Chapter 11: Aftermath
The MRI room suddenly became still and quiet. It was as if the world stood still for a moment. Hetty sat back on her heels, soaking in the aftermath.
She could see the young brunette tech standing just to her right. He was, once again, clutching his broken nose with both bloody hands.
The red-head sat nearby. He was staring down at the floor, trying to catch his breath, his eyes troubled.
The Radiographer remained seated on the floor from where he had been kicked backward, breathing hard through his nose.
C.J. still straddled the patient, but had released his grip of Callen's forearms. He was frowning at all the blood, and the situation, in general.
Anna was kneeling at Callen's right side, holding the empty syringe.
Hetty looked down at her unconscious agent who seemed to be fighting for his life just a few moments ago. Hetty slowly shook her head at the sight before her now. Callen was lying on his back, his limp arms still out to the sides in the surrender position. His head, chest, and arms were bloody. The fight had left him as quickly as it came.
Anna finally let out a breath of relief and was the first to speak, "I need to get us some help down here. C.J., do you have your cell phone on you?"
"In my top pocket. You'll have to get it. My hands are too bloody."
Anna fished the phone out of C.J.'s scrub pocket.
The Radiographer slowly climbed to his feet. "I'll call our director. He needs to know what's happened."
Anna laid the syringe out of the way and punched in the number for the nurses' station. "Carrie? This is Anna. We've had an incident down in the MRI with the patient in 412. I need you to call the charge nurse on three and ask if she can loan us a couple of aides to help us transfer the patient back to the gurney so we can get him cleaned up… There's a lot of blood so they'll need to gown up. And, we're going to need to move pretty fast. The patient is sedated right now, but he won't be out long… Thanks. I need someone to go to the supply closet and have several packages of four-by four gauge and some Steri-strips ready. And would you call me right back and give me Dr. Lee's phone number?... Thank you, Carrie."
A tall gentleman in dress pants and a button-up dress shirt, sleeves rolled up a little, came through the door. "I'm Matt Keller, Radiology Director," He said while quickly scanning the room. "What happened here?"
The Radiographer stepped out of the control room. "Mr. Keller. Thanks for coming so fast."
"Terrance. What happened?"
"We were almost done with the contrast scan when the patient regained consciousness in the chamber. We got him out as fast as we could, but he was scared to death. Came out swinging. He tried to get up and rolled off the table."
Mr. Keller looked down at Anna, who was still seated beside the patient. "Head injury patient?"
"Yes. And he apparently had a reaction to the new pain medicine."
"Do you need me to get some of our staff in here to help get him up?"
"I've called the floor. They should be sending some people down."
The Director looked over to his employee that was holding his busted nose. "Adam, I'll walk you up to the ER so you can get checked out. Anyone else hurt?"
The Radiographer pointed to the red-head. "The patient had Eric in a choke-hold for a while."
Mr. Keller nodded and turned, addressing the Radiographer. "Terrance, after everyone's taken care of, I'll need you to fill out an incident report. Just leave it on my desk when you're done." The Director motioned with his head for the two young techs to go with him and they followed him out of the room.
The room fell silent, once again. C.J. rose to his feet, stepped across Callen, taking a seat on the floor beside Anna. He gazed over at the patient and let out a long breath. "With the severity of his injuries, how in the world was he able to fight us like that?"
With her eyes still locked on her agent, a small smile appeared on Hetty's face. "Years of training… and a tidal wave of adrenalin."
C.J. shook his head. "He thought we were the enemy," He said softly, as if talking to himself.
"Hence, the adrenalin." Hetty pursed her lips. She knew that Callen was dangerous. This entire thing had driven the point home to any part of her mind that might have wondered just how dangerous. She sighed softly.
The cellphone buzzed in Anna's hand and she looked at the screen. "A text from Carrie. She says the second floor is sending Will and we're getting Joey and Melinda from three. They're on their way… Carrie's good." The phone buzzed again for a second text. "Here's the doctor's number."
Anna read the numbers and then punched them in. Relief was on her face when the doctor answered. "…Dr. Lee. This is Anna Harris from Four B. I'm sorry to call you at such an early hour, but we've run into some trouble with Mr. Callen. It seems he has had a bad reaction to the Theradin. He's been gradually becoming more disoriented. He woke up during the MRI and was combative and experiencing hallucinations. I had to sedate him to prevent him from hurting himself any further… Yes. About a three- centimeter cut to his forehead from hitting the floor… Sure. We're still down in Radiology but we should have him cleaned up and back to the room by the time you arrive… Thank you."
Just as the nurse pocketed C.J.'s phone, a male nurses' aide entered the room wearing a yellow, disposable gown. He was soon followed by the male and female aides from the third floor. They were also dressed in paper gowns.
Hetty, C.J. and Anna all stood up and Hetty moved to the side.
"Thanks, guys, for getting down here so fast," Anna said to the aides who were now putting on their gloves. "If one of you would roll the gurney back in here, C.J. and I will help lift the patient. We need to take him upstairs and get the blood rinsed off of him."
The female aide brought the gurney in from the hall, and Hetty watched as the two nurses, and the three aides, carefully lifted Callen onto it. The side rails were raised and the patient was covered with a sheet.
Anna picked up the empty syringe from off the floor and dropped it into the red box mounted on the wall. She turned to her coworker who had blood, from the radiology tech's nose and from Callen's head wound, smeared on his hands and clothes. "C.J., if you want to go clean up, I think we have this."
"Okay. It's close to shift change. After I've washed up and changed, I'll head back to the unit to give report."
C.J. left to change into clean scrubs. Then Callen was wheeled out of the room by Anna and the aides. The Radiographer headed to the control room to call housekeeping, leaving Hetty standing alone in the room. She stared down at the bloody mess on the floor for a moment. She couldn't help the twinge of guilt she felt for insisting Callen take the Theradin. Instead of helping him relax and reducing his pain, the medication caused him to be confused and afraid. How many times have his blasted instincts been more accurate than my logic?
After a moment, Hetty exhaled slowly, turning and exiting the MRI room. She slowly strolled toward the elevator. There was nothing she could do now but wait… and hope… and pray that the worst was over.
