F Wilson - Implant

"Jesus! " - She started and nearly lost her balance as she turned.

Barbara was standing in the center of the officer, her palm pressed between her breasts.

"You almost gave me a heart attack! " Barbara said. "Dr. Panzella, you've got to warn me when you're coming in here."

"Sorry, " Gin said. She hoped she didn't look as shaken and embarrassed as she felt.

"You weren't at your desk and I needed to look up something."

"Just make sure he knows you've been in here." '"What do you mean? " "He likes everything in its place. So if you're going to borrow anything, better check with him first, otherwise I'll hear about it."

This isn't going to work, Gin thought. She held up the green text.

"Okay, Barbara. Watch." With a small flourish, she slipped the book back into its space. "Voila. Right back where it belongs."

"Great.

He's such a stickler for detail, you know." Gin stepped down and slid the step stool back to its original position.

"That's what makes him a great surgeon. He sweats the details. " Barbara placed some papers on Duncan's desk and they left together.

Gin gave one worried backward glance at the green book on the top shelf. She'd have another chance at it tomorrow.

Unless Duncan moved it again.

Oh, no.

Duncan could feel all the warmth drain out of him as he watched the screen. He shuddered.

The videotape showed Gin entering the office at I2, 17 P. M. , dragging the step stool to the bookshelves, and pulling out the book where the TPD was hidden. There had been not the slightest hesitation.

She knew the shelf and the exact volume to remove.

But how did she know?

He felt an urge to step over to the shelf himself, it was only a few feet away, and check to see if she had taken the vial, but he could not move. He stood frozen, his eyes fixed on the screen.

He watched her peer into the space, saw her hand rise toward it, and then Barbara came in.

Thank God for Barbara.

Their voices were muted but he could make out Gin's excuse and Barbara's comments about his tidiness. And then the book was back in its place and they were leaving. But he saw Gin's wistful parting glance at the bookshelf.

She'd be back. Dammit, she'd be back.

He fast-forwarded through the rest of the tape, but Gin did not return.

That was a relief. He hit rewind and checked behind the book.

Yes, the vial was still there. But how, how had Gin known that he'd moved it?

She watched me.

Of course. She'd followed him to D. C. General yesterday. She'd probably been following him since the fiasco on Friday.

He turned around and stared through the plate-glass outer wall. If she'd been tailing him Sunday night, she could have crouched out there in the darkness among the shrubs and observed his every move.

With a start he realized that she could be out there right now, spying on him.

But no. Since their encounter in D. C. General yesterday, he'd been on guard, keeping careful watch in his rearview mirror, so much so that he'd nearly caused several accidents. No one had followed him anywhere today.

But why had she checked behind the book today and not yesterday? Had something happened today to rekindle her suspicions?

He fast-forwarded to where Barbara and Gin were leaving and paused on Gin's final backward glance. He read anxiety in her expression. No question something was making her apprehensive.

A thought jolted him, Could she know about the president?

Good Lord, if she'd found out about that, she might do something rash, something catastrophic.

He picked up the phone and jabbed in his brother's number. '"Oliver, he said immediately, "did Gin mention anything to you about our special case on Friday? " He took care not to identify the president on the phone.

"Wh-what do you mean? " The hesitation in Oliver's voice gave Duncan a terrible feeling.

"Does she have any idea who it is? " "Um, she knows. She guessed. " "How in the world, ? " "She recognized Dr. VanDuyne, then deduced that the men with him were Secret Service. From there it was two plus two, I guess." '"Did you confirm it? " '"Well, what else could I do? " '"Damn it, Oliver! Dammit to hell! " "Duncan, I swore her to secrecy.

You know you can trust Gin. Wasn't it better to confirm her suspicions than to have her go on wondering and asking questions? " '"Well, maybe." He reined in his anger at his brother. Oliver had no idea why it had been so important to keep Gin out of this. "When did this conversation take place? " "This morning. Maybe eleven or so.

Why? " "Nothing. I'll see you Thursday." He hung up and began to pace the room, pausing only to hit the REWIND button on the VCR.

Damn! Gin confirmed it through Oliver at eleven and an hour later she was here meddling with the TPD.

The chance of a lifetime. The president himself, the commander in chief of the kakistocracy, would be sleeping off his anesthesia right down the hall. The man who singlehandedly had resurrected the Guidelines bill, who had insisted on including medical ethics in its purview, and who would keep pushing relentlessly for the committee to get its foul job done.

So what? Duncan thought. He had nothing to do with it. Lisa's death.

Why not let him go and be satisfied with what I've done so far?

Because I can't. Not yet.

He was out of control and he knew it. He felt like a runaway train careening downhill. McCready had started it, and Duncan would finish it.

He could not let this opportunity pass. He'd never have another like it.

He would impose a symmetry on this madness . . . he would close the circle with the president. But Gin Panzella was going to ruin it. He could see it in her face, feel it in his bones. She was going to meddle again. And he could not allow that. Not this time

The VCR whirred and ejected the tape. Duncan pulled it out and stared at it.

Why, Gin? Why do you have to keeping sticking your nose in where it doesn't belong?

His fury rose, a pressure in his head, his chest, threatening to explode. She was leaving him only two choices, either back down or somehow neutralize her.

He groaned. She had backed him into a corner, and the only option left was to strike out at her. He might have to harm her.

And he loathe himself for it.

With a cry he hurled the videocassette to the floor and smashed it under his heel.

"Damn you, Gin! ' WEDNESDAY ' WE BEEN KEEPING SOMETHING IMPORTANT FROM YOU, Gin, " Duncan said.

"But I decided this morning I'm going to confide in you. ' Gin sat across his desk from him, sipping a late-morning cup of one of his exotic coffees, Jamaican Blue Mountain, she thought he'd said, but she'd been feeling too tense and wary to pay much attention. She'd been up most of the night brooding about the president's surgery. Should she be as worried as she was? Should she do anything? Should she call Gerry about it?

Again, she'd decided not to call Gerry. She had even less to go on this time than the last. He already thought she was distraught. Why add fuel to that particular fire?

She'd still been debating her next step when Duncan had called her in, told Barbara he did not want to be disturbed, and shut the door. He'd handed her a cup and asked her to be seated.

So now she sat, tense and rigid in her chair, the coffee warming her cold hands as she anxiously waited to see what was up.

"Since you are a physician in this facility, what I'm about to say falls under physician-patient privilege. Is that understood? " "Of course."

"Good." He leaned back and steepled his fingers. "You might be wondering why I gave the staff off this Friday. The reason is extraordinary, I'm operating on the president of the United States that day." Gin felt her jaw drop open. Duncan was actually telling her.