15
Jax Is Really Alive
Chapter 30 Recap
Jax kills all the Kitty Cabal members that were going to gang rape Tara. Cas called Ryland after Jax's message. Ryland and Hale were listening to what was going on via Cas.
Ryland tells Jax he has sent a team in to fix the crime scene to erase any sign that he or Tara were at that location.
Jax tells Ryland that he's worried about Tara's medical condition. He tells Jax to put Tara's phone against her skin and Cas will monitor Tara.
As they drive to the hotel, Tara's condition worsens and Cas warns that Tara's heart and lungs have quit functioning.
Chapter 31 From Hero to Nero
While in prison on federal weapons charges, Jax took a first aid course. He even got a card when he passed the class. It beat sitting in his cell. He remembered enough to know how to do CPR on Tara.
"I'm going to pull over and call for an ambulance and then I'll do CPR," Jax said.
"Cas event clock now," Ryland instructed. "Jax, hybrids can easily go fifteen minutes without a heart beating or lungs breathing. The medical backpack has a life support vest in it and that will restore Tara's functions. How far are you from the hotel?"
"Cas estimated time to hotel?" Jax asked.
"Under four minutes," Cas replied.
"Are you sure we can get her heart restarted without a hospital?"
"Positive. You can save her better and quicker than if you take her to a hospital."
"Tara is my first priority," Jax said. "I want what is best for her. Maybe I should do the vest thing now."
"You have plenty of time."
"I know sometimes CPR doesn't work. Are you sure this will work?"
"Yes. We'll get Tara back. She is suffering from a drug overdose. The vest will restore her heart and lung functions and continue to provide life support as needed until we reverse the drugs."
"Do we have to reverse the drugs in that fifteen window?"
"No. You just need to get the vest on her during that window. I'm redirecting the team to the hotel to drop off the medic. The team's about eleven minutes away from your hotel. By the time the medic gets to you, you will have her on life support and we'll have the preliminary assessment of her medical condition done. He also has the drugs to reverse all the common date rape drugs. I gave them to him before the team left."
"OK."
Jax wasn't used to trusting people he didn't know. He had had to trust Ryland when Tara got sick and he had helped him with Tara then. He believed that Ryland had the medical expertise to make the best decision for Tara's treatment; he just didn't like having to depend on him.
Tara was human dead. It may not be Paralorn dead, but it was too close to permanent death for Jax. Losing Tara had sent him into a dangerous downward spiral of bad decisions, violence and murder. There had been so many mistakes. He needed to keep his emotions under control. Tara and his boys were depending on him.
He needed to think about something other than Tara being dead beside him in the SUV. He thought about how it was going to look when he brought Tara into the hotel. Hotels had cameras at the doors, so it was pointless to think he could sneak her in a back door. The best approach was to keep close to the truth.
"Cas, I know you speak with Tara's voice. Can you imitate her and sound drunk?"
"I can review sounds of drunk people speaking and adapt that to Tara's voice. It may not be a perfect imitation, but it should be believable."
"OK. If there's anyone in the hotel lobby, I'm going to say to Tara that I can't believe how much you meaning Tara drank. You are to reply in Tara's voice sounding drunk that you are never drinking that much again. Let me hear you say that."
Cas repeated the words in a slurred imitation of Tara's voice.
"Well done, Cas."
Jax put the phone in his jacket pocket. He pulled into the hotel parking lot and followed Cas' instructions to find the medical backpack concealed in the SUV. He put it on and then went to Tara, unfastened her seatbelt and lifted her out of the SUV. He shut the SUV's passenger door.
Tara's skin was only a little cool to the touch, not like when he found on her on the kitchen floor. He'd scooped her up into his arms, hoping there was still life left in her. She had been ice cold. He had still felt for a pulse in one last desperate hope that she was still alive.
He put his arm around her and walked her into the hotel. Her feet brushed the ground. He wanted it to look like she was walking and that was the best he could do. Her head had fallen forward with her hair in her face concealing her shut eyes.
There was a clerk at the desk when they walked in. Jax waited until they were within earshot before making his comment about not believing how much she'd had to drink. Cas replied in her Tara drunk voice. Jax wanted it to look like they weren't hiding anything. It was just another drunk girl being helped to her room by her boyfriend.
As soon as Jax got Tara to the room, he put her on the bed and laid his phone on the nightstand.
"OK. I'm in the room," Jax said to Ryland.
"Put her flat on the bed. There are two pockets on the outside of the backpack. The smaller pocket has the life support vest. Take it out and put it on her with the zipper at the front. Zip it up. It will do the rest."
Jax slipped off the backpack and followed Ryland's instructions. He found the blue vest inside a large plastic bag labeled "life support vest" and put it on Tara. It only weighed a few pounds and was less than an inch thick. He zipped it up and waited.
"It's on Tara," Jax said.
"Inside that same pocket is a tablet. If you put it on the nightstand and prop it up, we'll be able to see each other and I will be able to see Tara."
Jax grabbed the screen and propped it up on the nightstand. He saw Ryland sitting at a desk surrounded by a bank of screens. He was wearing a black long sleeved T-shirt and he looked, as usual, like he needed some sleep.
The vest puffed up and a red light appeared. The vest deflated and squeezed Tara tightly. Suddenly the red light turned green and the vest loosened its grip on Tara.
"Tara's life signs have returned and are within normal levels," Cas said.
"Cas, terminate event clock. What was the elapsed time?" Ryland ordered.
"Seven minutes thirty-two seconds," Cas replied.
"She's alive again?" Jax asked. "It was that easy?"
"I told you that you could do it. Leave the life vest on her until we fix the drug overdose. It monitors her automatically and will restart her heart and lungs if they fail again. The vest unfortunately doesn't work on humans."
Tara' ashen skin quickly regained its color when blood began to flow through her body. Her eyes were still closed, but life had returned to her body.
Jax took a deep breath and let it out. The tension he'd felt since he found Tara on a filthy table in a dilapidated building about to be raped finally lessened.
"OK. Glad that's over."
Ryland laughed.
"I know it was overwhelming, but the worst is over. Just take out everything in the large backpack compartment and put it on the bed."
Jax pulled out various items in clear plastic bags from the backpack and laid them on the bed.
"Get the bag labeled monitors. There are two types of monitors. Open the bag labeled blood monitors, take one out of the bag and put it on the back of Tara's hand over one of the veins like you did with the Tara packs."
Jax followed Ryland's directions.
"Information is being sent to Cas. The monitor that shows me will also show Tara's blood numbers. It won't make sense to you, but it will to the medic," Ryland said. "Her hormone levels are really crazy. She can call in a prescription. I wonder why she hasn't," Ryland said with a frown. "She definitely got a big drug overdose."
"How much time do you have to reverse it?"
"We have plenty of time and the medic will be there soon."
"Is there anything else I can do?"
"The medic will be there in a few minutes."
"OK," Jax said. "Tara told me that you told her that you thought she and I should get back together."
The timing of this conversation may not have been the best, but Tara was stable and the medic would be there soon. Jax rarely got the chance to talk to Ryland without Tara being around and he was trying to figure out Ryland.
"That's true."
"You told me you thought you were a better man."
"That hasn't changed. I still believe that. Has Tara ever told you about the Paralorn wedding or divorce ceremonies?"
"She told me divorce is rare."
"During the wedding ceremony, the bride and groom cut their palms and press their palms together blending their blood. For the divorce ceremony, the man cuts the woman and she cuts him. The blood is then allowed to drip into a tissue or cloth and is thrown away like their marriage.
"There was a couple who for various reasons felt they had grown apart and decided to divorce. When it came time for him to cut her, he couldn't do it. He gave her the knife and she couldn't cut him. They decided they weren't ready to throw away each other and what they had together.
"That was my wife and me. We had almost thirty years together after that all happy. I know how sometimes relationships hit tough stretches. I've come to see that I might be a better man, but you may make Tara happier. I love Tara and I want her to have the most happiness she can get. That may mean she should be with you and not me."
For the first time since he'd met Ryland, some of his cool reserve was gone. There was a faint undercurrent of heartache in his voice.
"One more thing before the medic arrives," Ryland said, clearing his throat and the emotion from his voice. "Did Tara ever talk to you about a medical condition involving sleep?"
"No."
"Because you're in a hotel, I'm going to tell you something I normally wouldn't; Tara has night terrors. It's pretty common with hybrids especially ones that died violently. She might wake up screaming. I've been treating her for this and she's better, but with everything that has happened to her today, she might wake up screaming.
"When she's close to regaining consciousness, I'll tell you. Just call her name softly and tell her she's safe. If she starts screaming, just reassure her. Make sure she's fully awake and not dreaming. Same thing if she is sleep walking. Wake her up by calling her name softly. If she screams and someone calls the cops, just tell them the truth that Tara suffers from night terrors."
"OK."
"The medic is about a minute away. He just entered the hotel. It's someone you know. A happy surprise for you."
Jax wondered if Ryland was being truthful about the happy surprise or maybe he was being sarcastic. He could never tell with Ryland.
There was a knock on the door and Jax opened the door and let the medic in. Ryland hadn't been sarcastic. This was a welcome surprise.
The two men hugged because they both used to be brothers in SAMCRO.
"When Ryland said that he was sending someone I knew, he didn't tell me who."
"I just got back a few days ago. I've been working for an anti-land mine charity."
Kozik looked exactly like Jax remembered him only not blown up or bruised and bloody from fighting. Kozik took off his jacket and unzipped an inner pocket removing two plastic bags, one blue and one red each about the size of a deck of playing cards.
"Ryland told me what happened to Tara. He gave me the drugs we need to reverse the drugs she was given. You have the same stuff in your backpack kit. You would just have to mix them together. It's a lot of measuring. I'm going to use the premixed stuff and monitor her."
Ryland told Kozik the amount he wanted him to use on Tara. Jax watched as Kozik took a syringe from one of the plastic bags that had been in the backpack and used it to draw out a small amount of blue liquid from one of the pouches. He injected it into a port that was on the monitoring device attached to the vein in the back of Tara's hand.
"I want to bring her out slowly to minimize emotional trauma," Ryland said. "Let's give her five minutes and see how her blood looks."
Jax sat next to Tara on the bed on the opposite side that Kozik was using to work on her. Jax wrapped his fingers around her wrist. He was relieved that her skin was warmer, but she was still motionless and unresponsive.
"What happened to you?" Jax asked Kozik.
"After I got blown up, they scooped me up and brought me to an underground hospital in Charming. They keep a team on stand by and when they learned I was dead, they sent it immediately to get me back and they saved me. The medic that they sent is one of the reasons I'm alive.
"I was in and out of consciousness for a couple of months. Ryland did a bunch of surgeries on me. He saved my life, my leg and my arm. He's an amazing man."
"You're really a medic."
Kozik nodded.
"I had so much stuff done to me; I took an interest. I have a new longer life. I wanted to do something good, so I went through a lot of medical training and I started to work with an anti-landmine charity. We clear mine fields and provide prosthetics for people that have lost limbs."
"How did you end up on the team sent here?"
"I work for the Paralorn government. I'm in the emergency response section. It's run a little like the military. There is always a team on alert ready to be dispatched to scoop up a hybrid that is human dead or to intervene in situations. I just happened to be on alert when Ryland called for a team."
"It sounds like things are going great for you."
Kozik smiled.
"Yeah. I even met a hybrid girl. She was my nurse. She was at my side every time I woke up from a surgery. We even worked together at the landmine charity. I'm going to ask her to marry me. I am so grateful that I got another chance at life and to do something meaningful with my life."
That seemed to be the same thing every hybrid said after returning to life. They were happy to have a new life and were making all kinds of positive changes. It was beginning to feel a little like a cult to Jax.
"Kozik, you have to ask me for permission to marry Jenna," Ryland said.
It startled Jax and Kozik who had been so focused on their conversation they forgot that Ryland was listening.
"I didn't know that," Kozik stammered.
"Now you do," Ryland said sternly. "I hope you aren't planning on moving away. That could be a problem for you."
"No, sir," Kozik said.
Jax looked at Kozik with amusement. He'd never seen him so flustered.
"How's Tara doing?" Ryland asked.
"Her levels are improving."
"What do you think her next course of treatment should be?"
"Repeat the previous treatment."
"Same medication and same amount?"
"Yes. I would then assess her after five minutes. She should be starting to show signs of regaining consciousness."
"If she doesn't?"
"I would need to see what the levels are and assess from that."
"Very good," Ryland said with a ghost of a smile.
Kozik relaxed. He was like the smart kid that gave a strict and respected teacher the correct answer.
Kozik repeated his earlier treatment of Tara, carefully measuring out the liquid and injecting it into the port.
"What's been the hardest thing for you since you came back to life?" Jax asked.
"Living in Charming and watching all the shit with the MC."
"I get that. Living it was pretty bad too. Worse was the fact I'd made a lot of terrible decisions."
"Jax, you got dealt a really fucked up hand. Tig and I have had our problems. In the end, we had become buddies again, but he's the one I hold responsible for a lot of the shit that happened including the murder of his daughter. He should have been kicked out for trying to kill Laroy without any kind of evidence he was behind the attempt on Clay's life and killing Damon Pope's daughter.
"Using a car to try to kill someone sitting at a sidewalk café is just so fucking stupid. I get that you couldn't have kicked him out of SAMCRO because Clay would have voted against it and it takes a unanimous vote. Now Chibs is trying to lead SAMCRO with Tig's help. It's going to be a cluster fucking disaster."
"Has anything happened?"
"Not that I know of, but I've only been back a few days and I'm not plugged into the MC world. I'm just forecasting the future. I hope Chibs has learned that getting bloody isn't the answer to every problem."
"Yeah," Jax said drily, "I could have used the same advice."
"I have some good MC memories, but I see things more clearly now and I would never join an outlaw MC again. It destroys."
"Amen, brother," Jax said and they both laughed.
Jax saw a faint twitch in Tara's fingers.
"I think Tara's coming around," Jax said.
"She is improving," Ryland said. "Kozik, what should you do next?"
"I would give her a 1/4 of the previous dose since you want to bring her back slowly."
"Perfect answer. I just might let you marry Jenna. Go ahead and give Tara a quarter of a dose."
"Why does Kozik need your permission to marry Jenna? Is it an alien thing?"
"No, it's a me thing," Ryland said. "He has to be worthy of my best nurse."
Jax's cell phone rang. He answered and was surprised that Nero was on the line.
"You're the guy working for Jax Teller?" Nero asked, quickly getting to the point.
"Yes. I want to meet, ask you a few questions and help you."
"I'll call you back with a place," Nero said and terminated the call.
Jax looked at Ryland on the monitor and told him about Nero's call. It was great that Nero wanted to meet. Maybe they would finally be able to get a lead on who took the boys.
"I heard about your boys getting kidnapped," Kozik said. "I want to help you get them back if Ryland is OK with it."
"I'm OK with it," Ryland said.
"Thanks," Jax said to both men.
"What can I do when I return to Charming?" Kozik asked.
"Keep an eye on Juice for now. There's just something about him that I don't trust."
Kozik nodded.
"You got it."
"Kozik give Tara a quarter of a dose of the other medication that you have with you. Why am I telling you to do this?"
"Her blood levels aren't normalizing quickly enough. The second medication has possible side effect issues, which is why it isn't the first drug of choice. I should monitor her continuously now."
"Very good. I just might give you permission to marry Jenna."
Kozik grinned.
"Thank you."
"I haven't given you permission," Ryland said with a smile. "I just said I might."
"I won't get the ring yet," Kozik said.
"Good idea," Ryland said.
Jax watched as Kozik injected more medication into the port on Tara's hand.
"Is it normal to have to give this much medication?" he asked.
"Tara had a massive overdose. If she'd been human, even with medical care, she might not have made it," Ryland explained. "As a hybrid, she will fully recover because she's receiving Paralorn medical care and she has better recuperative powers. It looks like she was given multiple date rape type drugs at very high levels."
"You think they meant for her to die?" Jax asked.
"I think that they didn't give a damn about what happened her. She wasn't a person to them."
"Her blood levels are normalizing quickly. She should regain consciousness soon," Kozik said.
"OK, Jax, try to wake her up," Ryland said.
"Tara, wake up. You're safe," Jax said tenderly. He repeated this over and over several times until Tara's eyes fluttered open.
She was breathing rapidly.
"Tara, breathe slowly," Ryland told her softly.
She slowed her breathing. She touched the life support vest.
"My heart stopped. How long?"
"About seven and a half minutes," Jax replied.
"You got me back quick," Tara said.
"Thanks to Jax," Ryland said. "He noticed your breathing was off. He put your cell phone against your skin to monitor your heart and lungs, so we knew the second they stopped. If he hadn't been so observant . . ."
Tara slipped her hand in Jax's and whispered thank you to him.
Jax's phone rang again.
"Look, I'm not gonna lie. I don't think I have any information that will help you find the boys," Nero said, "but I will tell you everything that I know."
"OK. That's all I want."
"There's a bus stop with a bench in Norco. I'll text you the address."
"OK. Thanks."
After ending the call, Jax told Tara about Nero's earlier call.
"I'm going," Tara tried to get up, but shut her eyes quickly as the room began to spin wildly around in circles. She put her head back on the bed.
"You can't get up quickly or you'll pass out," Kozik told her. "It's a side effect from one of the drugs we had to give you."
"Tara, you aren't going," Jax said. "You can listen in on the conversation with Cas. I'll use an ear piece and you can talk to me and tell me questions to ask."
"You still need a little medical care to get you completely well," Ryland added.
"She's out of danger, right?" Jax asked.
"Yes," Ryland said. "She still needs to stay in bed while we fine tune her blood. Her blood glucose levels are off."
"OK. I'm outnumbered and I feel like hell," Tara said. "I give up."
Kozik grabbed pillows and helped Tara prop herself up on the pillows.
"Thanks," Tara said to Kozik.
For a moment, Jax was tempted to ask if they could just leave Tara's hormone level alone when they were fine tuning her blood. He was hoping for some life affirming or meaningless sex with Tara when he got back from meeting with Nero. He hated to lose sex crazy Tara especially before they could have sex a few more times.
"The team has just finished cleaning up. I'll have them at the meeting place to provide support if you need it, Jax," Ryland said.
"I'll be fine," Jax said.
"They need to head your way to pick up Kozik anyway. ."
"OK," Jax said also giving up. It wouldn't hurt to have some guys standing by and Tara would worry less about him knowing he had help if he needed it
As it turned out, he didn't need any help meeting with Nero. It was what came afterwards that would completely change the hunt for the boys.
Next Up for Jax Is Really Alive: Flash! Bang!