Shire Bottom Chronicles

Chapter Twenty-Four

Matt drifted awake, forcing his eyes open. He gazed around at his surroundings. The room looked similar to the isolation unit at Crimson, with the bed, nightstand, and a few chairs. Air vents ran along the ceiling. Beside the entry door to his left, a single window provided him a view into the hall. On the right was a closet and adjoining bathroom. Pretty unremarkable. He closed his eyes and tried to remember what had happened.

The door opened, and a woman's face appeared over his bed. Matt found himself staring into the cold eyes of Legolas and Jesse's mom. She wore her red hair pulled back into a bun. A stethoscope hung around her neck, and her immaculate lab coat matched the blinding white room. But...hadn't Natalie Foster retired from her medical practice years ago, after her daughter Trinity was born? What the hell was she doing here?

"I'm glad to see you're awake." She held a small penlight in her hand, shining it into Matt's eyes.

Matt winced away from the offending light. "Why did you drug me?"

"We thought it would be best if you were sedated during our initial examination. The first drug knocked you out temporarily, then we administered a sedative through an IV. I know you have questions, but right now, I need to get a blood sample." Dr. Foster snapped on a pair of latex gloves and set a basket of supplies on the nightstand.

She tied a rubber band around Matt's upper arm and wiped the crook of his elbow with an alcohol swab. She slid a needle into his vein, and Matt turned his head away as she filled several vials with dark red blood. If he was lucky, that would be all she wanted. She taped a cotton ball over the puncture spot on his skin.

Matt sat up and threw the covers off. They had taken his clothes while he was unconscious. The thin hospital gown he wore offered little protection against the chill in the room. His hand touched a small bandage on his neck. "What the fuck is this?"

"I had to perform a myocardial biopsy," Dr. Foster explained. She scribbled notes on her clipboard.

"You what?" Matt growled.

"In order to know the extent of the injuries you sustained during our first attempt at contact, I ran a series of scans, and your heart showed abnormalities," the doctor said. "It's a very safe procedure. All we had to do was thread a catheter through a vein in your neck, into your heart, and snip off a few pieces of the heart muscle for testing."

"Spare me the lecture, you had no fucking right to do anything without my permission!" Matt shouted.

"That's where you're wrong, Matthew." Dr. Foster's voice dripped with venom, and she leaned down to hiss in his ear, "Things will go a lot easier for you if you cooperate, so I suggest you think about that before you do anything stupid."

"Hey, what's all the yelling in here?" A tall, muscular man with dark eyes and brown hair slicked back with gel stood in the doorway. He sauntered into the room and leaned against the wall, flashing a toothy smile. "I'm surprised your daddy let you out of the bat cave, Mattie. Nice of you to join us."

Matt stared at Cole Gibbs in disbelief. What had Michael promised Cole to get him on his side? Was Kaine involved? Just how far did this conspiracy go? He met Cole's smile with one of his own. "Does your father know you're a backstabbing piece of shit?"

In an instant, Cole lunged across the room and had his knife at Matt's throat. "I should cut you up now and save Doc the trouble."

Matt's eyes widened, but he didn't move. He felt the tip of the blade press into his skin and recalled that Cole and his older brother were very skilled hunters. They knew how to gut a deer with precision. The thought made him shudder.