Arrival Overdue

Chapter 5
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"I'm looking for Officer Maurice Boscorelli," Faith said to the volunteer at the information desk of the hospital.

"You can try the lounge area down the hall and to the right. Sometimes they go there to finish their reports," replied the elderly woman.

"No. I mean, he's here as a patient," Faith said, clarifying what she was looking for. She looked over at Ty Davis and saw the smirk on his face, but she was too nervous to notice what it was about. He'd decided to ride up with her - to keep her awake during the drive he'd said. "No sense two of you being in the hospital," he reasoned as an excuse to check on his friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry," said the woman. "What did you say his name was?" she asked as she turned to the computer next to her.

"Boscorelli, Maurice Boscorelli," Faith replied, looking back at the woman.

"Let's see," she said, typing in the name. "B-O-S?" she started.

"Yes, B-O-S-C-O-R-E-L-L-I. He was brought in through the emergency room a few hours ago," Faith said, getting agitated. Davis put a hand on her arm to calm her down.

"Oh, here he is. Yes, he's here," she said, looking up at them. Davis looked at Faith and thought she was going to jump across the counter at the woman.

"Yes, Ma'am," Davis jumped in. "Where is he? This is his partner and we need to see him."

"It says that he's in surgery, but you should check with the doctors in the Emergency Room. They'll be able to give you some more information on his condition until you can speak to the surgeon, Dear," she said, looking at Faith with sympathy.

"Thank you," Faith said, looking for the signs directing them to the Emergency Room.

They walked over to the elevator and waited for the door to open.

"Faith, you need to relax. He's in surgery so that means he's alive. We're here and everything's gonna be fine. I know it," Ty said.

"I hope your right, Ty. I really hope you're right. If I was on time for roll call, I would've been with him instead of Hogan and maybe...," she said, only to be interrupted.

"Maybe you'd both be in surgery right now, or you'd be dead instead of Hogan. Don't be ridiculous, Faith. Let's just find out how he is first," Ty said as the doors opened.
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"Okay. Good work everyone. I'm gonna close the abdomen myself this time, Mark. No offense, but I promised this one I'd take care of him the whole way," Dr. Tate said to the resident.

"No problem, Dr. Tate. Just means I get to get a few minutes shut-eye before the next trauma comes rolling in," replied the resident as his pager sounded.

"Then again, maybe not," teased Dr. Tate, the smile hidden by her mask evident in her eyes.

"Tell me again when I start getting the big bucks?" the resident grumbled on his way out the door, leaving Dr. Tate to chuckle as she sutured.
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"Hi, I'm Officer Faith Yokas and this is Officer Ty Davis, NYPD," Faith said as they reached the desk of the ER. "My partner was brought in here by helicopter from a car accident a few hours ago. He's in surgery now. Is the ER doctor that took care of him here that I could talk to for some information on his condition?"

"Yeah. You can talk to Dr. Emmett, but he's with a patient right now. I'll tell him that you're here, Officers," replied the clerk.

"Thanks," Faith said as they walked over to sit down and wait.

"You want some coffee?" Ty asked, looking at the vending machine in the hallway.

"No. I'm nervous enough. You go ahead though," she told him.

Ty walked out into the hallway and was waiting for his coffee to dispense when he looked down the hallway and saw two New York State Troopers. He grabbed his coffee out of the machine and headed toward them. He reached into his pocket and took out his identification as the two Troopers looked up.

"Hey. How's it going?" Ty greeted them as he held out his badge and ID.

"Ty Davis, NYPD," he said, putting his badge away and shaking both of the officers' hands. "You guys didn't happen to come in with Boscorelli from the car accident on the Thruway, did you?"

"Yeah, we're waiting for him to be done in surgery. We're hoping to find out some more information when he wakes up. Maybe you can help us in the meantime," asked Trooper Kavanaugh.

"Sure. But, do you know how bad he was injured? We really haven't been able to get any information. Do you know how the crash happened?" Ty asked.

"You haven't heard anything?" asked Kavanaugh.

"No. Just that the guy he was riding with didn't make it. What about the guy they were transporting?" Davis asked, somewhat unnerved by the look on the Troopers' faces.

"It looks like they were ambushed on the road. The one that died, Hogan, died from a gunshot wound to the head, not from the accident. Boscorelli was shot in the left shoulder - we don't know if it was before or after the wreck - and the prisoner they were transporting was nowhere to be found," Kavanaugh reported.

"What?!" Davis said with surprise. "Oh man. Wait. Let me get his partner. She's in the waiting room waiting to talk to the ER doctor. He walked back into the waiting room, followed by the Troopers to find Faith talking to the doctor.

"Faith. Bosco and Hogan were shot," he said, interrupting.

"Yeah. That's what Dr. Emmett was just telling me. What happened?" she said to the Troopers behind Ty.

"We're not entirely sure yet," one of them replied. "We're waiting to be able to talk to your officer."

"He's in Recovery," came a voice from behind the two Troopers. Everyone turned to see Dr. Tate standing in the doorway, still wearing her surgical scrubs with some of Bosco's blood on it.

"Doctor? Is my partner okay?" Faith asked, stepping forward.

"Well, he's in critical condition, but I believe he'll recover. He's going to require time to heal and physical therapy, but I think he'll have a good result. The leg fracture was a clean break and the shoulder wound was through-and-through with no damage to the joint and no major vessel damage. He had some internal bleeding where I believe he impacted the steering wheel during the accident and he's got a concussion and minor fracture of the skull my guess is from the accident as well," she reported. "He was very lucky he got here when he did. If it was much longer, it may have been a much different result."

"Did you talk to him at all?" Faith asked, trying to figure out what happened.

"No. He was unconscious when he reached the hospital. But, I heard from the flight medic that he was conscious when he was found by the trucker that saw his light, although I don't know how with the amount of blood loss and the head injury," she relayed.

Faith turned to the Troopers. "The trucker took off before we got there. I guess he didn't want to get involved any further than calling us," Kavanaugh said. "We're trying to piece together their route to see if we can figure out what happened, but there wasn't much traffic tonight."

"Well, I know he was at the rest stop in Catskill," Dr. Tate reported. They turned to look at her.

"I thought you said he was unconscious?" Faith asked.

"He was, but not when I saw him, the other officer and the prisoner at the rest stop when I was there at the same time. He was very nice to my daughter," she said with a smile.

"Yeah. Bosco likes kids," Faith said.

"He IS one really," Ty added with sarcasm.

"Well, if you want, I'll take you up to the Recovery Room and you can see for yourself that he's alive," Dr. Tate offered.

"Yeah. Thanks," Faith said as she and Ty followed the doctor.

"Doc. You'll let us know when we can talk to him?" Kavanaugh asked.

"Sure. You're leaving?" she asked.

"Yeah. Now that he's got somebody here with him. We just didn't want him to wake up and not have anyone here," the Trooper said. "We'll head back to the scene and check what's going on. We'll be back in a little bit. Call us sooner if he wakes up enough to talk."

"Will do. Thanks, guys," Faith said, shaking each of their hands.

"No problem. We're all family, right?" replied the other Trooper as they turned to leave.
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TBC...