Chapter Twenty: Lake Atitlan, Solola, Guatemala
Juradó is a town in the most northwestern municipality of Chocó Department, Colombia. It borders Panama and the Pacific Ocean. Because of the Darién Gap, this ocean front town is their destination. From there, they would move by ship to Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala. Located in Escuintla department, alongside the city of Puerto San José from there it is nearly four hours along CA-9 and RN-11 to Panajachel. The villa they were headed to is accessible only by small launch and it would be waiting on the lakefront.
In the days of road travel and then the time on the ship, Bob did what he could to keep Ranger stable. He was grateful the ship had a medical bay and was well supplied, but Ranger's diarrhea was relentless. Dysentery for sure.
When they finally reached the lakeside town, Bob begged to wait till the next day to take Ranger in the launch.
"He needs to sleep and I need to bring his fever down." So Ulysses rented an Air B & B on the lakefront and settled the two men in for the night, surrounded by his guards. They would all head back to Brazil when these two were turned over in the morning. It had been a relentless pace over the last few days and each man settled in to take shifts and sleep in an actually bed.
Ulysses alone took the launch across as the sun began to set. This really was one of the most beautiful places in the world.
The knock on the villa door drew them away from the perfect sunset.
Terry opened the door and hugged the man as Joe took in how familiar he looked- unchanged even after so many years.
"Ulysses Ramos! It has been too long. How was the trip from Rio via Bolivia?"
"Terry, carina, you are a sight for sore eyes! Have you decided to run away and marry me after all?" The large man laughed and kissed her gently, gazing in her eyes. "Of course not. You, my sweet friend, work too hard."
"Ulysses, you remember Joe Morelli… Detective Joe Morelli."
The two men shook hands and Ulysses looked around the suite. "I must thank you, Detective, for being Terry's on again, off again boyfriend and keeping the other men away from the love of my life." He looked around the room. "Do you not have guards?"
Terry answered, "We did not want to raise suspicion."
Ulysses shook his head. "I am going to put some of my men in and around you. And before you object, I will tell you Vito would approve of my interference."
"I am not a helpless damsel in distress, Ulysses."
"I never said you were, but this is not… you have no natural protection here."
"I am able to defend…"
"I didn't imply…"
Joe interrupted what promised to be a lively debate between these two old friends/lovers. "You have Manoso?"
Ulysses turned to him and nodded. "He is in Pana for the night in a small house on the lake. Dr. Bob insisted he needed a night of rest after the relentless journey. Ranger is quite ill with dysentery."
"Ill like dying?" Terry asked.
"Dr. Bob hasn't said that, but he does look concerned."
"Who is Dr. Bob?" Joe inquired.
"He was taking care of Ranger at the prison. He has finished medical school and was taken a few years ago. No idea why. Nice young man. Ranger insisted I bring him out as well, and he has been a godsend on the journey."
Joe shook his head. "It will mean the world to Stephanie that you got Manoso out."
"She is a nice girl; my father likes her. My father and Vito asked this favor of me and I was happy to oblige. We are all in this together. But, of course, when all is said and done, you will need to report to your IAB that you ran into a known fugitive felon and did not have jurisdiction to arrest me."
"I have no knowledge of any outstanding warrants relating to Terry's old friend." Joe looked between the two. "And IAB is the least of my concerns."
"Joe, if you don't mind, Ulysses and I are going to have an early night." Joe laughed at this as the couple wandered to the master suite. Terry had been in love with Ulysses as long as Joe could remember. When he was forced to leave Trenton, the two lovers begged Joe to act as her boyfriend frequently enough to convince other men to stay away. After all Terry had done to save Joe, he had agreed, even though they made him promise never to tell a soul. He couldn't even tell Stephanie. She believed he stepped out on her with Terry, but that couldn't be helped. He never before considered how it must have been for Stephanie, when the gossips started on the fable. God, he had done so many things the wrong way with Stephanie. It would be different with Denise. It already was different. She already knew about Ulysses. Terry had told her while they were planning the mission.
Joe already wanted to ask Denise to marry him, but it was too soon. She would think he was crazy. He needed to wait.
"I don't think antibiotics are enough. I think he will need amoebicidal drugs. Between the intense, continuous, stabbing abdominal pain, his fever & chills, the clay-colored stools, his jaundice and this crazy hiccupping that is relentless, I suspect he has an amebic liver abscess. The best medicine for amoebiasis is metronidazole- it is is the best medication for symptomatic, invasive disease. But these parasites persist in the intestines of most patients treated with metronidazole, so it needs to be followed with paromomycin."
Dr. Bob and Ranger had arrived and Ranger had been carried into the nearest bedroom and stripped of his filthy clothing. Bob and Morelli, both in shorts, were holding him up in the walk-in shower, as he didn't have strength to stand on his own. Terry washed him with the gentleness of a mother with a newborn. Ulysses was in the main room of the house giving instructions to his men.
"So can't we give that to him to make him better?" Terry asked. She had been astonished at the sight of Carlos Manoso. The weight loss- he had to have lost nearly fifty pounds. And he was as weak as a kitten. Then there was the scarring on his skin. Bob said he had been repeatedly burned. Hell was too good for the bastards who did this.
"With the jaundice, I am not sure. Metronidazole is extensively metabolized by the liver. I think the jaundice is from the cyst on his liver. We need to confirm with ultrasound. If I am correct, the cyst will need to be tapped and drained. Otherwise, it could rupture and he could end up septic." And die. But Bob didn't voice that.
Joe held Ranger up by looping his arms under Ranger's shoulders. "And he is too unstable to move?"
"I wouldn't risk it. He barely survived the trip here."
Terry asked, "Can you do it?"
"I have seen it done once and did it once with observation, but I really feel it is safest to have another actual doctor available." Joe and Bob maneuvered Ranger to his bed and while Bob restarted the IV fluids, Terry asked, "Joe, could she do it?"
"Could who do what?" Ulysses questioned as he entered the bedroom.
"I can ask." Joe looked to Ulysses. "I am dating a doctor, a geneticist, but early in her career, she spent a couple of years as a surgical intern. I think she would have the skills we need, and since she already knows Terry and I are here on this mission of mercy…"
"My uncle's plane can bring her down and we can have Ulysses pick her up from the private airfield." Terry was already planning. She turned to Dr. Bob, "What equipment will you need?"
Denise answered her phone and was stunned to hear Joe's voice. She was so overwhelmed to hear from him she almost blurted out his name but she remembered the warning that the Wonder Twins had given all of them. No names. No locations. Nothing that would give anything away.
"Is everything okay?" She asked. "The package?" Ranger was the package.
"The package is here but in pretty rough shape. In fact, we need to radically change the plan."
"Oh God, what's wrong?"
"Can you tap a liver?"
"Of course I can but…" Denise stopped because she knew without asking. Ranger needed a liver tap. Bad enough that Joe wanted her to go there because Ranger was too unstable.
"Where should I go- I can leave right now."
"Godfather will have his bird ready for you, and you will need your passport. Princess has her friend meeting your bird when you get here. No idea how long it will be." Joe thought calling Vito "Godfather" was ridiculous but referring to Terry as "Princess" was a perfect fit. Denise realized now that the Wonder twins had been spot on with the code names.
"Have you called Wonder Woman?"
"I want to wait until the Bat signal is working."
"Is the package that bad off?"
"The friend who meets you will explain."
Denise and Dr. Bob looked around the medical room in the lower level of the villa. It was better stocked than expected and anything Bob didn't find, he had one of Ulysses' men purchase in the Capitol- nothing local- nothing that would bring notice on them.
Ranger was sedated and Bob, after draping him and setting up the sterile surgical tray, was monitoring him as Denise scrubbed and donned sterile gloves.
As Bob observed, he thought this lovely woman had the deft hands of a surgeon. No extra moves, not extra steps. The tube was placed in no time and anchored in place with sutures.
"Not bad, I always worry that the pus will be highly viscous. In those cases, and if there is infected necrotic tissue, it can be difficult to clear the abscess cavity- the percutaneous drains are so narrow that they sometimes do not allow the semi-solid contents to flow out." She applied a sterile dressing and checked the draining fluid. "If the jaundice clears, we can start the Metronidazole in the morning. I will stay with him till he comes out of the anesthesia."
Dr. Bob nodded. He was so tired as he found his way to his bed. He didn't sleep much over the days they travelled, and now that this amazing doctor was present, he felt he could finally relax. Ranger was saved. He himself was saved and finally free. The nightmare was finally over.