The Zen Gene (28 page)

***

He groaned with fatigue as he got up and threw what was left of his coffee into the trash. He was exhausted and opted for the elevator over the stairs to go up the two floors to Andi’s room.

He was at the end of his energy reserves and he would need real sleep soon; he was at the point of being almost dysfunctional. The nurse smiled at him and told him it was okay to go in but not to tire her.

The light in Andi’s treatment room was dim to help her adjust to wakefulness. There was no one else in the room and she was awake but groggy and disoriented.

“Hi, babe,” he said.

He spoke softly and smiled at her warmly. He took her hand and she smiled at him and there were tears in her eyes.

“Everything is all right now,” he said.

“Where’s Tyler is he-?”

Her voice was hoarse from disuse and she slurred the words a little when she spoke.

“He is downstairs waiting to see you. They have rules about allowing kids on this ward,” he said. It was a lie but a handy one given the circumstances. He was not certain he could convince him to leave Zen to come and see her.

“Where is Tyler?” she said again.

“I will go downstairs and get him,” he said.

He tried to let go of her hand but she would not let go.

“No, don’t leave me,” she said.

He sat down in the chair beside her bed and they talked. He asked her questions about their time at University of Toronto and his apartment gently probing to see if her memory was intact. Aside from some blurring of details there did not seem to be any deficit. Her memory and her mind were both intact and he allowed himself to feel relief; it was clear she was going to be all right.

With Andi recovering everything else they faced was easier to handle. They would work through the problems together and with any luck, in spite of all the lost years, maybe they could be a family. He felt a deepening sense of optimism arise within his heart. After all that happened in their lives he was hopeful things were going to work out for them. He smiled when he wondered how Andi would react to the news she was to become a grandmother. Maybe I will wait a while before I tell her, he thought, given how she views Zen. She was asleep again and he decided this would be a good time to find Tyler convince him to come up to see her.

V G H Staff Parking

Jonas McLean parked Sedulca’s car in the staff parking lot and waited until he saw what he needed. He saw the woman and timed it in his mind. He got to the door at exactly the right moment with his arms full and smiled gratefully at the young nurse who held the security door open for him. She assumed he was supposed to be there why else would he be at the staff entrance wearing a lab coat? This simple courtesy allowed him to bring the gun into the building without being detected.

He tucked the CSIS agent’s weapon into his pants, dumped the empty box, and stopped at the computer terminal at the first empty nursing station he came to.

He found today’s password written on a sticky note underneath the keyboard. He did a search for Worthy and found her in neurology, room 323 on the third floor. He took the stairs and entered the section smiling distractedly at the duty nurse as he passed by. He was scanning an empty patient chart and she naturally assumed he was supposed to be there. He found room 323 and took a chance and ducked into the room.

Good, she was alone.

***

Tyler was sitting in the treatment room with Zen as the nurse was preparing her for discharge from the hospital. He refused to leave when she asked him to and by the time Mann came in she’d given up trying. He went to Zen and took her hand.

“How are you feeling?” he said.

She looked shaky but aside from that and the dark circles under her eyes she looked good considering all she had been through.

“I’m okay but my mom is really freaked out,” she said.

It occurred to him Zen was the only one who was not aware that at least part of the reason her mom was upset was her pregnancy. He wondered if he should tell her, it was an awkward situation to contemplate and he decided against it. It would be up to her mom or Tyler to give her the news, he did not feel any great need to put himself in the middle of yet another tense situation. There was enough for him to sort out as it was and that is when the thought struck him, I’m going to be a grandfather, and his mind recoiled.

“Ellie has been through a lot and she’s worried about you,” he said and squeezed her hand then he turned to look at Tyler.

“Ty I want you to come with me. Your mom is awake and she is asking to see you.”

He could not hear his mumbled reply but from the position of his head it was clearly negative. It was at that point he knew Zen would fully recover from her injuries, she immediately sat up in the hospital bed.

“I’m going to see Andi and so are you,” she said

Twenty-five minutes later, with Tyler pushing Zen in a wheelchair, they entered Andi’s room. The room was quiet and dimly lit. He was certain with them coming into the room she would wake but her eyes remained closed and it appeared she was sleeping. He and Zen talked quietly to her while Tyler sat down to wait. He did not speak to Andi but at Zen’s urging he pulled his chair beside her bed and held his mother’s hand.

When Ellie was finished the paper work for Zen’s discharge she came in and the three of them took turns speaking soft encouraging words to Andi.

He was careful not to mention their adventure in Parksville and Ellie did not mention the pregnancy though he could see the knowledge of it lying below the surface by the way she looked at her daughter. It took only a few minutes Tyler to get antsy to leave. Too much quiet talk and no television in the room was a lot for him to endure. He let go of Andi’s hand and got up from his chair. Mann thought he knew where he was headed but he was surprised when Tyler turned to him.

“I need to talk to the fat lady with the helicopter,” he said.

He stood and took out his cell phone whispering to Zen and Ellie as he did they would be right back as they headed out of the room.

“Her name is Barbara. Why do you want to talk to her?” he asked. He was searching for her number as the door closed behind them.

“I have something,” he said.

He found the number she gave him in Parksville and hit the send button.

“Barbara its Lee Mann. Tyler would like to have a word with you,” he said.

He handed him the phone.

“Are you here? Meet me in the room with TV” he said and handed the phone back.

He put it to his ear but she was gone. Without saying anything more Tyler turned and headed for the stairs but stopped when he saw Mann intended to follow him. His face showed confusion and it looked like he was trying to think of something to say. He turned to him and looked him in the eye and said.

“Andrea is dead.”

***

Jonas watched the exchange from halfway down the corridor standing with his back to them pretending to read an empty patient chart. No one noticed him and when Mann ran back into Andi’s room he casually strolled down the hallway following the kid into the stairwell. He needed to find a quiet place where he could grab him and at five a.m. a hospital stairway looked like a good possibility. He entered the stairway and discovered he was too late. The kid must have run down the stairs, he was gone. He ran down the stairs and looked into each corridor. He saw the kid on the second floor and waited in the stairwell watching through the small door window. Tyler was met by an older woman and he took her hand and led her into the women’s washroom. What was that about, he wondered?

***

Mrs. Knight was walking to the waiting room when she spotted Tyler and he led her into the nearest washroom.

“I have something,” he said, “wait.”

He left her standing there bewildered as he headed into a stall.

“What is it Tyler? What do you have?” she said.

“Wait,” he said.

There was a long pause during which he said nothing. Then she heard the toilet flush and a moment later he emerged. He carried something to the sink and began to vigorously wash it. She could not resist and looking over his shoulder she saw him rinsing a smooth metal tube about three inches long and a quarter inch in diameter with a flush fitting screw top. He cleaned it thoroughly with the antibacterial hand soap he pumped from a wall dispenser. When he was satisfied it was clean he turned and handed it to her.

“POrna,” he said.

The last twenty-four hours had been grueling and she was aware that fatigue had dulled her mind. She stared at the tube in her hand and felt the heat radiating from and it slowly dawned on her where exactly it had been moments earlier. When she looked at him there was a question on her face.

“Maintain at body temperature,” he said. He waited and watched her face to see if she understood what he was suggesting. When he saw that she got it his face reddened and he looked away.

“Don’t let POrna be cold it will die.”

She examined the metal vial and regarded him with a tight smile.

“Well if I must,” she said, “Is this lid on tight?”

He nodded.

Although this was a hospital and not a nightclub she turned and looked hopefully at the walls for a condom dispenser but no luck. She sighed and entered the same stall he used and closed the door.

“By the way Tyler what is POrna?”

“Poliomyelitis-Okinawa ribonucleic acid. POrna is for short,” he said. He waited to see if she would laugh like Zen did but she did not laugh or make a comment. He could hear the rustling of clothing beyond the stall door.

“A lab can grow it,” he said, “I will post instructions online when you get my computers,” he said.

“We don’t have them but I think I know who does and I should be able to get them returned to you. Is there virus information on them?” she said.

“No,” he said, “I need them to do stuff.”

He was talking when the washroom door opened and he turned to see a male Doctor enter. He wondered why he was coming into the women’s washroom and then he saw the gun. The Doctor lifted it and pointed it at him and began to say something. Tyler did not hear what because he started to turn away as the gun fired. The bullet hit him high on the left shoulder shattering his collar bone. The impact spun him forcefully around in the direction he’d been turning the kinetic force of the bullet knocking him to the floor.

He rolled over and looked up and followed the black hole of the muzzle as it pointed at his face. The Doctor looked confused, like maybe he had not meant to shoot him. In fact Tyler thought the Doctor’s face expressed surprise that he had. Then he saw the look harden as he aimed the gun again. When he saw his finger began to pull the trigger he used the blood on the floor to deke to the right by sliding his butt sideways. He ended up halfway under the sink he used to wash the vial and the second shot missed him digging a deep crater in the plaster wall by his head showering him in white dust. He tried to change direction and crawl to the nearest toilet stall but his arm was useless and escape was impossible. He could see there was nowhere to hide so he stopped trying. He leaned his head back against the wall and watched the Doctor.

When McLean saw him move he reacted to it and pulled the trigger and missed but now the kid had stopped moving. His third shot tore a chunk of meat from his thigh puncturing his femoral artery. They both watched as a geyser of dark blood spurted from the wound painting a red arc across the stall doors.

Jonas McLean watched the kid’s face go white as blood pumped out of him and he wondered again why he shot him he had not intended to do it. He was supposed to grab the kid and take him to the boat and wait for Fran. Then he remembered that Fran was dead in the car outside even though he could still hear him inside his head.

He was confused.

He couldn’t stop himself. He did not want to shoot him. The kid was not moving now he was sprawled on the linoleum with only his head tilted up against the wall.

He was panting like a dog and watching Jonas. They both knew there was nowhere to hide. Jonas moved closer to him and stopped not wanting to get blood on his shoes. He pointed the gun at his face and the kid looked at him but he did not show fear only curiosity. Jonas had the odd feeling that, knowing he was about to die, the kid found it interesting.

Jonas squeezed the trigger.

Tyler did not react when the fourth shot rang out he simply observed the results. He watched as the projectile ripped into the right side of the Doctor’s head. It entered just above his ear. He thought it was authentic how the force of the bullet had snapped the Doctor’s head to the left like in the movies.

The hollow point slug shattered on impact and expanded with the shards acting like little blenders. The lead chunks rendered a sizable portion of McLean’s forebrain into a lumpy pink puree before spraying most of it on the mirror. Jonas McLean did not see Mrs. Knight open the stall door beside him nor did he hear the click of the trigger.

As he slumped she tracked his progress from crazy to corpse with her weapon but he was already dead when the surprise on his face splashed the blood on the floor. All four shots were fired in less than twenty seconds. From the moment McLean entered the washroom until the second he died was forty-two seconds. He had, in fact, completely forgotten about the old woman by the time he entered the washroom and that was his fatal error.