Читать книгу End Game - Dale Brown - Страница 27

The day’s worth of tests were mostly variations on ones Zen had already gone through before Christmas. He was injected with a series of dyes and then X-rayed and scanned, prodded and listened to. The technical staff took a stack of X-rays, MRIs, and ultrasounds. Then they hooked him up to a machine that measured nerve impulses. This involved inserting needles into various parts of his body. The doctors had done this several days before. Now they inserted more, and left them in for nearly two hours.

He didn’t feel the ones in his legs, but he did get a prickly sensation in his neck when they were inserted along his upper back. It didn’t hurt, exactly, but lying there was more difficult than he had imagined.

‘Done,’ said Dr Vasin finally. Two aides came over and helped Zen sit up.

‘So I can walk now?’

‘Jeff.’

‘Hey, Doc, loosen up. Just a joke.’ Zen pushed his arms back. His muscles had stiffened. ‘Tomorrow I go under the knife, right?’

‘Laser, and then the injections. Bright and early, but listen –’

‘I know. No guarantees.’

‘This is a really long process, Jeff. And I have to be honest, brutally honest –’

‘Ten percent chance. I know.’

‘Ten percent is very optimistic,’ said Vasin.

‘It’s OK. I understand.’

‘Operation one is tomorrow. The procedure itself is relatively simple, but of course it is a procedure. No food after seven P.M., just in case we have to put you out.’

‘Beer’s not food, right?’

‘Not after seven. And for the duration of the test period, alcohol and coffee are forbidden.’

‘Well, there goes the bender I was planning. Don’t worry, Doc,’ added Zen, ‘I’m just joking.’

Needles and sensors removed, Zen got dressed and wheeled himself out into the hallway. He headed toward the lounge area, where he could call for a taxi before taking the elevator down. He was surprised to see Breanna waiting for him.

‘Bree?’

‘You called for a taxi?’

‘What are you doing here?’

‘Like I said – need a taxi?’

‘I thought you were snowed in.’

‘I shoveled the runway myself.’

She leaned over and kissed him. Zen grabbed her around the neck and hugged her, surprising himself at how much he missed her.

‘Everything all right?’

‘I feel like a pincushion. Other than that, I’m fine.’ He thought of telling her about the dream but decided not to. It would fade, eventually.

‘Operation still on for tomorrow?’

‘Not much of an operation,’ he told her. ‘They just inject me with crap. Don’t even knock me out.’

‘Crap,’ she said sarcastically.

‘Let’s go grab something to eat, OK? I’m fasting from seven P.M. After that, no food until tomorrow night. I want to have a beer. I can’t have any during the two weeks of injections. No coffee, either.’

‘No beer or coffee? You sure this is worth it?’ Breanna laughed.

‘Hope so.’