Chapter 12
"I met Velasco as he was passing with Hector and the hospital staff. Albert lost his mind when he saw Hector being wheeled past his hospital bed. Started yelling at him and Hector just started laughing at him," Elliot had phoned his former partner.
"Ok we have to get Albert out of there. Oscar Papa already got to one his guys. I'm pulling up to the hospital now," Olivia shook her head as she slammed her unmarked SUV into park.
"Albert's mom is not in a good frame of mind. She's in no mood to let him testify," she could hear Elliot's tone get quieter.
"We'll deal with that later. You still where I left you?" Olivia wanted to know.
"They moved us to a more secure spot," Elliot told her before quickly telling her where to go. He promised to tell the doctors to prepare Albert for leaving. She figured that they would not be happy with that, but they couldn't leave Albert in the same place as Hector, not after what had happened earlier in the evening.
She arrived at the unit that Elliot had directed her to a few minutes later. The nurse at the desk told her to wait for the doctor. She was half-tempted to not, but she didn't want Albert to get sick again. The doctor came out and identified himself as Doctor King.
"Albert needs to be monitored for the next couple of days. His wound was infected. We were able to flush the area and remove some of the damaged tissue, but moving him now would not be good," the doctor told her after she introduced herself.
"Him being dead isn't a good option either. Hector Suarez was brought to this hospital. He's BX9 and so is Albert. Their boss already had one of their fellow gang members murdered in Rikers tonight. I can't leave two more potential targets in the same location. Can we transfer Albert to another hospital without leaving a paper trail?" Olivia wanted to know.
"We'll make sure his name doesn't show up as his birth name on the transfer request. He needs to keep his knee elevated and stabilized so an ambulance transfer would be better," Doctor King said.
"As quickly as possible Doctor, please. Can I see him?" She asked.
"He's sedated right now and he was given some pain medication. As you can imagine, he couldn't remain awake while we removed the dead tissue," King explained to her. Olivia nodded and asked to then be directed to her former partner and Albert's mother. The doctor gave her directions and she easily found Elliot.
"So, what's up?" He asked, pulling her away from Monica.
"The doctor agreed to transfer him to another hospital under a different name. As soon as I get the details, I'll call the local precinct for assistance on watching out for Albert. Meantime, Monica needs to go to a different hotel for her own safety," Olivia told him.
"I'll call Ayanna. See if we have any safe houses we could use instead. You get any sort of witness protection for them?" Elliot wanted to know.
"Albert still hasn't talked. I explained that we could get them into a program. Given Monica's fear level, you would think they would have jumped at that but Albert's lack of willingness to help means that I might have to have him busted for my assault," she heaved a sigh.
"So, his mom can't get protection unless he talks," Elliot frowned. Olivia nodded.
"Once he's awake, let me have a crack at him," he said.
"It's his last shot," she agreed. Elliot patted her on the shoulder before letting her go speak to Monica. He hoped that for both women's sakes that this would be over soon.
To Be Continued…