The Cure

TONY SLOWLY OPENED HIS EYES and the throbbing pain coming from his arms and legs told him exactly what had happened. It wasn’t the first time he was hit with a taser, but this was the first time he was hit hard enough to cause him to pass out. As he began to sit up, there was a doctor there to greet him. She was doing his best to make Tony lie back down but he was having nothing of it.

“Leave me alone,” Tony ordered, slight annoyed, “I’ve got work to do. Bruce!”

Bruce came scrambling over.

“I’m here boss,” Bruce replied, “How are you doing?”

“I’m in a lot of pain,” Tony said as he could barely make the words. “But I’ll live. Give me a status report.”

“Gone.” Bruce answered. “Carter and his hostage left through…”

“She’s not a hostage.” Tony corrected.

“How do you know that?” Bruce asked.

“She’s the one who tased me when my back was turned,” Tony said as he groaned in pain. “She helped him escape.”

“Damn.” Bruce cussed.

“I’ve already put out an APB on her car,” Wilson suddenly said into his ear, “So, I’ll make sure there’s an outstanding warrant for her as well.”

“Do we have any idea why they were here?” Tony asked as he unsuccessfully tried to get up. The doctors were concerned and advising to move him to a bed, and he reluctantly did so with a deep sigh.

“We’re talking to some people, and we’ve detained the chief of staff.” Bruce replied, “Turns out he was helping them move through the building undetected for quite a while.”

Tony started to sit up. “Then he’s the first person we should talk to.”

“You’ll do no such thing.” A voice called from the other side of the room.

Tony turned to face who had made that statement. “Excuse me?”

The senior agent of the secret service had entered the room to see how Tony was doing after his attack.

“We’ve been speaking to Dr. Roberts,” The Senior Agent informed him, “If Roberts gives up any information that would assist your manhunt, we’ll give it to you as soon as possible.”

“That’s not good enough.” Tony said as he tried to get off the bed, once again unable to do so.

“The Senator doesn’t want you here anymore.” The senior agent then declared. “So, we’ll be taking over all operations from here on.”

“Wait a second,” Bruce interrupted. “Did you say the Senator?”

“He’s awake and doing well,” The agent replied, “He’s expected to make a full recovery. It turns out this was all a big misunderstanding. Senator Jackson told us that what happened to him was an allergic reaction to something that was served to him that wasn’t supposed to be on his plate.”

“No way,” Tony said, as he wasn’t buying it, “I know a cover up when I hear one. This doesn’t make any sense.”

“That doesn’t matter,” The senior agent replied. “I’ve already spoken to your director. He’s waiting to hear back from you.”

“Well see about that,” Tony said as he laid back down, still in a lot of pain. “Get that loser outta my face!”

Bruce escorted the senor agent out of the room, but Tony knew they were still shit out of luck. Regardless of what they would uncover here at the hospital, Carter still had a huge head start and was likely trying to get out of the state and back underground. He dug into his pocket and took out his cell. He hung up on Wilson and then started to dial a new number. Moments later the phone line picked up.

“Director, this is Special Agent Deacon.” Tony started.

“Where are you right now?” the director quickly asked.

“Well Sir, I’m still at the hospital,” Tony answered, “I’m being treated for an injury sustained during my pursuit of Carter and his accomplice.”

“Are you all right?” his boss asked.

“I’m touched to hear you care,” Ton chided back, “but I’ll be back on my feet in a few hours. We need to investigate why Carter was here.”

“Not right now,” The director cut him off, “I have people who will get you the info and the video you need to get your answers. I’ll pull some big strings, if necessary, but right now there is nothing you can do. Just get back on the road and get on that trail before it goes cold, and I’ll do my best to make sure you get the intel you need. Get your ass back out there and look for Carter.”

“Understood, Sir.” Tony said as he then hung up the phone. He strained to sit up and once he did so, he looked over to Bruce. “Get me a wheel chair; we’re getting out of here right now.”

Bruce was a big man, so he had no problem carrying Tony to the chair and then moved him from the chair to the front passenger seat of their car once they got back to their spot in the parking lot. Once they had left and were driving towards the agency’s nearest branch office, Wilson called back in.

“Boss,” Wilson started, “I’ve got an update.”

“Let’s hear it.” Tony said as he put it on speaker for Bruce to hear as well.

“June Zaun was apprehended trying to cross back into Georgia.” Wilson stated.

“Was Carter with her?” Bruce quickly asked.

“Negative,” Wilson answered. “We think he bailed and went his own way.”

“She bought him time to escape,” Tony said as he slapped the dashboard. “That tells us all we need to know about her.”

“She is definitely not a hostage,” Bruce concurred. “But if we can get her to talk, maybe she’ll give us some intel about what Carter was doing there.”

“Wilson,” Tony called into his phone. “I want June transferred to Quantico for questioning. Get Melissa to interview her until we get there.”

“Melissa?” Wilson repeated. “You sure about that?”

“She’s a doctor,” Tony reminded. “She can ask her the medical questions and try to find out what Carter is doing with his testing. Get Lisa to help her out because if we know what he’s doing then we might track where he might go next.”

“Alright, Tony.” Wilson answered, “I’ll set it up.”

After Tony disconnected the line, sat back to relax, and even let out a little groan of pain as he did so.

“Wake me when we get to the office.” He ordered.

“Are you all right, Tony?” Bruce asked.

“I’ll be alright.” Tony fibbed, “We need to get back on track.”

“I get that, but something is bothering me.” Bruce said, “Why did Carter go to this hospital in the first place?”

“I’m not sure.” Tony said as he tried to relax, “That had to be the worst place in the world for him to show up, with everyone investigating what happened to the Senator.”

“And then a few hours later, the Senator takes a turn for the better.” Bruce continued, “The whole thing seems fishy.”

“My head hurts too much to think about it.” Tony sighed, “Let Lisa and Melissa look into it when the question Dr. Zaun.”

“We can also see if she still has your badge.” Bruce also added.

“My badge is gone?” Tony asked as he started to search his pockets.

“Zaun used it to get past the guards at the gate.” Bruce replied, “She even used your name to get them out of her face.”

“Dammit!” Tony cursed as he settled back down again. His head was still pounding, and the loss of his credentials was enough to make him want to punch a wall. The fact that he had Carter in his sights only to lose him seconds later was enough to make him want to give up, but he couldn’t. Bruce was right to question what was going on, and they would have to investigate it further if they were going to figure out where Carter was going and what he planned to do next.