National Security:Turn the Page

The next day, while Meg was in surgery, Dan just had to get away from the hospital. He'd felt badly about his lack of concern for Kelly, but he knew she was dead from the time Meg had shot her. He wanted to pay his respects, but he didn't feel as though he should go to either her wake or the public viewing of the body. He felt responsible for her death. So he decided to go and see her at the funeral parlor. That way, he could say goodbye and apologize to her while she still looked like herself; before they pumped her full of preservatives to make her appear natural.

Dan opened the door to the large funeral home and looked around. There appeared to be no one there. He went from room to room before he understood what he was looking for. Then he noticed that there were names on each door. He looked for and found the door labeled "Tamashita, K." Then he quietly opened the door and went in.

Inside, Dan saw a small man with very thick glasses and Kelly's body on a lab table. The fact that she was naked wasn't alarming but the fact that the little man was fondling her right breast with one hand and had his other hand in his pocket was.

All kinds of alarm bells went off in Dan's head, and he loudly cleared his throat.

"Oh, uh, you shouldn't be here," snapped the little man.

"Yeah, I should," snapped Dan, looming over the man.

Dan flashed his badge and saw the little man immediately grow paler.

"I'm agent Dan Almond," Dan said.

"I was a colleague of Kelly's and I wanted to pay my respects," he said.

"Then you should come back tomorrow or the next day for the viewing," said the little man.

"Well, I needed some time with her before all of that," said Dan. "I'm pretty sure that her family won't welcome me."

"You see, my wife was the person who shot Kelly, when she saw us together," said Dan quietly.

"I'll give you a few minutes then," said the little man. "But you understand this is against the rules."

Dan just nodded his head and watched the little man disappear. Dan had a bad feeling about the guy.

"Kelly, I'm so sorry about this," Dan began.

"We had just really met, and you didn't deserve this" he continued.

"I know that this won't make any difference to you, but Meg probably won't make it either," he said, and again at the thought of Meg dying, Dan started crying.

To be a good field agent, you needed an analytical mind. Unlike in all of the "Double O" movies where the agent in the field is a good looking sexual athlete, with the attention span of a Gadfly, who relies on scientists, special gadgetry, and analysts back at HQ; a real field agent lived or died by his ability to constantly analyze and dissect his current situation.

Dan was used to analyzing everything that happened instantly and his analysis of his feelings alarmed him. He hadn't cried because of Kelly's tragically and unnecessarily shortened life, but because of the thought of Meg not making it.

Despite everything that happened, Dan realized that he still loved Meg and probably would no matter what. Perhaps that was the reason he'd told Meg that he'd forgiven her. He told her that he couldn't trust her anymore, so they couldn't stay married, but he had forgiven her. When he said it, he'd been lying, but he realized now that it was true. So what would happen if Meg did manage to miraculously pull out of this?

Dan still had the bad feeling about the little man he found waiting just outside the door. The little man was silent as he walked Dan to the door. Dan's bad feeling increased as he heard the sound of the little man locking the big door securely behind him. Dan watched through the window as the little man headed back for Kelly's room.

Dan estimated the layout of the building and ran around to the back, just in time to see the little man approaching Kelly's table. Dan reached inside his jacket pocket and got out his iPhone 5. The phone had a terrible problem with dropping calls but did everything else so well that Dan overlooked that minor flaw. One thing the phone did was to shoot high quality HD video. Dan pulled out a small piece of double sided tape and stuck the phone to the window and started recording. He looked and saw the little man fondling Kelly's massive breasts again. Dan moved back towards the front of the building. He had to move quickly. As Dan got out a lock pick set from his pocket, he wished that he had another phone to use to call the local police, but that would have to wait.

Inside the examination room, the little man was done fondling Kelly's breasts. 'This woman was amazing,' he thought. 'I love my fucking job. Without it I'd never have a chance to even get close to someone like this. I need to be quick though, the body is already beginning to stiffen.' He poured some oil all over Kelly's pubic area and pulled down his pants and climbed onto the table. His large penis was as hard as a steel bar. He applied some of the oil to it and brought it to the opening of Kelly's vagina. He forced the head of his penis between her lips and just inside her vagina. It was soft and tight, if just a little cold. Then he couldn't go any further, he pulled back out and felt inside with one of his fingers. "Oh my fucking God," he thought. She was a God damned virgin.

The little man stuck his penis back into Kelly's vagina and this time he thrust firmly and broke through her hymen.

"You're finally a woman," he thought "Enjoy it baby."

That was his last thought though. He was so busy concentrating on screwing Kelly's corpse that he didn't hear Dan sneaking up behind him. Dan had knocked him out by smacking him in the back of the head with his sidearm.

Dan quickly ran back around behind the building and retrieved his phone.

He then used it to call the police and waited for them to arrive.

The agency had a pretty good relationship with the local PD, but even so Dan had to explain the situation to the responding unit.

"So you wanted to pay your last respects to a fellow agent, whom your wife shot?" asked the first cop

"Yep," said Dan. "That's how it started."

"And sleeping beauty here was sticking it to the stiff?" asked the second officer. "That is fucking sick."

"You know that when he wakes up, he's going to deny it," said the first cop.

"Look at the scene," said Dan

"Well, he does have his pants off and oil all over his dick," said the second cop.

"Damn that's a big one," he said. "Especially for such a little guy."

"There's also oil around the vaginal area of the corpse," said the first officer.

"And there's this," said Dan, showing them the video from his phone.

The video clearly showed the mortician mounting Kelly's nude body, prying her legs apart and him forcing himself into her and beginning to have sex with her. It also showed Dan sneaking up behind him and knocking him out.

"Damn it, they give you guys iPhones?" said the first cop.

That had been the strangest thing to happen as a result of the situation. Dan pulled into the driveway and looked at his home. Who was he kidding? This place hadn't been home since the day he found out about Meg's affair. It was just a place to keep his stuff and sleep. He rarely even ate here anymore.

Dan showered and got into bed so he could be up early and as he did with every day that he was off, spend it at the hospital with Meg.

Dan was quickly up and out of the house the next morning. He pulled his Mustang into a donut shop next to a familiar "Screaming Yellow," Mustang and went inside the shop.

"Pony still running?" Dan asked a familiar face.

"Every fucking day," snapped the man with a smile.

"You look like you're in a better mood," said Dan.

"You can't stay down forever," said the man, smiling as he went over to a table where a stunning young woman awaited him.

Dan got a box of donuts and coffee for the women at the nurse's station. He knew that the better he treated them, the better they'd take care of Meg. Maybe that wasn't exactly true. Most people in the medical profession really liked helping to make people feel better, but it couldn't hurt.

Dan couldn't get the image of the old man and that girl out of his head. There's a story to be told there he thought.

20 minutes later, Dan was at the hospital. He left the donuts with a pretty nurse behind the desk and went into Meg's room.

"Okay, Meg, it's exercise time." said Dan. He started out by raising one of her long legs up a few inches and bending her knee so it looked like he was making her kick. This was supposed to stimulate her quadriceps muscles and avoid having them atrophy. He did this and several other exercises for her legs. Then he literally made her do sit-ups to help her abdominal muscles. He always did the arms and shoulder last because he had to be really careful not to disturb any of the feeding tubes or the leads to the various monitors.

"We're all done Meg, good workout," he said.

He squeezed her hand in an affectionate gesture like he'd done so many times before she'd been shot and went into shock.

When he squeezed her hand, he felt Meg clamp onto his hand gently and she wouldn't let go. Her eyes were definitely fluttering, not one eye like last night but both.

And then, in a moment that Dan would never forget, she opened her eyes and looked at him.

Dan was torn, he didn't want to let go of her, but at the same time he needed to let someone know that she was awake.

"Dan," Meg croaked out.

"Help," Dan shouted "Help!"

Meg coughed and tried to sit up.

Dan was puzzled, he didn't know whether or not to give her anything to drink.

The nurse who came into the room was so surprised to see Meg's eyes open that she almost dropped the clipboard she was carrying. She pushed an alarm button that Dan hadn't noticed and soon had a flurry of doctors and other specialists in the room.

"Sir, you're going to have to wait outside for the time being," said a doctor. Dan turned to leave and found that Meg wouldn't let go of his hand.

"Meg, let go," said Dan.

"Are w..." she began, and then started coughing. The doctor closest to her gave her a sip of water. Meg sipped the water and then looked at Dan.

"Are we still married?" she asked. Dan nodded his head.

"Then no," she said.

"No what?" asked Dan

"No I'm not letting you go," she said firmly.

"Meg, we'll have plenty of time, later," said Dan

"I don't remember a lot," she said, yawning. "But I know I did something really bad to you," she said. "I kept seeing your face and you weren't smiling. So I knew you were angry at me," she continued. "What did I do?"

"Meg, I give you my word that I will be here, when they're done checking you out," said Dan.

Meg slowly let go of his fingers, Dan could tell she thought that if she let him go, he'd never come back.

Dan left the room so the doctors could check Meg's condition. He pulled out his iPhone and called Meg's mom. Meg's mother was a school teacher and didn't answer so he left her a message. "Meg's awake," he'd said. It was short, sweet and to the point.

Dan debated about the second call he needed to make, should he actually call Arnie, his section chief and tell him that Meg was awake or not.

In the end, Dan did both, he dialed Arnie's number and waited for him to answer.

"Arnie," said Dan.

"Yeah Dan," replied Arnie's voice, he sounded tired even though it was still early morning.

"I've got a problem," said Dan. "So I want to ask for some advice. Not as my boss, but as a friend."

"OK shoot, friend," said Arnie.

"Hypothetically what would happen if someone, let's call her Peg, was to wake up?" asked Dan.

"If she woke up and I told my boss, he'd have to have agents here around the clock and trying to talk to her or arrest her, before we even found out whether or not there's any brain damage," said Dan. "On the other hand, if I didn't tell him, then I'd be guilty of dereliction of duty or at least impeding an ongoing investigation."

"So what would you do?" asked Dan

"Well, if it was me, and I was your boss, hypothetically," said Arnie. "I'd only need to know when she reached the point of being strong enough to either be moved from the hospital or leave on her own." he said

"If she can't get out of bed, she's no threat to anyone and no flight risk," he continued. "Especially if a qualified agent, was there to monitor the situation."

"Thanks Arnie," said Dan.

"Dan," said Arnie "Is there something you want to tell me?"

"Nope," said Dan.

"How is she?" asked Arnie.

"Well, she doesn't remember much," said Dan."And she just woke up so I don't know whether it's temporary or permanent or whether or not there's brain damage, all I know is she's awake and she's smiling."

"Smiling like an idiot or smiling because she's happy?" asked Arnie.

"Arnie, remember in sensitivity training we learned that we don't use words like idiot," said Dan

"Well, why the hell is she smiling?" asked Arnie

"I don't know, but I'll keep you posted," said Dan.

An hour later, Dan was allowed back in Meg's room. She had been cleaned up and her long hair was tied back. Her face lit up as Dan came back into the room.

"Dan," she said, smiling again.

"You're back." she said.

Dan noticed that she kept her gaze on him wherever he went in the room as if she was afraid he'd just disappear on her.

Dan moved over and sat down in the chair beside her bed. She immediately grabbed his hands and kissed them.

"We're still married," she said.

Dan nodded.

"Meg, how much do you remember?" Dan asked her.

* * * * * *

Meg's view

The first thing I remember was smoke or mist covering everything. I couldn't see anyone or anything so I didn't know where to go, or what to do.

I remember sitting down and trying to think, but I didn't know what I was supposed to be thinking about.

I couldn't feel what I was sitting on, or for that matter I couldn't feel anything.

No arms, no legs, nothing. It felt like I was just a floating brain in the mist.

Then a thought came to me. Dan. That was all, just Dan.

"Very good," said a voice inside my head.

"I brought you back for one reason," the voice said.

"And now you know what it is," said the voice.

I tried to remember all of the details of my life so far, and after a while I started to remember. I remembered the first time I saw Dan at the academy. He'd already graduated but came back there to practice on the gun range. He didn't want to shoot at the range at his new job until he was at least as competent as the rest of the group there.

I watched how hard he worked, shooting at targets from different positions again and again until he was flawless and then starting all over again with a different weapon.

He'd already been rated as a military sniper, but that was different from field shooting with a handgun.

Over the course of a few weeks we got to know each other and were soon dating. I didn't fall in love with Dan after a few months of dating. I'd already been his long before we ever went out. I later found out that the only reason he came back to our gun range after the first visit was so he could see me.

I remembered more. I remember how much he loved the service and protecting our country's laws and sovereignty. I remember when I had goofed up a couple of easy assignments during my probationary period as a field agent and Arnie had been about to fire me and my then partner.

But Dan had stepped in and told Arnie that we deserved a second chance. Arnie had grudgingly agreed and I'd been assigned another assignment as a probationary agent. Then I remembered all of the partners and it suddenly came clear to me, what I had done.

When I looked at Dan and me, I could see a light emanating from us when we were together. It was a pure and beautiful light, and my actions had turned my portion of the light into a dark and nasty thing.

We needed both of us to make the light and my part was gone. To make things worse, I had hurt the only person I had ever really loved. I mean, I loved my parents and I loved my pets growing up. But there was only one person that I felt adult true romantic love for and I had hurt him badly.

To make matters worse, I had flown into a rage because he had given me the impression that he might be going to do what he thought that I had already done.

And I had killed, to make sure no one else would have him.

"Very good," said the voice in my head.

I was pretty sure the voice was God or fate or whatever there is out there.

"Did you learn your lesson?" asked the voice.

Before I could answer the question, the voice spoke again. "Answer my question and your second chance is granted."

"OK, what's the question?" I asked. I wanted to see Dan again badly.

"What did you do wrong?" asked the voice.

"And what will you do to make it better?" it continued.

"The answer to the first question is I cheated on Dan," I said.

"What else did you do wrong?" asked the voice

"I tried to justify what I did by coming up with reasons and conditions that made no sense," I said.

"Like it wasn't cheating because I only did oral, or it wasn't cheating because I did it for my job," I said.

"What else did you do wrong?" asked the voice.

"I can't think of anything," I said.

"What about murdering another person?" asked the voice.

All of a sudden I got pissed.

"That skanky bitch was trying to get her claws into my Dan," I snapped angrily.

"Okay, let's move on," said the voice.

"If you are allowed to return, what, would you change?" it asked me

"I'd never ever cheat on Dan again," I said firmly. "I'd spend the rest of our lives together making him the happiest man on earth."

"And?" asked the voice.

"And that's it, what more could I do?" I said.

"What about the murder?" the voice asked.

"If that bitch came near Dan, I'd shoot her again," I snapped. "With a bigger gun."

"Oh no, that won't do," said the voice. "You can't go back."

The next thing I remembered, I was back floating through the clouds and coming out of them all over again, but this time with a feeling of Déjà vu.

I don't know how many times I repeated that same God damned (sorry voice) conversation but it always came out the same. I must have done that sequence a hundred times or more. I tried lying about not shooting Kelly, but it didn't work because the voice would tell me that lying was a sin. Obviously, it knew what was in my heart or in my mind. Until finally we had that same conversation and I gave the same fucking answer and the voice just said "Fuck it. Send her back."

Just when I was thinking Holy shit, God cussed, I felt Dan's hand holding mine and I knew who he was. I latched onto his hand for dear life and wouldn't let go.

I don't know if the voice had let me come back because I'd never be able to blow Kelly's fucking brains out again because I'd done a really great job the first time or because the voice realized that anything that tried to come between Dan and me was dead meat and that was just the way it was. I really didn't care because I had a second chance and I wouldn't fuck this one up.

After Dan left the room, the doctors prodded and probed me a lot. There were some areas that I was remembering the way Dan prodded and probed that I couldn't wait to have him get into.

Finally I looked up and there he was. He came over and looked at me and I could tell he was happy, so was I. So I started smiling because Dan was happy to see me.

He came over and sat down next to me and I grabbed his hand.

"Meg, how much do you remember?" he asked me.

And I told him all of it. I cried so much as we talked that I thought I'd run out of tears. I told him how much I'd wanted to die for what I'd done, and all of the silly reasons that I'd done it. I told him how much I still loved him and how I didn't really care that I'd gotten fired. I told him that in the end, the only thing I wanted was to be with him in any way shape or form he wanted me in. And as I looked at him, he whispered to me 2 things.