Bone Crack: A Medical Suspense Thriller (The Gina Mazzio Series Book 6)

by Bette Golden Lamb

  The nurse reached for her hand. “Let’s ID you for the procedure, Kathryn.”

  “Call me Kat, please.”

  She held out her arm and the nurse wrapped a plastic identification bracelet around her wrist. It showed her name, Tallent’s name, and her A negative blood type.

  “I’m going to take you into the pre-op holding area and we’ll get you ready for your procedure.”

  Kat thought her heart would fly right out of her chest. “Can Cal come in with me?”

  “I’m sorry, Kat, but he’ll have to wait for you out here.”

  She turned to him. For a single moment, she thought about grabbing his hand and running—running far away.

  He came to her, took her in his arms, then held her at arm’s length and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’ll be right here waiting for you.”

  She nodded and stepped away. The nurse kept the door open. Kat stopped, turned, and took one more look at Cal. She made her shaking fingers wave goodbye before following the nurse down the hallway.

  “When was the last time you had something to eat?”

  “About ten last night.”

  “Good,” the nurse said. “I’m sure Dr. Tallent explained the procedure, but I’ll go over it again for you after you’re changed.”

  Kat followed the nurse into a small room with a bench and two lockers—both doors were open. “Go ahead and undress, then put your clothes and purse inside one of the lockers. It’s secured by your own four-number pin.” She handed Kat a blue paper gown. “Opening’s in the back, of course. I’ll give you a few minutes to get ready.”

  When she was ready, she leaned against one wall and started to cry.

  I finally get my life together and now ... this.

  The nurse returned, took one look at Kat and wrapped her arms around her. “It’s going to be all right.”

  “How do you know that?” Kat said, choking up and swallowing her words. “I could die on that table.”

  Kat dropped down onto the bench; the nurse sat down beside her. “Look, we do these all the time. Yes, things can go wrong ... I’m sure Dr. Tallent talked to you about that. But the chances of that happening are very, very small. ”

  “We’re talking about me, so if anything can go wrong, it will.”

  The nurse took her hand and they walked a short distance to the pre-op holding area. “Now, let’s s get you down on this table and in a few minutes I’ll give you some meds to help you relax.”

  Flat on her back, Kat stared at the ceiling and started shaking.

  The nurse covered her with a warm blanket. “This will make you more comfortable.”

  It did make her feel better. She started to relax. “Thank you.”

  The nurse stepped up to a computer station, hit a few keys, and smiled. “I see you’re not on many medications. Are you allergic to anything—meds, foods. Anything at all?”

  “No.”

  Dr. Tallent walked into the room, without knocking. “She should be ready by now, Dara. Let’s get a move on.” Almost as an after though, he said, “How are you doing, Kat?”

  Before she could answer, he was out the door.

  The nurse’s face flushed. Kat turned away. “I’m going to start your IV. This will hurt for a moment,” Dara said.

  The needle did hurt. She tried to take deep breaths.

  “Will I be completely out?”

  “No, but you really won’t care about what’s going on.” The nurse laughed and taped down the needle. “We’re really good at that.”

  Kat watched the nurse inject medication into an IV port—almost instantly she felt a sense of relaxation.

  * * *

  Mort Tallent hardly slept the night before. He’d tossed and turned, angry at Vlad Folo’s silence. Lately, he couldn’t get rid of the guy, but now that he wanted to talk to him, had left several messages; there wasn’t a peep out of him.

  Tallent had decided—Vlad would have to get rid of Gina Mazzio. He knew if he didn’t, sooner or later she was going to go to the police. That nurse was not only nosey, she had a big mouth. It was stupid to confront her in that locker room at Ridgewood. Almost lost it—could have choked the life out of her.

  Don’t know what the fuck came over me. I should have left her alone. Let the gladiator get her off my back. Cough up the lousy fifty grand and stay out of the arena.

  He scrubbed in and watched the final preparations through the glass window that separated him from the Cardio Cath Lab.

  The nurse was doing a final check of the equipment, together with a specialist from X-Ray. The scrub nurse was arranging things on the sterile field, making sure all the necessary equipment was ready.

  Focus, man. Focus!

  * * *

  Kat kept floating in and out. Her eyes fluttered to stay open and she heard every word, every sound.

  The doctor said something about a sheath of some kind, and how they had to thread the catheter into her artery. Words floated around and away ... blood thinners ... contrast dye ... warm feeling ... angiogram ... flow measurement ... coronary arteries ... no narrowing ... no blockage. The words just ebbed and flowed without having any real meaning.

  * * *

  At first Tallent’s head was where it was supposed to be. He was focused—numbing the groin area, placing the sheath into the femoral artery, guiding the catheter to the heart with the aid of the fluoroscope, but after that his mind started wandering. A roar of pounding waves surged through his head—he was riding the big surf, down under a massive curl. He was hot, getting dizzy.

  “Doctor, are you all right?”

  “Yes! I’m fine! Let’s get on with it.”

  I can get through this. There’s nothing wrong here. I have to focus. Focus!

  But the roar of the surf was shutting out everything around him. He couldn’t hear, couldn’t think.

  Chapter 40

  Cal had been in and out of his chair for the past three hours. He couldn’t relax. He’d pick up a magazine, thumb through it for a few minutes, toss it back on the table, get up and pace some more.

  What the hell’s taking so long?

  More and more people came into the reception room; no one seemed to leave. All of the new arrivals were hesitant, appeared nervous and restless. None of it did anything to improve Cal’s mood. At first it had just been him—now there were several people doing the same magazine-pace-magazine-pace thing.

  He looked at the door to the inner sanctum. Kat couldn’t be all that far away, but she might as well be on another continent, another planet.

  He closed his eyes, tried to close his mind to everything except good thoughts about Kat. He hadn’t known her all that long, but what he did know, he loved. She was good-natured, kind, and when they were together, she made him laugh, see a different world.

  A better world.

  He’d been divorced a long time and most of the women he’d met were far too involved in petty, useless interests. That, or desperate to find someone to hook up with. Kat wasn’t like that. She was a little older than the women he’d dated recently, but when people talked to her, she listened.

  She cared.

  He wasn’t used to walking down the streets handing out money to almost every indigent person who came up to them.

  “You know, they’ll only spend it on booze,” he’d said the first time she gave money to a panhandler.

  “I hear that a lot, Cal. But when I give money to someone, it’s not mine anymore. They’ll do whatever they have to do. It’s really not my business.”

  At first it irritated him, but he began to understand. She wasn’t there to judge—just to help.

  * * *

  Kat heard the nursing staff talking and moving about her—they weren’t paying attention to her and she knew that was probably a good thing.

  Happiness washed over her, along with gratitude. She was still alive.

  It must be over. I’m still here!

  Her right leg felt weird, though. It was numb and a sudden,
strange sensation made her want to jump.

  “Dara!” she called out. “There’s something wrong with my leg.”

  The nurse came across the room, smiling. “Hi, glad to see you’re back to reality.”

  “There’s something wrong. It’s my leg.”

  The nurse, continuing to smile, lifted the light blanket covering Kat’s lower body. She removed a dressing and the smile faded.

  “Do you feel that?” the nurse asked, touching her leg.

  Kat couldn’t feel anything.

  “Close your eyes and rest, Kat. I’m going to get in touch with Dr. Tallent and we’ll see what he has to say.”

  “What’s wrong with my leg?”

  “Try to rest. I’ll be right back.”

  Kat could see Dara speaking on the telephone, asking for Dr. Tallent.

  “What do you mean he’s signed out?” The nurse sounded both annoyed and scared.

  Kat’s heart was galloping.

  “Okay, then please get me Dr. Cantor. Now!”

  “Yes, yes, I understand. Don’t bother him if he’s in surgery.”

  The nurse came back to her. “Kat, Dr Tallent isn’t available right now, so I’m. going to get Dr. Brichett. He’s here in the office seeing patients. We’ll get him out here to check your leg. Okay?”

  “What’s wrong with my leg?”

  “It may be nothing, but I think one of the doctors should take a look. Okay?”

  Kat couldn’t speak. Why wasn’t Dara answering her question? She closed her eyes and tried to ignore the strange feeling in her leg.

  * * *

  Jon Brichett was about to walk into an examination room when Dara came running down the hall, her face was red. She looked frightened.

  “Jon, wait! I need you to check one of Mort’s post-op patients.”

  “What do you mean? For God’s sake, where’s Mort?”

  “I don’t know. I can’t reach him anywhere.”

  Brichett was stunned. He’d been having such a good day, but a tickle at the base of his neck turned into an alarm. If Dara wanted him to check something, it needed to be checked.

  “You’ve paged him?”

  “Of course I paged him.”

  “What’s the problem?”

  “I think there’s an occlusion in her femoral. Her leg is cold. I tried for a distal pulse.”

  “And?”

  “Negative. No pulse. She’s alternating between pain and paresthesia. Used the Doppler—nothing.”

  “Okay! Let’s go!”

  They’d only gone a couple of steps when he stopped at a wall phone and pushed a button for the receptionist.

  “Hi! Please reschedule the patient in Room One. Make certain he gets another appointment as soon as possible.” He started to hang up, then added, “And cancel the rest of my morning.”

  The moment they walked into post-op, one of the other nurses said, “I still can’t reach Mort Tallent.”

  Brichett turned to Dara. “What’s the patient’s name and how long has she been post-op?”

  Dara’s eyes were wide with worry. “Kat Parker. I have her history already up on the monitor for you. She’s about an hour post op.”

  “And Tallent’s gone already? Shit!”

  Brichett scanned Kat’s chart, turned, and hurried into the recovery room. There were two women on gurneys, but it took only one glance to tell which one was Kat Parker—her face had that look of terror he’d seen on more patients than he cared to remember.

  “Hi, Ms. Parker. I’m Dr. Brichett, one of Dr. Tallent’s associates. They tell me your leg is giving you problems. I’d like to take a look, okay?”

  She bit her lower her lip and nodded.

  Brichett turned the sheet aside and looked at the bone-white leg. Moving to her ankle, he felt around for a pulse. There was none.

  “Where’s Dr. Tallent?” Kat said, her voice barely audible.

  “He’s been ... uh ... been called away . But I promise, we’ll take good care of you.”

  “What’s the matter with me?”

  “Did the person who brought you here stay?”

  “Yes. He’s my boyfriend, Cal Cortez. He’s in the waiting room.”

  “Do you want him to be with you?”

  The patient nodded again.

  “Dara, please get Mr. Cortez and bring him here so he can be with Ms. Parker.”

  * * *

  Cal had started a new pacing cycle when the same nurse he’d seen earlier came rushing through the door.”

  “Mr. Cortez, please come with me. Ms. Parker asked to speak to you.”

  His heart boomed in his chest. “What’s wrong? Is something wrong with Kat?”

  “There’s been a problem. Dr. Brichett will explain it to you.”

  The nurse’s voice was soft and kind but he imagined the worst as he followed her to the recovery room. The smells in the hallway brought a moment of déjà vu—he was back in the hospital where he’d been taken with a ruptured appendix many years ago. It took him a moment to realize someone was speaking to him.

  “Hi, Mr. Cortez. I’m Dr. Brichett. Sorry to meet under these circumstances.”

  Cal nodded and looked down at Kat, who looked back with tear-filled eyes. He moved to her side, grabbed onto her hand, and squeezed. “Hi, kiddo. Am I ever happy to see you.”

  On the other side of the gurney, Brichett said, “Kat, we’re going to have to take you over to Ridgewood Hospital. It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes after a Cardio Cath a clot develops in the artery that supplies the blood to your leg. That’s what’s happened here and we need to take care of it. Right away.”

  Both Kat and Cal were crying.

  “We’re calling for an ambulance.” Brichett nodded at the nurse and she hurried out of the room.

  “What’s going to happen to my leg?” Kat shouted. “Am I going to lose my leg?”

  Shivers ran up and down Cal’s spine.

  Chapter 41

  Mort Tallent raced into the Time Out Health Club. Rosia, as usual, was sitting at the desk with her breasts half out of her scoop-neck blouse. A big smile was plastered across her face.

  “Good morning, Dr. Tallent. How nice to see you again.”

  Tallent’s stomach churned, his head was swimming in pain. He wanted to punch her in the face, rip that stupid blouse from her body.

  He jammed his hands in his pocket.

  “I have to see Vlad,” he said with a forced a smile. “I have a ... a terrible headache. He’s the best at getting rid of them.”

  “Vlad is out, doctor,” she said in that maddening saccharin voice she affected. “But we have other experts who can help you equally as well.”

  “No. No one is as good as Vlad.”

  “I’m so sorry, doctor, but Vlad has been out for a few days recovering from an accident. He won’t be in for several more days.”

  What the fuck am I going to do now?

  “Is there any way I can reach him?” Tallent said. “It’s really important.”

  Rosia leaned over the counter and Tallent had no choice but to look down into the deep cleavage that was now only inches from his face. “There’s a teensy-weensy chance I might be able to get a message to him.”

  “I’d rather talk to him in person.”

  Rosia straightened up, the wide smile vanishing to only a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth. “I’ll bet you would, doctor, but I’m afraid that’s impossible.”

  Tallent wanted to scream at her—his stomach was a roiling volcano and the roaring in his ears had started again.

  “Could I write a note to him and maybe you’ll see that he gets it as soon as possible?”

  “Oh, I can try,” Rosia said. “But I can’t guarantee anything.”

  Tallent pulled out his wallet and removed a $100 bill. He folded the bill twice and slipped it under the edge of her appointment book, the same as he’d done previously when he’d needed a favor.

  “Maybe that will cover the cost of your finding him,
” he said.

  The cleavage retreated and quickly became the repository for the folded bill.

  “Yes, it will.” She pulled out a pad from the desk and passed it across to him. “Do you need a pen, Dr. Tallent?”

  Stupid cow.

  “No, no. I have my own.”

  He sat down in a small waiting area for customers, picked up a body building magazine to use for support, and glanced briefly at the steroid-happy bodies pictured on the front. With a snort, he covered up a muscle-bound man and wrote a cryptic message:

  Vlad,

  I need you to permanently take care of that nurse situation we recently discussed.

  Please get in touch with me as soon as possible.

  —M.T

  * * *

  Alex had been sitting in his car the past two days waiting for this Vlad person to show up.

  He wanted to get a good look at this man. He’d never seen him as a kid because twenty years ago their Russian gang only dealt with the parents.

  Why wasn’t the boy with his mother and father that day when he and his stupid partner went to that hovel of an apartment?

  Alexander had gone over that day in his mind a thousand times.

  After killing the couple, they’d left the apartment and waited in the car for the boy to come home. He never arrived.

  How could that miserable couple have warned the kid to stay away when Alex and Misha had caught the two of them completely off-guard? The only answer: the boy was in the apartment that day, hidden so they wouldn’t find him.

  Alex couldn’t understand. How could any child watch or hear the slaughter he and Misha carried out and remain silent?

  Around noon, his stomach started growling like a beast.

  Idiot! Should have packed some food.

  He decided to go someplace nearby, eat, come back to wait. Hope that miserable Vlad did not arrive in the meantime.

  Chapter 42

  Gina was just back from an early lunch when Gwen, the CCU team leader caught her walking down the hall.

  “Gina, I’m going to need you to scrub in with Jon Brichett. Immediately!”