Chapter 52
The Ten of Swords reminds us the cycle of darkness and pain leads to transformation.
CAL
The ride to the hospital was short. Tucked into a bed in the ER, I am still shaking with fear.
I hear subdued whispers outside the curtain. Danny’s voice, Laura’s voice, and a couple of male voices I don’t recognize.
A doctor parts the curtain and I smile in recognition. “Hey Kat. I heard you were Chief MO here. How’s it going?”
Katherine Hao, MD, Chief Medical Officer of Grady Hospital laughs. “You’re lying on a gurney in my ER and you ask how I’m doing?” She gives me a hug. “Quite a few rough months you’ve had. I’ve followed things on CNN. Sorry to hear about Paul.” She listens to my chest, watching the monitors attached to my extremities.
“Here’s what we’re going to do. You’ve received quite a shock tonight and you’re still a bit tachycardic. Your blood pressure is low, and I want a peek at your head wounds. I’m ordering an MRI and then we’ll send you upstairs for the night. A nurse will be in to give you a few stitches in your neck.”
“Completely unnecessary, Kat. I’m fit as a fiddle.” I stand up and promptly faint. Laura pokes her head through the curtain, “I should have warned you that was going to happen.”
“Oh, I was prepared for it. You should have seen her in med school. Her nickname was “Dr. Flora” because she hit the floor at least once a week.”
An hour later Danny opens the door to my hospital room. He has take-out bags from Serendipity.
“Marci brought this by. She is chomping at the bit to see you. Shall I let her in?”
“Not yet. How could you and Biz use me as bait like that? Juliet could have killed me.” I am still disoriented. I’m not sure I’m expressing the full extent of my fury.
“We were out of options, Cal. We had to make the circumstances credible for Juliet.”
“Why didn’t you warn me?”
“Because you wouldn’t have been believable as a captive. And then she would have killed you.”
“But you couldn’t be sure when she would show up.”
“You and Juliet have been under surveillance for a week. The breaking news story about another suspect was planted. A portion of the money you paid Eagle went to the News Director, who is a friend of hers. We knew it would flush out Juliet and force her hand.
“You were never in any danger.” Danny squeezed my hand.
“Oh yeah? How were you going to save the day, Mighty Mouse, all duct taped and zip tied to the chair? What if Juliet had decided to just shoot us both in the head instead of playing her mind games? What if Biz had fallen out of the tree climbing into my second story window and broken both her legs? WHAT IF BIZ HAD MISSED?”
The alarm on the machine monitoring my vital signs goes haywire. A nurse scurries into the room. She looks pointedly at Danny. “Sir, you are going to have to leave now.”
Danny flashes his badge. Yolanda snorts.
“I don’t care who you are, Mister, you cannot disturb my patient. Get out or I’ll call security.”
I look at the nurse’s nametag. “Yolanda, I’m OK and Detective Chan is fine. Dr. Hao is a friend of mine. You can check with her and confirm that Detective Chan can stay.”
Yolanda pats my hand. “Dr. Hao has already alerted the station that we have a VIP guest on the floor.” She glances at Danny and then back at me. “Are you sure he can stay?”
“Yes and thank you for such good care.”
Nurse Yolanda leaves, scowling at Danny. “Watch yourself, Detective.”
“If I ever need a bodyguard, I’m calling Nurse Yolanda.” I ask again, “Danny, what if Biz had missed?”
“She’s a trained sniper. She can hit a target dead center at 800 yards. She did tell me, though, if it came down to it, she would have shot straight through you to kill Juliet to save me if you hadn’t moved out of the way at the last minute.”
“But that doesn’t….”
Danny lays a finger across my lips. “I knew Biz was upstairs with her rifle trained on Juliet. And yet I was terrified that something was going to happen to you. Is your offer still open for us to start over?”
This is the face I want to wake up to every morning.
“Has Charlotte signed the papers yet?”
“No. I’m working on it.”
“Work harder. Get that settled. Then, yes, we can start over.”
I yawn. The valium is kicking in and I am fading fast. “Can you let Marci in now? I’ll just say goodnight to her and let her go home.”
I opened the food bag. Bless Marci’s heart. I twirl a huge ball of spaghetti and dip it in sauce.