"What is going on here?" Dr. James called as he came into the
basement. He had just arrived at the hospital a few minutes before and had
been totally shocked by the sight of the fire engines out front and the
rather loud noises coming from downstairs. "What happened?"
"Dr. James, where have you been?" Carrie demanded. Normally she would have been much too afraid to use a tone like that with one of her superiors but with the current situation and Dr. James being stupid enough to leave Stegman in charge of the hospital.... "Where have you been?
Otto's been trying to get ahold of you for the last thirty minutes!"
"My brother came to town for a visit and offered to make dinner.
They reassure me that the fire damage was minimal, though, and the smoke should clear in a few days." Jesse said with a shake of his head. In retrospect, he should have recalled the fact that his brother had been thrown out of culinary school for a reason. "What happened? Where's Dr.
Hook?"
"Dr. Hook is trapped in there." Sally said as she came forward,
followed by Abel and Christa, all three carrying large trays of various foods, sandwiches and pizza.
"What? What happened?" Jesse demanded. Well, obviously he couldn't try to cover this one up.
"There was another tremor about four hours ago now." Dr. Havens said as he came over. He wasn't really sure that the hospital's rather brainless administrator would be much help but he supposed that if they had to,
they could get him to help move the debris. Surely he couldn't goof that up too much. "The quake took out the basement cameras so we didn't realize that there was a problem until the fire department showed up. Apparently someone found out about the situation somehow and called them."
"Any idea who?" Jesse moved towards the debris as he talked, Henry following after him. If he could find out who had called and reported this, he would definitely make sure they were properly rewarded. Okay, he had tried to cover the earthquakes up to protect the hospital's reputation but he wasn't going to cover things up to the point that the staff was endangered.
"Is anyone else down there besides Dr. Hook?"
"Dr. Draper, both of the Traffs and Dr. Massingale." Henry told Jesse, both of them reaching out and starting to work on clearing the rubble as they talked. "According to the call, Lona was injured, something internal possibly."
"Any idea how serious?" Jesse asked. "Have you heard anything from in there?" A cold feeling started washing over him at the idea that someone might have actually been injured by the quake. He would never want someone to be harmed in any way, not even to protect the hospital's reputation. Nothing was worth that.
"Nothing." Henry said with a shake of his head. He was frankly getting more than a bit worried about that. He just hoped that the debris pile was blocking them from hearing any sort of response from inside.
"How could that long pass without anyone looking for Dr. Hook,
anyway? Was the hospital actually calm tonight?" Jesse asked as he tugged at the debris.
"What do you mean?" Henry asked.
"Well, I left Dr. Hook in charge. Don't tell me that the one day I left someone else to run things was the one time the hospital didn't have a single crisis!"
"What? Dr. Stegman said that he had been left in charge." Henry told Jesse. Had Jesse made a mistake and left two completely different people in charge of things?
"Dr. Stegman made a mistake if he thought that." Jesse said with a firm shake of his head. Oh, he was definitely getting a bad feeling about this. He had a feeling that he ought to do something about Stegman, at least send someone to hunt him down and make sure he was on his best behavior until Jesse could talk to Hook and Louis and reach a decision about what should be done. "That will teach me to interview people the day after I eat with my brother." He muttered under his breath, surveying the pile of debris quickly. No, he didn't have time to do anything about Stegman at the moment. They needed everyone they could get down here to work on this.
He stopped for a moment, heading over to where Sally, Christa and Abel were passing the food around. "Christa, Abel, and it's Mrs. Druse,
isn't it?" Jesse looked at her curiously for a moment. She surely didn't seem to be showing any signs of the stroke she supposedly had suffered now.
Never mind that moment, though. "Could I trouble you to go upstairs and see about getting some blankets brought down?" That was about the only supply he could think of to retrieve for the moment, at least until they had a better idea what was going on. He just hoped that warm blankets and food would turn out to be the only things that they would need.
"Dr. James, where have you been?" Carrie demanded. Normally she would have been much too afraid to use a tone like that with one of her superiors but with the current situation and Dr. James being stupid enough to leave Stegman in charge of the hospital.... "Where have you been?
Otto's been trying to get ahold of you for the last thirty minutes!"
"My brother came to town for a visit and offered to make dinner.
They reassure me that the fire damage was minimal, though, and the smoke should clear in a few days." Jesse said with a shake of his head. In retrospect, he should have recalled the fact that his brother had been thrown out of culinary school for a reason. "What happened? Where's Dr.
Hook?"
"Dr. Hook is trapped in there." Sally said as she came forward,
followed by Abel and Christa, all three carrying large trays of various foods, sandwiches and pizza.
"What? What happened?" Jesse demanded. Well, obviously he couldn't try to cover this one up.
"There was another tremor about four hours ago now." Dr. Havens said as he came over. He wasn't really sure that the hospital's rather brainless administrator would be much help but he supposed that if they had to,
they could get him to help move the debris. Surely he couldn't goof that up too much. "The quake took out the basement cameras so we didn't realize that there was a problem until the fire department showed up. Apparently someone found out about the situation somehow and called them."
"Any idea who?" Jesse moved towards the debris as he talked, Henry following after him. If he could find out who had called and reported this, he would definitely make sure they were properly rewarded. Okay, he had tried to cover the earthquakes up to protect the hospital's reputation but he wasn't going to cover things up to the point that the staff was endangered.
"Is anyone else down there besides Dr. Hook?"
"Dr. Draper, both of the Traffs and Dr. Massingale." Henry told Jesse, both of them reaching out and starting to work on clearing the rubble as they talked. "According to the call, Lona was injured, something internal possibly."
"Any idea how serious?" Jesse asked. "Have you heard anything from in there?" A cold feeling started washing over him at the idea that someone might have actually been injured by the quake. He would never want someone to be harmed in any way, not even to protect the hospital's reputation. Nothing was worth that.
"Nothing." Henry said with a shake of his head. He was frankly getting more than a bit worried about that. He just hoped that the debris pile was blocking them from hearing any sort of response from inside.
"How could that long pass without anyone looking for Dr. Hook,
anyway? Was the hospital actually calm tonight?" Jesse asked as he tugged at the debris.
"What do you mean?" Henry asked.
"Well, I left Dr. Hook in charge. Don't tell me that the one day I left someone else to run things was the one time the hospital didn't have a single crisis!"
"What? Dr. Stegman said that he had been left in charge." Henry told Jesse. Had Jesse made a mistake and left two completely different people in charge of things?
"Dr. Stegman made a mistake if he thought that." Jesse said with a firm shake of his head. Oh, he was definitely getting a bad feeling about this. He had a feeling that he ought to do something about Stegman, at least send someone to hunt him down and make sure he was on his best behavior until Jesse could talk to Hook and Louis and reach a decision about what should be done. "That will teach me to interview people the day after I eat with my brother." He muttered under his breath, surveying the pile of debris quickly. No, he didn't have time to do anything about Stegman at the moment. They needed everyone they could get down here to work on this.
He stopped for a moment, heading over to where Sally, Christa and Abel were passing the food around. "Christa, Abel, and it's Mrs. Druse,
isn't it?" Jesse looked at her curiously for a moment. She surely didn't seem to be showing any signs of the stroke she supposedly had suffered now.
Never mind that moment, though. "Could I trouble you to go upstairs and see about getting some blankets brought down?" That was about the only supply he could think of to retrieve for the moment, at least until they had a better idea what was going on. He just hoped that warm blankets and food would turn out to be the only things that they would need.