Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2000 22:28:40 -0500 From: Jon Bennett Subject: A New Beginning Part Nine A Beginning, Part 9 stonewolf@angelfire.com www.stormloader.com/articwolf RECAP From the last chapter: As they started to walk down the street, one of the bricks in the hotel front wall seemingly shattered, scattering brick chips over them. Down through the stone and steel corridor of the street came the rolling thunder of a rifle shot. "SNIPER" yelled Danny as he threw Jonathan to the pavement, already knowing he was too late......... Chapter ONE: Danny swiveled his head in the direction of the sounds. A second booming roll came down the street. A quick glance showed that Jeff had likewise thrown Nick to the ground and was covering him with his own body. Four other guards were scattered in the street, guns drawn, searching for a target. Pulling out a radio from his pocket he flicked it on. "Code Angel" he yelled into the radio. From around the corner came the screech as one of the Hummers came barreling around the corner jumping curb knocking two parked cars out of the way; stopping five feet from them. A bullet hit and skimmed away from the armored Hummer. Opening the rear door, Danny lifted Jonathan, who was unconscious into the back of it. Guns roared as the guards zeroed in on the sniper who had given his position away with the last shot. There was a crash of glass as the body of the sniper fell through the window of the building across the street and landed on the ground with a sickening wet sound. Jeff had already picked up Nick and carried him to the Hummer. They jumped in and roared off. Danny noted two more people with guns heading towards them. One fell to a well placed shot by one of the guards. The other tried to play chicken with the Hummer. He fired to shots into the armored glass of the front windows without success. The next instant, his broken body was sent flying by the eight thousand pound vehicle. "What have we got " asked Danny looking over at Jeff. "He's shot but doesn't look too bad" said Jeff. "Upper arm and shoulder, left side. No apparent bone breaks" Nick was furiously swearing up a blue streak at the pain. "Not too fucking bad my ass" he muttered. "You try it with a fucking bullet in your shoulder." He looked over and saw the blood all over Jonathan. "How bad is he" Nick asked between deep breaths. "I don't know yet" said Danny, ripping off the shirt Jonathan was wearing. Blood was coming from two wounds, one in his chest, another on the back of his neck. Danny used the torn shirt for impromptu bandages. He tried to keep Jonathan from moving too much on the seat with the motion of the Hummer, but his blood was making the leather slippery. The Hummer blew through a traffic light, clipping a taxi, spinning it out of the way. The four ton vehicle was not stopping for anything, including the police car chasing it. Soon a second police car took up pursuit. They turned into the hospital driveway and came to a halt outside the emergency room. The driver got out and went running into the doors. As the police car rocked to a halt behind them, the Hummer's driver returned with two gurneys and attendants and doctors in tow. Danny was already out of the Hummer with his gun drawn looking around. He looked like a possessed demon, covered in Jonathan's blood and murder in his eye. He and Jeff stared down the cops as the attendants pulled Nick and Jonathan's bodies out of the Hummer. The second Hummer roared up and six more agents from the Boston office came out and charged into the hospital with the doctors. "What the fuck is going on here" yelled the cop. "Put that cannon down" "Not a chance" said Danny. " I got a protectee shot in there. If you want to talk you follow me" Spinning on his heel he marched into the hospital with the cops in pursuit. Chapter TWO: Within five minutes, there was a team of four doctors and five nurses working on Nick and Jonathan in the emergency trauma section. While not allowing Danny or his crew into the area, they finally agreed to let them wait outside the area. Eight agents surrounded the trauma unit. Hospital security and police were also present. First at odds over armed men in the emergency room, Hospital security finally backed off after a call came from the hospital administration. Danny was explaining to the police the incident that had occurred. He knew that the area surrounding the hotel must have been covered with cops by now. Leaving shot and broken bodies about the place was not a cool thing. After pacing back and forth for ages he had his cell phone go off. "What" said Danny crossly. He listened for a time. "OK" he said. "We are going to finish this shit once and for all I want the same team as Hawaii here as soon as possible. We are going to scorch Earth. Find Brandon. He is in Bermuda, tell him full crew lift off. I want him and everyone else here in Boston in three hours. Tell him to tell the flight crew to burn it. I want Renaissance airborne in less then an hour. I also want staff meeting them at the ground, and more here." One of the agents from his company walked up to him and handed him some clean clothes and he switched into them. At least he didn't looked quite as bad now. He had calmed down enough to agree to put on a coat and at least cover up his weapons as he stalked around the hospital. Finally an hour later, one of the admitting doctors came to him. "Talk to me" said Danny. "It's not good" he said. "Mr. Castleton has two gunshot wounds and is bleeding internally. He is stabilized for the moment, but in extremely critical condition. We came close to losing him once from blood loss. We have sent him up to surgery. One bullet nicked an artery in his chest after collapsing his lung. The artery is temporarily closed. We believe it can be corrected and the lung re-inflated.. The second bullet is lodged next to his spine at the base of his skull. It is putting enormous pressure on the spinal cord. I don't know if it can be removed however. The bullet proximity to the spinal cord makes it very difficult to tell at this point. As I said, he is stabilized at the moment, whether he will survive the surgery I can't tell you" The doctor paused briefly, as if correlating his thoughts. "Mr. Covington is in serious but stable condition. He was shot with one round going through the muscle tissue of his shoulder and arm. There were no breaks to the bone. We've stitched him up but he has lost a lot of blood. He is being admitted now. He is conscious, although sedated. His language is quite colorful however. He kept asking about Mr. Castleton. I assume they are .." He left the question hanging. Danny smiled briefly at that. "Yeah, they are. I need to know where each of them are. My people will be with them." The doctor nodded. "Some of your people have already gone with them. I gather you are going to turn this hospital into an armed camp" "Not quite doctor" said Danny. "You won't even know we are around" Chapter TWO: Danny was waiting outside ICU when Jonathan was rolled down from recovery. 12 hours had passed since the shooting. Anthony and Karen were with him in the waiting room, as were at least six other guards. Nick was resting comfortably two floors below, surrounded by six guards as well. Danny rose to speak to the Doctor as he approached. "How did the surgery go?" he asked. "We have repaired the damage along the bullet trail" the doctor started. "The bleeder was a little tricky, but that was taken care of. The lung has been re-inflated. Two ribs were repaired and set. The biggest problem is the second bullet. It is lodged against his spine. He was in too critical a condition to attempt that. We will be doing a MRI on him as soon as he builds some strength up to determine if we can get to it." "His own doctors will be flying in to consult with you shortly." said Danny. "They are enroute now. Anyone else you feel we should have here, you tell us" "That's fine" said the doctor. "We will need all the help we can get. I honestly don't know if Mr. Castleton can survive this wound." Chapter THREE: Nick was sitting in a wheel chair at Jonathan's bed. His wounds had been attended to and cleaned. No surgery had been needed, other then some internal and external stitches, but it left him incredibly weak from the blood loss. He had been transfused, but the shock to his body had taken its' toll. Even three days later, he was still incapable of standing on his own. Surrounded by three body guards as well as Danny and Jeff by Jonathan's bed, he could only listen to the doctor and watch the unmoving body of Jonathan. Three other guards were posted outside the door, as were one at each end of the corridor. "We have done all that we can do" he said. "The bullet we cannot access is lying next to his spinal cord at the base of his skull. It is amazing he wasn't killed. Judging from the tissue damage along the bullet trail, it apparently ricocheted off a wall and lodged there. We have minimized the trauma to the surrounding tissue and muscle. but the spinal cord has suffered great damage from the shock. Whether it can restore itself in time or not I don't know. His body is slowly shutting down due to the lack of neural responses. The vertabre itself has been fractured. According to the MRI scan it appears that a piece of the bone is pushing against the actual spinal cord, cutting off some responses. Surgery is regrettably completely out the question. It would take far more capability to remove the bone splinter from the spinal canal then is currently possible, even through robotics. We believe that it is actually cut partially into the cord and is lodged there." "How long" Nick whispered tears rolling down his face. He could not believe that his world was coming to a close. "I don't know" said the doctor. "His body is strong, but is still dying. A day. Maybe two at most." Nick sat there tears slowly falling down his face unable to stop them.. "Isn't there anything that can be done?" Nick asked, his voice breaking. "No son, I'm sorry. " he said. "Modern science has done everything it can. It is just a matter of time now. There is nothing anyone can do. Maybe a miracle will happen and his body will respond, but as of now, it's over. No one can save him." From behind all of them a low vibrant voice emerged "I can." ================================= that should generate some response... lemme hear.