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Happy Birthday, you're dead

(or a funny thing happened to Geoff on his way to a surprise birthday party.)

Part 2.





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March 8th - 1550 hrs.



Geoff groaned as he rolled over-- then it all came back to him: the stranger, the veiled threats and Duck. Duck! His head spun as he tried to sit up.



"Take it easy," a voice urged gruffly. He found a wet cloth shoved into his hand. "Hold that over your eyes. It'll help."



"Who are you?" he asked angrily. "What's your game."



"My game is keeping you alive," the voice answered.



"Alive?" Geoff asked in disbelief. "You break into my office, point a gun at me-- kidnap me."



"There were people coming to kill you, I had to get you out of there." He could hear the man moving around now. "Like that chickee with the Predator-II, not your usual office visitor."



"That little chickee," Geoff growled. "Was a friend of mine, and you just gunned her down."



"Friends don't come to friend's offices with weapons drawn." the man responded with a hiss. "Its a wonder you've lived this long."



"I've lived this long, cause I've got friend's like that 'chickee' and her name is Duck."



"That was the Duck?" the man asked. Geoff could hear the surprise in the man's voice. "Ooops."



"Ooops?" Geoff asked angrily. As he moved the cloth away, the could only make out patches of grey. "Oops?"



"I was there to pull you out. I've been hired to protect you until my boss has a chance to speak to you. I wasn't there to hurt anybody."



"Well you did," Geoff growled.



"If it makes you feel any better, I think she was wearing a vest."



"Oh, yeah that makes me feel a lot better." Geoff grumbled. He clenched his eyes closed as his companion shined a light in them..



"Sorry, there was an explosion as we left. May have effected your eyes." His supposed rescuer warned. "I need to see how they are."



"An explosion?" Geoff asked angrily. "What about the Duck?"



"She wasn't in the room," the man tried to assure him. "She should be all right."



"But you don't know do you?" Geoff growled.



"Look, I'm sorry. The boss said get you out of there. He didn't say anything about your friends."



"Then tell me what this is about." Geoff asked as he tried to figure his 'protector' out.



"Not much to tell Mr. Mays." the man stopped as he noticed Geoff's sudden stiffness. "Mr. Mays?"



"Don't ever call me that!" Geoff growled. "If this has anything to do with the Mays family, count me out."



"You are Geoffrey Edward Mays aren't you?"



"No," Geoff answered angrily. "My name is Wilson. You hear me? Wilson!"



"Sure," the man answered quietly. "Boss said you may have a problem with that."



"Who is your boss?"



"All in time Mr ah, Wilson." came the answer. "Right now, I need to check those eyes."



"Just take me back to the office. My family can take care of me." Geoff answered.



"Look, you're in no shape to move right now. You need to rest. I'll go get a doc, but you need to stay here."



"You break into my office, shoot my friend and I'm supposed to trust you?"



"Okay, we got off to a rough start," the man answered, some of the self assured tone leaving his voice. "But my job is to keep you alive. I'm not going to blow that."



"Then at least let my family know I'm alive," Geoff urged.



Geoff held his breath as the man thought about his request. "It's just too risky." he answered finally.



"No! You listen!. You've already hurt Duck, my family is probably worried sick," Geoff growled.



"Your family couldn't care less mister," the man answered sharply. "That's what this is all about. They want you dead-- plain and simple."



"No!" Geoff yelled. "My family protects me!"



"You still don't get it, do you Mr. Mays?."



"I said not to call me that!" Geoff exclaimed. "I am Geoffrey Wilson!"



"Wilson, right," the man answered. "I'm not getting paid enough for this."

The man's musing were cut short as the incoming signal chimed on his pocket secretary. Geoff strained his ears as the man checked his messages.

"The boss will meet with you tomorrow morning. Maybe then you'll understand why this is necessary."



The last sound Geoff heard was the aerosol spray the man used to knock him out.



March 9th - 0230



Gina woke with a start as the heart monitor blips changed to a steady tone-- Duck's heart had stopped.



"Rabbit, get Kenny in here stat!" she yelled as she started to assess the situation. She didn't wait for him to respond as she dialed up the monitors and initiated the restart sequence.



She monitored the equipment as it forced Duck's heart back into working order. It took 3 tries, but the machines finally won.



Kenny bolted into the room, followed by TwoBears.



"What?" they asked in unison.



"Its back under control," she answered softly. "But I'd like you to check her out. There's been too much stress on her system."



Kenny nodded then turned to TwoBears. "Bear?" he asked.



"Do what you can," he answered. "Gina, would you please come with me?"



"Me?" Gina asked. "I don't know the first thing about what you do."



"But you can monitor my life signs and call me back if need be," Bear answered softly. "I will need someone to watch my body while I am gone."



"That's it?" she asked dubiously.



"Pretty much,"Bear answered as he led her out of the room. He turned one last time and watched Kenny as he worked on Duck.

"Katya," he called softly.

To Gina's ears it sounded like a prayer.







March 9th- 0400



Davy watched the screen as once again yesterday's events unfolded. It was too early to expect any results, but he couldn't sleep-- not while there were so many questions floating around in his mind.



As if the attack hadn't been enough to worry about, there was also the supposed condition assigned to the Mays estate. Geoff's father was dead and he was still causing the man grief.



Davy bit his lip and moved to his desk. He checked the roster to see who was available and smiled. Rico was hot and on duty.



"Rico," he called into the comm system.



"Yeah Dave?" Came his brother's response.



"I don't know why I didn't think of this earlier..."



"A check on all the Mays' in line to inherit?" Rico asked.



"Yeah," Davy answered. "That's exactly what I was thinking."



"I've got a partial list," Rico told him. "I should have the rest in an hour."



"Thanks," Davy responded softly. "Just bring it to me when you're done."



"Sure thing," Rico answered. "You hang in there, we'll get them."



"Thanks," Davy answered as he disconnected the line. He allowed himself a small smile. The reason his family made such a good team, was because they knew eachother and their jobs. They always managed to cover all the bases.

Nothing left to do but wait. He wondered if this was how Geoff felt when he was their back up man: waiting till he was needed, praying he wasn't-- not knowing.



March 9th 0340



Geoff's stomach rolled as the images played out in his mind.



He was seven and his family was going out to dinner. His mother warned him how important this was to his father. He remembered the tight restricting clothing he was forced to wear. And the hat. He always had to wear the hat.







The man who called himself Eclipse watched Geoff worriedly as the doc looked him over.



"You were right about his eyes," the doc stated as he turned from his patient. "The flash effected him more. An elf's eyes tend to be more sensite to light. He should be alright in a few days."



"What about his current state?"



"What did you use to knock him out?" the doc asked quietly.



"SFC 7." he answered.



"My guess would be an allergic reaction."



"Can't you do something for him?"



"Wait for it to wear off, hope he doesn't go into arrest," the doc answered matter-of-factly.



"Thanks a lot doc." Eclipse groused.



"Hey, you don't pay me enough to get the bedside manner," the doc chided. "You're going to need to keep an eye on him. He gets worse, you call me."



"You're leaving?"



"Eclipse," the doc stated as he looked the man in the eyes. "You ain't my only customer.



"Yeah, yeah."



"Look, I don't know your angle, but I do know, this guys been through a lot. Take it easy on him 'eh?"



Eclipse nodded. "Lets get you back up topside," he stated as he pulled out a blind fold.



"You still gotta play cloak and dagger with me don't you?"



"Look doc, there are a lot of people who want to see that man dead. My job is to see they don't succeed."



"Well, keep up like this and they won't have a thing to worry about."



"Come again?"



"The man needs to be monitored, and you're leaving him alone to take me out of here."



"Its either that or you stay doc. I can't have anybody on the outside knowing where he is."



"That's not my problem," the doc warned. "You asked me to help, if you don't take my advice, I'm not responsible."



"Can you stay with him while I get some one."



"How long?" the doc asked.



"An hour tops." Eclipse assured him.



"You're paying," the doc answered.



Eclipse looked from the Doc to Geoff. The boss wasn't going to like this. Not one bit.



As Eclipse left the area, the Doc took a look around. He hated the tunnels. Anytime he worked for Eclipse, he'd ended up here. He turned as he heard a sudden gust of air and saw a flash of light behind him, but there was nothing to see.



The doc sat down next to his nameless patient and smiled. Eclipse didn't know what a fortune he had laying right here. "Geoffrey Edward Mays," he chuckled to himself. There was at least a million credits riding on the man's head. More if he played his cards right.


Copyright 1998 - M.T. Decker

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