CHAPTER 12
“Good to see you awake, Mr. Wilson.”
The old man’s grunt of a response to the doctor’s greeting was followed by his grumbling, “I’d be better if I was out of this place.”
Will’s lips twitched at his grandfather’s surly reply to his doctor.
“I’m sure you would and we’ll see what we can do about that.” The doctor glanced over the records, before raising his gaze to Will. “Is this the famous grandson I’ve heard so much about from your daughter?”
“Definitely not famous, but yeah, I’m Will.” Will answered for the old man.
It was probably safest to have his grandfather’s answers kept to a minimum given the mood he was in. Confinement in a hospital bed obviously didn’t sit well with him.
The doctor nodded a greeting to Will and then turned back to his patient. “So it seems you have cardiac arrhythmia. That’s a heartbeat irregularity. It can cause palpitations, or a sudden drop in blood pressure that can lead to unconsciousness, which is what we think happened in your case.”
“I don’t care what it’s called that you think I have. I feel fine,” Grandpa growled.
“And let’s see if we can keep you feeling fine, shall we? I’m going to start you on blood thinners to reduce the risk of stroke. And we’ll get you upstairs for an electrocardiogram and go from there.”
His grandfather frowned at that plan. Apparently tests and more time in the hospital were not what he had been hoping to hear.
The doctor should be up for sainthood for his steady patience and cheerful disposition in the face of his grandfather’s less than cheery reception.
Will decided to make up for his grandfather’s lack of manners with his own and said, “Thank you, doctor.”
“My pleasure. You keep up the good work, Mr. Wilson and we’ll see about getting you out of here.” With a nod, the doctor left and Will dared to look at his grandfather.
As expected, a scowl was firmly in place.
“I’m sure he’ll release you as soon as he can.”
“You’re sure, are you?” He let out a bark of a laugh. “I’m not.”
“Then I’ll just have to break you out myself.”
The older man’s eyebrows rose. “That plan I like.”
“I’m sure you do.” Will laughed, envisioning the great escape.
Him and the old man, bare-assed in his hospital gown, shuffling down the hall in the dead of night. Ducking behind corners to avoid the staff. It certainly would be a story to tell for the ages.
Will’s mother and Megan would kill him if he ever really did it. Amanda, on the other hand, would probably help.
“Did we miss the doctor? What did he say?”
Speak of the devil . . . Will’s older sister Megan walked through the door, followed closely by his younger sister Amanda, just as he was thinking about them.
“Yeah. He just left but I can tell you what he said—”
“I can tell you myself,” his grandfather interrupted him. “I’m ready to leave, so get me out of here.”
Amanda, who was still considered the baby of the family even in her twenties, moved closer to the bed. “Stupid doctors always want to keep people longer than necessary. Right, Gramps?”
Megan rolled her eyes at Amanda egging on their already disgruntled grandfather and turned to face Will. “So what is it? What did the doctor say?”
“Cardiac arrhythmia.”
She cringed.
Will shook his head. “Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s as bad as it sounds. I was about to get online and look it up when you came in. I want to see for myself what’s up but from what the doc said it seems like the standard course of treatment is to prescribe anticoagulants. They’re going to run an ECG.”
Megan let out a short laugh. “How can you sound more like a doctor than the doctors do?”
Will smiled. “Because I’m the smart one in the family. Remember?” When his sister scowled he added, “And you’re the pretty one.”
Megan rolled her eyes one more time. “That might be a comfort if you weren’t so pretty yourself.”
“I’m not sure that’s a compliment.” Will frowned. “But anyway, are you ready to talk to that one over there about the new app?” He tipped his head toward their little sister.
Once he’d finally determined there wasn’t another app out there like it, he’d told Megan about the concept and she was on board with the idea one hundred percent.
“How much longer until it’s ready?” she asked.
“Not long. I’m not too far from having a version we’ll be able to test.”
“Jesus, Will.” Megan’s eyes widened. “You only just started working on it when you got here.”
That had been a couple of days ago and he’d been really putting in the hours, day and night. Who needed sleep anyway?
And he hadn’t wasted time on branding or design for this version. He was anxious to get to the test phase. That was the exciting part. He could iron out any issues in the back end later.
He lifted one shoulder in a half hearted shrug in response to his sister’s comment. “The initial development wasn’t hard. And, I’ve had a lot of time on my hands while I’ve been here.”
She shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder if we took you home from the hospital by mistake, because it doesn’t make any sense that I, or Amanda for that matter, are from the same gene pool as you.”
“Sure it makes sense. We all have Gramps’s charming personality.” Will grinned.
Megan let out a short laugh. “Judging by that, then it’s Mom who doesn’t belong in the family. She’s too nice.”
“Ain’t that the truth.” Will chuckled before he pivoted to take a step toward the bed. “Okay, so, Amanda.”
“Yes?” she asked, turning to face him.
“I have a proposition for you.” He moved forward and reached for his laptop.
Watching him, Amanda looked suspicious. “Do I have a choice? I’m not sure I trust you. Especially after you two have been over there whispering together.” Amanda shot a glare at Megan.
“No, you don’t have a choice,” Megan answered, arms folded across her chest.
He opened his mouth to contradict Megan, but changed his mind. “Actually, she’s right. We can do this with you or without you. So no. You don’t have a choice.”
Will had access to Amanda’s Facebook account and her friend list. That’s really all he and Megan—and their mom too if she was up for it—needed to test this thing out.
The only part they’d need Amanda for was to show up for the real life meeting with whomever they chose for her. And if she refused that, then they’d just have to arrange an accidental meeting.
She really didn’t have any say in the matter.
He liked this whole thing better and better the more he thought about it. Amanda, on the other hand . . . she wasn’t going to like any part of this. In fact, she was going to hate it.
Given that, Will turned to Megan. “You can do the honors of explaining it to her.”
She lifted a brow. “Me? Oh, no. It’s your app.”
“Yes, but it was your idea to begin with.” The tactic might not work but Will figured it was worth a try.
Megan screwed up her mouth. “Yeah, well remember whose idea it was when you make a million dollars off this thing.”
He laughed. “Will do.”
As Amanda looked confused and suspicious and Megan began to explain their grand plan, Will flipped open the laptop to get ready for the demo—however rough at this stage—and for the firestorm because he could already see Amanda was not happy.
It turned out he was right. Ten minutes later Amanda was shaking her head, her lips compressed too tightly as she huffed in deep and angry breaths through her nose.
Will didn’t need all of his extensive body language training to know she was good and pissed, which is why he was extra grateful when the cell in his pocket vibrated.
Tugging it out, he saw his commander’s name on the display and glanced up. “Sorry. I have to take this.”
“Go.” Megan, engrossed in lecturing Amanda on her bad choices in men, waved him away.
Out in the hall, where it was far more peaceful than in that room with his grandfather chuckling and his little sister fuming, Will answered the call. “Commander.”
“Weber. How’s your grandfather?”
“Awake, which is a huge step up from how he was when I arrived. He’s still in the hospital but he’s in a regular room now instead of ICU. Thank you for asking.”
“Good to hear. So, you’re in Maryland, correct?”
“I am.”
“Any chance you have a few spare hours I can steal from your leave?”
Will let out a short laugh. “Is this a request or an order?”
“Both.”
“Of course, I’m available. Anything you need, I’m there.” It had to be important for Groenning to call him while on his emergency family leave. “Just me? Or the whole team?”
“Just you.”
“Where?”
“Meade.”
Fort Meade—the nation's center for Information, Intelligence and Cyber Operations.
“They want to run something by you,” he continued.
Things were beginning to become a little more clear to Will as to why they’d requested him in particular without any of the other guys from his unit. It was obviously for his computer skills. But exactly what it was he’d be needed for was still a mystery.
It could be as simple as them wanting him to teach them more about his social media AI. Or not.
With Meade servicing over a hundred organizations, including all the branches of government as well as federal agencies including the NSA and US Cyber Command, he could be brought in for almost anything.
“What are we talking here?”
“Nothing I can discuss in detail on the phone.”
Will had asked the question not really expecting an answer. He was on his personal cell phone in a public place. There wouldn’t be much his commander could reveal to him under those circumstances.
The commander’s inability to give him details confirmed it was something classified. That narrowed it down a bit. He had a feeling it was nothing small like, Hey, good job on the social media AI.
He also had a bad feeling that the commander’s estimate that this would take only a few hours of his time was likely a gross miscalculation on his part.
Will had a strong suspicion his leave was about to come to an end.
Drawing in a breath, he said, “Okay. Gotcha.”
“I’ll text you your contact’s name and number. You can arrange a time to meet him.”
“All right.”
“Thank you, Weber. I appreciate your taking the time away from your family.”
“Not a problem. I’ll get with the contact ASAP.”
After disconnecting with his commander Will stepped back into the room. Deciding on what to say, he glanced from one family member to another.
“Everything all right?” his grandfather asked.
“Yeah, but I’m afraid my days of leisure are likely coming to an end early.”
Megan cocked up one brow. “The life of James Bond. Secret phone calls. Mysterious assignments.”
Will laughed. “Yup, you know how it is. Now, if only I got as many women as Bond, my life would be perfect.”
“You can if you use your own app you think is supposedly so wonderful. Then you’d have all the women you could want if it’s so great.” Amanda screwed up her mouth unhappily.
She was definitely not pleased and that was just too bad. If anyone needed his app, it was her.
“Oh, it’s great all right. And no need to worry that I might be heading back to base early. It won’t affect our testing at all. I’ll wrap up the build and send it to Megan.”
“Yeah, because I was so worried.” Amanda rolled her eyes as Will smiled. This was going to be fun.
The quick vibration of his cell indicated the text with his contact’s info had arrived.
His sister, and his fun, would have to wait. Fort Meade needed him and he could only assume it was for something a little more important than his little sister’s dating life.