Chapter 9
'It's Sara' said Peter glancing at his phone
'Sara? What's up?' he asked, surmising bad news. Sara Ellis-Caffrey would not be calling in the middle of the dinner hour, not when she was probably dealing with a couple of tired, cranky kids.
'Peter, I might be overreacting but Neal still isn't answering his phone. He had a meeting with an informant at five – this is taking way too long' she said, her voice panicked
Peter glanced at his watch, realizing she was right – this was taking longer than the usual exchange of information and if Neal wasn't answering his phone, well, that wasn't a good sign.
'He told me he was headed to Bushwick' he volunteered 'let me see what I can find out'
He turned to look at El who was gathering up their plates to put into the refrigerator for re-heating later and he shrugged.
'Go!' was all she said
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The phone rang on the information desk at the 83rd precinct of the NYPD and the duty officer answered expecting yet another emergency.
'This is Agent Peter Burke from the FBI' said the voice in a most official sounding voice. 'Have you had any reports of altercations in your part of town?'
The officer looked down at the call sheet although he didn't need to; he'd taken a call not ten minutes before from an anonymous caller about a stabbing near Rush Street. He related the information to the agent who disappeared off the line faster than he'd appeared. Some nights were crazy and this was looking like it might be one of those nights.
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Neal floated in and out of consciousness. Those feet that had appeared just before he'd passed out were gone and now there didn't seem to be any movement in sight. It was now dark and so cold as he lay on the pavement feeling the blood continue to trickle from his body, hot and sticky. He had to find a way to get home to warn Sara and her name escaped his lips in a whisper.
The fleeting thought slipped away as he lost contact with the world once again.
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Peter saw the flashing police and ambulance lights reflecting off the buildings up the street and made his way towards them. He had called Sara to give her an update and had asked El to go over to White Plains and take over on child minding duty – just in case. Luckily, Peter and El's place in Brooklyn was just minutes from the scene and although he hadn't had confirmation that this was indeed Neal, his instincts were rarely wrong and at the moment, they were screaming that his ex-CI had been the victim of a brutal stabbing. He knew Sara would be going crazy waiting and he hoped to have news for her within minutes – good news, he prayed.
As soon as he got out of his car, he spotted the dark head of hair on the gurney, that unmistakeable mop of curls he knew too well. He ran the last few steps to the back of the ambulance where the paramedics were about to load him on and he whipped out the magic ID badge that was certain to give him clear access.
'What happened?' he asked of the EMT, his voice shaking as he took in the sight of his ex-partner and best friend, lying motionless
'Stabbing. His vitals are weak but stable, a lot of blood loss' she answered in the way emergency personnel gave you the highlights without bothering to dress it up
Peter looked down at Neal's face, ashen, his body covered with a sheet up to his waist, a huge blood stain on his shirt which had been partially ripped off his body to allow access to the wound. Although unconscious, his breathing appeared rapid and shallow, his face almost a bluish color with a sheen of sweat appearing on his forehead. The EMT handed him Neal's jacket which was similarly stained and instructed him to follow them to the nearest hospital, Wyckoff Heights, which was just nearby.
Peter looked around, spotting the officer in charge at the scene and made his way over. He knew Detective Christopher Newcombe well; after all, this was his neck of the woods and he'd had lots of dealings with police throughout the course of his job.
'Chris!' he called out as the officer turned towards him
'Peter. What brings you out here?' he asked
'The vic... he's a good friend of mine. What happened?' asked Peter
'We got an anonymous tip that there'd been a stabbing and he was lying there when we got here' he said pointing to the spot where Neal had been found. 'Not much to go on, I'm afraid. It doesn't look like a mugging; his wallet and phone were still with him when we found him'
'Was he conscious at the time?' asked Peter, looking for some silver lining
'No, but he grumbled when they first checked him out. Called out for some woman...' he said as he looked down at his notes. 'Sounded like, Sara'
'Yeah, that's his wife. Anything else?' asked Peter as he took in the large pool of blood near his feet
'No. He's lost a lot of blood. Not sure if the knife hit any vital organs – we'll let the ER doctors do their thing, I guess' he said finally, closing his notebook
'Could you keep me posted on this one, Chris – as a personal favor' Peter asked
'Sure thing' said the officer as he returned to the scene
Peter grabbed his phone to call White Plains – as much as he hated to be the bearer of bad news, Sara needed to be told and as horrible as any stabbing was, he hoped his instincts were wrong and that it had been a random attack. Somehow, he knew different and he feared that this was a case of all of them underestimating Craig Williamson.
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Sara arrived about fifteen minutes later – she must have been flying on the freeway – and entered the ER in a panic. Peter hadn't been able to tell her much and she was terrified that it was even worse than he'd let on when he'd called. Her mind returned to the night she'd arrived at another hospital, in Manhattan that time, after the taxi Neal had been travelling in had been involved in an accident. That night had been the beginning of months and years of suffering for Neal and still now, he struggled at times with the fallout from his brain injury. He'd been through enough and just the thought that he'd been hurt again made her feel physically ill.
Peter spotted her as she walked over to the triage desk and pulled her aside, urging her to sit as he shared the little bit of information he'd been privy to.
'He's alive, right?' she asked, panicked, needing to get that first horrible fear dealt with
'Yes, he's alive. He was stabbed. In the stomach. But I don't know much else; they're examining him now' he said
Sara looked into her friend's eyes, not daring to ask the question that was on both their minds. She finally gave in.
'You don't think this has anything to do with...' she asked, not even needing to finish the sentence
'I don't know, Sara. Whoever did this didn't take his wallet or his phone...' he answered, just as vaguely
'I can't believe he'd go this far... Oh my God, the kids!' she exclaimed as a new level of panic set in.
'I've got agents watching your house' Peter responded and Sara thanked her lucky stars that she and Neal had a forward thinking person like Agent Peter Burke watching over them.
'Why is it taking so long?' Sara said as she stood and began pacing. Sara Ellis could never sit and wait, she wasn't programmed that way.
'Sara, it hasn't been that long. They have to do a thorough examination' said Peter, hoping to keep her calm
'Was he conscious?' she asked, grasping at straws
Peter shook his head.
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Craig Williamson ran from the scene of the stabbing in a panic. Somewhere deep inside, he knew that what he'd done was wrong but he believed that it couldn't be helped. He knew that Sara would only leave her ex if he was out of the picture and all he could think of was that he needed to drive to her house and finally take her away with him – away from this mess. He drove to White Plains, his whole body shaking and he began to slow down as he approached the Caffrey home. Something wasn't right, he thought, as he noticed two very official looking cars sitting in front of the house. Without slowing down, he kept driving; he'd have to find another way to connect with Sara. Maybe now, she'd take his calls – surely, she realized that this was all for the best.
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It seemed to take forever but the moment finally came when Peter and Sara were ushered into a small room at the back of the ER to get an update on Neal's condition. Sara's nerves were totally shot and her whole body shook as she took the seat the doctor pointed at for her to sit in.
'Your husband is a lucky man' he began, an encouraging first sentence if she'd ever heard one
'The knife wound missed most of his vital organs – in fact all of them but his spleen' he continued as if he were teaching a class in pre-med 101
'His spleen?' she repeated – there was an obscure organ if there ever was one. She knew what a liver did, what a pancreas did, what the kidneys did - but what about the spleen, what did it do?
'It's located on the left side of the abdomen just under the ribs and it acts almost as a giant lymph node' he continued as Sara's eyes began to glaze over at the new information
'It acts mostly as a blood filter and it's essential to a healthy immune system. In your husband's case, there are two issues: his spleen has been damaged and he's had a great deal of blood loss'
Peter glanced over at Sara who was staring at the doctor as he spoke.
'Luckily, the paramedics acted quickly and we were able to get him on transfusions the moment he arrived but severe blood loss can lead to complications and we're still trying to get his blood up to where it should be' he explained
'Is he conscious?' she asked
'No, he's not. His body has just suffered a tremendous trauma and there is also the matter of his spleen' he repeated
'What? Does he need surgery?' she asked, trying to fully understand
The doctor nodded.
'Yes, with your permission, I'd like to do a partial splenectomy. According to the CT scan we've just done, the knife perforated the upper left corner of his spleen and sliced it off. I would like to remove the injured part of his spleen. Although it will not grow back, he would still have the benefits associated with having about 70% of his spleen and all the immune protection that will afford him'
'So, you'd do that now? Tonight?' she asked, realizing things were moving fast
'As soon as we get him stabilized' the doctor responded
'Okay' she said, nodding and finally looking up at Peter as if she'd just noticed he was in the room
'Can I see him?' she asked
'For a few minutes. But he's not conscious at the moment' reminded the doctor
Peter gave Sara a small encouraging hug and sent her off to see Neal while he continued to hold vigil in the waiting room. If Craig Williamson had attacked Neal, as he feared, he had just upped the ante and no one was safe while this guy was on the loose. The best he could do for the moment was to make sure Hope and Liam were protected and that Sara also had someone watching her at all times. Once Neal was able to talk, he'd be able to confirm if Williamson was behind the attack and they would then have something to charge him with when he finally surfaced which Peter had no doubt he would. He hadn't done all this to walk away without his prize, 'his' Sara and Peter had to be sure they were there when he finally made his move.
TBC
