Chapter Thirteen #2
“It means he had an idea about you that wasn’t true but believed it anyway.”
“That’s why Agent Wallace hate me?”
Marcello looked pained. “I don’t think he hates you, Cachi. I just think he was doing his job by pushing you in the interview. I told him you’d never knowingly be involved with drug traffickers. All he had to do was look at you to tell you were innocent.”
I felt my eyes burning. “I hate drugs and the traficantes, Marcello, and now—” I glanced at the captain. “Now, because the FBI think I am traficante, Rex, he is hurt.”
The captain looked fierce. Even with the long, fiery beard, I could tell by the set of his jaw, he wanted to chew nails.
I knew Rex liked him very much. I could tell all the men who worked with the captain respected him, and I really didn’t think he’d put Rex in danger intentionally.
The only reason he was at the club in harm’s way, was because he’d gone there to pick me up.
Maybe it was as the captain and Marcello said. Maybe the decision to hire me as a valet had been calculated but the outcome had been out of their hands. I was fuming inside but at the moment, all I could think of was my sweet, dear Rex, who was hurt.
“All of the blame belongs to the FBI, Mr. Adams. We’re very, very sorry,” the captain said.
I nodded and turned away from them both, looking out the side window. I didn’t want to talk to either of them ever again, and if—God forbid—Rex died, I’d never forgive them…either of them.
When we got to the hospital, I hung back with Marcello as the captain went to the nurse’s station at the ER to speak to someone about Rex. He came back looking grim faced as he stared right at me.
“Rex has been taken into surgery, Mr. Adams,” he said bleakly. “When he was brought in, they got him stabilized here in the trauma room and then rushed him right into the operating room. The rest of my men are in the surgical waiting room, so we’ll go there.”
“Thank you,” I said. “But, Rex, he is alive?”
The captain looked at our driver, the man called Mars.
He was tall but not as tall as Rex. He spoke with a British accent.
The way he was returning the captain’s look was telling.
His expression showed the worry he was feeling but that would make sense if he worked with Rex.
Both of these men were probably like family to him. The captain glanced back at me.
“It was touch and go when the ambulance brought him in, Mr. Adams,” the captain said. “I don’t have any of the details, but my men are upstairs, so let’s go talk to them.”
I nodded. I didn’t know exactly what touch and go meant, but I could guess.
It meant Rex had almost died on the way to the hospital.
I followed the captain to the elevator and took it to the second floor.
We followed the signs to the surgical waiting room and several big guys dressed in the same black tactical uniforms the captain and Mars were wearing, sat on chairs just inside the room.
They all got up at once as we walked in.
The shortest man in the group walked over, looking just as grim as the rest. He stuck out a hand, and the captain shook it.
“What happened, Patsy?”
“When we got to the club, Rex was down. A paramedic was working on him,” he said with a thick accent.
He wasn’t British like Mars, but from somewhere else I couldn’t place.
“He’d been bloody well shot in the back, Candy,” he said, sounding miserable.
I could read the emotions all over his face as his blue eyes glistened.
I must have let out a gasp because the men all looked over at me.
“Sorry,” the captain said, turning to me. “This is Mr. Adams, Rex’s friend.”
All the men came over, holding out hands to shake mine as they formed a circle around us. They introduced themselves one by one, but I missed all the names because all I could think about was Rex being shot in the back.
“We almost lost him right there in the car park, boss,” the shorter man continued. “What kind of bloody coward shoots a man in the back?”
“A cartel shithead,” one of the other men said. He had hazel eyes and I noticed that another man stood close to him. He wasn’t dressed like all the others, but in regular clothes like me. He was young and very pretty and when I looked at him, he offered a small smile, holding out his hand.
“Hi. I’m Joshua,” he said.
I shook his hand. “Cachi.”
“Nice to meet you.” He nodded before turning to the man beside him.
He was one of Rex’s teammates. When the man met his gaze, it was easy to read the love that passed between them.
When he slipped his hand into Joshua’s, I was surprised.
They were quite obviously a couple, and none of the others seemed to have a problem with that.
“They’re operating?” the captain asked.
“Yes, the surgeon stabilized him and went in to extract the bullet, but they say it’s very close to his spine,” another man said.
He also had a British accent, but it was different than Mars’.
“They’ve brought in a neurosurgeon, Candy.
It’s a very delicate business, so we’ll be here quite some time I’m afraid. ”
Another man walked over holding out a cup. “Here, boss. The coffee is shit, but it’s all they have.” He also had an accent which was easy to recognize. New York. He glanced at me. “There’s a coffee machine. Would you like a cup?”
I shook my head feeling completely numb. “No, thank you. I just wait.”
“Thanks, Mickey.” The captain took the cup. He glanced at me. “Why don’t you have a seat, Mr. Adams? It sounds like we’re going to be here a while.”
“Come on, Cachi. Help me get a coffee,” Joshua said. He let go of his partner’s hand and put his arm around my shoulders, leading me away from the others. “These guys are all big and intimidating, but I promise you, they love Rex like a brother. We all do.”
“Thank you.” I walked with him over to the coffee machine and I waited as he got a cup of coffee out, then handed it to me.
“At least warm your hands with it,” said Joshua.
I nodded. It was kind.
I heard a noise and a huge man walked through the door.
He was also dressed in normal clothing, and he glanced around the room before he spotted who he must have come there for.
The short man the captain had called Patsy, met the man halfway across the room.
When the big bear opened his arms, Patsy walked right into them.
Again, no one reacted to the way the two men clung to each other as the large man bent to speak into Patsy’s ear.
“That’s Wes. He’s Patsy’s boyfriend,” Joshua explained. I nodded at him, feeling shell shocked. “Come on. Let’s sit down. We’ll be here a while.”
I let Joshua steer me to a row of chairs and sank down into one as Joshua sat beside me.
All the men stood around speaking to each other while Patsy explained what was happening to Wes.
After a few minutes, everyone settled into chairs to wait.
Marcello came over and sat on the other side of me, taking hold of my hand and saying nothing.
I clung to my old friend like I was holding onto a lifeline.
After a while, I dug into my pocket and pulled out the rosary to start my prayers for Rex all over again.
It was hours and hours with no word. I stayed quiet, only mouthing my prayers as I went through the Rosary several times.
The feeling of the glass beads under my fingers was comforting as I waited.
Several times, I got the urge to call my mamá, but I knew she would be in good hands at the FBI office, so I concentrated instead on asking God to protect Rex.
Eventually, I rested my eyes, leaning my head back against the wall.
At some point, I must have fallen asleep because I came awake with a start when someone shook my shoulder.
When I looked up, I saw a doctor talking to the captain while the other men stood around them.
Marcello leaned down and spoke quietly to me, “Cachi. Rex is out of surgery.”
I felt my heart racing as I jumped up from the chair and ran over to the group of people gathered around the doctor. All the men turned to look at me as I pushed my way through them. I had to admit my surprise as they stepped aside and let me get close to ask what was happening.
“Doctor?”
The captain looked at me and then the doctor. “Doctor Wilson, this is Cachi Adams, Rex’s good friend. You can include him in this conversation.”
The doctor—a small, older man—had kind eyes. “Nice to meet you, Mr. Adams,” he said. “I was just telling Captain Sorensen that Mr. Monroe is out of surgery.”
“Rex…he is okay?”
“We don’t know yet. As you were probably aware, he was shot in the back.
I removed the bullet but it was lodged perilously close to his spinal cord…
well, in fact, it was butted right up against it.
” He shot a cautious glance at the captain before looking back.
“The truth is, until Agent Monroe wakes up, we won’t know how much feeling, if any, he’ll have. ”
“Feeling? What means?”
“It means that Rex may be paralyzed from the waist down, Cachi,” Joshua said, frowning.
The doctor was nodding. “I’m a skilled surgeon, Mr. Adams, but this is one of those things that we just won’t be able to tell until he wakes up.
Sometimes, if the damage was minimal, there will be a simple recovery, but an injury to the body in that area is very dangerous and unpredictable.
The blood supply to his spinal cord was compromised.
And there’s a lot of swelling. Right now, we can’t know the extent of the feeling your friend, Rex, will have and if there is too much damage, whether any feeling will come back at all. ”
“So, you cannot tell me if Rex will be—” I searched for the word, settling for the Spanish. “Rex, he maybe paralizado?”
The doctor stared grimly at me. “Paralyzed, yes. We just don’t know right now.” He glanced around at everyone. “I suggest you all go home and get some rest. My patient will be out for several more hours and at that point, I’ll evaluate him. We can’t know anything more until then.”
“I stay,” I said immediately.
“We can take you to where you’re staying, and—” the captain began.
I shook my head. “No. I stay and see Rex.” I suddenly thought of Rex’s little dog at home all alone. She was probably terrified. “Capitan…please someone go to take care of Lola? Rex’s little dog? She is also—” I felt my eyes well up with tears as the irony wasn’t lost on me. “She paralyzed.”
The captain looked sick as he nodded. He glanced at a big, black man who was almost as tall as Rex. “Napoleon, will you check on Lola? Rex’ll skin us alive if anything happens to his girl.”
The big man nodded. “Yeah, boss. I’ll go now.”
“Thanks.”
“Cachi, are you sure you want to stay?” Marcello asked.
I noticed how sad my friend was. I was positive he still felt guilty for not telling me the truth about everything he’d done and that he was an FBI agent. I reached out, and he immediately took my hand. “Marcello, you go to mi mamá. I worry about her.”
“Mr. Adams, your mother, aunt, and uncle are in protective custody,” the captain said.
I looked over at him. “What means? You protect them from the cartel?”
He nodded. “Yes. We’ve arranged for your family to be in protective custody.
The FBI is putting them in a safehouse until the threat from the cartel is gone and if it takes a long time, then the U.S.
Marshals Service will arrange for all of you to go into WITSEC long term.
You should go join them. It’ll be perfectly safe. You’ll be guarded by U.S. Marshals.”
I shook my head. “I stay here with Rex.” I looked at Marcello. “You go to Mamá? You tell her I safe and I come later?”
Marcello exchanged a glance with the captain who nodded his permission. “Okay, Cachi. I’ll go tell her what’s happening,” he said.
“Gracias, Marcello.” I felt my eyes beginning to burn with tears and since I didn’t want to cry in front of all these strong men, I turned on my heel and went back to the other side of the room to retake my chair.
I couldn’t possibly know the future, but at least Rex was alive.
If he was paralyzed or if he wasn’t, as the doctor said, only time would tell.