Chapter 11

The short flight from the base to the hospital was quiet. The thrumming of the chopper blades lulled each person deeper into their own thoughts. Nancy, concerned about her coworkers, tried to get her passengers there as fast as possible. Sonny was worried sick about his sibling. And Walt had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

She called ahead to the hospital asking for permission to land. With two choppers already on the ground, she was given the go ahead to land on the helipad, but to remain with the chopper in case they needed to make room for another emergency.

Nancy set the helo down as light as a feather. After Walt and Sonny left heading for the roof exit, she shut it down and waited.

The men rode the elevator down to the first floor. As they turned towards the ER, they saw one of the doors, hanging broken like one in an old west ghost town saloon; a repairman already working on it. Walt thought to himself that maintenance came in early for such a small hospital then was shocked when he looked at the time and realized it was already 9:03 AM. As they walked over to the nurses' desk, state trooper Ray came up to them, "Good morning, sirs, can I see some identification?"

"Hello officer. I'm Walter Stone, this is Sonny Keller." Walt handed over his GRNI ID and driver's license. The officer took the two forms of identification and studied them for a moment before handing them back. He then took Sonny's and studied it. "Are you related to one of the injured men?" Ray asked handing it back.

"Yeah, he's my brother, Virgil. Do you know how he is, where he is?"

"Virgil's up in radiology and Jack's in the OR, both on the 4^th floor. John and Terry are in the waiting rooms up there. By the way, I'm Ray Clark, we haven't been introduced yet. I'm partnered with BJ, who seems to know a lot of you guys."

"Yeah, BJ's been the first on the scene for a lot of our rescues. We know him well. Good man. Is he here?"

"Up on the 4^th floor with the others. I'm holding the fort down here."

"Thanks, Ray." The two men got into the elevator and headed up.

As the doors opened, they looked at the signs and found that radiology was to the left and surgery was to the right. Walt looked to Sonny, "Why don't you head that way," pointing in the direction Virgil would be, "and I'll go this way. Let me know what you find out."

Sonny nodded and left. Walter headed for the surgical wing and as soon as he went through the double doors, met John.

The big man smiled and got up when he recognized his boss. "Hey Walt. Glad you're here. I haven't heard anything yet. They've been in there for hours." Looking around he asked, "Isn't Jack's wife with you?"

Walt shook his head. "She realized Jack was going to be here for at least a day and went home to pick up some things. We'll ferry her later. She doesn't know yet that someone shot at them. I told her she could come out with the maintenance crew. If they don't need to be here, then Nancy can get her. Sonny's here though, he went to radiology to see Virg. Any word on him?"

"Yeah, he's already downstairs. They're keeping him overnight. You know, for observation. The doc said he had a hairline fracture just above the ear, and a concussion. But he should go home in a day or so barring any complications. He's in a semi-private, the other bed's going to Jack when he's ready."

Walt turned around when he heard the sound of doors opening. A doctor came in and looked at John. "You're here for Mr. Commens?" John nodded and the doctor looked towards Walt, "You too?"

"Yeah. I'm his boss. How's he doing?"

"He should make a full recovery and be able to handle the hard work associated with your line of business. But I want to give the arm two full months of recovery then gradually work back up to the heavy stuff."

Walt smiled knowing how all the field operatives hated paperwork. "I'll make sure Jack gets hog-tied to a desk. Will he need physical therapy?"

"Yes. But I heard you guys have a state-of-the-art gym with all the necessary equipment. You can work it out with the therapist how you want to handle that. Mr. Commens is in recovery right now and will be taken down to the third floor when he wakes. Check with the nurses for the room number. If you have any questions call me. I'm Dr. Bakelaar."

"Thanks doc." Walt and John headed to the desk to find out the room number. They headed down one flight, and ran into Sonny looking up at the room numbers.

"There's 303," he thumbed to the left, and the three followed the signs down the hall. Two rooms were unnumbered so John slid into one to see who was in there. After a quick peek, he poked his head out the door and whistled softly, "Over here."

"This is pretty good stuff." Bret looked over Cassie's shoulder as she reviewed what she had taped earlier that day.

"What did you get?" she asked.

"Not much, other than a bruised hip."

"Well because of the Patient Privacy Act, I won't be able to bring the camera up to the ward when you interview those flyboys." She tried to hide her relief.

"Oh yeah, you are. I'm gonna ask one of the investigative guys from work to lend us a mini-cam." He looked down at her cleavage. "They're not much, but you could probably stick it in there."

Cassie glared at him. "That gets the camera inside the hospital, how're you going to interview them? They'll be surrounded by family, other flyboys and cops."

"Oh, I'll get something. But I'm more interested in you getting the shot. I can always do a voiceover later. You got a nurses uniform?"

Cassie's features formed a puzzled expression as she gaped at him.

Stunned, Sonny's face morphed into anger like the Special FX of a horror movie. Virgil, eyes closed, was wired with the pulsox, O2, and IV lines. The left half of his head from the crown on down was shaved. A two-inch long laceration just above the ear was stitched.

"Sonava... !" Sonny hissed through clenched teeth as his eyes fell on the gun imprint. "Shit, I bet I could read the serial numbers off his face."

Sonny went to Virgil's side and took hold of his hand. "Virg? Hey, Virg? It's me, Sonny." Worry flowed over his face when there was no response. "C'mon Virg, wake up."

While Sonny was talking to his brother, a plump, middle-aged black nurse walked in. "Hi, my name is Mohina, I'll be Mr. Keller's nurse during the day this week.

"Week?" blurted Sonny. "I thought he was going home in a day or two."

She smiled, "Oh, if he's a good boy, he will. I meant I'm the day nurse this week. So, are any of you a relative?"

"Yeah. I'm his brother Sonny."

"I have some papers that need signing when you have a chance. With head trauma like this we don't always get a lucid response so we need to talk to a next of kin. Just stop by the nurses' station when you're done here."

"Sure. What can you tell me about his condition?"

She pulled up the chart and studied it. "He's got a grade 3 concussion, with a hairline fracture of the sphenoid bone." She looked up, pointed to just in front of her ear and said, "This is where the sphenoid is."

"Thanks." He didn't want to interrupt her by telling her that he was a medic and knew anatomy. But he was concerned about the concussion. "Grade 3?"

She nodded, "The doctor can give you more detail. He's doing rounds and should be here shortly. Does your brother live alone?"

"Yeah. His wife died several years ago. No kids."