“AJ?”
“Anne-Jade.”
“Cute. Yet you still waited eighteen hours.”
“The Doctor’s word was sufficient until she also became alarmed as well.”
“Guess I was tired.” I stretched my stiff muscles—the downside of being inactive for so long. However my shoulder no longer ached, the swelling in my cheek had gone down and scabs covered the two cuts—the upside.
“You should shower and eat. When you’re done, I need help with a couple patients,” Lamont said. She shooed the ISF officer out as she left.
Ah the glamorous life of an intern. I pushed the covers back and padded through the sitting area to the kitchen. Rebel that I was, I ate first then showered. Sad and pathetic.
The water cleared my mind. I considered how to bypass the tracer as I helped Lamont with routine tasks. Rolling clean bandages, I figured I needed to find a way to keep it at a constant thirty-seven degrees and to move it around, but only on level three.
Inserting it into another person would work. The next time Lamont has surgery, I could slip it in. Except as soon as the patient left this level, the ISF would pounce on the poor unsuspecting person. Avoiding the brig was imperative.
I could use the newborn warmer, parking it in my room when I wanted to explore. But if it didn’t eventually move, the ISF would be suspicious. Absently, I reached to play with my pendant only to encounter smooth skin. The jolt of pain reminded me of when Vinco’s knife had found a sensitive spot.
I wrenched my thoughts back to my current problem. The warmer could work if I moved it around the infirmary, wheeled it to the cafeteria and other areas on level three. Searching the patient area, exam room, and surgery, I couldn’t find it.
“Looking for something?” Lamont asked when I exited the surgery.
“The newborn warmer.”
She gave me a rueful smile. “Confiscated by the ISF.”
Damn. “What if we need it?”
“They’ll bring it back only when I have a newborn. We do have a few pregnant patients, but they’re not due for weeks.”
So much for that idea. Again I grabbed for the pendant without thinking.
Lamont noticed the gesture. “Did you lose your necklace in the riot?”
“No. I lost it diffusing the bomb.”
“Bomb?” Her voice squeaked. “The one found in the waste handling plant? You were there? But I thought the riot…”
“I had a busy week.”
She stared at me for a few seconds. “I can only imagine.” She gestured to my neck. “Is Riley upset that you lost it? Is that why he hasn’t come around?”
Normally, I would have snapped at her, telling her to mind her own business. But I couldn’t produce the energy. Instead I had a moment of weakness and told her about the choice I had made when disarming the bomb.
She drummed her fingers on the exam table. “I think I would have done the same thing. This Bubba Boom is an expert in explosives after all.”
“Yeah, but it was a wiring problem. That’s Riley’s area of expertise.” I rubbed the spot where the tracer had been inserted. “Riley thinks I have a death wish. He may be right.” I stared at the floor. “Ever since Cogon floated away…I keep thinking it should have been me. He wouldn’t have been afraid to guide us through all these changes. He would have united the uppers and lowers by now. Sabotage and riots would never have happened if Cog was here.”
“And what would killing yourself accomplish?” Lamont asked. When I didn’t answer, she continued. “It won’t bring him back. Cogon is gone. And from a purely medical point of view, you don’t have a death wish. If you did, you wouldn’t have fought for every single breath in those first critical hours after the fire. Your skin wouldn’t have healed as fast as it did.”
Even though I hated to admit it, she had a point. And damn it. My spirits lifted a bit at the thought. Looking up, I was going to thank her, but she had her doctor’s purse on her lips as if reviewing a diagnosis in her mind.
“Who also has Cogan’s way with people?” she asked.
“Hank from maintenance. Emek’s people love him. And Riley. He’s been able to work with both uppers and scrubs.”
“Then you need?—”
