Taking Chances

by Susan Lewis

  ‘What did you do when Rachel begged?’ he demanded. ‘Did you give her any mercy, or did you just find ways of shutting her up?’

  Molina was crying with his mouth open. Blood, mucus and saliva ran down his face. ‘You’ve ruined me, man,’ he wept. ‘You’ve ruined my fucking cock.’

  Chambers watched him in disgust. His hands were shaking. His head was spinning. He couldn’t hold on to the gun. He hated what he’d done, but knew he’d do it all over again. ‘You’re going to jail, Molina,’ he snarled. ‘You’re going to jail for the rest of your fucking life where every pimp and pervert that ever crosses your path is going to do everything to you that you did to Rachel and more.’

  Molina looked at him, his wild black eyes starting to dim as his body continued to shake and jerk in shock and pain. For a moment he didn’t understand what was happening. Was the gringo backing off? He wasn’t going to kill him? No eating his own cock? Holy Mother of God, yes, the gringo was backing off.

  Chambers was walking out the door, vomit rising in his throat.

  Valerio and the others were watching him.

  Molina was slipping a bloodied hand to his waistband. Then, before anyone could move, he whipped out his gun and fired twice with a .44 magnum. Both bullets hit Chambers full in the back and mushroomed on impact.

  Chambers flew forward, crashing into a desk and taking it over with him. Then the entire place erupted in gunfire, as every armed officer in range shot Salvador Molina with ammunition that no bulletproof blazer could stop.

  It was only when the mayhem was over and the final echo of gunfire drifted into silence that Chambers allowed himself to move. Valerio came to stand over him, offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. He was winded, cut and bruised and shaken to the depths of his being.

  ‘I think Señor Gavira’s vests are to be recommended,’ Valerio stated.

  Chambers could barely hear him through the deafening aftermath of gunfire. He slipped off his vest and held it up to look at where the bullets had entered. The bitter stench of gunsmoke mingled with the meaty smell of torn flesh and blood. For a moment he blacked out, was revived with water, then dropping the vest he looked over at Molina. There wasn’t much more to see than a pile of bloodied clothes and the splash of brains on the wall. Again he felt his stomach rise, and turning aside he threw up on the floor.

  General Gómez stepped out of his Mercedes as the dark grey Explorer came to a halt beside it. The wind was blowing a gale across the huge flat plains of the airport, driving bracken and brush to this far, empty corner.

  Valerio got out of the Blazer and saluted the general. ‘Everything is in order, sir,’ he reported.

  The general turned to watch the take-off of an American Airlines 757. He stayed with it as it soared overhead, and rose on higher and higher into the clouds. Then looking back at Valerio he said, ‘Did you tell him?’

  ‘That Hernán Galeano is dead? Yes, sir.’

  The general nodded.

  ‘He said,’ Valerio continued, eyes straight ahead, ‘“Seems you just can’t get the chefs these days.’”

  The general allowed himself a grin, then got back into the Mercedes and drove away.

  Chapter 25

  MICHAEL WAS STANDING in the doorway trying to see past all the white coats that were gathered round the bed. Ellen was watching him, her eyes shining with forced humour and tears. She had regained full consciousness a few hours ago, after drifting in and out for the past day, coming around just long enough to murmur and hold his hand before slipping away again. In all that time he hadn’t moved from her bedside, except to visit the bathroom and make way for the doctors.

  Now she had been breathing unassisted for long enough to start becoming agitated by the need to speak. To enable that the ventilator tube had to be removed from her lungs, which was what the respiratory therapist was now doing.

  ‘OK,’ the therapist said, ‘are you ready to cough?’

  Ellen looked up at him and nodded. Her face was still frighteningly pale, but to see her eyes open and to watch her respond felt like such a miracle to Michael that he could barely contain his emotion.

  ‘Off you go then,’ the therapist instructed.

  Ellen took a breath, then coughed. The therapist eased gently on the tube. There were murmurs of well done, and squeezes of her hands. She coughed again, and after two or three more tries the tube came free.

  More congratulations. More coughing. Her lips were dabbed, the inside of her mouth was washed, then after checking the rest of her IVs the room finally started to empty.

  Michael walked forward. She looked up at him, her eyes so anxious and full of love that he felt tears come to his own.

  ‘Hi,’ he said.

  She smiled, then tried to speak, but nothing came out.

  He leaned forward and kissed her softly on the mouth. There was still a tube in her nose, and all kinds of other attachments he had to be careful of, but to feel her lips beneath his, and the touch of her hand seeking his, was all that mattered.

  ‘I like the beard,’ she managed to croak.

  He smiled and kissed her palm as she touched his chin.

  ‘You look terrible,’ she said. Her voice was so faint he could barely hear, but he laughed at that.

  ‘You look wonderful,’ he told her.

  ‘Can I see the baby?’

  ‘They said in a couple of hours.’

  She looked disappointed. ‘Tell me some more about him,’ she said, rallying.

  Michael grimaced. ‘Well,’ he said, ‘he looks a lot better than he did a week ago. A week ago he was a bit scary. He looks more human now.’

  She smiled and laughed as a tear trickled down onto the pillow.

  ‘He’s off the respirator and his lungs are good,’ Michael went on. ‘So’s his heart. You know, he looks a bit of a backchatter to me, and he’s not keen on the ICU so they’re moving him to the intermediate ward.’

  She swallowed hard. ‘He’s doing that well?’ she said.

  He nodded.

  ‘Does he have a name?’

  ‘Not yet. I was waiting for you. But I told him this morning that if he didn’t stop acting up I’d call him Jasper.’

  Ellen laughed.

  ‘He doesn’t like me,’ he stated, ‘because I’m not very good at feeding him. Well, that’s not true, I can do it, but he doesn’t like the frock and mask I have to wear while I’m doing it.’

  Ellen bit her lip as more tears welled in her eyes. ‘I want to see him so bad,’ she whispered. ‘I want to see you feeding him in your frock and mask.’

  ‘Don’t worry, you will,’ he assured her.

  He turned round as her parents came into the room, then stood back to make way for her father.

  ‘Hello Dad,’ she rasped, as he took hold of her hand.

  The big, brusque Nebraska farmer tried to speak, but for the moment was too overcome to get any words past the emotion in his throat.

  Michael looked at his mother-in-law, who smiled and squeezed his arm before stepping forward. ‘Hi honey,’ she said, her tired face showing so much relief it seemed to lighten her by years. ‘How’re you feeling?’

  ‘OK,’ Ellen answered. ‘A bit of pain, but not much. I just want to see the baby.’

  Nina smiled. ‘You’ve got a fine son,’ she said. ‘Dad and I are real proud.’

  Michael put a hand on his father-in-law’s shoulder as the old man began quietly to sob.

  Ellen tightened her hold on his hand and cried too. ‘I love you, Dad,’ she whispered.

  He nodded, then nodded again. They all knew how precious she was to her father, his only child, the daughter he loved so much he had been too terrified to allow her out into the world for fear of something like this.

  ‘Come on, we don’t want to tire her now,’ Nina said.

  Frank got to his feet, but Ellen held on to him. ‘Don’t go home yet,’ she whispered. ‘Please stay in LA for a while.’

  ‘We’re not going anywhere u
ntil you’re out of here and at home with your baby,’ her father assured her.

  Ellen turned to look up at Michael. He came forward and took the hand that Frank released.

  When her parents had gone she continued to cry, tears running from her eyes as she clung to Michael’s hand and tried to speak.

  ‘It’s OK, darling,’ he whispered. ‘Take it easy now. Just take a breath. It’s going to be all right.’

  ‘Oh Michael, I’m sorry,’ she choked. ‘I’m so sorry.’

  ‘Hey,’ he laughed. ‘There’s nothing to be sorry for.’

  ‘I should have told you,’ she said. ‘I should have told you as soon as I knew the baby was yours. You deserved to know. You’re his father, and I didn’t tell you right away. Oh Michael, I’m sorry.’

  ‘Sweetheart, it doesn’t matter now,’ he said. ‘All that matters is that you’re here and so’s the baby and you’re both going to be just fine.’

  ‘I should have told you about the phone call too,’ she said. ‘Someone threatened me. I don’t know who it was, but he told me to back off the movie. I didn’t tell you, because I didn’t want to worry you. You had so much going on with everything else, and you were going to lose everything … Oh God, I made such a mess of things and I love you so much.’

  ‘I love you too, and you’re a fool not to have told me. You should have known that you’d matter more to me than anything. But it’s in the past now. We can’t change it, so let’s just look forward.’

  Her eyes gazed up into his and stayed there for a long, long time, looking at him, loving him and wanting so much to hold him. In the end she drifted into sleep, her hand still holding on to his.

  He stayed with her until a nurse came and told him gently to go. He needed some rest too, and, though she didn’t say it, probably a shower and definitely a shave.

  *

  Chambers took a cab in from LA airport, not sure this time how long he’d be staying. Presuming his hotel bill would no longer be picked up by World Wide, he checked into a room at the Four Seasons rather than a suite and ordered the belongings he’d left in storage to be brought up by a porter.

  It was early evening. He was tired, hungry and in desperate need of a drink and some company. But he knew he wouldn’t go in search of any, for he was still too bruised and shaken by the events of the past week to want to venture far from this room. Besides, the only person he really felt like talking to was Michael, but with so many issues between them right now, that call would have to wait. At least Ellen was pulling through, or so it had said on the news, but the first few months of doubt over the baby, and the collapse of the movie, were matters that he and Michael would have to sit down with sooner or later.

  He toyed with the idea of trying Sandy’s London apartment again, but didn’t imagine Nesta would welcome being woken up at three in the morning. He’d tried earlier, during the stopover in Miami, but neither Nesta, nor any of Sandy’s colleagues at the agency, knew where she was. They hadn’t heard from her in over a week, but Nesta had been hopeful that once Sandy heard that the Colombian threat had now been dealt with, she would surface from wherever she was hiding.

  Tom certainly hoped so, for he was anxious to let her know that he was no longer mad at her for disclosing his plans – if anything, as Gómez had pointed out, he wanted to thank her for saving his life. He wanted to see her, too, for, in a surprising kind of a way, he was missing her.

  But any catching-up they had to do would have to wait until she decided to come out from wherever she was, and in the meantime he would take a solitary dinner in his room, sleep for at least twelve hours and then try to start piecing together some kind of plan for the future. That wasn’t going to be easy, for what had just occurred in Colombia was bringing back Rachel’s loss as though it had only just happened. He knew there was a good chance it would pass a lot quicker than before, but for now the memories, the pain and the longing were welcome, for it was all there was to hold them together until such time as he was ready to let go. And he’d do that soon, he was sure of it; and he prayed to God that when he did he would be able to find some kind of peace at last, and maybe even a life that felt worth living.

  It seemed everyone was smiling at Michael as he made his way along the sixth-floor corridor to where Ellen had now been moved into a private ward. He smiled back, and was so euphoric that he might have shaken everyone by the hand, and even embraced them, had he not been so overloaded and in a hurry to get to Ellen.

  She was holding down solids now, could manage the bathroom unaided, and the small infection that had concerned them a couple of days ago was all cleared up. In fact, there was a very good chance she’d be home by the weekend, which was going to be an event it would be hard not to celebrate with fireworks, brass bands and magnums of champagne. But since she wouldn’t be up to that, both their mothers were planning a small family dinner which had already turned the kitchen into a no-go zone, unless you had the courage of a madman. And since neither Michael nor Frank quite qualified there, they were left either to starve, or eat out.

  Spotting Michael coming towards her, one of the nurses got instantly up from her work station and went to open Ellen’s door.

  Ellen was sitting up in bed, the baby cuddled in her arms as she fed him his formula and gazed adoringly into his cute little face. There were no IVs or monitors cluttered around her now, just a TV set perched high on a bracket, a nightstand full of flowers and a pretty good view of the Santa Monica mountains from the window. And of course her son, who had been discharged from the hospital the day before and had been left here earlier by Michael while he went off to get her a surprise.

  Hearing the door open she turned to see who it was, then immediately started to laugh as she saw Michael struggling with a pot plant that was on the fast track to becoming a tree.

  ‘It’s not from me,’ he told her, manoeuvring it in through the door.

  Ellen frowned curiously, and was about to ask when Michael put a finger over his lips for her to stop.

  ‘OK. Surprise!’ he called.

  Ellen looked at the door, then gave a sudden gasp of joy as Robbie’s little face peered anxiously round the corner. ‘Oh my darling,’ she cried, holding out an arm for him to come to her. ‘What are you doing here? When did you arrive? Oh, let me see you. I’ve missed you so much.’

  More certain now of his welcome, Robbie looked at his dad, then went sheepishly over to the bed. ‘They wouldn’t let me bring Spot,’ he said, looking sideways at the baby.

  ‘Oh, never mind,’ Ellen laughed. ‘I’ll see him soon. Do you want to jump up here, next to me? You can see the baby better then. He’s your brother, you know.’

  He nodded, then lifted his blue eyes to Ellen. He looked so solemn and worried that she glanced at Michael to see if he could explain it.

  ‘I’ve got to go talk to the doctor about the insurance,’ Michael said. ‘I’ll be right back.’

  Surprised by his abrupt departure, Ellen turned back to Robbie. ‘You going to climb up?’ she offered.

  He nodded, and tugging on the blanket he hoisted himself up next to her.

  ‘Can I give you a kiss?’ she asked, as he gazed down at the baby.

  Again he nodded, and hugging him close she kissed him hard on the head. ‘I’m so happy you’re here,’ she told him. ‘It’s the best surprise ever.’

  Robbie kept his head lowered, apparently entranced by his new brother.

  ‘Do you like him?’ Ellen said softly.

  Robbie shrugged. ‘Yeah, he’s OK,’ he said.

  She smiled and hugged him again. ‘So when did you get here?’ she asked. ‘I’m so glad you kept it as a surprise, and my plant is wonderful, by the way. Definitely the best one I’ve had. We can probably put it in the garden when we get home.’

  ‘Dad said that,’ he responded. Then he turned his head to look at her. ‘I’m sorry I was nasty to you,’ he suddenly blurted. ‘I didn’t want you and Dad to be unhappy, and for you to go and leave Dad on hi
s own and I know it was my fault, but Dad says it’s all right now and that you’re not angry with me …’

  ‘Oh Robbie,’ she cried, pulling him to her. ‘It wasn’t your fault, honey. None of it was your fault, and you mustn’t think it was. And you weren’t nasty to me, you were just confused – you wanted your mom, which is understandable, because she loves you very much and I know you love her too.’

  His eyes continued to search hers, as though he were taking a while to digest what she was saying. Then he nodded and said, ‘I love Mummy.’

  ‘I know you do.’

  ‘And I love you.’

  ‘Oh, I love you too,’ she said and kissed him again. ‘You’re my big boy, my best boy. And this is my little boy, and my other best boy.’

  He turned back to the baby. ‘Can he sleep in my room?’ he said.

  ‘When he gets a bit bigger, sure he can. And when you get fed up with him we’ll put him in the room Gran’s using now, shall we, because he might get in the way when your friends come over.’

  ‘Yes, he might,’ he agreed. ‘I think Spot will like him.’

  ‘Oh, I hope so,’ Ellen said.

  ‘So how are you doing in here?’ Michael said, coming back and sitting on the edge of the bed. ‘Did you say what you wanted to say?’ he asked Robbie.

  Robbie nodded, and snuggled in closer to Ellen as Michael ruffled his hair. ‘So what do you think of the baby?’ Michael said.

  ‘He’s good,’ Robbie answered. ‘What’s his name?’

  Michael and Ellen looked at each other. Then Ellen turned back to Robbie.

  ‘I know, why don’t you choose one?’ she suggested.

  ‘Steady on, remember the dog,’ Michael muttered under his breath.

  ‘Oh God,’ Ellen mumbled.

  ‘Shut up, Dad,’ Robbie said. ‘I’m not going to call him Spot.’

  ‘Oh, well there’s a relief,’ Michael commented. ‘So what do you want to call him?’

  ‘Ummm, I know, what about Mervin?’

  ‘Mervin!’ Michael cried in disgust. ‘I’m not calling him Mervin.’

  Robbie turned to Ellen, who wrinkled her nose and gave a quick shake of her head.