Chapter 2
The medic took her arm. "Ma'am what's your name?"
"Callie Hardy."
"Listen you're okay, you've been shot, my friends and I are going to take you to the hospital."
They were putting a c collar on her neck. Then she was placed on a stretcher. Callie was starting to feel woozy. "Frank...need to call Frank." She pulled out her cell phone and dialed his number.
The medic took the phone from her hand and put it on speaker so he could work on her. He heard a cheerful voice come across the line. "Hello darling did you win your case today?"
Callie answered sleepily. "Yes...Frank...James is dead."
"What? What happened? Is that a siren? Where are you?"
"Mr. Hardy, this is Alex Rogers a fireman. I'm in the ambulance with your wife. She's been shot. We're taking her to Virginia Hospital Center."
He hung up the phone before Frank could ask anymore questions. He had started the IV and began to give Callie fluids. "You're doing great sweetheart. Hang in there okay." Then he spoke on the radio. Virginia Hospital Center this is medic three enroute with a GSW. The victim is female approximately thirty years of age. BP is 170/95 pulse 128, respirations 32, her o2 saturation is currently at 95 percent at two liters of oxygen we are two minutes away over."
"Medic Three acknowledged."
Joe was waiting for his trauma to come in. It was always a rush. It was never boring. He along with the attending Dr. Pearson would be helping this GSW. A trauma alert had been called and now they were waiting in the ambulance bay. Joe saw medic three and opened the back door of the ambulance before it had completely stopped. He paled when he saw who was there. "Oh God Callie." He shut out his emotions and got to work. "Get her to Trauma one. We need X-rays STAT!" Joe helped the staff move Callie onto the bed in Trauma 1 off the stretcher. He checked Callie's pupils. "Callie...It's Joe can you hear me sweetheart?"
He turned to the nurse. "This is my sister in law Callie Hardy date of birth November 5, 2002. Get us a CBC, a comprehensive, troponin, and a blood bank cross match!"
Joe saw the entrance wound on her back. He applied pressure with a dressing. "Cheryl apply pressure here." The x-ray technician came in and took two shots. Joe stood at the display and watched as the picture came up. "We have two points of entry, one near the left kidney and one is lodged near the spine. Redline her to the OR STAT!"
Joe took the stretcher near Callie's head. He spoke soothingly. "You're going to be alright Cal. Hang on okay."
Callie nodded sleepily. "Tell Frank and the kids that I love them."
Joe kissed her forehead when they reached the OR. "I will but you're going to tell them yourself shortly."
Frank burst into the ER reception area on a mission. "My wife was brought here by ambulance. Callie Hardy?"
The receptionist looked up. "The Doctor will be with you shortly."
"I want to see her!" Frank said.
Joe came out wearing scrubs. "You can't right now bro she's in surgery. She was shot twice, the bullets missed everything vital. One is close to her left kidney and one is near her lower spine."
Frank sat down hard on a bench. "How did this happen?"
"I don't know. The police escorted her here. They're very concerned."
"Mr. Hardy."
Both Joe and Frank turned and answered. "Yes?"
"I'm looking for Callie's husband?"
Frank stood up. "I'm Callie's husband? Your name officer?"
"Officer Grant. I escorted the ambulance. We're all in shock. James Hightower died on scene. I saw him push Callie to the ground behind the news stand. They were the targets. I couldn't find cover to return fire. I'm sorry she's hurt. She's a lioness in the courtroom."
Frank smiled sadly. "I'll call his wife later. I'm just waiting to hear."
Fenton Hardy came into the ER, followed by Laura Hardy, Brooke, Claire, and a very pregnant Vanessa.
Vanessa approached Joe. "How is she?"
Joe answered. "In surgery. It looks like the bullets missed everything vital. I'm worried about the one near her spine."
Suddenly over the intercom you heard. "Code Blue ICU 8 code Blue ICU 8."
Joe said. "I've got to go." He hurried off.
Vanessa said. "Where should we wait?"
Laura had used her badge to get into the ER and ask just that. She came out and took Vanessa's hand. "We're going to the surgery waiting area. Joe will come after his shift."
Claire spoke. "How was mom shot? What happened?"
Frank sat on the sofa and each one of his girls picked a side. He put an arm around them both. "It was a drive by from what I heard. I'll pull the surveillance tapes in the area once I know your mom's alright."
Brooke bristled. "Who would do that!"
Frank kissed her temple. "Honey your mom has convicted a lot of criminals over the years. It could be anyone of them, or a gang. We just don't know right now."
Claire bit her lip. "But mommy's going to be okay right?" She burst into tears and wept into Frank's shoulder.
"She'll be fine. She'll need to recover, but she'll be fine. Uncle Joe said the bullets missed everything vital. He is concerned about one of the bullets being near her spine."
They all settled down to wait. Both Brooke and Claire were on their phones. Frank was too worried to tell them to work on their homework. He was pacing like a caged lion. Joe came in wearing his scrubs after his shift. He took the lone chair that was in the room. He met Vanessa's eyes and blew her a kiss. She returned the favor. Her foot was tapping a clear sign that she was worried. Fenton was holding his wife's hand squeezing tightly, she was squeezing back just as hard. Joe glanced at his watch every so often. He knew the surgical team working on Callie and they were very good. He was about to vocalize that when his friend and colleague walked in. Joe surged to his feet. "How is she Sasha?"
Frank wheeled around. The girls dropped their phones and jumped to their feet. Fenton, Laura, and Vanessa with surprising speed did as well.
"For those of you who don't know me. I'm Doctor Sasha Singh, Callie is in recovery and doing well. We did have to give her one unit of blood. The bullet grazed her left kidney, we removed that bullet, but the one near the spine is too deep and impossible to get to. The neuro surgeon reviewed her films and scrubbed in briefly. He examined Callie when she started to come around, she is at the moment is paralyzed from the waist down, but he says it should only be temporary."
Frank was holding both his daughters. "How long will the paralysis last?"
"Anywhere from a couple days to a couple months. The longer it takes for her to regain feeling in her legs the longer her recovery time. We are administering steroids via her IV to reduce the inflammation in the hope that it restores her feeling sooner rather than later."
Brooke her eyes swimming in tears. "Can we see her?"
Sasha looked at the poor girls. They were both on the verge of tears. "Soon sweetheart. She'll be in recovery for a couple more hours."
Joe asked. "Is she aware of the paralysis?"
"Not yet. She's still feeling the effects of the anestesia."
Joe nodded. "I'd like to go back in recovery and tell her when she's more lucid. I don't want her finding out alone. Since Frank can't be there, I'm the next best bet Sasha."
"I'll allow that. You know where to go she's in bed three."
Rick came in along with his wife Ginny. Rick held a two year old boy in his arms. "Frank? What's the word?"
Joe left the room with Sasha trailing him. Frank addressed Rick. "She's in recovery, one bullet grazed her left kidney and was removed, the other is lodged near her spine, they can't remove that one. She has paralysis right now. They think it's temporary."
Rick sucked in his breath. "Where did Joe go?"
Vanessa answered. "To recovery, he wanted to be the one who told Callie about the paralysis."
Callie was woozy. She felt horrible just as bad as she did after her surgery to stop internal bleeding. She turned her head and even that caused pain to jolt right through her. "Ow!"
Someone seized her hand. "Callie?"
Callie moaned in pain. "Joe where's Frank? Are the girls okay?"
Joe squeezed her hand in reassurance. "They're fine. They're waiting to see you. How are you feeling?"
"Awful. Worse than I did after my surgery twelve years ago."
"Well that's not surprising. You were shot twice. One bullet grazed your left kidney. The other bullet is lodged near your spine and couldn't be removed."
Callie blinked. "I can't feel my legs. Why can't I feel my legs?"
Joe squeezed her hand again. "You have paralysis. It should only be temporary."
"I wanted to help James, but I couldn't get on my knees to do any compressions. Other people were just staring at us. They didn't help us."
Joe removed a piece of hair from her face. "Shh. Rest yourself now. Your nurse is going to give you dilaudid for pain." He nodded to the nurse.
Callie felt the medication go into her system, she felt a heaviness all over her body, followed by relief. She was so tired that she fell asleep again. When she woke up she was in a regular room. She saw her girls, Frank, Vanessa, Joe, Laura, Fenton, Rick, Ginny, and little Chloe. Callie smiled. "Hey."
Frank kissed her lips. "Hey yourself. How do you feel?"
Callie rubbed the bottom of her nose which was itching. She felt the oxygen nasal cannula and sighed. "I feel like I've been shot."
Claire burst into tears. "Mommy who would do this to you?"
Callie reached and rubbed her distraught daughter's back. "Baby mommy has locked up a lot of people for crimes over the years. It could be anyone, but the defendant today is a strong possibility. He has a network of people who work for him and I'm sure he has a boss he reports too."
Brooke narrowed her eyes. "They messed with the wrong family."
Frank was accessing her latest defendant. He pulled up the dossier. "Thomas Wyatt age 44 mixed raced male, brown and brown six one and two hundred pounds. He is rumored to be under the Juan Garcia drug cartel. Juan Garcia born in Tijuana Mexico, is a naturalized US citizen. He runs an adoption agency out of Mission Texas. He's been under investigation for years for drug smuggling but the feds haven't been able to get anything to stick."
Callie, her eyes heavy said. "So this Juan Garcia is likely his supplier, and Thomas Wyatt was obviously a high member of the organization if they tried to take me out."
"We'll dig into this." Frank reassured. "Dad, do you think you can convince the local police to grant you an interview with Thomas Wyatt? Then I'd like to go to Mission TX and try talking to this Juan Garcia."
"I certainly can."
