He entered his darkened office for the first time in ten hours and turned lights on. His secretary had left his messages and his correspondence on the center of his desk for him to see. He sat down and looked through the messages, seeing one from every member of his family telling him that there was still no news. He'd known that there was still no news, because his phone hadn't gone off to alert him. It had been exactly a week since it all began, and five days since Adam saw her. He was going to have to start handing out sedatives to his family if something didn't change soon.
He began to go through the stack of correspondence, and came upon an overnight envelope with no return address. It was marked "personal and confidential," so his secretary hadn't opened it. He ripped it open and a key fell out. Henry's hands shook a little as he picked it up and looked at it, instinctively knowing it was a key to a locker. Then he pulled out the single piece of paper that had come with the key.
"She is safe. She is no longer with me, and if she stays smart, she'll stay safe. If I disappear, someone will come to you. Trust her. If I don't disappear, hopefully, Aria will be with you in a few days. The original plan I discussed with your brother cannot happen. This goes too deep for it to work. I have an alternate plan that will go into effect either by my hands or my friend's. This is why you'll have to trust her. You'll recognize my friend. She has one very obvious distinguishing physical feature."
It wasn't signed, but Henry knew who sent it. He put the key in his pocket and leaned back in his chair, contemplating the message.
When his phone rang his stomach turned a little, worried about whether the call would be good news or bad news.
"Yes?" he said when he answered.
"Is this Doctor Henry Suarez?" the woman asked.
"It is."
"This line is secure, I've checked, but your office isn't, so watch what you say."
"Go on."
"Nick needs your help."
His mind was instantly alert. "Where are you?"
"The hospital and your apartment are being watched. I can't come to you. Do you remember the surprise you had when you set a broken bone a few weeks ago?"
His mind flipped through all the broken bones he'd set in the last few weeks, when what she said hit him. "I do."
"Go there. Make sure you're not followed."
"How do I do that?"
"Call for a cab to pick you up at the emergency entrance. Don't wait outside."
"It will take me about half an hour to get there." He was already standing and taking his lab coat off.
"Doctor, bring supplies. It's very serious."
"I need to know what to prepare for." He needed specific information. She didn't disappoint him.
"Gunshot in the lower left abdomen. There's an exit wound, and he's lost a lot of blood. We have the same blood type, so I can help there. Just get there as fast as you can. I stopped the bleeding, but it's already been two hours."
"I'm on my way."
¯¯¯¯
WHAT was that constant ringing? She rolled over and tried to get away from it, but it persisted. Finally, it dawned on her that it was the telephone, and she reached for it, her eyes still shut.
"Hello?" she croaked out.
"Is this Carol Mabry?" asked a woman.
Carol's heart immediately began to beat faster. Nothing good was going to come out of the phone call. "Speaking."
"Nick needs your help."
She knew it. She sat up and turned on the light, looking at the clock. It was two-ten. "What do you want me to do?"
"Do you have a garage?"
"Yes."
"Go open the door and make room for a mid-sized car. Don't turn on any lights. I'll be there in three minutes."
"Okay." She started to hang up the phone but heard the woman's voice again.
"We'll probably need Miss Suarez's help, too. I don't think you and I can lift him on our own. I kind of have a leverage problem."
The caller hung up, and Carol jumped out of bed, running down the hall to Aria's room. She threw open the door, and hoped that Aria woke up easier than she had when she was a teenager. "Aria, Aria, wake up," she said as she shook the form on the bed. Aria groaned out loud, rolled over and buried herself deeper under the covers. "Nick's in trouble. Get up." Aria immediately sat up and brushed her hair out of her eyes.
Carol didn't have time to explain, so as soon as she saw Aria sit up, she ran out of the room to move her car out of the garage.
¯¯¯¯
Chapter 30
ARIA turned the lights out in the garage at Carol's signal and hit the button for the automatic garage door opener. Carol ran in ahead of the car that was pulling into the garage, and as soon as it cleared the doorway, Aria hit the button to bring the door back down. She left the door leading inside the house open so that some light would shine into the room, and when the garage door shut completely, she turned the lights to the garage back on.
Strangely, she wasn't a hysterical mass of jelly, but actually felt quite calm. She wasn't sure if her mind was still asleep, or if she was just learning to deal with hysterical situations. She was certain that as soon as they took care of Nick, it would all catch up with her.
She ran up to the car just as a woman was getting out of the driver's seat. Aria recognized her from the description that Nick gave her. "You're Jen, right?" she asked. The woman nodded and rubbed the back of her neck. Aria went over to the passenger's side and started to open the door.
"Don't," Jen said. Aria stopped and looked at her in question. "He's leaning against the door. Wait until we can help you."
"What happened?" Carol asked.
"He was shot," Jen replied. "Do you have a bedroom on the first floor?" Carol nodded. "Good. Go strip the bed, then put your shower curtain on it and cover that with blankets you don't care about."
"We need to call my brother," Aria said, "he's a doctor."
Jen turned to Aria. "I already called Henry. He's on his way." Aria went around to the driver's side and crawled in. "You're going to get covered in blood," Jen said to her, but Aria didn't care.
Nick had his back to the door, and he appeared to be asleep. For the first time in her life she was thankful for her small frame as she maneuvered herself so that she was crouched on the floorboard on his side of the car. She reached for his hand, and saw how cold his skin was, and began to pray.
In hindsight, she couldn't figure out how the three of them got him out of the car and into the house. She held him up while they opened the door, and somehow they lifted him and carried him through. They took him to the small spare room behind the staircase and laid him on the bed.
"What happened?" she asked Jen.
"He was shot," Jen repeated with a sneer. Unspoken but understood were the words … and it's your fault! Aria gritted her teeth and stared at the other woman, waiting. Jen finally shrugged her shoulders and said, "I don't know. He passed out before he could tell me. From the shape of the car, I assume someone was sniping him."
Carol came into the room with a pair of scissors, and Aria took them from her and began to cut his shirt away. "Has he talked to his boss yet?" she asked Jen while she worked.
"Yeah, all day today. I thought everything was under control." She sat on the foot of the bed and watched Aria work. "Someone needs to watch for Dr. Suarez," she said tiredly.
Carol left the room as Aria finished and put the scissors down. "I don't want to move him to take this off until Henry gets here."
"It's probably a good idea. Carrying him in here caused the bleeding to start again. We need some towels to make a compress and get the bleeding under control."
Aria looked at the woman in front of her, and decided that there wasn't a whole lot left keeping her upright. She couldn't imagine the drive she must have just had, coupled with the thought that he might die on the way. "I'll take care of it. You stay sitting. I'll also get Carol to start some coffee."
She moved through the house as quickly as she could, not wanting
to be away from Nick for a second longer than necessary. She found some dark blue towels in the linen closet, then searched out Carol, who was standing at the front door looking out of the window.
"Can you put on some coffee?" she asked her.
Carol nodded, then as Aria was turning away, said, "Do you think they'll find him here?"
"I hope not. Do you want us to leave?" she asked. She prayed the answer was no. She didn't want to have to try to move him.
Carol shook her head. "No, but I think I'll take Lisa to her grandparents' house in the morning. I don't want anything to happen to her."
Aria felt tears come to her eyes for the first time that night. She went back to Carol and wrapped her arms around her. "Thank you. Thank you for everything the past couple of days."
Carol pushed Aria away and wiped her own eyes. "Hey. Go take care of him. I'll bring the coffee in as soon as it's ready."
Aria ran back to the room and saw that Jen had pulled a chair next to the bed. She was sitting straight and holding onto Nick's hand, but Aria could see that she was barely hanging on. "Here are some towels," she said. "You have to show me what to do."
Jen rubbed her hand over her face, then said in a tired voice, "Put one under him covering the entrance wound, then one on top of the exit wound and press down. You have to apply good pressure." She stood and looked out the window while Aria began to apply towels, but she was looking into the back yard instead of the driveway. "Where is your brother?" she murmured almost to herself.
Aria wondered the same thing as she followed Jen's instructions and looked into Nick's face. She was hoping for some reaction, even a grimace of pain, but there was nothing.
Ten minutes later, Jen sat up in her chair and went to the door just as Aria heard murmured voices coming their direction. Suddenly, Henry filled the doorway and she thought that he might be the most welcome sight she'd ever seen.
"Aria," he said as he came into the room and set his bag down by the bed, "you doing okay?" He started to unpack his bag, taking out the different tools of his trade, then took her by the shoulders and gently moved her out of the way.
"I have to keep the pressure on to stop the bleeding," she said, feeling hysteria trying to fight its way to the surface.
"I'll take care of it." He looked around the room while he opened a pack to start an IV, his eyes finally resting on Jen. "Did you call me?"
"Yes."
"You're positive his blood type is the same as yours?"
"He gave me blood a couple of years ago," she said. "Besides, I'm type O neg."
Henry nodded as he looked back down at Nick and started the IV. "I'm going to have to run a direct line. I didn't have room to pack a bag for your blood. You need to get Carol to find you something to lie down on," he said as he pulled some metal wire out of his pocket and wrapped it around the headboard, then hooked a bag of saline to it.
When Jen left the room, Aria went to look over his shoulder. "Is he going to be all right, Henry?"
Henry lifted the towel covering Nick's wound. "I don't know yet, Aria. He's in pretty bad shape." He cleaned the wound while Carol and Jen brought a cot in and set it up next to the bed. Aria had to move out of the way, and felt helpless as she watched Henry's competent hands while he worked. Finally, she stepped forward to help, no longer able to stand in the corner and watch. She got him towels, handed him gauze, even held a flashlight that he'd sent Carol to get while he sewed Nick's skin back together. Then she helped turn him and do the process over again. Then he showed her how to change the bed, and helped lift Nick while she did it.
Carol came back in the room with coffee and Aria gratefully took a sip as Henry ran a line from Jen to Nick and her blood began to give him his life back.
When she had given all that her body could take, Carol helped Jen from the room, taking her to a bed where she could lie down while her body replenished itself. Finally, Henry sat back and took his gloves off, then rubbed the back of his neck. "I wish there was a way I could get him to the hospital, but gunshot wounds have to be reported to the police."
"He needs more help?" Aria asked.
"He needs more blood for one," Henry said. He began to clean up the mess that had been created the last hour, putting everything in the garbage can that Carol had brought in earlier.
"Is he going to be okay?"
"Yes. I'll try to bring another banana bag of antibiotics to run intravenously this afternoon sometime." He pulled a bottle of pills out of his bag and handed them to Aria. "Those are pain pills. He's going to need them when he wakes up."
"When will that be?"
"Soon. I wasn't able to bring any to give him through the IV, and as soon as the shock wears off from his system, the pain will bring him around if nothing else."
"Will you be able to get him some blood?"
"I took a sample to test the type. If she has type O Negative and he's given her blood, then he has to be O Neg as well and it's the only type he can take. I'll be able to get a little more from her tonight, but I can't bring any from the hospital. We had a massive trauma yesterday that cleaned us out."
Her tears could no longer be held back. Now that there was nothing else to do, she felt them from deep inside her, and her first sob nearly broke her in half. Henry put everything down and pulled her in his arms, then simply held her. The eruption ended as quickly as it began, and she suddenly felt better, knowing that Henry had done what he could, and that Nick would live. She hugged him tight then pulled away, wiping her eyes as she did. "Thank you, Henry. I don't know what we would have done without you."
He put his finger under her chin and tilted her face up, looking at her for several seconds before he spoke. "What's going on, Aria?"
She took his hand and squeezed it, then stepped away from him and began to pace the room.
"It's a long story, Henry. And I'm sure you've heard a good chunk of it from Adam."
"I heard the abbreviated version you gave him. Now, I have about two hours before I have to be back at the hospital, so you have time to start talking."
She let out a deep sigh. As she sat down in the chair by the bed, she started talking. She told Henry more than she'd told Adam, because he was the most easy going of all her brothers, and she thought he would hassle her less. She was wrong, of course, because he began to drill her with questions before she even began to get into the meat of the story.
She ended with the discovery she'd made the day before, then rubbed her face tiredly. It had been such a long week, and while she'd been able to let her body rest for the last couple of days, her mind was still exhausted.
"Is that the whole story?" he asked.
Aria nodded, and when she moved her hands from her face, she jumped a little when she saw Jen in the doorway. "You move like Nick," she said.
The other woman didn't acknowledge her, but spoke to Henry. "Is he going to make it?"
Henry nodded. "I gave Aria some pain pills to give him when he wakes up. I might need to get a little more blood from you tonight."
"You can't come back here. Once it's been discovered that you've disappeared, you'll be watched more closely." She stepped further into the room, but with Aria in the only chair, she was only able to stand. She'd changed out of her bloody clothes, and looked like she had taken a shower, but her eyes still showed signs of fatigue.
"I'll find a way. No one will follow me here." He put the last of his supplies back in the bag and closed it with a snap. "You need to rest now. I took a little more blood than I probably should have, and you need to give your body time to restore itself."
"I'm not going to rest until I see him wake up and know he's going to be okay," Jen said.
"Look, you did the right thing, bringing him here and calling me. He really needs to be in the hospital, but I can handle it from here."
"How do you know for sure he's out of the woods?" Jen challenged. Aria moved out of the chair and walked to the window, and Jen immediately sat in her place.
"I sti
tched the wounds, pumped him full of antibiotics and we've replaced his blood. He'll hurt, but he'll recover, and from the look at the scars on his torso, he knows how to hurt and live through it."
Henry didn't miss the way she squeezed Nick's hand then immediately let go. "Aria, find me a towel and some sort of razor. I need to get ready for work." As soon as she left the room, he turned back to Jen. "I can tell it took a lot for you to come here and ask for help."
Jen put her elbow on her knee and rested her head in her hand. "I didn't know what else to do."
"You did the right thing. Don't fight these women. Let them care for Nick while you rest, or you won't be much good to him when he does wake up." He paused for a moment, but when she didn't speak, he continued. "You can trust them."
Jen started to speak, but Aria came back in the room with a towel over her arm, carrying a disposable razor and some shaving cream. "This says it's for legs, but it will probably work on your face," she said.
Henry groaned and took everything from her. "Thanks, Aria. I guess I'll smell pretty today." He started to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway. "If it takes all three of you sitting on his chest, don't let him up. I don't want to run the risk of him tearing his stitches." He left the room and worked his way through the house, finding Carol in the kitchen. She looked up when he came in, gave him a small smile, and went back to turning the thin steaks she had on the stove.
"How's Lisa's arm?" Henry asked her, collapsing in a chair at the table. As soon as he'd left the room, he felt the lack of sleep and the physically draining twenty-four hours he'd had.
"I think the novelty's worn off. She's starting to get tired of her cast." She took the steak out of the pan and began to crack eggs into the sizzling grease. "Why don't you call into work today and rest for a few hours, Henry. You look like you'll collapse at any time."
An Aria for Nick (Christian Romantic Suspense) (Song of Suspense) Page 27
