Part IX
Vince came back into the waiting area, looking grim. From his glance her direction, it was obvious that he didn't want to say anything in front of Mrs. Kelly. Roy slipped out of the room and found Dixie. A minute later, Dixie was moving over to the still weeping woman, speaking softly.
"Mrs. Kelly? I understand you're going to be able to visit with your son for a few minutes soon. Would you like me to show where you could wash your face and get ready?"
Marco reassured her that he would be going in with her to see Chet, so she agree to go with the head nurse. Roy was coming back in with Dr. Early as the two women were leaving. Vince gave Roy a curious look and he shrugged.
"I had a feeling this was about the attack. This is Chet's doctor and I thought it might be something he needs to hear as well."
Nodding, Vince started.
"We've been rounding up more of the members, so we've gotten a fuller story now. First off, you may have noticed that other stations already know at least something about Chet? That was the gang. They wanted to make sure that the word was out that they had him. Apparently the recent string of arsons wasn't just arson for arson's sake. Their leader, Mace, was using them to try to get a firefighter off by them self."
Remembering Sherri's words, Marco swallowed and spoke.
"The young girl that showed us where Chet had been taken, she said it was to build up their reputation on the streets."
"Yes, that's what it was all about. They'd originally debated between taking a policeman or a firefighter and decided to go with firefighters because you guys aren't armed. Chet had the bad luck of being the first man they caught alone."
Lightner shrank back even further, but no-one was casting a glance his direction. They were giving all of their attention to Vince.
"Like I told you before, it was a group of eight that attacked Chet originally. They say they surrounded him and stripped his gear off of him before having a free for all on kicking and beating him until Mace made them stop so that there'd be something left for the rest of the gang. They took him back to where they usually hang out and the beatings started over again. Then Mace picked his top guys to go with him for the 'treat' of helping to kill Chet. One of the members even said Mace sent him to go get smelling salts so that he could make sure Chet was alert enough to know what was going on. You pretty much know the story from there since John was the one that cut the chain off of Chet. Mace even creeped out the other gang members with his obsession of wanting to watch Chet burn alive."
Everyone in the waiting area was equally creeped out and understood why Vince hadn't wanted to speak while Chet's mother was in the room. The cold premeditation behind what had been done to Chet made it seem even worse somehow.
Dr. Early exchanged a glance with Roy, then directed his gaze over to Captain Stanley and Chief McConakee.
"I don't suppose I need to tell you gentlemen that Kelly is going to need some therapy after we get him up."
The Chief spoke up immediately.
"He'll get any and all the help he needs. You have my word on that, Dr. Early."
"I'll hold you to that. Roy? You and Johnny can come on and see him since Mrs. Kelly is still with Dix. Is someone going in with her?"
Marco nodded.
"I already promised her that I would, Dr. Early."
"Good. Just . . . be prepared for her reaction. I don't think my telling you that he doesn't look well is going to brace you for it."
Even with that warning, Johnny glanced at Roy after his first look at Chet and even Roy wasn't positive that they hadn't been taken to the wrong room. The figure in the bed surrounded by machines had splotches of mottled color, no moustache, no curly hair. The thing that cinched his identity was the chain-patterned bruising across his abdomen that could be seen when he moved the blanket.
They exited and gave the warning about the hair to Captain Stanley and Mike before they went in. Mrs. Kelly returned and Roy gently told her about his hair as well. She grimaced but kept her emotions in check, even though that got more difficult on seeing the expressions Cap and Mike couldn't keep off of their faces as they came back out from their visit.
Marco kept one arm around her as they went in, but at his first sight of his friend, he wished he had someone to support him as well. Somehow, even with the warnings from the doctor and his shift-mates, Marco had still expected that he would be able to recognize his friend. He couldn't and the visit was short. Mrs. Kelly didn't want to start crying in the room in case Chet could hear her, so she left quickly after taking a minute to touch his hand and speak a few halting words.
Once she was out of the room, Mrs. Kelly broke down completely, the men of A-Shift joining Marco to lend what support and comfort that they could. Chief McConakee watched it all for a moment then indicated to Captain Lightner that it was time for them to go inside the ICU unit.
Captain Lightner was a relatively new Captain, but he'd been a fireman for quite a few years. In those years, he'd seen his share of injured and dead. But he'd never seen anyone looking as badly as Chet did that was still living. Chief McConakee spoke quietly as they stood there listening to the ventilator and monitor noises.
"I don't believe this incident was more than a tragic oversight on your part, but I can't think of a more graphic example of just how high the costs can be when even something that sounds minor happens. The incident will be going in your jacket, of course. But this is what I want from you. This sort of thing has happened before, but with increasing gang activities, I don't want a man left behind again even if the only thing surrounding him is Girl Scouts selling cookies. I want you and your crew to put your heads together and I want a list of suggestions on how we can protect our men - all of our men - from this sort of thing. And I want the list by the end of this month."
Eyes continuing to stay on the too-still form of Kelly, Captain Lightner nodded. He was replaying what Vince had said in his head.
"Yes, Chief. I'll explain everything to them at the beginning of our next shift."
"See that you do. Go on. Head on home and get some rest."
Exiting with the Chief, Lightner headed straight on over to the elevators. A-Shift of 51 was still a solid, protective unit around Mrs. Kelly who had moved from weeping to ranting about the kind of monsters loose that could do something like that to anyone, let alone to her son.
As the elevator doors closed, Lightner leaned his head back and sighed as he wondered if he'd ever be able to forget the sight he'd seen in that ICU unit. Probably not.
