The Most Dangerous Dame

But the most important person sat on the bedside, her eyes locked on my face. Natasha blinked away tears and smiled, lighting up the room with a much warmer glow than the phosphorous. She had managed to change clothes somehow, dressed sensibly in black ladies sailor pants, tight at the waist and loose in the legs, with a silky white Berlin blouse under her mid-length black and white overcoat. Her hair was pinned up under a stylish Madri Cloche felt hat. I wondered how she could have changed clothes so fast. It’s odd, the things you wonder about when you come back from dying.

“We thought you were dead, Mick.” Natasha exhaled a shuddering breath. “You were dead. You weren’t moving, and Benny couldn’t feel a pulse… ” Her voice cut off as she paused to collect herself.

I patted her hand as I tried to look at the equipment hooked up to me. The room was standard: gleaming white walls, light-effusing ceilings, uncomfortable bed. An automated nurse system displayed my vitals bedside. Various sized tubes sprouted from its innards to my innards, creating an amalgam of bodily and medical fluids that transferred upon necessity. I tried not to think of where some of those tubes were inserted, although the discomfort in my nether regions made it a bit difficult to ignore.

“Natasha called the office on the way to the hospital,” Poddar said. “Luckily I was still there. This is what happens when I let you out of my sight.” He cut a glance at Benny, who glowered a minute before dropping his gaze.

“He’s right.” Benny stared at his massive hands. “I was supposed to have your back, Mick. I let you down.”

“Let me down?” I tried to chuckle, but the vibrations stabbed like dull scissors in my torso. “I told you to guard Natasha with your life.” I gritted my teeth and sat up to look at him. “You did that. So knock off the guilt trip, Ace. You did good.”

Benny sat up straighter, his face brightening up a bit. Poddar nodded slowly and stood. “Let’s give Mick a moment. We’ll wait outside.”

Flask looked to argue, but took a second look at Poddar and changed his mind. Flask was smarter than he looked.

Natasha waited before they left before turning back to me. She clutched my hand tightly. “Mick… ”

“It’s all right, darlin’. I tried to avoid exposing you to any of this, but I should’ve known better than to get you mixed up in—”

“Don’t.” Natasha’s eyes hardened. “Don’t act as if I can’t handle this, Mick. I’m not some silly girl with her head in the clouds. You can’t just lock me away somewhere to keep me safe. My parents tried that. It didn’t work then. It won’t work now. You can’t protect me, Mick. Not from everything.”

The truth of her words hurt worse than the shots to the gut. Because she was right. At any given time someone in the city could snuff her life in a hot second, whether they had an agenda against me or not. It was all in the toss of a coin. Life and death collided every day in New Haven. All you could do was toss the dice and hope they landed in your favor.

I squeezed her hand. “Ok, Natasha. I won’t press the issue. You got the right to stand on your own two. I respect that.” I craned my neck toward the bedside nurse panel. “Time to check on the damage. Nurse, what kinda hurt am I dealing with?”

The nearest console lit up, revealing a smiling, dark-haired digital dame in a nurse’s cap. “Hello, Mr. Benedict. I’m Nurse Goodkind, and I’ll be assisting you to recovery. Good to see you awake. How are you feeling?”

I didn’t object to the wrong name since I figured ‘Benedict’ must have been the alias I was signed under to prevent anyone who might have been inclined to finish the job. “I thought I was dead, so I gotta say I’m doing better than expected, Nurse.”

She smiled and nodded in a kindly manner, digital eyes oozing with empathy. “Well I must say it was a surprise to discover you had an injury-repairing nanomachine system already installed in your bloodstream. Were it not for that you surely would have expired. Of the four bullets we removed, one deflated a lung and another ruptured a kidney. The remaining two managed to exit the body with minimal damage to your major organs.”

I winced as I sat up straighter. “You said I had a repair system. Past tense. Like I no longer have it.”

She nodded. “That’s correct, Mr. Benedict. While the bio-genetic hardware is still in place, it is depleted of the nanoaccelerators that fuels it. Your grievous injuries taxed your remaining supply. The system will not operate until it is refueled.”

I scratched my head. “That’s just great, Nurse. You saying I’m all outta quick-healing magic juice?”

“In a sense that is correct, Mr. Benedict. You are stabilized for now, but further injury would be devastating to say the least. You should definitely avoid any serious injuries for the foreseeable future, as well as situations that might reinjure your wounds.”