[Sasha Girl]

THE HOSPITAL VISIT

Natasha remembered the helicopter from the day she arrived at the safe house. But she never thought it actually belonged to the Wolf Squad or that it would be parked in its own underground shelter a short distance away. She wondered why they could not have used it when they were trying to escape, so she asked Wolfgang.

“Because we only have three pilots,” Wolfgang said. “And Gabriel and I are not amongst them.”

They walked on in silence and soon they came to a large clearing.

“Where is this shelter?” Natasha asked and right then the earth opened up before them.
The look on her face made the men smile in spite of the seriousness of the situation.

“Come on,” Wolfgang said, leading her down the steps. “You’re part of your own James Bond movie now.”

Five minutes later they were in the air, heading straight for the hospital.

*******

The hospital where the Wolf Squad took Gabriel was unlike any hospital Natasha had ever seen. The reason being, it was empty of almost all staff. The men landed the helicopter on the hospital roof and carried Gabriel’s stretcher down, without having to answer a single question from anyone. Natasha thought it very wonderful if a little strange.

Inside the hospital, the surgeon asked what blood type Gabriel was. But he did not record the answer anywhere, Natasha saw. He just yelled for his assistant to bring him the required blood for the transfusion and he started wheeling Gabriel into the operating room. Naturally, the Squad followed.

“Err… you can’t all go in there,” the surgeon said on gathering their intent. The Wolf Squad eyed him without moving.

“Room seems big enough to me,” Wolfgang said gazing over his shoulder. It was easy for him to do so, considering he was at least a foot taller than the surgeon. Wearily the surgeon sighed.

So they all piled in and watched as the surgeon set about his work. An hour later he was done, having extracted the bullet and sewn the wound shut.

“Is he… is he?” Natasha asked in a strained voice.

“He’ll be fine,” the surgeon said and everyone smiled with relief. As they were lifting Gabriel onto a stretcher in preparation to taking him home, the surgeon bristled.

“You can’t just airlift him out of here, I don’t care who you are! The man needs fluids and rest and… and…” he broke off upon realising that the men were all looking at him. Intently like he was their prey. Before he could excuse himself, Wolfgang had him by the elbow.

“I’m surprised the President didn’t tell you, doctor… you’re coming with us.”

Natasha shook her head in disbelief. With Gabriel out of immediate danger she had a lot to think about. But as they lifted into the air once more, weariness overcame her and she slept. With her head resting on Wolfgang’s shoulder she looked very sweet and innocent, which in some ways she was considering the company she kept.

“Lovely girl,” the surgeon said into his microphone. “Who is she?”

There was a brief silence as the men exchanged knowing glances. Finally Wolfgang pressed the communication button on his headphones and said:

“If I told you that, we’d have to kill you, doc. Suffice to say: she's one of us.”