The Spirit Survives

by Gary Williams Ramsey

  “She was beaten I think, and I don’t know what else. She was held captive for a long time,” I replied.

  “Who are you?” he asked.

  I responded, “I’m responsible for her. Her parents are deceased. Miss Hamilton is an attorney and she has signed a power of attorney empowering me to act on her behalf.”

  “I’m Doctor Chandresh Batka. I’ll be taking care of her,” he said. “You’re going to have to provide the hospital with a copy of the power of attorney.”

  I nodded and Doctor Batka directed me to go to the waiting area. He asked the attendants to take Leah to the emergency treating area on the second floor. She lay motionless with her eyes closed. “I’ll come back to report to you when I am finished with the examination. You wait here,” he said, as he rushed after the gurney.

  My body ached all over from the fight with the Russian. I went to the coffee machine in the waiting area and got a lukewarm cup of black coffee. I don’t know if I’ve ever tasted anything so dreadful. I gulped it down anyway, since I needed the caffeine. I returned to my chair and sat down.

  There was a pregnant girl sitting beside me. She didn’t look a day over sixteen. The girl had stringy blonde hair and her face was wet with tears. She appeared to be alone, which was very sad. In other times, she could have been the homecoming queen at her high school, but not with that swollen stomach. She was breathing heavily and looked as if she could go into labor at any moment. The young lady took a deep breath, looked at me and screamed. I glanced down at the floor and there was a puddle of water just below her legs. Lord help me, her water had broken. I shouted for a nurse as the girl grabbed my hand, squeezed and screamed again. The nurse came rushing over with a wheel chair. We placed the young woman carefully in the chair, but she would not turn loose of my hand. I told her several times that everything would be all right, and she finally let my hand go. The nurse wheeled her off, and I continued my wait for the doctor. I realized that the world was full of pain, suffering and problems, and I wasn’t alone in my worries and concerns.

  I heard a familiar voice and turned to see Gerry. “How is Leah?” he inquired with a worried look. He sat down in the chair that the pregnant girl had vacated.

  “The doctor has been looking at her for over forty-five minutes. He said he’d return as soon as he finished his examination.”

  “I’ll wait with you,” Gerry said.

  We sat silently and for about fifteen minutes, when I saw the doctor approaching us. The first thing he said to me was, “I am required to call the police. The girl has been raped recently and beaten.”

  Gerry pulled out his badge, “No need for that Doctor. I’m Special Agent Gerry Stewart of the FBI. I’m handling this.”

  The doctor nodded. “Her lip was split just a few hours ago, and I had to put four stitches in it. There were traces of heroin in her system, but from the looks of the needle marks in her arm, the injection was done forcibly She must have been fighting whoever injected her because there were several places where the needle had torn the skin. Due to these circumstances, we checked her for rape. The wall of her vagina had a small tear in it from the violence of the rape, which probably occurred a few days ago. It will heal with no problem, but I want a specialist to look at it. No other damage was done there. She’s going to be okay, although she may need some counseling because of the trauma of it all. I’ve given her a sedative, and she’s resting now. I need to keep her in the hospital for a couple of days for observation. She’s been through a lot.”

  I thought my head would explode. I was furious, anxious, and sick to my stomach after hearing the description of her injuries. I couldn’t speak; I just covered my face with my hands.

  Gerry put his hand on my shoulder and said, “Okay, Doctor, I’ll make sure all the necessary paperwork is filled out to admit her. Do whatever you have to do to make sure she’s well.

  “I’m going to call in a urogynecologist. She may need anterior repair of her vagina, which is a minimally invasive procedure. I’m not sure, but Dr. Stanley Burns will check her, He is the best in the business. I can handle everything else.”

  Gerry extended thanks him and the doctor left.

  “Are you going to be okay?” he asked.

  “Just give me a minute,” I responded.

  Gerry went to the admissions desk and handled the paperwork for her admittance. She was placed in room 407.

  “Let’s go to the cafeteria and get a cup of coffee and a sandwich. Both of us need some food,” Gerry said when he returned.

  We took the elevator to the lower level, grabbed two cups of black coffee and a couple of tuna salad sandwiches.

  I sipped my coffee but couldn’t eat much. “Gerry, when Leah is rested and awake, I’ll find out who raped her and beat her, and God help him.”

  “I understand, but let’s do this the right way. I’ve got Cheche and the two Russian thugs in custody. We need to interrogate them and see if we have one who will turn for a deal. We need to get the man in command.”

  “If Cheche raped her, I don’t want a deal. I want him to suffer.”

  Gerry looked at me and shook his head, “Let’s wait and talk to Leah. I think Sergey Ivanova is our man and this is our chance to nab him. I’ve already called Assistant Chief Rex Herns in Chicago and briefed him on all the circumstances. His unit has been trying to crack the Russian Mafia for years, and he’s the man who should be out front in Chicago.”

  “I agree. Rex is a good man and has been helping me any way he can. I trust him completely.

  “Are you going back to your hotel now?” Gerry asked.

  “No, I’m staying here until Leah can talk to me,” I answered.

  “I thought so,” Gerry said. “I’m going to the jailhouse and supervise the interrogation of the guys we captured. I’ll call you if I get anything from them.”

  I shook Gerry’s hand and thanked him for helping me find Leah. Without his help she would have been dead or somewhere in Saudi Arabia by now.

  Gerry left and I went back to the admission’s desk.

  A woman in her fifties wearing a white uniform asked, “How can I help you?”

  “I’m Ben Harris, my fiancé Leah Hamilton was admitted to room 407 by Doctor Batka. I think she’s sleeping, but I want to stay with her tonight until she is okay. May I?”

  She moved to the filing cabinet and looked for Leah’s folder. She perused it carefully and got an apprehensive look on her face. “I’m sure we can work something out for you, she said. “Wait, I’ll call a nurse from that floor.”

  “I appreciate it,” I said.

  She picked up the phone and made a call. Within minutes a young lady in a pale blue nurse’s uniform approached the desk. She extended her hand to me and asked, “Are you Mr. Harris?” I said yes and shook her hand.

  “I’m Sally Ivey; I’ll be taking care of Leah during the evening. Just come with me, and we’ll get you set up.”

  I followed her to the elevator, and we ascended to the fourth floor. She took me directly to room 407. I was thankful that Leah was in a private room. I assumed that this was another thing I could thank Gerry for. The room had a TV mounted on the wall across from the bed. There was a chair on the left side of the bed and a recliner on the right side. Leah lay on the bed with her eyes closed. There was an IV in her right arm and a bandage on her busted lip. She looked pale and probably had lost ten pounds from her already thin frame. She looked so vulnerable that tears came to my eyes thinking what she must have been through.

  Sally placed her hand on my shoulder and said, “She’ll be okay Mr. Harris. I’ll get you a pillow and blanket, and you can sleep on the recliner. Dr. Batka will be by early in the morning to check on her and to update you on her condition. In the meanwhile let me know if I can do anything for you. There’s a coffee machine and vending machines in the waiting area if you need something to eat or drink.”

  She left the room and returned shortly with a blanket and pillow. I took the articles, thanked her
and sat on the recliner. I looked at Leah for awhile, thinking of better times. I realized again that I loved her more than anything in the world, and I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. She looked like a wounded angel, and I couldn’t stop tears from running down my cheeks. I laid my head back, reclined the chair, and closed my eyes. My exhaustion overtook me and I fell into a sound dreamless sleep.

  I felt someone gently shaking my shoulder and a voice saying, “Mr. Harris.”

  I opened my eyes. It was Sally standing over me. “I’m going off duty in a few minutes. May I get the orderly to bring you some breakfast? When Dr. Batka gets here at 8:00, he’ll update you. It’s 7:45 now.”

  I rubbed my eyes and replied, “I’d love some coffee if that’s not too much trouble.” She nodded and left the room. I went to the bathroom, used the facilities, washed my face and brushed my teeth with the sealed toothbrush on the sink. I guess Sally left it there for me. I returned to the room, and as I closed the bathroom door, Sally arrived with a pot of coffee and a Styrofoam cup. She set it on the table and poured a steaming cup. “The nurse coming on duty now is Patsy O’Brian. She’ll take good care of Leah. I’m going off duty now. If you’re still here tomorrow night, I’ll see you then.”

  “Thanks for your kindness. And the coffee,” I said.

  Leah had not altered her position from the night before. She just lay on her back, breathing softly. I leaned over and kissed her gently on the side of her mouth, carefully avoiding the bandage. I sat back and sipped the hot coffee.

  In a few minutes Dr. Batka arrived. We shook hands and he pulled the chart on the bottom of the bed frame and read it.

  “Mr. Harris, Dr. Bass checked Ms. Hamilton and no additional treatment is necessary. The small tear in her vagina will heal with no complications and without surgery. Aside from her busted lip, she has no other injuries. She is suffering from malnutrition, but that will be corrected by a couple of days of plenty of liquids and small but frequent amounts of food. We must start feeding her slowly. I’ll take the IV out now and hopefully when she awakens, she can eat some soft foods. Let’s not try to wake her, I want her to rest as long as she can and awaken naturally. Do you have any questions? He walked over and removed the IV from Leah’s arm.

  “I don’t have any questions just now,” I replied. “I just want to thank you for your help.”

  He smiled at me and left the room. A short redheaded lady came in right after he departed. “You must be Ms. O’Brian,” I said.

  “Yes sir,” she responded. “Please call me if anything changes with Ms. Hamilton, particularly if she awakens.” I told her I would, and she left, rolling the IV rack in front of her.

  I finished my coffee, poured another cup and sat on the chair. I reached over and held Leah’s hand. It was soft and warm.

  I was staring at her when her radiant eyes opened. Her hand jerked away as she turned toward me. I could tell that she was trying to figure out where she was. As soon as she saw my face, tears streamed from her eyes. She attempted to smile but it was difficult with the bandage on the side of her mouth. I grasped her hand and squeezed it.

  “Welcome back,” I said as I got up and hugged her. “I missed you so much. I love you.”

  I heard her sigh and just held her. We both had been waiting for this moment for so long. She whispered, “I love you, Ben.”

  I sat up, still holding her hand. “Can I get anything for you?”

  “Water please,” she said so softly I almost couldn’t hear her. I rang the nurse’s bell and Ms. O’Brian came instantly. She came over, took Leah’s hand from me and checked her pulse. She then checked the blood pressure monitor.

  “She seems fine,” Nurse O’Brian declared.

  “Can you get her a fresh pitcher of water?” I asked and she left to get it. I grabbed Leah’s hand again. “Everything will be okay now.”

  Nurse O’Brian came back with the water pitcher, a cup and a straw. “Let her drink slowly,” she instructed, “I’ll order her some food.”

  I poured a cup of water, put the straw in the cup and held it while she drank.

  The daze in her eyes began to clear as she looked at me in wonderment. She was evidently remembering what all had happened.

  “I thought you were dead, when that man Lopez shot you,” she said. “All this time I thought you were dead. When the Italian man and the woman took Lopez and me from the apartment, you were lying motionless on the floor. I thought my life was over. I don’t want to live without you.” Tears flowed from her eyes again.

  “It was just a graze,” I said, “I’m fine, Leah.”

  There was a knock on the door and the orderly came in with a tray. On the plate was a serving of soft scrambled eggs, a small bowl of cream of wheat and a couple of pieces of toast. The orderly set up the bed tray, raised the bed and left.

  “Ben, I want to tell you what happened,” Leah said.

  “Let’s try to get come food in you first,” I said. “Try to eat some for me, and then we can talk.” I put some of the eggs on a spoon and put it to her mouth. She opened her mouth and took it, chewing slowly. It seemed to be a hard task, but she ate most of the eggs, half the cereal and one piece of toast. I moved the bed tray, helped her to the bathroom and then assisted her back into the bed.

  When she was settled, she asked, “What happened to you?”

  For the next while, I related to her as briefly as I could summarize it, about seeing Bo Lopez kill the girl, the tornado, Cherokee Alverez chasing me, only for both of us to be trapped in the cave. I told her about the snake, the wolf and the rats and how I was miraculously rescued by Rex Herns. I left out the part about my father saving my life and dying. She listened intently as I told her about looking for her in Chicago and then in Houston with the help of Rex Herns and Gerry Stewart. She held my hand firmly during the whole thing. Finally, I said, “That’s it. I can fill you in on the details later. The main thing is that I found you and you’re going to be okay.”

  I could tell that she was getting very tired. “Why don’t you try to rest for a while? I’ll go to the cafeteria for some breakfast and when you’re rested you can tell me what happened to you.” She nodded and was asleep before I was out of the room.

  I took the elevator down to the lower level to the cafeteria. I walked through the line and was surprised to see that they had S.O.S., which is chipped beef in a white sauce put over toast. I purchased a plate of that, a pint of fat free milk and went to a table to enjoy my celebration breakfast. I added hot sauce to the S.O.S. and ate every bite of it. The cold fresh milk complimented my feast well. For the first time in weeks, I felt good.

  After finishing my meal, I took out my cell phone and called Gerry. I related to him that Leah was awake and a little later she was going to tell me what happened to her. He had nothing new on his side as the Russians were not talking. They had already been supplied with lawyers and were stonewalling. We hung up. I went to the lobby, got a newspaper from the stand outside the door and returned to Leah’s room. She was sleeping soundly and Nurse O’Brian was just leaving the room when I arrived. “All her vital signs are excellent,” she reported.

  I sat in the chair beside the bed and read the newspaper.

  About two hours passed and I had dozed off when I heard Leah saying, “Wake up sleepyhead.” She was smiling at me when I awoke. I gave her another cup of water.

  “I want to tell you what happened to me,” she said. Her face got somber. “Some of it is going to be hard for me to tell you, but I must get it off my chest.”

  “Are you sure you feel up to it,” I asked.

  “I need to tell you,” she replied. She rubbed her eyes and began.

  She told her story in halting sentences. When she finished, Leah started sobbing again. I got up and hugged her until she stopped crying.

  “Leah, everyone who hurt you will pay the price,” I said. “That’s a promise.”

  “I don’t want you taking any chances, Ben,” she said. “I just
want to be with you and love you now.”

  I concealed my rage from her. After she calmed down and went back to sleep, I went outside of the hospital and just walked. She had told me that Sergey had raped her and that Cheche had beaten and drugged her. When my head cleared, I proclaimed to God or, whoever or whatever was within the sound of my voice, “I swear that every sob that hurt her will pay, especially Sergey and Cheche.”

  After about thirty minutes, I went back to Leah’s room. She was still sleeping and I rested in the chair beside the bed, just looking at my beautiful broken angel. I closed my eyes for a second and dozed off. I don’t know how long I was out, but I was awakened by terrible screams. I opened my eyes and Leah was thrashing on the bed shrieking at the top of her lungs. I grabbed her hand and tried to hold her, but she pushed me away and kept screaming.

  Nurse O’Brian raced into the room. “What’s going on?” she shouted with the screams almost drowning her out.

  “I don’t know she just woke up screaming!” I yelled back.

  Two orderlies came running into the room. “Get the Doctor in here!” Nurse O’Brian commanded as she tried to hold Leah’s shoulders down.

  Leah was thrashing all over the bed and her left hand struck the nurse in the face. One of the orderlies had gone out to find a doctor and the other rushed in to assist the nurse.

  I attempted to help, but the orderly told me to get out of the room, so they could do their job. A young man in a white coat brushed past me as I was leaving the room. He was tall with blond hair and had a stethoscope around his neck. I heard Nurse O’Brian say, “Thank goodness you’re here Doctor. She’s having a panic attack, I think!”

  Dr. Jackson hurried to the bedside, took Leah’s arm from the orderly and said, “Bensodiazepine. We need to give her an injection before she hurts herself.”

  I felt powerless as the doctor and the nurse tried unsuccessfully to calm Leah down. Within moments, the orderly returned with the drug. He and the nurse held Leah down and the doctor gave her the injection. Less than two minutes later she lay calmly on the bed, eyes glazed. The doctor told Nurse O’Brian to start her on Klonopin in two hours, and that he would update Dr. Batka on the incident.