Joe (26 page)

Danny saw blood, seeping blood in midair.

“Oh, boy. Frank get that checked out.” Danny argued.

Until Robbie interjected convincing Frank to prove Danny wrong.

The hysteria Frank created by walking in the clinic with half the invisible suit on, quieted some when Frank went into the examining room.

He rested his arm on the table, while Robbie leaned in and looked. The arm was swollen, and bloody. A huge gaping hole exposed the bone that protruded from his arm.

“It’s not too bad,” Robbie said. “But, you know, I’m not expert, but I think you broke it.”

“You think?” Frank asked, then shrugged.

“I think. Not sure. Does it hurt much?”

“Not much.”

The door to the examining room opened and Hal, along with Elliott entered.

“Good Lord, Frank, what have you done to yourself?” Hal asked.

“I fell.”

“You fell?” Hal peered at the arm. “You’re being a baby about all this.”

“See that’s what I thought, too.” Frank said. “I just need a band aid.”

Hal choked a cough. “A Band-Aid?”

“Why do you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Repeat everything as a question.”

“I do not.”

“Do too, Ryder, tell him.” Frank said.

Elliott cleared his throat. “You do, Captain.”

“Oh.” Hal waved out his hand. “Who asked you?”

Elliott pointed to Frank.

Frank smiled smugly.

A single knock on the door, gave warning that it would open, and Dean walked in. “Hey, Frank. They said you think you broke your . . . Holy shit!” Dean walked to the table.

“You think it’s broke?” Frank asked.

“Uh, uh, yeah. But an x-ray will tell.” A pause. “Yeah, Frank it’s broke.”

“So a band aid won’t cut it.”

“Not this time.” Dean exhaled. “You need surgery.”

“Surgery?” Frank asked. “Get the fuck out.”

“That bone is sticking out.” Dean said.

“Can’t you push it back in?”

“No, not really, I have to operate on that arm,” Dean stated matter of fact. “You’ll be in a cast for eight weeks.”

“Ha!” Frank laughed. “Are you forgetting I’m super healer?”

“Shit, that’s right.” Dean said. “We’d better prep you fast before that starts to heal.”

“Good God,” Hal said, “Are you serious.”

“Yeah,” Dean replied then turned his head when the door opened again. Roy walked in.

“Oh.” Roy gleamed. ‘It’s a party. Frank that is a bad break.”

Frank’s jaw dropped open. “Everyone said it isn’t.”

“Very severe.” Roy peered. “How did you do it?”

“I fell.”

“Fell?” Dean mocked. “Get out of here. You can’t fall and break your arm like that.”

“Dean, I did.”

“No, you did not.”

“I’m telling you.”

“And I’m telling you,” Dean said. “To me, that looks as if you smacked the interior forearm so hard the radius cracked and broke through. What did you do?”

Frank shifted his eyes about the room. “Ok. You know how we brought Elvis in? Well, the beam went 125 years into the future and brought Pubes in.”

Everyone stared in wonder, except Roy, he gasped. “So they are here now?”

“Yep. And apparently, after the séance, Jason went ahead in time to see if my Dad’s ghost did anything to ripple the bright future. They had over run Beginnings instead of the Great War and one followed him through the time machine.” Frank explained. “So that with the strange signals tells me, they are in the Killer Toddler region, and somehow they end up getting in.”

“Wait. Stop.” Hal made a ‘T’ with his hands. “Pubes.”

Elliott exhaled. “I’m glad you asked.”

Roy spoke. “Killer Pre-pubescent. That’s the name.”

“I named them that.” Frank said.

“Oh!” Roy said brightly. “You were the one who called them that. How wonderful. We always wondered that”

Crinkling his top lip, Hal looked quizzically. “You call them Pubes in the future.”

Roy nodded.

“Good Lord.”

Dean asked, “So a Pube did this to you?”

“I did it to myself,” Frank replied. “It flew at me to attack and I batted it away. It was big.”

“Wait. Wait.” Hal said. “They never attack you.”

“This one did. Then the Killer Toddlers attacked it.”

Roy nodded. “They don’t know you, Frank. The toddlers have been fed by you, sung to by you, these ones don’t know.”

“But how did they know he was there?” Robbie asked. ‘He was wearing an invisible suit.”

“Ah,” Roy held up a finger. “At any time did you have contact with a Killer Toddler?”

“Yeah. One was injured.”

“They sense the interaction. Thankfully, you were wearing the suit. They are at their fastest when Pubes.”

“I wonder how many are up there.” Robbie said. “I mean, what are we gonna do.”

“Gentlemen,” Dean interrupted. “If I may. This man has a bone protruding from his arm. What we’re gonna do now is fix it. Then you can all come back later and work on this.”

Robbie nodded.

Hal reached for the door. “I’ll go inform Ellen you’re getting surgery. Sgt. Ryder, care to join me.”

“Absolutely” Elliott followed.

Hal paused in the doorway “Good luck Frank.”

With an agreement nod from Elliott ensured and both men stepped into the hall.

“Containment?” Elliot asked.

“Yes. Gives us a chance to speak to Elvis.” Hal smiled, they both turned and Andrea was walking toward them.

“Hal sweetheart, how are you?” Andrea delivered a lipstick stained kiss to his cheek then rubbed it.

“I’m good.”

“How’s Frank?” Andrea questioned.

“Surprisingly well for a man whose bone is sticking out of his arm.”

Andrea gasped. “I better go see him. I didn’t notice.”

Hal blinked. “You didn’t the bone?”

“No. Sweet Jesus I feel horrible. I guess I was too consumed with the Chaos and my own grief.”

“Pardon me, Andrea, I’m a little confused. Chaos. Grief?”

“Yes, when he came in. I guess the emergency didn’t allow him time to take it off. He was wearing the invisible suit.” She chuckled. “I can laugh now, but I nearly passed out. I mean people running around thinking a major brain flu outbreak was occurring because he had half a suit on. And me, I saw him and thought. Sweet Jesus, Frank is dead.”

“You saw him and thought he was dead?” Hal laughed.

“Of course. Wouldn’t you? I mean, brain flu or not, a few have seen Joe’s floating head everywhere. And surely, Frank being a floating torso. In my mind he had to be in the same place as Joe.” Andrea patted Hal on the cheek. “Will you excise me, I want to see Frank.”

Hal barely nodded as Andrea stepped inside.

In fact, she didn’t see it. He lost his smile and immediately cast into a deep thinking state. “Same place.” Hal mumbled nearly inaudible.

“Captain?”

“Beginnings.”

“Captain.”

Hal snapped out of it. “Sorry, Elliott. My mind just took off on me.”

“I’d say. Are we ready for Containment?”

“No.”

“No?”

“No. We’re gonna go see Danny Hoi.” Hal started walking.

“For what?” Elliott asked.

“He’s going to talk to us about the inventory of Invisible Suits.”

Hal forged forward. After a slight pause in confusion, and a singing ‘Oo-kay.” Elliott followed suit.

****

It was a steel shelf with a lock box, drop style cover that Danny Hoi had Elliott hold for him.

“Nineteen, and twenty.” Danny flashed a smile. “See?”

“Frank ruined one by bleeding all over it. So that accounts for all the suits?” Hal asked.

“Yep.”

“But you were pretty insistent that we started out with twenty-three suits.”

“I was wrong.”

“You said that.”

“We’re human, Hal.” Danny shrugged. “We all make mistakes.” He gave a cordial nod to Elliott, closed and locked the shelf.

“You’re a pretty smart guy, Danny.”

“I like to think that.”

“My brother took four years to pass basic math. You have a Masters from MIT.”

“Ok?” Danny gave a quirky look.

“Were you the original one counting the suits?”

“Yep.”

“But, um,” Hal lifted the clipboard. “According to the original record. Death hits by Frank. Suits ruined, there were seven drop off of suits.”

“I believe so.”

“Scott signed off on four occasions.”

“Ok.”

“First one they brought in two suits, the next one, then three, then one more. That’s. ..”

“Seven.”

Hal smiled and nodded. “Which leaves fifteen suits in three trips. One trip was for, thirteen suits. I’m still counting 23.”

“Yeah, but it had to be the big one I made the mistake.”

“Obviously, I don’t think Scott would have trouble counting to three.”

“Nope.”

“So, tell me, Danny . . .”

“Hal?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s uh, with the interrogation?” Danny asked. “I made an adding mistake. Big deal.”

“Just seems odd. Mr. MIT, Mr. Everything guy. The most inventive and intelligent man I know . . .” Hal handed him back the clipboard. “Made a simple basic math mistake. Just . . . just seems odd. That’s all. Thank you Danny.”

“Yeah, you’re welcome.”

Hal gave a nod to Elliott and both men walked outside.

“Captain, may I ask why you were cross examining Danny like that.”

“Elliott doesn’t it seem odd that he miscounted?”

“Yes, but what difference does it make?”

“There could be a missing suit.”

“Ok, so there’s a missing suit. Do you think someone stole it?” Elliott questioned.

“At first yes. Then Danny found out. He was running around crazy looking for that suit, then all of the sudden he made a mistake.”

“So, he’s covering for someone having a suit.” Elliott shrugged. “It’s Danny.”

“Exactly.”

“He’s not going to put that suit in the wrong hands.”

“Exactly.” Hal grinned. “He’s gonna give it to someone he trusts and admires, and knows won’t use it for trouble.”

“Forgive me Captain, but do you think you know who has that suit?”

“Yes, I do think I know.”

“Who Frank? Robbie? Roy? Jason?”

Hal shook his head, bandana in hand, flashed a smile, hitting Elliott lightly on the chest with the bandana, before he brightly chuckled his answer. “My father.”

Hal turned and walked off.

“Your . . . Your. . .” Elliott processed the one word answered, moving his mouth to that single word, and before Hal had gotten too far away, Elliot hurried him before he could talk to anyone else about his theory.

****

Typically, if the need arose, Elliott silently and inwardly questioned the Captain on decisions. Rarely if ever did he verbalize them. That was in part to years of being a First Sgt.

But this time, Elliott wanted to take off his own bandana, and instead of lightly tapping the Captain on the chest, whack him in the head with a firm, “Are you nuts?”

Like every Slagel, the Captain got something in his mind and was sticking to it.

He forewent Containment to go to Danny, and now he was going to Robbie’s office.

Robbie wasn’t there.

When Elliott told The Captain that, he was greeted with ‘Watch the door, let me know if he’s coming.’

Huh?

“That’s an order.”

“Great.” Elliott stood by the door, while Hal positioned himself behind the computer.

“Let me see if I can recall how this program works,” Hal began to mess with the computer,

Elliott cringed. “Captain, this really is an invasion of privacy.”

“Elliott, please. This should be public knowledge.”

“It’s a murder investigation,” Hal said. “Ah, here.”

Elliott looked out the door. “He’s going to show up.”

“He’s probably sleeping somewhere.”

“No, Captain, I think . . .”

“Whoa.”

Elliott turned and looked. “What?”

“Eyes on watch.”

Elliot shook his head and returned to his watch. “What?”

Hal peered at the computer program. ‘My brother certainly ran an extensive search of fingerprints.”

“What exactly are you looking for?”

“He did.”