Chapter 50

When the secure line on the desk in Lee's home office rang, he had a fair idea of who was calling; when he picked up the receiver, his idea was confirmed by the number that came up on the screen. "Hello, Jamie. How are you?"

"Good morning, Lee. I'm getting better by the minute. Abby's here, she made me eat all my breakfast, including the grapefruit sections, and Doc Spearman says he can probably discharge me to a convalescent unit Monday or Tuesday. I suggested the little general hospital in Alliance."

"That's fine; Amanda and I thought you'd choose to go there rather than back to Kansas City."

"Yeah, my idea is that by the time Abby has to go back to school in Lincoln at the end of August, I'll be well enough to go back to limited duty in KC, even if it means pushing papers for another few weeks."

"Sounds good. We're coming out, all of us, including your grandmother. I think she wants to make sure you're really all right."

Jamie laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like Grandma. When are you leaving?"

"Tonight, so it's not so hot and the kids will sleep while we drive. Matt Davis very kindly offered to loan us their minivan, so they can each have a seat to sleep on. Amanda will drive the van with Dotty to keep her company, I'll drive Abby's truck, and Phillip's coming along as our relief driver. Kendra's housesitting for Dotty while we're gone, and Jack and Leeanne will take care of our place. We're going to sleep for a few hours this afternoon while the kids play at Jack and Leeanne's, and then we'll pull out about eight tonight and drive straight through to Kansas City, stop for a few hours to sleep and check in with Frank Duffy, and then head to Alliance on Monday, if that will work for you?"

"Sounds good. The Kozal-Michulka clan can probably put you up in their guest rooms, although you might not all be in the same house. Wait a minute, Abby is signaling me. Oh, I'm supposed to give her the phone. Here she is."

"Hi, Lee. I just thought of something. My Great-Uncle Eddie, Eddie Michulka, owns a small motel. He's been trying to sell it for a couple of years now, ever since his wife died, but he's very picky about who he'll sell it to- it won't be to someone who will rent rooms to druggies or pimps, you know? It was built about forty years ago and it hasn't been redecorated in the last twenty-five years, but it's clean and he doesn't allow smoking in the rooms. There are only twelve units, but most of them are empty most of the time. There's a pancake place right across the street where you can get a good breakfast, too. It's about five minutes from my parents' house, and Uncle Eddie is fascinating to talk to; he's a Pearl Harbor survivor from the USS Nevada."

"That sounds like the perfect solution to our housing problem," Lee said. "Of course, we'll pay the going rate."

"If he lets you; you're family, Lee, and that means he'll probably try to comp the rooms, all of them."

"He can try. I can be very persuasive, Abigail."

"I'm sure. I'll call him today and tell him to expect you sometime late Monday afternoon, if that sounds right?"

"It does. Three rooms: Emmy and Dotty can share, and Phillip and Bobby can share."

"I'll tell him. Here's Jamie."

Lee talked to Jamie for a minute or so longer before they said goodbye; Jamie handed the phone to Abby to put back into the drawer and said, "Doc, you need to tell me what I have to do to get out of here by noon on Monday."

Abby spent the day with him, slipping out only late that afternoon to attend Mass at the cathedral near the hospital. With Dr. Spearman's permission, she came back with two Marvelous Marvin's bags: a burger, fries, and a large cola, no ice, for the Iceman and a grilled chicken salad, a recent addition to the Marvin's menu, for herself. At nine o'clock, Jamie sent her back to the lodge for the night, but she was back at seven on Sunday morning to help Jamie with his breakfast. He'd chosen pancakes and bacon this time, because he said he didn't really like scrambled eggs unless she or Amanda were the ones fixing them. While he was eating, his phone rang; it was Lee, telling him that the caravan had stopped in St. Louis for breakfast and was about to get on the road again.

"Duffy says we can invade their house at lunchtime before Amanda, Phillip and I go to your loft downtown and crash for the afternoon. Dotty and the kids slept most of the night, so they're going to stay with Frank and Sue; Frank says he'll take them to the community pool, brave man that he is."

Jamie laughed. "Hey, he's a highly trained federal agent; he can handle the challenge."

"And it will be; I know my kids. What do we need to bring you from your place?"

Jamie asked for a few more clothes, since he'd been undercover on the operation and didn't have much except what his cover character, a college student backpacking in the mountains, would have had. "And that's about it, Lee; I'm assured that Alliance is well furnished with books, and what I can't get locally, I can request from the library in Scottsbluff. Oh, one more thing- there's a UMKC graduate school catalog on the desk next to my computer. Would you bring that? Thanks."

He said goodbye and handed the phone back to Abby.

"Graduate school, J-Man?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about going back for my master's. UMKC has a master's in public administration degree program that looks pretty good. I figure that eventually, they're going to take me out of the field just like they took Lee and it might come in handy. There's one in criminal justice, too, but I'm more inclined toward the M. P. A. program."

"Sounds good. Finish your breakfast before it gets cold."

"Yes, dear."

By lunchtime, Jamie felt well enough to move – very carefully – first to a commode chair and then to a wheelchair. Wearing a pair of soft pajama pants that snapped up the sides and didn't constrict his bandaged thigh, he propped his left leg up and Abby wheeled him down the hall to a day use area, where he was able to enjoy the change of scenery. He didn't stay long, though; he still tired easily, so about thirty minutes into his excursion, he said, "Sorry, Princess, but I'm about to run out of steam."

"That's fine; I'll take you back and you can get some sleep."

"You'll stay, though?"

"I'll stay."

Lee called one more time early Monday morning to say that the family, having rested the previous day, was now heading for Alliance. "When you get there, Lee, follow Highway 385 into town until you intersect Nebraska Highway 2, which is West 3rd Street. You'll see the Cactus Motel on your left just past the intersection. Uncle Eddie is expecting you," Abby told him.

"Cactus? You have cactus in Nebraska?"

"Oh, yes, but it's really a tribute to Uncle Eddie's service with the Cactus Air Force on Guadalcanal."

"Now that is a story I want to hear."

"Oh, you'll hear it. He'll talk your ear off if you let him. He's seventy-six and he doesn't meet many new people who haven't heard his stories. "

Dr. Spearman gave Jamie medication to relax him during the flight, so he slept most of the way. A local ambulance was waiting for them when they touched down at the small municipal airport southeast of town, but Jamie was still so doped up that he didn't stir when the EMTs transferred him to the ambulance. The next time he woke up, he was in his room at the convalescent center at the general hospital. He looked around and said, "Princess?"

"I'm here, Jamie."

"Are we in Alliance?"

"We sure are. Doc Spearman gave you a knockout dose so you wouldn't feel any turbulence - not there was much, it was a very smooth flight – and you've been asleep ever since. Welcome back to Nebraska, J-Man."

"Thanks. It's good to be home."