Quaranteam: Phil's Tale Ch. 05

"I don't know what to do with her, Phil, but whatever it is we're going to do, we gotta do it quickly."

The idea hit on him quickly, but he wanted to make sure it would be okay with her first. "Niko," he said, snapping his fingers in front of her face. "I have someone I can pair you with, but you're going to need to, well, you're going to need to lie to him a bit, for his own good."

"Is he a good man?" she asked him, her eyes scrunched up, as if holding the conversation was taking everything she had from her.

"He's one of my best friends, and I need you to look after him, like Linda looks after me."

"If you say he's a good man, Doctor Marcos, that's good enough for me, but you gotta fucking hurry. I feel like I'm gonna have my hand up my own snatch if I have to wait any longer."

"Dave!" Phil said, spotting Doctor Straussman on the other side of the room. "I need you to run Lieutenant Redwolf over to Andy Rook's house. Pair her up with him, and do it quick."

"Doctor Marcos," Dave said to him, "that's very much out of protocol. The paperwork alone..."

"I'll handle it, Dave, but she was dosed almost three days ago, so she needs to go now."

"Okay, let me get the truck," he said, scurrying off.

Phil felt Niko clutching onto his wrist, so he looked back down to her. "What do I tell him?"

"Keep it as vague as possible," Phil said, trying to be direct and to the point, knowing that she was inches from slipping into a frenzy. "Go at him as soon as you can, and then when you wake up, go at him again, and a few hours later, your head will clear, and you can reach out to me on the phone, and I can walk you through your legend. Got it?"

"Affirmative, sir. Just get me there, and I'll do the rest."

"Don't you worry, Lieutenant. You'll feel right as rain by this time tomorrow," he said, as Doctor Straussman pulled the truck up next to her. Linda and Phil helped her into the truck, closing the door behind her as Phil gave the man the go signal.

"I'm not sure who you're doing the bigger favor, babe," Linda said to him, "Andy or Niko."

"I sure as fuck hope I'm doing the right thing," Phil muttered beneath his breath.

He'd been saying that a lot these days.