Chapter Nine 

Jake couldn't help laughing at Fallon and what she said.  He could actually picture the look of disbelief pasted on Cody's face.

"What are you laughing at?" Fallon asked, glancing in the review mirror.

Before Jake had a chance to answer, Frank moaned, and his body shuddered violently.  "Frank?" Jake said, worriedly.  Frank didn't react to Jake's voice or wake, although his breathing became rapid and shallow.  He felt Frank's forehead and found it seemed his fever had gotten worse, if possible.

"Frank? Can you hear me?" Jake asked frantically.

"What's wrong?!" Fallon asked, checking the mirror again.  Jake's voice sounded shaky and nervous with fear.

Jake shook his head and locked eyes with Fallon in the rearview mirror.  "I don't know..."

Fallon tried to decide whether or not to stop the Hummer and check on him, but she knew she had to get him to the hospital fast, especially if he was getting worse. If she stopped now, the delay in getting him to the hospital could kill him.

Fallon gasped when she heard Frank suddenly cry out in pain, and despite herself, she jammed on the brakes. Turning around, she saw that Jake had his hands on Frank's arms, trying to keep him still. She almost cried when she saw Frank's face; pale and sweaty, his eyes shut tight in pain.

"Sweet Jesus!" she exclaimed.  "Jake...he's so pale!"  Jake nodded absently as he continued to hold Frank down.  Her mind raced, trying to remember what she had been told about circulation and proper blood flow.  "If the face is red—raise the head.  If the face is pale—raise the tail," she recited aloud.  

"What?"

"Raise his legs...just a little," she said, turning back to the wheel to resume the drive and slammed her foot on the gas pedal, a little too hard. "Sorry!" she yelled, when she heard Jake gasp in surprise.

"Try to avoid the bumps!" Jake called out.

Fallon didn't know if he was being sarcastic or not. "Shut up!"

"WHOA!"

Jake was nearly thrown forward when the Hummer stopped suddenly. "WHAT?" he yelled.

"A tree! There's a fucking tree in the way! We have to move it!"

Jake's jaw dropped. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, even though he knew she wasn't callous enough to joke about that as Frank lay dying in the back of the vehicle.

"Do I sound like I'm kidding?" she yelled back, jumping out of the Hummer.

Jake lumbered out of the back and ran to Fallon's side.  She stood staring at the fallen trunk as if she could will it to get up and move itself.

"How are we going to move this damn thing?  It must weight a ton."

"Wench," Jake stated plainly, and was shocked when she turned around and slapped him in the face.

"It's not my fault there's a tree in the middle of the road!  There's no need to call me names!" She yelled, placing her hands on her hips and stomping her foot.  "Ouch!" she cried as her injured foot protested by sending a sharp pain up her leg.

Jake rubbed his cheek.  "Fal, you are such a dumbass sometimes.  I'm talking about the wench on the damn Hummer.  We can hook the chain to the tree and use the wench to move it!"

Fallon blinked at her own stupidity.  "Um...oh."

"Oh, she says," Jake murmured, limping toward the Hummer to unhook the chain.  "She whacks me one and all she has to say is 'oh'.  Not 'I'm sorry' or 'oh, Jake, you're so handsome...I would follow you to the ends of the earth'.  No...she says 'oh'."

"And besides...it's winch, not wench."  She interrupted his tirade before adding,

"You finished acting like a two year old?" she asked with a smirk.  "Cuz, I'd really like to save your boss' hide.  I have a promise to keep."  She smiled secretively. 

"Yeah, yeah...like I couldn't tell you want to jump his bones," Jake commented as he pulled the chain past her and fixed it to a large limb on the tree.

"I do not!" she protested.

"Oh?" he asked, sarcastically.  "You always run your fingers over a man's chest and touch his lips when you're supposed to be nursing him back to health?"

She shot him an evil look as she climbed back into the driver's seat.  "Keep it up, Shaw, and I'll leave you here."  She put the Hummer in reverse and eased down on the gas pedal, angling the vehicle so the wench would pull the tree in the direction needed to clear the road.  She pushed the button that operated the wench and tapped her foot impatiently while it slowly moved the tree.

Jake waited by the side of the road until the tree had been moved far enough for them to drive around it.  He unhooked the chain and waited until the wench wound it back in place before he climbed back in the Hummer and took his place beside Frank.  His face had a little more color and the violent shudders had stopped.

Fallon glanced back at them through the mirror before she resumed driving.  If he dies, she thought silently to herself, it will be my pleasure to make sure Renquist pays for it with his own life.

"We're here, Jake!" Fallon announced, bringing the Hummer to a stop.

Jake glanced at the building and gulped.  "This is a hospital?"

Fallon had gotten out of the vehicle and moved around to open the hatch.  "Yes.  I know it's small, nothing like we're used to back home, and looks a little rundown, but it's clean and sanitary."

"I'll take your word for it," he mumbled, climbing out of the Hummer.

"How's he doing?" she asked as they slid the stretcher toward them.

"He's still unconscious," he said.  "But he's been pretty calm since the tree incident."

They carried the stretcher toward the double doors of the hospital and were met outside by two orderlies who had a gurney waiting for them.  Jake and Fallon placed the stretcher on the gurney as a voice asked, "What happened?"

Fallon grabbed Frank's hand as they walked beside the moving gurney.  "Fer-de-Lance bite is the immediate danger.  He also took a bad crack to the head..." she paused and looked at the doctor.  He wasn't going to believe this one.  "He was also tortured by electrical shock."

"What?!" Jake exclaimed.

Jake paced the waiting room of the tiny hospital.  It had been nearly two hours since he and Fallon had carried Frank's prone body into the building. 

"Jake, sit down," Fallon suggested, handing him a cup of coffee.

"Too nervous," he said, sipping the hot liquid.

"You heard what the doctor said...you need to stay off of that leg," she admonished.  While Frank was being treated, a doctor had looked at Jake's gunshot wound.  The wound was cleaned and bandaged and he had been given antibiotics to ward off any infections, although the wound showed no signs of any developing.

The sound of quiet footsteps caught their attention and they both turned to see a young orderly heading toward them.  "Doctor Hernandez will see you now," he said, pointing to the room at the end of the hall.

Fallon and Jake, who limped slowly beside her, made their way to the room the orderly indicated.  When they entered they found Frank lying quietly in the hospital bed, an IV and heart monitor hooked to him.  A middle-aged man, with jet-black hair and a stocky build stood next to his bed.

"How is he?" Jake asked the doctor, who was checking the IV.

"Agent Shaw, Agent Dumas, please sit down," he indicated for them to sit on the other bed that occupied the room.  "Agent Donovan has gone through the worst of it, I believe.  It appears enough of the venom got into his system to make him extremely ill; however, the anti-venom you administered is taking care of that problem."

Both Jake and Fallon breathed a sigh of relief.

"However," he said, hesitantly, "He has yet to awaken, and that troubles me.  I believe the severe trauma to his head, along with his weakened condition from the electroshock, has complicated his condition."

Fallon cursed under her breath.  "Damn you, Roberto.  If you weren't dead already, I'd kill you again."

Jake gave her a sideways glance.  "Fal, you worry me.  I think if we'd have stayed in close contact since Quantico...you'd have driven me insane."

"Of course.  According to my father, the only reason I was born was to drive men insane," she said with a spiteful smile.  She turned her attention back to the doctor.  "What can you do for him?"

He shook his head.  "You don't seem to understand, Senorita.  He has lapsed into a coma."

I'd like to thank Deana for helping me through a case of writer's block with this chapter.  95% of what came before the "wench" in this chapter was Dee's idea and, I'll be honest, if it weren't for her...this puppy would still be hidden in the computer somewhere, never to see the light of day—or web page, as the case may be. ;)