Milo Moon: It Never Happened (13 page)

‘Can I go with them to the hospital sir?’ Marie asked André.

‘Yes, you go with the doctor.’

Once the ambulance had left, Pierre André met with the four secret service agents from Bern.

‘Did you get enough to get started?’ he asked them.

‘If this is only half true, all hell could break loose,’ one responded bluntly. ‘If the Americans, British and Russians have been stuffing around with human experimentation under Swiss and French soil, there’s going to be all hell to pay.’

‘So, where to from here?’ André asked.

‘You try and keep the two bodies alive. If you find they have any further information, let us know. And keep them firmly under wraps. We’ll make arrangements for Marie Dupont to be cleared to continue with them while they’re still breathing. In the meantime, we’ll get back to Bern and try and find out if there’s anything under CERN and the new Hadron collider.’

‘And if there is?’ André asked.

‘If there is Pierre, I wouldn’t want to be a fucking politician. It’d be enough to cripple the UN and fuck up the EU all in an instant.’

‘Well, let’s hope there’s a better and more logical explanation.’

‘Yes. We hope so too.’

*****

Marie arrived at the HUG, the University Hospital Geneva with Dr Fleury. The ambulance was just transferring Anne and Michael. They both ran to catch up.

‘How are they?’ Dr. Fleury asked the medic pushing Anne.

‘They both lost consciousness about five minutes ago. They’re ventilated, but it doesn’t look good doctor.’

‘Marie, you stay here, I’ll go in with them. I’ll let you know as soon as I can.’

Dr. Fleury disappeared with the medics pushing the trollies, and Marie prepared herself for a worrying wait. It suddenly occurred to her that she had only met them the afternoon before and tried to understand why she felt so close. Normally she could stay removed and aloof. That was her job. Followed by the thought that she was starting to believe their story of being kept underground. All four of them were so innocent in their ways, it was very difficult to find a reason why they would lie or pretend. It was too far fetched to be believed if it was a con. Marie went on a hunt for a coffee machine. Finally finding one after twenty minutes, she went outside with her coffee, hoping to find a smoker to ask for one of her rare cigarettes.

‘It’s not often I’m bothered by the Police for a cigarette,’ the man said, as he handed Marie one and lit it for her.

‘Sorry. If it’s any help, I’m not on duty. I’ve had a friend admitted to emergency,’ Marie white lied.

‘It’s okay officer. I’m sure you’ll take it easy on me next time I rob a bank.’

‘All right, deal,’ Marie said, and smiled for the first time in hours.

Marie smoked in silence and sipped her coffee. Then stubbed her cigarette on the ground.

‘I hope your friend is ok.’

‘Thanks. And why are you here?’

‘My grandma just passed away. The family are inside.’

‘Oh, I’m so sorry.’

‘It’s okay. She was ninety-seven, so not a great shock.’

‘All the same, still a great loss.’

‘Yeah. Suppose so,’ he said, as he offered Marie a second cigarette.

‘I shouldn’t, but thanks. My name’s Marie anyway.’

‘Jean-Paul. Nice to meet you.’

A quiet touched the conversation as Marie wondered if Jean-Paul had noticed that she had blushed.

‘Can I get you a coffee?’ Jean-Paul asked, somewhat nervously after some minutes of silence.

‘I’ll come with you.’

It was over an hour before Dr. Fleury found Marie in the cafeteria sitting with Jean-Paul. She immediately jumped to her feet when she saw him approaching.

‘How are they?’

‘Stabilised, but only just. They are both seriously ill,’ Fleury said, as he guided Marie away from the table until they were out of Jean-Paul’s earshot. ‘We’re trying to find similar drugs to what they have been ingesting but it’s a complex cocktail. Some of the compounds we found in the blood test are a real mystery, so it’s a bit of guess work.’

‘What are their chances?’

‘Not good I’m afraid, but we’ll know more by morning if we’re lucky.’

‘Should I wait, Dr. Fleury?’

‘Not much point. They’re both heavily sedated now. Do you want me to call you if there’s any news?’

‘Oh, yes please,’ Marie said, as she wrote her mobile number on the back of her police card. ‘I’ll still come back here tomorrow morning.’

‘Probably after ten we should know more.’

‘Thank you, Dr. Fleury.’

‘No, no problem. Okay, I’ll see you here tomorrow,’ he said, as he turned and left.

Marie returned to the table were Jean-Paul was still seated.

‘Not bad news I hope?’ he asked.

‘Not good or bad. Won’t know anything until tomorrow morning.’

‘Serious then?’

‘Yes. Seems so.’

‘I know this may sound stupid, but…’

‘No, go on.’

‘Well, I was wondering what you were doing for dinner tonight, but I know it’s not the right time and….’

‘Are you asking me out for dinner?’

‘Well, I know it’s not…’

‘I like to eat in old Geneva cafés.’

‘Me too.’

‘So I gather we’ve just made an arrangement for dinner tonight.’

‘Er, Marie, it seems so,’ Jean-Paul, said almost embarrassed.

‘I’d be delighted,’ she said. ‘And I hope that I’m better company out of uniform.’

Jean-Paul didn’t know what to say. He just smiled instead.

Chapter 13 - Colours

Marie arrived at HUG a little after ten and asked if Dr. Fleury could be paged. He came to see her a few minutes later.

‘You look tired Marie.’

‘Thanks! So do you Doctor Fleury,’ she said, with only a slight blush and tried to put her night with Jean-Paul from her mind. ‘How are Michael and Anne? Oh, and Milo and Mary of course.’

‘Physically we are making progress. They’ve stabilised overnight.’

‘What do you mean? Physically.’

‘Their bodies are functioning better, but the worry is with their mental state. They were both being medicated with a massive combination of hallucinogens, sedatives, anti-depressants and some compounds we don’t recognise and really it’s a wonder they are still alive. Milo and Mary are still communicating somewhat, but it would seem that their respective sides of Michael and Anne are struggling to remain active without the drug cocktail.’

‘What? Michael and Anne are dying?’

‘In a way yes. It would seem that Anne and Michael were the secondary personalities, but from what I have been able to get from Milo and Mary, these second personalities were added later.’

‘I don’t think I understand.’

‘Nor do we Marie. We’re waiting for two specialists from Zurich to arrive this morning, so hopefully we’ll have more information later. I’ll give you a call if anything changes. I promise.’

Marie left the hospital with her mind racing. Worrying for her four new friends and at the same time wondering if she had finally met someone special. She was so glad it was her day off. Her mind was a mess, so she decided the best thing to do was go shopping, and headed for the city.

〜〜〜〜〜〜

‘Michael! Talk to me. Please talk to me, pleeaaasse,’ Milo almost screamed in panic through his head, looking for his friend. ‘Michael. Please talk to me. Please.’

Milo waited. Finally after some minutes there were thoughts exchanged.

‘I’m fading away Milo. I can...I can feel…..’

‘No Michael. No. Stay with me. Stay with me Michael!’

‘I can’t Milo. I can’t stop it. I know I am being erased. I can see green. I’m spinning’

‘No Michael. Stop! Stop!’ Milo cried, through his head and out aloud. ‘Michael. Noooo!’

A nurse came running to Milo’s screams.

‘No, Michael, Noooo! Please don’t go in to the blue. Please don’t go to the blue,’ he screamed.

The nurse hit the emergency button, calling for assistance.

‘Michael! Michael! Talk to me Michael!’ Milo screamed again, with tears now streaming down his face as he felt his friend dying inside himself.

‘I...I ...can’t….I….white...Milo…white…...Oh Mil…whi….Milo….Mi.....’ and then Michael’s voice faded.

‘Noooo!Noooo!Nooooo!’ Milo screamed in pain. ‘Michael! Noooo! Come back Michael!’

Doctors and nurses arrived en masse and tried to stabilise what was now Milo’s own trembling body.

‘Michael! Michael!’ Milo continued to scream at the top of his voice, as he was greeted by silence. Michael was gone. He had passed through the vague white. Milo started to weep uncontrollably, until an injection quietened him down. He still called out, now in a quiet, almost whispering voice. ‘Michael! Michael! Michael! Please come back to me Michael! Please,’ Milo continually repeated until the injection sedated him completely.

Within an hour, Mary was similarly screaming and crying for Anne. Screaming for Milo and Michael to help her. Her loss and pain only temporarily pacified by an injection of sedatives as well.

Marie’s mobile rang. It was Dr. Fleury.

‘I need to see you. Where are you?’

‘In Rue du Rhône.’

‘Can you get back to the hospital?’

‘What’s happened?’

‘They’re still alive, but,..’

‘But what?’ Marie asked, almost losing her self control.

‘It’s Anne and Michael. I think we’re losing them. I’d like you to try and talk to them. They trust you.’

‘On my way!’

Marie ran for a tram and headed towards the hospital. Wondering again why her life had changed so dramatically in just over two days.

At the same time Marie was on her tram, a secret meeting was being held in Bern. The Swiss President was present to hear the results of the last twenty-four hours of investigation. A large man in a dark suit to match his dark looks and eyes, addressed the meeting without introduction. No name cards were present on the table, and the seven men present didn’t speak to each other.

‘Gentleman, we have a sensitive problem. Our study of the file we took possession of two days ago seems to indicate that the information could be genuine. Although we can’t as yet corroborate the theory that there is an underground installation under the Hadron collider, there is enough from the file, their interview and their blood tests, to indicate that they have suffered from traumatic medical procedures. I have just spoken to the doctor treating them in Geneva and their condition has deteriorated. With the assistance of our friends in the CIA and MI6, we have managed to pin down one of the key compounds they were regularly administered. The sudden cessation of this compound is what has caused their deterioration.’

‘What’s this compound?’ the President asked bluntly.

‘It’s a compound that was banned in the late fifties. It’s a mind altering substance that was designed to try and reprogram captured spies.’

‘So this compound is no longer available.’ the President said.

‘We’ll have a delivery within the hour of a synthetic form sir. In discussions with the CIA and MI6 overnight, they agreed to send us a supply for one month’s dosage for both suspects. Luckily there was a small quantity available from London.’

‘Will that keep them alive?’

‘We can only hope so sir.’

‘And this substance is illegal I gather.’

‘In theory sir, it doesn’t exist.’

‘Anything more?’ the President asked.

‘That’s all we have for now, but we’re treading very carefully sir.’

‘Is there any way of being able to confirm if this supposed installation exists?’

‘Without alerting CERN sir, I don’t think so. It would have to be very deep to be under the collider.’

‘Christ! Don’t let any of this near CERN or we’ll have the whole EU going ballistic in five minutes.’

‘Yes. Understood sir. We’ll move carefully.’

‘Thank you gentlemen,’ the President said, standing to leave, with the rest followed him in silence out of the meeting.

Marie asked the receptionist to page Dr. Fleury, and then waited impatiently for over twenty minutes.

‘Sorry to keep you waiting Marie, but there was something I had to attend to.’

‘With Milo and Mary?’

‘I’ll tell you later. For now I just want you to try and talk to Milo. Okay?’

‘Right. Yes,’ Marie said, as Dr. Fleury headed off and she followed behind him, without another word until he showed her into Milo’s ward.

‘Hello Milo,’ she said quietly.

‘Oh, Marie. Hello,’ Milo said, in what Marie recognised immediately as a sedated stupor.

‘How are you doing?’

‘Michael’s gone,’ Milo said calmly, as tears started to roll down his cheeks. ‘He started to disappear this morning. Into the green, blue and white.’

‘Oh Milo, I’m so sorry,’ Marie said, and held Milo’s hand.