Part 8 Getting Help.
Steve concentrated first on attempting to stop the flow of blood. He retrieved a cloth from the glove compartment and wrapped it as tightly as he could around Jesse's arm. Jesse's breathing was already becoming shallow and rapid as his body tried desperately to compensate for the blood loss. His eyes were defocused and Steve could see that he was close to losing consciousness. "Come on Jesse stay with me," he said trying to keep the panic out of his voice. "I need you to talk to me."
Jesse tried his best to remain focused but the world was shifting alarmingly. He couldn't seem to take the deep calming breaths that he knew would be better for him. His control of his breathing, his thoughts, his vision was diminishing rapidly. He heard Steve speaking to him but it was like he was talking from the end of a long tunnel. All he could feel was the pain, throbbing in waves up from his arm and through his shoulder, as though his whole arm were on fire. He closed his eyes.
"Jess," Steve said his concern growing further. He knew enough to know that the longer that he could keep his friend conscious the better his chances were. "Jess," he repeated urgently. "Come on I need your help."
Jesse fought his way back from the blackness that threatened to engulf him. He opened his eyes and looked at Steve. The blurry image smiled back at him.
"That's it pal stay with me." Steve's smile was one of partial relief. He took Jesse's uninjured arm and placed it on the cloth covering the wound. "Jess I need you to press here," he said firmly. "Do you understand?" He studied his friends face waiting for a response.
Jesse nodded slightly and did his best to put pressure on the wound. Steve waited until he could feel Jesse pressing on the makeshift bandage before he let go.
Jesse had had time to assess the reason for his own rapid deterioration. He was sufficiently well trained in working in crisis situations for his mind to have run a diagnosis even though he was the patient in this case. He tried to pass his assessment on to Steve but catching his breath was difficult, making it hard to speak. Each word came out quietly with frequent pauses whilst he drew in more air. "Must have……nicked…..artery….blood loss…too…heavy." He swallowed hard. "Need…. tourniquet."
Steve had already come to the same conclusion and had begun to remove his belt. He worked as quickly as he could, placing the belt round Jesse's upper arm above the bleeding he pulled it as tightly as he could. Jesse gasped in pain as the belt was drawn in but he knew it was needed.
Amanda sighed and switched off the recorder. Her findings were not what she expected and she wanted to talk them over with someone before completing her report. She was experienced enough to know that her conclusions were likely to be correct. Even so a second opinion would not hurt and, if she was right, it ruled out the 'Crime of Passion theory.' If she was correct then this was a cold blooded, premeditated murder.
She paged Mark and finished covering the body. Whilst she waited for him she began arranging her paperwork.
Mark entered and smiled at her. "I know that you work quickly," he said, "but even you can't have finished an autopsy report in that time."
"No, I have something that I want you to look at." She said moving back to the body. "Now that I've had a chance to examine them," she explained, "I don't think the wounds look like they are consistent with a frenzied attack and I'd like to know what you think."
Mark spent the next few minutes examining each of the sixteen knife wounds whilst Amanda waited. When he had finished he looked at her, his eyes betrayed the rapid thought processes going on behind them as he voiced his opinion. "Well you're the expert but I'd say that these wounds were inflicted over a period of a couple of hours and that they were designed to inflict pain but not to kill or at least not quickly."
"That's the conclusion I'd draw too," Amanda replied "They did indirectly cause his death from loss of blood, but this man was not killed in a single violent attack. Someone killed him slowly and watched him die." She was pleased that Mark's assessment was the same as hers, not that she doubted her own skills. It was just that sometimes, even with all her experience, she found it difficult to believe what one human being could do to another. Especially since the chief suspect in all of this was the man's wife.
Mark looked at her knowing what she was thinking and the reason she had asked him to come and confirm her suspicions. "It's unbelievable the depths to which people will sink isn't it?"
"Yes," she replied quietly. Replacing the cloth covering the victim, she became professional once more. "Thanks for that I'll get on and finish the report." She looked at Mark. "I'll page you again when I'm done."
Mark left to continue his rounds further intrigued by the case. He hoped that Nathan did stay on it as it definitely looked like it could be an interesting one.
The ten minute journey to the hospital was one of the longest trips Steve could remember. He glanced up occasionally to monitor their progress and give directions, and watched as the streets appeared to move by in slow motion despite the fact that he knew they were driving quickly.
He watched Jesse's physical condition deteriorate unable to do any more about it than keep the tourniquet tight and the cover on the wound pressed firmly.
Jesse's fight for consciousness continued as Steve did his best to keep up a monologue. Jesse struggled to focus on his friend's voice. He could hear him saying that it was important that he stay awake and he wasn't sure why but he knew that for some reason this was true. He had to fight the almost overwhelming desire to just sleep. He needed to listen to his friend. His eyelids which had begun to close flickered open again. He heard Steve ask him once again to 'stay with him.' "OK, I'm here," he managed to whisper in reply.
Steve was relieved that Jesse could still respond but Jesse's other physical symptoms were continuing to worsen. His breathing became increasingly rapid and shallow. His skin colour which had been pale by the time they had got him to the truck took on an almost translucent quality and he was covered by a thin sheen of sweat.
Emma was concentrating on the road and getting them all to the hospital in one piece. Not for the first time in the past few days she was functioning on a sort of autopilot. She did not think about what she was doing, she merely reacted to the circumstances around her. She had strong survival instincts which seemed to take over when the logical part of her brain shut down because the trauma of the situation was overwhelming.
Steve too was relying on his training and his instincts to keep him going. The fear that he had experienced on seeing Jesse lying on the ground had simultaneously tied his gut in knots, sent his mind into overdrive and released a powerful boost of adrenaline into his system that had allowed him to keep going even when he had been shot himself. It was that same gut wrenching fear that kept him going now and allowed him to ignore the pain from his own injury to concentrate on helping his friend.
Steve had enough experience from hanging around with his father and friends and from more than twenty years on the police force to know that Jesse's bullet wound and subsequent blood loss was life threatening. As he watched his friend slip further away from him, it was as if the rest of the world had disappeared. In this new reality there was just himself and Jesse and the fight to keep his friend alive until they reached the hospital. Nothing else mattered, nothing else was real.
Finally losing his battle to stay awake Jesse's eyes closed completely and his head fell back as he dropped into unconsciousness.
"Come on Jess hang in there we're nearly there," Steve said "You're not going to die on me. You hear." He paused for emphasis. "I won't let you die."
Steve wished he had true confidence in the words that he was speaking. He needed to believe that what he was saying was true but a part of him was desperately afraid that it wasn't.
Nathan finished speaking to two of the forensics team who had completed their preliminary sweep and were filling him in on what they had found so far. He realised that he had not seen agent Harris for some time. He didn't think she had left. He was not that lucky! He decided to find her to check up on what she was doing. After all they were supposed to be working together.
He finally found her, in a room that was obviously some sort of office, at the computer. Her fingers were tapping expertly at the keys. She clearly knew what she was doing. Nathan watched for a moment fascinated how anyone could type with the tips of their nails. Hers were too long to do it any other way. Then he moved up behind her to see what she was doing. He was no expert but like a lot of young detectives these days he had been on several courses to improve his computer skills. Crime was increasingly moving into cyber space and if that was where the crime was then the police had to follow. The code moved across the screen quickly, too quickly for him to make out what she was doing.
"So have you found anything?" He asked. He was satisfied to see that Agent Harris jumped slightly. So she hadn't heard him come up behind her.
"No," she replied quickly covering the slight shock. She realised that she had been far too engrossed in her task. "I was just checking through his computer files but there doesn't seem to be anything of interest. Of course if he was careful then he would have kept any incriminating files elsewhere." She turned to look at him. "I thought it might be worth having a look any way."
"Would you care to enlighten me on what you were investigating."
She smiled a deadly smile. "That information is….. confidential." She turned back to the computer and shut it down. Then she stood and held his gaze. "So I assume you've come to tall me what you have found out?" There was that arrogance again
"Look we've been asked to work together on this so I'm going to do my best to cooperate but let's get something straight." His eyes narrowed. "As far as I'm concerned we are working together as equals. You want to know something then you ask nicely. You find something out then you share it with me." He paused and lowered his tone. "because otherwise I will take cooperation to a whole new level of incompetence. Files and reports can be accidentally mislaid for days you know."
Stephanie Harris studied him. Her expression softened and she switched from arrogant to flirtatious in the blink of an eye. "Why detective Turner, surely you don't think that I won't cooperate with you?" She did not wait for a reply but pressed on. "I have my orders just like you and I will do my best to follow them." She adjusted her stance. If Nathan didn't know better he would have said she had done it to make herself look more attractive. "So could you tell me what you have found so far." She paused just long enough to over emphasise the politeness as she added, "please."
Sure that she was playing him but unable to counter, he had no choice but to fill her in on the findings so far. "Most of the prints in the house belong to Mr. Fielding or his wife. We are running a check on hers now. We have found prints on the knife and one bloody fingerprint on a door handle. Initial indications are that he was killed late yesterday afternoon. The wife hasn't been seen since then so the chances are that either she's a victim too or at the very least she's a material witness. We have an APB out on her. Aside from that I'm waiting on reports. I, of course have some background information on the victim but I suspect that you know more about him than I do."
"Probably," She replied but still did not offer any further information. "Any suspects other than the wife?"
"Not at the moment although we still need to check into his business dealings." He made a point of holding eye contact with her whilst he asked, "unless you can give me any leads from your investigation?"
"Sorry, as I said that is, at the moment, confidential."
'So much for cooperation' Nathan thought.
At last the truck pulled up outside the hospital. Steve said a silent prayer of thanks at least Jesse had made it this far. He scrambled backwards out of the truck and pulled Jesse into a fireman's lift over his good shoulder. As he stepped away from the truck he staggered slightly and was relieved to find Emma at his side helping to keep him steady. He pushed his way through the doors to the ER, shouting for assistance as he did so.
The ER staff instantly went into a well practiced routine to help the patient despite the fact that they had had no warning of his arrival. In seconds several pairs of hands were helping Steve lower his friend onto a gurney.
"He's been shot upper left arm," Steve said, "I think the bullet may have caught an artery."
Steve's shouted assessment brought two doctors running to the patient. A couple of the nurses gasped as they realised that it was a friend and colleague lying on the gurney in front of them.
"Oh God, Dr. Travis…. Jesse?" one of them whispered under their breath.
Steve heard this through the cacophony of noise and activity and for a split second he made eye contact with the young nurse who had dated his friend a couple of times. In that instant a look of concern and understanding passed between them and then it was gone, as the team of doctor's and nurses continued their practiced response. All remaining consummately professional knowing that their colleague's life depended on it.
As they wheeled him into the trauma room they were already checking his pulse and blood pressure. The doctor began reeling off a list of instructions to his team who moved around him in a flurry of activity and then the doors closed leaving Emma and Steve standing in calm and quiet by the entrance.
His purpose fulfilled Steve's body now began to protest it's treatment and he did not now have a reason to fight it. He staggered back and leaned heavily against the wall, briefly closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over him.
Emma was instantly by his side. She watched concerned but did not say anything. She expected at any moment that he would turn on her and blame her for what was happening to his friend, for what had happened to him and she knew that when he did her tenuous hold on her sanity would be lost. At the moment the only thing keeping her going at any level was her concern for the man who now stood in front of her.
One of the remaining ER nurses came over to check on Steve. Like a lot of the hospital staff she recognised him. Between his work and visiting his father and his friends Steve spent a lot of time at the hospital, not to mention the far too frequent visits to tend his own injuries. "Steve," she asked gently knowing that he would be worried about his friend. The word had spread quickly through the ER about the identity of the latest patient. "Are you OK?" She asked. "Have you been injured?"
Steve looked up taking in a deep breath and managing a half smile. "I'm fine," he lied, "I'm just worried about Jesse"
As he looked up she saw the bruising to his face. "Are you sure, I could get a Doctor to check you over?"
"No honestly. I'll be fine." Steve lied again at that moment he saw his father exit from the lift. He groaned inwardly. Here was someone who was going to be harder to convince.
The young nurse nodded reluctantly and moved away as Mark approached. Mark had been paged by one of the staff as soon as Jesse had been recognised. He headed at a half run to where his son stood. He was shocked by what he saw. Steve's battered face and disheveled blood covered clothing, the way he leant against the wall for support and his pale, drawn features made Mark's heart skip a beat. Deeply concerned he began speaking before he reached his son, the emotion clear in his voice. "Steve," he said to get his attention. "Steve?" He repeated questioningly. "My God what happened to you?"
"It's not me Dad," Steve replied trying to divert his father's attention. "It's Jesse." He paused trying to think of some way of passing on the information gently. "He's been shot."
"How bad?" Mark asked
"Upper left arm, it's a real mess." Steve replied "He lost a lot of blood. He was unconscious by the time we got him here."
For the first time Mark noticed the woman who stood by Steve. She looked to be about his son's age and had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her expression was one of fear and concern.
Steve noticed his father looking at her. "This is.." There was a slight hesitation as Steve decided what to tell his father "Emma, she's a friend of mine." Then to her. "Emma this is my father."
Both of them nodded slightly to each other in acknowledgment of the introduction but neither of them spoke, their minds on things other than social niceties.
"Dad," Steve tried to refocus his father's attention away from his companion before he started asking questions. "Can you check on Jesse? Find out how he is?"
Mark looked back at his son. He knew that Jesse was in good hands, before he went to check on him he wanted to make sure that Steve was OK. He looked down again at Steve's blood soaked shirt and his pale battered appearance. "Are you sure that you're all right. Maybe you should let me check you over and you can explain to me what happened," he said. "They'll come out and tell us as soon as they have any news on Jesse."
"No, I'll be fine," he said firmly. The subtle change of tense from when he had lied to the nurse allowed him to justify the half truth that he was telling his father. He would probably be fine in the future although it was not a word he could apply to himself at that moment in time. "Please, Jess was really bad when we got here I need to know that he's not…" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence the genuine emotion was there in his eyes as he gazed into his father's
"All right," Mark agreed. He still felt that Steve was not telling him everything but he did not appear to be in any immediate danger. Seeing his son's reaction had also brought home to him the potential seriousness of Jesse's condition. Concern for his young protégé took over. "I'll go and check on him. I'll be back as soon as I know anything."
Nathan stared at Agent Harris "Look I don't see how this can be called cooperation if only one of us is sharing information."
"I didn't say that I wouldn't share information detective," she countered. "Anything I find from now on I will pass on to you. I'm just not authorised to tell you why Mr. Fielding was under NSA investigation."
"Well if it could have anything to do with his murder I suggest you get authorisation because otherwise we're both going to be banging our heads against a brick wall." Nathan said trying hard to control his temper.
At that point one of the forensics team came over holding a brown envelope and a photograph in a frame. The photograph was of Richard Fielding and a woman of about the same age with dark brown hair. "We found this in the bedroom," he said indicating the brown envelope. "As far as we can tell the woman in the framed photo is Mr. Fielding's wife."
He handed over the envelope without further explanation. The implication was obvious the moment Nathan took out the photographs. They showed Richard Fielding greeting a very slender attractive blonde woman outside a motel room. There were shots showing them in an embrace before they disappeared into the room together. Nathan studied the photographs carefully. The woman was wearing sunglasses and there were no really good shots of her. It would be difficult to identify her. The only thing they could be certain of was that it wasn't Mrs. Fielding.
"Where did you find this?" Nathan asked.
"In one of Mrs. Fielding's drawers in the bedroom"
Nathan passed the photographs to Agent Harris. "That certainly gives the wife motive," he said
Mark entered the Trauma room to be greeted by a familiar sight as the team of doctors and nurses fought to save a life, only this time the life they were fighting to save was one that meant a lot to him.
He had only known Jesse a few years but in that time he had begun to regard Jesse as a second son. He and Steve often behaved more like brothers than just friends. The young man had so endeared himself to the older doctor that he had genuinely become one of the family. Seeing him lying pale and in pain in the midst of the trauma room activity almost broke Mark's heart. Caught up by emotion, it took him a moment or two to focus and interpret what was happening. Then his professional training kicked in.
Jesse was on oxygen and had three IV lines going in to try to bring his blood pressure back up. Dr. Taylor and one of the ER interns were working on the injured arm trying to stop the flow of blood and get Jesse stable enough to go to surgery.
Mark stood and watched. The team had everything under control and were doing all that could be done. So he just stood by in case he was needed.
After about five minutes. Dr. Taylor was happy that Jesse was stable enough to move. "OK let's get him up to the OR stat.," he said sighing with relief that Jesse had made it this far. He looked up and saw Mark for the first time. He allowed the rest of the team to begin the transfer and moved over to talk to his colleague.
"How is he?" Mark asked
Dr. Taylor did not bother with superfluous detail. "Just about stable, The bullet went straight through but caused a lot of damage on the way. Steve only just got him here in time and if he hadn't used a tourniquet, he wouldn't have made it. So far he's been lucky."
Mark nodded. "Thanks Bill, you'd better get back to him."
The other doctor smiled. "Don't worry we'll do our best for him," he said, turning to hurry after Jesse.
Mark stood and watched them go. Part of him wanted to go and help with the operation but he knew the team was skilled and didn't need his help and his reaction as he had entered the trauma room had convinced him that he was too emotionally involved to give his best and at that moment Jesse needed the best.
As soon as his father was out of sight Steve turned to Emma. "Come on we've got to get out of here."
She looked at him slightly bewildered. She had heard him tell both the nurse and his father that he was all right which she knew was untrue. She had watched as he was hit by the bullet and although the wound was not as serious as his friend's she knew that it needed treatment, but it had not occurred to her until now that the reason he had lied was because he intended to leave the hospital without getting that treatment. "But Steve…"she began
Her voice was too loud it would attract attention. Steve put his finger to his lips. "Be quiet. Do you want everyone to hear us."
She looked round and dropped to a much quieter tone but did not drop her protest. "But Steve, you've been shot. You need to get it looked at."
Steve exhaled heavily. He did not really have time for explanations his father could return at any moment and he would not then have the opportunity to leave. "Look those men followed me to Jesse's apartment. What's to stop them following us here." He held her gaze. He did not want to frighten her any more than she was already but he had to get his point home. "They don't seem to care who they hit. They just opened fire in a public area. Can you imagine what would happen if they arrived here and started shooting in the hospital?"
Emma's eyes widened as she considered the consequences.
Steve wasn't sure if he had pressed the urgency far enough. "The last thing either of us wants is a blood bath in the ER." He searched her expression for confirmation that she understood "So we have to get out of here before any one comes looking for us."
"Then I'll go, you stay." Emma offered.
Steve shook his head. "They know that we're together. The only way they could have found us at Jesse's was if they followed me. If I stay there's just as much potential danger for everyone here. Both of us have to disappear." He placed his hand on her arm. "Come on we need to go."
She nodded.
At that moment the doors to the ER swung open as a stretcher carrying an accident victim was rushed in.
The resultant distraction caused by the new arrival gave Steve the cover he needed to slip away unnoticed. He edged back out of the door, Emma at his side and without looking back left the hospital.
Steve concentrated first on attempting to stop the flow of blood. He retrieved a cloth from the glove compartment and wrapped it as tightly as he could around Jesse's arm. Jesse's breathing was already becoming shallow and rapid as his body tried desperately to compensate for the blood loss. His eyes were defocused and Steve could see that he was close to losing consciousness. "Come on Jesse stay with me," he said trying to keep the panic out of his voice. "I need you to talk to me."
Jesse tried his best to remain focused but the world was shifting alarmingly. He couldn't seem to take the deep calming breaths that he knew would be better for him. His control of his breathing, his thoughts, his vision was diminishing rapidly. He heard Steve speaking to him but it was like he was talking from the end of a long tunnel. All he could feel was the pain, throbbing in waves up from his arm and through his shoulder, as though his whole arm were on fire. He closed his eyes.
"Jess," Steve said his concern growing further. He knew enough to know that the longer that he could keep his friend conscious the better his chances were. "Jess," he repeated urgently. "Come on I need your help."
Jesse fought his way back from the blackness that threatened to engulf him. He opened his eyes and looked at Steve. The blurry image smiled back at him.
"That's it pal stay with me." Steve's smile was one of partial relief. He took Jesse's uninjured arm and placed it on the cloth covering the wound. "Jess I need you to press here," he said firmly. "Do you understand?" He studied his friends face waiting for a response.
Jesse nodded slightly and did his best to put pressure on the wound. Steve waited until he could feel Jesse pressing on the makeshift bandage before he let go.
Jesse had had time to assess the reason for his own rapid deterioration. He was sufficiently well trained in working in crisis situations for his mind to have run a diagnosis even though he was the patient in this case. He tried to pass his assessment on to Steve but catching his breath was difficult, making it hard to speak. Each word came out quietly with frequent pauses whilst he drew in more air. "Must have……nicked…..artery….blood loss…too…heavy." He swallowed hard. "Need…. tourniquet."
Steve had already come to the same conclusion and had begun to remove his belt. He worked as quickly as he could, placing the belt round Jesse's upper arm above the bleeding he pulled it as tightly as he could. Jesse gasped in pain as the belt was drawn in but he knew it was needed.
Amanda sighed and switched off the recorder. Her findings were not what she expected and she wanted to talk them over with someone before completing her report. She was experienced enough to know that her conclusions were likely to be correct. Even so a second opinion would not hurt and, if she was right, it ruled out the 'Crime of Passion theory.' If she was correct then this was a cold blooded, premeditated murder.
She paged Mark and finished covering the body. Whilst she waited for him she began arranging her paperwork.
Mark entered and smiled at her. "I know that you work quickly," he said, "but even you can't have finished an autopsy report in that time."
"No, I have something that I want you to look at." She said moving back to the body. "Now that I've had a chance to examine them," she explained, "I don't think the wounds look like they are consistent with a frenzied attack and I'd like to know what you think."
Mark spent the next few minutes examining each of the sixteen knife wounds whilst Amanda waited. When he had finished he looked at her, his eyes betrayed the rapid thought processes going on behind them as he voiced his opinion. "Well you're the expert but I'd say that these wounds were inflicted over a period of a couple of hours and that they were designed to inflict pain but not to kill or at least not quickly."
"That's the conclusion I'd draw too," Amanda replied "They did indirectly cause his death from loss of blood, but this man was not killed in a single violent attack. Someone killed him slowly and watched him die." She was pleased that Mark's assessment was the same as hers, not that she doubted her own skills. It was just that sometimes, even with all her experience, she found it difficult to believe what one human being could do to another. Especially since the chief suspect in all of this was the man's wife.
Mark looked at her knowing what she was thinking and the reason she had asked him to come and confirm her suspicions. "It's unbelievable the depths to which people will sink isn't it?"
"Yes," she replied quietly. Replacing the cloth covering the victim, she became professional once more. "Thanks for that I'll get on and finish the report." She looked at Mark. "I'll page you again when I'm done."
Mark left to continue his rounds further intrigued by the case. He hoped that Nathan did stay on it as it definitely looked like it could be an interesting one.
The ten minute journey to the hospital was one of the longest trips Steve could remember. He glanced up occasionally to monitor their progress and give directions, and watched as the streets appeared to move by in slow motion despite the fact that he knew they were driving quickly.
He watched Jesse's physical condition deteriorate unable to do any more about it than keep the tourniquet tight and the cover on the wound pressed firmly.
Jesse's fight for consciousness continued as Steve did his best to keep up a monologue. Jesse struggled to focus on his friend's voice. He could hear him saying that it was important that he stay awake and he wasn't sure why but he knew that for some reason this was true. He had to fight the almost overwhelming desire to just sleep. He needed to listen to his friend. His eyelids which had begun to close flickered open again. He heard Steve ask him once again to 'stay with him.' "OK, I'm here," he managed to whisper in reply.
Steve was relieved that Jesse could still respond but Jesse's other physical symptoms were continuing to worsen. His breathing became increasingly rapid and shallow. His skin colour which had been pale by the time they had got him to the truck took on an almost translucent quality and he was covered by a thin sheen of sweat.
Emma was concentrating on the road and getting them all to the hospital in one piece. Not for the first time in the past few days she was functioning on a sort of autopilot. She did not think about what she was doing, she merely reacted to the circumstances around her. She had strong survival instincts which seemed to take over when the logical part of her brain shut down because the trauma of the situation was overwhelming.
Steve too was relying on his training and his instincts to keep him going. The fear that he had experienced on seeing Jesse lying on the ground had simultaneously tied his gut in knots, sent his mind into overdrive and released a powerful boost of adrenaline into his system that had allowed him to keep going even when he had been shot himself. It was that same gut wrenching fear that kept him going now and allowed him to ignore the pain from his own injury to concentrate on helping his friend.
Steve had enough experience from hanging around with his father and friends and from more than twenty years on the police force to know that Jesse's bullet wound and subsequent blood loss was life threatening. As he watched his friend slip further away from him, it was as if the rest of the world had disappeared. In this new reality there was just himself and Jesse and the fight to keep his friend alive until they reached the hospital. Nothing else mattered, nothing else was real.
Finally losing his battle to stay awake Jesse's eyes closed completely and his head fell back as he dropped into unconsciousness.
"Come on Jess hang in there we're nearly there," Steve said "You're not going to die on me. You hear." He paused for emphasis. "I won't let you die."
Steve wished he had true confidence in the words that he was speaking. He needed to believe that what he was saying was true but a part of him was desperately afraid that it wasn't.
Nathan finished speaking to two of the forensics team who had completed their preliminary sweep and were filling him in on what they had found so far. He realised that he had not seen agent Harris for some time. He didn't think she had left. He was not that lucky! He decided to find her to check up on what she was doing. After all they were supposed to be working together.
He finally found her, in a room that was obviously some sort of office, at the computer. Her fingers were tapping expertly at the keys. She clearly knew what she was doing. Nathan watched for a moment fascinated how anyone could type with the tips of their nails. Hers were too long to do it any other way. Then he moved up behind her to see what she was doing. He was no expert but like a lot of young detectives these days he had been on several courses to improve his computer skills. Crime was increasingly moving into cyber space and if that was where the crime was then the police had to follow. The code moved across the screen quickly, too quickly for him to make out what she was doing.
"So have you found anything?" He asked. He was satisfied to see that Agent Harris jumped slightly. So she hadn't heard him come up behind her.
"No," she replied quickly covering the slight shock. She realised that she had been far too engrossed in her task. "I was just checking through his computer files but there doesn't seem to be anything of interest. Of course if he was careful then he would have kept any incriminating files elsewhere." She turned to look at him. "I thought it might be worth having a look any way."
"Would you care to enlighten me on what you were investigating."
She smiled a deadly smile. "That information is….. confidential." She turned back to the computer and shut it down. Then she stood and held his gaze. "So I assume you've come to tall me what you have found out?" There was that arrogance again
"Look we've been asked to work together on this so I'm going to do my best to cooperate but let's get something straight." His eyes narrowed. "As far as I'm concerned we are working together as equals. You want to know something then you ask nicely. You find something out then you share it with me." He paused and lowered his tone. "because otherwise I will take cooperation to a whole new level of incompetence. Files and reports can be accidentally mislaid for days you know."
Stephanie Harris studied him. Her expression softened and she switched from arrogant to flirtatious in the blink of an eye. "Why detective Turner, surely you don't think that I won't cooperate with you?" She did not wait for a reply but pressed on. "I have my orders just like you and I will do my best to follow them." She adjusted her stance. If Nathan didn't know better he would have said she had done it to make herself look more attractive. "So could you tell me what you have found so far." She paused just long enough to over emphasise the politeness as she added, "please."
Sure that she was playing him but unable to counter, he had no choice but to fill her in on the findings so far. "Most of the prints in the house belong to Mr. Fielding or his wife. We are running a check on hers now. We have found prints on the knife and one bloody fingerprint on a door handle. Initial indications are that he was killed late yesterday afternoon. The wife hasn't been seen since then so the chances are that either she's a victim too or at the very least she's a material witness. We have an APB out on her. Aside from that I'm waiting on reports. I, of course have some background information on the victim but I suspect that you know more about him than I do."
"Probably," She replied but still did not offer any further information. "Any suspects other than the wife?"
"Not at the moment although we still need to check into his business dealings." He made a point of holding eye contact with her whilst he asked, "unless you can give me any leads from your investigation?"
"Sorry, as I said that is, at the moment, confidential."
'So much for cooperation' Nathan thought.
At last the truck pulled up outside the hospital. Steve said a silent prayer of thanks at least Jesse had made it this far. He scrambled backwards out of the truck and pulled Jesse into a fireman's lift over his good shoulder. As he stepped away from the truck he staggered slightly and was relieved to find Emma at his side helping to keep him steady. He pushed his way through the doors to the ER, shouting for assistance as he did so.
The ER staff instantly went into a well practiced routine to help the patient despite the fact that they had had no warning of his arrival. In seconds several pairs of hands were helping Steve lower his friend onto a gurney.
"He's been shot upper left arm," Steve said, "I think the bullet may have caught an artery."
Steve's shouted assessment brought two doctors running to the patient. A couple of the nurses gasped as they realised that it was a friend and colleague lying on the gurney in front of them.
"Oh God, Dr. Travis…. Jesse?" one of them whispered under their breath.
Steve heard this through the cacophony of noise and activity and for a split second he made eye contact with the young nurse who had dated his friend a couple of times. In that instant a look of concern and understanding passed between them and then it was gone, as the team of doctor's and nurses continued their practiced response. All remaining consummately professional knowing that their colleague's life depended on it.
As they wheeled him into the trauma room they were already checking his pulse and blood pressure. The doctor began reeling off a list of instructions to his team who moved around him in a flurry of activity and then the doors closed leaving Emma and Steve standing in calm and quiet by the entrance.
His purpose fulfilled Steve's body now began to protest it's treatment and he did not now have a reason to fight it. He staggered back and leaned heavily against the wall, briefly closing his eyes as a wave of dizziness washed over him.
Emma was instantly by his side. She watched concerned but did not say anything. She expected at any moment that he would turn on her and blame her for what was happening to his friend, for what had happened to him and she knew that when he did her tenuous hold on her sanity would be lost. At the moment the only thing keeping her going at any level was her concern for the man who now stood in front of her.
One of the remaining ER nurses came over to check on Steve. Like a lot of the hospital staff she recognised him. Between his work and visiting his father and his friends Steve spent a lot of time at the hospital, not to mention the far too frequent visits to tend his own injuries. "Steve," she asked gently knowing that he would be worried about his friend. The word had spread quickly through the ER about the identity of the latest patient. "Are you OK?" She asked. "Have you been injured?"
Steve looked up taking in a deep breath and managing a half smile. "I'm fine," he lied, "I'm just worried about Jesse"
As he looked up she saw the bruising to his face. "Are you sure, I could get a Doctor to check you over?"
"No honestly. I'll be fine." Steve lied again at that moment he saw his father exit from the lift. He groaned inwardly. Here was someone who was going to be harder to convince.
The young nurse nodded reluctantly and moved away as Mark approached. Mark had been paged by one of the staff as soon as Jesse had been recognised. He headed at a half run to where his son stood. He was shocked by what he saw. Steve's battered face and disheveled blood covered clothing, the way he leant against the wall for support and his pale, drawn features made Mark's heart skip a beat. Deeply concerned he began speaking before he reached his son, the emotion clear in his voice. "Steve," he said to get his attention. "Steve?" He repeated questioningly. "My God what happened to you?"
"It's not me Dad," Steve replied trying to divert his father's attention. "It's Jesse." He paused trying to think of some way of passing on the information gently. "He's been shot."
"How bad?" Mark asked
"Upper left arm, it's a real mess." Steve replied "He lost a lot of blood. He was unconscious by the time we got him here."
For the first time Mark noticed the woman who stood by Steve. She looked to be about his son's age and had dark brown hair and brown eyes. Her expression was one of fear and concern.
Steve noticed his father looking at her. "This is.." There was a slight hesitation as Steve decided what to tell his father "Emma, she's a friend of mine." Then to her. "Emma this is my father."
Both of them nodded slightly to each other in acknowledgment of the introduction but neither of them spoke, their minds on things other than social niceties.
"Dad," Steve tried to refocus his father's attention away from his companion before he started asking questions. "Can you check on Jesse? Find out how he is?"
Mark looked back at his son. He knew that Jesse was in good hands, before he went to check on him he wanted to make sure that Steve was OK. He looked down again at Steve's blood soaked shirt and his pale battered appearance. "Are you sure that you're all right. Maybe you should let me check you over and you can explain to me what happened," he said. "They'll come out and tell us as soon as they have any news on Jesse."
"No, I'll be fine," he said firmly. The subtle change of tense from when he had lied to the nurse allowed him to justify the half truth that he was telling his father. He would probably be fine in the future although it was not a word he could apply to himself at that moment in time. "Please, Jess was really bad when we got here I need to know that he's not…" he couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence the genuine emotion was there in his eyes as he gazed into his father's
"All right," Mark agreed. He still felt that Steve was not telling him everything but he did not appear to be in any immediate danger. Seeing his son's reaction had also brought home to him the potential seriousness of Jesse's condition. Concern for his young protégé took over. "I'll go and check on him. I'll be back as soon as I know anything."
Nathan stared at Agent Harris "Look I don't see how this can be called cooperation if only one of us is sharing information."
"I didn't say that I wouldn't share information detective," she countered. "Anything I find from now on I will pass on to you. I'm just not authorised to tell you why Mr. Fielding was under NSA investigation."
"Well if it could have anything to do with his murder I suggest you get authorisation because otherwise we're both going to be banging our heads against a brick wall." Nathan said trying hard to control his temper.
At that point one of the forensics team came over holding a brown envelope and a photograph in a frame. The photograph was of Richard Fielding and a woman of about the same age with dark brown hair. "We found this in the bedroom," he said indicating the brown envelope. "As far as we can tell the woman in the framed photo is Mr. Fielding's wife."
He handed over the envelope without further explanation. The implication was obvious the moment Nathan took out the photographs. They showed Richard Fielding greeting a very slender attractive blonde woman outside a motel room. There were shots showing them in an embrace before they disappeared into the room together. Nathan studied the photographs carefully. The woman was wearing sunglasses and there were no really good shots of her. It would be difficult to identify her. The only thing they could be certain of was that it wasn't Mrs. Fielding.
"Where did you find this?" Nathan asked.
"In one of Mrs. Fielding's drawers in the bedroom"
Nathan passed the photographs to Agent Harris. "That certainly gives the wife motive," he said
Mark entered the Trauma room to be greeted by a familiar sight as the team of doctors and nurses fought to save a life, only this time the life they were fighting to save was one that meant a lot to him.
He had only known Jesse a few years but in that time he had begun to regard Jesse as a second son. He and Steve often behaved more like brothers than just friends. The young man had so endeared himself to the older doctor that he had genuinely become one of the family. Seeing him lying pale and in pain in the midst of the trauma room activity almost broke Mark's heart. Caught up by emotion, it took him a moment or two to focus and interpret what was happening. Then his professional training kicked in.
Jesse was on oxygen and had three IV lines going in to try to bring his blood pressure back up. Dr. Taylor and one of the ER interns were working on the injured arm trying to stop the flow of blood and get Jesse stable enough to go to surgery.
Mark stood and watched. The team had everything under control and were doing all that could be done. So he just stood by in case he was needed.
After about five minutes. Dr. Taylor was happy that Jesse was stable enough to move. "OK let's get him up to the OR stat.," he said sighing with relief that Jesse had made it this far. He looked up and saw Mark for the first time. He allowed the rest of the team to begin the transfer and moved over to talk to his colleague.
"How is he?" Mark asked
Dr. Taylor did not bother with superfluous detail. "Just about stable, The bullet went straight through but caused a lot of damage on the way. Steve only just got him here in time and if he hadn't used a tourniquet, he wouldn't have made it. So far he's been lucky."
Mark nodded. "Thanks Bill, you'd better get back to him."
The other doctor smiled. "Don't worry we'll do our best for him," he said, turning to hurry after Jesse.
Mark stood and watched them go. Part of him wanted to go and help with the operation but he knew the team was skilled and didn't need his help and his reaction as he had entered the trauma room had convinced him that he was too emotionally involved to give his best and at that moment Jesse needed the best.
As soon as his father was out of sight Steve turned to Emma. "Come on we've got to get out of here."
She looked at him slightly bewildered. She had heard him tell both the nurse and his father that he was all right which she knew was untrue. She had watched as he was hit by the bullet and although the wound was not as serious as his friend's she knew that it needed treatment, but it had not occurred to her until now that the reason he had lied was because he intended to leave the hospital without getting that treatment. "But Steve…"she began
Her voice was too loud it would attract attention. Steve put his finger to his lips. "Be quiet. Do you want everyone to hear us."
She looked round and dropped to a much quieter tone but did not drop her protest. "But Steve, you've been shot. You need to get it looked at."
Steve exhaled heavily. He did not really have time for explanations his father could return at any moment and he would not then have the opportunity to leave. "Look those men followed me to Jesse's apartment. What's to stop them following us here." He held her gaze. He did not want to frighten her any more than she was already but he had to get his point home. "They don't seem to care who they hit. They just opened fire in a public area. Can you imagine what would happen if they arrived here and started shooting in the hospital?"
Emma's eyes widened as she considered the consequences.
Steve wasn't sure if he had pressed the urgency far enough. "The last thing either of us wants is a blood bath in the ER." He searched her expression for confirmation that she understood "So we have to get out of here before any one comes looking for us."
"Then I'll go, you stay." Emma offered.
Steve shook his head. "They know that we're together. The only way they could have found us at Jesse's was if they followed me. If I stay there's just as much potential danger for everyone here. Both of us have to disappear." He placed his hand on her arm. "Come on we need to go."
She nodded.
At that moment the doors to the ER swung open as a stretcher carrying an accident victim was rushed in.
The resultant distraction caused by the new arrival gave Steve the cover he needed to slip away unnoticed. He edged back out of the door, Emma at his side and without looking back left the hospital.