Chapter Five
Shay groaned again. “So did you get the license plate of the truck that hit me?” he whispered. Then his eyes widened as he asked, “Where’s Pappy? He was with me, is he still alive?”
Shay slowly turned his head and saw Stone lying on the other bed. “Thank God.”
Dr. Badliss moved over to Stone’s bed. Without any warning, he reached down with both hands and popped Stone’s shoulder back into place.
Stone screamed bloody murder.
The men in the room looked a bit white in the face, most of them had been in fights or accidents and had to have this done.
It took Stone a few minutes to recover and finally when the pain ebbed he glared at the doctor.
The doctor just shrugged. “It’s best when you don’t know it’s coming. Like tearing off a band aid. You don’t tense up as much and it’s been out of joint almost too long the way it was.” Then he probed his leg and ankle.
Stone hissed at the pain but the doctor didn’t stop. When he began to unlace Stone’s boots the doctor glanced back at Bane and grunted. Seems he didn’t care about how scary Bane could be.
Bane walked from the doorway over to one of the cabinets and brought back a small handheld machine.
The doctor removed Stone’s boot and sock. The doctor held up the machine. “This is an ultrasound machine. It will allow me to see if you broke your foot or merely sprained it.”
Bane handed over a tube of gel then plugged in the machine the doctor took. He looked at Stone and shook his head. “Relax, will ya?”
“Oh, that’s rich. You tellin’ me to relax?” Stone scoffed.
James laughed as he looked up from his laptop. “Our man Bane can get moody and yes, it is scarier than a Jason movie, but damn, he can also tell some jokes.”
Shay looked up. “What?” he asked while looking a bit shocked.
Deke and Mountain looked curious.
“The hell?” Sam asked. “Bane telling jokes?” He swung his gaze over to the hitman.
“Yes, tell some, Bane,” Dr. Badliss suggested as he glanced up at him. “It might help as I work on Stone’s foot.”
Stone just gritted his teeth and didn’t say a word.
James looked over at Bane. “Tell them the joke you told me when I was injured.”
Bane shook his head.
“Come on buddy,” James urged. “Ole pal. My—”
“Shut the hell up already,” in a low voice, Bane cut him off.
James laughed.
Bane gave the doctor a nod to go ahead with the examination and such, then he looked at Stone.
“So, a celebrity, a hitman, and an activist walk into a bar. They stand beside each other and have a friendly conversation. Everything seems cool then suddenly, the celebrity starts yakking about her money and her fame and how the little people should kiss her feet. The hitman gets sick of it and takes a knife out then flat out murders the celebrity. He then dumps her into a nearby trash can. The activist turns red and screams, You bloody monster! You didn’t put her in the plastic section! ”
The room went quiet then Stone burst into laughter as he’d forgotten his pain.
“See?” James smirked. “Come on...” James grinned. “Just tell one more!”
Bane slowly looked over at him and said in that scary voice of his, “I would but then I’d have to kill you.”
James stared at him.
Sam laughed loudly. “Oh shit, that one was hilarious!”
Bane said nothing more.
James shook his head.
When the doctor finished he looked up at Stone as he cleaned the goop from the machine. “You have a bad sprain. I didn’t see any broken bones. I’ll wrap it for you but I want you off your feet for the next few days and I want you to ice it. “
“He’ll stay off his feet.” Bane growled.
Stone snapped his head up and seethed. “I want to be involved in this mission. I’m not going to let you keep me as an invalid.”
“Wow, dramatic much?” Bane shrugged. “Look, I know after someone uses a missile to knock you out of the sky it must be rough. But I never said I would keep you in the dark. We can plan our next move in here just as well as anywhere.”
“You’d better.” Stone growled.
The doctor gave Bane another nod as he got the ace bandage out to wrap Stone’s arm up with.
Bane cleared his throat. “Ok, so this next one is short but damn, it’s my favorite... A hitman and his mark walk into the forest. The mark says, it’s dark here, I’m scared. Then the hitman says... You’re scared? Hell, I gotta walk back alone.”
Everyone in the room laughed.
The doctor had wrapped Stone’s arm tight to his chest and told him, “Ok, so try not to move that until your muscles settle down a bit.” He walked over to his black bag, withdrew a small bottle of pills and said, “These will help with the pain but you won’t need too many.
” He handed them to Stone and shook his head.
“If I know men like you...you won’t take them because you need your minds clear but you boys survived something not many people have.
Do yourselves a favor and try to get some rest. Your bodies will appreciate it.
” He then looked up at Bane and paused to add, “I got a joke you can retell. It is short too.”
Bane crossed his arms over his chest and replied, “Never knew you had it in you, Doc.”
“Like I knew you did stand up?” He shook his head. “So why'd the hitman cross the road?”
Bane smirked at him.
“To fulfill his contract,” they both said in unison.
Everyone in the room cracked up.
Bane shook his head. “Thanks Doc. I appreciate the house call.”
“You know I never understood that. A house call. I mean the house never calls me.”
“Boooo,” James teased.
Dr. Badliss just shook his head. “In this instance, I understand the need to be on the downlow.” Then he raised his head and looked at Bane seriously.
“You also need to know something about that guy Owens. He’s got a warehouse not too far from here.
It’s in the woods behind his house. As you know I’ve got a vacation home on the other side of those woods and there have been odd noises there.
And I’ve seen that other guy, who’s living there while Owens was in prison, he’s been seen wandering around those woods a lot.
Seems to me there might be a reason that patch of trees has been so busy lately. ”
This statement got everyone’s attention.
Bane nodded. “I haven’t been in the area for a while. So yeah, we needed to know about what you’ve seen, thanks for the head’s up, Doc.”
“So where did ya learn the jokes, Doc?” James asked as he wiggled his brows.
“I’d tell you but then you might just die laughing.”
“Ohhh, snap!” Sam exclaimed and laughed.
The men all laughed with him.