CH 24
The next day they went for a walk along the waterfront as well had lunch at a cafe՛ nearby. Later that afternoon they walked up to the taxi stand and Jim called for a taxi. While waiting they were hugging and kissing for few minutes when they heard the screech of tires and revving of a motor making them look only to see a car heading straight towards them They both ran towards some parked cars but didn't make it.
The car hit them both causing them to fly over the bonnet and hitting the windscreen and then rolling over the car and onto the ground. The car speeds off. People who were nearby stood witness in horror and ran over to them. Someone called emergency services.
A half an hour later there was a knock on Tom and Jamie front door Jamie went to see who it was, when she opened it she saw two police officers standing there. "Mrs Roth?"
"Yes, can I help you, officers?"
"Your son is Captain James Roth?"
"Jim, yes. What's wrong?" she asked looking worried.
"Is your husband home Ma'am?"
"Tom!" She called out.
"What is it?"
"It's the police, about Jim."
Tom hurried to the door, "Can I help you, officers?"
"May we come in?"
"Please! Just tell us!" Jamie says shaking.
"There's been a hit and run accident, your son and a woman that was with him were hit by a speeding car."
"Oh my, no! Not Jim!" Jamie said no crying. "June, that's his girlfriend, please don't tell me her as well."
" Are you talking about June McGinnis?"
"Yes, she's our son's girlfriend. Are they…?" Jamie couldn't finish her question.
"They are both alive but in serious condition."
"We'll head to the hospital, and call the rest of the family," Tom said.
"Do you know if Ms McGunnies got any family?"
"No family, she's an only child, her parents died years ago," Jamie said as she recalled her conversation in the kitchen the day before.
"Ok, thank you for that information." Then they turn around and return to there patrol car.
"I'll lock up," Tom said. "I'll get my bag."
Within minutes they were on there way to the hospital, calling their family on the way.
At NAVCOM, Mike just finished talking to one of the captains of a patrol boat when he looked up and saw the look on the midshipmen's face while he was on the phone. "Midshipmen?"
"Sir, Commander Flynn is here, Sir, Yes sir" Then he looked at, Mike "It's Sydney, Sir, it's about MacGyver and Captain Roth, Sir."
"Put it through my head set... Commander Mike Flynn… Hi Paul, it's been a long time" he said smiling but then his face dropped, "What? When?… how bad?… I know that you will do everything you can for them, and Paul, no names to the media. I'll call Fleet Command…Yes, I'll send someone she knows down. Yeah, thanks for calling." Then he hung up. "Get me Fleet Command, and call Commander Marshall," Mike spoke to Fleet Command giving them a heads up about what had happened, then he spoke to Steve then called Kate. Kate was shocked by the news.
At the hospital, the staff worked around both Jim and June, getting CT scans, x rays the works then they both went straight into theatre.
When Tom and Jamie showed up at the hospital, the police and the staff brought them to a private room. When the family showed up they were shocked by this. They waited for hours when finally two people in Navy uniforms walked into the room. "Mr and Mrs Roth?"
"Yes?" Tom said.
"I'm Commander Mike Flynn, second in command at HMAS Cairns NAVCOM. And this is Lieutenant Kate McGregor, second in command of HMAS Hammersley, the patrol boat Petty Officer June McGinnis works on. The crew call her MacGyver."
They shook hands, "Nice to meet you, Commander, Lieutenant, please take a seat," Tom said. They sat down and Tom did the rest of the introductions.
"Any word on Jim's or MacGyver's condition?" Kate asked.
"Nothing yet, the police have been asking us if Jim had any enemies, I told them that he with the SAS."
"The only person who we think would be behind something like this is behind bars and he's had no contact with anyone since being in prison," Mike said.
"How about June? Does she have any enemies?"
"Not that we know of," Kate replied.
"Wait, Mike, what about Campbell Fulton?".
He turned to her and replied, "no, can't be him, Buffer saw him this morning at the mariner."
"If it not him then who?"
"I have no idea, Kate."
Kate's phone rings, "Kate McGregor, hello… hi, Nav… what? it's on the news?… Nav, yes, it's MacGyver and Jim…. we waiting for news our selves… will do… yes, Mike's with me… ok, thanks Nav, I'll tell her, bye," she said hanging up.
"One of the crew, it's on the news but no names were mentioned"
"Ok. How long have you known June for?"
"Just under two years," Kate said. "Seven months in two thousand and two and in the past almost three years when I was captain of Hammersley. We first met when she was doing her gap year on a frigate that I was on."
"What was June like?"
"She was and is a hard worker and like Kate here, doesn't take any nonsense. She's hard but fair with the younger sailors," Mike said. Then Mike and Kate told them about what MacGyver was like and Kate told them about when Jim and MacGyver first met, the challenge on the boat deck which had the family smiling.
"She's the one sailor I trust to watch my back," Mike said.
"Same here and she can be full of surprises."
"On Friday night we saw what she can do," Jamie said.
"What is she like with kids?" Trish asked.
"She's amazing around them, one time when we were helping a community out after a storm, she got the kids involved in building tree houses with the broken timber and iron that was lying around. She even built a jungle gym for the kids to play on and showed them some games that they could play, all the while she joined in having fun with them."
"She even got the adults involved with a couple of games," Mike said.
"I heard she's a good cook," Val said.
"She is, and very fussy about a clean kitchen. She takes all of her jobs seriously. She checks and double-checks the list of food items. There was one time that something from the list was missing, she came to me, 'Sir we're not leaving port, there's an item missing from the order'…so I ask her what it is and why can't we leave without it. She showed the list to me and said, ' No, we're not going until that box of items is on board, Sir," Mike tells them.
"Mike gives in knowing what she is like and goes to find out what happened to the box. It was found, and then she's happy," Kate said.
"Do you always let sailors get away with talking to you like that, Commander?" Ben asked.
"No, I don't, but with MacGyver, she always does have a good enough reason."
"How do you mean?" Tom asked.
"One time she told me that we are not going anywhere without the two import items being on board. So I asked her what we were missing that was so important as to hold up our departure. She said, 'coffee and toilet paper'. So I say, 'ouch, I better go and order some." That made everyone smile.
They talk for the next two hours when finally two men in scrubs walk into the room and everyone gets quiet and turns to them.
"Jim Roth's family?" one of them asked.
"Yes, we are his family, I'm Tom his father, and Jamie, my wife, and kids.
"How is he?"
"Well, it was touch and go, he suffered a broken arm, leg, internal bleeding, broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured skull and…a hairline fracture of vertebrae with swelling in the spine. I've put him in an induced coma to rest his brain and allow the swelling to come down."
They were shocked. Jamie cried as Tom hugged her and the rest of the family hugged each other. Mike and Kate were shocked also.
"Can we see him?" Jamie asked.
"Soon."
"Family of June McGinnis?" the surgeon continued.
"I'm Commander Flynn from HMAS Cairns, this is Lieutenant McGregor second in command of HMAS Hammersley the boat Petty Officer McGinnis is on. She doesn't have any living family… how is she?"
"She's got a fractured femur, dislocated hip, broken ribs, a punctured lung, fractured skull, internal bleeding. Both arms are broken and five hairline fractured vertebrae, She has also been put into an induced coma."
"Who would do this to them!? Why?" Val said with tears falling down her cheeks.
"They were so happy last night at the wedding and now this," Ben said.
A half an hour later they all looked through a window seeing Jim in bed with tubes and machines everywhere, they were all shocked, and then they saw June. They couldn't believe that it was the same woman from last night's wedding.
Mike and Kate went to the Four Seasons Hotel the next day with Tom, Jamie and the police. They went to pick up June and Jim's bags before leaving the hotel as Mike and Kate had to return to Cairns.
Jamie texted Kate a couple of photos of Jim and June from the wedding and reception. "Here, share these with your crew and Jim's team."
"Thank you and we will keep in touch," Mike said.
When the crew and Jim's men found out about the accident, they were all duly shocked with the news. They all received a text photo message with the picture from the wedding and they saw how happy Jim and June are. As for Hammersley's crew, Kate printed out the two photos and put them on the notice board for everyone to see.
Five weeks later, it was two days before Christmas. There still were no leads on the driver of the car that did the hit and run. There hadn't been any license plates. A nurse was changing MacGyver's IV bag when she heard her moan and noticed her mouth open and close. She quickly left to get a doctor then returned with him and another nurse in tow.
"Ms McGinnis..." she opened her eyes slowly as she tried to wet her dry lips. "Get some water," the doctor said. The nurse left to get the water. "Ms McGinnis, do you know where you are?"
She nodded.
"Do you remember what happened to you?"
She blinked, then remembered the wedding, dancing, walking along the walkway, sharing lunch, the car park while waiting for a taxi, the reviving of a motor, screeching of tires, her and Jim running to the closest car then being hit.
"Jim..." she said, "Where's Jim?"
"He's recovering like you are."
"I want to see him."
"In time," then the nurse returned with a glass of water and a straw, passing it to the doctor who put the straw into her mouth, she took small sips until she opened her mouth and push the straw out so she could wet her lips.
"Ms McGinnis, do you remember the accident?"
"Yes and it was no accident, it was deliberate."
"Did you see the driver?"
"Yes, it was Jim's ex-girlfriend Kim, I… I don't know her last name."
"We'll let the police know, now let's check you over."
"Ok, is Jim going to be ok?"
"Yes, he will be."
"Good"
He checked her over as she fell back to sleep.
When they walked out of the room, "not a word about this to anyone but the police. This is the breakthrough they've been waiting for."
"All the family and friends need now is for Mr Roth to wake up, that would be a great Christmas gift for the family."
"Yes, it would," the nurse said and the doctor went to call the detective who is investigating the hit and run. The doctor told him that MacGyver woke up and remembered everything. MacGyver was a bit more awake when the detective walked into her room with another officer.
"Morning Ms McGinnis, how are you doing?"
"Better, what can I do for you detective?"
"You told Doctor Matthews that you saw the driver that hit you and Mr Roth."
"I did."
"Can you tell us the person's name?"
"Her name is Kim, don't know her last name. We met at Jim parents place the Friday night before the wedding. Jim's sister invited her around, she was hoping to get them back together, but her plan failed."
"How long were they together?"
"Six months until he told her it was over between them."
"How many weeks ago was that?"
"Weeks? It was years ago. They were high school sweethearts, it happened almost fifteen years ago."
"Fifteen years?"
"Yes and she still loves him, but he doesn't love her anymore."
"Ok, how long have you and Mr Roth been seeing each other?"
"Since February this year, we hardly saw each other because of our work schedules."
"Ok, thank you, I'll let you get some rest."
"Detective can you let Tom and Jamie know that I'm awake."
"Of course, they would be happy to know that you are going to be ok."
"Thank you, Sir." He and the other cop walked out closing the door behind them.
"We've finally got her," the detective said.
"So what now?"
"We go and let the family know. But first the warrant," they walk out together while talking.