Chapter 38
At five a.m., three men from the Department of Corrections entered Hollis’s hospital room, along with nursing staff.
It had been a night of broken sleep for Rocky, who had worry on her mind.
She’d just dozed off in a vinyl recliner when she was startled awake by a well-built bald man in cargo pants and a tactical jacket.
He brushed past her and began unshackling Hollis’s wrist from the bed rail.
“What’s going on here?” Rocky asked. “Are you taking my husband somewhere?”
The bald man was cavalier. “We’re with the Prisoner Transport Security Division, ma’am. We’ve been ordered to take your husband to the Cook County Department of Corrections.”
“Ordered by whom?”
The man pulled an envelope from his pocket. “The judge’s office, ma’am. If you have issues, you’ll need to take it up with the judge presiding over his case.”
Rocky opened the envelope and read the document. It was a transportation order signed by Judge Kathleen Lambert.
“I don’t know the particulars. My job is to transport people who’ve been remanded to custody. I suggest you contact your attorney, if you have one.”
Hollis was under the influence of pain medication, and he didn’t make a fuss. “Something wrong, Rocky?” he asked. “Are they taking me for more X-rays?”
“No, sweetheart. Just do as they say. I’m going to fix this.” Rocky reached into her purse, took out her phone, and dialed Beau Lee.
“Men are here, and they’re taking Hollis away,” she said. “They say they’re with the Department of Corrections.”
“The judge must’ve issued the transportation order,” Beau Lee said.
“But he isn’t well enough to go to jail, and the doctor told me his paralysis isn’t improving. There has to be something we can do,” she said, her voice unsteady, as though fighting to hold back panic and tears at once.
“Let me call Alvarez,” he said. “The appellate court is dragging its feet on the appeal, and we’ll need to apply more pressure.”
“They won’t give him the proper care in jail, you know that,” she said. “This can’t be happening. Hollis needs to stay in the hospital.”
“I understand, and I’m going to get working on this right now.”
“All right,” she said. “Thank you.”
The nurses secured Hollis to the wheelchair and were prepared to wheel him out of the room when the bald man took hold of the handles. “We’ll take it from here,” he said, motioning for the nurses to step back.
Rocky attempted to follow them but was stopped just shy of the elevator.
“Everything’s going to be okay, Hollis. Don’t worry.
We’re going to fix this.” The elevator doors opened, and the bald man ordered his fellow officers to remove all the visitors and personnel who were on it, forcing them to disembark on an unintended floor.
Once the elevator was empty, he pushed Hollis inside.
Rocky felt helpless as she watched the doors close.
And she did the only thing she could think of: She prayed for her husband, her children, and everyone who loved Hollis. She prayed for moments of peace in the midst of her family’s torn-up state, and most of all, she prayed for deliverance.