Jack tapped his foot rapidly on the tiled floor of St Mary's Hospitals waiting room as he impatiently waited for news about Max and Claire, it had been five hours since they had been admitted to the operating rooms and on at least three occasions the doors had opened only for a nurse to run out to get more blood bags. He looked at his watch after noticing Nick and Judy sat on one of the benches, they had escorted the ambulances to the hospital along with several other units and had been waiting here even before Jack arrived, it was now half past two in the morning and they looked as if they could barely keep their eyes open.
"You two should go home and get some rest, I'll update you when I hear anything"
Nick shook his head quickly to try and wake himself up,
"With all due respect Jack we'll stay here, they're our team as much as they are yours, we want to be here. I could go for a coffee though, want anything carrots?"
"Black coffee, the taste alone should keep me awake"
"What about you Jack?"
"I'm fine for now"
Nick slid off the bench and landed on the floor with a soft thud, the benches were set for much larger mammals who were the kind that the hospital usually catered for, however they had the best trauma unit in the city and so they had to make do with the size difference. Nick trudged off out of the room and made a beeline for the cafeteria, caffeine being his only goal right now. Judy sat quietly for a moment while she looked at Jack, he had an extremely concerned look on his face as he stared at the door to operating room four where Claire was being treated.
"You're quite close to Claire aren't you"
"Yes, she's a good agent and close friend of mine. We've worked together for years and she's always had my back, even when I use unorthodox approaches to problems that most mammals would dismiss."
"How long have you known her?"
"Twelve years, I brought her into the agency, she has always shown great resolve and willpower and puts everything into what she does, even at great personal risk to herself. She she was there with you during the nighthowler case"
"She was?"
"mhm, When you became the focus of the media after your, unfortunately worded speech, we received threats against you from predators who saw what you had said as an excuse to commit violence. Claire was sent to shadow you and protect you during public events"
"I didn't notice anybody"
"That's because we stay out of the public eye, we only need to show ourselves when absolutely necessary. I fear with what happened tonight we wont be able to keep a lid on this for much longer, things are going to get tougher from here on out, you and Nick need to prepare yourselves for the worst"
Nick walked past Jack and held a cup out in front of him as he balanced a tray in his other paw that had two cups on it, Jack looked up at him and paused for a moment before taking it from him,
"Decided to get you one anyway, it's been a long day for all of us"
"Thanks"
Jack took a sip as Nick handed the tray up to Judy so he could climb onto the bench next to her before taking his cup,
"Don't worry about us Jack, we've been cops long enough to see the shit that the city can throw at mammals, we've seen a lot of dark things."
"I'm not on about that Nick, with what's happened there's likely to be a shit storm coming down from the top brass, I don't know who's going to get caught up in it"
The sound of a phone vibrating caught Nick and Judy's attention and Jack pulled out his phone, he looked at the screen and his face fell a little as he saw the name. He answered the call and took a couple of steps away from them so as Judy couldn't hear what was being said on the other end.
"I'm at the Hospital now Sir...No Sir they're still in theatre at the moment...I am aware Sir...No Sir EOD cleared the scene an hour ago, I have every agent under my control searching right now...What? When?...With all due respect Sir tell Church to go fuck himself, if he wants to speak to me then he'll have to wait like everyone else"
The door to operation room five opened and several doctors walked out along with a gurney with Max on it,
"Sorry sir I'm going to have to call you back"
Jack ended the call as a familiar female badger in surgical garb walked over to him,
"Director Savage"
"Doctor Madge, how is he?"
"He's doing remarkably well which I imagine is due to his nature, we pulled eighty seven metal fragments from the entire back half of his body, as well as five bullets. He has second degree burns on his back, along with two localised patches of third degree burns near his shoulder blades where we extracted two very unusual bullets"
She took a small resealable plastic bag from the clipboard and handed them over to him, they looked like rifle bullets but they had a small hollowed out chamber in the middle"
"None of his vital organs were hit, but he will be out of action for a while, we're having to keep him sedated on his front for now while his stitches take hold"
"How long will he be out?"
"I honestly can't say, his first injury a week ago should have killed him, so I really have no idea I'm afraid"
"He's alive at least, he'll pull through"
Madge tapped the board nervously without realising it and Jack noticed it,
"What is it?"
"I have bad news from Doctor Lyle about Agent Schwartzpelz, she has severe trauma throughout her body which is one of the reasons why her surgery is taking so long"
"One of the reasons?"
"Yes. I'm afraid we've had to amputate her left arm below the elbow"
"What?!"
"It looks like it took the full brunt from a shotgun blast at close range, there was no way we could save it. I'm very sorry Jack"
Max's eyelids felt incredibly heavy as he slowly opened them just enough to let some light in, he inhaled sharply as his back felt like it was on fire but he grit his teeth and forced the pain to subside enough for him to concentrate. He opened his eyes fully and could see the white tiles on the floor of the recovery room that he was in, his head was in a hole in the mattress of the bed and he could feel his arms and legs spread out, he could feel the air conditioning blowing against him and he could tell that he was missing a lot of fur. Slowly lifting his head up and turning it he could see the heart rate monitor pulsing away healthily and he could just make out the silhouette of a large mammal stood still the other side of the curtains covering the window to the corridor of the hospital. Flexing his fingers and toes Max tested his movement, it was slow progress and painful at that, but he eventually managed to sit himself up on the edge of the bed. His head was swimming from what was left of the sedative in his system and he had to wait for his vision to steady before trying to move again, he pulled the pads of the heart monitor from his chest and watched as the monitor flatlined, a light pulsed in warning but it's alarm didn't sound. Next to the bed was a wooden set of draws that looked sturdy enough, carefully he put his paws onto it and slowly pulled himself up, his legs were like jelly and were screaming at him, but he forced himself into a standing position and bore most of his weight with his arms until his legs recovered. Hanging on a hook on the wall by the door was a patients robe, using the wall as support he made his way over to it, even though it was only twenty feet away he had to pause halfway to steady himself as his vision began to shake again. Making it to the robe he took it from the hook and struggled to lift his arm high enough to put it on as pain rippled through it and took his breath away. Now sufficiently clothed he opened the door to see Higgins stood guard outside his room with a shotgun in his hoofs, the look of shock on Higgins face would have been funny to Max if he wasn't in so much pain.
"Jesus Max what are you doing, you should be in bed you look like death"
He went to help Max back to into the room but Max pushed his hoof away, he almost lost his balance with the act and he had to grab the frame of the door to steady himself,
"Where's Claire?"
"She's in a recovery room down the hall. You need to get back to bed"
"Which room?"
"Aren't you listening? You aren't in any condition to be up"
He went to put his arm around Max's shoulders and lead him back to bed but Max grabbed him by the wrist and extended his claws,
"You're going to take me to her room, or I'll put you in that bed"
The look on Max's face told Higgins one thing, that he was deadly serious. The experienced hippo was a veteran police officer and had seen mammals with that look in their eyes before and he knew what would happen if they were angered.
"Jacks probably gonna kill me for this"
Higgins shouldered the shotgun and slowly lead Max down the corridor, he had to steady him a couple of times and he was concerned about Max's laboured breathing. Even though it was only about sixty feet to the door of Claire's room Max looked like he had all but burned through his energy, as he leant against the wall next to the door Higgins looked at him with genuine concern,
"I'll be fine Higgins, don't worry about me. Open the door will you"
"Max are you sure about this?"
"Just do it already"
Reluctantly Higgins opened the door and held it open as Max slowly staggered into the room, Max paused as he saw Claire lying on the bed, the covered were up to her chest and she was covered in bandages. A mask was covering her face and a machine was helping her to breath, her heart rate was low but steady and an IV drip was connected to a cannula in her right wrist. But he noticed something, a bandage over the stump of her left arm, his stomach dropped as soon as he saw it. He mumbled as his breath escaped him.
"oh christ"
He grabbed a nearby chair and tried to move it but he had trouble pulling it against the tiles, Higgins leant over him and picked it up,
"Thank you"
"Where do you want it?"
"Over there please, next to the bed"
Higgins put it down gently on her right hand side and he helped Max up onto it, Max breathed heavily as he tried to recover some of his strength,
"Thanks Higgins. Sorry about grabbing you earlier"
"It's alright, you sure you're alright? Want me to get a nurse?"
"I'll be fine. I just need to rest a little"
"Alright, I'll be outside if you need me"
Higgins left the room and closed the door behind him, even without him having night vision there was enough moonlight out for him to see Max take Claire's paw in his and and close his eyes, to Higgins it looked like he was trying to concentrate on something but he couldn't be sure. Even though Max said he would be alright Higgins was still concerned so he went and informed the duty nurse of where Max was just in case.
In the parking lot of St Mary's hospital near to the A&E ward entrance sat three jet black SUVs, their windows were tinted and unlike the other SUVs in the parking lot the three of them were heavily armoured. Unbeknownst to the mammals passing them by an important meeting was taking place inside the middle vehicle. Jack was sitting in front of a kangaroo with frustration written across his face, the kangaroo was in a black agency suit like Jacks and he looked like he had had the weight of the world on his shoulders for years, his skin was weathered and his fur had faded in patches yet he still had a look of determination about him.
"Director Samuels you have to understand, we are already at maximum capacity searching for the chemical weapons, we can't spare any more resources, I need additional feet on the ground sir"
"I understand that Jack, you know I want to bring in more agents but my paws are tied. Church is lobbying to take control of the operation, and if he is successful then your agenda with agent Schwartzpelz will never go through. How is she by the way?"
"Not good, they had to amputate her left arm below the elbow, she had sever internal bleeding and damage to several of her organs. They don't know if she'll make it"
"I see... Look I'll do what I can to convince the bureaucrats, but for now your going to have to try and manage with what you have. With the window closing in I'm less concerned about protocol, if you think you can get results then bend, hell break the rules of you need to. Use local units or whatever you can come up with, we have three days before the first public events, I don't want to have to get a call from Madam Secretary, understand?"
"Yes sir"
"Good luck Jack"
Jack headed into the hospital staffs break room and grabbed his coat off the back of one of the chairs, the sounds of someone snoring caught his attention and he could see Nick and Judy asleep on one of the couches, Judy was lying next to Nick and he had his tail curled around her. They had all been at the hospital for almost nine hours and they were all exhausted. Before heading back to Section 12 headquarters to get the situation report from the teams that were searching the building, that they now knew to be an old office block for a now de-funked company, he decided to check up on Max and Claire. As he entered the recovery ward he noticed something, Higgins was not outside Max's room like he had instructed him, instead he was sitting on a bench outside Claire's room. The hippo was staring at the window to her room and didn't notice Jack approach until he was already next to him. He shot up form his seat but was urged to stay where he was,
"What's going on Higgins?"
"Sir, Max wanted to sit with Claire sir"
"He what? How is he up so fast?"
"I don't know sir, he looked week sir. I tried to get him back to bed but he was..very insistent..when asking."
"How long has been in there?"
"A few hours sir, he's just been sitting there holding her paw"
"I see. You can go Higgins, next shift will be here in a couple of minutes, make them aware of what's happening. Leave Max do what he wants for now"
"Yes sir"
Higgins got up and headed back to front of the ward and went towards the elevator. Jack had to jump to grab the handle of the door but he managed to open it easily enough. The light from the rising sun was just starting to come through the blinds, Max was sat stock still on the chair next to Claire, the only movement coming from him was the rising and falling of his chest and his eyes looked slightly glazed like he was in a trance. Jack walked over and stood next to him, he could just about see Claire lying in the tall bed,
"Max, how are you feeling?"
He waited but there was no answer, he just kept staring at Claire.
"Look Max, we're still trying to piece together what happened. I know you did everything you could to look after her, and I thank you for that. Claire means a lot to me, and she'll mean a lot to this city soon. But if Sokolov succeeds then I don't think there'll be much left for any of us. Did you find anything, anything at all to bring us closer?"
The room was quiet, the only sound was coming from the low beeping of the heart monitor. Jack turned to leave when he heard Max almost whisper,
"Angie knows"
"Angie? Who's Angie?"
"Black bear, lead the group"
"What else can you tell me?"
He didn't answer
"Max, Please I need more to go on than that"
He stayed quiet, his eyes looked more glazed than before. Jack tried a few more times but he got the impression Max no longer knew that he was there. He headed out of the room and found one his agents stood outside the room.
"Listen to me, you need to pay attention to anything that he says in there, it could be important, keep me informed of everything no matter how small it may seem"
The agent nodded and Jack headed off back to the headquarters, meanwhile images of what they had gone through ran through Max's mind, his lips curling back into a snarl and anger built up inside of him as the face of the black bear came to the forefront of his mind.
AN - Managed to bash this out quickly this morning before work, hope you like.
