The Valkyrie Project by Nels Wadycki Page A

attention the most.
    "When did they break your legs?" she asked.
    "My what?" He looked confused and then looked down the bed, almost as if he were seeing his legs encased in white duroplast for the first time.
    "Oh, that." He recovered. "I can't really say when that happened. Perhaps they broke them before they dropped me here."
    "Wait," Ana said . "They took you to the hospital after torturing you and drilling through your skull?"
    "More than just drilling, I do say. The doctors here say part of my brain is missing. An actual part of my brain. Can you believe it?"
    Ana could believe that part of the man's brain was missing sure enough. She wasn't sure she believed it had ever been there to be taken out, though.
    "But yes, they tossed a hover stretcher from a vehicle with me attached to it."
    Ana keyed her wrist comm.
    "Aerin, can you pull up all the video feeds for the hospital around the time our patient was admitted. See if you can find a hover stretcher coming from a van." She looked at the man on the bed. "Let me guess, it was an unmarked black van?"
    "Well, I was pretty well banged up and drugged up, but it was dark, yes. I can't be positive it was black."
    "Yeah, Aerin, should be a dark van. Sound familiar?"
    "Got it," Aerin said. "I mean, I've got the video now. Not the van. I'll let you know when I find that."
    "Thanks."
    "You're going to find them?"
    Jasper Jonze looked expectant, even hopeful. Ana's internal security alarm had gone off. It was only a perimeter breach, but she feared the longer she talked to Mr. Jonze the more holes she would find in his story, ridiculous as it already was. She wanted to get out of there.
    But then the figment of an angel appeared on her shoulder to say, "He knew your brother's name. How many times have you heard that in the last five, or even ten years?"
    He had known, and she wanted to believe.
    "Yes," she said, finally getting to his question, "I'm going to find them. Not for your sake, though, so don't expect to get any sort of revenge."
    "Oh, I wouldn't think of it. I would like to have the peace of mind that they won't come after me again."
    "Mr. Jonze, I doubt that you will ever have that kind of peace of mind."
    Ana turned to leave, and then pitched her head back, giving the patient a big smile.
    "Don't go anywhere, Mr. Jonze. I may need to talk to you again."
    He pointed at the casts on his legs, smiling back, tilting his head to one side. Ana tilted her head as well and winked.
     
    –
     
    Ana was just coming down out of the expressway when her comm lit up with Aerin's face patiently waiting, though somewhat grimly, for her. She tapped the screen and his voice came through.
    "So, I've still got another guy going over it at actual speed, but I scanned at double-speed and did some graphics filter double-checking and, well, I hate to say it, but there is no sign of a black van with a hover stretcher at any of the hospital entrances. I cross-checked the guy's records and I don't see him entering the hospital anywhere within a reasonable timeframe for when he was admitted. It's like he pulled a reverse Houdini, instead of getting out of the box filled with water while wearing a straitjacket, this guy got into the box with legs broken and a hole in his head without anyone seeing him."
    Ana took a deep breath while considering turning around and going back to question the nurses, doctors, receptionists, and anyone else until she figured out how Mr. Jonze had managed to find his way into a public hospital without being captured on any of the video feeds. The rage that flared inside her almost gave her the energy to do it.
    By now, though, the sound of internal alarms going off drowned out any such thoughts. Somehow the man lying in that hospital bed had known her brother's name. Jasper Jonze looked—although it was hard to tell due to the bandaged head—like he was probably the same age her brother would have been. Maybe this Mr. Jonze had been a classmate of the young