Native Tongue (12 page)
We all smiled.
The elevator opened, and we boarded at the ranch level. TL pulled what looked like a quarter from his pocket and pointed it to the bottom left corner of the car.
Parrot and I exchanged a curious glance. What was going on?
He pressed the center of the quarter, and a yellow laser shot out. “We’re going to Subfloor Three.”
I perked up. “Subfloor Three?” How cool. “What’s on it?”
TL pointed the quarter to the bottom right corner of the car, and a yellow laser shot out again. “Brand-new medical clinic. We just finished it two weeks ago.”
How in the world? “You mean people have been down there building a clinic, and none of us knew it?”
“Yes.” TL did the quarter-laser thing to the bottom right corner.
I hadn’t seen anybody come and go from the ranch. “How did they get down there?” Maybe another secret passageway like Chapling’s?
TL did the quarter-laser thing to the final corner and the elevator slowly descended. I waited for him to answer my question, but he didn’t.
“TL, did you hear my question?”
TL put the quarter back in his pocket. “Yes. And I’m not answering it.”
And there you had it. Yet another secret.
The elevator opened, and we all stepped out into what looked like an empty hospital emergency room. I scanned the area and estimated it to be roughly fifty by fifty feet.
To the right sat three rooms with their doors standing open. I peeked inside and saw, basically, a hospital room with a bed, TV, bathroom, and a couple of chairs. To the left sat three rooms as well. One appeared to be an operating room, the other had equipment in it, and the last mirrored a dentist’s exam room.
Along the back wall sat cabinets with medicines, gauze, needles, rubber gloves, and other miscellaneous medical supplies. Beside the cabinets sat a couple of wheelchairs, IV stands, and a crash cart.
“You are looking at a fully functional hospital,” TL said. “From now on, for anything we need medically, we go here. And this”—he pointed toward one of the exam rooms—“is Dr. Gretchen.”
Parrot and I turned . . . and simultaneously flinched.
Dressed in a white lab coat and taking up the entire doorway stood the biggest woman I had ever seen. She towered at least six feet four inches and probably weighed two hundred and fifty pounds of solid muscle.
With her salt-and-pepper hair pulled back in a tight bun, hands fisted on her hips, and legs spread wide, she scowled back at us.
I swallowed.
She moved her scowl from me, to Parrot, and landed on Jonathan. “Jonathan,” she growled in a voice deeper than Jonathan’s.
I turned and looked at Jonathan. I swore I saw him swallow uneasily, too. “Been a long time, Gretchen.”
She snorted. “I see you’re still wearing that eye patch.”
Jonathan didn’t respond.
Parrot and I exchanged a quick, inquisitive glance.
“Dr. Gretchen has worked for the IPNC for twenty years,” TL began the introduction. “She’s one of the best doctors I’ve ever worked with. She and I have been talking over the past several weeks, and I’m incredibly pleased to announce that she’s accepted my offer to work for the Specialists as the head of our medical clinic.”
I smiled, deciding this was a woman I definitely needed to like me. With my klutziness, there was no telling how often I might be down here. “Nice to meet you, Dr. Gretchen.”
She took her eyes off Jonathan and narrowed them in on me. I kept my smile in place.
With a brusque nod in my direction, she tromped across the clinic and over to the cabinets.
In my peripheral vision I saw Jonathan wipe sweat off his forehead. Interesting. These two obviously knew each other. I wondered what the history was, exactly. Had they been on missions together? Had they trained together? Had they dated?
The last thought almost made me laugh. I couldn’t see the two of them together.
Dr. Gretchen pulled out a series of needles and vials. I tried real hard not to look at the size of the needles.
“I’ll do the guys,” she rasped, “in Exam Room One. And the girl in Exam Room Two.”
I didn’t bother telling her my name was GiGi, not “girl.” I figured that’d come in time.
Carrying a tray with the supplies, she stomped into Exam Room Two, and I followed. “You can do the guys first, if you want.” I knew my suggestion wouldn’t fly, but I threw it out there anyway.
Dr. Gretchen shut the door. “Drop your pants. Lean over the table. This one’s going in the butt.”
“Okay.” So much for my suggestion.
I dropped my pants and leaned over the table. I saw her reach for a needle and squeezed my eyes shut. I heard her unwrapping something. Then she pulled down my underwear a little, and I felt something wet, presumably alcohol.
I cringed, knowing what came next. I waited, and waited . . .
She smoothed something in place and snapped my underwear up. “All done. See you tomorrow for the next one.”
“All done? But . . .” I twisted around and pulled my underwear down, and sure enough there was a bandage. “I didn’t feel anything.”
Dr. Gretchen got this cocky look. “Of course you didn’t. TL said I was the best.”
I pulled my pants up. “How big was the needle you used?”
She picked up a clean one from the tray and held it up.
My eyes widened. “That’s huge!”
She smirked. “And Jonathan’s going to feel every inch of it.”
Spinning on her heel, she swung open the door and trudged out. I hurried behind her and watched as she flung open the guys’ door. “Drop your pants,” she grunted. “This one’s going in the butt.”
The door closed.
TL stood nearby, leaning against the wall. With a quick glance in his direction, I pressed my ear to the door, wishing beyond wishes that I could be in there to watch.
“You first, little guy,” Dr. Gretchen said.
I knew she was referring to Parrot, because Jonathan was in no way little.
A couple of seconds ticked by. “All done,” she rasped.
“And now you, Jonathan.” I could visualize her getting an evil smirk on her face.
A couple more seconds ticked by . . .
“Ahhh! Ooowww!” Jonathan yelled. “Dammit, Gretchen!”
I put my hand over my mouth to hold in my laugh.
A couple seconds later, the door opened, and Dr. Gretchen nearly floated out with a huge grin on her face. She winked at me and whistled her way across the clinic, then disappeared into another room.
Parrot came out first, obviously trying to hold in a laugh, then Jonathan, holding his butt. Without a look in any of our directions he wiped his eye, stomped over to the elevator, and pressed the button. As soon as the door opened, he stepped inside and jammed his finger on the button. The door closed, and TL broke out in a laugh.
It was the first time I’d ever seen TL do such a thing, and Parrot and I joined in with him.
PT, physical Training, rolled around a few days later. I entered the barn and saw Parrot warming up and headed straight for him. “Hey, you. How’s it going in your language lab?”
He smiled a little. “It’s a pretty cool setup.”
I pulled my hair back in a ponytail. “You going to be ready?”
“Not a problem.”
“I wanted to ask you something.” I slid a folded piece of paper from my pocket. “I’m inputting some cave drawings from Argentina into my program, and I keep seeing this pattern of words.” I handed him the paper. “Does it mean anything to you?”
Parrot studied the rows of letters. A couple of seconds ticked by. “How weird. This is written in both French and Spanish.” He pointed to this first word. “First word French, second is Spanish, alternating across the line in that pattern. Drop down to the second line and it switches out. Third line switches again.” He handed back the paper. “But that’s from the seventeen hundreds. They don’t use words like that now.”
I folded the paper and slipped it back into my pocket. “I should have come to you days ago.” I’d wasted
way
too much time on that one aspect. Sometimes I forgot how valuable my team was. “Thanks.”
way
too much time on that one aspect. Sometimes I forgot how valuable my team was. “Thanks.”
“No problem.”
“All right,” Jonathan graveled. “Spread out. Arm’s length between you.” Jonathan raised his arms to demonstrate, and winced, touching his upper arm where he, Parrot, and I had gotten another vaccine.
I looked at Parrot, and we silently laughed.
Used to the routine, my teammates and I took our spots in the barn/training area and went through our usual stretching drill. It seemed so empty with David, Piper, and Curtis gone to Egypt. And Tina and Adam were meeting with TL about something.
“Okay,” Jonathan said about ten minutes later. “Balancing act today.” He pointed across the barn to where he’d set up what looked like an obstacle course with balance beams, square tiles suspended by ropes hooked to the roof, and a platform with wheels. “Parrot and GiGi will encounter all types of terrain in the jungle: rivers, trees, bridges, waterfalls, boulders. So we’re going to work out the kinks and fine-tune our equilibrium, while I give you some general information about the jungle. Very simply, you are going to traverse these obstacles without falling off. There are mats below you, so don’t worry about it if you do fall.”
Ugh. Equilibrium was definitely
not
my specialty. Thank God for mats.
not
my specialty. Thank God for mats.
“I want the lineup to be,” Jonathan continued, “Wirenut, Bruiser, Beaker, Cat, Mystic, Parrot, and GiGi.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at being last as we all shuffled across the barn.
Wirenut climbed right up on the balance beam. “Do we get bonus points for theatrics?”
Ignoring Wirenut’s humor, Jonathan nodded to the beam. “Anytime you’re ready.”
Being so agile, I knew Wirenut would do well at this. Bruiser and Cat would, too. It’d be interesting to see how the rest of us would do.
Wirenut danced effortlessly across the balance beam, throwing in a couple of spins for show. He threw his foot out and touched the first floating tile, then the next, and then the next. Ten in all, pretty much sailing across them. He plopped down on the platform supported by wheels, faked like he was going to fall, and, with a silly snort, skipped across it. He did a flip in the air off the end, and then bowed.
We all dutifully laughed and applauded.
“When you’re in the jungle, or any other situation for that matter, you have to understand your strengths and weaknesses,” Jonathan said. “You can’t assume your team member will pick up your slack. You are the only person you can rely on.” He nodded to Bruiser. “Go ahead.”
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