psychologists on staff here at the hospital,’ Spinks said. ‘I think that you should probably talk to one of them about what you’ve been through. Maybe even more than one, if you feel the need. Who knows? It might make you feel better about everything. And I know that it would sure as hell make me feel better about the thought of discharging you so quickly.’
Dana’s stomach lurched. If she didn’t get out of this hospital bed – and today – she knew she’d go crazy. That is, if she weren’t there already, which was undoubtedly still a highly debated subject in some quarters. Still, she’d considered Spinks’s possible reluctance to discharge her from Fairview General for three long days now, so she was prepared with her answer.
‘The FBI requires mandatory psychological counseling whenever an agent undergoes a traumatic event such as the plane crash I was involved in,’ she told Spinks now, regurgitating the spiel she’d rehearsed mentally for the past seventy-two hours now. ‘Since the nature of my job involves quite a bit of sensitive information, I really think I’d feel more comfortable speaking with a mental-health professional approved by the Bureau. Thank you very much for your concern, Doctor – I really appreciate it – but I’m afraid I’ll have to pass for now.’
Spinks shrugged, but the look on his face let Dana know that he wasn’t especially pleased with her answer. Still, he knew that unless he invoked the Baker Act and kept her on a forty-eight-hour psychiatric hold that he didn’t have any real authority in the matter. Dana knew it too.
That being said, it didn’t mean Spinks wasn’t disappointed with her decision. Far from it, as a matter of fact. As Dana’s primary attending physician, he most likely would have been kept in the loop on some of the juicier details of her story – sort of his ‘Barney the Orderly’ to her Hannibal Lecter. And that represented exactly the kind of information everyone seemed to be dying to know lately. Only there was no quid pro quo involved this time. People wanted things from Dana, sure – they wanted lots of things from her – but nobody seemed to be offering her anything in return.
Dana bit down gently into her lower lip and considered her options. There weren’t many. From what the chatty orderly had told her, the national television networks had been lighting up the hospital’s switchboard nonstop for the past three days now – ever since she’d first emerged from her coma. And in their frantic quest to score the initial interview with her, the local press had turned the hospital’s parking lot into their own personal Holiday Inn. No one seemed willing to give Dana a chance to catch her breath, to unwind, to relax for an hour or two. Not that it surprised her all that much. After all, in today’s cutthroat world of 24/7 journalism, even tomorrow’s news was yesterday’s news. The press wanted their interview from Dana and they wanted it from her now. And Dana knew that they wouldn’t let up until they got it from her. It just wasn’t in their nature.
Spinks stretched his muscular neck six inches to the right and let out a deep breath. Despite his obvious misgivings about the matter, though – whether self-centered or not – to his credit, he recovered quickly. Probably because he knew that he’d still be a highly sought-after interview for the next month or two in connection to Dana’s story, which would in turn afford him the opportunity to continue citing medical privacy laws in a solemn voice to the hungry reporters who hung on his every last word like ravenous wolves waiting impatiently for their daily ration of bloody red meat.
‘Completely understandable, Agent Whitestone,’ Spinks said now, and actually did a passable job of sounding like he meant it. ‘Makes sense to me.’
He blew out another slow breath as he finished coming to terms with the fact that his prized patient was holding most of the cards right now since there didn’t seem to be anything wrong with her – physically, at least. ‘So let’s get those stitches out of you and get you home,’ Spinks finished up. ‘After we figure out a way to get you out of here unseen, of course.’
Relief flooded through Dana’s being. A thousand-pound weight lifted off her chest. She didn’t even care that Spinks was getting an obvious kick out of the chance to participate in what he