Read Online Does it Hurt to Die by Paul G Anderson - Free Book Online Page B

have been similar to what his handlers at BOSS had been saying to him since he joined. He had ignored them, too, despite the obvious attempt to appeal to his Afrikaner roots. Perhaps they were right as well.

Chapter 10
     
    The Cape Times ran the headline ‘TRANSPLANT SURGEON QUERIES THE NEED FOR FORGIVENESS’ with the rest of Jannie’s press conference underneath. As Jannie picked up the paper that had been left on his bed, the door opened and Renata entered, closely followed by Digby and Chris. No one spoke; they all just looked at Jannie.
    ‘ Look, I don’t expect you to understand. Just believe that this is not an aberration of a traumatically stressed mind. There is more involved than I care to tell any of you about at the moment. I know you wanted me to adopt the air of forgiveness, to heal the wounds, but I can’t. I’m the product of my upbringing and that all seems to conflict with what you’re telling me, so don’t look at me with that disapproving look.’
    Renata noticed the set jaw, indicating that he was ready to verbally repulse alternative suggestions. She decided he was too in control to be in shock. Digby and Chris looked at each other.
    ‘Well, I suppose it was better than suggesting the blacks are intellectually bereft and incapable of running the country,’ said Digby, unable to control himself.
    Jannie fixed Digby with a stare that Digby knew drew on the passions of previous generations of Afrikaners. It was his punctuation stare, a full stop, where his temper fired and no humour entered. It was a stare Digby felt that Jannie had learned from his father’s farm. Digby hated it, as he knew the blacks must have. It was contumely arrogance encompassed. Such a stare generated the ‘I’m in charge and challenge me further at your peril’ feeling.
    Chris sensed the developing tension between his friends and interjected . ‘Digby, Renata and Jannie must have things to discuss…’ but before he could finish, Digby had turned and headed towards the door.
    ‘ We’ll check on you later, Jannie,’ said Digby as he left without a backward glance.
    Renata sat opposite and then took the Cape Times , folding it, before placing it neatly on the foot of the bed.
    ‘ The transplant has been a success,’ she said. ‘Sibokwe is still in intensive care, but Susannah is pleased with his progress and said to tell you the cholangiogram is fine.’
    Jannie looked at Renata, slowly comprehending the full message. Susannah was in charge; perhaps she had done the transplant. The thought shocked him. He had assumed Mike would have flown Professor O’Brien down from Johannesburg.
    ‘Did Susannah do the transplant?’ he asked, interrupting his own thoughts.
    ‘ Yes, she had to. Professor O’Brien wasn’t available. It seems to have gone very well, Jannie. Susannah’s been on the news, although coverage of the transplant has been buried by news of the terrorist attack!’
    Renata deliberately varied her structure in mid sentence. She noticed the look on Jannie’s face but also felt the welling emotion. Part of him was delighted that his transplant programme had survived, but he was also aggrieved that a woman was successfully performing it.
    ‘Susannah said she would be in to see you later today to give you an update.’
    Renata knew she had submitted to Jannie’s thought control, and somewhere inside of her, something winced. It was a feeling she had never liked.
    Jannie did not reply. He was thinking that if the cholangiogram was normal, Susannah had at least done the anastomosis well. The first hurdle of the liver transplant was successful. The next would be a biopsy to test for rejection of the liver. He hoped by that time he would be at least able to exert more control than he could now.
    ‘ Jannie.’
    Renata’s voice refocused his thoughts. He looked at her.
    ‘Jannie,’ she repeated as she often did when she was unsure that her question would provoke a verbal rapier thrust from him. ‘I