Chapter 99: Residual Poison
Thin morning sunlight filtered through a gap in the curtains. Agatha opened her eyes slowly. Her body felt stiff. She felt a weight on her left arm. When she turned, she saw Xavier still fast asleep beside her. His breathing was steady, though a bit heavy. Agatha watched Xavier's chest rise and fall. Several electrode wires were reattached there. An IV was also neatly placed in the back of her husband's hand.
"When did they come in?" Agatha whispered to herself.
She remembered they had fallen asleep holding each other last night. It seemed Pierre or the medical team had entered very carefully while they were out cold to reattach all the medical equipment. Agatha tried to move her body. She did it very slowly so as not to disturb Xavier’s sleep.
"Ugh," Agatha hissed softly as her feet touched the cold floor.
A dull throb still pulsed at the back of her head. She looked toward the large mirror in the corner of the room. Her reflection looked miserable. The hospital gown she was wearing was torn in several places. The dried bloodstains from Julio made the fabric feel stiff and smell metallic. She needed to clean herself up before Xavier woke up and saw her in this mess.
Agatha walked out of the room with tiptoed steps. The villa corridor seemed quiet. There were only two guards stationed at the end of the hallway. They bowed as Agatha passed. She headed to the room occupied by her mother-in-law.
Tok. Tok. Tok.
"Mom? It's Agatha," she called out softly.
The door opened shortly after. Melynda appeared, looking tired, but her face immediately brightened when she saw her daughter-in-law.
"Agatha! You're awake, honey? How is Xavier?" Melynda asked as she pulled Agatha into the room.
"Xavier is still sleeping, Mom. His medical equipment is back on. It looks like he'll be out for a while because of the sedative," Agatha replied.
Melynda rubbed Agatha's shoulder. "Thank God. You look so pale. Are you in pain?"
"I just feel dirty, Mom. I didn't bring any change of clothes. Could I borrow something of yours? I want to take a shower," Agatha said.
Melynda immediately went to the wardrobe. She pulled out a loose silk nightgown and a set of casual clothes. "Take these. Just shower here. I'll have a servant prepare breakfast for you."
"Thank you, Mom," Agatha said.
She headed straight into the bathroom. The warm water flowing against her skin felt like a huge relief. Agatha scrubbed her body repeatedly until her skin turned red. She wanted to make sure not a single trace of Marco or Julio was left on her. Once finished, she put on the clothes Melynda gave her. She checked herself in the mirror. The gown was a bit loose, but comfortable enough to cover her stomach.
Agatha stepped out of the bathroom and found Melynda sitting on the edge of the bed.
"Mom, I have to see Pierre now," Agatha said seriously.
"Now? Why not have breakfast first?" Melynda asked anxiously.
"There's something important I need to talk to him about. It's about the baby's health," Agatha touched her stomach.
Melynda nodded understandingly. "Go ahead. Pierre is in the medical room downstairs. He set up a temporary lab there."
Agatha walked quickly down the stairs. She found a room with glass doors at the end of the ground floor. Inside, Pierre was busy checking several test tubes.
Klik.
Agatha entered the room. The smell of alcohol and chemicals immediately stung her nose.
"Pierre," Agatha called out.
Pierre turned around. He immediately set down the micropipette he was holding. "Mrs. Agatha. You're awake. You should still be resting upstairs with Mr. Xavier."
"I can't rest until you do those tests, Pierre," Agatha sat on a high lab stool. "Marco injected those brainwashing drugs into me repeatedly. I want to know if that poison got into the baby's bloodstream."
Pierre sighed. He approached Agatha and pulled up a chair to sit across from her. "That's a very complicated procedure, ma'am. The drug Marco used is a very harsh neurotoxin. The effects can be very dangerous for neurological development."
"Then do the test now. I don't care how complicated it is," Agatha insisted.
"We need to do a full scan and take a significant amount of blood. This will make you very weak," Pierre warned.
Agatha stretched her arm out on the table. "Just do it. I don't want this child to pay for Marco's mistakes."
Pierre was silent for a moment. He saw the sheer determination in Agatha's eyes. "Alright. Please lie down on that examination bed, ma'am. I'll get the equipment ready."
Agatha lay on the bed, which felt cold. Pierre began busy pulling several large machines to the bedside. He attached various small electrodes to Agatha's temples. He also placed sensors on several pulse points on her neck and wrists.
Zzt. Zzt.
The machines started humming quietly. Agatha stared at the clean white ceiling. She felt her skin sting slightly as Pierre began attaching suction cups to her chest.
"This is to monitor your heart activity while I introduce reagent substances into your blood, ma'am," Pierre explained.
"Do whatever you have to do, Pierre. Don't hide anything from me," Agatha said.
"I understand," Pierre replied shortly.
Pierre took a large syringe. He began searching for a vein in Agatha's arm. Once he found it, he inserted the needle slowly.
"Akh," Agatha winced slightly.
She saw dark red blood begin to flow out of her arm into a small plastic tube. The blood was collected into several glass tubes spinning inside an automated separator. Pierre then moved to Agatha's abdomen. He applied cold gel and began moving the ultrasound transducer.
"We'll see if there are any abnormalities in the gestational sac," Pierre muttered.
Pierre's eyes were fixed on the monitor screen showing a blurry black-and-white image. His brow furrowed deeply. He muted the monitor so Agatha couldn't hear anything.
"Why did you turn off the sound?" Agatha asked suspiciously.
"Just to focus, ma'am. Noise can interfere with my analysis," Pierre answered quickly.
Agatha felt something was wrong with the way Pierre was looking at that screen. Pierre then took another blood sample, this time from her fingertip with an automated lancet.
Klik.
"Ugh," Agatha groaned again.
Her body was now covered in black wires and clear tubes. Several lights on the neurological monitor began blinking red. Pierre continued to jot down numbers appearing on his computer screen. He didn't say a word for the next ten minutes.
"Pierre, say something. How does it look?" Agatha asked, her voice starting to tremble.
Pierre set down his clipboard. He looked at Agatha with a gaze that was very hard to read. His hand, wearing rubber gloves, looked slightly shaky as he held Agatha's last blood tube.
"I can't give you a conclusion yet, ma'am. I have to run a chemical simulation to see how the neurotoxin interacts with the placenta," Pierre said.
"But you saw something on the monitor earlier, didn't you?" Agatha pressed.
Pierre was silent. He turned off one of the machines that started emitting a sharp warning beep.
Tet. Tet. Tet.
"The results will be out in a few hours. For now, you need to stay connected to this equipment so I can monitor you in case your body has a rejection reaction," Pierre changed the subject.
Agatha stared at the blood tube in her arm. She felt completely helpless at this moment. She was trapped in a pile of medical machinery that determined the future of the life inside her. She closed her eyes, trying to fight back the nausea that was attacking again.
"Please, save the baby, Pierre," Agatha whispered.
Pierre didn't answer. He just kept staring at the blood tube spinning inside the machine with a very grim expression. The red light from the scanner kept blinking in the dark room, illuminating Agatha's face which was full of uncertainty. Pierre reached for the phone on his lab desk and pressed a button quickly.
"Don Cardios, you need to see this data immediately," Pierre spoke into the phone in a very low voice.