Part 12 Drifting in and out?
Jesse felt like he was cocooned in cotton wool. He was confused, disoriented. It seemed like he had been asleep forever and now that he was waking up he wasn't even sure which way up he was lying. He fought to open his eyes, latching on to the familiar sound of Amanda's voice. Where was he? How long had he been asleep? Why on earth would Amanda be there helping to wake him up?
Finally he was successful in forcing his eyes open. He blinked rapidly at the brightness of the light, waiting for the blurry outlines to take form. When they finally resolved themselves into something he could recognise he found himself staring up into Amanda's smiling face. She brushed his fringe back off his face. "Hi there Jess, welcome back."
Jesse looked around still a little confused. He was clearly in a hospital room and he tried to remember why he was there but his thought processes were too confused, all he had were questions. "What?.... Where?..." he began, his voice was cracked and husky from lack of moisture. The anesthetic from the operation had not yet worn off and so he could not feel the accompanying soreness in his throat. He tried to sit up as he spoke.
Amanda gently pushed him down and spoke soothingly. "It's OK Jess you're in the hospital. Don't try to move yet. You're going to be fine. Here," she said placing some ice chips in his mouth to relieve the dryness. "Is that better?"
He nodded "Thanks," he said, his voice still quiet and weak.
"How do you feel?" Amanda asked, hoping fervently that he did not feel anywhere near as bad as he sounded. "Are you in any pain?"
Jesse shook his head. "No pain," he said, his thought patterns still would not allow him to stay focused. He was sure he had questions that he needed to ask but what were they?
She smiled at him again. 'No pain' that probably meant that the anesthetic had not yet worn off. He still had a look of confusion on his face and she sought to reassure him. "Do you remember what happened?" she asked
Jesse tried hard to follow what Amanda was saying to him but the words did not seem to make sense. "Tired," he eventually said. "So tired," he continued, allowing his eyelids to close again as he drifted back to sleep.
Amanda waited a few moments to see if he would waken again then settled back into the chair still gripping his right hand. She wasn't sure if the contact gave him any comfort or if he was even aware of it but it was helping her and she knew that when the anesthetic finally let go he would need her there.
As she sat thinking and waiting, she debated calling Mark. She had promised to contact him as soon as Jesse woke up but she decided against it. Jesse's brief stirring could hardly be counted as a return to consciousness. She would wait until she had something more concrete to tell him.
Mark stared incredulously around the hallway and into the living room. He moved his lips as though he were going to say something but no words would come out. The shock of seeing his normally well ordered possessions strewn across the floor, some destroyed was too much for him to take in quickly. He saw and heard agent Harris but it did not really register in the conscious part of his brain.
"What the.." Nathan began to say, speaking before he had properly formulated the question he wanted to ask. He was used to walking in on all sorts of bizarre and dangerous situations as part of his job and being able to think on his feet but he was shocked momentarily into inactivity as he took in the scene before him. Question after question flooded his thoughts and made him unable to respond.
Agent Harris on the other hand was completely in control of both her speech and her thoughts. The reactions of the two men amused her. Both of them had let their guard down completely. It was lucky for them that she did not have hostile intent. Even though Nathan still had his gun drawn she knew that he could not have reacted quickly enough if she had meant them harm.
She smiled slyly again as she spoke walking towards them. " Really detective, you could put that gun away." She was close enough now to place her finger on the barrel and push the gun down. She met with no resistance. "You might hurt someone." Her tone was quietly patronising. "We are supposed to be on the same side you know."
Nathan belatedly realised that he was still holding his gun out in front of him. He relaxed his stance and allowed her to push it down, he glanced around the room once more and then turned his gaze back to her. Her tone and demeanor, standing here so calmly in the wreckage of a man's home, wreckage she had caused, was beginning to make him angry. Even with a search warrant such wanton destruction was uncalled for.
"You have a funny way of showing that." He said reholstering his weapon. His tone clearly hostile. "Is this the way the NSA normally carry out a search? Or did you just let off a couple of grenades in here for good measure." He spoke quickly as his anger rose further, not giving her a chance to reply. "And why are you searching here. This house belongs to a respected doctor who regularly helps the police. I'm sure if he was asked..."
Finally agent Harris interrupted, her cool facade showing slight cracks as she replied. "Now hold on. I said that I had a search warrant which gives me the right to be inside the premises. I did not say that I am responsible for this." She paused and gestured around the room. "I arrived about fifteen minutes ago and this is how I found it. And as for why I am here.." She did not complete the sentence as she realised that she had lost her audience. Nathan was looking right past her and no longer listening. She turned to see what had captured his attention to find that he was watching Dr. Sloan.
Mark had moved a little further into the room and had crouched down to pick up a framed photograph from the floor. Tears were brimming in his eyes. He turned the photograph over and a slight sigh of relief escaped his lips, the picture was undamaged. He remained crouched looking at it for a moment before slowly stretching to his full height. The frame was slightly splintered and the glass was broken, but this did not seem important to him as long as the photograph was intact. That was all that mattered. Despite its condition he carefully dusted it off and stood looking at it for a few moments more before replacing it on the shelf.
Nathan and Agent Harris stood and watched silently. Everything else momentarily forgotten.. There was something strangely mesmerising about watching the doctor's actions, it was as if they were getting a glimpse into the very soul of the man.
As though that small act was all that he needed to do to repair the damage to his home, Mark turned to look at Agent Harris. The spell was broken.
At some level Mark's sharp mind had registered the whole of the conversation between the agent and the detective even whilst he was recovering from the shock of what he saw. "So why are you here Agent Harris?" He asked.
"Please Dr. Sloan call me Stephanie," she replied oozing charm. She prided herself on her ability to read and manipulate people and from what little she already knew about Doctor Mark Sloan, she knew that he was unlikely to respond to an officious approach, besides not even she could fail to register the impact that finding your home in this state would have, so she opted for her friendliest approach. "I'm sorry to have to meet you under such circumstances. I actually came here to speak to your son."
Mark was not taken in by the friendly tone he could see the coldness in the woman's eyes, despite her smile. "With a search warrant?" He asked
Agent Harris' eyes narrowed. "Yes, we had reason to believe that he may be in the company of a woman wanted in connection with our investigation. If necessary we needed to be able to enter the premises to look for her and an item that she may have in her possession. As it is, I arrived here to find the door open and this inside. So I came in to check it out."
At this point a noise from the stairs made them all turn to look. Agent Steele came into view he had already begun to speak before he realised that Agent Harris had company. "There's nothing down here except more of the same," he reported and then stopped a questioning look on his face.
Stephanie handled the introductions. "Agent Steele this is Dr. Mark Sloan the owner and you've already seen Detective Turner." All three men acknowledged each other with slight nods. "Where's Dobbs?" She asked.
"He's gone to check the outside see if he can find any trace of the people that did this." Steele replied moving into the room.
Mark could not help but notice the swelling on Agent Steele's jaw, nor the awkward way the man had to speak to avoid moving it. It was obvious to him that the injury was recent. Despite everything else that was going on he had to ask about it. He walked over to Steele examining the injury as he approached. He suspected that there could be a broken bone. "Have you had someone check this injury out?" He asked.
"No, I haven't had time," Steele replied. In truth Dobbs hadn't given him the option and he did not want to appear weak, so he hadn't asked.
"Do you mind?" Mark asked indicating that he would like to do just that. Steele gave a slight nod of acquiescence and Mark picked up an overturned chair for the man to sit on. As carefully as he could he carried out his examination, but even taking care the probing caused Agent Steele considerable pain.
The irony that Doctor Sloan's son had actually caused the injury that he was helping to treat and that he had caused equal if not worse injuries in return was not lost on Agent Steele. He did wonder if the old doctor would be so caring if he knew the truth and surprised himself by coming to the conclusion that he probably would.
Eventually he had finished. "I'll give you some painkillers and something to bring down the swelling," he said, "I don't think that anything is broken but you really should get it X-rayed just to make sure."
"Thanks Doc, I will if I get the time."
"I'll go and see if I can find my bag," Mark said and moved off.
Nathan and Agent Harris were already checking out the rest of the upper floor to see if there were any clues as to who had done this or why. The number of expensive items still lying around suggested that it was not robbery although Mark would have to confirm whether or not anything was missing. The items that had been ripped open or emptied out suggested that whoever it was had been searching for something.
Mark retrieved his bag and brought it back into the living room. He placed it on the table and opened it up gasping slightly in surprise at what he found or rather what he didn't find. Half of the contents were missing: bandages, dressings, painkillers, all gone.
As he considered the implications of this discovery Nathan came back into the room. "I think you'd better take a look at these Mark." In his hands were several towels and cloths all covered in blood.
Putting this information together with what he had found in the car it could only lead to one conclusion. Either Steve or the woman he was with was injured and judging from the amount of blood, quite badly. The missing medical supplies suggested that they had made attempts to treat the injury whilst there.
For the first time Mark considered everything that they had found. His mind racing as he linked the information together. He was still left with a large number of questions but now his stomach knotted in fear for the safety of his son. He looked around the devastated room and voiced his fears to Nathan. "So either Steve or this woman he is with is badly hurt. What if they were still here when whoever did this arrived?" His voice became more panicky. "Where are they? If anything has happened to Steve.." Mark could not bring himself to finish the sentence
Nathan had drawn similar conclusions. He tried to sound as reassuring as possible. "Don't worry Mark we'll find him. I've already called this in and a forensics team is on their way. We'll get to the bottom of this." His tone softened as he watched Mark look agitatedly around the room again. Being here in the midst of this was only going to serve to make him worry more. "Look why don't you get back to the hospital and check on Jesse. If we find anything I'll call you."
Of course Jesse, yet another part of this nightmare. Mark felt like his whole world was falling apart. Jesse injured, his home destroyed, Steve missing possibly badly hurt. Only a few short hours ago everything had been fine. His eyes glazed over as his mind tried to deal with the emotions assaulting it, shock, worry, fear and despair all crowded for his attention as he attempted to keep himself from thinking the worst.
Nathan could only stand and watch hoping that his words of reassurance were having some effect. He stood offering what support his presence could until the tell tale sirens told him that the requested back up units had arrived. He took one last look at the unmoving doctor and went to coordinate the new arrivals.
Agent Harris watched the exchange dispassionately. She had heard detective Turner call the situation in and knew that she did not have long before the locals were once again crawling over a crime scene that she would rather have kept to herself. She silently cursed the arrival of the two men. With the warrant that she held she could have happily searched the premises for hours before anyone else needed to get involved. Then again she doubted if she would have found anything. Whoever had been here earlier had been fairly thorough.
As soon as Nathan left Mark's side she moved over to him. "Dr. Sloan?" Her first attempt at getting a response had no effect so she tried again slightly louder and firmer. "Dr. Sloan?"
He turned to look at her as her voice penetrated his thoughts "Yes," he replied still obviously distracted.
She could see the pain and concern reflected in his eyes but pressed on anyway "I'd like to ask you some questions."
"You can ask but I'm not sure that I will be able to give you any answers" Mark replied. There were so many questions that he was asking himself and, as yet, he was having difficulty answering any of them.
"Are you and your son close?"
What a question to ask. Couldn't she see how worried he was by the fact that Steve was missing? He bit back a sarcastic reply and instead answered simply, "yes, we have a strong relationship"
"Then you know all of his friends?"
Mark considered the question. "I know most of them yes"
"How well did he know a Mrs. Emma Fielding?"
Mark thought about the name. He had a feeling that there was something familiar about it, he felt that he should recognise it but not in connection with Steve. "As far as I'm aware he doesn't know anyone of that name." Mark paused as another thought occurred to him. "Although..." he paused again not quite ready to complete the sentence.
"What?"
"When I saw Steve at the hospital this morning, he had a woman with him whom I'd never met. He introduced her as a friend of his called Emma."
"And you had never seen her before?"
"No."
Stephanie could see Nathan walking back towards them. "Well thank you Dr. Sloan." She said not wishing to involve the detective any more then she had to. She turned and left
Mark barely acknowledged her departure. She had set him off on his own whole new line of self questioning about the identity of the mysterious woman with his son, and why the name she had given him was familiar.
Nathan watched Agent Harris' hasty departure and was pleased that she had left. The last thing that Mark needed at the moment was an interrogation about his son. Under the circumstances Nathan wanted to get him away from here as soon as possible. He had arranged for one of the uniformed officers to drive Mark back to community general and, if necessary escort him up to Jesse's room. At least Amanda would be there to take care of him.
Once Mark was safely in the Black and White and on his way Nathan turned his attention back to the crime scene and Agent Harris. She knew far more about what was going on than she was saying and Nathan wanted some answers.
Emma knelt besides Steve's prone form and first checked his pulse. She was relieved to find that it was still reasonably strong and steady although far more rapid than she would have liked. Next she checked his airway and made sure that he was breathing. Satisfied that he was in no immediate danger she sat back to consider what she should do next.
He had fallen about fifteen feet short of the couch and she doubted that she was strong enough to move him that distance whilst he was fully unconscious. Even if she could drag him it would involve pulling under his injured shoulder and that would open the wound up again. She attempted to rouse him by calling his name but there was no response. So until he came round all she could do was make him as comfortable as possible.
Emma set about finding cushions and blankets. She propped Steve so that the pressure was off his right shoulder and brought in the holdall from the car. As gently as she could she removed the dressing from the wound. She did not like what she saw. It still looked angry and inflamed although it had stopped bleeding. She carefully replaced the dressing.
Steve was very dehydrated and his skin was warm to the touch. Although it was a long time since she had done her training she knew that it was important to keep his temperature down and to try to replace the fluids that he had lost. She also knew that the bullet needed to come out.
"Damn you Steve why didn't you stay in the hospital," she said quietly as she gently bathed his face with cold water. She took a clean sponge and used it to press some water into his mouth it was only a small amount but his swallowing reflex worked and he swallowed it down. Encouraged, she set about the slow laborious process of getting liquid into his system a dribble at a time. Interspersing her efforts by bathing his face to keep him cool. A couple of times he did not swallow the liquid properly and he began to cough, each time all she could do was sit and wait for the spasm to pass, silently cursing the pain that it was causing as she saw it etched on his face, but thankful that he was not conscious to feel it.
Jesse blinked his eyes open. It took several moments before he could stand the bright light and a few moments more before he could focus on anything. He looked up once again into Amanda's smiling face. He felt her hand in his and gave it a slight squeeze of acknowledgment. He had vague recollections of waking up once before and of being in the hospital.
"Hello again," Amanda said softly
Jesse did his best to smile back. As his senses returned he became aware of an intense pain throbbing from his left arm. It made it difficult to think or concentrate and he was already struggling with remembering how he had ended up here.
"How are you feeling?"
"OK," he started to reply but decided an honest answer was required. "My arm hurts."
He looked down at the heavy bandaging, "a lot," he continued. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Amanda asked moving to adjust the morphine on the drip. Now that Jesse was awake he would need the medication to control the pain.
Jesse thought about it. "No I don't..." he began and then paused as flashes of memory started to return. His eyes opened wider. "I was shot!" He said incredulously. "Nicked an artery."
Amanda held his gaze. "That's right, what else do you recall?"
Jesse relaxed back on to the pillow forming the recollections into a coherent pattern. "I was with Steve and a friend of his. There were some men looking for them so I was showing them the back way out when someone started shooting at us. I was hit and Steve came back to help me." As he recalled events he suddenly tensed again as he remembered what had happened to his friend. "Oh my God, Steve, how is he? Is he all right?"
Amanda was confused by the question and the panicked look on Jesse's face. Apart from his mysterious disappearance and a few bruises, as far as she was aware Steve was fine. She was also concerned by Jesse's reaction. He was in no condition to be getting stressed. "Calm down Jesse and relax. You're going to pull the stitches out in your arm and you've had enough surgery for one day." Her tone was stern and Jesse did his best to obey her instructions. "As far as I'm aware Steve is fine."
Jesse relaxed a little more at her pronouncement on his friend. "Good, I was worried. He wouldn't have got hit at all if he hadn't come back to help me."
"Hit?" Amanda repeated, her earlier confusion returning.
Jesse looked at the lack of comprehension on Amanda's face. "Yes he came back to help me and he was hit by a bullet as well." Now Jesse was confused how could Amanda not know about this?
"Jess, Steve brought you into the ER and then left," she said quietly. "No one has seen him since then."
They both sat in stunned silence as they allowed the others words to sink in. Eventually Amanda spoke. "Are you sure he was hit. If it was after you'd been hit.... well... you would have been pretty out of it."
"He was holding me up at the time. I felt the impact." Jesse replied grimly. "I'm sure Steve was shot as well."
"Oh God,"
Both Jesse and Amanda turned to see who had spoken. Mark stood in the doorway to the room all of the colour draining from his face as he had his worst fears confirmed.
Jesse felt like he was cocooned in cotton wool. He was confused, disoriented. It seemed like he had been asleep forever and now that he was waking up he wasn't even sure which way up he was lying. He fought to open his eyes, latching on to the familiar sound of Amanda's voice. Where was he? How long had he been asleep? Why on earth would Amanda be there helping to wake him up?
Finally he was successful in forcing his eyes open. He blinked rapidly at the brightness of the light, waiting for the blurry outlines to take form. When they finally resolved themselves into something he could recognise he found himself staring up into Amanda's smiling face. She brushed his fringe back off his face. "Hi there Jess, welcome back."
Jesse looked around still a little confused. He was clearly in a hospital room and he tried to remember why he was there but his thought processes were too confused, all he had were questions. "What?.... Where?..." he began, his voice was cracked and husky from lack of moisture. The anesthetic from the operation had not yet worn off and so he could not feel the accompanying soreness in his throat. He tried to sit up as he spoke.
Amanda gently pushed him down and spoke soothingly. "It's OK Jess you're in the hospital. Don't try to move yet. You're going to be fine. Here," she said placing some ice chips in his mouth to relieve the dryness. "Is that better?"
He nodded "Thanks," he said, his voice still quiet and weak.
"How do you feel?" Amanda asked, hoping fervently that he did not feel anywhere near as bad as he sounded. "Are you in any pain?"
Jesse shook his head. "No pain," he said, his thought patterns still would not allow him to stay focused. He was sure he had questions that he needed to ask but what were they?
She smiled at him again. 'No pain' that probably meant that the anesthetic had not yet worn off. He still had a look of confusion on his face and she sought to reassure him. "Do you remember what happened?" she asked
Jesse tried hard to follow what Amanda was saying to him but the words did not seem to make sense. "Tired," he eventually said. "So tired," he continued, allowing his eyelids to close again as he drifted back to sleep.
Amanda waited a few moments to see if he would waken again then settled back into the chair still gripping his right hand. She wasn't sure if the contact gave him any comfort or if he was even aware of it but it was helping her and she knew that when the anesthetic finally let go he would need her there.
As she sat thinking and waiting, she debated calling Mark. She had promised to contact him as soon as Jesse woke up but she decided against it. Jesse's brief stirring could hardly be counted as a return to consciousness. She would wait until she had something more concrete to tell him.
Mark stared incredulously around the hallway and into the living room. He moved his lips as though he were going to say something but no words would come out. The shock of seeing his normally well ordered possessions strewn across the floor, some destroyed was too much for him to take in quickly. He saw and heard agent Harris but it did not really register in the conscious part of his brain.
"What the.." Nathan began to say, speaking before he had properly formulated the question he wanted to ask. He was used to walking in on all sorts of bizarre and dangerous situations as part of his job and being able to think on his feet but he was shocked momentarily into inactivity as he took in the scene before him. Question after question flooded his thoughts and made him unable to respond.
Agent Harris on the other hand was completely in control of both her speech and her thoughts. The reactions of the two men amused her. Both of them had let their guard down completely. It was lucky for them that she did not have hostile intent. Even though Nathan still had his gun drawn she knew that he could not have reacted quickly enough if she had meant them harm.
She smiled slyly again as she spoke walking towards them. " Really detective, you could put that gun away." She was close enough now to place her finger on the barrel and push the gun down. She met with no resistance. "You might hurt someone." Her tone was quietly patronising. "We are supposed to be on the same side you know."
Nathan belatedly realised that he was still holding his gun out in front of him. He relaxed his stance and allowed her to push it down, he glanced around the room once more and then turned his gaze back to her. Her tone and demeanor, standing here so calmly in the wreckage of a man's home, wreckage she had caused, was beginning to make him angry. Even with a search warrant such wanton destruction was uncalled for.
"You have a funny way of showing that." He said reholstering his weapon. His tone clearly hostile. "Is this the way the NSA normally carry out a search? Or did you just let off a couple of grenades in here for good measure." He spoke quickly as his anger rose further, not giving her a chance to reply. "And why are you searching here. This house belongs to a respected doctor who regularly helps the police. I'm sure if he was asked..."
Finally agent Harris interrupted, her cool facade showing slight cracks as she replied. "Now hold on. I said that I had a search warrant which gives me the right to be inside the premises. I did not say that I am responsible for this." She paused and gestured around the room. "I arrived about fifteen minutes ago and this is how I found it. And as for why I am here.." She did not complete the sentence as she realised that she had lost her audience. Nathan was looking right past her and no longer listening. She turned to see what had captured his attention to find that he was watching Dr. Sloan.
Mark had moved a little further into the room and had crouched down to pick up a framed photograph from the floor. Tears were brimming in his eyes. He turned the photograph over and a slight sigh of relief escaped his lips, the picture was undamaged. He remained crouched looking at it for a moment before slowly stretching to his full height. The frame was slightly splintered and the glass was broken, but this did not seem important to him as long as the photograph was intact. That was all that mattered. Despite its condition he carefully dusted it off and stood looking at it for a few moments more before replacing it on the shelf.
Nathan and Agent Harris stood and watched silently. Everything else momentarily forgotten.. There was something strangely mesmerising about watching the doctor's actions, it was as if they were getting a glimpse into the very soul of the man.
As though that small act was all that he needed to do to repair the damage to his home, Mark turned to look at Agent Harris. The spell was broken.
At some level Mark's sharp mind had registered the whole of the conversation between the agent and the detective even whilst he was recovering from the shock of what he saw. "So why are you here Agent Harris?" He asked.
"Please Dr. Sloan call me Stephanie," she replied oozing charm. She prided herself on her ability to read and manipulate people and from what little she already knew about Doctor Mark Sloan, she knew that he was unlikely to respond to an officious approach, besides not even she could fail to register the impact that finding your home in this state would have, so she opted for her friendliest approach. "I'm sorry to have to meet you under such circumstances. I actually came here to speak to your son."
Mark was not taken in by the friendly tone he could see the coldness in the woman's eyes, despite her smile. "With a search warrant?" He asked
Agent Harris' eyes narrowed. "Yes, we had reason to believe that he may be in the company of a woman wanted in connection with our investigation. If necessary we needed to be able to enter the premises to look for her and an item that she may have in her possession. As it is, I arrived here to find the door open and this inside. So I came in to check it out."
At this point a noise from the stairs made them all turn to look. Agent Steele came into view he had already begun to speak before he realised that Agent Harris had company. "There's nothing down here except more of the same," he reported and then stopped a questioning look on his face.
Stephanie handled the introductions. "Agent Steele this is Dr. Mark Sloan the owner and you've already seen Detective Turner." All three men acknowledged each other with slight nods. "Where's Dobbs?" She asked.
"He's gone to check the outside see if he can find any trace of the people that did this." Steele replied moving into the room.
Mark could not help but notice the swelling on Agent Steele's jaw, nor the awkward way the man had to speak to avoid moving it. It was obvious to him that the injury was recent. Despite everything else that was going on he had to ask about it. He walked over to Steele examining the injury as he approached. He suspected that there could be a broken bone. "Have you had someone check this injury out?" He asked.
"No, I haven't had time," Steele replied. In truth Dobbs hadn't given him the option and he did not want to appear weak, so he hadn't asked.
"Do you mind?" Mark asked indicating that he would like to do just that. Steele gave a slight nod of acquiescence and Mark picked up an overturned chair for the man to sit on. As carefully as he could he carried out his examination, but even taking care the probing caused Agent Steele considerable pain.
The irony that Doctor Sloan's son had actually caused the injury that he was helping to treat and that he had caused equal if not worse injuries in return was not lost on Agent Steele. He did wonder if the old doctor would be so caring if he knew the truth and surprised himself by coming to the conclusion that he probably would.
Eventually he had finished. "I'll give you some painkillers and something to bring down the swelling," he said, "I don't think that anything is broken but you really should get it X-rayed just to make sure."
"Thanks Doc, I will if I get the time."
"I'll go and see if I can find my bag," Mark said and moved off.
Nathan and Agent Harris were already checking out the rest of the upper floor to see if there were any clues as to who had done this or why. The number of expensive items still lying around suggested that it was not robbery although Mark would have to confirm whether or not anything was missing. The items that had been ripped open or emptied out suggested that whoever it was had been searching for something.
Mark retrieved his bag and brought it back into the living room. He placed it on the table and opened it up gasping slightly in surprise at what he found or rather what he didn't find. Half of the contents were missing: bandages, dressings, painkillers, all gone.
As he considered the implications of this discovery Nathan came back into the room. "I think you'd better take a look at these Mark." In his hands were several towels and cloths all covered in blood.
Putting this information together with what he had found in the car it could only lead to one conclusion. Either Steve or the woman he was with was injured and judging from the amount of blood, quite badly. The missing medical supplies suggested that they had made attempts to treat the injury whilst there.
For the first time Mark considered everything that they had found. His mind racing as he linked the information together. He was still left with a large number of questions but now his stomach knotted in fear for the safety of his son. He looked around the devastated room and voiced his fears to Nathan. "So either Steve or this woman he is with is badly hurt. What if they were still here when whoever did this arrived?" His voice became more panicky. "Where are they? If anything has happened to Steve.." Mark could not bring himself to finish the sentence
Nathan had drawn similar conclusions. He tried to sound as reassuring as possible. "Don't worry Mark we'll find him. I've already called this in and a forensics team is on their way. We'll get to the bottom of this." His tone softened as he watched Mark look agitatedly around the room again. Being here in the midst of this was only going to serve to make him worry more. "Look why don't you get back to the hospital and check on Jesse. If we find anything I'll call you."
Of course Jesse, yet another part of this nightmare. Mark felt like his whole world was falling apart. Jesse injured, his home destroyed, Steve missing possibly badly hurt. Only a few short hours ago everything had been fine. His eyes glazed over as his mind tried to deal with the emotions assaulting it, shock, worry, fear and despair all crowded for his attention as he attempted to keep himself from thinking the worst.
Nathan could only stand and watch hoping that his words of reassurance were having some effect. He stood offering what support his presence could until the tell tale sirens told him that the requested back up units had arrived. He took one last look at the unmoving doctor and went to coordinate the new arrivals.
Agent Harris watched the exchange dispassionately. She had heard detective Turner call the situation in and knew that she did not have long before the locals were once again crawling over a crime scene that she would rather have kept to herself. She silently cursed the arrival of the two men. With the warrant that she held she could have happily searched the premises for hours before anyone else needed to get involved. Then again she doubted if she would have found anything. Whoever had been here earlier had been fairly thorough.
As soon as Nathan left Mark's side she moved over to him. "Dr. Sloan?" Her first attempt at getting a response had no effect so she tried again slightly louder and firmer. "Dr. Sloan?"
He turned to look at her as her voice penetrated his thoughts "Yes," he replied still obviously distracted.
She could see the pain and concern reflected in his eyes but pressed on anyway "I'd like to ask you some questions."
"You can ask but I'm not sure that I will be able to give you any answers" Mark replied. There were so many questions that he was asking himself and, as yet, he was having difficulty answering any of them.
"Are you and your son close?"
What a question to ask. Couldn't she see how worried he was by the fact that Steve was missing? He bit back a sarcastic reply and instead answered simply, "yes, we have a strong relationship"
"Then you know all of his friends?"
Mark considered the question. "I know most of them yes"
"How well did he know a Mrs. Emma Fielding?"
Mark thought about the name. He had a feeling that there was something familiar about it, he felt that he should recognise it but not in connection with Steve. "As far as I'm aware he doesn't know anyone of that name." Mark paused as another thought occurred to him. "Although..." he paused again not quite ready to complete the sentence.
"What?"
"When I saw Steve at the hospital this morning, he had a woman with him whom I'd never met. He introduced her as a friend of his called Emma."
"And you had never seen her before?"
"No."
Stephanie could see Nathan walking back towards them. "Well thank you Dr. Sloan." She said not wishing to involve the detective any more then she had to. She turned and left
Mark barely acknowledged her departure. She had set him off on his own whole new line of self questioning about the identity of the mysterious woman with his son, and why the name she had given him was familiar.
Nathan watched Agent Harris' hasty departure and was pleased that she had left. The last thing that Mark needed at the moment was an interrogation about his son. Under the circumstances Nathan wanted to get him away from here as soon as possible. He had arranged for one of the uniformed officers to drive Mark back to community general and, if necessary escort him up to Jesse's room. At least Amanda would be there to take care of him.
Once Mark was safely in the Black and White and on his way Nathan turned his attention back to the crime scene and Agent Harris. She knew far more about what was going on than she was saying and Nathan wanted some answers.
Emma knelt besides Steve's prone form and first checked his pulse. She was relieved to find that it was still reasonably strong and steady although far more rapid than she would have liked. Next she checked his airway and made sure that he was breathing. Satisfied that he was in no immediate danger she sat back to consider what she should do next.
He had fallen about fifteen feet short of the couch and she doubted that she was strong enough to move him that distance whilst he was fully unconscious. Even if she could drag him it would involve pulling under his injured shoulder and that would open the wound up again. She attempted to rouse him by calling his name but there was no response. So until he came round all she could do was make him as comfortable as possible.
Emma set about finding cushions and blankets. She propped Steve so that the pressure was off his right shoulder and brought in the holdall from the car. As gently as she could she removed the dressing from the wound. She did not like what she saw. It still looked angry and inflamed although it had stopped bleeding. She carefully replaced the dressing.
Steve was very dehydrated and his skin was warm to the touch. Although it was a long time since she had done her training she knew that it was important to keep his temperature down and to try to replace the fluids that he had lost. She also knew that the bullet needed to come out.
"Damn you Steve why didn't you stay in the hospital," she said quietly as she gently bathed his face with cold water. She took a clean sponge and used it to press some water into his mouth it was only a small amount but his swallowing reflex worked and he swallowed it down. Encouraged, she set about the slow laborious process of getting liquid into his system a dribble at a time. Interspersing her efforts by bathing his face to keep him cool. A couple of times he did not swallow the liquid properly and he began to cough, each time all she could do was sit and wait for the spasm to pass, silently cursing the pain that it was causing as she saw it etched on his face, but thankful that he was not conscious to feel it.
Jesse blinked his eyes open. It took several moments before he could stand the bright light and a few moments more before he could focus on anything. He looked up once again into Amanda's smiling face. He felt her hand in his and gave it a slight squeeze of acknowledgment. He had vague recollections of waking up once before and of being in the hospital.
"Hello again," Amanda said softly
Jesse did his best to smile back. As his senses returned he became aware of an intense pain throbbing from his left arm. It made it difficult to think or concentrate and he was already struggling with remembering how he had ended up here.
"How are you feeling?"
"OK," he started to reply but decided an honest answer was required. "My arm hurts."
He looked down at the heavy bandaging, "a lot," he continued. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?" Amanda asked moving to adjust the morphine on the drip. Now that Jesse was awake he would need the medication to control the pain.
Jesse thought about it. "No I don't..." he began and then paused as flashes of memory started to return. His eyes opened wider. "I was shot!" He said incredulously. "Nicked an artery."
Amanda held his gaze. "That's right, what else do you recall?"
Jesse relaxed back on to the pillow forming the recollections into a coherent pattern. "I was with Steve and a friend of his. There were some men looking for them so I was showing them the back way out when someone started shooting at us. I was hit and Steve came back to help me." As he recalled events he suddenly tensed again as he remembered what had happened to his friend. "Oh my God, Steve, how is he? Is he all right?"
Amanda was confused by the question and the panicked look on Jesse's face. Apart from his mysterious disappearance and a few bruises, as far as she was aware Steve was fine. She was also concerned by Jesse's reaction. He was in no condition to be getting stressed. "Calm down Jesse and relax. You're going to pull the stitches out in your arm and you've had enough surgery for one day." Her tone was stern and Jesse did his best to obey her instructions. "As far as I'm aware Steve is fine."
Jesse relaxed a little more at her pronouncement on his friend. "Good, I was worried. He wouldn't have got hit at all if he hadn't come back to help me."
"Hit?" Amanda repeated, her earlier confusion returning.
Jesse looked at the lack of comprehension on Amanda's face. "Yes he came back to help me and he was hit by a bullet as well." Now Jesse was confused how could Amanda not know about this?
"Jess, Steve brought you into the ER and then left," she said quietly. "No one has seen him since then."
They both sat in stunned silence as they allowed the others words to sink in. Eventually Amanda spoke. "Are you sure he was hit. If it was after you'd been hit.... well... you would have been pretty out of it."
"He was holding me up at the time. I felt the impact." Jesse replied grimly. "I'm sure Steve was shot as well."
"Oh God,"
Both Jesse and Amanda turned to see who had spoken. Mark stood in the doorway to the room all of the colour draining from his face as he had his worst fears confirmed.