Off Limits(125)

Alix sniffled and wiped at her nose in a very un-model-like swipe. I chuckled and reached over, grabbing the tissue box from my little bedside table. “Here. They’re softer than sandpaper, but not much.”

“What do you want to know?” Alix asked as she grabbed half a dozen of the cheap tissues and started cleaning the mess off her arm.

“Are you still my Princess?” I asked. “Are you still with me?”

Alix sniffled and looked to the sky, blinking. “This is madness. In three weeks, I’ve destroyed my career, repaired and then hurt my relationship with my mother, and in the eyes of a lot of people killed my own stepfather. Everything is saying karma is getting in the way and saying that I should walk out that door, tossing you a Tudor Rose as I go.”

“Logic and karma seem to say that, don’t they?”

Alix nodded, then looked me in the eye. “But you’ve taught me something too. The will is sometimes more important than karma or logic. And my will, my heart, says that I love you. I’m your Princess, if you’ll be my Prince.”

I nodded and pulled Alix in for another hug, this time mindful of the pain in my stomach. It must have been time for another pain pill or something, whatever they had me on. “Then go with Vince. He’ll keep you safe, and after that, do me a favor if you can.”

“What?”

“Find Karla McDonald.”

After they left, I waited for the doctor to come around. Harrington was a busy man, and it was nearly ten forty-five by the time he stopped by my room. “How are you feeling, Kade?”

“Considering the past twenty-four hours, physically I guess as good as possible,” I said. “When do you think we can lose this stupid mask?”

Harrington looked at my chart figures and nodded. “Let’s see if we can get a nurse in here after this to go to just the nasal tubes,” he said. “You’ll be able to at least talk more easily. As the staff says you already had three visitors who all left like you were a General who just sent them on missions, I guess you’re going to need your voice.”

“Among other things,” I said. “Thank you for the leeway on the rules.”

Harrington shook his head. “With the money you’re paying, I should probably let you get away with a lot more. Speaking of that, when do you want to be discharged? I understand that you don’t have a house in the Los Angeles area right now.”

“My father’s house, but I don’t think Layla wants me there right now. Nor would I be willing to take Alix back to her place.”

Harrington nodded. “Okay then, if your health insurance or your bank account is willing to pay for it, I can reasonably write that you stay here for another two weeks. If not, you’re going to need to drive back to Portland, air travel is a big no-no for you with those stitches in. Your lungs don’t need the stress of the change in air pressure.”

“When can I fly?” I asked. “And would it be cheaper to just get a hotel room at the Beverly Hilton?”

“Yes, and in a week, in reverse order” Harrington said. “If you want, and are willing to come back for follow-ups, I can get you out of here as quickly as possible.”

I thought about it, but before I could answer, Rita came in, carrying a bag from an electronics store. “I know a guy who knows a guy who had it all set up for me to pick up,” she said simply. “Hi, Doc. How’s your patient?”

Rita’s forward attitude and perky demeanor never failed to stun people the first time they met her, and Dr. Harrington was no exception. He stuttered for a moment before smiling. “Mister Prescott is going to be in good health in no time. I was just telling him that if he wants, we might be able to get him out of here soon, as long as he stays in the LA area.”

“Great. You can crash at my place,” Rita said, unpacking the bag. When I’d told her to get a laptop, I’d expected something pretty standard-looking. Instead, what she pulled out seemed thick as a brick, wide as hell, and had what looked like racing stripes on the cover. Seeing me and Harrington look at it, she grinned. “Ain’t it great? Dual Intel i7 Quad Core CPUs, sixty-four gigs of DDR4 RAM, and a five twelve gig, SSD hard drive. I’d have gotten a bigger drive, but I have a memory backup at home that’s nearly twelve terabytes. I can download to that without an issue. Only drawback is the damn thing weighs ten pounds.”

“Does it play Donkey Kong?” Harrington asked. “I don’t know half of what you just said.”

I shook my head. “You and me both. Rita’s a friend and knows more about computers than I ever will. Just let her go, what she’s saying is she could probably hack the Pentagon with that thing.”

“Pentagon’s easy,” Rita grinned. “Now hacking the Googleplex, that’s hard.”

Harrington looked at Rita out of the corner of his eyes, then turned to me. “Is she serious?”

“Better not to ask,” I said. “Safer that way.”

Harrington nodded and left, leaving me and Rita alone in the room. She left to snag another table from one of the other patient rooms and came back, setting up her station. “I know the price tag might hit you as exorbitant, but I figured you needed the best to work with. Your eyes said that you want me to do some stuff that I haven’t done in a long time.”