Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 20:21:34 -0600 (MDT) From: "Katherine R. Freymuth" Subject: Theresa - Chapter 24 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Okay, so I lied. I'm not resting. Here's Chapter 24. Don't kill me at the end of it. ----------------------------------------- Chapter 24 Speed Trap "Good morning, Gushie," Al said as he entered the Control Room early Wednesday morning. It wasn't that Al enjoyed being up at seven o'clock in the morning. Actually, despite military habits, Al hated early revelry. But this revelry was different than others. This one was important. This one was for Sam. "Good morning, Admiral," Gushie replied politely. "Is the Imaging Chamber on line?" Al asked as he passed the control console, grabbing a handlink as he went. "Ready," Gushie confirmed. Al nodded as he walked towards the Imaging Chamber. "Center me on Sam when I'm in there." Gushie didn't answer as he watched Al enter the Imaging Chamber, waiting to center him on Sam. *********************** Sam breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the Imaging Chamber door open. Finally, he wouldn't be flying alone and almost completely blind. But it didn't mean he would forgive Al easily for leaving him for two days. However, Sam was in mid-conversation with Suzanne. Al would have to wait. "Then, after visiting the Great Pyramid, Chris and I are going to dine at the finest restaurant in Cairo!" "Looks like you have it all pretty much planned out," Sam commented. Suzanne smiled. "Well, I can dream of the perfect honeymoon, can't I?" "No," Chris answered as he came out of his bedroom with two arms full of luggage. "You can _have_ the perfect honeymoon," he told Suzanne lovingly. Sam smiled at Chris's words and noticed how full his arms were. "Here," he told him as he went to him. "Let me take some of those." Chris looked at Sam with some suspicion on his face. Sam stopped where he was, looking at Chris. Al frowned. Obviously, not only did Sam fail to change Chris's mind about having his honeymoon today, he also opened a rift between Chris and Jeff. Perhaps an unsurpassable rift. He looked at Sam and then at Chris. "Sure," Chris finally answered after the tense moment that had caused the room to suddenly go completely silent. But even as Chris said these words, everyone could tell that there was something between Chris and Sam. Sam went to Chris and lightened the load of both of Chris's arms. Quietly, they took the luggage outside to put in Jeff's car. Al raised the handlink to find out exactly what was happening. It was Thursday at three- seventeen p.m. and Chris's and Suzanne's flight left at four twenty-five p.m. which meant that Sam and the others would be leaving Chris's apartment in less than fifteen minutes. Al looked at his own watch to confirm, a habit he was never able to get rid of. He then pressed a button on the handlink, centering himself on Sam. "Did I come at a bad time?" Al asked as Sam helped Chris put the luggage in the trunk of Jeff's car. "You go ahead and go back in," Sam told Chris. "I'll take care of the rest." Chris nodded his head, put the luggage on the ground near the car, and headed back towards the apartment. "Where were you?" Sam whispered angrily as soon as Chris was out of earshot. "Kind of touchy, aren't you?" Al questioned. Sam leered at him. "You would be too if your partner went gallivanting who know where while you're stuck with a difficult problem for two days!" "Sam, take it easy!" AL told him. "I'm sorry to have left you hanging like that but a couple of things came up." "Al..." Sam started. "We don't have time to argue about this, Sam," Al warned. "Ziggy's pinned down the time of the accident. It happens in about twenty-five minutes." Al thought came to Sam. "Al, maybe I've been doing this all wrong." Al gave Sam his attention. "What do you mean?" "All this time, I've been trying to change Chris's mind about leaving today and all I got was Chris's being distant with me. I've tried to get Jeff's friends with the police to find and detain Richard Oster but..." "... but they don't believe you," Al told him. "I know." "You know?" Sam questioned. "Yeah, well, Jeff has a tendency to play practical jokes. Anyway..." Al stated, indicating Sam to continue. "Anyway," Sam continued, "who's driving the car when Jennifer and I take them to the airport." Al checked with Ziggy. "You are." "And where was Jennifer?" Al furrowed his eyebrows in confusion but checked with Ziggy anyway. "She was in the back on the right side. Oster's car hit the driver's side front of the car, completely destroying the driver's side of both cars." Sam thought for a moment. "And where was Suzanne sitting?" "Beside Jennifer," Al replied. "What does any of this have to do with preventing the accident?" Sam smiled knowingly. It was a morose smile, as if he were about to do something he didn't want to do but he knew it was the only thing to do. Al glared at Sam with uncertainty. "I don't like that look in your eyes, Sam." Sam didn't say a word as he closed the car's trunk and went back to the apartment. "Sam, what are you going to do?" Al demanded as he followed him. ************************ A few minutes later, Al sat beside Sam as the six of them, Al and the unborn baby included, went down the interstate towards the airport. Instead of Sam driving, however, Chris was, with Al sitting between him and Sam. Suzanne was seated behind Sam (Chris was too tall for Suzanne to see over) and Jennifer behind Chris. Al sighed in frustration. "Sam, I really have a bad feeling about all of this." He looked around the car. "I really don't like Jennifer sitting where she is, Sam. She should be somewhere more safe, like at the apartment. In fact, you should all be in the apartment." Sam didn't answer. Al stood up from the chair he was sitting on in the Imaging Chamber and walked around to face Sam, who was looking out the window. "Sam, are you listening to me or are you trying to alienate me as well?" Al asked, miffed. Sam nodded slightly, motioning his eyes towards the others. "Oh," Al said, realizing Sam couldn't answer without looking completely insane, which would definitely not help at a time like this. Al hummed as he exhaled a deep breath. "Sam, I know what you're thinking. It's way too dangerous! You should get Chris to pull over and stop the car." Sam glared at Al, indicating that he didn't want Al's input. Al shook his head. Despite anything he could do, Sam was going to go through this, risking the lives of all five of them. He lifted the handlink. He had to try to talk some sense into the stubborn physicist at least one more time. "Sam," Al told him, looking at the handlink. "Ziggy says that, if you go through with this crazy plan, there's a seventy-five point twenty-three percent chance that no one will survive this accident! You'll _all_ die, Sam!" He looked at Sam with conviction. Sam didn't look at him. "Sam, you only have one minute left!" Sam looked at his watch. "I think we're behind schedule," he said, looking at Chris. Chris took a quick glance at his own watch, nodded in agreement and started to speed up a bit. "You're having them speed up?!" Al exclaimed in shock. "Sam, you should be getting them to stop! Ziggy says the odds have just jumped up to eighty-four percent!" Al's expression became a statue of fearful exclamation. "Sam," he said quietly, his eyes on the highway. Sam followed Al's gaze and Chris followed Sam's. Just at the last moment, a car from Georgia came speeding haphazardly into oncoming traffic. "What the hell?" Chris exclaimed just before swerving quickly to the right, trying to avoid the car. The speeding car collided violently against the back of Jeff's car, causing it to quickly turn one hundred eighty degrees and slam into a wall lining the highway. The Georgia car slid down the road, causing another car to swerve a little to the left to avoid hitting it. The car finally slid to a stop twenty feet from Jeff's car. Cars screeched to a halt at avoid making themselves part of the accident. People hurried out of their cars to gaze at it but few stepped forward to assist. The entire highway was buzzing with people talking, wondering what had happened. The buzzing became more clear as Sam slowly regained consciousness. The buzzing was full of intense worry and, yes, fright. Slowly, the buzzing diminished, allowing Sam to finally understand some of what was being said. "Oh, my gawd. Oh, my gawd," a female voice panted, breathing in an unusual pattern. "What happened?" another voice asked with concern. It was much further away than the female voice. "Is anybody hurt?" Still, Sam didn't open his eyes. He was afraid to. Afraid to see what had happened, what he had caused. So many worried voices but not one of them familiar. What had he done? Were they all dead? What happened to Chris? And Suzanne? And Jennifer? He had to know but he was afraid. And the fear engulfed him. But it wasn't just his fear. It was someone else's. Someone nearby. He could feel that someone calling but he couldn't hear him. He could hear everyone else but him. Why? "Sam," the voice finally burst the silence. Damn it, Sam! Answer me!" Sam finally left himself move. "Al?" he hissed out the name with a rasp. "Sam!" came the relieved response. "Thank gawd! I thought we lost you! Come back to us, Sam," he urged. "Come on. Open your eyes." Sam obeyed. The action hurt his head but he kept them open. He smiled at the sight of a man dressed in a yellow suit with a long sleeve Hawaiian shirt and a plain red tie. "Al," Sam breathed, thankful to see his oddly dressed friend. "You okay, Sam?" "I think so," Sam told him, raising himself and wincing at the action. "What about the others?" Al sighed. "Chris is out cold. So's Jennifer. Suzanne's in emotional shock." He looked Sam in the eyes. "Sam, this was really, really stupid." Sam crawled onto his knees. "You can lecture me later, Al." He turned his attention on Chris. "How soon until the ambulance arrives?" "Should be here any second." "What about the other car?" Sam asked, shifting his attention to Jennifer. Al checked the handlink. He closed his eyes. "They're dead, Sam." Sam stopped and looked at Al. "Dead?" he whispered. Al didn't answer. After a moment of silence, Sam continued looking over Jennifer and then went to Suzanne. It was from her that Sam had heard the repeating three word phrase. "Suzanne," Sam said, holding her shoulders gently. He repeated her name again before she stopped talking and looked at him. "Jeff!" she exclaimed with joy. "Thank gawd! Chris! What about Chris?!" Sam held her firmly enough to prevent Suzanne from getting up. "He'll be okay. Right now, you have to calm down and take it easy. Moving around and getting upset isn't going to help that child you're carrying." "Okay," she agreed, forgetting the fact that she hadn't told anyone that she was pregnant. "Okay," Sam told her as the sound of sirens filled the area. "Just sit tight." With that, Sam slipped back into his own seat and gently rubbed his face. "You don't look so good, Sam," Al commented with concern. "Yeah, well, I don't feel so good either." "Tell me the truth," Al requested. "How are Chris and Jennifer?" Sam sighed. He whispered the answer so Suzanne would be able to overhear. "Chris has a concussion and some cuts and bruises. Jennifer..." he sighed. "It looks like she has some internal bleeding and I can't help her without moving her. But I can't risk moving her 'cause it might worsen her condition." Al looked at Jennifer with concern. "So, what do we do?" There was a brief silence. "Wait for the paramedics and pray." Al sighed. "Thank goodness we don't have to wait long. They're here." Sam breathed a sigh of relief as a group of paramedics hurried to the car. "Jeff," a weak voice called out. Sam quickly turned around at the voice to see Jennifer stir. He hurried to her side and put his hand on her shoulder. "Jen, don't move," he told her gently. "Help's on the way." She whispered slightly. "It hurts so bad, Jeff," she said quietly. "I know, Jen. I know." Sam kissed her glass-shard covered hair. "Just stay still." As he said this, a paramedic gently guided Sam out of the car and took him a few feet away from the car as another paramedic tended the others in the car. Al stayed by the car until everyone had been taken out and placed in an ambulance, including Sam. Sam, at his request, was in the same ambulance as Jennifer, allowing Chris, who had regained consciousness a few minutes after the ambulances had arrived, to remain with his bride. Jennifer lay half-asleep, half-awake as two paramedics stayed by her, trying the best they could to keep her stable until the ambulance arrived at the hospital. Sam stared with a blank expression as he watched the paramedics do their job while one paramedic tended his wounds. He looked at Al with a mournful, guilt-filled expression. Al could tell what Sam was thinking from that expression. Unfortunately, Al was thinking it too. Both Sam and Al knew that Jennifer Kline Sterling was dying. --------------------------------------------------- Chapter 25 next. Kat