Chapter 54

Present – Thom – At the psych hospital

We arrive at the damn loony bin and the first thing I see is Jim grabbing a case out of the car. Liz and I jump out and I demand, "Jim, what the hell is going on?"

He looks at me and says, "Hell if I know. We got here and heard something about a code blue. The doc went into the room and then sent me back to the car for this defibrillator."

I remind him, "Weren't you, Matt and the doctor sent to take care of Jens."

Just then I see the lawyer running toward us and know something is seriously wrong (lawyer's never run). As he reaches us he breathlessly explains, "Something has happened to Ms. Donaldson. They found her unconscious and not breathing in her room."

Jim states, "Don't tell me her room is room three-oh-two."

The lawyer answers, "Yes, that's her room."

Jim says, "Shit that's the room I was just in. I need to get this to the doc yesterday."

We all take off running! Since the lawyer is lagging behind, I drop back and ask, "What the hell happened?"

He shrugs his shoulders and answers, "We don't know."

Present – Liz – At the psych hospital

Something has happened to Jens! She's unconscious and not breathing! We rush into the hospital, run up the stairs and crowd into her room. A nurse is providing ventilation for Jens and the doctor is doing chest compressions. He sees Jim and yells, "It's about fucking time you got here. Bring that right over here."

Thom runs up and says, "I can continue the compressions while you setup."

The doc shakes his head, "No thanks, let me shock her first. Then you take over on the compressions while I get some injections ready."

He yells, "Clear!" He then zaps Jens and her body flinches while he checks for a heartbeat then commands, "Okay start the compressions."

Thom takes over as the doctor pulls a long needle out of his bag looks at Thom and orders, "Move out of the way." He pushes the needle all the way into Jens' chest injects the fluid then says, "Okay start the compressions while I change the defib settings."

He makes some changes, shouts, "Clear!" Then he shocks the hell out of Jens! ... and thank God!

Present – Jens – At the psych hospital

Uhh! That really hurts. I hear, "Clear!" again and realize someone is shocking the hell out of me. I open my eyes, see some white coat I don't know and threaten, "If you shock me one more time I'm going to kick your ass! Now where's Ben because he needs to answer my question. Then I want to find Steven Tyler so I can kick his ass for the 'Dude looks like a lady' comment."

He gives me a patronizing smile and says, "Ms. Donaldson, we don't know what you're talking about. You just suffered a near death episode."

I stare at him and want to say no but this time it must have been a dream because it wasn't like before. However I am imprisoned in a damn loony bin and that's the last thing I need to say. So I smile and question, "I don't understand. What happened to me?"

He shakes his head and explains, "We were hoping you could tell us. What's the last thing you remember?"

I pause, think for a moment then suddenly I remember and begin to yell, "That damn back-stabbing bitch! Megan tried to inject me with something. When she couldn't get that done she smothered me with a pillow. Let me up so I can kick her ass!"

The white coat answers, "Well it's a good thing she didn't inject you because we think she injected the orderly with something that killed him."

I look closer and say, "Hey, you're one of the doctors from the plane. How did you get here?"

Thom (I finally realize Thom, Liz, Jim and Matt are here) says, "I sent him over to help get you out of here. So you're telling me Megan tried to kill you?"

The doctor answers, "I'd say she did kill her and it was lucky as hell I got here when I did. Another few minutes and we couldn't have brought her back."

Thom gives me a funny look and says, "Look I need to do a couple of things."

He moves away, Liz comes over, starts to zip up my jumpsuit and whispers, "Let's not show the whole world your chest."

I look down and help Liz, the last thing I want are my girls showing up on some porno sites...

Present – Thom – At the psych hospital

Damn! I sure didn't like Megan before but now she needs to be taken care of. I move to the side of the room and motion to Matt and Jim. They come over and I order, "Listen, we are taking control of this messed up situation. It's evident we can't trust anyone in this hospital so no one enters this room without my or Liz's okay."

Jim responds, "Yes Sir!" I ignore the comment and decide I will have to instruct him later on the improper use of sir because I'm not an officer. He heads outside the door to stand watch.

I return to Jennifer and Liz to get some more information about Megan. I need to know if either of them has any idea where she lives. They've put Jens in her bed and the doctor is still checking her. I get ready to ask her some questions when there's a hell of a noise from the doorway.

I smile since Jim is doing a hell of a job keeping whoever it is out. I hear the person yell, "But I'm the Director! You can't keep me from entering a room in my own hospital."

The Director! Yes, he's one of the bastards I want to talk to! I head toward the doorway...

Present – Liz – At the psych hospital

I look at Jens and say, "Jens, excuse me a minute I want to have a word with the Director."

Jens smiles at me and replies, "Liz, chew his ass for me too."

Jens is partially right - I'm sure as hell going to chew his ass. But first I'm going to scare the pants right off him.

I take out my mobile phone and place a call. I immediately get connected with the intended recipient, fill them in on the situation and walk toward the door. As I get there, Thom already has him in the hallway almost pinned against the wall and is reading him the riot act. I walk up and hear, "What sort of piece of shit hospital are you running here..."

I interrupt, "Excuse me Thom, the Director needs to take this phone call."

Thom initially gives me a dirty look, then he sees the smile on my face and grins, "Okay Liz let him have it."

I hand the phone to the director and we both watch as the color drains from his face, and he whines, "But, but, but..."

Thom questions, "Liz who's on the phone?"

I smile, "It's the Director of The Joint Commission."

Thom laughs, "Damn Liz even though you've been out of the loop you're still connected. Aren't they the ones that grant hospitals accreditation?"

I grin, "Yes Thom you're right and this hospital has just lost its accreditation."

The Director comes over. I glare at him then dictate, "We will be taking Jennifer Donaldson with us..."

I'm surprised when I hear behind me...

Present – Jens – At the psych hospital

As soon as Liz left, I ran into the bathroom, changed out of this nasty orange jumpsuit and headed toward the doorway. I'm not about to let Liz and Thom have all the fun! This fricken Director is going to get a piece of my mind...

I walk up just as Liz tells him I'm leaving and add, "And we will also be taking the rest of the women in my support group with us, except for Britney. They are all confined here on false pretense."

Liz turns and says, "Jens it's good to see you up and about. What's this about the women in the support group?"

I know this will fire up Liz's reporter instinct as I explain, "Look Liz there's a hell of a story here. This place is being used to punish women for crimes that they didn't even commit."

Liz clucks, "Oh really, like what?"

I go on to explain about all the problems with the police and the TSA the other women had. Liz exclaims, "This will make a hell of a story, I need to get a crew here ASAP."

I look at the Director, grin and say, "Payback's a bitch! And just so you know, not only is this going on international TV, I'm going to have a team of lawyers here and we are all going to sue your ass off."

He starts turning green as my lawyer walks up and says, "Ms. Donaldson you are free to leave the hospital. But are you okay? Perhaps you need to be checked out by a doctor."

I grin and tell him, "Heck no I'm not okay, I'm fantastic! I was checked out by a doctor I trust, I've had my fill of fricken hospitals and want to get to my cabin. However, you might want to call in the rest of your firm because all the patients I met here are being held under false pretenses."

Thom smiles at me and says, "Damn it's good to have you back. You sure do have a way of motivating people."

I grin and reply, "SIR! I'm certainly not as good as you are because you would have made a heck of an officer..."