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Georgia In My MInd	By : TheByronicMan Category: M through R > Newsflesh (trilogy) > Newsflesh (trilogy) Views: 2034 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own the Newsflesh Trilogy or any of the related works published by its creator. I do not make any money from this story.

Chapter List
- 9
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I tried to follow as George was taken away for treatment, but was rather firmly escorted into a waiting area along with Jenny and Dan. I took a look around as the door was sealed behind us. The furniture looked surprisingly new and comfortable. I had expected something more utilitarian and durable, considering that the room was clearly equipped for a complete and thorough sterilization in the event of someone amplifying. The only thing out of place was a battered old vending machine in the corner that had to date from the seventies.
It looked like it would stand up to anything short of a direct nuclear strike, and was so antique it dispensed Styrofoam cups and then filled them with various hot drinks. Some kind soul had rewired it so that no payment was needed, so the three of us lined up for coffee. It wasn't the worst coffee I'd ever had, it was hot and the caffeine content was adequate. Dan had to discard his half-finished when a doctor called him away for his professional impressions of what they were dealing with. Ash, meanwhile, had leaned back in a chair and fallen asleep. That left me and Jenny sitting in awkward silence.
She refused to meet my eyes, so I forced myself to speak. "We're adopted, you know. Not actual blood relatives. We got genetic testing to make sure."
She finally looked at me. "It's not that. Well, okay, it is partly that, but just a little. Mostly I've been kicking myself for flirting with you when your lover was in danger. I feel like an ass."
"You didn't know. I only have to take off one shoe to count the people who do know, and about a third of them are dead. The only reason I have to use my toes is because of you and your family and friends."
Jenny smiled at that. "I used to complain that all the good men were either married or gay. Now I have something else to add to the list."
Well, at least she still thought I was a good man. I went over and knelt in front of her chair. "If it wasn't for my sister, I would have gladly accepted your offer. Offers, even. Look, your brother is an Irwin, you have to know what the groupies are like. So you should know what it means when I say you are the first woman in years, other than George, who I could see myself in a relationship with. And only the second, ever."
"I find that hard to believe. I would have figured Bobbie and Anna would be all over you. Rob too, for that matter."
"Um, did I mention that I'm straight? And the ladies are a little too freaky for me. Or, at least, freaky in the wrong way."
"Yes, I noticed that your sister has a rather commanding presence. A lot like my brother. Maybe I should be looking to date more submissive men."
Her hand went to the back of my neck, fingers firmly grasping my hair and pulling my face to hers. Looking into my eyes she said, "Like you, I'm straight. And also incurably monogamous, despite my brother's rather daunting example. But I figure I'm owed some kind of reward for helping rescue the damsel in distress, and since I can't collect it from her..."
I knew I should probably pull back, but I couldn't. It seemed George wasn't the only one who could pull that particular trigger. She leaned forward and kissed me.
Uh oh, I'm gonna tell on you.
My mouth being otherwise occupied, I sent back a mental Shut Up. Georgia's wordless reply somehow carried the impression of a smirk. The kiss went on, my lips instinctively parting as Jenny slipped her tongue past them. The tiny part of my mind that wasn't completely overwhelmed resolved to be more careful around assertive women in the future.
"Well, this is entirely unexpected, but as the man of the family I approve." Naturally, Rob picked that moment to arrive.
Jenny broke the kiss, leaving my head spinning. "Rob, you ass. How could you let me make a fool of myself knowing he was taken? And I don't need your approval."
"Haven't you figured out by now that I have an entirely different definition of 'taken' than you do?"
"Yes, but Shaun doesn't."
"Well, they could both stand to have their horizons broadened a bit."
"If you, Bobbie, and Anna's 'Dynamic Duo' couldn't accomplish that, what makes you think I had a chance?"
"Looked like you were doing a pretty good job when I walked in."
"Ha! I win again." Jenny made a tic mark in the air with her index finger. "Anyway, I was just collecting the rest of my fee."
During that exchange, my mental faculties recovered enough for me to notice that Riki and Ice had followed Rob into the room. Sheepishly, I returned to my chair. Rob broke off his snipe-fest with Jenny to convince the ancient vending machine to disgorge a cup of hot tea, and Riki followed suit. It took Ice two tries to get coffee, the first time it poured the coffee first and then dispensed the cup. It made me wonder if his dislike of pre-microchip technology was mutual.
Another half-full cup went into the trash as an orderly escorted Rob out of the room to get an X-ray. They were met at the door by a pair of police officers who insisted on taking Rob into custody. For a minute there I thought he was going to end up at the center of a tug-of-war, but then a couple of large young men in camouflage arrived to calm things down. One nice thing about military hospitals, the security staff doesn't take any shit from outsiders, even the police. So one cop followed Rob while the other kept an eye on us.
Since he didn't seem inclined to step into the room with us, I took the opportunity to ask Riki, "What happened to the guards on patrol outside? I didn't see them when we came out."
"One of them shot at me, a fatal mistake on his part. None of them had any weapons that could do more than scratch the paint on the Dilemma, so the rest quite sensibly retreated inside. They made it in just before the power went out."
"Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire. I guess they had no idea how their boss had the place rigged."
We sat in silence after that, lost in our own worries. Rob returned after about half an hour, with a temporary cast around his torso and his left arm immobilized. Dan arrived a few minutes later and glared at Rob.
"Still refusing proper treatment?"
"They'd have to put me out to do a permanent fix. I'm the only one who can make medical decisions for Bobbie, so I can't risk it. Besides, until I'm released from the hospital, they can't put me in jail."
This time, Dan and Rob had a chance to finish their drinks before being interrupted. An older man in a conservative suit walked into the room. His eyes scanned the room, pausing briefly on both Rob and Jenny. "Figures it would take the two of you working together to get into this much trouble."
"Dewey," Rob said, "Sorry to get you out this late."
"Don't worry, I'll bill you extra. I can add that to the amount you owe me for getting the capital charges against you dropped."
Rob let out a sigh of relief. "What about Anna?"
"She has been released, and is waiting to come in. But she is in line behind about half of the San Antonio Police Department."
"No feds?"
"All they have on you is evading arrest. I was ready to lay out a good case that you were not given effective notice of the warrant, but then you turned up here. As you are now officially in police custody, Judge Post dismissed that charge as well."
"So what now?"
"First we need to get one thing clear." He looked around the room, addressing all of us. "For those few of you who do not know me, I am Bartholomew Dewey, attorney at law, and the attorney of record for Robert, Jennifer, and Barbara Philips, and their employees. As that leaves two of you out, I am asking if you wish me to represent you in this matter."
Jenny interjected, "Oops, I forgot." She took the quarter I had given her out of her pocket and tossed it to Ice. "There. Down payment on the fee for your services."
Ice looked down at the coin in his hand for a moment. "I think I might be better off with my own lawyer."
Dewey said, "Jenny is well acquainted with the statutes regarding her profession. If she feels you need to be covered by her license, I wouldn't dismiss that out of hand. I would be happy to have your attorney act as co-counsel for your defense."
"Okay, we'll see how things go." He shrugged and pocketed the quarter.
Dewey turned to me. "And you, Mr. …?"
"Mason. Shaun Mason. I accept on behalf of myself and my sister."
He blinked at the name. "With that settled, I need you all to tell me everything that's happened. I've had the monitoring of this room turned off, and my paralegal is making sure no one listens at the door."
We told him almost everything, leaving out only Ice hacking the power grid and the voice in my head. I claimed that the location where George and Bobbie were being held had come from an anonymous tip. Rob looked ready to commit cold blooded murder when he finally learned about the assault on Bobbie. Everyone else came close to matching his fury when Ice opened his laptop and showed the video.
When we finished, Dewey paused for a few moments to collect his thoughts. "Here is where we stand. The police are investigating the deaths of thirty-two adult males, as yet unidentified. We have the testimony of three licensed professionals," he glanced at me, Dan, and Jenny, "with relevant training that twenty-nine of those men were infected at the time of death. Those will not be an issue. With two of the others, the only witnesses to their deaths are currently unable to testify. However, the available evidence presents such a clear-cut case of self defense that any prosecutor who even attempts to present criminal charges to a grand jury will be laughed out of office. The last body is going to be more of a problem." He looked at Riki.
I said, "He shot at her first."
"He had the right to defend his employer's property, and I don't see a way to prove that he was a willing accomplice to his employer's crimes. It will probably go to a grand jury, but the publicity will likely prevent an indictment."
Everyone looked grim at that, but kept silent. Dewey continued. "We have the lesser matters of trespassing, and breaking and entering. As the property was legally untenanted, Jenny, her client, and her employees were justified in taking those actions under Jenny's license. Mr. Garwynn, if you maintain that you were hired for this contract by Jenny, you are covered as well. That just leaves Rob."
"Rob's a silent partner in my company. I gave him 5% ownership in exchange for my training and a year of advertising on his site."
"Rob, is that true, and can you document it?"
"I can document it. But technically, Texas Zombie Reporter holds that share rather than me personally."
"Unless you for some reason hired another lawyer to file incorporation papers, you and your wife operate as a sole proprietorship. Therefore, you are your company, so you're good there."
"You've been nagging me to incorporate for years, you think I'd do it behind your back?"
"Figures that you'd be my only client that ignores my sound legal advice and comes up smelling like roses because of it. Okay, that leaves the matter of the cybernetic intrusion into the building's security system by Mr. Garwynn. As one of a handful of attorneys in the state who has experience in legal matters surrounding zombie tracking and recovery law, it is my considered opinion that such intrusion would be just as legal as any other method of active or passive investigation. Zombie trackers routinely employ surveillance prior to entering a target zone, including means that would in other circumstances be considered an invasion of privacy. Please have your attorney contact me so that I may satisfy any concerns he has on that matter."
Ice nodded.
"Finally, there is the small matter of the 'convenient' electrical failure earlier this evening. City Public Service has declined to press charges and is blaming the outage on a faulty component. I have also been informed that they will be quietly seeking bids to improve security on their power distribution system."
That set off a chorus of chuckles around the room. Large corporations hated to admit to security failures.
"So, anything else we need to cover before the detectives interview you?"
Jenny plucked at the hem of her robe. "I need to cover my ass a little better. How about some clothes?"
"I need..." "What about...?" Rob and I both tried to speak at once. I waved for him to go ahead.
"I need an update on my wife. And I'm sure Shaun wants to know about his sister."
"Of course," Dewey said. "If there's nothing else, I'll get on that right away." He waited for a few seconds, and then left.
No sooner had the lawyer left than an orderly walked in bearing the clothes Jenny and I had discarded earlier, now sterilized, along with the bag I had packed for George. It turned out Rob had bagged them up and brought them along, turning them over to the hospital staff for cleaning. I hadn't ever been in a military hospital, but so far I was impressed. Jenny stepped into her panties and pulled them up, then turned her back to drop the robe and finish getting dressed. I followed her example, after taking a moment to admire her lean, athletic form. Her muscles were maybe a little too well-defined for mass market appeal, but she'd look right at home in an Irwin pin-up calendar.
About ten minutes later a doctor came in and spoke quietly to Rob. Rob got up and followed the woman out of the room, motioning for me to come along. We were lead to a small conference room near by.
As we entered, the doctor spoke. "Mr. Philips, I would strongly suggest that we discuss this in private."
"Shaun is the reason Bobbie made it here to be treated. He deserves to know."
"There are certain classified matters that can only be disclosed on a strict need-to-know basis."
I butted in to the conversation. "Hi there, my name is Shaun Mason. If you recognize the name, then you should realize that I not only have need-to-know on the subject, I knew about it long before you did."
The doctor gathered her thoughts. "Very well. Mr. Philips, your wife is showing all the signs of Kellis-Amberlee Acquired Immunity Syndrome. When a person has long-term close contact with someone who, like yourself, has a reservoir condition, that person's immune system can gain a similar level of resistance to amplification."
Rob looked stunned. "And that is being kept a secret?"
I said, "Just think how your most rabid groupies would act if they thought having sex with you might make them immune. Then multiply that across all people known to have reservoir conditions. I'm not big on the government keeping secrets, but in this case I agree."
Rob took a deep breath. "So Bobbie will be okay?"
"We believe so. Her condition is complicated by the live virus having crossed the placental barrier. The fetus is of course too small to amplify, but it acts as a continuous source of live-state viral bodies re-entering your wife's bloodstream and requiring her immune defenses to keep fighting. The virus should go completely dormant within a few days, after which your wife is expected to recover."
"What about our baby?"
"We don't know. There are no documented cases like this on record. But even without the more unusual aspects, there is also the potential for brain damage due to the prenatal exposure to concentrated nitric oxide. Our senior perinatologist is preparing a schedule of screenings and suggested courses of treatment, and if you agree he wishes to be the one to provide that care."
"I see. Thank you."
"Can you tell me how my sister is doing?"
The doctor turned to me. "I spoke with her doctor a few minutes ago. She fell asleep while her wound was being stitched and it was decided to let her sleep until she wakes up on her own. She is responding well to treatment and should make a full recovery aside from some minor loss of mobility in her leg. Physical therapy will help ameliorate that. She will have a visible scar, but it could be minimized by cosmetic surgery. She is also showing the markers for KAAIS, and we are going to want to interview the two of you before she is released from care."
"Thank you."
We returned to the waiting room. Rob was almost to his chair when he turned to look at me. The expression on his face was one I recognized, despite having never seen it before. I knew what it felt like from the inside. It was the same expression I'd worn when I learned that George would have recovered if I hadn't put a bullet through her spine that night in Sacramento. Rob tried to sit, but missed the chair and landed on the floor.
He buried his face in his hands and whispered, "Oh my God. Chris."
Everyone seemed confused, until a look of realization crossed Jenny's face and she flung herself to the floor next to Rob and wrapped her arms around him. "Rob, you couldn't have known."
I was confused myself. I had the clues, I just couldn't seem to slot them together. I knew Chris had been Rob's former blogging partner, and that Rob had shot him after he was bitten. Clearly Rob suddenly thought that Chris had been immune, but I couldn't see why.
Idiot. Obviously they were more than just partners.
Damn. I'd forgotten that Rob was bi. I went and sat beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Rob, that was what, ten years ago? Not even the CDC knew that immunity was contagious back then. I don't think they'd even figured out that people with reservoir conditions were immune yet."
"But they know now. How many people are out there right now, killing loved ones without realizing that they will recover?"
"How many more people would get infected because they hesitated to pull the trigger, hoping that their loved one would be one of the handful of people with immunity? There is no good solution. Look at it the other way. If the word got out, there are governments that would lock up people with reservoir conditions and force you to 'service' the wealthy and politically connected in the hopes of making all of the elites immune. And even in free countries, there are plenty of people who would do the same on a smaller scale."
Rob nodded, silently acknowledging the point. I continued, "There have already been crazies out there attacking people with reservoir conditions because it isn't 'fair' that you're immune and they aren't. Imagine how much worse it would get if they got the idea that you're withholding a cure by not fucking anyone and everyone that you can."
"I guess you're right, but it sucks," Rob said, putting his arm around my shoulders and hugging me and Jenny tightly.
We stayed like that for a while before eventually breaking apart at the arrival of a police detective. He tried to get Rob to submit to questioning, but Jenny insisted on going first. A uniformed officer remained to keep an eye on the rest of us. One side effect of all having the same lawyer was that the police could only question us one at a time. When Jenny was escorted back a couple of hours later, I threw myself on the proverbial grenade by volunteering to go next.
The detectives ran the good cop-bad cop routine on me, something that I'd seen a dozen times before. It wasn't even the first time I'd been treated as a murder suspect, some of my infected playmates in past years had relatives that recognized them and complained to the police. The investigators spent two hours trying to get me to say something that disputed Jenny's version of events, then hit me with an issue that the lawyer hadn't anticipated, the somewhat irregular status of my presence in the U.S. Dewey was only thrown off balance for a moment and proceeded to point out that I was still an American citizen and had every right to be in the country. In light of that, he said, sneaking across the border was strictly a federal matter and that it had occurred nowhere near the jurisdiction of the San Antonio Police Department.
After another hour or so of questioning, I rejoined the rest of the group and Dan was taken away next. Everyone else was sleeping in their chairs, so I followed suit. Some time later we were awakened with an offer of breakfast, and we made our way to a cafeteria under both military and police escort. I assume the food was good. I was so worried about George that I didn't really notice, I was just methodically fueling myself for the day to come.
We returned to 'our' waiting room to find an argument in progress between the senior detective and a doctor over whether we should be taken downtown to continue questioning or remain at the hospital for further observation. The matter was settled when an Army captain arrived and threatened to have the police arrested by MPs for interfering in a USAMRIID investigation. I dredged my memory and eventually came up with the US Army Military Research Institute of Infectious Diseases, a less publicized military equivalent to the CDC that had started as biological warfare lab.
The captain took me, Dan, and Jenny aside and explained that USAMRIID had taken custody of the site and we needed to be debriefed on what we had observed. It turned out that no one had weaponized Kellis-Amberlee to the extent we had experienced, at least not to their knowledge. Since USAMRIID was tasked with biowarfare defense, that sort of mass-infection capability put it under their jurisdiction. The three of us were escorted to a conference room where our uniformed police tag-along was rather firmly denied entry. The captain and a pair of civilian researchers questioned us extensively about what we had seen. As the only one of us with any medical expertise, Dan fielded most of the questions, with Jenny and I helping with specifics of how the victims behaved.
After a couple of hours, another doctor entered the room. "Can you spare Mr. Mason? His sister is awake."
I was out of my chair and headed for the door before he finished the second sentence. No one objected, and he lead me to an elevator. We went up to the third floor and down a hallway to a patient room. He waved me inside and pulled the door shut behind me as I entered. I practically flew across the room, giving George just barely enough time to sit up before I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her. She hugged me back tightly, not letting go even when we finally came up for air.
I don't know how long we stayed like that, alternating kisses with whispered endearments, but finally I moved to chair beside her bed and held her hand while we traded stories of the night before. After hearing her account, I was ready to go out and commit cold-blooded murder myself, but was unfortunately short of living targets. Though the men who kidnapped her from Texas Biomed remained at large, so maybe I could track them down.
When it was my turn, I tried to downplay my role in rescuing her and give credit to our new friends. I wanted her to have a good opinion of Jenny before any gossip reached her ears. But her Newsie instincts were still intact and she wormed all of the details out of me, even the embarrassing ones. I never could keep anything from her.
We had run out of news and were sitting in comfortable silence when Dewey arrived with the two police detectives to question George. I flatly refused to leave the room and they didn't argue. My opinion of the SAPD improved drastically in the next few hours. They were gentle and empathetic with George, a sharp contrast to the harsh interrogation I had gotten. Since I had heard her story before, it was a little easier to suppress my rage the second time around.
That afternoon, once all of the questioning was completed, the cops admitted that they had gotten an anonymous tip, actually from Rob, about the hostage exchange and had arrested the three defectors from Texas Biomed. Apparently they had no intention of actually trading Bobbie for me and had gotten there early to set up an ambush. George was able to identify the two men who had taken her from a photo lineup. She had a keen eye for detail, so even though their faces had been partially obscured by masks, she was able to pick them out with no hesitation.
.oOo.
I spent the next few days beside George's bed, leaving only for meals and to fetch her Cokes from the cafeteria. Everyone else visited at least once a day, even the members of the rescue party that hadn't properly met George before. Riki missed one day because she was in jail, but all charges against her were dismissed. I was evicted from George's side for a long talk between her and Jenny, and nervously paced a nearby waiting room for a few hours. To my relief, once I was allowed to return George wasn't angry but seemed amused instead. Finally, we got the word that Bobbie was conscious, and we all gathered in 'our' waiting room for an impromptu party. Rob had to leave part way through to be prepped for surgery on his ribs.
The next day, with the stitches removed and USAMRIID having run out of tests, George was released. While she was filling out the necessary paperwork, a police detective arrived to advise us that no charges would be filed against us, but that we would be subpoenaed to testify against the surviving kidnappers and therefore should not leave the San Antonio area. After some discussion, George and I agreed to return to Texas Biomed, the most secure location available to us, after insisting on rooming together and bringing all of our weapons. They not only agreed, they offered a cash settlement for their security failure that allowed George to be kidnapped. Dewey advised us that we could probably win a lot more money from them in court, if we were willing to invest ten years or so in the process. We opted to accept the settlement.
Scandal Rocks Mexican Consulate
San Antonio Light – August 12, 2042
The Mexican Consul to San Antonio has been recalled to Mexico City for investigation of charges of corruption, peculation, accepting bribes, and conspiracy to commit kidnapping and terrorism. Most of the charges stem from his involvement in the kidnapping of Georgia Mason and Barbara Philips and his filing of false murder and terrorism charges against Robert Philips.
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Georgia In My MInd