by Jeff Uribe
[NRPG : Hey! I'm almost caught up! woowoo!
Syd : As for our story.... ummm... I'll get around to it. I promise.... :) If work settles down, and I hope that it will soon.... *pray pray* I'll get to it.... ;) Then I'll send it back your way for approval!
Syd/Krister : I'll leave it up to either of you to see what we get. Will Zenya ever forgive Leo? Or will he be doomed to wander in her wrath forever? ;) ;)]
[Castle Rock Memorial Hospital, Leo's room]
> Martin nodded. "But you wouldn't have to run the program to back it up."
> Zenya smiled. "Unfortunately, I don't think they're ready to let either of > you out of here, and I can barely run a word processor without tech support. > But if I got back to the Colquitt house and just take the whole computer as > evidence before anyone can mess with it... I won't even have to turn it on."
Leo nodded and started to get out of bed.
"Where do you think you're going?" Zenya said in a tone that reminded him of his mother when Leo tried to sneak out of the house. Her hand was firmly on his shoulder, determined on keeping him in bed.
"I'm coming with you." Leo said, his gaze being flat and even with Zenya's. "I've been shot up much worse than this and besides, you're going to need one or both of us."
"Then I'll take Martin." Zenya said with an exasperated sigh. "You need to get your strength back, or did you forget that you nearly died?"
Leo rolled his eyes and lay back down in his hospital bed. "Fine, sneak Martin out and let me know how it goes."
Zenya smiled and said, "We'll be right back."
Leo looked at his watch as he saw Zenya and Martin leave the room. It was currently 2:45pm. Seeing that the coast was clear, Leo got up and took out the IV from his arm and went over to his closet. He opened the door and saw ....
... the pastures rolling past the window on his side of the car. Zenya was driving up front and she was seething with anger. Confused, Leo looked at his watch once again, only to find that 10 minutes had passed from the last time that he had checked. Somehow, he had gotten dressed, made his way out of the hospital, and joined Martin and Zenya at their rental.
"I don't know just what you're trying to prove, Leo." Zenya said from the front. Her voice trying to keep her anger in check. "Whatever it is, I am NOT impressed."
Leo just sat in the back, wondering how he had managed to slip past the hospital personnel. In fact, he wondered what had happened to the last 10 minutes of his life, seeing as how he could not remember anything during that time. As much as he tried, that portion of his memory refused to come up for him. Looking out of his window once again, Leo kept silent, his mind trying to piece together what he lost.
Martin, sitting in the passenger seat, felt as if he had strayed into an undeclared war zone and wished that he could be anywhere else at the moment. He remembered some of the fights that he and Emily had, and found that their spats seemed pretty minor compared to this. As he looked into his rear view mirror, he noticed Leo's confused expression.
"Anything wrong, Leo?" he said, a hint of concern in his voice.
Leo looked from the pastures outside to Martin in the front. He then looked at his watch and found that a minute had passed and felt relieved that he hadn't lost any more time.
"No, nothing at all." Leo said, looking straight ahead as they neared the Colquitt house. "At least nothing that can't take care of itself." Leo saw Zenya bristle at this and instantly regretted saying it. It seemed as though he kept forgetting that Zenya wasn't Jennifer, who had trusted Leo enough to know that he would always find his way back to her, no matter how bad things got for him in the field. Jennifer had always made a game of finding any new scars on Leo whenever he returned. Although he knew that she was afraid for him, she never showed it, supporting him through and through. Leo guessed that he had gotten too used to Jenn's support and forgot that Zenya had lost too many people close to her. He would have to gain her trust, and this was not the way he was going to accomplish that.
As they pulled up to the Colquitt house, they saw that there was an unmarked van sitting in the driveway, with two men going into the house and another sitting in the driver's seat. Upon seeing them approach, the man in the driver's seat jumped out with his gun drawn and firing at the car. Zenya braked hard, sending the car into a semi-circle. Leo was already out of the car with his gun drawn and firing at the guy at the van, hitting him once in the arm and chest. Martin got out of his side and using his good arm pulled out his firearm and started shooting at the men in Jesse's room who returned fire. Zenya got out and ran towards the van to secure the man down.
"Martin, shoot below the window sill from left to right. On three" Leo said, as they ducked behind the rental who was being filled with bullets. "One, two, three!"
On three, Leo and Martin stood up and fired below the sill, Martin going from left to right and Leo doing the reverse. They soon heard cries of pain from within and saw the two men standing up, ready to let loose another volley of bullets at them when the men were shot from the side by Zenya, standing at the van and covering Leo and Martin.
Without a word, Zenya went into the Colquitt house with Leo and Martin following close behind.