Dan’s walk back to the hotel room was anything but simple. He was thankful he never saw Colleen again after the bizarre conversation, but his condition hadn’t improved and each step felt like a monumental effort. His headaches and dizziness were now accompanied by blurred vision. Dan struggled to see anything clearly ahead of him.
The only thing that wasn’t blurred were the incoming notifications in his HUD. He answered an incoming call.
“Dan, this is Michael. I’ve arrived at the Revelation’s premises. Angie is close behind as well and she’ll get signed in shortly.”
“Y-yeah,” Dan said, almost losing his footing on the last flight of stairs to his room’s floor.
“I’ll need some time to studying the area and patrol patterns. It shouldn’t take any more than a few minutes to scout this place out.” Dan thought that was the end of Micahel’s update before he asked, “Is everything alright?”
The last thing Dan wanted was to disappoint Michael, the man who chose him to be on this mission.
“I’ve been experiencing some weird headaches since the start of this mission. Right now it’s the worst it’s ever been. Now I’m dizzy and can’t see straight,” Dan said. “Plus, I had to kill a Kodak agent and hide her body. I’m sorry, I have no clue what’s happening to me.”
Michael’s silence on the other end didn’t make Dan feel any better. But what he said would simply confuse the shit out of him.
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“Understood. Return to the hotel room and sleep it off,” Michael said.
“W-what? That’s it?”
“There were times when I was awake for more than ten days straight and would be afflicted with bad headaches and even hallucinations. It happens to us all no matter how experienced were are. Even I have my limits.”
Hearing that made Dan smile beneath his mask. He had expected to be berated for not performing at his best and possibly screwing up the mission.
“This was a hastily put together operation. You were in the middle of having Jane put you through the wringer. On top of that, this job is way above the paygrade of any normal tier one agent. Admittedly, I was ambitious with getting the container back. But it’s too late to turn back now. Rest up and we’ll make the best of this situation. I’ll inform Li of your condition so that he knows.”
“Thanks sir,” Dan said.
The final bit of walking through the hall to room twelve was the longest walk Dan ever had. The dizziness and blurred vision made it tough for him to understand how much further he had to walk before he got to his room. Dan’s feet felt like they weighed as much as sand bags. Up ahead, he could make out a vague silhouette exiting a room and it quickly made its way to him.
“I got you.” The voice came from Li. Dan couldn’t see his teammate clearly, but he could feel him to his right, helping him the rest of the way through.
His blinks became longer and drawn out. It wasn’t long before Dan could feel the soft impact of fresh sheets in his face as Li set him down on the hotel bed.
Supernatural instability decreasing. Please rest.
Rest, Dan thought. That sounds nice.