Chapter 4
Sara walked slowly along the street, checking each alley. She had left her bike at the coffee house a few blocks away to search on foot. After looking down eleven side streets, she still hadn't found him. Sara was getting worried. What if he was already dead? What if he was badly hurt and had dragged himself away to die somewhere else, and she never found him?
"Hey, mister," Sara called to a homeless man sitting against the wall of a building.
He glanced up at her, his eyes wary. His clothes were dirty, and his hair disheveled, but he kept his back straight and he head held up as he stood to face her.
"I'm looking for someone," she told him, showing him her badge. "He's about 5'9", longish brown hair, light brown eyes, pale. He's probably looking like someone mistook him for a punching bag."
"Haven't seen him," the man said, turning away from her.
Looking down at the Witchblade, Sara saw that it was glowing. This man knew something he wasn't telling her. He had seen Gabriel and knew where he was.
"Wait," she called after him.
He turned to face her again. "What?"
"I need your help. He's my friend, and I need to find him. His wife's worried sick."
The man hesitated then shook his head. "Sorry. Haven't seen him."
She let him leave then walked back to her bike. She wouldn't get anything out of arguing with him. She called Renee as she walked. "No, I haven't found him yet." Renee hadn't even given her time to say hello. "I'll search the hospitals tomorrow. Stay home. I'll call you when I find him."
*******
Once Sara left, the homeless man ducked through a hole in the wall that couldn't be seen from the head of the alley. The other two men in the room looked up when he stepped inside. "What's up, Murph?" One of them asked.
"Someone looking for our guest, but I sent her away. How's he doing?"
"No change," one of the men told him. "Still out cold. Murph, he really needs to get to a hospital."
Murph shook his head. "He might be wanted. That girl who was looking for him was a cop. Said she was his friend, but you can never trust them."
"He needs to see a doctor though. He'll die if he doesn't."
"I'll take care of him."
Murph walked over to the far corner of the room and knelt beside the unconscious young man. He took a rag from a bowl of water. It wasn't clean, but it was the only water they had. He used it to wash the feverish sweat away from Gabriel's face. "Boy, someone must've really hated you. What I don't understand is why. You seem to gave got some hits in on him too, at least." He glanced back at his friends, but they couldn't hear him or, if he kept his head turned, see his face. "You remind me of my son. He was always getting into trouble. Never looked for it either. He's dead now." He bent his head and wiped a tear from his eye. "If I take you to the hospital, the cops will find you for whatever reason they've thought up. But if I don't, you're gonna die. That guy really did a number on you." After a moment, he slowly stood and walked over to his friends. "I need to see someone. I'll be back in a few minutes."
*******
Sara was sitting at a table in the corner of the coffee house when the homeless man walking in and up to the woman at the counter. "Marie, I need some soup and some water."
"Pick up another one, Murph?"
"Yeah."
"How bad is this one?" She asked as she went about getting the things he needed.
"Pretty bad."
"He wanted?"
"Might be," he said with a shrug. "Cop was looking for him. Claimed to be a friend, but you never know."
She handed him a thermos filled with beef broth and a bottle of water. He turned away, and his eyes met Sara's. He broke contact after a minute and walked out the door. Glancing back one, he hurried down the street. Sara finished her meal and coffee, trusting the Witchblade to guide her.
Just as she turned into the alley, the Witchblade showed her a vision of this man carrying Gabriel through a hole in a building. The she saw him taking care of her friend and keeping watch over him while two other men slept. She shook herself out of the trance and stepped through the hole. Two of the men stood while Murph glanced up from his patient.
"How is he?" She asked as she strode across the room.
Murph saw the concern in her eyes, but remained wary. That was what had kept him alive this long. "Not good. You gonna take him in?"
"Why would I do that? He not wanted for anything."
The sight of her friend caused her face to pale. His nose was crushed, his lips were in shreds, and the rest of his face was covered with cuts. the blood had been washed away, but the reasons behind it were still there. His face was paler than usual. He was soaked with the sweat of fever, but his body was wracked with chills.
"Why are you after him then?"
"I told you. He's my friend. We need to get him to the hospital." She took out her cell phone and called for an ambulance. Once it was on its way, she called Renee. "Yeah, I found him. No, he's still alive. It doesn't look good. I'll see you at the hospital. You're welcome, Renee.
While they waited for an ambulance, Sara turned to Murph. "Thanks for taking care of him. Just wish you would've told me the truth the first time I asked."
"Sorry, Miss. Didn't want you hauling him in."
She hesitated for a moment, then asked something that was on her mind. "Why did you help him? From what that woman said, you're known to do this, but why?"
He looked at her with sad eyes. "I don't have a family anymore. Guess I just need to be taking care of someone."
She nodded, and they waited in silence. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived. The paramedics loaded him into the back and raced him to the hospital.
*******
Renee paced the length of the waiting room. Amie slept in the baby carrier in the chair next to Sara. Meghan sat on the other side of her.
"He'll be fine, Renee," Sara assured the younger woman even though she wasn't so sure.
"What if he's not?"
"He will be. Now relax. You're gonna wear a hole in the floor."
Renee slumped into a chair and closed her eyes. A moment later she felt Meghan's small hand slip into hers, and she opened her eyes to look into the large brown ones. Without a word, the young girl climbed onto the chair and wrapped her arms around her aunt. Renee pulled her close, and they stayed like that until the doctor came out to talk to them.
"His body went into shock from all the damage done to it. His nose, several ribs, and his right knee are broken. The back of his head is severely lacerated, and he seems to have a concussion. I bandaged the cuts on his face and the back of his head and gave him something to bring down the fever. As long as it comes down within the next twenty-four hours, he should recover just fine."
"Can I see him?"
The doctor shook his head. "I have to put his knee in a cast and bind up his ribs. Then, you can see him."
She nodded her head and sank back into the chair. Renee closed her eyes, and soon she fell into an exhausted sleep. She awoke instantly when Amie began crying some time later. She took her daughter from the carrier and held her. Amie calmed down as soon as she was in her mother's arms.
Renee glanced up when Dr. Granur walked into the room. He nodded and said, "He's still sleeping, but you can see him now."
She walked down the hallway and quietly entered the room. The back of Gabriel's head was covered with a large bandage, and several smaller ones covered the worst of the cuts on his face. The bindings on his ribs came up to his chest. There was a cast on his leg from the knee up, and his leg was slightly elevated. Medication entered his bloodstream through an IV. in his arm.
Renee sat in a chair and held Amie in her lap. She grabbed Gabriel's hand and folded his fingers over their daughter's tiny fist. "You have to get better," she whispered as tears slid down her cheeks.
She put Amie on the floor and took his hand in both of hers. A moment later his whole body went into convulsions. Scared, she grabbed Amie from the floor and ran to the door to call for the doctor. She didn't need to, however. He was already running down the hall. She stepped outside to let him and the nurses into the room, then the door shut in her face.
Dakota came down the hallway, followed by everyone else. Renee looked up when Conchobar said, "Don' worry 'bout 'im. He'll be a'right. He's a tough scrapper, that lad."
Meghan looked at Renee and asked, "Is Uncle Gabiel all 'ight?" Renee wanted to tell her niece that everything would be fine, but she couldn't. "I don't know, sweetie. The doctors are taking care of him. All we can do is wait." Even as she said the words, she wished there was something else they could do.
"Everything will be fine, Renee," Dakota assured her.
Amie whimpered, sensing from Renee that something was wrong. Renee rubbed her hand along the infant's back, trying to soothe her. Tears ran down the tiny face, and she buried her head against her mother's shoulder. Renee ran her fingers through the thickening mass of dark brown curls. "Don't cry, sweetie. You don't want your daddy to see your pretty face tear-stained, do you?" Amie sniffled a few times, and Renee wiped her daughter's tears away with her thumb.
Twenty minutes later Dr. Granur came out of the room. "It's a good thing we have him on an alarm system. It lets us know if something happens."
"What did happen?" Renee asked.
"He had a violent reaction to the medication I had him on. It caused his heart rate to rapidly increase, then drop even faster. He almost went into cardiac arrest, but we managed to get his heart back to its normal rate. I put him on a different medication and made a note of this so we don't do that again."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"He should be fine, Renee. You should go home and get some sleep."
"No, I'm staying here."
"You can't do anything here though. Get some sleep and come back in the morning."
She shook her head. "I want to be here when he wakes up."
"He probably won't before morning."
She sighed. "Fine. But I'll be back here early tomorrow."
"That's fine. Just get some sleep."
As they left, Caitlyn asked Renee, "Do you want me to stay with the kid's tomorrow?"
"I'd be grateful."
*******
Two days later the doctor let Gabriel leave the hospital. Before they left, Dr. Granur stopped Renee and handed her a bottle of pills. "Make sure he takes those. He's going to be in a lot of pain while he heals, but knowing him, he won't say anything. Make sure he doesn't try to walk without his crutches for the next six weeks. In fact, he should move as little as possible."
Renee nodded and met Gabriel at the door. They made it out to the car, and Renee helped him into the passenger's seat. Then, she climbed in the other side. If they had looked around, they would have seen a man standing across the street, openly watching them. There was shock, then anger in his eyes. "How can he still be alive?" Larry muttered to himself.
*******
"Hey, Sara," Gabriel said, looking up from the couch the next morning when his friend walked through the door.
"Well, you're happy. Good thing considering you almost died the other day."
"He's happy now," Renee said, walking out of the kitchen with Amie squirming in his arms. "Because he just took his pain meds, and they haven't knocked him out yet. He was grumpy earlier."
He stuck his bottom lip out in a pout. "Was not."
"Were too," she retorted as she put Amie in her playpen.
Sara shook her head at the couple's playful arguing. "Gabe, I have someone here you might want to meet."
Who is it?"
Meghan walked into the room just as Sara was showing in the mysterious guest. The little girl's eyes widened in recognition, then a smile broke over her face. "Gweat Gandpa," she squealed as she ran to him.
He scooped her up in his arms. "Meghan. Tommy's little girl. But you're not little anymore." His eyes traveled to Gabriel. "And you're not Tommy."
"No, I'm not. Who are you?"
"Gabe," Sara broke in. "this is Seth Logan, known to everyone on the street as Murph. He's the man who probably saved your life and your grandfather."
They both looked at her in surprise. "My grandfather?"
"Can't be," Seth protested. "I only have one grandson, Tommy. The other one was taken as a...No, it can't be."
Gabriel swallowed and nodded his head slowly. "Thomas found me about a year ago. Then, him and Brenna were killed, and we adopted the kids. Then, about three month ago, Kevin was killed." Gabriel had to swallow past a lump in his throat before continuing. "By the same man who did this to me."
Renee stepped forward and took the man's hand in hers. "Thank you."
"For what, ma'am?"
"For saving my husband's life. I don't know how to repay you."
He waved his hand. "Don't even think about it."
"He could probably use a place to stay," Sara piped in from the doorway.
"Of course," Renee replied eagerly. "We have an extra room." Her eyes clouded up as the words escaped across her lips. The room had been Kevin's.
She took him upstairs to show him the room. When they returned, Gabriel was sleeping, and Sara was gone. "You hungry?"
He nodded, and they went into the kitchen. "Do you know who did this?" He asked while Renee made him a sandwich.
She shook her head. "Gabe hasn't had a chance to tell anyone yet."
"Will they find him?"
Renee nodded her head. "Sara will."
"I'm sure she will. She found me, and I know no one followed me."
They walked back into the living room once he finished his sandwich and looked in on Amie. She had a plastic key ring in her mouth and the corner of a small blanket in her hand. "She's beautiful."
Amie grinned, knowing they were talking about her. She let go of the blanket and held her arms up to Renee. "You always want to be held, don't you?" Renee asked as she leaned over the edge of the playpen, rubbing the tiny girl's mass of curls. "You stay in there for now."
Looking over at Gabriel, Seth said, "Now I know why he reminded me of my son."
