Once they had the man close enough to stable the rushed him to get all the scans they needed.
The cop was out in the waiting room with the couple trying to figure out what had happened, "So you say you say him and a man exit a van."
"Yes the light from the back illuminated them. Than I saw her march him away from them. I saw in the moonlight. I didn't know what was going on, but I was sure to stay quiet. Than I heard the two gun shots. I ducked quickly behind the rock, I didn't want them to see me. I'm sure they didn't want any witnesses. After I saw the van leave I ran to check on the man. We found him with two bullet wounds. I used my medical training."
"You're a doctor?" The cop interrupted him.
"Yes. I worked on him and tried to stabilize him good enough to get him to the hospital. You stopped us on our way there."
"Do you have any idea who the man is?"
"No. I've never seen him before. But I wouldn't be putting this out there. They wanted him dead; they assumed they left him for dead. If the people who did this find out they might come back to finish it off. It's not like it would be hard to find, they'd have to look for a John Doe with multiple gunshot wounds to the back and they'd find it easily."
"I know." The cop said, "Are you going to wait around I might have more questions?"
"Yes." The man said looking at himself covered in blood.
A nurse walked up to them and said, "I got some clean scrubs for you and your wife sir. Since you'll be waiting around I thought you might want to change."
"Thank you ma'am. Please let me know as soon as they have any information on him."
"Yes sir."
The doctor studied the scan. The bullet had not hit Jack's vertebra nor his spinal cord. It went in diagonally hitting the top of his shoulder blade and traveling down into his sternum missing the back bone. He had ordered the man to be prepped for surgery again. This time they would remove the bullet and fix the damage done to the rib cage, and collapsed lung.
After hours of surgery, multiple blood transfusions, and a few Blues Travelers songs (the music the doctors were listening to as they did the surgery.) The doctor put the last stitch into Jack. They had some minor problems with the lung that had collapsed and had to use a blue to fix a small tear in the lung. The doctor looked over all of his work and said, "Get the man transported to intensive care. Probably should have someone look over all the old damage on him."
"Yes doctor." The assisting nurse answered.
The room cleared out and the orderlies came to move the patient who's chart simply had no name at the time, to the intensive care unit.
Out in the waiting room the couple and the cop waited to hear about the stranger. A nurse came out and simply said, "He is out of surgery, and in the intensive care unit."
"Is he awake yet?" The cop asked hoping he would be so he could get some information out of him.
"He probably won't be awake for a few days. The doctor has ordered a lot of painkillers for him, and he would like to keep the patient unconscious while his weak body tries to heal."
"Can I at least get his finger print?" The cop asked determined to get identification on the stranger so that he could proceed with the investigation.
"Sure. It would help us to know who he was." She smiled.
"There will be someone back for them." He said knowing he didn't have the capability to do it.
"Of course sir." The nurse said.
Everyone left with a story to tell to their friends at breakfast or over dinner the next day. The couple asked the cop once they were outside, "Is there any way once you get his name you could tell us. I would like to check on him occasional while he is recovering to make sure everything is fine."
"Sure." The cop answered shaking the mans hand and leaving to go back to work.
As promised a man came to the intensive care unit desk about an hour later. "I'm here to finger print the man who was brought in earlier. I guess the John Doe."
"Yes sir." The nurse said, "May I see some identification."
The man pulled out his wallet and showed her his badge from the crime scene investigation unit he worked with.
"Follow me please Mr. Zelda." The nurse led him to the small room in which Jack rested in a drug induced slumber. She didn't leave the room while he was in there, for some reason she felt the need to protect the poor man in the room. She knew nothing about him, but she could tell he had suffered a lot the past few days.
Mr. Zelda pulled out the finger print kit out of the tackle box he carried. He quickly took the prints on Jack's right hand, carefully as to not injure the man. When he finished he thanked the nurse and left.
