by Lee Sau Woon
St Vincent's
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Zenya offered to drive. The reason was simple - Vanessa's car was simply too small. Vanessa was slightly offended, but she did not say anything.
The trip to St Vincent's was a breeze, being off peak hours and all that.
As the trio entered the hospital building via the entrance in the carpark, Zenya asked Vanessa.
"Doesn't Starling find it abit morbid working in a place where death is always lingering?"
Vanessa shrugged. Like alot of Chinese, she hated to talk about death in the presence of death.
At the reception desk, Leo asked the nurse on duty for Starling.
"Starling? Is that a patient or a staff here?" The nurse acquired.
"Doctor Christopher Starling. He is a doctor here." Leo told her, emphasizing on the word 'Doctor'. The emphasis apparently worked.
"Oh, Doctor Starling. The doctor is busy right now. Can I refer to another doctor?"
Now that made Leo angry, and he flashed his badge.
"I'm Agent Jones from the FBI and I am here to look for Doctor Starling on official business. And no other doctor will do."
The nurse, a young little thing who could not be more than 25, immediately paged for Starling.
"You hate hospitals," Zenya commented as they waited for Starling to appear.
"I hate people who try to be funny," was his reply. Zenya smiled.
After about five minutes, Starling appeared, and he brought the agents to the staff lounge, which was empty.
"So how can I help you?" he asked when all of them had been comfortably seated.
Zenya spoke first.
"Starling, we would like to find out more details on your disappearance. There had been more things turning up and it is important that we find out where you had been hidden during that time."
Starling thought for a while before answering.
"I'm afraid I cannot give you any more information. Like what I had told you, it was in the mountains. Where, I did not know."
"You mentioned that you escaped in a vehicle driven by loggers of some sort. Did you see them or hear them? Did they have some kind of accent? Did the vehicles have some kind of identification or logo?"
"Nothing. I did not want to be discovered by them, so I did not go near them. Moreover, I was not functioning fully with all the drugs given to me. Even if I see or hear something, I would not be able to remember."
"What about the surroundings? What kind of tree are there in the forest?"
Starling shook his head again. Nothing.
"What about the highway where you encountered the strange man? Is there some kind of signs? US highways usually have signs."
Nothing.
"What about the car?" Leo suddenly asked. "We never checked with the car rental company. There might be some kind of paper trail whatsoever."
Vanessa shook her head. "I checked it out. Its all cash payment, plus a bribe to the staff not to fill in any forms. They were determined not to be found out."
"I hate it when the trail is cold," Leo muttered to himself.
"I hate it too," Zenya agreed.
"How about giving up this trail then?" Starling suggested.
The three agents stared at him.
"What did you say?" Zenya asked.
"Give it up. Stop searching. Don't put your lives in danger."
"We're not putting our lives in danger. We're trying to find the truth. Don't you want to know the truth too?"
"But not when people's lives are at risk." Starling insisted.
"Who said our lives are at risk,Chris? Did someone tell you that our lives will be jeopardise if we investigate the case?" Vanessa asked.
"Someone said that your lives will be in danger if ZULU agreed to accept some kind of offer to dig deeper into all this mess."
"Who?" Leo asked, interest written all over his face.
"That guy...... what's his name.. the one that rented the car. Did he talk to you, Chris?" Vanessa asked as she placed her hand on top of his.
Starling nodded his head. "About half an hour before you guys turned up. He told me to tell you to stop investigating."
"Or else?" Zenya prompted.
"Or else he would be not able to guarantee the safety of ZULU members."
"Damnit!" Leo hit the table with his fist and stood up. "Threats! And you allowed them to threaten you?" He asked Starling.
"I am a doctor by training. Its my job to save lives, to prevent people from dying. I will not allow people to die when I can prevent it, Agent Jones. If the truth kills, don't find the truth!"
Jones swore, and was about to retort when his phone rang (nrpg : seems that the phone always ring at those crucial moments 8P 8P ;P).
"Jones. Yes... what? When? [pause] All right then, we'll be back immediately. We got something rather interesting here too. [pause] See you later." And he disconnected the phone.
"What happened?" Zenya asked.
"Ann Cross's dead. Somebody managed to push her onto the train track. Jordan wanted us to return immediately."
Starling looked at Leo with dread.
"Your job is to save lives, Doctor. Ours is to find the truth." Leo informed him as the agents made their way out.