The Little Red Tattoo
Chapter 10
It was just after midnight when Dr. Noslo returned to the waiting area to find quite the group. Nell was asleep on Deeks' shoulder and he had his arm around her trying to hold her up. He seemed to be rolling in and out of sleep as his head was bobbing up and down.
Hetty was sitting very still in the corner of the room and you couldn't tell if she was awake or sleeping with her eyes open, it was just eerie. Julia was sitting across from Deeks with her head tilted back against the wall almost sleeping.
Agent Andrew Crownman, who had arrived a couple of hours ago with Julia, was sitting in the opposite corner from Hetty reading a magazine and basically watching over the flock.
Deeks had asked if an agent could run by the house and bring Julia to the hospital. Agent Andrew had only told her that Detective Deeks was at the hospital and that she was required to meet him there. Once she recovered from the shock of Marty possibly being hurt, but was not, she followed Crownman to the hospital. Saying hello to Nell and Hetty, she gave Deeks one big hug for being safe and then immediately proceeded to faint upon hearing the news that her daughter was not only alive, she was in surgery to stop a brain hemorrhage.
In hind sight, Deeks knew he should have played this a little different. It really was too much for her to take in all in one shot.
The doctor cleared her throat several times to get their attention and then watched as they came out of sleep. When Deeks finally realized where he was and what was happening he jumped from the chair and almost knocked Nell to the floor.
"Doctor… How…how is she?"
Nell had stood up by then and was standing behind Deeks rubbing his back slowly, hoping it would calm him for the news. Hetty and Julia had also made their way over to the doctor. Agent Crownman put the magazine down and looked on, listening.
"We managed to remove the bullet fragment and clean some of the scar tissue that had formed over the years. This helped relieve the pressure on her brain. Getting the bleeding under control was a little trickier. We had difficulty locating the exact spot and then to stop it completely, well that took longer that we had hoped."
She stopped for a moment allowing the information to settle in and answer any questions they might have.
No one said a word, they just looked at her, not even blinking.
"The bleeding, for now has stopped. We will continue to monitor her vital signs and the pressure on her brain. She is in a short drug induced coma for the time being and will stay that way for at least a day while her vitals improve."
"Will she start to bleed again? You said you stopped the bleeding for now. What will cause her to start again?"
"We are not sure at this point in time. If her blood pressure spikes it could start again. Time is the big factor now. She needs to rest and start to mend. Once we bring her out of the coma we can then re-assess her condition."
"What is her status?" Hetty spoke the question they were all thinking.
"Now she is in stable but critical condition. She will be moved up to ICU and we will watch her very closely. She is not out of the woods yet. She appears to be a very strong woman so I'm not betting against her, but…but the drugs that we found in her system are complicating matters. The coma should help her ride out the effects of these drugs but nothing is certain."
"When can we see her?" Julia asked as she was holding back tears.
"In about an hour we will have her in her room. Please no more than two visitors at one time for now."
"Dr. Noslo we will be posting a guard at the door to her room. Please have all your people wear their I.D. tags so our agent can verify who they are." Nell was serious about checking everyone entering the area of the ICU, she was taking no chances.
"I will advise the staff. Can I ask you how Ms. Blye happened to have those specific drugs in her system?"
They all looked at each other not really sure how they were going to answer that.
"Let's just say it's a classified matter for the moment." Hetty responded not giving anything away.
"I guess that will do for now. Well it has been a long night, so I am going to check on our patient and then try and get some sleep. You should do the same; there is nothing you can do for her now."
"Thank you doctor for saving her, I don't know if I could have survived if we lost her again." Deeks was looking down at the floor as he spoke and the last few words were almost a whisper.
Julia reached out and took his hand and covered it with hers. "She's going to be fine Marty. She came back to us and we are going to help her get well."
"I know."
"We are all here to help her Mr. Deeks. Now I must leave for a few hours but I will return in the morning. I suggest we all do as the doctor ordered and try and get some rest. Except Mr. Crownman, he will be busy protecting Ms. Blye."
"I'm going to stay and go to her room once they move her in." Deeks wasn't leaving the hospital as long as Kensi was in a coma.
"I think I'm going home for a few hours rest as well. These chairs are murder on my back and neck. I will be back early in the morning." Julia moved to pick-up her bag and find her car keys.
"Deeks you have everything you need so I'm off to get Eric. Andrew your shift is over at 7am. Agent Jim Chow will take over from you then."
As everyone left to go home Deeks and Crownman sat back down to wait for the room to be made ready and for Kensi to be moved in.
They must have been thinking the same thing or maybe it was out of habit but both men reached for their gun to make sure it was at the ready. Funny thing was neither one saw it as they were both looking in opposite directions.
It was around seven in the morning when Deeks awoke to the smell of coffee and the very gentle nudging from Sam. Deeks blinked his eyes a few times to shake the sleep off and focus on the body in front of him. Trying to work out the knots in his neck and shoulders, he slowly stood, stretched and then reached for the coffee. Sam was half smiling, half laughing at the sight of Deeks unravelling himself.
"Are you finished? I wouldn't want you to spill this all over yourself."
"Thanks man, I so needed this. And you try sleeping in that…that sorry excuse for a chair."
"How is she doing?" Sam got serious as he looked over at Kensi lying in the bed with white bandages covering her head and wires attached to almost every part of her body.
"Same as last night. The doctor should be by soon to check on her again, we'll get an update then. I heard G was shot. How's he doing?"
"Already complaining like a little girl. Paris should be arriving this afternoon so maybe she can settle him down."
"She's going to make it Deeks. Look what she's survived already."
"I don't know Sam, this is a brain injury. What if she wants nothing to do with me? If she can't remember anything about me how will she know we were together once? What if her memories are all gone?"
"One day at a time, man, one day at a time. You show her how much you care for her; you charm her like you did all those years ago."
Sam placed his hand on Deeks' shoulder and continued "If she can't remember the things you did when you were together, then do new things and make new memories. You need to remember that you were the only one that broke through her defences. You were the only one to make her truly happy and that you were the only one that was there for her no matter what happened. Now is the time to step up and help her fight this, not sit down deflated and feeling sorry for yourself, or worse for her."
"Well I hope she gives me a chance to do all that, I really do."
They finished their coffee in silence.
Hetty soon showed up with Julia as did Nell and Eric, all taking turns sitting with Kensi or reviewing the evidence they had gathered. As the morning wore on they finally convinced Deeks to run home so he could shower and change his clothes. Actually they gave him no choice. So run he did.
Soon after Deeks had returned to Kensi' room, Hetty received a call that seemed to change her demeanour. Saying her good-byes, she left the hospital. As she sat in the car with the engine revving she looked around sensing something was a miss but nothing stood out. Still she knew to trust her instincts so she put the car in gear and pulled out of the hospital parking lot.
Sabatino was parked about one hundred feet from the front entrance of the hospital sitting in his newly stolen car and checking his weapon. Looking up he couldn't believe who was walking out the front door. Things are looking up he thought. Time to take care of some business.
He waited for her to drive by him on the way out of the parking lot and then started to follow her.
Hetty picked-up the tail soon after leaving the hospital and started to head out of the city and up into the hills. She knew what her Jaguar could do; now she wanted to see how long her new found friend would last. As the Jag started to climb the foothills Hetty dropped down a gear and stepped on the gas. As the tachometer hit six, she clutched, banged it into the next gear and stood on the pedal again. The V-12 roared as it pushed the car up the inclined road leaving the tailing car behind.
Sabatino couldn't believe the distance she had just put between them in a matter of seconds, so he gave chase determined to run her off the road and down the side of the hill. The BMW he had stolen started to gain but the twists and turns in the road made this a nasty bit of driving.
Hetty could see the car getting closer and waited until it was almost behind her before beginning the driving lesson. If he wanted a race through the hills of Los Angeles, then who better to teach him.
Dropping into second, she hit the gas; the back wheels grabbed with a squeal and launched the Jag forward. Clutch, then into third, red line the tach and into fourth, turn ahead, back down to third, brake – clutch, into second, gas into the turn, back to third and into a chicane hitting the outside edges of the curve and blasting through it at top speed.
Sabatino was trying to keep up but he lacked the skill to manoeuvre his vehicle through all these turns. He needed to get close enough to take a few shots at her; if he got lucky one would connect.
A particularly dangerous section of the road was just ahead and Hetty knew this. If she did this right she might be able to lose him. Down hard on the accelerator, sending the Jag screaming up the hill eating up pavement in giant bites. The BMW took the bait and began closing in fast. She down shifted just before the first hard turn, on the gas, back up into third gear and hurling toward the next bend just ahead. In one fluid motion she clutched, dropped the gear and pulled on the hand brake sliding the car toward the edge of the precipice. With precision timing she releasing the brake, gunned the engine and sped up the road and out of sight.
Sabatino realized his speed was too much for the tight turn, standing on the breaks and pulling on the wheel, he caused the car to spin and head toward the edge of the hill. The only thing that prevented him from going over was the large shoulder at the bow of the turn. The BMW skidded hard hitting the back bumper against the railing. He was now facing down the hill and breathing a little heavier as he paused for a second to regain his bearings. She was going to have to wait, there was no way he could catch her now. Regrouping, he started the car and decided to head back to the hospital before it became even more difficult to get to his little scorpion friend.
Deeks and Julia were listening to Dr. Noslo explain how the medication was slowly being reduced to help Kensi come out of the coma. They wanted to see how responsive she was to stimulus in order to better access her brain function. This was good news but it also scared Deeks. Julia on the other hand believed that she would be getting her daughter back, minus a memory or two. He wished he was as optimistic as she was.
It was late afternoon and Deeks called Nell for an update on the status of Sabatino and on how Callen was progressing. Apparently Paris had arrived and was handling G just fine. Hetty had a strange encounter on the road but couldn't see who was at the wheel of the other car or get the licence plate number. Eric was going over the traffic camera footage now looking to identify the car and the driver, but it was a slow process.
"How is Kensi?"
"Doctor is trying to bring her out of the coma, so that's the good news. What happens when she wakes up, well that's any one's guess."
"I'll call if we find anything. Oh and by the way, I love the Looney Tune Scrub hat you got for Kensi to cover the white bandages."
"Yeah the doc had an extra one in her locker and was happy to give it her. The white bandage was too much for me to look at. Plus she's going to need something to cover her bald head. They shaved it completely for the surgery."
"Let me know if there's any change."
Nell hung-up and Deeks put the phone away and looked back at Kensi and then at Julia. Will he ever get the family to be whole again? Could he do what was required to help her get better?
Julia saw the wheels turning inside of his head. She walked over and rubbed his arm to comfort him a little.
"I'm going for coffee, do you want anything?"
"Yea….can you grab me one too."
"Sure thing, I'll be right back."
She left the room and headed down to the cafeteria to get the coffee. The muddy looking water they sold from the vending machine on that floor was completely undrinkable.
Deeks walked over to Kensi and sat down in the chair next to her. He took hold of her hand and held it as he caressed her face.
"Princess you need to wake up soon. You need to see your family and friends. You need to remember who you were before all this happened to you. But most of all you need to come back to me, we need to be together."
Sabatino had ditched the BMW and selected a late model Ford for his next vehicle. He made his way back to the hospital and entered through the side door used for nurses and doctors. Scouting the area quickly, he managed to find the doctors locker room and access one of the storage cabinets. He quickly changed into the standard green scrubs and white lab coat. Finding an open locker he removed the I.D. tag and stethoscope and wrapped it around his neck. He turned the tag backwards so the side with the photo was hidden. This way it appeared he at least had a valid photo I.D. The gun was in his hand in the right pocket of the lab coat. There was no room for the silencer so he removed it and put it in his other pocket. Now all he had to do was locate which room his favourite patient was staying in and he could check on her for the last time. It would appear that her condition had just become very critical.
Exiting the room he made his was to the main lobby to try and find her. Walking towards the elevators he noticed a lady with two coffees standing by the doors waiting. The up button had already been pushed but he asked anyway.
"Are you going up?"
"Yes doctor, up to ICU."
"I see, visiting family?"
"Actually yes, my daughter. She just had brain surgery and she is recovering."
Julia didn't know why she was being so chatty with this stranger, but he seemed like a nice enough doctor.
"Well I happen to be heading there myself to check on one of my patients. Heart attack and stroke I'm afraid. Not doing very well at all."
"Oh I'm sorry to hear that."
The elevator rang and the doors opened, he motioned with his hand that she should enter first and then pushed the floor button marked for the ICU level.
As the doors closed he stepped to the back of the car and looked up at the display screen noting the weather and local news of the day.
Julia turned and politely smiled at him and he returned the gesture.
"Looks like another nice evening."
"Yes it does." She replied.
That familiar ring again and the doors open with Julia stepping out and walking toward Kensi' room. He was right behind her walking seemingly at ease as if he had done this a hundred times before.
The agent on duty was watching Julia as she reached for the door handle and smiled at her, but in doing so didn't see that Sabatino, who was behind her, had pull his gun out and screwed the silencer back on. He grabbed the agent and placed the gun to the underside of the agent's chin.
As Julia entered the room and started to walk toward Deeks with the coffee in her out stretched hand, the agent being pushed by Sabatino fell into the room and landed on the floor. Before Deeks could react, Sabatino was in the room with the door closed behind him and the gun pointed at Kensi.
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