CHAPTER 45

   The guy showed up as promised and Katie had to admit that she was a little bit surprised. She was also more than a little bit curious as to why some Lieutenant Colonel, from Fort Dietrich, would want to see her. Katie was about as profile as you could get and besides the regulations and the paperwork, in reality, she felt about as useless as she supposed she really was. Yet the guy showed up bright and early in a class B uniform, a big smile on his face, and a pin on his collar that said he was a doctor. Katie found she could only roll her eyes and then mumble under her breath, "well that figures." She sounded a bit irritated when she directly asked McCormick, "I hope you're not about to tell me that you want me to participate in some experimental surgery that will win the war."
At first, Katie's statement made the doctor blink and then laugh before finally waving his hands in denial, "oh hell no. It's nothing like that. I'm not that kind of doctor anyway."
Katie could believe that much, at least. She had now seen more doctors than she ever wanted to and this guy just lacked that quality and bearing that they all seemed to have. She actually found it kind of refreshing, no offense to Janet. That was why she actually considered the offer of the wheelchair when he brought it up and patted the seat. McCormick tossed a thumb over his shoulder and said, "don't you worry. I got a nurse coming. I know you can't move around too much right now.”
At first Katie thought that this might be another trick to get her over to physical therapy but, she was not supposed to start that until next week, at the earliest. Her stitches were even still inflamed and she doubted very seriously if she could handle any exertion at all. The fact that it took two nurses to get her in the wheelchair should have perfectly illustrated that point. All of her worrying about that seemed to be moot. McCormick sent the nurses away and he personally pushed Katie down the halls of Walter Reed Army Hospital.
"So," Katie asked straight up, "what would get you all the way down here from Fort Dietrich just to see little old me?"
"Oh," McCormick said in a like manner that almost sounded on the verge of being smart ass, "it's not that long of a drive from there to DC but, I'm not up there right now. I've been down here the past few weeks and the Army has got me up in a sweet hotel. I got all the perks, so many, I almost feel like I'm in Air Force."
"You know," Katie said in a semi hostile tone, "laughing makes me hurt right now. You know that, right? You are a doctor, right?"
If Katie had been worrying about what was in store for her she no longer did. Now her curiosity had completely taken over because McCormick brought her to a door that was guarded by two guys in full combat gear. They actually scrutinized his ID with care even if it was clear that they knew who he was. Then he had to actually argue with them and it took a phone call before they would let Katie in the room. Curious no longer described her mood. Now it was very curious. Then she found herself in a darkened room looking through a glass at a single hospital bed with a young girl in it. Katie could not help but notice that the girl was strapped down. She seemed to be sleeping at the moment.
Suddenly, what was in the back of Katie's mind set off alarm bells. She looked to McCormick with a stunned face and told him, "oh my God, that's Nicole Sayers. She was on my patrol when she got captured. They brought her here?"
McCormick just shrugged as he replied, "can you think of a better place?"
"Yeah but," Katie stopped and thought about it some more and then she was slightly alarmed when she asked the doctor, "why is Fort Dietrich involved? Don't you guys do, like, bio warfare and stuff?”Then Katie thought about it some more and she had some serious concern when she asked, "she's not contagious is she?"
This only got McCormick to laughing and he patted Katie on the shoulder as he told her, "don't sweat it major. We're just involved because nobody has ever handled anything like this before. If Sayers ever gets famous for something, it's going to be the first person in American history to have been a POW of aliens. Sides all that, we're not the only ones involved. That little girl has got a whole battery a professional looking after her right now. Don't you worry about any of that."
Katie only winced as she replied, "yeah but, she's not contagious is she?" When McCormick only laughed, Katie had to consider what she wanted to say next. She finally asked the next question that was on her mind, "okay fine, what do you need from me?"
McCormick seemed pretty sure of himself as he quickly replied in his lighthearted manner, "all of that shit you said before major. You knew that girl before she went wacko." McCormick backpedaled a second and then said, "wacko, that's the medical technical term."
It was also irrelevant to Katie. She hated to sound self-centered and felt even worse about it but, "one patrol colonel. She was excess when I was out there with the rangers. She was mostly just a pain in the ass. I barely knew her."
Now the doctor sounded a little more serious as he crossed his arms and walked up to the glass, taking a long look at Sayers. He said to Katie, "I think in this case, the more relevant question is, how well did she know you? You were an authority figure to her. When I found out you were here, I kinda had to ask myself, was it worth a try?"
"Was what worth a....” Katie found her attention suddenly drawn to the other room behind the window. Sayers had suddenly awakened. She did not move but her eyes were wide open and her pupils were scanning from side to side. Then she looked at the glass like she could actually see what was on the other side. Katie actually thought the girl was looking at her until McCormick assured her that Nicole could not. Then Nicole actually sniffed, almost like a dog, before she went back to scanning.
Katie mumbled, "okay that was creepy."
Katie actually let out a yelp when the phone in her lap, under her blanket, went off. McCormick sounded less than excited but, acted like he had just tasted some bad food when he asked about Katie's ring tone, "Achey Breaky Heart?”
Katie simply sneered as she replied, "don't ask." She answered the call with a, "I'm a little busy right now can you... Excuse me? This is a joke, right?"
When McCormick asked her if everything was all right, Katie had already hung up and was scrolling through her contact list. She stopped for a second and looked around the room before asking McCormick, "did you feel that?" The doctor was about to answer her in the affirmative when, in the next room, Sayers began thrashing around and trying to break free of the straps that were holding her to the bed. Katie had a good idea what that meant and she mumbled under her breath, "I guess it was real." She looked back to McCormick who was busy on the phone calling for some orderlies. Katie also knew that she did not have time to waste and made her next phone call, "Dad I need a favor and I need it now."
Tommy Mack was stuck in traffic on I-95 and it was only getting worse. The further he went the slower it got but, he did not think too much of it. This was the beltway after all. He listened to his daughter as he slowed down his pickup truck and when she was done he had to ask, "this is a joke, right?"
Katie snapped at him in return, "just do it already!"
"Anything for you darling, you know that," Tommy replied and added just before hanging up, "and you're going to owe me big time for this one."
The call that Tommy made was answered with a statement that was less than surprising, "I'm a little busy right now Tommy. I'm..”
Tommy cut the man off with, "not as busy as you're going to be after you hear what I have to say."
Jim Garret grumbled and practically snarled but had obviously resigned himself to listening when he said, "make it fast Tommy. You've got all of five seconds." It took a little longer but Jim stayed on the line and when Tommy was finished, Jim asked, "is this a joke?"
Tommy had now come to a complete stop on the interstate. He noticed that people were getting out of their cars and lingering around what had become an instant parking lot. He finished his conversation with Garrett by stating, "Jim, you know my little girl had her sense of humor surgically removed and replaced with an army field manual, when she was six.”
Garret did not laugh. He simply said, "thanks," and ended the call. Tommy had expected as much and at the moment he did not care. He turned off his truck and got out of the cab. He took off his cowboy hat and looked at the skyline of Washington DC. It was a captivating site and Tommy realized he should think it was awful but, he knew it was something to see. He simply scratched at his head and said, "son of a bitch. Will you look at that."