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"He was knocked unconscious," Sally said, her voice soft. "I'm sorry, Mouse. But they didn't see him wake before he and Amanda were taken away."
"And I've been in touch with one of the nurses from sickbay," Dean added. "No one there has treated 'im, either."
I sat stock-still, letting the words infiltrate my panicked brain. They'd hurt him, and then dragged him away like some lowlife criminal, and not even bothered to get him any medical attention. Just thrown him into a room somewhere, locked the door and placed a guard on it. Was Amanda with him? Could she have done anything? Was she treated much the same?
I shook my head, clearing the spiralling thoughts inside my mind. I'd do Jack no good crumbling.
"Okay," I said. "Well," I added. "At least we know one thing."
"What's that, Mouse?" Rafe asked.
"We know they aren't all bluster."
Everyone was silent, absorbing that.
"So, what now?" Dean eventually asked. "We 'ave no idea where they're bein' kept. And even if we do find 'em..." He looked toward me and offered an apologetic grimace. "...we don't know if Jack can walk. We might 'ave to carry him outta there."
"If your Jack is anything like my Jack," Bryan drawled from where he'd been leaning against a wall watching Sally. "He's gonna be as angry as a 'gator with a sore tooth. Riled Jack is a damn sight more lethal than Bloody Fucking Bollocks Jack, I tell ya."
"He's right," I said when no one else had anything to say to that. "If Jack's regained consciousness, then he'll already be trying to find a way to escape. And if Amanda's with him..."
"She'll 'ave fashioned a weapon out of spit and gumption and be right behind him, guardin' his six," Dean finished.
Bryan shrugged as if he didn't know Amanda, and maybe he didn't. His RATS had been destroyed, and from what Jack had told me, their timeline appeared different to ours. Jack and Rafe had found some of the lost Interns in amongst the rubble of the alternate universe's Shadowship.
"Alright," I said. "We need a plan. Any ideas?"
"Whatever you wanna do, Mouse, we're with you," Dean said.
Sally nodded her head in eager agreement.
"So, nobody's got a plan, then," I surmised.
"I've been reinstated," Rafe offered. "I can keep an eye on Dispatch as I've got permission to be in there now. I can also sound out the other Surgeons. And the Interns. Maybe see what Harding's up to."
"Good luck with that," Dean said. "Harding, not the Surgeons and other Interns," he added.
"You've just got to know how to handle Jess is all," Bryan offered.
"Well, accordin' to Hospitality, Harding and her cronies 'ave been talkin' up a storm in the mess about how much better RATS is with a little bullyin' at the helm, so to speak."
"She wasn't too happy with Jack on our last flight," I offered.
"Why?" Rafe asked.
"Does she need a reason?" Dean countered.
"Jack picked me over her to exit the Vehicle," I explained.
"Jack took you on the flight in the first place, princess," Bryan said. "That oughta made Jess ropable."
I nodded my head, letting my hair fall over my face to hide me.
"I'll keep an eye on Jessica Harding. I am an Intern and nominally her equal, after all," Rafe announced. "I'll also keep abreast of what's happening in Dispatch and feel out the Surgeons. The rest I leave up to you lot."
The rest was freeing Jack and Amanda and starting a rebellion, forcing out Anderson and his Idiots, and bouncing them back to Parliament. No sweat. I'd faced worse problems.
Which reminded me...
