Caught in the Middle
Introduction – Lost in the Moment
It wasn't the dank confines of the room that terrified her. It wasn't the muscular man who stood guarding the heavily bolted door. And it wasn't the blood that had drenched her once crisp white blouse.
No, what scared Anna the most was the wielder of the eight inch silver blade. He was scrawny, but with a menacing face. His hair was jet black, greasy and his fringe was long enough to cover his left eye, plunging most of his face into shadow. Anna wrapped her uninjured arm around her stomach, covering the wound to her abdomen. He was torturing her, and she knew it. Anna just couldn't understand why.
It all had started two weeks earlier…
Rain pelted the windows of Lenox Hill Hospital. Anna Maguire had just begun her night shift working on the accident and emergency ward. It was nights like these, when more and more patients were being admitted every other minute and doctors on call were unlikely to sleep till morning, that Anna was thankfull she was only a nurse. She had less responsibility but the satisfaction of helping patients.
"I swear to God, if one more person walks through that door, I may just kill myself" Dr. Rhodes complained, wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his white jacket. "There's just too many patients for how many Doctors are here."
"Is there anything I can do?"
"We just discharged Mrs Jenson. The bed could do with changing before the inevitable happens and another patient comes rushing in here."
Anna nodded and smiled, "Just remembers Jamie, you love your job. You love helping people. And you love saving lives. Just thinking of that should get you through the night." Jamie smiled and grabbed his clipboard from the nurses' station counter before rushing off to another private room to check up on a patient. Anna stood for a second to watch her friend leave, before leaving herself to carry out the job he'd asked.
Anna was small. Many people made fun of her five foot one height, but she always laughed it off. Her hair was almost flame red, which was mistaken for a dyed style. Her hair was, and had always been its natural colour. She'd learned to love her unusual colour. Pin straight and down to the bottom of her shoulder blades, she often wore it up to avoid getting annoyed at its length. Her skin was fair, and her eyes a deep sapphire. Anyone could see she was attractive. However, she often isolated herself from relationships.
When she was merely four years old, her father died when the family bar was robbed by armed men. Anna, and her two older brothers then had to go through the torture of their mother grieving, before finally trying to find some self-worth by dating several unusual and horrible men. Since that time, Anna always believed there was only one person who could make you happy enough to want to spend the rest of her life with them. And that the person who could make her that happy would come to her without searching through countless men who would break her heart or treat her badly.
Evidently, her mother's search had led her to leaving the family when Anna was nine. It was then her brothers Shane and Brandon's job to look after her and provide to make sure none of them ended up on the street. Brandon being the eldest, and thirteen years older than Anna was old enough to be granted custody of her. Thankfully, this stopped social services taking Anna away.
Entering room 261, the room were Mrs Jenson had been stationed; Anna began to take the linen off the bed and pile it into a heap to be taken for cleaning and sterilizing. Sometimes, she regretted agreeing to some jobs. The sheets could be soaked in blood from emergency patients, or worse could be found between the cotton linen. Thankfully, tonight it was almost as clean as when it went on the bed.
Don Flack, a Homicide Detective for the NYPD cradled his arm carefully while sat in the waiting room of the A&E department. He cursed himself for chasing the suspect down the garbage ridden alley and over a rusty metal fence that stopped cars from using the passage as a short cut. Pulling back his sleeve, he grimaced at the large cut that ran the length of his forearm. Don knew stitches would be needed. And, anyone who knew the detective well knew he hated Hospitals. The smell, the instruments and the waiting; Don could have made a list the length of his arm about what he hated about hospitals.
He was too hyped up on adrenaline to see the dangers where he was going. He'd run through traffic. He'd climb fire escapes. He'd even follow suspects through other people's apartments just to catch whoever he was chasing. But as he climbed the large, metal fence, Don had lost his footing and caught his arm on a rusty spike that had come away from the fence.
"Donald Flack, how the hell have you got yourself into my neck of the woods again?"
Don chuckled to himself, looking up to lock eyes with Anna, his best friend Shane's sister. She had a stern face, but her eyes where ridden with worry. "It's nothin' much. I'll be out of your sight before you know it."
"…Don." Her warning tone was a hint for the detective to give a proper explanation.
And Don, the stubborn Homicide Detective from Queens who would face any criminal that crossed him, was not one to argue with twenty-eight year old Anna Maguire. He had better chances surviving open fire from twenty men, than coming off in tact after arguing with a Maguire. "I was chasing a suspect. I caught my arm on a spike of a fence. It's not a big deal."
"I'll go see if a doctor has some free time just to check you over. If you need stitches then I can do that, no problem."
Don tried to keep a solemn face as he nodded, but really wanted to break out into a grin. He was more than grateful to know someone in A&E that could help him jump queues and get him out sooner. He hated hospitals ever since his long recovery from a bomb at one of his crime scenes. "Thanks Kiddo."
Hearing Don's last remark, Anna shook her head. Just because her eldest brother Brandon had adopted the nickname, which her father had mainly used, shortly after taking custody of her, didn't mean she enjoyed everyone using the patronizing term.
The bar was quieter than usual. A few regulars had turned up to have a quiet drink while contemplating their worries of the day. And a few guys had turned up to have a marathon snooker tournament between there group.
After working a thirteen hour night shift the previous evening had pulled herself out of the apartment which was situated over Maguire's to have a drink and relax before starting her continuous week of working days at Lenox Hill. She also knew at some point in the night she would have to go over the scribbled lists that her brother had made to make an order to be delivered on Friday. "Where's Shane? I thought it was his night to be here."
"He took Don and that Messer guy out to a poker game at Riley's" Brandon leaned over the mahogany bar slightly to whisper, "Flack will never learn. Shane and Jason still work as a team to scam everyone out of their winnings."
"Money for us, right?"
"It's money for the bar, Anna. We're barley making profit at the moment. Melanie is doing double shifts just so we can stay on top of the bills. I'm barely getting a wage from this place. If I didn't work at the garage too, Mel and I wouldn't be able to survive." Brandon shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder how Shane copes with only having this as his job."
"By scamming people in poker games apparently." Anna remarked dryly before taking a long draught of her cider. "Guess I should start on placing that order, huh?"
"Yeah, the rough list is in the office. Cut down anything you think we'll be able to manage without for the next week."
"Can we not get a loan? You know, just to spruce the place up a bit. Maybe that will pull more punters in." Anna replied hopefully, getting off the tall bar stool. She'd not received any money from Maguire's since she was a teen and that's all the family was living off. Then, she'd had a string of part-time jobs to help pay for bills and food, and Brandon had picked up his Job at a Car Garage fitting tyres.
"No bank will lend this place money. And I'm not putting any pressure on me and Mel, especially when we're trying for a kid. It's not worth it." Brandon replied with a sorrowful tone. "If it carries on like this, we may be forced to sell the place."
"What about my savings?"
"It's not worth it, kiddo. You need your money."
Anna downed the last of her drink and shook her head in discontent. "I just don't want to see this place be run by someone else. Not after it has been in our family for so long." Brandon nodded in agreement. He too knew just how special the place was. It wasn't just a bar, it had the memories of their father and how he had spent all his money to fulfil his dream.
"I know. Just go and do that order. We'll discuss it with Shane some other time."
"You're still a dirty cheat!" Don laughed. The three lads who had spent their night at Riley's where walking to the bar while Shane mentally added up his winnings in his head. Don had folded quicker than the other two, sussing out just what the Maguire was doing, and why Shane had unexpectedly asked him to join the game. Danny Messer, a CSI who worked closely with the Homicide Detective had played till the end. He was too competitive to realise the con that was going on around him.
"Hey! If you'd carried on playing you may have won a bit back." Shane was a good looking guy. He was thirty-one and had no thought of settling down. He had dark chestnut hair and a grin that charmed all the ladies. Which, he often took advantage off to be promiscuous. "You know what, I'll take you through to the back, get out the good scotch and maybe we could have a re-match. You know, just between the three of us."
Danny smiled, but quickly voted himself out of another poker game while turning the corner to walk down the alley which led to the back door of the bar. "I'm all out of cash. Lindsay's goin' to kill me when she finds-"
Danny was cut off by a scream.
Taking a second to locate the fearsome noise, Danny was first to see two masked men attacking the youngest Maguire sibling. Rushing forward he shouted 'Hey!' mainly to distract the men and save Anna from any more beating. Shane and Don were close behind, but Danny was already chasing the attacker past the back door and down the alley way.
Shane stopped, scanning his sister for any major injuries. There were no stab wounds. No gun shot injuries. It looked as though the attackers had used nothing but bare fists. "Anna…Anna, look at me." Weakly, the younger Maguire pulled her head up to look at Shane. Her lip was bust and there was an abrasion to her cheek. She looked exhausted, most likely from trying to defend herself. "Let's get you inside."
"Shane, she needs to go to a hospital, look at her!" Don argued, having been too concerned to help his friend with the capture of the attacker. "She needs to be checked over!"
Shane carefully wrapped his arm around Anna's back and scooped his other arm under her knee's to lift her from the damp ground she had inevitably landed on. "She'll be fine!"
Don was taken aback by his friend's curt answer. He'd expected Shane to be more concerned for the well-being of Anna. But obviously, something was amiss. "I'm calling an ambulance, whether you like it or not. Then I'm calling Mac. He can bring a team down here to figure out who's responsible for this."
"We don't need that! I can look after her! Probably just some muggers thinking she had something good on her!"
Don, taking one sceptical look at his friend, decided to ignore this.
Anna was drifting in and out of consciousness, not able to intervene in the conversation and give her own opinion on what should be done. It was more of a reason for Don to call 911. Shane looked carefully at his sister. Blood was freely running from her nose. Her blouse was drenched with rain and crimson blood. She looked as though the men were out to kill her with their bare hands. Watching as Danny ran up to the group empty handed and Don quickly dial his phone, Shane reluctantly began to agree with the decision.
Quietly, he whispered softly "Don't worry Anna; I'll make sure you're okay."
After the terrifying ordeal, Anna was sleeping. After several checks, x-ray's and stitches, the worst of the damage was two broken ribs on the left side of her body. Though the blood had been cleaned off her skin, the vivid bruises that the attackers had left made her look no better than when they had found her. She looked pale. She looked fragile and Shane was too concerned than to leave Anna alone. He'd camped out till morning the hospital's waiting room, and by six just after the sun had come up he was finally allowed to see her.
Taking her hand gently in his, he rubbed rhythmic circles on her palm, hoping he wouldn't wake her, but that she knew someone was there keeping her company.
"Mac has sent Detective Bonasera to take samples. I'm sorry Shane, you're goin' to have to leave the room for this." Don said quietly, taking on his detective role.
"I won't take long." Stella Bonasera, another Crime Scene Investigator responded.
Reluctantly, Shane placed his sisters' hand on the bed by her side and stood from the uncomfortable hospital chair. "I don't care how long you take. Just make sure you thorough. I want this bastard behind bars." He then stormed out of the room, not without whipping his coat off the back of the chair beforehand. Stella raised her eyebrow at Don, wondering if he knew anything about his friends behaviour.
"Don't look at me, he confuses me at the best of times. But even more so now."
"How'd you mean?"
Don settled himself down in the seat, speaking in whispers so not to wake Anna. "Last night, Danny ran off to catch the guys and I stopped with Shane to make sure she was okay. He seemed pretty reluctant to bring her here. He was reluctant to get a team in to scan the place for evidence. Now this morning he's saying he wants these guys behind bars. Something's not right."
"The mind works differently when you panic. Maybe he was just so flustered he didn't want to believe it was as bad as it evidently is." Stella replied, opening her kit. She pulled out the necessary tools to get scrapings from under the finger nails. She knew any trace would have been washed off during the cleaning and bandaging of the wounds. "Don, maybe you shouldn't work on this case-"
Don sighed, standing from the seat as he began to pace the length of the room. "Mac has already talked to me about this. I know how I'm 'emotionally involved'. I just need to do this."
"You care about her a lot, huh?"
Looking to the girl in the bed, Don nodded, "I'm close to the whole family. Her older brother and his wife still live a few doors down from my folks."
Stella shook her head, "Don, this is more than being close to their family. You've been calling the hospital every hour to check how she was doing. You nearly took off before we'd finished at the scene just to come here. If Danny hadn't of stopped you-"
"She's a friend. Her brother's my best friend." Don argued. "I'll head out. There must be some update-"
A slight cough from the hospital bed distracted Don from his sentence. Quickly, he rushed over to Anna watching as her eyelids began to flutter open. "Anna?"