Running on Fumes Pt. 01

The day's heat was finally starting to diminish. The huge orange sun was sinking in the west. It was so brilliant Kimmi couldn't bear to look at it. It hurt her eyes. She wondered if the sun had always been this hot. She didn't remember it being so hot when she was a kid. Sometimes she wondered if all the noise about global warming and ozone layer disintegration wasn't just pap for the masses and the truth was the sun was getting ready to go quasar. She looked at the huge orange ball and wondered.

It was about six thirty when they walked into the icy cold basement office where Paoli Memorial had its morgue.

"Why are morgues always in basements?" Kimmi asked. "Why don't they give the poor stiffs the penthouse suite?"

"I think it's because no one wants to roll the corpses up and around on an elevator for the living. Most people don't have to go down to the basement in hospitals. So they stick the morgues there." Simon responded.

"Yeah. I guess that makes sense... Well, we're here. What do we do now?"

"Let's check in and get a bed. No, just kidding." Simon laughed at Kimmi's horrified look.

They walked up to what looked like a reception desk. Kimmi couldn't believe how awful the décor was. Why am I thinking of something as stupid as décor? she wondered. But God, pukey purple desk with terra-cotta walls? Maybe someone thought loud colors down here would cheer people up. But it doesn't work. Jez. If you don't barf over the autopsy you'll loose it over the artificial fuchsia. Who ever put this place together was demented. Kimmi realized she was thinking ludicrous thoughts to block out the horror of thinking that Alex, who had been so alive 48 hours ago, was laid out on a slab on the other side of the purple desk and orange walls. Oh God, I'm already starting to feel sick. I gotta get outa here!

Simon sensed Kimmi's discomfort. Steady, he breathed into her ear. This isn't so bad. Here." He handed her a handkerchief. "Hold this over your nose. The closer we get to the other side of the orange walls the worse it's gonna smell.

"Thanks," Kimmi smiled weakly. They walked up to the reception desk together.

An extraordinarily beautiful woman was sitting behind the desk. It took Kimmi a moment to register that the woman was a dummy. Not a 'droid. They didn't make 'droids so lifelike. Lifelike 'droids scared the hell out of most people. This was a early 21^st century secredolly. It had an amazingly lifelike face and torso, and was programmed to complete vacuous tasks with bright chipper smiles and pretty, lilting voices. Tasks real life secretaries used to complain about as being too boring but now would give their eye teeth to have back, Kimmi thought as she eyed the dolly.

"Hi, I'm Barbie," the dolly chirped brightly. "How can I help you today?"

Kimmi looked at Simon and rolled her eyes. "I guess no one wanted the job of receptionist for dead bodies. Now that would be a real dead end job. God, could this place be any stranger if it was on the moon?" Kimmi asked the ceiling

"I'm sorry, I'm not programmed to respond to a question of that nature," Barbie quipped. If you need my help, please phrase a question in the standard format." Barbie blinked twice, smiled, tapped her red fingernails against the counter and settled down to wait for the next onslaught of humanity.

"Kimmi noticed a list of standard communications for the Barbie doll. She decided to try to have a meaningful conversation with the thing. Okay, doll. We're here about Alex Summers. We need to talk to the human in charge of this section Kimmi hated to use the word morgue in the same sentence as Alex's name

"Which client would you like to visit?"

"Jesus Christ," Kimmi said disgustedly. They haven't even bothered to program her correctly. It's despicable."

Simon was trying hard not to laugh. Kimmi saw the amused look on Simon's face and she began to crack up as well.

"At least she's not a blond," Simon said, still laughing.

The doll was, in fact, a replica of a Eurasian beauty, with almond shaped eyes, light tan skin and lovely flowing black hair

"No, they weren't allowed to make them blond, Kimmi said, remembering something she had read about the history of the dolls.

"What? You're kidding me?"

"No, I'm not. Everyone was all touchy-feely about sexual stereotypes around the time these things first came out. And blond jokes were still really popular. The militant feminists tried to bar production completely. So some high mucky muck corporate clown said I know! we'll make them all look ethnic. That will foster the idea that women of all races and colors are getting ahead in the business world. What a joke. Getting a head. Sitting at a reception desk and taking the job of some poor schmuck….. Like me. God. I could use a job like that. That about all I'm good for now that Human resources are out to pasture. Shit."

Kimmi started to feel down again.

"Oh, come on Kimmi," Simon said. Things'll start looking up soon."

"Easy for you to say." Kimmi said sadly, feeling sorry for herself. You just don't know. Ah, Fuck it. I was telling you a story. Anyway," Kimmi tried to brighten up as she continued her tale. So the Eurasian, black, Indian and Hispanic beauties were produced in mass quantities. Then the feminists start saying its demeaning cause there's no men dolls. So they start producing these men secretary dolls and the damnedest things started happening."

"What happened?" Simon was enchanted by the way Kimmi was telling her tale.

Well, the poor Ken Secredollys kept getting vandalized in really funny ways, and they kept disappearing. No one could keep a Ken doll safe for more than a day or two. The company would find the poor doll with a pole up its butt or something even sicker every time they turned their backs. It was a complete disaster. It was really weird, 'cause no one ever harmed the Barbies. But the poor Kens. The gay community got up in arms, believing it was a gay-bashing group trying to send them a message. No one wants' a male secretary anyway do they? Jesus? What weird, fucking world we live in"

""What client would you like to visit." The Barbie repeated.

"We'd like to check on Alex Summers, please," "Kimmi said politely.

"Please insert your authorization pass in the blinking green panel for access to your client." The Barbie Doll ordered.

"We don't need to see him. We want to verify that he's in the morgue."

""Please insert your authorization pass for access to your client." The doll repeated.

"Hell," Kimmi said. There's got to be a way around the authorization requirement. Dolls are notoriously stupid." She looked around, saw a bulletin board on the wall and wandered over. "Amazing. A real cork bulletin board. This has got to be about a hundred years old. "She walked over to it. "Dr. Akim is looking for a house sitter." She smiled. "I look just like Dr. Akim, Don't I?"

"Sure." Simon was agreeable.

"Kimmi walked back over to the doll. "This is Dr. Akim. Is Alexander Summers in the morgue?"

"Barbie blinked her eyes three times. "Checking." She said cheerfully.

"Thirty seconds later she responded. "Client Alexander Summers is on room 3, Dr. Akim. Would you like to visit client Alexander Summers?"

"Unbelievable," Simon said, impressed with both Kimmi's ingenuity and Barbie's stupidity.

"Not at this time." Kimmi responded to Barbie.

"Now what?" Kimmi asked Simon.

"Now we wait. And hope that our doctor arrives on time. He's supposed to be here by 7:00. Alex looked at his watch. Its 6:45. I just hope Krowe's people don't try to do an end run around us." he said worriedly.

"You actually arranged for a doctor. Just like that with one phone call?" Kimmi said, impressed.

"Yeah. Well Mitch owed me a favor."

"What did you do, kill someone for him, or something?"

"Or something."

"You don't want to talk about it?" Kimmi probed

"No. Not really. Not now, anyway. It's a long, weary tale."

"Weary?"

"Yeah. Tiresome, if you've scrambled through the rubble of society to build something for yourself. Sometimes you have to step on people during the fight. It's not fun. At least I don't find it fun. It gets tiresome."

"Oh." Simon looked so world-weary that Kimmi wanted to take him into her arms and comfort him. "We all do things that we're not proud of when we have to." Kimmi said.

Simon was suddenly angry. Kimmi had no idea what a guy had to do to build a life out of the garbage of a poverty-stricken, inner city start. She was so young. So naive. This was probably the first time she'd ever run into trouble in her short, pretty, little life. "What have you ever had to do, Kimmi, cheat on a test? Shop lift a little? You haven't had to kick and punch and struggle your way into our marble hard, caste-ridden society.

Kimmi was stung by Simon's harsh words. "Maybe not. But I'm about to find out what it's like. You know, the past week ain't exactly been wine and roses. I've lost my fiancé, all the people I worked with, my job. I'm gonna lose my apartment, my bank account. You have no idea. I broke my goddamn collar bone, found out my lover was sleeping with his boss. Christ. Every time I turn around lately, something rotten happens. You're the only blasted thing that hasn't been crap in the past week and now you're turning on me. So no, maybe I haven't come kicking and screaming out of the city jungle. But I'm about to be dumped, ass first right into it. So you can just go to hell." This time Kimmi didn't dissolve into tears. She was furious. She started to storm out of the room when the elevator behind them opened its doors and a tall, thin, very pale man in an immaculate charcoal gray suit stepped into the corridor. Kimmi was in such a heated rage that she didn't see him and almost knocked him over in her flight out of the room.

"Whoa. Hold up there lady, the man said. Where's the fire?"

"Opps. I'm awfully sorry" Kimmi said. She was flushed and flustered, but realized this must be their doctor.

"Are you here to perform an autopsy?" Kimmi asked.

"Yes. The man replied. Are you the one…?"

"Yes," Kimmi said, "it's my fiancé.

Your fiancé wants me to perform an autopsy on…."

"No. It's my fiancé I need you to autopsy," Kimmi responded.

The doctor looked puzzled. He saw Simon standing near the reception desk. "But my dear, he's not dead yet. I thought…."

"What?" Kimmi said, horrified. "Oh, no, that's not my fiancé. That's Simon. My fiancé's in there. "Kimmi nodded her head in the direction of the orange doors leading to the operating room."

"Oh." the doctor said, relieved. "That clears that up. I've done some strange favors for Mitch but that would have been a bit much on such short notice.

Good God, what kind of a man is this Mitch guy anyway. He goes through wives and the doctor thought…."

The doctor interrupted her thoughts. "I'm doctor Kozdninov. Mitch sent me. I don't have much time so let's get started. I have some forms for the next of kin. Is that you?" He looked at her challengingly.

"Yes. I'm Kimmi Riasco, that's Simon Delacroix. He's …."

"I know who he is." Kozdninov said bruskly. He nodded in Simon's direction. "He turned his cold, grey eyes back to Kimmi. You said the body's your fiancé. Are you his next of kin or not?"

Simon had taken an instant dislike to the doctor and he didn't like his tone. So he decided it was time to step into the conversation. "That's right." He said, levelly. She's the wife. Common law. Is that a problem?" Simon's flat look told Kozdninov not to push the legality.

"No problem." Kozdninov looked hard at Simon, and then flicked an imagined piece of lint off his suit. "Let's get to it then. Is that dolly going to alert anyone that we're doing an unauthorized autopsy? If so, you'd better dismantle her. You can do that, can't you?" His voice was smooth but his manner was offensive. Kimmi watched Simon become a completely different person than the easy going, debonair man she'd taken him for. His manner hardened and his eyes were icy cold.

"Yeah," Simon said with steel in his voice, "I'll take out the dolly. I'll be in there with you during the autopsy, too, so let's try to be civil, alright? I don't need a fight. It would call attention to us, clear?"

"Clear," the doctor conceded. He snapped open his medical bag. It contained some forms and an ivory case with a set of platinum surgical knives and other accoutrements of the man's profession. Simon looked at it with disgust. He had a pretty good idea how this 'doctor'made his living. He swore to himself he'd never let Kimmi know what it cost him to have to deal with a man like this, and with Mitch, after all these years.

Mitch came from a long line of Russian gangsters. They'd carved out a portion of the east coast underworld during the urban wars and their ruthlessness was legendary. They were the true pirates of the 21^st century. Kozdninov was most likely Mitch's current torturer, Simon figured. That's why he was so immediately available.

As Simon and the doctor's eye's met, Kimmi felt a chill in the room. She shivered. Something frightening had passed between the two men. She'd ask Simon about the doctor later. There were a lot of things she wanted to ask Simon Delacroix. He made Alex seem like a teenager. Kimmi suddenly realized how small her life at Krowe had been.

The doctor handed Kimmi some forms. She looked them over, and signed as wife where Kozdninov indicated.

Simon, meanwhile, had disconnected Barbie. The lack of security in the morgue was pretty amazing Simon thought.

After dismantling Barbie, Simon picked the lock on the surgery room door. Again, the security was laughable.

Simon walked back to the bench where Kimmi was sitting. "This should take about 45 minutes. I want you to sit at the desk and pretend you're a Barbie doll. I've stashed the real Barbie under the desk. She's off line except for her speaker. The green button on her belt activates the speaker in the operating room. If anyone comes, play stupid, but push that button some how. We're going to lock ourselves in, just to be on the safe side. I'm leaving my car keys. If there's trouble, get out of here, okay? Just take off."

"If there's trouble I'll kick some ass and get you the hell out of here. This is my fight. You shouldn't even be here. I dragged you into this."

"Yeah. Kicking and screaming. Can't you tell? No. I'm doing this for me. It was my club that got blown up, remember?"

"I know, but that's water over the bridge. This is about Alex.

It's also about us," Simon said. He took a good, long hard look at Kimmi. Then he ran his hand through her hair. He kissed her. "For luck." He said, and gave her a half smile.

"Ready doctor?" Simon asked?

"D'accord" the doctor said. The two men walked through the garish orange doors and into the operating room. Kimmi sank into the purple chair behind the reception desk to wait. She didn't want to think about the gruesome task the doctor was undertaking.

She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to rest but her damn shoulder started to throb again. Time for more pain-blockers. Kimmi looked around, located a water cooler and popped a couple more pills. It had been hours since she last ate so the pills hit her hard and fast. She fell asleep at the desk and the next thing she knew Simon was shaking her awake. She looked around groggily. For a minute she couldn't figure out where she was. Then she recognized the purple reception desk and the whole bizarre day came back to her.

"Oh, hi, Simon. Is it done already? Did you find anything?"

"Yes. It really didn't take any time once I told doctor death what we were looking for."

""What we were looking for? I didn't know we knew that."

"Let's talk in the car." I'd like to get the hell away from here, frankly, now that we've got our proof. I have a feeling Krowe's going to be on our tail right quick. They're not going to be happy about the autopsy. Simon was carrying a white cooler -- the kind medics use to keep organs on ice. Kimmi felt sick when she though about what might be in the cooler.

She kind of nodded towards the cooler. "Is that?"

"Let's just get to the car. Then we'll talk.

The three rode the elevator to the first floor in silence. Kimmi shivered every time she looked at the doctor. There was something inherently evil about the man. The man nodded towards them when they exited the hospital and headed towards his vintage, black Lincoln Continental. "I hope I never have to see that man again." Simon said as they walked to his car.

"Who was he? There was something not right about him."

"You're right about that. I don't know who he was and I don't want to know. I have a pretty good idea what he does for a living."

"What? He was a real doctor, wasn't he?"

"Oh yeah, he was a real doctor, though who the hell let him into medical school is beyond me. Did you ever here about the Nazi Dr. Mengele, the one who performed experiments on Jew in the camps during the Second World War?"

"A little bit. He was pretty brutal, wasn't he?"

"Yeah. Let's just say that this guy could probably teach Dr. Mengele lessons."

"Oh. … Christ." Kimmi shivered. "I'm sorry. I should never have gotten you into this."

"No. Don't apologize. This is something I had to do. The blood suckers behind the fire bombing are even worse than Dr. Death. He doesn't dress it up pretty and pretend his experiments are in the name of science." Simon was really angry

He started up his car and gunned the engine. He peeled out of the lot as if bats from hell were after them.

"What's wrong? What did you find out?"

"Kimmi. Alex didn't kill himself."

"I knew it! What did the autopsy show?

It was his brain, Kimmi. The autopsy only took about five minutes. I told Dr. Death to open up the head first, because I'd started thinking. If was a cover up concerning dream experiments maybe something about the experiments affected the brain. I was right. Alex's brain literally burst. That's what killed him. It wasn't the car accident. Dr. Death said he'd never seen anything quite so interesting. He wanted to know what kind of experiments were being done on 'the poor fellow,' as Dr. Death put it."

"Oh, Jesus. You're sure it wasn't the car accident? He hit his head…."

"No. The doctor was quite certain exterior trauma wouldn't cause that kind of damage

"What about drug usage. Alex was kind of into cocaine. He tried to hide it but I knew."

"No. That wouldn't do it either." Simon was driving fast, keeping his eyes on the rear view mirror. He wanted to make sure no one was on their tail. He was sickened and more scared than he'd been since he was a kid. Pan Globals were fucking impossible to go against.

"I see. But Alex's head hit the windshield. Wouldn't that make it hard to tell if there was a problem in the brain? Kimmi hadn't yet realized the danger they were in.

"Not from what Dr. Death said. Simon was thinking hard. Trying to figure out what to do with their knowledge and the proof he had in the cooler. "Where do we go from here Kimmi? Where do you live, anyway?

Kimmi gave Simon directions to her apartment.

"Krowe's been using employees like lab rats for dream experimentation. God almighty. What in hell has the world come to? Simon continued talking. The stress of the afternoon had left him wired.

"And when it went bad they had them killed. Boy, what an opportunity it was when all of you went to the club together. Got all of them at once. No messy clean up operation needed. God damn them to hell. The incredible callousness of their operation. How in Hell did they pull it off?

"Sol knew we were going out. God Damn it. He knew all along. He's the one who set it up. But why?

"Sol's a corporate animal. Look at him. He's past middle age, grossly overweight, and probably hanging on to his job by a thread. He'll do whatever management tells him to do. He looses his job he's shit out of luck. Who'd ever hire him? It's amazing he's stayed afloat as long as he has. It makes sense he'd be the one to do the company's dirty work."