Part 2 (2/2)
”Tomorrow morning, if you want to speak to her instead of just see her.
You know the kind of equipment that will be hooked up to her?”
Odeon chuckled. ”It's been hooked up to me more than once, Doctor. It doesn't bother me.” It was enough for now to know his Joanie was doing as well as humanly possible. ”Thank you for your efforts.”
To meet Lawrence Shannon: 1a. Raid Master
2. Hospital
St. Thomas, Thursday, 20 June 2571
Odeon was still perplexed by the previous afternoon's odd meeting when he got to Joanie's room the morning after her surgery. The door was open, but he tapped on it and called her name anyway.
”Mike!” Cortin hoped he could hear the welcome she tried to put in her voice. ”Come in, please!” She watched him approach, holding back tears. Mike had been her ideal since the day she'd met him, and she'd done her best to live up to his example of cool, impartial professionalism. He was an outstanding officer, an exemplary son of the Church; he certainly wouldn't come apart, so she had to conceal her anguish. She couldn't forfeit his respect for her by collapsing, even though the Brothers had maimed and perhaps crippled her.
He entered, smiling as he saw her. Her head and hands were bandaged, along with most of one arm; her face had half a dozen cuts and bruises not worth bandaging; and her ribs had undoubtedly been strapped tight under her hospital gown, but-- ”You're looking a lot better than you were the last time I saw you. How do you feel?”
”Right now, I mostly don't. They've got me so heavily doped up it's a miracle I'm awake and coherent. At least I hope I am. Coherent, that is; I know I'm awake.”
”You sound fine to me,” Odeon a.s.sured her. He leaned over, kissed her forehead. ”Ready for my report?”
”Not until you do better than that,” she said. ”I know you can, and as far as I can tell, my mouth is all right.”
”As good as ever, but I don't hug people with broken ribs.” He kissed her as thoroughly as he thought possible without hurting her, then pulled up a chair to sit beside the bed.
Her first question gave him an unpleasant shock. ”Have you put me in for Special Ops?”
”What?” he said, trying to stall. Dammit, she wasn't supposed to know she was eligible yet!
Cortin sighed. ”I don't need a doctor to know I've been spayed, Mike.
The incision in my belly, after what the Brothers did to me, makes it obvious I'll never have a family. It was unlikely before; now it's simply impossible. You can thank G.o.d I'm on sedatives right now, or I'd probably be a raving maniac. So answer the question.”
”I have, yes. I found out day before yesterday that you'd be eligible, took the paperwork to Headquarters yesterday as soon as Doctor Egan told me you'd made it through the surgery with a reasonably good prognosis, and started to walk it through.” He paused, frowning.
”And?”
”I don't know,” Odeon said slowly. ”Personnel didn't seem too interested in doing anything about the waiver request at first, until I raised my voice a bit.” He chuckled briefly. ”It seems office workers are more than a little apprehensive about an upset Special Ops man. At any rate, once I convinced them to do more than glance at the forms, I was very politely escorted to a private office--which is where it gets odd. Joanie, there was a colonel of His Majesty's Own there!”
”His Majesty's Own!” Cortin said, impressed. ”So what happened?”
”Not much--which is what bothers me.” Odeon frowned. ”He took the forms, read them, nodded once, and told me not to tell anyone including you about the meeting. I asked what was going on, told him I had to tell you something--but the only thing he'd say was that it was a cla.s.sified project, that you'd be given serious consideration, and that he'd be in touch as soon as the decision was made. Typical bureaucrat talk--but the oddest thing is that I believe him.”
”Did he give you any idea of when?”
Odeon shook his head. ”No--but I'd guess not more than a few days.
Full colonels don't work for long in bare-bones offices without even carpeting.”
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