Do or Die Chapter 3

“I’m sorry, but I just can’t believe that your dream is an accurate depiction of this situation,” Diane said. She got up out of her chair and started pacing the room.

After the heater had woken me up, I told Diane about my dream, what Harry had said in that dream. I had also told her that I thought it was the truth, that Harry really was the mastermind behind this three year operation. Diane had listened carefully, but she didn’t believe in psychic predictions, so she was skeptical about the whole thing.

“It was so realistic though,” I said. “And I can’t help but wonder if it is true, if Harry really is behind this.”

“There’s no way Harry could be behind this. The CIA has been trying to find him for three years and hasn’t found a thing. In fact, how can we even know for sure if Harry is even involved in this situation at all?”

“Back at Lenny’s mansion, Todd said something about Harry developing the program. He was obviously making an assertion, but Lenny actually confirmed Todd’s assertion, if I remember correctly.”

“But Sheilah told me that he made simple remarks, and that it was difficult to tell whether or not Lenny was saying that you were right.”

Diane thought for a moment, then added, “We’ll talk about this later, when we interrogate Lenny. Right now let’s talk about why you think Harry’s behind this operation.”

“I haven’t gotten it all figured out yet,” I said. “Like you said, we need to interrogate Lenny, and I think we should proceed with this suspicion of mine after the interrogation.”

“Now, as for the viability of the rest of your dream…” Diane began.

“I told you, it was very realistic,” I said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that at any second a nurse is going to walk in here and tell me that there’s a bullet in my shoulder.”

“What, and then she’s going to poison you and Harry’s going to walk in here and kill you?” Diane asked sarcastically.

“Not all of the dream was accurate, Diane,” I said.

“Right, none of it was,” she quickly responded.

“How can you know that for sure?”

“How can you know it was?”

We were both silent for several minutes. Diane finally broke the silence by saying, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “I completely understand where you’re coming from. You don’t believe in psychic predictions, so we’ll just leave it at that.”

“OK,” Diane said. There was silence again.

“So when are we going to interview Lenny?” I finally asked.

“Well, we probably won’t do anything until you get out of here. When are they supposed to let you out of here?”

Ignoring the urge to say that she had said exactly that in my dream, I responded, “Last time I was shot, I was only in the hospital for a week, so hopefully not much longer than that.”

Diane smiled and said, “OK. Is there anything I can do for you?”

Once again ignoring the urge to say that that’s what dream Diane had said, I said, “Yeah, could you call my family and tell them I’m alright? They’re probably worried sick about me.”

“Already did it,” Diane said, affectionately patting my chest.

“Really? Thanks,” I said.

“Did that happen in your dream?” Diane asked.

“No, none of that happened in my dream,” I lied, not wanting to have another argument with her.

“See? And you’re probably wrong about Harry too,” Diane said. “Don’t worry about him. I know you hate him because of what he did to me, and I know you’re scared of him because he’s a formidable opponent, but he’s not coming back. There’s no way he would ever interfere with the CIA after having betrayed it like that.”

I thought for a moment. “You’re right,” I said. “I’m just a bit…freaked out over the thought of Harry coming back and hurting me…or you.”

“Aw, Johnny you softy!” Diane said, leaning over and kissing me. I smiled, savoring the moment, just as I had done in my dream.

A few minutes later, Sheilah and Todd entered my hospital room and sat down beside my bed. Nobody spoke for several minutes; it was as though time had randomly stopped. During this awkward pause, I looked around for the nurse that was to take care of me, curious to find out whether or not she looked like the nurse in my dream.

Finally, Todd spoke up and said, “How are you feeling, Johnny?”

“Huh?” I asked, having been deep in thought. “Oh, I’m feeling a little better. My shoulder is still a bit sore, though.”

“It’ll get better,” Todd said. “You’ve been shot before, right?”

“Yeah,” I said. “Remember? You were there the first time I got shot. It was at that benefit dance. We were investigating…”

“I remember,” Todd said. “So how long are you going to be in here?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “Could be a week, could be longer. I’m not entirely sure yet. I haven’t even talked to a nurse since I lost consciousness in the ambulance.”

After a brief silence, I asked, “Did you guys find anything at Lenny’s mansion?”

“No, we’ve hit a dead end,” Sheilah said. “We’re going to interview Lenny once you’re out of the hospital to see if we can come up with another lead.”

“Dead end after dead end,” I said, slightly angry. “We’ve been at this for three years, ever since Harry left, and we haven’t even come close to stopping Lenny.”

“We’re doing the best we can,” Todd said. “And you have to remember, we know almost exactly what Lenny’s up to, and we didn’t when we started this mission. We’re close to stopping him; after we interview him, it should be smooth sailing.”

Before I could respond, a nurse walked into the room. She didn’t look exactly like the nurse from my dream, but she did have the same brown hair and blue eyes. She motioned for everyone to leave, and they did so. Diane kissed me again, just as she had in my dream.

“Alright, do you want the bad news or the good news first?” the nurse asked.

Surprised that she had mimicked my dream exactly, I said, “Let’s go with the bad news.”

“Well, you’re pretty banged up,” she said, “and the bullet in your shoulder is in pretty deep.”

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