Abhay sat on a bench outside the sketchy-looking nursing home with his laptop open. He wanted to check the sound feed from Prototype 5’s amplified signal before he went in to visit Mark. So far, Simon, the proud owner of that mobile phone, hadn’t been, done, or said anything useful, but Abhay was confident he’d hear something interesting from the surveillance device soon.

It was practically guaranteed now that it was in the hands of a Hashashin.

Closing his laptop, Abhay stowed it in his bag and stood. Once inside the building, he walked to the nurses’ station and smiled. “I’m here to see Dendric Scott,” Abhay said, using one of Mark’s lesser-known aliases.

“Of course, Mr. Jaya,” the nurse replied with a smile, using the name Abhay had given the nursing home. “Please sign in.”

“And how is my friend today?” Abhay inquired as he scribbled illegibly into the nursing home’s attendance ledger. “Is he awake?”

“Yes. Yes, he is.”

“Excellent. Same room?”

“Yes. We haven’t moved him.”

“Great,” Abhay replied and pushed away from the station counter.

He’d gone no more than two feet from the desk when the nurse added, “He’s lucky to have a friend like you; can you imagine, no one else has come to visit him in all this time?”

Abhay glanced over his shoulder and replied, “It is a shame” before continuing down the hall. A shame for no one, he mused. In fact, that was good news. Abhay had to keep Mark off both the Order and the Organization’s radar, and with Mark’s distinctive injuries, it was a race against time before one of the two warring factions found him.

Arriving at Mark’s door, Abhay heard the deep timbre of Mark’s voice in addition to the higher pitch of a woman responding.

Abhay walked inside the sunlit corner room. His gaze flicked to the TV mounted high on the wall. It was on but muted while the young-looking nurse, Celeste, stood next to Mark. “You are due for more pain-medication, Mr. Scott. Do you wish to take it? You should.”

“It’s Prescott, and no thank you,” Mark said, looking past her toward the door. His eyelids widened a bit at spying Abhay in the door frame.

“Very well, Mr. Scott. Call us when you change your mind”

Mark sighed, waving his hand dismissively.

Celeste turned and spied Abhay. “Oh! Good afternoon, Mr. Jaya!”

“Celeste,” he replied. “You’re looking as lovely as ever. How are you today?”

Celeste blushed. “Good. You?”

“Couldn’t be better,” Abhay said with a giant smile. “Will, you be much longer? Mr. Scott and I have some catching up to do now that he is finally awake.”

She shook her head. Glancing between the two men, Celeste excused herself with a pat to Mark’s knee and another reminder to call the nurses’ station should his pain grow too intense. Abhay nodded to her as she passed him.

Once Celeste had left, Abhay turned to his rival and smiled benignly. “I hope you’re feeling better.” He stood in silence while they sized each other up. Once it became clear Mark wouldn’t speak, Abhay told him, “You’re causing me a heap of trouble, I hope you realize this.”

“What are you doing here?” Mark finally growled at him.

“Saving your life.” Abhay sneered, “You think you magically arrived here?” After a pause, he continued, “No, of course you don’t.” Abhay studied Mark for a moment more, grabbed a chair next to the bed and sat. In a conspiratorial whisper, he added, “You need to stop correcting the nurses. Your name, until I am done with you, is Dendric Scott, or Michael Fendrick, or Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or any other name I choose. Understood?”

Mark’s impressive glare was his only answer.

“Do you think for one second you would be left alive if either the Organization or the Order knew where you were? They’ve been looking for you all over England: morgues, hospitals, old safe houses. They even started searching nursing homes—just like this one.” Abhay paused for effect. “Did you know Moreno is dead? A single knife wound, through the ribs, right to the heart. We both know what that means.”

A noise in the hall caught Abhay’s attention and he glanced at it to confirm no one was eavesdropping. Satisfied, he said, “I’m using my own money to keep you alive. The least you can do is appreciate it and go along with my plans.”

Mark was quiet for a few moments, before finally asking, “And, what are your plans, exactly?”

“To have you healthy and home again, my dear friend,” Abhay replied with a cheeky grin.

“Why do you care?”

Sobering, Abhay replied, “Because one should always help their elders—”

“Cut the crap, Abhay—”

Abhay shook his head and tsked. “It’s Amar Jaya here, Mr. Scott. But I’d prefer Mr. Jaya from you.”

Mark sputtered in anger.

“Careful, Mr. Scott. You wouldn’t want the nurses to come check on you, now would you? Put you back into a drugged sleep where you can’t hear someone come into your room at night.” He paused again for emphasis, “Although, it might be better if you went while sleeping. You don’t fear death while dreaming.” Abhay smiled in glee at the concern blossoming in Mark’s expression. “Ah, have no fear, Mr. Scott. I have ears within the compound and I am listening. I should know of any action taken against you before it happens.”

“How?”

“Let’s just say the alloy you helped discover has a few side benefits you didn’t know about.” Mark’s gaze shifted away from his.

“Or, maybe you did know about it,” Abhay said, contemplating this confirmation of events. Sitting back in his chair, Abhay rested his elbows on the armrests and steepled his fingers. “Convenient, isn’t it? That alloy. Able to hear the slightest sound from nearly thirty feet away.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Hmm. Don’t you?” Abhay asked, pushing to his feet, knowing his next words would make Mark capitulate. “Then you are of no use to me and I’ll let the Order know your whereabouts.”

Mark sighed. “What do you want?”

Abhay leaned forward, bracing his hands on the rails of Mark’s hospital bed, and whispered, “I want the schematics and research notes for the FGRT-334.”

“How did you—Jorge! I knew the pillock was selling my research.”

“It’s a shame you didn’t pay him more,” Abhay said. “It was laughably easy to buy his loyalty.”

“He knows less than you think,” Mark replied smugly.

Abhay shrugged. “That may be,”—And he would need to keep that in mind once he regained control of the flash drive the Order had stolen from the Luminations lab. Per his last conversation with Jorge, it contained every blueprint and report the man could put his hands on, but Abhay ceded that it might be missing some crucial information, but as long as the drive contained the schematics to the Frequency Generator Model RT-334, his key buyer would be content—“but regardless of what he knew—”

“Knew?”

“Yes, knew,” Abhay answered, and Mark frowned. “Didn’t know he was dead or had you forgotten?” Abhay asked.

“He’s dead?”

“Yes,” Abhay replied, vividly recalling the blood splattered lab room showcasing Jorge’s unfortunate demise.

“How?” Mark asked, interrupting Abhay’s musing. “Black? That tart, Rachel?”

“Maybe,” Abhay replied, memorizing the woman’s name for future reference. Maybe she was the one who had taken his flash drive. “He’d been shot in the throat and pushed to the corner of the same room where I found you.”

Mark snorted and then immediately rubbed his chest where the bandages covered his wounds. “Why did you rescue me?”

Abhay asked himself that very question daily. In fact, his first impulse, upon seeing Mark’s prone, bleeding form on the lab floor, had been to leave him there, but once Abhay had determined that the flash drive Jorge had promised him, wasn’t on his corpse or anywhere else in the room, it became crucial to keep Mark alive long enough to extract his research secrets. Secrets which were critical to Abhay’s future success and rising income. “Your knowledge.”

Mark harrumphed.

Abhay sighed and rubbed his temple. “Look, Mr. Scott, what do you think will happen to you once you get out of here? It’s not like you’ll ever be able to show your face at the Organization again. They issued the order to kill you on sight.” When Mark didn’t reply immediately with his assurance of cooperation, Abhay added, “I’m your only ally, Mr. Scott. The Council clearly doesn’t want someone around who continuously draws the Order’s attention. They won’t shed a tear for you if you died tonight or any other night, for that matter, in fact, they may cheer.”

Mark sighed. And after several long beats of silence, he finally nodded. “All right. Can you bring me Liz? If you do, then I’ll talk.”

“Consider it done,” Abhay said as he sat back in his chair.

********Like this episode? Then please take a moment to either comment, share, or like it. Having your feedback (good and bad) feeds my ego. Thank you for reading!