and Dr. Marshall didn't join us so it
was nice and peaceful. After we'd eaten, we had the rest
of the afternoon to ourselves. The other guys took ad¬
vantage of the break to catch up on a little shut-eye. Not
wanting to look out of place, and still trying to avoid
Drake, I also went to my room and hid until supper.
Even supper was rolling along without incident, ev¬
eryone making small talk and stuffing their faces until
Bill Smith silenced the room by asking, "So, any chance
we can pop up and visit your son tonight, Doc?"
The surgeon froze in place with his fork halfway to
his mouth, and Drake nearly swallowed his, he was so
caught off guard. Wheels and Red Beard thought Bill's
idea was marvelous, so I quickly chimed in my two cents'
worth of approval, too. They were serious, but I j u s t
wanted to see how Dr. Marshall was going to get him¬
self out of this predicament.
"There's a small problem, I'm afraid," he began. "To
night's not a good night to visit Andrew. I was up seeing
him earlier, and he isn't feeling very well. He might j u s t
be nervous about tomorrow, but let's give him the beneft of the doubt. Let's get through our surgeries, guys,
and then you'll all have time to get to know Andrew.
Fair enough?"
Small problem, my ass. Not a good night to visit him, on
account he doesn't even exist!
Still, I had to admit that Dr. Marshall sounded sin¬
cere. He either believed what he was saying, or he was
an incredible liar. No one at the table doubted his sin¬
cerity. Even I did a double take when I saw the pain on
his face when he'd said Andrew wasn't feeling well. Maybe
it was me that was crazy here. Maybe, somehow, I had
this all twisted around and was mistaken about the
doctor. Man, I was confused.
Then confront him. Do know, Mike. Stop fucking around
playing secret agent and just flat out ask him about what you
saw.
I was tempted to do j u s t that, and I think I would
have if I hadn't noticed the way Dr. Marshall and Drake
kept giving poor Bill Smith death stares. They'd glare
over at him, then nod slightly to each other as if shar¬
ing some secret message. They thought they had their
man. Bill had inadvertently asked about meeting An¬
drew and the chief of security was on him like a blood¬
hound on a fresh scent. To Drake, Bill's harmless remark
was the slip of the tongue he'd been waiting for all day.
Dr. Marshall remained civil but Drake was practi¬
cally drooling beside him, grinning like the village id¬
iot, t h i n k i
Similar Books
