Free Deep Space Endeavor 3 Death Match by Ron Francis Page B

would respond if he lost his cousin. She was more like a little sister to him, and he loved her as much or maybe even more than he loved Nina. She just had to make it. The last six bodyguards arrived, and he stationed them around the operating room. He had taken over almost half of a floor in the med-center, but he didn’t care, she would be kept safe at all costs until she recovered.
    Three and a half hours later, Nina and Serge entered the med-center with their twenty-four bodyguards and an additional twelve for Ariel. There were now sixty soldiers on the premises with Manny, Jason, Nina and Serge. Nina immediately found Manny as he stood guard right outside the door of Ariel’s operating room.
    “Any word yet, Manny?” Nina asked as she strode through the sterile halls to where he stood guarding the operating room.
    “Nothing yet, Nina, the doctor is still operating.”
    “We can’t lose her, Manny, I…can’t lose her. What does the doctor need to keep her alive?”
    “Just a little space, Nina, he’s doing the best he can. If anyone can keep her alive, he can. He’s the best on Telos.”
    “But it’s been so long, Manny, why is it taking so long? I’m going to go see what’s going on.” Nina made a move to brush past Manny, but Serge caught her arm and stopped her in her tracks.
    “Nina, you must remain out here. The doctor will let us know what’s going on as soon as he can.” Manny shook his head in agreement as Serge continued. “If you go in there now, you will only be a distraction. I know how much you love Ariel, we all do, just be patient.”
    “That’s never been my strong suit, Serge. Do we know who did this yet?”
    Manny looked confused, “I thought we had agreed it was the Enclave. Do you suspect someone else?”
    “No, I meant do we know who the assassin is? If we find out who he is, we may be able to prove who hired him. I know it’s the Enclave, but I need proof to take them down legally. Either way they are going to pay for this. Manny, I need to get in touch with one of Jesse’s associates, she goes by Ladyhawk. Do you know how I might be able to get in touch with her?
    “I’ll make some inquiries; what do you need her for?” Manny had a look of concern in his eyes as he asked. Nina may have already reached her breaking point and he wasn’t sure he should help her go over the edge.
    “She knows who these people are, and we need to make them go away.”
    As Nina was speaking, the door to the operating room opened, and the doctor approached with a weary look on his face. He looked at Nina and asked, “Are you family?”
    “Yes, Doctor, is everything alright? How is my cousin?” The worry was so thick you could cut it, and every second was killing Nina. She looked hopeful as the doctor answered.
    “You’re cousin is a fighter. She lost a lot of blood, and it didn’t look good for a while. We were able to get the internal bleeding under control. She’s out of the woods.”
    As he said that last line, Nina embraced Serge and exhaled, “Oh, thank God.”
    The doctor smiled and continued. “She’s actually in the recovery pod now, and it looks like she’ll be in there almost an hour. When she is finished, she will be asleep for a good long while, probably over thirty hours. She took quite a beating. She had deep lacerations on her arm and one on her face that the pod will not be able to fully heal. We have one of our best cosmetic surgeons standing by. She probably won’t even notice any scar. She had also broken seven bones in her hand, four broken ribs and two additional severely bruised ribs. She had a broken nose, broken cheekbone and broken eye socket. She also had a deep stab wound in her shoulder, a punctured lung and of course the internal bleeding.” As the doctor went through the litany of Ariel’s injuries, Nina felt herself getting madder and madder until she thought she might explode. The doctor concluded by saying, “The surgery was very intricate and