by Beth Abbott
He leaned over to place a gentle kiss on her cheek, the only place not covered by a bandage or tube. He leaned down to whisper close to her ear.
“Come back to me my beautiful girl. I can’t live this life without you, now I’ve known how much joy you can bring. I won’t take one more breath if you leave me! I don’t care how long it takes, you can sleep as long as you need to, to get well. I’ll wait for you as long as you’re still breathing.” He gently kissed her fingertips.
“But please try not to take too long, sweetheart. We have a wedding to plan, and those six kids to get started on. I’m not getting any younger here!”
Behind him, Luke heard a sniffle followed by a small squeak of laughter.
He turned to find a different nurse adjusting one of the monitors.
“I’m so sorry.” She blushed. “I didn’t mean to listen in on your conversation. It was just so sweet, I couldn’t walk away.”
“That’s Ok.” Luke smiled. “It was pretty one-sided anyway.”
“No! It was great!” She reassured him. “Keep talking to her. There’s a lot of evidence to support that patients can still hear you even when they’re in a coma. I talk to my patients all the time.”
Luke smiled, as she leaned over Ellen on the opposite side.
“Ellen honey? This is Nurse Karen.” She grinned at Luke, her voice carrying a lovely sing-song Welsh accent. “Now you may not want to hear this, but you have a pretty stonking guy sitting by your bed, who says he’s your fella. I just want to let you know that if you’re not awake within forty-eight hours, there are eight of us in the nurse’s station who will be drawing lots to see who should hit on him first.”
Luke grinned at her. That would normally get Ellen spitting feathers!
“So, all you have to do, my lovely girl, is wake up and plant a really big wet one on his gorgeous mouth, and I promise you we’ll all back off. I’ll even let you kick my arse for drooling over him. Now you can’t say fairer than that, can you?”
There was no reaction, and they hadn’t expected one. But for now, he knew it was because of the medication and not Ellen. Once the medication was withdrawn, Nurse Karen would be a great ally in the ‘Help Ellen Wake Up’ campaign!
“Thank you!” Luke grinned. “It’s good to know that someone else will be pushing her to wake up.”
“No worries, lovely. Besides,” she held her left hand up brandishing a shiny new wedding ring, “what she doesn’t know can’t hurt her!”
Luke shook his head. Women could be so conniving!
“I’m on until five tomorrow morning, with Olive, Cheryl and Rob. We’ll be around doing observations all night. If you want anything, or even just need a cup of tea or a chat, one of us is always in the office, and there’s always a brew available.” She patted his shoulder. “I’ll bring you a few pillows when I come back, and you should try to get some sleep if you can. The chairs aren’t that comfortable, but they’re better than the plastic ones in the waiting room.”
“Thanks, I really appreciate it.”
When Nurse Karen returned, she brought a couple of oversized pillows and a few magazines. They were months out of date, but would be something he could read to Ellen later.
He was exhausted. He didn’t ever remember being so bone weary in his life.
Pulling his chair as close to Ellen’s head as possible, he lowered the guard rail closest to him. This meant that he could prop up a pillow on the edge of her bed and lay his head down, while still being able to hold her small hand in both of his.
He hadn’t intended to close his eyes, but when he felt someone nudge the bed, he knew that he must have been in a deep sleep.
He lifted his head to see where the jostling was coming from.
Nurse Karen was adjusting the other side of the bed, with a male nurse checking Ellen’s monitors.
“Sorry.” She smiled apologetically. “We just had to make her a bit more comfortable and swap her fluid bags over.”
“What time is it?” Luke tried to stretch the kinks out in his neck.
“It’s a little after four in the morning.” Karen smiled. “You’ve had a good few hours.”
“Shit, sorry!” Luke blushed. “I hope I didn’t keep people awake with my snoring.”
The male nurse turned around laughing. “In here? Not so much.”
Luke turned to look around at the other three beds. All of them seemed to be occupied with people hooked up to the same sort of machines and monitors as Ellen.
When the nurses had moved away, Luke stacked the pillows back onto the chair, and moved to stand close to Ellen, stroking her face.
“Morning beautiful.” He whispered. “I’m just going to see if I can find any of the guys to give them an update. I’ll be back before you can miss me.” He kissed her cheek and backed away.
Luke stopped at the nurse’s station on the way out.
“I’m just going to pop out to check in with my friends, and then I’ll be back. Will I have any problem getting back in?”
“No, love.” One of the older nurses replied. “I can give you a security pass that will get you in and out of ICU day and night. You have to sign for it, and if you lose it or don’t hand it back in when your girl leaves ICU, you’ll be billed twenty-five quid. Ok?”
“Yeah, that’s great.” Luke filled in the form, and was handed a security pass hanging from a lanyard. He immediately put it around his neck.
As he left the ICU, he noticed two armed guards at the entrance, and immediately walked up to introduce himself.
“Hey, I’m Luke Roberts.” He held out a hand. “The fiancé of the woman you’re here to protect?”
“We know who you are, sir.” One of them grinned. “You’re the one who took out Mickey Tanner!”
“Is that what they’re saying?” Luke smirked.
“Oh, yeah!” The other cop grinned back at him. “That’s definitely what they’re saying!”
“Must be true then.” Luke shrugged.
“So, how’s your girl doing? We heard she was hit a couple times.”
Luke turned back to look towards ICU.
“She’s in an induced coma at the moment. They had to dig a bullet out of her head and another out of her shoulder.” Luke winced, then shook himself. “But she’s a tough cookie. She’ll be as good as new real soon.”
“Well, we sure hope so.” The first guy nodded again. “And don’t you worry none. We’ll be right here until you’re ready to take her home.”
“Thanks.” Luke nodded. “That’s good to know.”
It took him about five minutes to find his way back to the waiting room where he’d spent so many hours the day before. Sure enough, when he opened the door, it was to find JT, Danny and Matt sprawled wherever they could, on chairs, table and the floor. Danny always could sleep anywhere.
JT lifted his head and smiled at Luke.
“Hey, how’s Ellen doing?” He asked.
“Still in an induced coma.” Luke confirmed, just as Danny and Matt sat upright.
“Hi guys.” He waved over at them.
“All the signs are good though, and if the swelling has subsided by tomorrow…. actually, by later today, they’ll withdraw the drugs that are keeping her asleep, and she’ll come around when her body says she’s ready.”
“Huh?” Danny grunted. “So she won’t just wake up straight away?”
“Nuh-uh.” Luke confirmed. “It’s kind of like she comes out of the induced coma, but then may actually be tired, so she’ll stay asleep. It could last a few hours, or all night. If it lasts longer than twenty-four hours, I reckon that means she’s in a proper coma, if that’s what you call it. Then it’s anyone’s guess when she’ll come out of it.”
The guys all took a moment to absorb this.
“Did you speak to Suzy?” He asked Matt.
“Shit! Did I!” Matt rubbed his ear. “I think she burst my eardrum!”
Luke laughed. “So, is she coming down?”
“I
think I managed to convince her to wait for a few days. I don’t want her anywhere near here while George is still on the run. I used Charlie as my trump card.” Matt grinned. “I told her I didn’t want him growing up without a mummy if anything happened to her!”
“Shit! And that worked?” Luke grinned.
“Yeah, this time it worked! But it’ll only take her a day or two to get her bullshit detector working and realise I was full of crap!”
“Well, let’s hope by then that George is behind bars, and Ellen is wide awake.”
“From your lips to God’s ears!” Matt muttered. “God, now I’m sounding like Fran!”
Luke laughed before getting back up.
“I’m heading back in.”
“Can we get you anything?” JT asked.
“If you manage to get access to my car, could you grab mine and Ellen’s bags? I’d like a change of clothes, and I’m sure there will be a few things in Ellen’s bag that will help her feel better.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem.” JT smiled. “As yours was the only vehicle without bullet holes, the police didn’t impound it. It’s parked downstairs in the underground car park.”
“Fantastic.” Luke grinned. “I’ll come back here about ten o’clock after doctors’ rounds to collect them. In the meantime, why don’t you three assholes sod off and get some shut-eye? You look like shit!”
Danny flipped him the finger, while Matt and JT gave him the ‘Wanker’ hand signal.
“Later bitches…!” He called behind him, walking back out into the corridor.
He was ready for another shift in ICU now.
Chapter 47 - Luke
The doctor had come around the ward at a little after nine that morning, and declared himself more than satisfied with Ellen’s progress.
Her sats had been fine all night, her pupils were apparently responsive and her blood pressure and pulse were all good. They were satisfied that there had been very little swelling following the operation, and he was altogether pleased with Ellen’s improvement.
He’d ordered the staff to withdraw the drugs keeping Ellen in a coma, and Luke felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders.
Whilst they’d kept her drugged he couldn’t even begin to coax her to wake up. In a few hours when the drugs were cleared out of her system, he had a plan of action which included teasing her to the point where she would have to wake up, if only to tell him to ‘shut the hell up!’
As the clock ticked closer to ten o’clock, Luke stood up ready to go and get his gear from JT. He had just bent down to place a kiss on Ellen’s cheek, when a loud boom sounded throughout the ward, and the floor shook.
He looked up to see the ICU staff all looking at each other frowning.
“That’s not normal is it?” He asked one of the day shift nurses.
She shook her head. “I haven’t heard a noise like that before.”
Luke made his way to the ICU entrance, where the two protection cops were still in place.
“Any idea what that sound was?” He asked them.
“It sounded like an explosion!” One of them said, while the other listened carefully to the radio chatter.
“Where?” Luke asked, trying to look out of the window.
“Not sure. Car park maybe?”
Luke’s head swung up. His car!
“Get on the radio and find out if it involved a black Jaguar XF!”
The second officer was on the radio in a second, asking the operator what was happening.
A minute later, confirmation came over the radio that a black Jaguar had indeed been at the heart of the explosion.
They also reported that gun-shots had been heard coming from the carpark and the concourse, and there were currently seven men on the scene along with armed police, three of them apparently working with the police, and four of them firing against!
Jesus! Luke couldn’t breathe. Those were his team-mates out there. He had to get to them!
“Don’t even think about it!” One of the police officers was pointing into Luke’s face. “If what’s going on down there is what we think it is, that means Drayton is after either your girl, or her father. Which means, if you go down there all gung ho! trying to be a hero, that’s one less person we’ll have up here, trying to keep her safe!”
Luke looked at the door, and then looked back at the ICU.
Reluctantly he had to admit they were right.
SHIT! He was torn.
“If they get anywhere near this floor, I want one of you to give me a gun. I have over ten years of military experience, including eight years in special operations. I also have twelve kills on my record, so you don’t wanna underestimate how helpful I might be if they get up here!”
“Ok!” The first officer agreed. “We’ll keep monitoring the position, but if it looks like any of those assholes are headed our way, I’ll give you my sidearm so you can protect your girl.”
“Deal!” Luke nodded. “Now, one of you give me your radio so I can monitor what’s going on from inside.”
The second officer unplugged his radio from his Kevlar vest and handed it to Luke.
“Listen! Don’t chatter!” He warned.
“No problem.” Luke assured him before heading back in to sit by Ellen’s bedside.
He was really starting to hate Wales!
Chapter 48 - JT
Well, this couldn’t get more fucked up if it tried! JT thought.
He was crouched behind an ambulance, in the underground carpark of a busy hospital, Danny on his right, two armed policemen on his left, and four well-armed assholes on the opposite side of the carpark, firing at them like they had an endless supply of bullets.
He’d have made a run for it to get better cover, but it would have ended up looking like that lobby scene from the Matrix, and he sure as hell wasn’t Keanu Reeves with his wacked out super powers!
The air was getting quite thick and difficult to breathe, thanks to Luke’s car, smouldering in the distance.
JT smirked. At least he had been able to get Luke and Ellen’s bags out before they blew the bloody thing up! Even if they were now under several vehicles about twenty metres from where he sat.
At first he’d thought it was a bomb, but then he’d realised it had been a shot from a high powered rifle which had actually penetrated the petrol tank.
If he hadn’t just turned away, and not had the pillar between him and Luke’s car, he’d have been barbecued in the explosion!
From where he sat, JT could see Matt about thirty feet away, arguing with one of the armed police, no doubt listing all of the reasons why the guy should give him a gun and let him take a shot!
“You in charge?” JT nodded to one of the officers alongside him.
“Allegedly!” The guy replied. “What do you need?
“See that guy over there?” He waited for the officer to nod. “He’s one of the best marksmen to come out of the British military in the last fifteen years. I should know - I was his CO. Tell your guy to stop pissing about and give him a sodding gun, so he can do what he’s trained to do!”
The note of authority in JT’s voice was unmistakable, and the OIC didn’t hesitate to give the command.
Grinning at the armed officer, Matt took the proffered weapon, and gave it the once over. JT knew it wouldn’t be Matt’s weapon of choice, but beggars couldn’t be choosers.
Matt shouldered the weapon, and immediately started crawling away from the officer and the vehicle.
The OIC immediately put out a call over the radio. “All units in the vicinity of the lower carpark. Please be aware that we have an armed individual wearing blue jeans, a black jacket and a woollen hat with an Aston Villa badge. This man is a friendly, I repeat, this man is a friendly! Do not engage him, and for God’s sake, Do Not Shoot Him!”
JT couldn’t help but chuckle. He doubted that the OIC had issued that particular order very often.
Danny pointed the opposite way toward the exit ramp.
“Give us some weapons!” JT hissed.
The OIC nodded towards two of his men, and they slid across their handguns, keeping a firm grip on their automatic rifles.
JT and Danny hopped up on to their feet still crouched behind the ambulance. “We’ll be back in a minute!” He promised.
“Shit” The OIC sighed, grabbing his radio again. “All units in the lower carpark, please be advised that there are two further friendlies on the move, both in jeans, heading south from the ambulance bay at the ER entrance. Do not shoot them!” He instructed. “In fact, try not to shoot anyone who’s not pointing a gun at you!”
JT and Danny passed by several armed officers who were obviously perplexed by the goings on. Danny grinned at them all as he passed.
JT shook his head. The asshole was having way too much fun!
They skirted to the far end of the carpark, until they were certain that they had gone past where the gunman was hiding on the other side.
JT stopped when he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. Taking it out, he saw there was an incoming call from Matt.
“Hey boss!” Matt’s whispering voice came down the line as he connected the call. “Just wanted to let you know that I have eyes on three of the four gunmen, and you’ll never guess who I have in my crosshairs right now?”
JT rolled his eyes. “Who’ve you got in your crosshairs, Matt?” He asked patiently, as if he had all the time in the world.
“Well I’m glad you asked that…” Matt paused, determined to wind JT up some more. “Because right now I’m looking down the barrel at one piece of shit that goes by the name of George Drayton, and he’s pointing a gun right at the ambulance you’re sitting behind!”
“No shit!” JT grinned. “Well you’ll be glad to know that Danny and I have our own toy pistols, and we’re no longer behind that ambulance. We’re currently at the opposite end of the carpark from you working our way around in a clock-wise direction.”