Chapter 2
Sam awoke and had no idea how long he'd been out. He was in the exam room again, but he was alone. The monitor beeped and he glanced up at the three bags hanging from the IV pole. One of them held a deep red liquid. Blood. He'd been out long enough for them to determine his blood type. The clock on the wall wasn't a lot of help, because he'd been too distracted when he arrived to look to see what time it was. The door swung open and the nurse came in, a warm smile on her face when she noted that he was conscious.
"Mr. Finley, I didn't get to introduce myself earlier. My name is Rachel. How are you feeling right now?" She came around to his right side via the foot of his bed and checked on the monitor.
"Better." He swallowed and asked, "Did the doctor get the bullet out?" Inside he winced, because he hated lying to such a pretty nurse, but he had to stick with his story or risk more trouble.
"The x-rays just came back." She held them up and turned toward a long light box on the wall. She hung three films up and turned on the light. "We took three views, front, back and side." She studied them a moment and said, "I don't see anything on these, Mr. Finley. Dr. Pabst might want to do an MRI to check on the tissue damage."
"Whatever. I'm at your mercy." He raised his arm, confined by tubes and the monitor sensor, a few inches off the surface. "I'm kind of tied up at the moment, you know."
Rachel laughed and smiled, a dimple appearing on her right cheek. "You're better off, trust me. Your vitals are looking a lot stronger since we started the transfusion and the saline, and the morphine will help you relax and put less stress on your system." She patted his free arm before heading for the door. "I'll let the doctor know your films are here."
It seemed as if hours passed before Dr. Pabst returned, and when he did, Sam heard a familiar deep voice in the background. Riley. And she was fired up. A small smile crossed Sam's face as he realized that Mike must have gotten away, and she was angry and frustrated that he escaped again.
"I want to see him right now," she demanded.
Dr. Pabst's voice was calm as he replied. "I can't let you in there. Mr. Finley is stable right now, and I don't want…."
"I don't care what you want," Riley bellowed loud enough for Sam to hear her through the door. "And his name isn't Finley. It's Sam Axe."
The voices blurred into a jumble of muted tones that Sam strained to hear, but he was unsuccessful. He let out a sigh. The cat was out of the bag now, and no doubt Riley was telling Dr. Pabst who he really was. How much else she knew, he had no idea. If her team recovered the man Mike took hostage, no doubt she had most of the details on what went down at Schmidt's house. After awhile, the door opened.
Dr. Pabst stood half in the room, holding Riley back with a hand. "I'm sorry, Agent Riley. You can station someone outside Mr. F… Mr. Axe's door, but you can't come in. He's my patient and I'm only concerned about what's best for him. At the moment, that includes peace and quiet, no questions, and certainly no browbeating. Got it?"
"Yes. I'll have a man standing here."
Sam heard footsteps retreat and he let out a relieved breath. The doctor's steps neared and Sam looked up at him. If it hadn't been imperative to maintain an alias, he would have felt bad about the betrayed look on the man's face.
The doctor rested the heels of his hands on the rail. "Mr. Axe, I don't know what's going on, and I don't care. My job is to help you heal and get well. I just wish you'd been up front with me from the beginning."
"I'm sorry, Doc. My friends and I have a hard time knowing who we can trust these days," Sam explained.
"Fair enough. I don't really want to know any more than that." He turned away and studied the films on the light box.
Rachel entered the room and snipped the bracelet off of Sam's left wrist, replacing it with a new one that showed his real name. She didn't say a word, but her eyes told him she didn't like being lied to. Sam turned his head to the side away from her and closed his eyes.
Pabst returned to his bedside and pointed to the incision. "The x-rays confirm that there's nothing in there. You mind telling me who did this?"
"I don't know his name. It was Jed something. He's an associate of one of my friends, and I guess he used to be a surgeon. That's all I know, honest!" He paused, taking a breath to calm himself. "I was so out of it by the time we showed up at the guy's house. I know I passed out on the way, and Mi… my friend was smacking me, trying to keep me awake."
"Well, for the primitive conditions, he didn't do a half bad job. Still, I'm worried about infection, and the bleeding. I'm consulting with a surgeon. Most likely he'll go in and determine the source of the bleeding and stop it." Pabst straightened. "From what I can see on the x-rays, there's a darker shadow near your spleen, so I'm betting that's where the problem is."
After the surgeon came into the room and spoke with Sam, he announced that he was sending him up to the operating room as soon as he was sedated. Rachel arrived as he was leaving and injected something into the port on his IV.
"That'll put you out before we get you to the operating room, Mr. Axe." She almost sounded happy about that, digging the knife of guilt in deeper even as she cared for him.
An orderly showed up and put Sam's bed into motion. Between the drugs and the moving ceiling, Sam felt even more nauseous. It was a good thing he hadn't had anything to eat for awhile. The bed stopped moving and he opened his eyes to find himself in an elevator. The car moved upwards a few floors, and then they were on the move again. At that point, Sam didn't care. His eyes were closed and his mind drifted to better times and places where they didn't have to run anymore. He heard voices but they seemed far away. A mask fitted over his face, and darkness closed in soon after.
