Chapter 7

It’s been almost six years since Jan and Allen divorced. Four since her second one from Jacques. Allen sees her more regularly now when she gets the kids. Allen Jr. is 14, getting ready to start high school and Karen is 12. Jan’s little Rachel is just starting first grade. Jr. and Karen love Rachel and take care of her all the time.

As Allen was on my way to the office, Dispatch put out a call of “shots fired” at a local bank close by. He responded and encountered two men exiting the bank with hand guns. He drew his weapon and ordered them to stop. One of them turned and fired at him. He returned fire and saw the guy fall. The other man fired three quick shots at Allen, who returned fire twice at the shooter. He fell. Allen started to get up from his position but couldn’t and it felt like he couldn’t breathe. He looked at his jacket. He had blood on each side of his chest. Apparently, the second guy hadn’t missed. He’d been hit ... twice in the chest. Other officers ran over to him and put pressure on his wounds. They kept telling him to hold on. He kept saying “can’t breathe.” They kept telling him that help was on the way.

“You got both of them, LT. “ It was hard to breathe. All I could think about was Jr. and Karen. Then everything went black.

I had just walked in the office when my mom called. Mom seemed happier with me since Jacques was out of my life on a regular basis.

I said, “Hi Mom, What’s up?”

She screamed, “JAN! OMG! JAN! ALLEN’S BEEN SHOT! An ambulance just brought him into the emergency room. It’s bad, Honey. I just got here and they were doing CPR on him. I don’t know if he’s going to make it. OMG! JAN, HURRY.”

I said “OK MOM, I’m on my way. OMG! Please no, God. Don’t take him from us,” I prayed while racing to the hospital.

I arrived at the hospital and found Mom in the waiting area bawling like a baby. There were police cars everywhere and officers standing around crying ... grown men ... police officers crying for my Allen.

She said, “it’s bad, Baby. He may not make it. He took two rounds in the chest. They were doing CPR on him. He didn’t look like my Allen, Jan.”

She loved Allen like the son she never had. I loved him like the love of my life I know he is. I broke down with her. The doctor walked in and saw two blubbering women and asked if we were relatives.

I said, “I am his ex wife and this is my mom.” I couldn’t get out a coherent word out of my mouth. I told him our children are still at school. “We are all he has,” I said.

The doctor said, “Ok, Lieutenant Roberts is in very critical condition. We’ve resuscitated him three times. He’s lost We are getting him ready for surgery. We will know more when I get inside. He’s lost a lot of blood. We put out a call for blood donors. We have 20 officers and citizens outside giving blood as we speak. I decided to donate also. I walked into the room and was stunned. Jacques was sitting in a chair with blood pumping from his arm into a bag.

I said, “Jacques, what are you doing here?”

He said, “ I heard on the radio what happened and the call for blood. I could not let the man that has your heart die if I can do anything to prevent it. I’m here for you and your man, My Love.

Mom was standing there and heard it all.

She walked over to him and took his other hand and said, “Thank you, Jacques.”

I also gave him a kiss on the cheek and thanked him. I asked him to pick up Rachel when he could. We were going to be here for Allen as long as it took. It was also the first time I had heard Mom call him Jacques instead of Jackoff. I guess there was hope for Rachel’s father.

The surgery took seven hours including recovery time. Then they sent him to ICU. He was still unconscious. The doctor said they had repaired his lungs and fixed a couple of holes in his liver and intestines. Now it was up to God and Allen.

For the next five days, I only left his side to bathe and eat. Mom was with him when I wasn’t.

Allen cracked my eyes open a little. He could see light but I was kind of in a twilight. He knew someone was holding his hand. He tried to see but the pain that coursed through his whole body didn’t want that. There was some kind of tube in his mouth. He didn’t like it. He lightly squeezed the hand that was holding his. He heard a scream.

“HE’S AWAKE! NURSE! HE’S AWAKE!. It was Jan’s voice he heard.

The nurse and doctor hovered over him. One of them removed the tube from his throat. He was breathing on his own. He remembers not being able to breathe.

“How long have I been here,” he whispered, barely audible.

“Well, Hello, Lieutenant Roberts, you gave us all quite a scare. You’ve been asleep for five days while we let your lungs heal. You’ve got a whole city praying for you. Your room is full of flowers and cards. You took two bullets to your chest, Lieutenant. You killed both of your assailants. One of them had shot one of the bank employees inside. A 21 year old young lady about to be married this Saturday. She’s fine although she will be doing it on crutches. The asshole shot her in the foot when she tried to run. You will be here for about another week before you can recuperate at home. Do you have help at home?”

Jan jumped up and said, “Yes, he does, Doctor. Me or my mom will be with him 24/7 until he’s up and around again.”

“Lieutenant, who is this wonderful lady. She has not left your bedside or dropped your hand except to eat and clean up In a week. You must be pretty important to her.”

He croaked, “I once was, Doctor. We are divorced.”

The Doctor said, “You could have fooled me. The way she has held your hand day and night for five days, I’d say you still are very important to her. It’s time for you to rest now.”

He felt Jan pick his hand up as he dozed back into la-la land.