Chapter 6 From Bad To Worse

"Hey kiddo," Milt whispered as he stood beside the bed. McCormick's eyes were half closed. He reached out and rested his hand on Mark's forehead, it felt hot.

"Hi," Mark whispered.

"I'm gonna talk to the nurses kid, I want to know what's going on." He found a nurse at the desk. "I have a question about Mark McCormick, is there someone I can talk to?" he asked.

"Doctor Ross was just here, he's transferring him to the ICU as soon as there's a bed ready," the nurse answered his worried question.

"He's in a bad way in there," the judge told her, his concern was evident and the nurse spoke in a gentle tone.

"The antibiotics aren't working as well as we'd like on the infection. We'll be transferring him as soon as we can, you could help by keeping him company, he told me you'd be coming in and it seemed to mean a lot. I think it would help if you stayed with him."

Milt could feel his heart pounding. This was bad. Things were moving in slow motion, from bad to worse, and he couldn't seem to stop them. He headed back to the room, determined to be there for his friend.

Mark was in the same position, his eyes still half open.

"They're gonna put you in intensive care pretty soon."

"Yeah, I guess they told me."

Hardcastle paused for a moment, then spoke, "I'll be staying with you until you feel better." There was no reason to wait for Mark to ask again, he needed to save his energy.

"You knew, didn't ya," Mark whispered.

"Knew what?"

"That I'd end up pretty sick… that's why you didn't go after Barton."

"I was afraid you'd try to follow me and make it even worse."

"I would've too... guess that means I saved your life…kinda."

"How do you figure that?" Milt asked in surprise.

"If you went after Barton, you mighta gotten blown up."

Hardcastle gave Mark a crooked smile, he might be sick, but Mark could still think straight. "You're probably right."

"You probably saved mine too, by keeping me from moving too much."

Milt moved his hand to Mark's forehead and pushed his hair back as the ex con moved slightly in bed and groaned. "It's so hot," he whispered.

"You're gonna be okay, just hang in there." He knew his voice sounded gruff, and he wanted it to sound more comforting, but how did you sound comforting when you were scared to death?

H&M

It wasn't too long before Milt was following the bed as they wheeled it through the corridors and up to the ICU. He stood in the waiting room and looked at the clock, 9:45 am. It was going to be another long day.

He punched the intercom and told the secretary he would be gone for a while, then headed down to the coffee shop to meet Sonny.