Author's note: The previous chapter got long, so I'm splitting it in two. Usual thanks to all.
Chapter 21
Sebastian walked to Heather's car and slid into the driver's seat. He started the car and pulled down the driveway, exiting the property. On the drive to the hospital, he reviewed the plan in his head. When he was approximately 3 blocks from the hospital, he parked the car and got out. After engaging the security system, he walked confidently towards the health campus. After a few minutes, he entered the main building. He walked to the Surgical Waiting Unit and looked at the board for the target's last name. Seeing that he was in still in surgery, Sebastian sat down patiently and pretended to read a magazine. He kept an eye on the board for any change in the man's status. After about 30 minutes, he noticed that the man had been moved to PACU. A few moments later, a nurse came in and called out, "Family for Johnson. Any family for G. Johnson." Sebastian stood up and slipping a mask of concern on his face, said, "Here. I'm his brother Mike. How is he? Is he awake yet?"
The nurse smiled and said, "Come this way, sir. I'll update you on his condition on the way."
Sebastian stood and followed the nurse out the door. "So, ma'am is my brother okay. I heard he was attacked at a nightclub, but they didn't tell what exactly happened. How was he hurt? Did they catch the person who attacked him?"
"Well, I don't know the whole story. You'll have to talk to the police and your brother to find that out, but I can tell you that he had a compound fracture of his ulna and radius. Those are the two lower arm bones. A compound fracture is when the bones are broken and puncture the skin. The orthopedic surgeon repaired those. His hand, wrist, and lower arm are in a cage to ensure that those bones set and heal properly. I'll warn you. It looks worse than it actually is, so don't be frighten when you see him. He's not totally awake yet. He's still under some pretty heavy effects of the anesthesia, but he is breathing on his own, so that's good. You might find that he's a little silly and not making a lot of sense right now. That's very common with anesthesia. He also had some ligament, tendon, and nerve damage with this injury. It is possible that he may need more surgery to fix that, but we don't know right now. The unit we are entering right now is called the PACU, which stands for the Post Anesthesia Care Unit. It is where everyone goes right after surgery, so we can very closely monitor them until the anesthesia has pretty much worn off. Most people stay about an hour or two. I believe he is going to be admitted to the 3rd floor after he leaves us. I don't know which room exactly, but 3 Northwest is our Orthopedic Unit, so I expect he will be placed there. Are you ready to see your brother, Mr. Johnson?"
"Yes, please. Thank you so much for your help. You're so kind to explain all of this to me. I'm just so worried about him. Will he be okay after all of this? I'm afraid it's just the two of us now. Our parents died several years ago, and we just have each other."
"I send the doctor in to talk to you in a bit. He can give you more information about the long-term effects of this kind of injury. But don't worry too much. Miracles can happen with physical therapy and good patient effort." The nurse pulled the curtain back and called to Gary, "Mr. Johnson, you have a visitor. Your brother is here." She closed the curtain behind Sebastian.
Gary stared blearily at Sebastian. "Who are you? I don't have a brother. Nurse," he mumbled reaching for his call bell.
Sebastian took the call bell out of the man's reach and said, "Gary, what are you saying? It's me, Mike. Oh, that anesthesia must really be doing a number on you. Poor guy! Forgetting your own big brother, silly guy! Just lay back and relax. Let that stuff wear off and you'll be right as rain soon enough."
He leaned in close to the man, "You fucked up big, motherfucker. When a lady says no, you leave. Especially when it's the boss's girl. You laid your filthy dirty paws on a classy, quality woman who is so beyond your league it's unbelievable. You made her feel unsafe, now I'm going to make you unsafe. Say goodbye, Gary. I'm going to enjoy this. You, however, will not."
Sebastian closed the rollerball on the morphine drip and reached into the cage and began flicking the pins with his fingers. Gary screamed out in pain. Two nurses came hurrying into the curtained area. "What happened?" They immediately began checking the patient. Sebastian had already slipped the mask of concern back on his face and had reopened the flow of morphine. "I don't know. He started screaming about dolphins." Gary mumbled out, "This man … is not … my brother … He's trying to kill … me … help."
Sebastian smiled sympathetically at the nurses, "Poor guy. That anesthesia really is something, huh? He was just saying something about the dolphins attacking him a minute ago. Then he started screaming and trying to pull the cage off his arm. It's okay, Gary. The dolphins can't get you. You're at the hospital. There are no dolphins here. You're safe. Just lay back and rest. That thing is on your arm because you just had surgery and it's protecting your arm. You have to leave it alone. But Big Brother Mike is here. I'll protect you. Like I always do." The younger nurse gently squeezed Sebastian's bicep. "Yeah, people can get a little wild while under anesthesia. Do you want someone in here with you until he's a little more lucid?"
"No, I'll keep an eye on him. I'm sure he'll be fine soon. Thank you, though. Y'all are so kind to worry about us. I'll hit his call bell if we need anything." The nurses left the area and closed the curtains behind them.
Sebastian stopped the morphine again and leaned down right to Gary's ear. "Naughty, naughty, Gary. Now I really have to punish you. Sebastian disconnected the morphine from Gary's iv line. "You won't be needing this anymore." He placed a piece of electric tape across Gary's mouth. "This should help keep you quiet." He pulled out a small roll-up bag and set it on the bed beside Gary's left leg. Sebastian pulled the heart monitor electrodes off of Gary and placed them on himself. He pulled the first syringe out of the bag. He injected it into the iv line. Gary turned red and his jugular vein popped out and began throbbing at a rapid rate. Sebastian worked to remain calm, despite the joy he was feeling. "What you are feeling right now, Gar, is profound tachycardia. Your heart rate is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 250, 260. It's a lot for your heart to handle. Can you feel the strain? Kind of hurts, doesn't it? Let me fix that for you." Sebastian picked up the next syringe and injected it into the tubing. Gary's red face quickly went ghostly white and his eyes closed. "How's that, big guy? Heart's not beating so fast now, huh? In fact, it's barely beating at all. That feels different, doesn't it." Sebastian reached down and took Gary's pulse. After a full minute's count, he got 24. "Do you feel a little light-headed? Yeah, that would be because your blood pressure is barely enough to pump blood up to your brain. Hands and feet feel a little chilly? Again, your blood pressure is barely strong enough to pump to the vital organs, much less to the extremities, but hey, at least you're not having that heart attack anymore, huh? Let's see what else I have in my bag of tricks. Hmm, this is a fun one, but let's save that for a few minutes. So, Gary, is there anything you would like to say right now? Anything you would like to get off your chest before you go on to the great beyond?" Sebastian smiled a devious grin. "Maybe you would like to explain why you thought that a lady's 'no' meant 'keep going, sexy.' Or why someone as amazing as my client would lower herself to be seen with the likes of slime like you. If you promise to behave and answer my questions, I can be convinced to remove the tape from your mouth for a minute. But if you misbehave, I just don't know what might happen. Your choice. Are you going to play nice, Gar-Gar?"
Gary opened his eyes and nodded. Sebastian peeled the tape off. Gary whispered, "I'm sorry. I was wrong. I should have left her alone. I was drunk and horny. I never should have approached her. But please don't kill me. I swear I will never do that again. I will swear off women forever if you let me live. Anything you ask, I'll do it. Just don't kill me. Please." Gary started to cry. "My arm hurts so bad. Please help me. I won't tell anyone anything about you or this or anything. Please just leave me alone. I'll tell the police I was wrong about everything. Please, this never happened."
"Oh, Gary, that's where you are wrong. It did happen, and you are going to pay for it." He pulled out the final syringe from the bag and quickly injected it into Gary's iv. He tucked the bag into his pocket. He then reconnected the morphine and opened the rollerball full tilt. The entire bag quickly emptied into Gary's line. Sebastian reconnected the heart monitor pads to the lifeless body and yelled out for help. "Someone help! My brother stopped breathing! We were just talking and then he stopped and grabbed his chest! OH MY GOD! Is he dead? Someone help me! Gary, Gary, Gary! Wake up! Oh God, no!"
The curtain flew open and several personnel flew in, two of them pushing the crash cart. "Sir, we need you to step out now. We need room to work. Susan, please escort Mr. Johnson to the waiting area."
"Sir, please come with me. The team is going to do their best and someone will keep you updated. Let's go back to the waiting area."
They arrived at a private waiting area. Susan offered Sebastian a cup of coffee, which he refused. "Someone will be in to update you shortly sir. Please remain here. The bathroom is right over there, if you need it."
Sebastian thanked her and sat down. Susan left, and Sebastian waited for 15 minutes until a surgeon entered the room. "Mr. Johnson?" Sebastian nodded. "Mr. Johnson, your brother appears to have suffered a fatal arrhythmia following his surgery. We exhausted all of our options, but I'm afraid we had to pronounce him dead a few moments ago. I am very sorry for your loss." Sebastian forced tears to his eyes. "He's dead? What happened? He looked so good. The nurse said that he was okay. We … we were just talking and now he's dead? I don't understand."
"Well, as you may have known, your brother had coronary artery disease and his morbid obesity did further weaken his heart. We will be doing an autopsy tomorrow to confirm cause of death, but I would say that those two factors are probably what lead to his death. Again, I am so sorry for your loss. Would you like to see his body now?"
"No … no autopsy. Gary had a weird obsession against them. It developed after our parents died. He made me swear that when he died, I wouldn't allow one. Even if they didn't know what killed him. I begged and pleaded with him to change his mind, but you know how obsessions are. They don't make sense. I want to know what happened, but I wouldn't feel right betraying him like that. Is there any way to find out without doing an autopsy?"
"No, sir. Not really."
"Could this have been caused by his attack this evening? Did the man who attacked him maybe cause some sort of internal damage that you guys missed?"
"Actually, sir, from what I understand, your brother was involved in an altercation with a female. The story I was told was that he touched a young lady at a nightclub and she defended herself against his advances." The surgeon didn't add that he knew and highly respected the woman involved. He knew that Dr. Weire was a fine, upstanding person and would never resort to violence unnecessarily. He was eager to talk to his friend and co-worker about the occurrence because it sounded nothing like her.
"A girl did this to him? I find that very hard to believe." Sebastian shook his head. "Okay, I'm ready to see him. Lead the way."
The doctor lead Sebastian to a private viewing room. "Take your time, sir. Let the nurses in the PACU know when you are done. I have to alert the police to this and they will probably have questions for you. I'll hold them off until you are done." Sebastian thanked him. After the doctor left the room, Sebastian verified the man's pulseless, breathless state, took two pictures, and snuck out the door. He left the hospital and drove back to Heather's house.
He walked into the home and immediately went into his bedroom and changed into pajamas. He knocked on Jim's door, but received no answer. He carefully opened the door and peeked in. Jim was not in there. He padded down the hall to Heather's bedroom and cracked the door open. Jim was laying wrapped around Heather. Sebastian started to close the door when he saw Jim's hand wave him in. Jim carefully disengaged from Heather's sleeping form and climbed out of bed. "Is it done?"
Sebastian waved him out the door and they entered his bedroom. He pulled up the two pictures on his phone and showed them to Jim. "It's handled. I poisoned him with potassium chloride, stopping his heart. Had to pose as his brother. They wanted to do an autopsy tomorrow, but I refused, stating it was a huge phobia of his. You said that he has no family, right? So right now, they are probably looking for his poor brother, Mike, who was just heartbroken at the news of his death. He'll be buried in potter's field when they can't find him in a few days. How's Heather? It looks like she's sleeping well."
"Excellent job as always, tiger. We talked for a bit after Kate left. She thought I was upset with her. That she had embarrassed me somehow. I assured her that I was proud of her for standing up for herself. I apologized that she had to defend herself. Promised her that I would never put her in that kind of situation again. You were right. She did want to 'make everything up to me' by getting intimate, but I told her that as much as I wanted that and her, I knew that she would only be doing it to try to apologize and she had nothing to apologize for. I told her that tonight I just wanted to hold and protect her. I talked her into taking both a valium and an Ambien along with her normal night meds to ensure she slept well. You were here the entire night. Heather went to bed because she was upset, and you and I stayed up and watched the Star Wars Episodes 4 and 5, then I joined Heather in bed and you went to bed. Any questions?"
"Nope. I'll let you get back to Heather and I'm going to bed for real. See ya in the morning."
The two men climbed back upstairs and went into their respective rooms. Both men quickly fell asleep, content in the knowledge that their angel was finally safe again.
