Fortunate Sons

Chapter 29: What's done in the dark is brought to the light

Sue made her nightly rounds at the hospital, much as she always did with the other nurses making sure that everyone was settled in. It was quiet....eerily quiet with hardly any lights on as the patients all tried to get some sleep.

That night Sue was stricken with worrisome thoughts that just wouldn't leave her alone. She had meant the entire week to go and see Father Chu but he was nowhere to be found. Not even Sgt. McDonald, the army chaplain, had seen him. All week long Sue had wondered what had happened and whether or not he was alright.

She continued to make her rounds, switching out the bedsheets, tending to injuries that ranged from simple cuts to burns and everything in between. The windows had been cracked to let in some fresh air while outside the hum of motors and night critters made its way into the busy hospital.

"Hey Sue can you take care of something for me?" Rosemary asked.

"Depends on what it is," Sue replied.

"Do you mind taking a look at one of the patients?" Rosemary asked again. "I think he was bitten by something but I can't tell."

"Yeah just give me two minutes," Sue answered.

Sue finished up her task and immediately followed Rosemary out to the main ward where soldiers and civilians were recovering. She led Sue to a cordoned off area, drawing back the curtain where a young man by the name of Dan was trying to sit up.

"I honest to God don't know what happened," Rosemary said. "He told me he had been out on patrol when something attacked him."

Sue inspected the young man's hand where a large wound trailed from the knuckle of his middle finger all the way to the base of his thumb. Though the wound had been stitched, Sue didn't know what to make of it either.

"Did you see what it was that bit you Dan?" she asked.

"No ma'am," Dan replied. "It just attacked me. I was walking around the other night near the church and the next thing I knew it had my hand. I stabbed it with my K-bar and it ran away."

The church? Now there was an intriguing thought.

"Are you sure you didn't see anything?" Sue asked one last time.

"I'm dead sure."

Something felt a bit suspicious to Sue. First Father Chu goes missing, then Dan was attacked near the church. She had to find whatever piece of the puzzle was missing.

"Do you remember anything else you did the other night?" Sue pressed. "Anybody you went to see?"

"Well," Dan said, racking his brain for information. "I had to go and have a talk with the Colonel about some troop movements."

"Which Colonel?"

"Paulsson."

Well now......Sue thought rather icily. That is definitely interesting......

"Thank you Daniel," Sue said. "If any strange symptoms start to come about as a result let us know as soon as possible."

"Yes ma'am."

Sue had decided that the next time she had room for a break, she would see about paying a secret visit to the Colonel. Her suspicion was beginning to run deep. There were others of course who could have been prime suspects in the disappearance of Father Chu. But out of all of them, this one intrigued her the most.

Finally her hour came when she was given permission to do as she pleased. She left the hospital, heading in the direction of Uncle's house but instead headed towards the embassy compound where the higher ups and desk workers slaved day and night.

Quietly she slipped her way through a space in the wall and headed up the path to one of the main buildings where the military and CIA kept the offices of their desk workers. It wasn't an imposing building by any means, cut out of the same fabric as the rest of them with ordinary people unable to tell which one was bigger or smaller.

I should NOT be doing this......Sue thought as she headed up the path.

Quietly she made her way to the building where some of the lights were still on, nodding to the guard who let her pass when she informed him that she was there to see one of the aides. She passed into the building completely unnoticed and made her way up the stairwell to the main floor.

It was like any other office building in the world with designated areas for desks, offices for the higher-ups and windows that looked out onto the streets below from the off-white walls. The musty smell of paper, stamps and the air conditioning hit her like a bat out of hell when she walked into the nearly empty building.

The last few people remaining in the building were in the midst of packing up for the evening, gathering their work bags and briefcases before heading home. Sue made her way down the nearly empty hall to Colonel Paulsson's office at the very end, only to find that the door had been shut and locked.

Sue heard an audible *THUNK!* from the office next door which caught her immediate attention. Quietly she peered in through the crack in the door, the open slit giving her a narrow view. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Nothing was out of place. The desk was a bit of a mess, the blinds were shut and the sparse wall hangings were where they were supposed to be.

Sue saw someone else enter the room from the other door, drawing back a bit in fear before peering in again to find that the man who entered looked faintly familiar, dark haired with streaks of silver grey and a hardened look about his face.

Oh now what have we here?

Sue watched him like a hawk as he went about the office rearranging his desk and stowing things away in the drawers and closing everything down for the night. Her eyes narrowed when she noticed something odd about his shirt, almost startling. Large red streaks went across the chest and sleeves, bright crimson and fresh. It had to be fresh blood.....it couldn't have been anything else.

Holy Moses......who the hell did he fight?? she thought to herself.

She watched intently as the man removed his blood streaked shirt and hid it away. When his back turned to Sue, her jaw nearly hit the floor.

"It just attacked me. I was walking around the other night near the church and the next thing I knew it had my hand.....I stabbed it with my K-bar and it ran away......"

Dan's words echoed in her head over and over again the minute she saw the bandaged wound on his shoulder. Something had suddenly clicked in the back of her mind, so sudden it left her thunderstruck.

Good God I have to find a way to warn them.....Taylor, Dix, Mitch.......everyone here is in immediate danger........

Sue hurriedly left and quickened her pace as she strode down the halls towards the main exit. She looked over her shoulder every few minutes to make sure that she wasn't being followed and when she had gotten outside, Sue broke into a run and headed for the one place she knew she would be able to find help.