Chapter 4 #3
Jacob wasn’t the kind of man to have enemies, but Asher needed to find out if he’d recently had words with a customer, or if someone was holding a grudge.
But that was all for later. Right now, they just needed him to wake up and survive this nightmare, then they could deal with whoever had done this, and make sure nothing like this ever happened again.
Within the hour, Jacob’s surgeon walked in, scanned the faces of the people in the waiting room, and then walked straight to where Asher and Dylan were sitting.
“Are you Jacob Kingston’s family?” he asked.
They both stood abruptly. “Yes. We’re his sons,” Asher said.
“I’m Doctor Reading. I operated on your father earlier this morning.
He is on the critical list, but his vital signs are holding steady.
He was brought in with a single gunshot to the chest. It entered between his heart and upper shoulder and exited a little higher on his back, which means the shot was from someone standing above him, firing from a short distance away.
He was severely weakened from the blood loss by the time he got here. ”
“Did you have to transfuse him?” Asher asked.
“Yes, he had a whole blood transfusion. I expect it to raise his numbers to a stronger level. I just checked his vitals. He’s holding his own, and that’s positive, but as I’m sure you know, the next twenty-four to forty-eight hours are crucial.”
“Did he ever regain consciousness?” Dylan asked.
“Not as of yet,” Doctor Reading said. “I’ll be checking on him again this evening during rounds. We have him heavily sedated, so don’t expect too much from him at this point. He’s healing, and right now that’s what matters most.”
Ash nodded. “We have one more brother due to arrive soon. We are all the family he has, and he’s everything to us.”
“Understood,” Reading said. “I need to finish my rounds, but I will say, what a remarkable resemblance you all have to each other. Like younger versions of your father. Rest assured, we’re doing everything we can for him,” he said, and then he was gone.
Dylan shoved a hand through his hair in frustration, then turned and walked to the window.
Asher followed and slid his arm across Dylan’s shoulder. Several minutes passed as they stood in silence, just staring out the window. Then all of a sudden, a man walked up behind them, stretched out his long arms, and gave both of them a hug.
“Got room for one more brother?” he said.
They turned. “Gunner!” they said, then hugged him.
The only sign of emotion on his face was a quick muscle jerk at the side of his jaw as he hugged them back.
“Sit,” Ash said, and they did. “Are you hungry? Do you want some coffee? Something to eat?”
“Not until I know what you know,” Gunner said, and so they began filling him in on everything the doctor told them, with him listening intently until they finished.
“I called Nora on the way to the hangar,” Ash said.
They both looked up. “You’re talking to Nora?”
“More than talking. After Dad told me that her father had recently died, and her mother had been gone four years, and she’d come home to deal with the family property, I felt the guilt.
Then when he told me that she’d visited him, and that she looked like the stress of it all had just about broken her…
I couldn’t bear the thought of how she’d faced all that alone and went begging.
Long story short, she not only forgave me, but I’m flying high on my second chance.
When I was driving to the hangar, it dawned on me that she and everybody else in Crossroads would have known about it before we did.
I wondered what she knew that Reddick didn’t tell.
She said Pearl heard the shot. She’s the one who found him bleeding and unconscious, and saved his life. ”
“My God. What are the chances? We owe her big time,” Dylan said.
“This kind of shooting isn’t the Crossroads we grew up in,” Gunner said.
“Nothing was stolen. He hadn’t received any threats, or we would have known about them.
And unless the character of the residents has drastically changed, I’m not going to believe it was a local who did this.
Did he ever say anything to either of you about having trouble with someone? ”
“Not to me,” Dylan said.
“Nor to me,” Asher added. “When I called him after we learned about Pete Brandt dying in prison, the bar was full and there was so much laughing and shouting going on, he had to walk into the hallway to talk to me. I asked him if he’d been hassled by reporters, and kind of reminded him that might start happening.
He just blew it off and said he had to get back to the bar.
Half the clientele was watching a football game, and there was an ongoing snooker tournament as well.
He was in great spirits, and then this happened. ”
Gunner sighed. “That’s a whole lot of nothing to go on,” he said. “Maybe he’ll have something to point us in the right direction when he wakes up.” He glanced at the clock on the wall. “I assume it’s the usual rules about visiting hours in ICU?”
Dylan nodded. “We go in on the hour, ten-minute time limit, and only two family members at a time.”
“It’s almost time. Asher, you and Dylan got here first. I’ll catch the next visit. Are we staying here through the night, or do you want me to organize a motel room somewhere close?” he asked.
“We don’t have a car to drive back and forth. We’d be wasting a lot of time calling cabs and waiting on cabs,” Dylan said.
Gunner arched an eyebrow. “You two take the first visitation. I already rented an SUV. It’s here at the hospital. I’ll find the nearest hotel. We may be here for days.”
Asher glanced at Dylan, then they both gave Gunner the nod.
“Good idea. You do your thing. We’ll settle with you later on the costs.
We can get in several visits before midnight, and if all is well and he’s stable, we’ll call it a night and be here early in the morning.
Maybe catch the doctor making rounds again and get an update on his status. ”
Dylan tapped Asher on the shoulder and pointed at the exodus of people leaving the waiting area. “It must be time,” he said.
“Tell Dad I’m here,” Gunner said, and went to get his bag as they walked away, pulled out his laptop, and then over to the little canteen in the corner and got a can of Dr. Pepper and a couple of snacks. Moments later, he was logging in on his laptop and pulling up hotel websites while he ate.
It didn’t take long to settle on a hotel called Studio 6 Suites.
The rooms looked good on the website, and it was less than a mile from the hospital.
He rented three connecting suites with king-size beds.
Each suite contained a bath, and a small living and kitchen area.
Satisfactory for what they needed. Then he finished off his snacks and went to get a cup of coffee.
He’d already been up for almost twenty hours, and it was going to be even longer before they got any rest.
* * *
Asher dreaded this first confrontation. Jacob was their anchor.
The steadfast man who’d stepped up for them in every way that mattered.
Even though they were all as big and tall as him now, they still viewed him as the trustworthy voice in their ear when they needed it most, and knowing he’d been struck down in such a vicious assault was shocking.
When they entered the actual ICU area, the energy shift was palpable, and the silence frightening. All those cubicles. All those desperately ill patients in the beds. And all they heard were beeps from the equipment registering the fluctuation life levels.
And then they saw their dad and moved toward him.
“Jesus,” Dylan whispered.
Asher put a hand on Dylan’s shoulder. “Dad’s as tough as they come and he’s still alive. Don’t count him out.”
They moved to his bedside—Asher on one side, Dylan on the other, and both reached for him at the same time, feeling the warmth of his skin, and eyeing the steady rise and fall of his chest.
“Hey, Dad… It’s me, Ash.”
“I’m here, too, Dad. It’s me, Dylan. Gunner is in the waiting room, but they only let us in two at a time. He’ll see you soon.”
“I don’t know why this happened to you, but we will find out who did this, and we will not leave Crossroads until we put their asses in prison,” Asher said.
“You aren’t alone in this fight. You saved us when the world blew up in our faces. We’ve got your back, Dad.”
Then they looked at each other across the bed, then down at their dad.
Dylan’s voice was shaking. “I have this overwhelming urge to call him daddy.”
For a moment, Asher went straight to the past, remembering how many times he’d pulled back the covers so nine-year-old Dylan or seven-year-old Gunner could sleep with him. Sometimes they were all piled into the same bed, crying for what they’d lost.
“I refuse to accept anything but his full recovery. We’re not going to lose him this way,” Asher muttered, then caught motion from the corner of his eye and realized visiting time was nearly over.
Ten minutes had flown. “Dad, we have to leave now. Visiting time is over, but we’ll be back. Rest and heal. You are loved.”
Dylan leaned over and gently kissed Jacob’s forehead. “Love you, Dad. We’ll be back.”
They were walking out when Ash suddenly stopped and looked back. The steady beeps throughout the room were no longer eerie. They were signs of life, and in this place, that was enough.
When they re-entered the waiting room, Gunner looked up, gauged the look on their faces, and waited for the verdict.
They sat on either side of him and lowered their voices as they spoke.
“He’s pale and motionless, but everything that’s supposed to be ticking and beeping is happening, and his breathing is steady,” Asher said.
“He’s really pale,” Dylan added.
“Blood loss,” Gunner said. “Seen it dozens of times when questioning hospitalized witnesses and perps. That whole blood transfusion should help.”
“Truth,” Asher said, and leaned forward. “I want to talk to some of Dad’s regular customers. Find out if he’d had trouble with anyone recently. But I don’t know who to call.”
Dylan stood up. “Is anybody else hungry besides me?”
“There’s a cafeteria. I know where it is,” Gunner said.
Asher frowned. “Have you been here before?”
“Naw… I asked an orderly who was out in the hall. Wherever I am, I like to know my options,” Gunner said.
“Then lead the way,” Dylan said.
They stood in unison and headed for the elevator.