FORGOTTEN MEMORIES!—13
Joe held his breath as his arms were pulled painfully behind him and held in place as a length of cord was wrapped around them and pulled tight enough to cut into his flesh. He cried out as his legs were grasped and the procedure was repeated, and an extra length of rope was attached to the one holding his ankles together. He was quickly pulled up and hung limply between Charlie and Jacob.
"Well, Joseph, are you ready for your bath?"
"Go...to...hell," he spat softly through clenched teeth.
"Oh, Joseph, you'll be there before I am. Throw him in, Boys," she ordered.
Joe couldn't stop his body from trembling as he was pulled onto the pier and forcefully dragged to the end. His two captors help him tightly and stood him at the very edge, the tips of his boots jutting out over open water. He heard her diabolical laughter as his arms were released and a hand touched the back of each shoulder. He sucked in a deep breath and closed his mouth as his body swayed for an instant, poised perilously on the wooden dock, before toppling into the salt water. The undertow quickly pulled him down and he fought to keep from crying out as the raw wounds on his body burned with the cleansing salt water that would eventually take his life.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
"Joe!" Albi winced as he dropped to the ground and raced toward the locked gate at the edge of the driveway. He turned at the sound of approaching cars and knew help had arrived, but would it be too late for the man he'd seen thrown into the water. He waited for the first car to stop in front of him and recognized one of the officers.
"Hurry, Willis, they just dumped him in the ocean!" he yelled as he ran for the gate. It was locked from the inside and he knew they'd have to break through it. He looked at his watch and saw that nearly two minutes had already passed since Joe was thrown into the water.
"You need to break it down!" he shouted at the policemen.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
"Bring him up," Pulverante ordered as the three minute mark came and went.
"Yes, ma'am," Charlie said and reached for the rope they'd attached to the captives ankles. Between the two men they slowly reeled in the rope, wondering if the man on the other end would be dead or alive.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
Joe's lungs felt like they were at the bursting point. He needed air, needed the oxygen his body craved, but he knew if he opened his mouth he'd drown as his lungs filled with water. He'd slowly released the air he'd held in his lungs and knew he was going to die. Visions began to invade his mind as lack of oxygen began to take affect. One face swam in front of his fevered brain and he smiled weakly at her, regret evident in his eyes as he watched his dream fading before him. Consciousness slowly left him and he didn't feel the tug of the rope between his ankles.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
Albi watched as the policemen tried to decide what to do. He knew they were supposed to wait for a search warrant, but there was no time.
"Joe Mannix is being held here against his will!" he explained and looked up to see Peggy and Art racing towards him.
"Thank God. Lieutenant, we have to get in there. It's been nearly four minutes..."
"What..."
"They tied him up and threw him off the dock. We need to get in there!"
"Art, please..." Peggy cried as they raced toward the gate.
"Hold on, Peggy," Malcolm warned as he pulled his gun from his holster and aimed it at the padlock. He steadied his hand as he aimed the thirty eight police special and eased back on the trigger.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
Al watched as the unresponsive body was pulled from the surf, cursing as she realized she might have left him down too long. That she wanted him dead was obvious, but she wanted to make him suffer a lot more before she counted them even.
"Is he..."
"I think he's dead, Ma'am," Jacob called as they placed Mannix on the dock.
"No! Not yet! He's not allowed to die yet!" She raged and turned toward the gate as the sound of a gunshot reached her ears. Her anger grew as she watched uniformed officers race into her yard. She heard their orders to freeze and drop to the ground, but ignored them as she turned to the three men on the dock. The prone man still hadn't moved and she smiled as she walked towards them.
"Stop!"
She heard the shout, but was beyond caring now, all that mattered to her, was verifying that her enemy was indeed dead.
"Kill them!" she ordered and watched as the two men on the dock with her began shooting at the advancing police officers.
"Drop your weapons!" Malcolm called after shoving Peggy behind a car in the driveway.
Al reached for the gun in Charlie's hand and smiled as she aimed it at the pale figure lying on the dock. A hint of regret washed over her face as she lifted the weapon and pointed it at his head.
"Oh, Joseph, I could've made something of you!" she whispered as she cocked the pistol. Several shots sounded around her and she gasped as something slammed into her side deflecting her aim slightly, but not enough to completely miss her intended victim. Her body toppled into the water as gunfire continued around them.
Jacob dropped his gun as police moved in and he walked off the pier, Charlie following quickly behind him.
Art, Peggy and Albi rushed forward, ignoring the men who were being cuffed as they raced onto the deck. Art's police instincts kicked in and he saw the former mob leader floating face down in the ocean beside the pier. Two policemen were already racing into the water to retrieve her while he turned his attention back to the scene before him.
Peggy's fingers touched the unconscious man's neck and she cried out in rage and sorrow.
"I can't feel a pulse, Art. He's not breathing!"
"Albi, we need to do CPR...you know how?"
"Yeah!"
Peggy watched as the two men worked on the injured man. Tears flowed form her eyes as she heard them counting as they worked in tandem to get Joe Mannix breathing again. She didn't hear the approaching ambulance or the other police officers as they took charge of Al's men. The scene before her was all she saw, the blood dripping from a crease to the detectives head. She watched as if hypnotized as it slowly made a trail along his face until it reached his hair where its progress was impeded and stopped.
"Anything?" Albi asked.
"Hold on!" Malcolm ordered, pressing his fingers to the neck at the same time the body on the deck took a shuddering breath and water exploded from his mouth. The police lieutenant turned him onto his side as he continued to expel the liquid. He looked up to see two men with a stretcher and other medical equipment hurrying towards them.
"Peggy, we need to get out of the way!" Malcolm said and reached for the sobbing woman.
"I need to stay with him, Art."
"I know you do, but right now he needs these men to get him to the hospital. I've got to stay here, but I'll get one of the officers to drive you in."
"I can take her, Lieutenant," Albi insisted, watching the newcomers working on Joe Mannix.
Peggy held onto Malcolm's arm as she watched the men work to stop the bleeding. Mannix hadn't moved since his body released the stream of ocean water, and she was only slightly relieved by the rise and fall of his chest. She felt strong arms tighten around her while she watched one man attach monitoring equipment and the other placed an oxygen mask over Joe's face. She lost track of time as they continued to work and finally loaded the injured man onto a backboard and gently placed him on the stretcher. She pulled away from Malcolm and raced along with them, oblivious of everything happening around her.
She watched him being loaded into the ambulance while tears once more flowed from her eyes. She felt a hand on her arm and turned to the man standing next to her.
"Come on, Peggy," Albi said and hurried her toward his car.
"Peggy, I'll meet you at the hospital as soon as I'm finished here," the lieutenant assured her.
"What about..."
"She's dead, Peg, she can't hurt him anymore," Malcolm assured her and saw the relief in her eyes. "Get her out of here, Albi, and make sure you stay with her."
"I will, Lieutenant," the man assured him as they made it to his car and climbed inside.
MANNIX-MANNIX-MANNIX
Andrew Lewis rushed out to meet the ambulance as it pulled up to the ER doors. The call had come in ten minutes ago that the patient was Joe Mannix and that he was critical. The doctor grabbed the handle of the door as a nurse joined them. The stretcher holding the unconscious man was pushed out and the attendant dropped down beside him.
"What have we got?" Lewis asked, listening as the other man listed the injuries and vital signs.
"Temperature is 95...he inhaled a lot of water...victim was unconscious when we arrived...gunshot wound to the head...looks like dog bites to the left arm and possibly to his leg...respirations..."
"Get him into trauma two!" Lewis ordered as he watched a familiar woman racing toward him.
"How is he?"
"I don't know yet, Peggy. Go on into the waiting room and I'll come get you when I've examined him!" Lewis said and hurried after his patient. He took a deep breath and moved to the bed where the clothes were being cut from his patient. Bruises, cuts, and abrasions covered the well muscled body, but what caught his eyes were the enraged teeth marks and the strips of torn flesh that could only be made by a whip.
"Dammit!" he swore before as he began to work. "We need to get the wounds cleaned and I want x-ray up here stat!"
"Yes, Doctor!" Jenny Parker said, reaching for the wall phone and calling for portable x-ray.
"Carol, start another IV and run the fluids wide open. Jenny, call CT and tell them I'll be sending a patient and I want him to have top priority." As she began inserting the IV he ordered blood samples for various tests. Lewis looked at his patient's face and saw the eyes begin to move as a soft moan escaped form under the oxygen mask.
"Joe, can you hear me? You're in the hospital...you're going to be fine..."
"D...doc...ha...happened?" Mannix stammered, fighting to get his eyes to open.
"You've been hurt, but we're going to look after you..."
"...h...hurts every...where...beaten?" the detective asked, his eyes open to half mast as he tried to get them to focus.
"I can't give you anything for pain right now, Joe, not until I finish examining you. Can you tell me what happened?"
Mannix winced when the doctor flashed a light in his eyes. The pain in his head was increasing and with it came the nausea as his stomach began to churn.
"Easy, Joe," Lewis said when the last of the clothing was stripped from his body. "How's his temperature, Jenny?"
"Still holding at 95," the nurse answered.
"We need to get him warmed up. See if there are any blankets..."
"On it, Doctor," the older nurse answered and hurried from the room.
"...sick..." Mannix mumbled and tried to turn on his side. Hot liquid came up in his throat at the same time Lewis turned him. He kept his eyes closed while his body expelled everything in his stomach until he was shaking from the effort and lay back on the bed.
"Joe, I'm going to insert an NG tube..."
"Hate...th...those..."
"I know, but we need to get your stomach calmed. Carol, set up for an NG insertion."
"Right away, Doctor," the nurse said and hurried away.
Lewis took his stethoscope from around his neck and listened to the patient's lungs as a second doctor entered the room.
"What have you got, Andrew?"
"Peter, thanks for coming in. You remember Joe Mannix?"
"Hello, Joe..."
"...Doc..." Mannix whispered and closed his eyes. He heard the two men discussing what needed to be done, even as he drifted toward sleep. Each breath he took, burned into his lungs, and he fought the urge to cough, knowing it would wreak havoc on his body. He moaned as they continued their examination, trying his best to ignore them as a tube was inserted into his body and down his throat.
"Almost done, Joe," Lewis said, listening to the man's harsh breathing.
"...okay..." the detective wheezed before giving into his body's need for relief.
"What happened?" Peter Reynolds asked as he cleaned the bite marks on the patient's arm.
"He's been through hell..."
"I can see that...it sounds like he's having trouble breathing," Reynolds said as the nurse returned with heated blankets.
"I don't know the details, but he stopped breathing and they performed CPR. He was in the ocean for an indeterminate amount of time."
"So there's a danger of pneumonia here..."
"Very much so. I want to get him cleaned up so we can see exactly what we're dealing with," Lewis explained as they continued to uncover the injuries inflicted on the patient.
TBC