The Iso-Stasis Experiment (The Experiments) (28 page)

“He may have gotten me a few times,” she said quietly, “but I walked away.”

“That you did.” Jake ran his hand down his face. “Cal, you took a chance, a big chance.
 
Now what was so important that you had . . .”

“
Shh
.” She motioned her head.

“
Shh
, what?” Jake whispered and then looked where she nodded and asked, “Why is he lying on my bed?”

“He can’t go back to his room. In fact, I want you to get his stuff for him. You can put your stuff in my room, I don’t care. He needs a place to . . .”

“What is going on?”

“Lower your voice.”

Jake did. “What is going on?”

“I can’t tell you. I made a promise”

“Fuck that. You
will
tell me. I think I deserve to know why I have to see you hurt like this. Why you took a beating, winner or not. Don’t I?”

Cal brought her finger to her lips and shut the bathroom door. She led Jake into her room. “Rickie came in here Jake. And he wasn’t the Rickie that we know. He cried. In fact, he held on to me for help like no one has. I saw a kid, a frightened kid.”

“What happened to him?”

“He doesn’t want you to know. Maybe he thinks you’d blame him, too. I don’t know. All I do know is that a scared and hurt young man cried out. I was furious and sought justice. And trust me, the justice I delivered was far less than deserved.”

Jake was piecing it together, little by little—Rickie not wanting him to know, Rickie crying, upset because Fr. Dan did something to him. Jake suddenly was hit by a sickening feeling and his stomach turned.

“Jake, Fr. Dan . . .”

“Don’t.” He held up his hand and reached backwards for a chair. “Don’t say.” He slowly set himself down. “I understand.” He lifted his arm grabbing Cal’s hand. “And you kept your promise to Rickie. You didn’t tell me.” He brought her hand, bruised and red to his lips. He pressed his lips to her skin. “We’ll take care of it.” He stood up. “I’ll help you help him the best we can.”

“How Jake?” She squeezed his hand. “How do we help him?”

Slowly letting out the long deep breath he held, Jake lifted his shoulders but didn’t speak. He didn’t have an answer, because he didn’t know. He just didn’t know.

Totally impressed with their ability to make it into the observation room ahead of time for once, Stan and Lyle strutted in looking like the champs of kindness.

Stan raised his hand high, tossing his brown bag lunch on the counter. “Hey, girls, guess who’s here on time?” He pulled out the chair next to Barb. “What’s wrong with you two? You’re awfully quiet.” He looked at Barb, usually stone faced and calloused and saw she had tears in her eyes. “Barb? Did someone die?”

“Fr. Dan got Rickie,” She answered. “He’s not dead. In the bathroom, Rickie was his victim.”

Stan shook his head. “I don’t understand. Did he beat him up? What?” Then his eyes widened. “No.”

Barb nodded her head. She rose slowly from the chair. “Look at him, Stan. He’s in Jake’s room.”

Lyle peered at the monitor. “He went to Jake?”

“Cal.” Tina answered. “He went to Cal. Look at Fr. Dan.” She showed them Fr. Dan who lay on the floor, motionless. “He’s barely moved in the past four hours. Look at Cal.” They watched as Cal walked into the room with Rickie, sat on the bed next to him and replaced the cold cloth on his face with a fresh one. “Look at her face.”

Stan zoomed in. “Were they
duking
it out? Where was Jake?”

Tina nodded subtly as she slowly rose from her chair. “He wasn’t around when she went after Fr. Dan. When he broke down the door, Cal was handling the situation. Watch the video. We saved it. We think Aldo would be proud of her.”

Lyle pressed play on the tape monitor. “Holy hell,” he said as he watched the struggle between Cal and the priest. “Proud? No. He’s going to want to hire her.”

Gathered around a table in the dining room John, Jennifer, Carlos and Griff, huddled and whispered secretly.

Jennifer, fanatic, wrung her hands. “I want him out,” she told the group. “Who appointed Major Graison warden?”

Carlos shook his head. “I disagree. We should just stay quiet.”

Griff slid a piece of paper John’s way.

After reading it, John looked up. “Griff says he’s betting it has to do with Rickie. When do we know Rickie not to show up to irk us during the meal.”

Carlos agreed. “Where was he? I’m telling you all. It was bad. Whatever it was, it was bad.” Slowly he stood up. “Do what you want. But this time, I side with Graison.” No more being said, Carlos walked away.

^^^^

Jake watched Cal walk into her room, closing the bathroom door as she moved slowly. Her arms were crossed, her head low. “How is he?” Jake asked as he sat up.

“Not like Rickie.” Cal leaned against a wall and rested her head back. “He says he’s in a lot of pain.”

Jake opened his mouth as he stood, closed it tightly and breathed heavily through his nose. His head tilted slowly.

“He said he’s bleeding. He’s bleeding, Jake.” Cal held her arms tighter. “Do you think he’s OK?”

Jake walked closer to her rubbing his hands harshly down his face. “It’s hard to say. This is a young kid. We don’t have any doctors . . .”

“Doctors?”

“Yes, Cal, doctors. It’s conceivable . . .” Jake paused trying to place his words correctly. “It’s possible that damage could have been done. It depends on what all took place.”

Cal understood what he meant, and only Rickie held the answers to that. “Jake did you see him. I just don’t know what to do for him.”

“It’s a tough call.” Jake rested his hands on her shoulders. “What happened to Rickie is not something he’s going to want to talk about, deal with. Let alone admit to. We just have to let him alone, to sort through it himself. He came to you with it, so . . . that tells me he trusts you. And you did good going to his defense.” He lifted her chin and laid his hand on her cheek. “Though I wish I didn’t have to look at this beautiful face all beat up, I’m proud of you.” He lowered his head and brought his lips closer but Cal moved away.

“I feel so horrible. Rickie just commented this morning about the way Fr. Dan looked at him. I didn’t even think twice about it.”

“Why would you? There’s no way . . .” Jake reached out his hand turning her face to him, holding her chin. “There is way you could have seen this coming. Trust me.”

Cal, shoulders slumping, moved to her bed. “I feel so bad for him. He’s just a kid, Jake, a kid. He’s no more than a few years older than what Jessie would have been.”

“I know. And that is playing a big part. Your protective instincts just kicked in.”

“So . . .” Cal brought her legs up Indian style as she sat on the bed. “What do we do about Fr. Dan?”

“I think, and you know it, too, that he’s done. He’s too far gone and he’s a danger to everyone. So . . . as far as he goes,” Jake said patting his pocket with the keys, “he’s not getting out. I will open that door once a day only for someone if they want to slide food in to him, but personally, I could care less if the man dies of starvation.”

“It’s cold, but it’s how I feel, too.”

“That’s because you and I are a lot alike, more so than we realize.” Staying away long enough he walked to the bed, almost cautiously.

“No.” Cal shook her head. “I’ve realized how much were alike from day one. Why else do you think we fight so much?”

“I chalked it up at first to an abundance of sexual tension.” He saw that brought a smile to her face, a smile that made her cringe immediately. “Hurts huh? I’m going to be looking at you with some black eyes tomorrow.”

Cal smiled at him. “If it bothers you . . .”

“I know, I know. Don’t look.”

“Jake. I appreciate your understanding about Rickie having to stay in your room. I kind of moved you out, huh?”

“That you did.” Jake sat down on the bed next to her. “However, I think I’ll leave my dresser in there with his and just bring my mini arsenal in here.”

“What about your neat compulsion? Rickie is a slob, worse than me.”

“True.” Jake laid his hand on her knee. “But Rickie is eighteen and he’s easily trainable. You, however, are too far gone.”

Letting out an emotional sigh, Cal leaned over and rested her head against him. She quickly lifted her head when Rickie slowly stepped into the room. Cal stood up. “Rickie, I thought you were sleeping.” She stood and walked to him.

“I needed to talk to you.”
 
Rickie shrugged. “And I didn’t want to be alone.” He shifted his eyes to Jake sitting on the bed. “Sorry I interrupted you two.”

Cal flung out her hand. “We’re broke up anyhow. No biggie. However, I think you should rest though. Try to sleep. It was a horrible experience you had.”

“And you ruled.” Rickie faced her. “I hope he didn’t hurt you too much.”

“I’m tough. Though I have to admit, I don’t feel quite so attractive at this moment.”

“Let me tell you.” Rickie sounded almost drugged as he talked. And it was the first time since they had been there that Rickie was completely straight. “All this,” he said, his index finger swirled around her face, “can’t cover up what you look like. And what you look like comes from in here.” He touched her chest. “What you did for me, Cal . . . no one has ever gone out on a limb for me in my whole life. Hell, my own mother left me when I was six.”

Cal’s head dropped and she lifted her eyes to the young man. “Then that was her loss Rickie, not yours.”

“I just wanted to like tell you . . . thanks.” He leaned forward kissing Cal on the cheek.

Before he pulled back, Cal felt it. She didn’t let him get far. She drew him back in, wrapping her arms tightly around him. Head dropping to her shoulder, Rickie relaxed in the embrace. And during that quiet moment, Jake slipped out.

Carl wasn’t a big man, but even with his average height and weight, to be hurled across the control room lab took more strength than he estimated. The chesty growl was the forewarning he had little time to heed before he was snatched up again in the angry reach that had sent him on a painful journey.

Into the wall Carl smashed again falling hard to the table of data.

It wasn’t so much the unexpected beastly noise that sent Hawk scurrying into the control room; it was the pummeling smash of furniture. Hurrying to aid, he reached
 
the desk drawer, opened it up and pulled out a revolver.

“Stop,” Carl yelled, stumbling to a stand. “Look at him.”

Hawk did. He watched his shoulders rise and fall in heaviness. He still kept aim.

“He only wants the injections,” Carl said over the gurgling breath. “He needs his injection.” After
 
tripping over toppled papers and such and finally catching his breath, Carl sought out what the experiment’s catch needed.