Chapter 40

As soon as Shane had shut the door, Jeff dragged himself to the door, desperate to get out and stop them. He can't believe that he let her out go out the door with him. The fact that she was willing to sacrifice herself for him made him feel even worse. With all the strength he could muster, Jeff pounded and pulled on the door but it wouldn't budge.

"Please." He said looking up. "Help me." He tried to get out again then dropped to the floor in frustration as he heard their car pull away. He had failed her again and now he didn't know what to do.

His hopelessness made it that much harder for him to keep it together. Jeff was now more aware of just how much pain he was in. His head wouldn't stop spinning and the pain in his chest was unbearable making it hard for him to breathe. He tried coughing to clear out his lungs but the pain of that almost caused him to black out. Wiping his hand across his mouth, his hand felt wet. He was coughing up blood. He had to hold on, he thought to himself even though he knew he was already losing the battle.

"Someone please come." He said lying back down. Jeff tried with all his might but it was not working. "I'm sorry." He said and finally allowed his eyes to close. He was so out of it that when the paramedics and police showed up a minute later he didn't hear them, or the pleading words of his brother.

"Jeff, wake up!" Matt yelled at him as the police tried to keep him away.

"Sir," One of the cops said to him. "You shouldn't be in here. We're going to need you to step outside."

"That's my brother, please."

"Then let the paramedics take care of him." He told him gently. Matt watched in despair as they tended to Jeff. They lifted him onto the gurney and quickly rushed him to the ambulance. Matt jumped in to the ambulance and took his brother's hand.

"You're going to be okay. Just hold on, baby brother, please." Matt looked down at his brother's battered face. "We'll get this son of a bitch. I promise." They got to the hospital quickly. Matt followed them in as far as they would let him and even though he argued with them, he was eventually led to a waiting room and told that someone would talk to him as soon as possible.

He sat down in a chair and put his head in his hand. It was only then that he remembered Jessica. Once he had seen his brother lying bloody on the floor, he hadn't even bothered to look for her. He had no idea if she was injured or if they even found her, making Matt feel even worse. It was Jessica and her cell phone that had led them to Jeff. She had to be there, Matt told himself.

"Mr. Hardy?" Matt looked up and saw a nurse standing before him. "If you'd like to come in, a doctor can see you now." Matt jumped up and followed her into another waiting room. "Someone will be in shortly." She told him and started to leave.

"Wait." He stopped her. "Where my brother was, someone else was supposed to be there."

"I'm sorry he was the only person that they brought in." She said and left the room. Matt paced around until finally a doctor came in.

"How bad is he?" He asked coming up to him.

"Your brother is being taken up to surgery right now." The doctor informed him.

"What happened?"

"He received several blows to his upper torso and head. He has several fractured ribs. One of which had punctured his left lung."

"So what happens now?" Matt asked sinking into a chair.

"We have him on a respirator right now, and the surgeon should be able to repair the tare."

"So he'll be okay?"

"We're going to have to wait and see. The operation is fairly normal but we still have to see how he responds. There's also the issue of his head trauma. Right now there's some moderate swelling but we'll have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get any worse."

"When can I see him?"

"Like I said he's in surgery right now. So you'll have to wait. There's a waiting room on the surgery floor. If you want I can have a nurse escort you to it."

"No, that's all right. I need to make a few calls anyway." Matt said and the doctor nodded to him before leaving the room. Matt went outside from some air before pulling out his cell phone and dialing his house. Tony picked it up on the second ring.

"Tony its Matt."

"What's going on? Did they find them?"

"I need to speak to Amy. Can you put her on the phone?"

"Sure, hold on." Tony handed the phone to her.

"Matt? What's going on? Vince is yelling and the police aren't telling us anything." She said as soon as she got on.

"Amy, listen to me. Is my dad there?"

"Yea. He's in the living room."

"Okay, do me a favor. I need you to bring him to the hospital, as soon as possible."

"What happened?"

"I'm here with Jeff. He's…" Matt paused as his voice cracked. "He's in surgery right now."

"Oh my god. Is he going to be all right?"

"They don't know. Just please, get him here, but don't freak him out too much. I'll explain everything when you get here."

"Okay, no problem." She told him. "We'll get there as soon as we can. Vince is here and he wants to talk to you."

"Put him on." Matt took a deep breath and waited for Vince. When he came on the phone, Matt explained what was going on with Jeff.

"What about Jessica?" Vince asked when he was done.

"I don't know." Matt told him. "I got so caught up with Jeff…" His voice trailed and even Vince could hear the guilt in his voice.

"It's okay." Vince said. "I'll push the police. You just focus on your brother and I'll see what I can find out."

"Thank you." Matt started to say goodbye but then stopped. "Vince, if, I mean when Jeff wakes up, he's going to want to know where she is. I have to be able to tell him something."

"We'll find out, don't worry." Before hanging up the phone Vince told him that he would meet him at the hospital as soon as he had some information. Matt then headed back into the hospital and went up to the waiting room.

Time seemed to stand still as he sat there waiting for any news. He tried to focus on something else, reading magazines or watching the TV but he couldn't concentrate on anything. He was relieved when he saw Amy, Shannon and his father come into the waiting room. He immediately went over and hugged his father.

"How is he?" His dad asked him.

"The doctors say he punctured a lung. They're trying to repair it now."

"How'd he look?"

"He looked pretty bad." Matt told his father. "They said he has some broken ribs and a concussion. There was a lot of bruising and swelling. We'll just have to wait it out."

"I'm going to go see if I can get them to tell us anything." Gil said leaving the other three alone. Amy and Shannon stared at Matt trying to think of something to say.

"I'm sorry it took us so long." Amy finally said.

"Has it been that long?"

"Matt, it's been over three hours."

"I didn't even know it."

"Yea, well you kind of forgot to tell us what hospital you were at." She told him.

"I'm sorry." He said.

"Don't worry about it."

"Yea." Shannon chimed in. "Besides it was kind of cool seeing Vince bully it out of the cops."

"Where are we?" Matt asked them and they both looked at him.

"You're in Virginia." Shannon told him.

"I'm sorry guys; I don't seem to know anything."

"It's okay." Amy told him.

"Did they find out anything about Jess?" He asked.

"Nothing yet." Shannon said. "The only person they found there was Jeff."

"Well, she had to be there. We traced her cell there." Matt told them.

"She was. They know that and they think you probably missed them by only a few minutes. Apparently there was a 911 call made shortly before and they don't think Jeff would have been able to place it." Shannon said.

"So why don't they keep tracing it?" Matt looked to Amy, who took his hand.

"Matt, Jess left it in Jeff's pocket." She said trying to brace him for what she had to tell him. "She wanted to make sure that he was found."

"She went off with him to save Jeff. This is gonna kill him." Realizing what he said, Matt's face went pale. "I mean…" He put his head in his again and Amy put her arms around him.

"Jeff's strong. He'll pull through this." She told him. "And they haven't given up on Jessica. They know what direction the car was heading in. There was only two ways that they could have gone and since you guys didn't pass them, they know that they were heading north."

"That will definitely help." Matt said sarcastically.

"It's a start." Shannon said. "Hopefully Jeff can give us more information when he wakes up. Maybe he knows who it is."

"Great. This morning we were waiting for Jess to wake up, now we have to wait for Jeff." He said as Gil entered the room.

"He's out of surgery." He told them.

"Can I see him?" Matt stood up.

"They're going to bring him into recovery then we can see him. But they warned me he'll still have the breathing tube in him and they want to keep him sedated for as long for awhile."

"How long?" Amy asked.

"They won't remove the tube until they feel his lungs are ready and they're worried about he what might do when he wakes up. So it depends on how Jeff heals. They warned it could take days."

"There goes our only lead on Jess." Shannon said and everyone just looked at each other.