The Next Ten: Beginnings Series Books 11 - 20

by Jacqueline Druga

  He was the leader and he had to remember it at that moment. Joe knew he had to regain his composure. How could he? His mind was not only on the devastation that occurred but on his son and the missing people from the warehouse, still buried under the debris.

  “We found Henry,” A male voice said behind Joe. “We have to bring him to the clinic. He’s alive but unconscious.”

  “Um . . .” Joe blinked and nodded. “I’ll be right there.” He looked at the Beginnings’ Security man who walked off. Mark was it? Joe wasn’t sure. Then he saw Elliott sifting through the debris like the others. Elliott Ryder would be his salvation. “Elliott,” his words were heavy as Joe called out and walked to him. “Do you know how many . . .” Joe searched for the words.

  “There are three left unaccounted,” Elliott answered. “No casualties, yet.”

  “Can I ask a favor? Can you . . .” Joe rubbed his eyes. “Can you take charge here? My mind . . .”

  “You don’t need to ask. Go.” Elliott nodded. “I’ll keep you informed.”

  “Thank you.” Joe reached out and gave a firm squeeze to Elliott’s arm before turning and walking away. He only wanted to get to the clinic. Perhaps once his mind was put at ease about Robbie, he could clearly concentrate on what had happened. Joe didn’t only have Robbie on his mind, he had the others that were injured as well. How many? How badly? The only comfort there was in the whole mess was they hadn’t lost a life and as long as it stayed that way, they were ‘one up’ on the tragedy.

  What was it about the call of his name from Mark that made Joe stop? It wasn’t excited. It wasn’t panicked. In fact, it had no emotion to it at all and that scared Joe. Slowly he looked back to see Mark.

  “Joe.” Mark gazed up. The look on his face said his findings weren’t good.

  Who was it? was the first thought that came to Joe’s mind as he back tracked and made his way to Mark.

  Mark swallowed heavily. “I’m sorry.”

  Joe slowly bent down to see. His gut gnawed with a sick feeling and his eyes closed. They no longer were ‘one up’. Beginnings was ‘one down’ and ‘one down’ a very good man. Lying on his side, his body showing the effects of the explosion that killed him, was Jason Godrichson.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The pop was loud in the clinic’s waiting room and it caused a pain that made Hal want to grunt loudly, but he didn’t. He clenched his jaws tightly and took relief in the pain that disappeared quickly.

  As he held the arm brace by the strap with his teeth, Frank removed his hands from Hal’s shoulder.

  “Thanks,” Hal told him.

  “Give me that.” Frank laid Hal’s arm in the brace.

  “Frank, I don’t need . . .”

  “Yeah, you do. If you don’t keep this thing secure, at least at first, you can forget about a range of motion in swinging that fuckin sword.”

  “Thanks.” Hal watched his brother secure the arm brace.

  “You need them to check out your leg,” Frank told him.

  “I’ll be fine. The others should be first.”

  With sadness, Joe entered the waiting room and called out a single word that said it all to his sons. “Boys.” In a deep nostril inhale, he took a step to Frank and embraced him. Then before saying anything, he embraced Hal. He exhaled loudly with a slow run of his hand down his face. “Jason’s been killed. We just found him.”

  Frank’s head turned with a slow shake. “Man.”

  “Dad.” Hal laid a hand on Joe’s back. “I am very sorry. I know you two were friends.”

  “He was a good man.” Joe placed his hands in his pockets. “A very good man.”

  “How’s it going out there?” Frank asked.

  Joe just shook his head. “I left Elliott in charge.”

  Hal nodded. “Good choice.”

  “Capt. Slagel.” The call of Hal’s name came from the waiting room.

  Hal looked up. “Blue.” New Bowman’s doctor stood in the doorway.

  “They got me here as soon as they could,” Blue said with a shake of his hand to Hal. “What happened to your shoulder?”

  “I threw it out,” Hal answered.

  Frank interjected. “Tell him to get that leg looked at. I think it’s broken.”

  “Broken?” Joe questioned. “He’s standing on it.”

  “Dad, I’m telling you,” Frank said, “it’s broken. Tell him.”

  “Hal.”

  “In a minute.” Hal looked at Blue. “They really do need you now. The Doctors Hayes are with my brother and the rest of the small staff is very busy.”

  “Just tell me where to go,” Blue stated.

  “Patrick said he’d be in an examining room. Find him. He’s a health aid here. Just down the hall and to the left. You can’t miss it. Thank you,” Hal told him.

  Blue backed up in a hurry and followed Hal’s directions.

  Another heavy sigh came from Joe and he looked at his watch. “Anything on Robbie yet?”

  Frank shook his head. “Ellen promised she would come see us before doing anything else.”

  “What a mess.” Joe walked with the heaviest of slumps over to the couch and not only his body, but also his soul, sank into the cushion.

  ^^^^

  The clank on the tray of the instrument Dean used to cut the bandage was Ellen’s signal that it was over. Slowly she lowered her face mask and walked to the head of the operating table to Robbie. She leaned over him, kissing him softly. “You did well,” she whispered in his ear.

  Dean looked up from his supplies. “As soon as I clean up, I have to relieve Johnny on Jess. Can you help handle the others? I’ll probably be in with Jess for a while.”

  “Yeah. It shouldn’t be too much. You heard Patrick. Blue has arrived.”

  “Good thing.” Dean moved to the sink. “Of course, Patrick wouldn’t give us a progress update on anyone which tells me something bad has happened.”

  From her view of Robbie, Ellen looked at Dean. “Why do you say that?”

  “If all was fine, why wouldn’t he just say so?”

  “Did we do this, Dean?” Ellen asked as she looked down at Robbie. “Did we?”

  Dean’s heart sunk with that question. “No, Ellen. We didn’t. Imagine if in two weeks, we didn’t know that a bomb was there. That letter would have been a reality.”

  “It can still happen.”

  Shaking the water off his hands, Dean reached for a towel. “I highly doubt that. They failed. Now whoever did this is in the light. They won’t try again, at least nothing this big.”

  “Swell.”

  A brief second was taken by Dean to watch Ellen as she sadly looked down at Robbie. “El, you better go tell Joe how he is.”

  “How is he, Dean? In your opinion.”

  Dean took a deep breath. “In my opinion, Robbie Slagel is a very lucky man. The next twenty-four hours are crucial, but I am hopeful. I want to keep him out for the remainder of the day and give him that edge.”

  Agreeing with a nod, Ellen kept her eyes on Robbie. His eyes were closed and a peaceful look was on his face. “I can’t believe this happened to him.” Her hand reached to his face.

  “Well, this grief all of you are feeling for him is very founded, but he can’t feel that from you. He’ll have enough of his own to deal with.”

  “I know.”

  “What we just did,” Dean said as moved to her, “was make sure he was sealed up and bandaged properly. Sadly, this is only round one. That horrible scene we witnessed this afternoon . . .” He laid his hand on Ellen’s shoulder, moving into her with comfort. “It’s going to seem minuscule to Robbie in the wake of what he has to face.”

  ^^^^

  Frank pretty much kept the same position in the waiting room. He leaned against the doorway with his arms folded as he waited and watched for Ellen to come down the hall. Like his father, he knew he couldn’t think of anything until he heard about Robbie. He lifted from that lean when Hal limped in, wearing a pair of blue hospi
tal scrubs. “Where are your clothes?”

  Hal rolled his eyes. “Blue wouldn’t let me keep them. He said not until he checks out the x-ray.” He stepped to Frank with a low voice and eyes focused on Joe just sitting there. “How’s Dad?”

  Frank widened his eyes. “I haven’t seen him like this ever.”

  “It’s Robbie.”

  “True,” Frank agreed.

  “And we all know . . . Elliott.” Hal looked up.

  “Of course we all know Elliot. What the fuck does he have to do with it?” Frank asked.

  “Asshole.” Hal smacked the back of his hand into Frank’s arm then pointed. “Elliott.”

  Joe stood up when Elliott walked in the room.

  Elliott looked about the faces of the Slagel men. “Anything on Robbie?”

  “Not yet,” Hal answered. “What’s going on out there?”

  “We sifted through the rubble,” Elliott explained, keeping his eyes mostly on Joe. “It seems there are mostly head injuries from the blast. We found Trish. She has a head injury and possibly a broken leg, not sure. They’re bringing her in now.”

  “What about . . .” Joe hesitated to asked. “What about Josephine?”

  “You aren’t going to like this,” Elliott said.

  “Christ.” Joe closed his eyes.

  Elliott continued, “She was home.”

  “What?” Joe looked up. “Home?”

  “Home,” Elliott repeated as he tossed up his hand.

  With is hands on his hips, Frank just glared in confusion. “Wasn’t she in that warehouse?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Elliott nodded. “And that’s what started me thinking. In my mind, I was trying to position where everyone where was and I remembered her being right by the door. There was a lot of confusion, but I had a hunch that she ran out when the door opened. So I went down and checked. Sure enough, she was home, drunk as could be. She said she ran and kept on running.”

  Joe grumbled. “Why didn’t she come . . . never mind. It’s Josephine. At least she’s all right. Hal, what the hell happened at that warehouse?”

  “Dad, it’s a very long story to get into,” Hal explained. “But we will when we can all sit down with clear minds, but basically, we were in there . . .”

  Ellen’s voice interrupted in her walk into the waiting room. “We would have all been dead had it not been for Hal. He’s responsible for saving us.” She walked up to him and hugged him. “Thank you again.” She moved to Elliott. “Thank you for finding me.”

  “Ellen,” Joe spoke up, “how’s Robbie?”

  Ellen turned around. “Robbie is . . .” She exhaled. “He’s doing better than we expected. It looks good.”

  Joe closed his eyes in relief. “When can I see him?”

  “Now, if you like, but . . .” Bodily, she stopped them from leaving. “Don’t try to wake him. Just say a quiet hello and let him rest. We need him sedated. He’s in room 57.”

  Nodding, Joe laid his hand on Ellen’s cheek and kissed her. “Thank you. Let’s go boys.”

  Frank slid his hand over Ellen’s face as he walked by her, but before Hal could limp out the door, she blocked him. “Not you, Hal.”

  “Not me?” Hal asked.

  “Not you,” Ellen told him. “You have to get to Exam Room Three. It’s open . . .”

  “But . . .”

  “But nothing.” She pointed. “You have a broken leg.” She backed up. “Elliott, get him off that leg, please.”

  Hal stood speechless as he watched Ellen leave. “Great, just great. A broken leg.” He started to walk to the hall.

  “Captain, Ellen said to get you off that leg. Shall I carry you now?”

  Hal paused and glared back, then after a grumble, he limped off.

  ^^^^

  Pieces of metal, glass, and wood wove outwardly and deeply in the flaky charred flesh of Jess’s back. Johnny Slagel was disgusted. He couldn’t sniffle nor could he cough. He couldn’t even talk for fear of spreading germs as he removed the tiny pieces of debris. Not that he cared if Jess got an infection, but Melissa was there, monitoring his vitals and dabbing the blood that seeped out from every small chunk.

  His plan had failed and even if he wanted to, something that grandstand couldn’t be tried again. If he had the communications means, Johnny would prefer to just call George and get the hell out of Beginnings. But he was stuck even longer and laying incapacitated and useless to him was one of his insider team. He knew he was back singling them out again, the suspects and most importantly, Hal. Johnny had already set that plan in motion to bring him down. Even if Hal wasn’t the one who killed Bev, in Johnny’s mind Hal was just a big asshole who deserved every ounce of torment he received.

  “Johnny/” Dean’s voice called over the speaker in the operating room. “I’ll replace you. Can you step into the hall?”

  Thinking, ‘Thank fuckin God’, Johnny nodded to Melissa and stepped back from Jess. He couldn’t even remove a glove or mask until he went into the wash area first. He did quickly, wanting to just get on with the day, but he knew Dean was going to give him some lame job like checking for infections or bandaging heads.

  “How’s my uncle?” Johnny asked with feigned concern when he met Dean in the hall.

  “Holding his own,” Dean told him. “I need you to assist Ellen and Blue.”

  “Absolutely,” Johnny said. “No problem.” His mind cringed. “What do you need?”

  “Ellen and Blue are checking out head injuries. I know you haven’t done this often, but I have faith in you. Can you set Hal’s leg?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “He broke his leg.”

  “Sure. I’ll set it.”

  Dean laid his hand on Johnny’s arm. “Good. Uh, Johnny . . .” Dean paused before going in the wash area. “Hal’s adrenaline is probably slowing down now. He’s gonna feel that break so be gentle. OK?” He slipped through the doors.

  Sadistically, Johnny grinned.

  ^^^^

  Dr. Blue checked the intravenous going into Jenny’s arm. He turned and looked at John who stared at Jenny. He had one arm crossed over his waist as he bit his nails. “Your wife will be fine. She has a concussion and is resting. That’s for the best.”

  “What about the baby?”

  Heavily, Blue walked to John. “Mr. Matoose . . .”

  “No.” John closed his eyes.

  “I did all I could. I even interrupted Dr. Hayes from his procedure, but the baby had already . . . I didn’t detect a heartbeat and the ultrasound confirmed the baby had died in utero. I’m very sorry.” Pausing behind John, Blue laid a hand on his shoulder then slowly walked out.

  John stepped to the bed. His hands gripped the foot of it as his head hung low. “Jenny, you are not going to be able to handle this.” He shook his head. “I have to find Ellen. She has to be the one to tell you when you wake up.” Walking to his sleeping wife, John leaned over and kissed her gently, and then running his hand down her face, he slowly walked from her room.

  He wasn’t in that hall very long. He tried to get his bearings on where to go when he saw Johnny, in an upbeat stride, walking down the hall. Johnny gave a flash of his eyebrows in his passing and that sent warnings signals off to John.

  About to follow Johnny, John stopped. ‘No,’ John told himself. ‘What are you thinking? You don’t know what caused that explosion’ He chalked it up to his emotions that were searching for answers, but why did Johnny Slagel make so much sense? John knew Johnny wanted the investigation over with as soon as possible. He knew he had it out for his Uncle Hal. But even with Johnny’s nineteen year old demented, ‘I can do no wrong’ way of thinking, would he go that far? With the thought of one name, John Matoose answered that question as no.

  That name was Robbie.

  For as much as Johnny hated Beginnings, John Matoose couldn’t think of a valid reason or indication Johnny had to hate Robbie. With that reasoning alone, John, for the time being, put the thought that Johnny was responsible o
ut of his mind.

  ^^^^

  Henry only nodded. Lying in bed with the covers to his waist, his chin sported a bandage and his face looked so drawn as he just stared out. He wasn’t looking at anything, not even Ellen or Hector.

  “You’ll go home tomorrow, Henry,” Ellen told him. “We just want to watch you tonight. Understand?”

  Henry nodded again.

  “We didn’t see anything on the CT scan that indicated a concussion. Then again, you were unconscious so we are giving that as the diagnosis. Pretty much everyone has that diagnosis until tomorrow morning when we can run a second series of tests. OK?” She touched his leg. “I’ll check on you in a little bit.” She started to walk out.

  “Was Jason the only one?” Henry asked sadly.

  Ellen stopped. Her lip quivered before she turned back around. “Yeah, we lost Jason.”

  Henry’s closed his eyes tightly. “How’s Robbie?”

  “He’s holding on.”

  “God,” Henry whispered out. “I can’t believe that happened to him. I can’t believe any of this happened. I’m really sorry. Can you tell Joe I am really sorry?”

  “I will, Henry. Get some rest.”

  “Ellen.” Hector stood up from the chair and stopped her before she left the room. “Can I talk to you?”

  “Sure. In private?”

  “Nah, this is fine.” Hector looked back at Henry. He was a little bruised, but physically Hector was fine. “Um, this may be a really odd request, but seeing all that happened, I know Josh is with the kids. I also know you and Dean will probably be here all night. I just thought, I was wondering . . . would you like me to take Nick tonight?”

  “Oh, Hector that is a lot to ask.”

  “No, really.” Hector shook his head. “It isn’t. I want to. I understand if you’d rather not have me . . .”

  “No, that’s not it.” Ellen waved her hand out and then slipped into thought briefly. “You know what? Frank doesn’t need to deal with a baby, not tonight. Yes,” she breathed out her answer. “If you could, that would be great.”