What a Pain! - Chapter Eighteen
Cap watched over Mike as he lay down on the sofa, then went to the kitchen phone for a call to Rampart Hospital and Dr. Early.
"C'mon...C'mon... I know it's late, but somebody pick up the damn phone..."
As he leaned against the wall, he held the receiver with his right hand and grabbed a fistful of his own thick hair with his left hand - something to have as an anchor while his emotions went sailing. He was scared, he was angry, he was exhausted.
Finally, Cap heard a startlingly high-pitched voice say, "Good evening, Rampart General Hospital, how may I help you?"
"Uh, yes, I, I need to speak with Dr. Joe Early. Is he there tonight?" Cap inquired.
The excessively polite voice said, "No, sir, I'm terribly sorry, he's not on tonight. Is there another doctor who could help you?"
Hank moved to a kitchen chair and slumped in defeat. Oddly, he was annoyed by the woman on the other end of the line; her voice was getting under his skin. She was polite, helpful, kind...and irritating as all hell. He knew it could always have been worse had he gotten a person who was rude or unhelpful, but he was at the end of his rope this night and didn't want to make endless calls or deal with someone who couldn't get him what he needed. He just wanted someone to make everything right again for his engineer.
"Well...I'm calling on behalf of one of Dr. Early's patients, Mr. Michael Stoker. Do you know if Dr. Early left someone to call in his absence?" Cap asked.
"Just a moment, pah-lease, I'll check," the woman told him. She put Cap on 'hold', and he released a breath. Although he was anxious for information, he wasn't keen on hearing it from her. Her voice was akin to a nasally slide whistle and it made Cap squint and clench his jaw when she spoke.
She came back on the line and said, "Sir, Dr. Early is at home, but would like you to call him there," and she proceeded to rattle off Dr. Early's phone number.
Cap wrote the number down on a paper napkin, thanked the woman, and was relieved to hang up. He got up and once more looked in on his engineer, who appeared to be asleep again. Sir Pain sat on the back of the sofa, awake and watching. With yet another long sigh, Cap went back to the kitchen to call Dr. Early at home.
Hank yawned deeply and rubbed a hand over his eyes as he waited for the doctor to pick up the phone, and though it was urgent, he still felt guilty about the timing.
At the sound of doctor's phone picking up, Cap coughed out, "Uh, hello, Dr. Early? This is Captain Stanley. I, uh, I'm sorry about the time, but..."
"Good morning, Captain Stanley," Dr. Early chuckled into the phone, "the night receptionist told me you'd be calling. It's perfectly fine to call me here. I understand Mike's not well?"
Cap gave Mike's vitals to Dr. Early and told him why he suspected they were elevated, and hoped he'd suggest a trip in to Rampart. If he were to be honest with himself, he knew it was because he was getting squeamish with the thought of staying here when Jordan was still around.
"Hmmm," Dr. Early considered, "if Mike is resting, I'm tempted to let him stay that way, but I'll tell you what...why don't you give Roy or Johnny a call and have them come over and assess him? If they think a trip to Rampart is needed, give me a call and I'll gladly meet you there. I don't want to cause any undue stress for Mike, you understand, but I don't want to ignore this rise in blood pressure either."
"That sound good, Doctor, thanks. I'll, uh, I'll call John or Roy right now. One of us will give you a call soon," Cap told him.
He knew 'his men' would want to know what happened, and he knew how they were. Not a one of them would complain about a call such as this disturbing their sleep. When one of their own was in trouble, they'd all want to come charging in to protect and defend. Still, the thought of waking them up at this time of night made him feel guilty.
Hank heard a muffled, "Mmph, hullo?" on the other end as Johnny wrestled his pillow for the phone.
"John? This is Captain Stanley," he announced.
That was all it took for Johnny to be wide awake. "Cap? What's goin' on? I thought you were stayin' at Mike's tonight. Wait...what's wrong? Are you guys okay?"
"John, hold on, hold on," Cap interrupted, "We're okay. But, uh, something happened tonight and I think you need to hear it from me." Hank proceeded to explain the whole cat-crashing, muddy-fence, police visit to John, who sat on the other end of the line wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Without a single other word from his Captain, Johnny had already made up his mind that he was going over to Stoker's house.
"Cap, I'll be right there," he told Hank.
"John...wait, could you bring your-," but all Cap heard was a click on the other end. He knew in his heart that he wouldn't have to remind Johnny to his medical gear, and inwardly, he smiled in gratitude.
While Johnny was hopping around his apartment, stuffing his feet into his shoes and gathering his medical kit, Eddie Jordan was waiting for just the right time to come out of hiding. He looked around himself, making certain that both police vehicles were at opposite ends of the street, then stood up, leeching himself to the large maple tree near him. He planned out each footstep, to be sure he could cross the street without being detected. Jordan wasn't the kind of criminal that made break-ins his habit, so this was going to be a bit of a challenge, but thanks to Piper, Jordan knew that Mike and Cap were the only ones inside the house. He knew with the weapon he had in his hand, he could easily overtake them both. In his dark clothing, leather gloves and black, slicked-back hair, Jordan was the perfectly clichéd criminal, ready to make good on his intentions.
He had a good thing going, running weapons, and no two-bit fireman was going to stop him. Piper had told him he had heard through the police department grapevine that Stoker couldn't identify Jordan, but Eddie wasn't going to risk that. He and Piper had already amassed a small fortune reselling the guns that had been confiscated from crime scenes, and it was not a lifestyle Jordan was willing to give up anytime soon. He watched...for cars, for people, for lights on in houses, anything that might alert someone to his presence. Noticing nothing, Jordan dashed across the street and skulked up to the side of Stoker's house. He slipped in between the shrubs and the fence and paused, once again observing his surroundings. A slight crunch of his foot on a pile of dried leaves made him stop again and look around. Keeping his breathing slow and quiet, he slid around the side of the fence to the backyard. He found the back gate was unlatched, just as he had hoped. Piper had done good.
Cap called Roy and got much the same reaction as Johnny's. As he hung up, he smiled at the dedication the paramedics showed to their friend. He decided to take a short break to check once again on Mike, before he called Marco and Chet. He filled a glass with cold water and brought with him. Easing himself on one knee to the floor, he placed a hand on Mike's arm.
"Stoker?" he half-whispered, "How about you sit up here and take a drink?" He moved his fingers down to Mike's wrist to check his pulse. Not surprisingly, it was still rather fast. Mike uttered a weak moan and moved his arm away from Cap's hand, up to his aching forehead.
"Uuugh, mmmy head hurts, C-Cap," Mike groaned, not opening his eyes. "What's g-goin' on?"
At that moment, Sir Pain sat straight up on the back of the sofa and looked around, his ears flicking back and forth. He leaped over Mike and around Cap, then crept slowly across the floor and into the kitchen. His eyes were wide and his nose bobbing up and down as he detected something unusual.
Cap patted Mike on the shoulder, stood up and said, "Uh, hold on a second, Mike, I think your cat hears something."
Sure enough, Sir Pain poked his head out of the door leading to the garage and started to growl, long and low.