F Wilson - Implant

"The police should have someone here in a second, " he said, turning back to the car. "You're sure you're all right? " "Positive. Look, we're blocking traffic here. Why don't I just pull ahead and see if I can get off the road. ' Gerry looked back and saw that they'd created a minor traffic jam by reducing inbound traffic from three lanes to two. But he didn't want Marsden going anywhere.

"Don't know if that's such a good idea. Let me take a look at the damage here." He stepped toward the front fender and bent over it.

Hendricks had done a perfect job, the metal was folded in against the tire.

"I don't think you're going anywhere, sir." As he straightened he saw Marsden starting to get out. Gerry stepped up and gently eased him back into his seat.

"Maybe you shouldn't move just yet, Senator."

"I'm perfectly all right. It was just a fender bender." Gerry stood firm, blocking the door with his body. "Still, sir, I think it would be smarter and safer if you moved as little as possible until help arrives."

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm perfectly fine and fully capable of, " A blue and white unit roared up then, sirens wailing, lights flashing, followed closely by an ambulance and a mobile ICU, all with the Bureau.

The senator was adamant against being taken to the hospital. He protested vigorously, but since his car wasn't going anywhere, and since the cop and the E.M.Ts weren't taking no for an answer, and G.W.U hospital was only six blocks up the street, he finally relented.

As the ambulance wailed off, Gerry leaned back against the Lincoln's damaged fender and took a deep, relieved breath. The diciest part was over, and Marsden had come through without a scratch.

Did it!

Christ, what a feeling. Almost like sex. If he smoked he'd be reaching for a cigarerte.

But now came the most important part, finding that implant.

Gerry hoped to God it was findable. Because if they missed it, there was going to be hell to pay.

Gin huddled in the dictation area of the records room and pressed the receiver against her ear to keep any trace of Gerry's voice from escaping.

She hadn't wanted to come in today, but Gerry had thought it best not to deviate from her routine.

"All right, " Gerry said. "We've got the senator here in the emergency room. Let me just go over this again to make sure there's no mistake.

We're all set up to do a magnetic resonance image of his right leg.

That's what we want, right? " "Right. An Mr I with special attention to the lateral midthigh. Tell them to look for the healing puncture wound in the skin. The implant should be somewhere within a three- or four-inch radius from there." "Okay. Just triple-checking."

"And Gerry." She lowered her voice to a whisper. "Don't let anyone use an ultrasound to find it, okay? Sometimes they use ultrasound to locate foreign bodies in soft tissue, but don't let them. Don't let anyone even near him with an ultrasound." Diagnostic ultrasound used a tiny fraction of the power of the therapeutic modality, but why chance it?

"Okay. No ultrasound. Look, I've got to run. We should have the answer soon." '"Call me."

"Soon as I can. Once we identify it, we've got to tell Marsden and convince him it should come out immediately. That may not be so easy."

"Just save him, okay? " "I'm doing my damnedest."

"I know you are. Love you. ' He was silent a moment, probably as surprised as Gin herself that she'd come out and said that. Where had it come from?

From the heart, I guess, she told herself.

"I feel the same way, " he said, and she had to smile. He probably had a dozen other agents around him. "Let's get together after the dust settles here. We need to talk."

"Think you'll be able to come over for dinner tonight? " '"I think that can be arranged. Want me to bring something? " "Just Martha."

"Martha? " "Yeah. I haven't seen her in a while."

"Great."

"We'll stay in. I'll cook again. How's broccoli and linguine sound?

" "Martha will love it. ' '"Great. Bye.

" Gin sat there a moment, staring into space. She hadn't wanted to be alone tonight. With Gerry and Martha as company, maybe she wouldn't feel so terrible about all this.

Gerry had sounded both excited and tense. Gin felt only nausea. When they found the implant, Gerry's job would be done. They'd hand Senator Marsden over to the doctors for its removal and the case to the federal prosecutors.

But Gin's involvement would not end. Somewhere along the line she'd have to face Duncan.

She shuddered. She felt like a rat. He'd saved her life, given her a job in high school, and now another. He'd been unfailingly generous for as long as she'd known him, and this was how she repaid him.

But how could she let him go on doing what he'd been doing?

She'd done the right thing, damn it. Ethically, morally, legally, the right thing.

So why did she feel so rotten?

The morning's procedures completed, Duncan sat in his office, his back to his desk, a cup of Kenya AA cooling between his hands. He stared through the glass at the rock garden, idly noting that the red leaves of the dwarf five-finger maple were beginning to brown. Fall was taking hold. Winter was approaching. A winter of the heart.

- Gin, Gin, Gtna . . . how much lo you lenow?

- She did know something, and suspected more. Any doubts had been laid to rest by the way she'd stuck like a second skin to that senator of hers.

Duncan wondered at his growing animosity toward Senator Marsden. A decent man by all accounts, even if he was engaged in extending the domain of the kakistocracy. Was it personal? Could it be he was feeling piqued by Gin's devotion to someone else, a veritable stranger?

More crucial than what Gin knew was the question of what she meant to do about it. He couldn't get a reading from her this morning . . .

she'd been unusually quiet, distant, rarely looking him in the eyes.

Something was up . . .

The intercom buzzed. He swiveled and picked up.

"A Dr. Melendez on oh-two about Senator Marsden." An electric tingle coursed through l)uncan's limbs. Melendez? Who the hell was Dr. Melendez?

He punched 02.

Melendez, it turned out, was one of the E.R docs at G.W.U hospital. In a minimally accented voice he told Duncan that Marsden had been involved in an M.V.A this morning and had mentioned having surgery the preceding day. Melendez just wanted to check out if he was on any analgesics or other meds.

"Nothing stronger than ibuprofen or Tylenol, " Duncan said. "Is he hurt? " '"Not a scratch. The dressing on his ear wasn't disturbed in the least."

" Good."

"If you want, I can take a look under the bandage when he gets back from radiology."

"I thought you said there wasn't a scratch."

"There isn'r. But he's getting an Mr I anyway.

The feds are making a big deal out of this, I guess, his being a senator and all."

"Feds? " A larval suspicion began worming through his gut.

"Yeah. Couple of FBI types lurking about. I don't get it. I mean, he's not hurt so an Mr I isn't medically indicated in the least, but hey, I'm just a doctor."

"A lowly health-care provider, " Duncan said, trying to keep his tone light.

"You got it."

"Well, Dr. Melendez, I thank you for the courtesy of the call."

"Any time" Duncan drummed his fingers on the desk. An MRI? Of what?

The head? Or a leg? He'd been rattled by the mention of the FBI and had forgotten to ask.

And that young man Gin had been seeing lately, wasn't he with the FBI?

His fingers stopped drumming and curled into a fist.

A little too much to be coincidence.

He snatched up the phone. Bob Rubinstein had been with G.W.U radiology for years. Duncan gave Barbara the job of tracking him down, and five minutes later he was on the line.