Chapter 9
I stood there, the rain still coming down hard, looking into my van through the window. My keys were stolen. I had a spare set, but they were at the workshop. I shivered in the rain. I'd been cold since I woke up.
With a heartfelt sigh, I turned and started to walk. No keys, phone, or wallet meant I had one option available.
Walk.
I got lucky, I thought, as I sat down on the bus, earning an evil glare from the driver as I turned the area around me into a lake. Thankfully, he didn't kick me off.
I ran into an old woman. She offered me help in the form of bus fare. It wasn't all that warm in here, but it was dry. I looked at the tsunami of water coming off me; for now, at least.
I don't know what made that woman stop when she saw a soaking wet, shivering man who probably looked like he was on drugs and thought, this dude needs a mint, but I'm extremely grateful she did. That mint got me through another forty minutes of walking.
Unfortunately, I lived in an industrial sector of the city, which meant limited public transit. So when I got off the bus, still not really any drier or warmer, I still had a ways to go.
The rain didn't give me a minute's reprieve. Not that I could get any wetter. The streets were empty this time of morning, well, as close to empty as a busy city ever gets.
I instinctively rubbed my hands together to try and warm them, but metal isn't great for that. I pulled my coat closer around me. It didn't really help.
I was shivering. I couldn't help it anymore. I had to rely on my metal hand to do anything, as my real one was fumbling everything. To make things worse, my slow, almost drunken steps slowed my progress even further.
I stood at an intersection, staring at the street name. It was my street. I struggled to remember which way to turn.
"Fuck," I growled at myself. "I've been driving this road for months."
"Aidan?"
Hearing my name made me jump. I turned to see a car, a red muscle car. I hadn't even noticed it pull up.
Inside was a concerned-looking Jack. "Holy shit, what happened to you?" She got out of the car.
"Ah… got mugged," I said, not really sure how to answer.
"Fuck, man, you're cold." She grabbed me. "Get in. I'll take you home." She shoved me into the passenger seat and slammed the door shut.
She cranked the heat as soon as she got back in, and it felt so good that suddenly keeping my eyes open was nearly impossible. She was asking me questions, but it all started to blur into static.
The stark white ceiling was the next thing I really remembered. As sights and sounds came into focus, concern followed. I looked around. I shot up with a start—well, I tried to—but my weak muscles gave out halfway up and I fell back into the bed.
Not another hospital.
I grabbed at my left arm; gone. I tried to control my breathing. Who was going to walk through that door? More police to shatter my life again? The beeping grew unbearable. The walls seemed to close in.
"Whoa," a voice said from the doorway. "You actually awake now?"
Jack stood there, a coffee cup in hand.
"Where am I? What happened?" I tried to say, but it came out like a frog's dying croak.
She moved to the bed and offered me a cup of water with a straw from the bedside.
"You passed out in my car. I didn't know what else to do with you," she explained as I drank. "You've been a bit confused for a couple of days."
"I just needed to warm up," I protested weakly.
"Yeah, totally," she said, rolling her eyes. "Men."
She set the cup down. "I haven't called anyone. I don't know anyone, and you said you were mugged, so I couldn't use your phone."
I nodded. There wouldn't have been one anyway.
Then she said something that sent an ice-cold spike through my heart.
"Is Sarah your wife?"
That spike punched straight through my chest and hollowed out my stomach. I looked at her. Whatever showed on my face made her take a half step back.
"You—" she started. "Well, you were pretty confused, and you kept calling me and the nurse Sarah. I just assumed your wife…"
God. I felt sick. Another hospital bed. Missing my arm. Talking about her.
I finally looked away, out the window, at the calming sight of a parking lot. I stared for a long moment.
"She is."
Clearly uncomfortable, she asked, "Should I… call her?"
"You can't."
Silence stretched between us. After a moment, she offered to find a nurse.
The nurse came by to check my vitals and asked me questions; my name, where I was, what year it was. That kind of stuff. Seemingly satisfied, she said she would contact the doctor and promised a meal.
When the nurse was done, Jack had just returned. I hadn't realized she had left. She was holding a white bag and a white coffee cup.
"I got you some soup, a sandwich, and tea," she said, like she was making a peace offering.
I had to make a mental effort not to be mad about it. It wasn't fair, I knew that intellectually. "Thank you," I said, before belatedly adding, "Tea?"
"I wasn't sure you'd be allowed caffeine yet," she shrugged, setting the food on the rolling table and pushing it toward me.
I reached for the tea but failed to grab anything. I looked down at my left side.
Right. No arm.
"What happened to my arm?" I asked.
"Oh! Right, I forgot." She slapped her forehead. "I took it." She hurried to explain. "You were in and out, confused when you were awake, and it looked like a really expensive model. Things go missing… so I took it home," she finished defensively.
"Now that you're awake, I'll bring it back. It looked undamaged, but I don't do that kind of work, so…" She shrugged.
"I could swim with it and it'd be fine," I said. "But thank you…"
I ate in silence for a bit. My stomach made it very clear how hungry I was as soon as the first bite landed. Soon the soup and sandwich were gone, and I was sipping the tea.
I felt like I should say something. "Thank you for bringing me here," I said. I wasn't thankful I was here, but that wasn't her fault.
"What else would I do with you? Leave you to freeze? It's not even winter," she said, trying to smile.
"Well, you brought me here and stayed."
"Well, not stayed," she corrected. "I just popped in once or twice. I didn't want to leave you here, but I didn't know who to contact…" She let the rest trail off.
"I, uh—well," she started. "You asked me for clothes, and I think they lost your wet ones."
That warm feeling I'd started to get went cold.
"So you gave me the code to your workspace. Well, you gave me like five, but one worked," she explained.
Oh no.
I felt the blood drain from my face.
"I see you live there…" she said, looking up with a sad smile.
"It's… cheaper," I offered, waiting for the bomb to drop. How far had she explored?
"I didn't know what you wanted, so I just grabbed a sweatsuit and stuff." She looked really uncomfortable.
Come on. Say it, I thought, staring at her.
"You…" She hesitated, visibly uneasy. "You don't have anyone, do you?"
The question shocked me. It wasn't about the suit?
I looked away. She must not have found it.
"Not anymore," I said, gripping the empty socket where my left arm had been.
I couldn't believe I felt relief.
"I'm sorry," was all she said.
The silence dragged on for a bit and it was clearly making her uncomfortable, but what would I say?
"I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to live in the unit" she started before seeing me looking at her "I'm not going to report you or anything, your probably not the only one…" she finished
When the doctor came back and said they wanted me to stay one more night and go home in the morning, Jack offered to drive me "home" when I was discharged, then left.
Alone in the darkened room, I tried to distract myself with the one free TV channel, acutely aware of how much time I'd wasted.
"To recap our earlier story," the anchor said, "the supervillain Electrocoil escaped Coldwater Prison early this morning."
I stared at the screen.
I needed to get back to work.
The drive "home" was subdued. Gray skies threatened more rain, the same rain that had nearly killed me. Jack's car was a far more comfortable way to travel.
She'd picked me up that morning, just like she said she would, and brought my arm with her. I noted it was low on power, but it would be fine for now. I was feeling better. Even my real arm looked good, the infection gone, wounds closed. It would scar, but whatever.
Conversation with Jack stayed shallow. That was fine by me.
Eventually, we pulled up to the front of my unit. I had to ask her to drive around. I never used the front door, and I didn't have keys for it.
As soon as the car went into park, I was already getting out.
"Thank you. Really," I said. I had no real way to repay her, and that would have to be enough.
"Are you going to take it easy today?" she asked.
"I guess?" I said. "I was going to get my van… if it's still there."
"I noticed it was missing."
"They took my keys. That's why I walked. But it might still be there."
" I've already missed the morning," she said. "Go get your spare set. I can at least drop you off; save you another walk."
"I could just grab a taxi or something," I tried.
"And find you half-dead again in a couple hours?" She smiled. "No."
Realizing she wasn't leaving, I didn't argue. "Give me a couple minutes," I said. "I'll grab the keys and change."
A short while later, we were driving through the area where I'd had my first, awful attempt at intelligence work.
"Why were you even out here?" she asked. "This place is basically crime central."
The question I didn't want to answer finally came.
"I had a delivery," I said.
"At night?"
I shrugged. "That was the delivery time they paid for."
"I wouldn't take an order like that."
"I learned my lesson."
Finally, we turned onto the street.
My van sat there, untouched.
Good news. Finally,
Jack waited until I was inside and the engine turned over. She waved once, then drove off. Finally gone.
I headed back to the workshop, my knuckles nearly white on the steering wheel.
How much time had I lost? I knew where Ratking was, or at least how to find him.
And I'd taken a break instead.
In a way, that made me responsible for everyone he'd killed, or helped kill over the last few days.
The thought made me sick.
I pulled into the workshop and went straight to the suit room to run checks.
I will fix my mistake tonight.