7

Chapter 140 Life Flight

"

Opie was already pulling up on his bike by the time Jax got outside. Despite Jax no longer being in danger, he was still president of the MC and typically an MC president is always escorted by his SA as a show of respect for the position.

"How's TB doing?" Jax asked as he climbed on his bike and put on his helmet.

"He was lucky Hale was with him. He called for help and immediately started CPR. The medic from Dark Tower came running and I went to grab Ava and get her downstairs to an SUV because I knew we were going to take him to the hospital and she needed to be there. It's part of Nick's emergency plan that we've practiced. By the time I got her downstairs, the medic had already restarted his heart and they were carrying him to the SUV. Hale called and had a patrol unit waiting to escort the SUV to the hospital."

"How is Ava holding up?"

"She just went white and got a little shaky but she didn't get hysterical or start screaming."

"Good. Let's go," Jax said starting his bike.

Ava was waiting for him in the ER when he got there.

"They are working on him now," she told the two men.

Jax slipped his arm around Ava's waist. He didn't tell her that her father was going to be OK because he didn't know if that was true. He didn't like false reassurance.

A doctor came out and took them into a small room down a hall. It had a vinyl couch and a couple of chairs. Opie trailed along but remained outside the door.

"Your father is stable but still unconscious. We can treat him here, but I recommend that we life flight him into San Francisco University Hospital. They have some of the finest cardiologists and cardiac surgeons in the country and it's only a fifteen minute ride."

"Will the delay make any difference in his prognosis?" Jax asked.

"No," the doctor replied, "He is stable, but the sooner you make the decision the better."

"Avs, he needs to get the best medical care," Jax said gently. He knew Ava needed support to make the decision.

"OK. Take him to San Francisco," Ava said.

"You'll need to go with him in the helicopter to make medical decisions."

"Can Jax go with me?"

"I'm afraid there's only room for one," the doctor said. "I'll go make the arrangements and get the helicopter ordered. It should be here in less than ten minutes."

Ava was terrified. Flying on a plane was bad enough, but flying on a helicopter was even worse.

"Jax, I can't go on a helicopter. They are really scary and they crash a lot."

"Do you have your Xanax with you from your Chicago flight?" Jax asked. It was now his job to get her to go with her father. Again, he was using his skills of persuasion honed in MC meetings to get his terrified old lady to get on that chopper.

She nodded. "I haven't had a chance to take it out of my bag."

Jax poked his head out of the door and signaled to Opie to come over.

"Could you get some water or something to drink?"

"Sure," Opie said going off to hunt down a vending machine.

Jax put his hands on Ava's shoulders.

"Your father needs you. You are going to take a Xanax to calm yourself so you can fly and you are going with him. The weather is perfect for flying and when choppers go down it's a weather issue."

Ava looked at Jax and shook her head.

"I can't go. I'm scared and I don't know how to decide."

"Yes you do," Jax said firmly looking into her blue-green eyes. "All you have to do is listen to the doctors, analyze what they are telling you, ask questions and decide. They will make recommendations to you. Use that fine clever legal mind of yours, and apply it to this situation. Your father is depending on you."

Opie walked into the room with a bottle of water and handed it to Jax.

"Here," Jax said opening the bottle of water and handing it to Ava. "Take your Xanax so you'll be calm for the flight."

Ava found the bottle of pills in her handbag and shook out two pills into the palm of her hand. Her extreme fear of flying was going to require two tablets. A helicopter could be a death trap and she didn't want to die. There was a good chance it wouldn't crash, Ava thought trying to reassure herself as she swallowed her pills.

"Good girl," Jax said. "I'll meet you at the hospital as soon as I can."

"Jeeves should come too," Ava said. "My father will want to see him."

"OK."

"It's better if security handles transport," Opie said. He took his job working security seriously.

Jax would normally ride his bike, but San Francisco was a nightmare to ride in and there was no mass transit between Charming and the city by the bay. And this wasn't a pleasure trip. He needed to get to the city quickly and safely.

"Yeah, I'm OK with that."

The doctor came into the room.

"The chopper is here. They are ready to leave."

Jax kissed Ava's cheek.

"I'll see you soon."

The Xanax hadn't kicked in yet and Ava was clearly terrified as she followed the doctor to the helipad. As she climbed into the helicopter, she had to use every ounce of willpower in her to keep from demanding they let her off. The doctor said the trip was only fifteen minutes. Surely, they could manage to fly that long without crashing. Ava shut her eyes as the chopper began to lift off.

"***

On the way to the hospital, Henry Lin called with Jax with his offer for the Sons gun business. It was a little higher than the Alvarez offer. He contacted Alvarez and after a mini-bidding war and a commitment to introduce Alvarez to the Wahewa to see if they would press ammo for the Mayans, Jax got an extra ten grand out of him. He called Bobby with the good news and told him to tell the guys. He also told him about Ava's father and that it was his call to either cancel Friday's church or run the meeting himself. Bobby could handle introducing Alvarez to the MC's customers as he expected to be at the hospital for a few days and Alvarez was anxious to meet the Sons' customers before they found other suppliers.

Ava called him from a bathroom in the hospital to let him know that she was in the surgical waiting room in the cardiac wing of the hospital. She only spoke for a few seconds because the hospital didn't allow the use of cell phones inside, but a nurse told her she could use hers quickly in the bathroom because a patient waiting for a ride home had been robbed and killed outside the hospital.

When Jax walked into the waiting room, he wrapped Ava in his arms and held her close. She loved his strength and how secure she felt in his arms maybe it had something to do with all the muscles. She didn't know, she just knew that Jax brought her comfort.

"I'm proud of you for getting on the helicopter," he told her, his lips against her hair.

"Thanks to you."

"No, you were the one that climbed on that chopper."

"Jax, I think I made a terrible mistake about my father's treatment," she confessed.

"What happened?" he asked looking at her.

"My father always said that he would never let them put anything inside him like a pace maker. I let them implant a defibrillator so if his heart beat gets too fast—that's what happened to him; it beat too fast and then it stopped—it will shock it into a normal rhythm. I know he's going to hate it."

"What did the doctors recommend?"

"To implant the defibrillator. It's the only way to prevent this from happening again, but he's going to hate it and hate me."

"It was easy for your father to say he never wants something implanted in him, but when the alternative is death, I think he would have changed his mind. You did the right thing. I would have done the same in your place."

"You aren't just saying that?"

"No. You made the best decision and followed the doctors recommendations. If he's mad for a little bit, he'll get over it."

She hugged him fiercely.

"Thank you," she whispered. She saw Opie standing near the door and frowned.

"Where's Jeeves?"

"He's packing bags for your father and us and then he'll be along. We'll want to stay in a hotel close to your father until he's released. He'll make all the arrangements for our rooms. Ope's here as well as Dark Tower."

They sat down in the gray metal chairs. Opie sat next to Jax.

Time seemed to grind slowly until finally a tall man in surgical scrubs came into the room. Ava began to reach out for Jax's hand, but his big hand was there wrapping around itself around hers.

They were ready to hear the surgical news together.