The Lambs: Part 2 (2/21) by Lamia (AKA so kiss me goodbye) Rating: PG-13 (violence, strong language) Category: S Spoilers: Seasons 1-9, Fight the Future Keywords: William; Colonization Summary: Liam van de Kamp's life changes the day two FBI agents kidnap him and his parents. Author's Note: The Lambs is a three-part story (with prologue). Chapter 12 September 25, 2011 New Mexico The desert blurred past him. Stitch slashed his abdomen; giant hands at his ribs squeezed him in half. His strides devoured distance. He had no choice: a satellite, a wind, a dying man's breath chased him. Unconsciously he knew where to go. He let nothing be an obstacle, his course was straight. The camp hangars and buildings reared before him. He was heading to a small house on the outskirts. *As far away from the others as possible*. Liam couldn't slow himself and didn't try; he plowed into the door, thudding against it, pummeling with both arms. He toppled forward, and hands seized and dragged him in, setting him upright. "Liam?" They stood over him: Mulder concerned, Gibson unwelcoming. Air grazed his windpipe, going down in shivers. "There's a man" - palms on thighs, he doubled over - "in the desert." "You've been in the desert?" Lines on Mulder's face deepened. "What -" "He needs help - he's dying." Like an angry minus bar, Gibson's brows drew together above the rims of his glasses. "Too bad." Mulder turned a granite face, all hard with sharp edges, on his companion. Liam had to hurry to explain. "Ellie and Charlie and the rest, they're out with him - they're in an old building. They're under cover!" Yes, they had been reckless - he could see that now - but Mulder and Gibson had to understand they hadn't been entirely stupid. "Then they can stay there." The negative sign above Gibson's glasses didn't budge. "An hour won't kill them - though their parents might. Mrs. Scully's been looking for you. She's frantic." "What do you mean, Gibson?" Mulder's expression became curious. Gibson shrugged. "Mrs. Scully's been searching for Liam for half an hour." "And you didn't think to tell me?" Mulder drew himself up. "If you knew -" "It would have been rude." Gibson's smirk was a challenge for Mulder to disagree. Liam looked from one to the other. Were they having a fight? He wanted to stamp his foot. This wasn't the time. "We've got to do something! Please! He's going to die!" Gibson rounded on him. "If you go outside now, you could get us killed too. Do you want that? Your mom and dad? Mrs. Scully? Everyone here? How selfish would that be?" "But he's out there ..." *Did I run so fast for nothing?* He had known he would be in trouble for missing curfew, but wasn't someone dying in the desert more important? He had to make them understand. "He was lying on his face," Liam said, "speaking a funny language. Birds were flying round him. He wasn't a supersoldier - I know it!" The words strangled in his throat. Tears threatened to bust from the corners of his eyes. He didn't know what else to do. They wouldn't leave a man to die, would they? Mulder reached a hand to Liam's shoulder. "How far out would you say he is?" Gibson let out a growl. "Don't do it, Mulder." Liam sniffed. "About twenty minutes walk - faster if you run." "And what makes you think he's dying?" The question caught him off-guard. He stumbled over his answer. "Because ... because ... I just *know* he's dying." "Right then." Mulder reached across a table for his cellphone. Gibson made no move to stop him but his anger was obvious. "If you go out that door, Mulder, you could ruin everything!" "I didn't agree to surrender decency when I passed through the gates of this camp, Gibson. I'm not going to let fear dictate the terms of my own sense of wrong and right. That's something you might want to think about." "The risks -" "Can be mitigated. You know everything I know about Esther. You know what she's capable of." Gibson called as Mulder hurried Liam outside. "How long's it going to be before they work it out, Mulder? Before they work out how we're getting help? Are you ready to risk our one hope all for one person?" Mulder shut the door in Gibson's enraged face. It felt strange and scary to be outside. Real no man's land. Liam may have made it to Gibson's cabin just in time, but curfew must have started by now. Mulder pointed to the closest hangar, and they dashed toward it. As they ran, Mulder put the phone to his ear. "Scully? No time for questions. Meet me at hangar 2. Yeah, I know the kids are missing - I know where they are - I've got Liam right here with me now. No, the others are - look, I'll tell you when you meet me." They arrived at the hangar first, but Liam had no time to regain his breath. An inner door swung wide and Scully appeared, the echo of feet thundering up the stairs behind her. Major Drummond and adults poured into the space around them. At the sight of Mulder and Liam, their questions flooded the room. Mulder put his hands up. "We haven't got time. Liam found a man collapsed in the desert about twenty minutes walking distance from here." "Collapsed?" Dr. Scully looked from Mulder to Liam. "The other kids are with him - it sounds like they're sheltering at one of the outposts. Liam thinks the man is dying. If we're going to save him, we don't have time to dick around." Voices broke out again. Major Drummond's drowned all out. "Are you insane? What about the curfew?" "We'll have to break it. We can take care of the satellite situation later." "How?" The question came from several people at once. Liam also wanted to know. Did Mulder and Gibson know something about it that the others didn't? That had been his impression. Mulder's response was vague. "We've got a few get-out-of-jail free cards. Not many - but enough. If we drive now, we could save this man's life -" The clamor rose a notch. "Did you say our kids are out there with this man -" "What if it's some kind of new supersoldier -" "But if they find out we're here -" The grownups were torn. It bothered Liam when they didn't seem to know what they were doing. Dr. Scully forced the issue. There were several vehicles in the hangar. She went to one: a mini-van. "Will this thing go off road?" Liam didn't see who answered. "It will if you make it." Dr. Scully yanked open a door and reached behind a vizor. "You're driving." She chucked the keys at Mulder. "Liam, you're going to have to direct us, okay?" "Dana, do you think it's safe to take Liam out?" Liam hadn't noticed Mrs. Scully. He looked at his shoes. She sounded worried, not angry as he knew she had every right to be. Somehow her concern made it worse; his head dipped lower and he scuffed his feet. "He'll be as safe as the rest of us, Mom." No one tried to stop them, but Liam could tell by the looks people had when the van screeched out of the hangar this wasn't the end of the subject. Liam flopped back on a seat, exhaustion catching up with him. The headache he'd suppressed was back with a vengeance. He spoke only to answer Dr. Scully's questions and point Mulder in the right direction. He couldn't raise a smile when he saw Mulder checking the rear vision mirror. The van was unbelievably fast, covering the distance in minutes. When they pulled up at the outpost, the place looked empty. Dr. Scully leaned into Mulder. "They did a good job concealing themselves." Mulder had pulled in close to the opening at the biggest of the three structures - the one Liam thought they would be in. All was silent and still until Ellie's distinctive bossy voice rang out. "It's okay, guys. It's just Mulder and Scully!" Faces appeared at the threshold. While they peered out, Liam's friends were careful to remain in the shadow of the roof overhang. Taking control, as she liked to do, Ellie ushered in Dr Scully. "He's here, Dr. Scully. We gave him some water, but we didn't have anything to cover him." Dr. Scully knelt beside the man and ran her hand behind his neck before feeling for his pulse. She pulled down his jaw and checked his eyes. Mulder bent beside her. "He's in bad shape." Only the closest would have heard her. "We can't wait." That was all Mulder needed. He hoisted the man up. Aaron and Charlie stepped forward to take his legs although there was no need. Wrists and legs like sticks, the man couldn't have weighed much more than an armful of kindling. The jostling brought him round and a faint gurgle came from his throat. "Vindy ... vind -" he muttered before his face went slack again. Liam was overcome by a wave of nausea. The ground moved under his feet the same way it had this morning in the earthquake. Dr. Scully noticed Liam swaying. "Are you feeling alright, Liam?" "No, ma'am," he said, "my head hurts." It was a struggle even getting that much out. She put a hand on his forehead and nodded. "Hop back in the van. I'll get to you when I can." Mulder had laid the man out longwise on a seat. Liam's friends piled into the back around him. "Up here, son," Mulder said, indicating the front seat. He stretched over to offer Liam a hand. Liam took it gratefully. His legs had gone rubbery, and he had to summon all his energy to haul himself up. Dr. Scully was the last in; she was already on her phone. "Mom, I need you to prepare something for me." She rattled off a strange list: salt, baking powder, sugar, orange juice and water. "I need you to mix the quantities I gave you. Just make it into one drink. Then meet us in the infirmary." No one in the back was sitting down. When Liam turned to check on the man, he saw his friends leaning over the stranger and crowding around Dr. Scully. As soon as she was off the phone, Ellie peppered the doctor with questions. "Are you sure he's comfortable? What if he stops breathing? Should we give him more water?" A bead of sweat on Liam's forehead broke free and dribbled down his face. He struggled to hold himself upright. He tried not to think about every bump the vehicle hit and concentrated on telling his stomach it didn't feel pukey. He squeezed his eyes shut to keep out the light and wanted to cry for happiness when the van braked. The sliding door squealed back on its runner. Liam rolled himself out of the van and followed the others downstairs. He made it as far as the infirmary before the thumping in his head took over. While the others surrounded the bed where they put the stranger, Liam dragged himself onto another and curled in a ball. His eyelids cracked a fraction when Mrs. Scully nudged him. "Take this." He whimpered and swallowed the liquid. Then he sank back into the pillow; someone in his head was ringing bells or banging drums or there were horses galloping or ... It was dark when he woke. The hum from a rattling fan was the only sound in the room. He wasn't alone. A thread of light spilled from the hallway onto Mrs Scully's hands, which were clasped in her lap. She was dozing in a chair next to him. Liam wriggled and tapped his head, relieved to discover it no longer hurt. He pulled himself up, trying not to rustle the sheets. He didn't want to wake Mrs. Scully. Too late: she came to with a jolt. When she saw Liam sitting up, she smiled. It was too much for him and his garbled apology spilled out before he had time to frame it properly. "I am sorry, Mrs. Scully. I - I didn't mean to worry you." What Mrs. Scully thought, Liam didn't hear; a stranger calling in the dark interrupted them. "*Hallo?*" It was hesitant and plaintive. "*Hallo?*" Mrs. Scully rose and hurried in the direction of the voice. "You're awake," she said. "How are you feeling?" A pitiful laugh filled the room. "*Ek het daar gekom, Oupa.*" -o0o- Rudi van der Veldt caused a stir in the camp. First there was his dramatic arrival, then his speedy recovery. Overnight, it seemed everyone had some excuse to traipse through the infirmary. By mid-morning, Dr. Scully was starting to get short with the visitors - many of whom had "just come down to see how Liam was doing." "He's fine!" was her exasperated assessment as she shooed out Ellie for the third time. Ever the risk-taker, Ellie leaned around the doctor to mouth a question to Liam. "Did you talk to him?" Liam shook his head. The sick man had woken long enough the previous night to tell Mrs. Scully something that made her speed away and return with her daughter. It was the perfect opportunity for Liam to approach the man. Should he? His hesitation cost him. Mrs. Scully, Mulder and the doctor entered just as he was about to get off his bed. He froze and pretended to be asleep. He planned to listen in on their conversation but was thwarted when they all disappeared into Dr. Scully's office. The man walked by himself, shrugging off Mrs Scully's offer of an arm. Liam drifted off before they re-emerged. When he woke, the man already had visitors - the Major and some of the scientists. Again Liam's plans to eavesdrop came to nothing. Mrs Scully turned up to take his temperature and bring him breakfast. "Your father came to see you last night but you were out like a light," she said, placing a tray beside his bed. "He came in to see you this morning, too, but he left to check out the spot you kids were exploring yesterday. Your mother's not expected back until the afternoon, so you're stuck with me until one of them returns. You'll be staying here where I can keep an eye on you." Liam chewed on a mouthful of cereal. "Why has Dad gone to look at the buildings, Mrs. Scully?" Mrs. Scully picked up some knitting she was working on. In instant rhythm the needles began to flick back and forward. "The man you found says he dropped something important in the desert." "What?" "I'm not really sure." Not missing a stitch, she glanced over at the adults now surrounding the man's bed. Whatever the man had to say was making everyone who heard it look serious. Liam still didn't know any more when his father turned up from the desert to take him back to his quarters. Anyway, he had other things to worry about. His father was *not* happy. Liam knew his escapade the previous day was not going to go unremarked, but when they got back to their rooms, his father said only one thing. "We'll discuss the consequences of your actions when your mother gets back, Liam. Until then, you're to stay in your room." Liam knew it was pointless to ask about the stranger and what he'd lost in the desert, but he tried anyway. "You'll find out when everyone else does, son, and no sooner." Mr. van de Kamp refused to say anymore. As punishments went, an afternoon stuck in his room watching Jerry wasn't too bad, and Liam didn't have long to wait for his curiosity to be satisfied. A public meeting was called for that evening; everyone - including the children (since they had found him) - was to hear the stranger's story. They assembled, packing out the hall. Many were now staring (or pretending not to stare) at the empty seat at the head of the room. A table had been placed beside the chair, a glass of water and a plate set on the table. Before the man was brought in, Major Drummond addressed the hall. "We have a decision to make. You will all hear this man's story - in his own words. Then we must all decide how we are to deal with him; whether we believe his story or not." His own words lingered ominous in the air. Liam sat flanked by his parents. Neither had spoken to him yet about his excursion into the desert. He had been careful not to look them in the eye. His mother had only just arrived back, but from the grim set of her face when she slipped into their quarters that afternoon, Liam knew she had already heard about his adventure. He wondered who told her. He hoped the stranger's story took some time to tell. Anything to delay the inevitable. He knew he was in big trouble. His head had even started to ache again in anticipation - although not as badly as yesterday. The room quietened when Mulder led in a tall, rail-thin figure. When the man sank onto the chair, his oversized shirt ballooned around him. The scooped-out hollows in his cheeks formed deep shadows. When he stared back out at the mass of faces before him, however, he gave off no sign of nervousness and his voice was strong. "My name is Ruud van der Veldt - my family called me Rudi. I'm 26 years old. I feel older. Your doctor tells me it is the middle of September. I know *how* but I can't tell you *why* I came to be here. I left my home on August 7, I think. My home is - *was* - a place not far from the border town Beitbridge in Zimbabwe." Liam wracked his brain, trying to recall what he knew about that place. It wasn't much. Maybe a place in Africa somewhere? "I lived with my grandfather on our farm. He had a way of knowing things. He always, *always* knew when something bad was coming. When the Zanla came, we were waiting. We prepared and waited because Oupa knew. The Zanla came and kept coming - it took them five years to steal most of our farm. We were the last white farmers left near Beitbridge. We could have run, but my Oupa loved his farm." The man - Rudi - had a hard face. His strange accent, with its weird musical swoops and stops, made everything he said sound like a challenge. His story didn't start how Liam might have expected, and Liam found himself wondering what it had to do with life here. Or aliens. Or invasions. But he didn't need to be told something bad had happened to Rudi. "Against other men it was a fair fight. Maybe we lost in the end, but we always knew they were coming. We could defend ourselves. And we did. They made it legal to seize our land - but they never took our house. Never." His face blazed - then the fire vanished. "But we were nothing to the vreemdelinge." Hatred contorted his face. The familiar expression shocked Liam, and he scanned the room to see if Gibson Praise was listening. "The vreemdelinge - the other-worlders - you could know a year before they would arrive and still nothing you could do could prepare you. You could hide - I did - under my bed when I was a boy. You could leave the house, the town, the country. They always knew. There was no place you could escape to. They would take you in your sleep, they would take you in the field, they would take you on the way to school, in the toilet, in the kitchen, take you from your mother's arms ..." Liam didn't notice how far forward he was leaning on his perch until he felt a hand clasp a fistful of his t-shirt and haul him back. His mother's look was indecipherable. "Oupa hated it. His whole life they took him. Our whole family, our neighbors - they took everyone. Most of us didn't remember it. Some were taken only once, others - like my grandfather - he couldn't count the number of times. His whole life he knew every single time. "They couldn't take his memories. Maybe that's why he kept them so *fascinated*." Rudi spat the word out so hard he had to wipe his sleeve across his mouth. "In the end, when everyone else was gone, and we had nothing but the walls and the roof over our heads, my grandfather was alive for only two things - resist the Zanla and avenge himself against the vreemdelinge. "They seized our farms, left us in our houses." Rudi put the glass to his mouth and swallowed. "Sometimes we picked bugs from trees, dug grubs up from the dirt. That was alright. You could pay in gold for bread, but you were willing to pay the price." The picture in Liam's head didn't make sense and he leaned into his father. "The aliens took their farms?" "No, son. Listen closely." Rudi's gaze travelled the room, resting on nothing. No one dared interrupt him and tell him to get to the point. Liam sensed the end wasn't that far off. "It wasn't just us. There were others. Nobody cared: whites, blacks - it didn't matter. We were no better than human garbage. God had already abandoned madmen to a madman. "Oupa could tolerate the veterans. He said he could at least understand them. The vreemdelinge, no one could understand. "About ten years ago it started getting worse. They were taking more and more of us at once. Oupa ended up going so many times he called their ships his second country. He said both were hells." *Why did they stay in a place if they hated it so much? It would be so easy to pack your bags and move on.* Liam wondered how any place on earth could be that bad. "It ate at him for years. What to do? What to do? Then one day he woke from a vision." Rudi paused and looked straight into the crowd. "We made bombs." All the oxygen got sucked from the room with a collective gasp. Liam's flesh froze. Rudi went on, oblivious to the sudden chill. "He was a patient man. We waited three years. We gathered up everything we could use, found everyone who would help. He didn't want us children to take part, but he knew none of us had a choice. We wrapped ourselves in explosives. We had one chance to get it right. One chance when we would all be in the same place at the same time ..." Rudi pressed his palms into his knees. "Oupa must have seen it. Must have known it would work ..." He was talking but not to them. "We blew it out of the sky." He tipped his head back, focussing on the dingy ceiling tiles, his expression full of awe. Liam scanned the spot looking for the fascinating thing which had captured the man's attention. "I don't know how I'm here. I wasn't supposed to live ..." Whatever strength Rudi had was gone. He slumped in his chair. He could have come unbundled in a breeze. Liam winced when Dr. Scully put a hand on the man's shoulder, fearful he would fall apart in front of them. The doctor was gentle. "Try to tell us what happened, Rudi." The eyes that looked at her housed a plea, but for what? "We were in cattle pens. About thirty of us. It's dark on the ships, and the smell - you battle to keep your guts in. There were others - not just us. Some children, maybe. I heard Shona, Ndebele, English. They didn't know what we were going to do." Liam heard a sharp inhalation behind him. Rudi's eyes screwed up. "We sang." He ran his fingers through his hair, pulling at it. "There's a song we all know. It doesn't matter what language you speak, you can go anywhere in Africa and people will sing it. We waited for Oupa to start because he knew the time. Knew the hour." A sheepish expression grew on his face. "We used it to time ourselves. We sang it three times - everyone sang." He finished with a shrug and a vehement shake of his head. When he wouldn't speak, Liam felt cheated. No way did that story end there. It was on the tip of his tongue to ask what happened next. "Dana?" Liam heard Mrs. Scully say, full of worry. The doctor nodded and reached out to Rudi again. He shuddered. "The third time - 'Rhodesia.' That was our word. Our warning." Whippet fast he grabbed her arm with both hands. "*Ek behoort nie hier wees ...*" Major Drummond jumped up. "Rudi, son -" Rudi's hands fell away from the doctor and he stared unseeing across the room. "I was in light. All around me. I was knocked over. I remember a rushing wind. Screaming. Then waking up. Ash was raining down on my skin. The ground around me was charred. When I stood up I was holding something - this thing like a broken pot but harder. Heavier. And it knew who I was." Had he heard right? Did Rudi just tell them the thing - whatever the thing was - was alive? Liam looked at his parents. His mother didn't look surprised as much as bemused. His father's looked doubtful. At a signal from Major Drummond, Mulder reached to a sweater folded in the bench next to him. He removed an object which he handed to the Major. Liam suppressed a sudden shiver and a twinge in his stomach. The Major balanced the object in the palm of his hand as though he was testing its weight. "As soon as he was able, Rudi told us of an object he dropped in the desert that he believed to be powerful and alien. We traveled into the desert this morning. We found this not far from where he collapsed." He raised his arm. Liam strained to see over the shoulders and heads in front of him. It wasn't much to look at: just a bit of broken pot. Disappointed, he sat down, rubbing his stomach to settle it. *Did I eat something bad?* The Major turned back to Rudi. "Do you know what it is?" "It's from the ship. I think it saved me. When I woke up, I started walking. Then I ran. It was telling me where to go. It made me go. I carried it for days, weeks. Two, three days ago I lost it. I was in the heat too long. No water. I knew it was close by but I couldn't find it ... I remember being carried. I knew I had to tell someone about the object. It wanted to come here." Something clicked in Liam's head: the sounds Rudi had been making in the desert - he had been telling them to search for the object. The Major did not look happy. "How did you get here, Rudi?" The man looked confused to be asked. "We walked. It didn't want me to stop. If I went the wrong way, my legs were like lead and my head filled with sand. We stowed away on a container ship. I don't remember how. We reached a place - somewhere in South America, I think, and stowed onto another ship. We came north. No one stopped us. I think we came ashore in Mexico. We jumped." "You see, Rudi," Major Drummond said, "I feel nothing when I hold it in my hands. You're asking us to believe this object save you from a massive explosion, then guided you half way round the world to this place." The Major allowed his words to sink in. "How is it we haven't heard about this explosion? There's been nothing." He laid the thing down. "And you walked away from this explosion, saved you say by a sentient object, which guided you to a ship which happened to sail all the way from South Africa to Mexico where you crossed the border and wandered round our desert for a day looking for us." Liam wanted to believe Rudi, but laid out like that, he realized the story might be just that - a story. Rudi didn't help, staring down at his knees, his shirt bagging around him. Help came from an unexpected corner. "He may be telling the truth." Dr. Scully looked uncomfortable but she didn't back down when all eyes in the room gravitated to her. "What do you know about it?" Major Drummond asked. Dr. Scully studied him. As he had weighed the object, she weighed him with her gaze. "During my work with the FBI, I encountered rubbings - passages from ancient texts in every written language identifiable - taken from the exteriors of two craft. Craft I came to believe were extraterrestrial in origin. The rubbings alone exhibited power. On one occasion I saw a man heal himself holding an object much like Rudi's. He stole it from a cult that worshipped aliens. It was an object believed to have come from an alien spacecraft." The Major looked like he was swallowing something unpleasant. "You've never mentioned this before. Are you saying we should believe him?" She looked at him coolly. "I'm saying his story isn't without precedent." "He's telling the truth." For a man who hated people, Gibson could turn up the theatrics. He was lounging against the back wall. He hadn't been there at the start; Liam wondered when he slipped in. "How can you be sure?" Major Drummond said. "Just as sure as I am that you live in terror of people finding out what happened at Bushwick." The Major's mouth puckered. "How did you know ..." Gibson pointed at Rudi. "Same way I know this man isn't lying. Don't worry. Your secret's safe with me." He surveyed the whole room. "*All* your secrets are safe with me." His superiority was grating. Liam didn't get it. Why did all the adults automatically accept everything he said? How did Gibson know things? Why was he so mean to everyone? Why did they allow it? Gibson hadn't finished. "He's scared and he's tired and he's given up more than most of you can even imagine and you're treating him like crap. Let's end this charade. We've all heard his story. It happened just the way he told you. Isn't it time we started planning? What we're going to do with him? What we're doing here? What we want to achieve?" His questions struck home. Grownups were looking at each other and nodding. Major Drummond was compelled to act. He looked down at the foreigner. "Rudi, we need to discuss what we are going to do. You can't be here for that." Liam felt sorry for Rudi as Mrs. Scully led him from the room, but his pity turned to anger when the children were also evicted. "This is not a discussion for children," the Major said, watching Liam and his friends file out. They were told to wait in the mess hall. There was no opportunity to slip away; two adults came with them and a head count was taken. They entertained themselves by complaining about their treatment, filling each other in on their individual punishments, asking the adults about where Rudi was from, and imagining what kind of power the strange pottery object had. "You should ask Dr. Scully about it," Ellie said to Liam. "I don't think she told us everything she knows. I don't think she wanted to say anything at all. Did you see how cagey she looked when Major D picked it up?" When Liam's parents came to collect him more than an hour later, they were tight-lipped, giving nothing away about the meeting. They reached their quarters and entered wordlessly. Before Liam could sidle into his room, his mother stopped him. "Tomorrow morning, Liam, you'll be starting school. You will be supervised in class all day and afterwards you're to come straight home - there's to be no more adventures into the desert. Do you understand?" Liam forced himself to face his parents. It was the moment of reckoning. "Yes." He waited for the rest of the speech: the part about how much he had disappointed them, how much more they expected from him. His father stood with his hands behind his back. "Rudi van der Veldt has been accepted into the camp. Drummond believes the object could be used as a weapon. Dr Scully isn't so sure, but there's no doubt Rudi's human and suffered a lot to get here." He cleared his throat. "You probably saved that man's life, Liam. We're not proud of everything you did yesterday, but there's a man in this camp who would have died had it not been for you. That's something he won't forget. Neither will we."