Chapter 14
"Holy mother of god!" Nelson exclaimed as he stepped aside and let us in. I pushed through first and placed Harriet on one of Nelson's sofas. Rick, Dash and Aubrey had settled themselves on the larger one while I sat on a single armchair. My leg was still bleeding and the pain was excruciating. Nelson must have seen it.
"What happened?" Nelson asked as he sat on a sofa across from me.
I explained everything from the attack at my house to the crash and when I was finished, to say he was shocked would have been an understatement.
"Well then if you've been shot you need a hospital!" Nelson stood up panicking, "you all do"
"No!" Rick said in a week voice
"We can't risked being captured at the moment," Dash winced
"They're right," I confirmed
"So what are you going to do bleed to death on my chair!" Nelson shot back. Earning a chuckle from Dash right before he immediately winced in pain and said, "Please don't make me laugh"
Well at least Dash still had a sense of humour, I shook my head sideways in amusement.
Now that the adrenaline had completely subsided I felt a pinching sensation on my shoulder. I lifted my shirt to inspect it and just as I feared, there was a piece of metal clogged in it.
"Jesus" I heard Nelson say.
We really needed some medical attention. I sucked in deep breaths as the gears in my head were spinning until an idea finally hit me.
"Hey Nelson you have the phone numbers of all students right?" I asked.
"Yeah but I don't see how relevant that could be now," he said sarcastically.
"I need you to call Amy Summers," I said and winced as I poked at the metal.
It was now around seven when the doorbell rang. Aubrey had regained the strength enough for him to get the door while the rest of us were still in our seats. My wounds had now rendered me immobile and I was slowly beginning to see black slits at the edge of my vision.
"You must be Amy?" Aubrey said as he stepped aside to let her in. Her eyes instantly fell on my weak form. Her eyes widened at my horrid sight.
"Don't ask," I said as I slumped my head on the sofa's backrest the darkness finally dragging away my vision and before I knew it I had blacked out.
My eyes slowly fluttered open and a blurry image of my surroundings told me that I was still in the same spot were I had lost my consciousness only that Rick and Aubrey weren't where I last saw them instead it was only Dash who lay snoring on it. He had laid down on his back, shirtless as I was and he seemed to have been stitched up. He looked in better shape.
There was an tiny itch on my shoulder. Taking a look at it I saw that the wound was dressed in a white bandage that circled under my armpit and went back over my collar section. It still stung but at least I could move it. Next I checked my thigh.
The area around my wound had been exposed and it seemed the patch of my pants around that area had been cut out with a pair of scissors. The wound hurt no doubt about that but it was stitched up and hopefully I could try to stand up. Testing my theory I got to my feet with a grunt. The injured leg only hurt when I applied too much pressure on it. There was another figure where I last placed Harriet, it was a woman but not Harriet. She lifted her head at me. I recognized the golden hair and the relieved face that was staring back at me. Amy.
"You know most people would prefer to lay down," she said to me with her index pointed at Dash who was filling the living room with the sound of his snores. I laughed quietly at her remark before she said, "But you're not like most people….are you?"
She wore a curious expression on her face.
"Probably yeah," I replied and noticed just how dry my throat felt.
"How long have I been out?" I asked
"Eight hours….it's dawn you know you should be getting some rest after the load of injuries you just had," she smiled at me softly and I smiled at how beautiful she was. I didn't see her as a naughty girl who had been trying to get in bed with me but as a sensible and beautiful woman.
"So you want to tell me how you got them?" she asked again and I wasn't sure whether I should answer her or not.
"You sure you really want to know?" I asked as I sat down beside her. She surprised me by lying her head on my lap and looking up at me.
"Yes I'm pretty sure I want to know why I got to save your life in the first place," she said in a dramatic tone that I found funny.
"Well if you treated me then you already know that I got shot," I poked her nose, " and survived a really…really scary car crash."
She smiled and we just stared at each other in silence.
"Did you really have to make me take a bullet out though," she whined. I smiled and cupped her cheek with my right hand and she placed her left hand over it.
"It couldn't have been that bad," I chuckled.
"Like hell you know!" she exclaimed and I had to shush her, that didn't stop her from talking though because after that she explained to me how she had to use a pair of scissors with the pointed ends red hot and before she could go into the disturbing details I shut her up the only way I thought I could. I leaned down and placed my lips on hers.
When I pulled back she was as red as a tomato and she looked away to prevent me from seeing her further in that state. I laughed.
When morning came Amy left and had sternly warned us not to make her do any life saving medical procedures before she graduated.
"I mean it," she had said and he all gave her smiles and sharp nods. I'm pretty sure she knew we were lying but she left either way.
Nelson had turned on the TV and the shooting at my house as well as the crash were making the headlines in the morning hour news at Fox news. The police were not saying anything to the press until they were finished with a thorough forensic search. So for now at least things were laid low. We'd lost the briefcase though and if they were still operational then it would mean some ignorant fool out there could find them and foolishly launch nukes to another country and that would in a way start a war but if the codes were destroyed then that would be better for everyone. Sadly though I doubted if they were destroyed and my thoughts were confirmed when Aubrey called us all to look at Nelson's computer screen. It was a map of Manhattan, with underlying green lines to represent the outline of buildings and streets. There was a red dot that showed the case was lying in a building at above 900 ft from the ground. It couldn't take a genius to realize where it was seeing as there was only one building in the whole of Manhattan that was above that height.
"This is going to be a hard one," Aubrey said
"Well it won't be the first time we've infiltrated a highly secured building before," Harriet whispered and we all heard her.
"Yeah but we were in good shape at that time and the buildings weren't in a busy area as Manhattan," Aubrey pointed out. He was right everyone was battered up and the attempt of a quick break in would be impossible due to the fact that the building would be surrounded by police cruisers in mere minutes before we could even exit the building.
"Then how the hell are we supposed to get the case out of the Empire State building without attracting that much attention?" Rick asked with his arms crossed above his chest. He looked tough but I could tell the position was straining his injuries.
"Well then we're quite fortunate that the opportunity we seek might just present itself tonight," Aubrey smirked as he enlarged a picture of an invitation to a party celebrating the huge success of a wine brewing company called Dolce and the party was taking place tonight.