Chapter 248: Suddenly It All Makes Sense

I had lost all sense of time. Time to me was just one period of sleep, followed my short periods of wakefulness, punctuated by lot and lots of pain. Then I would slip back into blessed sleep.

One of the times t got woke me up, it was by a person in a set of white scrubs. He asked "Are you Maxine Stone?"

"If this is her room, I guess I am. I sure as hell ain't been playing musical beds," I said only about half away. Just awake enough to be a smart ass it seemed.

"Just making sure hon, I don't want to send the wrong evil bitch to hell." the person in white whispered. It was at that moment that I knew I was about to be very dead. "Besides the old men wanted you to know it was coming."

All of a sudden the person in scrubs began to shiver. I knew the signs well. I could only hope that what was about to happen, wouldn't happen. It didn't help the person in white collapsed across my broken body. I wanted to scream in pain, but I also wanted James to have a chance to take care of the mess.

"Who the fuck is this," I asked him as he stood. The person had obviously thought James was sound asleep.

"How would I know? It wasn't me he was trying to kill," James said. "He is obviously an amateur. Giving you a warning like that is strictly bush league."

"It's nice of you to give a critique of his technique but, what are we going to do with him?" I asked it as I watched James remove the leads to his tazer.

"Your call, we could do a catch and release. If we do anything else, they will probably change your status here to prisoner. I have no idea what that means in this berg," he said.

"I can't ask you to kill him, and I obviously can't do it." We had waited long enough so that it was a moot point. The nurse came rushing in.

"What is going on," she asked.

"I think you would agree that we have a situation. You probably want to call your security team." James said.

"Did I miss something, am I scheduled for surgery this morning." I could see out the tiny window that it was dark outside.

"Yes first thing, they are going to repair that collar bone. Put a plate in to hold it in place while it heals." the nurse said. "You probably forgot, but you signed a release last night."

"So James. is our new friend secure?" I asked.

"As secure as a bundle of wires," he said showing me the plastic wire tie. "Too bad I don't have time to chat with him." Just as those words left his mouth, the hospital's security guard came in.

"Holy shit, they told me you were here sir, but I didn't think it was possible for anything to happen here," he said.

"Do you want to go back to checking doors and let me handle this, or do you want to call the cops," James asked in that dead cold voice of his.

"Don't worry sir, the police are on the way," he said.

"I wasn't worried," James said.

"Neither was I," I added even though no one seemed to care what I thought.

When the officers came, James and I told our stories. They searched the man, who had not said a word up to that point. In his pocket they found a syringe filled with something nasty I'm sure. "Lawyer," the man the scrubs said.

I looked at him, then I looked a James. I turned to the officer and said, "I think it might have all been a mistake. Why don't we just forget the whole thing and all go out own way."

James looked at the man then said, "Hell. I'll even give you a ride home." He still didn't change expressions.

"I changed my mind, no lawyer just get me out of here," he said.

"Good choice," I agreed.

After the cops had gone and before the nurse put more dope in my IV James said, "Eastern European, those Russians have long memories."

"Not a priority at the moment. Wake Jennifer up and get her the fuck over here," I said as I drifted off to sleep again.

"Max you wanted to see me?" she said waking me from a dreamless and painless sleep.

"Get in touch with Vlad. Tell him he owes me and it's time to pay up. Then explain what happened." I suggested half asleep.

"Okay, by the way I am your power of attorney so they called me to ask what to do with the bike." Jen said.

"Who called you?" I asked.

"The office girl at the Wilcox Towing and Storage yard out at West End. The cops had your bike towed and he got the call. So what do we do with it."

"How bad is it?" I asked

"According to the old man who runs the storage yard, it is scratched up some and at least one of the wheels is bent. The handlebars are in tact but they are scratched up. He says the frame is scraped up some but it looks okay otherwise. The biggest problem seems to be that the engine is locked up," she informed me.

"You are kidding me, the reason I was on that bike was to test the new engine the Preacher's bike shop installed. As a matter of fact my cruiser is parked in their parking lot," I informed her.

"Shit, don't tell me I'm going to have to sue God," Jennifer said with a grin.

"Don't worry about that now, get the message to Vlad right now," I said.

"Well I am going to talk to the preacher today regardless of anything else we do," she informed me.

"Jennifer, I can afford this hospital bill, and I will not take money from the homeless and elderly," I said.

"Honey, listen to me. That is a business he runs. That and all that construction company does for you. All those companies have to be insured to get licenses. It isn't money from the homeless or elderly, it is money from some fat cat insurance company."