Coppernicous Pt. 04

"No thanks are needed, Rudy. All I told him was if I still owned the company I'd get you under a contract as soon as possible before someone else grabbed you. You will be a good fit over there, and I know they need someone strong in chemistry to take over the lab in a couple of years. Johannes Martin is planning to retire in two years, which will be just about enough time for you to get your feet wet and be ready to take it over. Remember, now. You call on me any time if you have problems. I'm not going to get involved in the business, but if you have issues in the lab that I can help you with I'll be happy to do it."

"Gee, thanks, again, Mr. K. I don't know what I've done to deserve it, but I really appreciate your confidence."

Tamique came around the corner just then and I used her as an excuse. "Really, all I wanted to do was keep Tamique around here." I gave her a big grin at her questioning look. "You kids have a good time tonight. Don't forget to send me a wedding invitation."

"Invitation, hell. You're going to be standing up with me, Mr. K. You can count on it!"

Rudy interned with me the summer I lost Marja, and even through that tough time I recognized what potential he had. I encouraged him to pursue his masters in chemical engineering, and told him to come see me when he was ready for a job. Of course, I sold the business to my management team while he was in his first year of master's study, but I put in a good word with Tom Johnson for him.

************

I settled back down in my office and tried running those numbers again, but I gave up in disgust when I couldn't even remember where they were supposed to go when I got done crunching them. I pulled up Solitaire and it beat me three games in a row. My mind just was not on the present.

Again the doorbell rang, and I got up and made my way into the foyer. Another sigh of relief when I recognized Micah Gentry. He's not the kind of guy I would want dating Kat, but I guess everyone has their own tastes. He's not a bad guy, just not one I would choose.

"Come on in, Micah. I'll get Sheryl for you."

Micah just nodded and half lifted a hand. He wasn't much for talking, but I guess I wouldn't be either if I had a chain running from my lower lip to my nostril. I shook my head in wonderment, as I always did, when I went to find Sheryl. "To each his own," I thought. Then another thought crossed my mind. "I wonder how he kisses her with that thing in the way?"

**************

Ten minutes to seven, and I finally started to relax. Some guys are all talk, and it looked like maybe Shawn was one of them. He told Lynn he was coming by at 6:00, and it was fifty minutes later than that. I started to take off my coat and get more comfortable, but a nagging sixth-sense wouldn't let me.

I actually started getting some work done balancing my checking account, with the numbers sticking around in my mind long enough to put them down on paper. I'm old fashioned, that way. If I can't read it on paper it isn't real to me. I like using the computer well enough, but a paper record fits me. My chair creaked as I leaned back and let out a big sigh, only to have it interrupted by the doorbell.

With a different kind of sigh I padded my way quietly to the door. Again, nobody in sight when I checked the peephole. I decided right then I had to make a change in that. I started to open the door, only to have it shoved into my face, and an angry guy pushed through.

"Get out of my way, old man. I'm here to get Lynn." He started for the back hallway, but I stepped in front of him, blocking his progress.

"I don't believe she wants to see you," I said. "She told me so herself."

"That bitch doesn't know what she wants, and it doesn't matter. I already told her she is going. Now get the hell out of my way before you get hurt, old man. Who do you think you are, anyway? You're not her old man." Again he started to push by me, and again I blocked his progress.

"It's house rules: No men beyond the living room area. I'll let her know you are here."

From the look in his eyes I knew he was high on something, and he was not rational by a long shot. I wanted to keep things peaceful if I possibly could, but there was no way he was going to be reasonable.

"I said, get out of my way, you son of a bitch. She's my woman, and nobody tells me what I can or can't do."

His hand went under his jacket, and I reached around behind my back. His hand came out, holding a .40 caliber Glock, and he fired, but he didn't take the time to line up his shot properly, shooting like a street punk, sideways. He hit me in the upper thigh as I pulled my hand from behind my back and I returned fire with my 1911 Colt .45 ACP pistol. I took the split-second to line up my shot, and he dropped at my feet like a rag doll as my shot went through his chest.

My leg gave way, and I crashed into the wall, to slide down to the floor. I felt nothing yet, but I knew it was coming.

Screams sounded from the back of the house, and I saw Kat burst around the corner, her .40 cal Glock in hand.

"Daddy!" she screamed and ran to me. "Are you badly hurt?" She dropped down on the floor and put pressure on my bleeding thigh. "Call 911," she yelled down the hallway. "I need an ambulance, right now!"

The next thing I knew, Deidra rushed around the corner. She took control of the situation immediately. "Get his pants off him, now!" She turned back toward the back hall and yelled, "Keep Lynn back there! Somebody bring me the first aid kit!" Without even hesitating for a moment she whipped her tee-shirt over her head and used it to stanch the bloodflow as much as possible. "I think he may have nicked your artery, Toomas. You're bleeding pretty badly.

Next, she stripped my belt out of the loops of my pants and wrapped it around my leg just above the wound and cinched it tight, then began twisting it round and round, fashioning a tourniquet.

Kat sat and sobbed, but Deidra took charge of her, too. "Kat. I need you to put pressure on the wound. We've got to stop the bleeding, or we'll lose him." Things were starting to get a little fuzzy looking to me about that time, and I felt like I was in a well listening to people talking above me. In the distance I could hear sirens, and the last thing I remember seeing was Deidra's bare breasts hanging above me as she twisted tighter on the belt.

*************

Of course, I don't remember any of this, being unconscious on the floor, but Kat told me about it later. Deidra kept pressure on the tourniquet while Kat put pressure on the wound. Deidra yelled for one of the other girls to come open the door for the EMTs.

When they came through the door carrying the gurney, Deidra snapped at them, "Forget about the gurney! I've got a bleeder here. It looks arterial!"

The first guy dropped his end of the gurney and hurried over to take a look at me, but paused when he saw Deidra's bare breasts.

"What's the matter? Never seen boobs before? Forget them and take care of Toomas right now! You're going to need some blood expanders. He's nearly bled out."

The medic averted his eyes from Deidra and started working on me. He checked my blood pressure and pulse, which was thready. "I need two units of Dextran, STAT," he ordered, and checked my tourniquet.

"You did a good job on this tourniquet, Miss. If you hadn't, he wouldn't have made it. With any good luck at all he'll be OK."

With that he took Deidra's blood sodden shirt from Kat and checked the wounds before putting a proper pressure dressing on them. "It looks like the bullet went cleanly all the way through. There shouldn't be a problem with infection, hopefully. I'm not going to give morphine since he is already unconscious. I'll leave that for the emergency room, later. I presume this is your shirt? More good thinking, and I apologize for staring at you when I came in. It's just not often I see a beautiful topless girl caring for my patients."

Deidra, with everything under control, became self-conscious about her condition and crossed her arms over her chest.

"My name is Pete. Pete Honeycutt. Could I call you later and take you to dinner or something?"

"Why? Because you saw my boobs and you think you might get another look?" Deidra was irate, Kat told me.

"Actually, no, although they are nice. It's because you have the good sense to know what to do in a trauma situation. That and your good looks give me all the reason I need to want to get to know you better." He had me stabilized, and his partner was holding a unit of Dextran overhead, running it into me as fast as it was possible to do. Pete took my blood pressure one more time and then reached into his pocket for his cards. He gave one to Deidra and then asked her for her number, which he wrote on the back of another and put it into his pocket.

More sirens could be heard in the background.

"Unless you want to make an impression on a whole bunch of cops, you might want to go and get a different shirt." Pete grinned up at her. "Of course, if you don't want to, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I know I wouldn't."

Deidra quickly fled from the room, although the smile she gave Pete showed interest.

*************

It was several hours later when I awoke, disoriented, with my arm tied down and tubes running into it. I had a tube running to my nose that irritated me to no end.

I struggled to free my arm, and to brush the tube from my nose, to no avail, but the attempt quickly brought a nurse to hover over me and try to calm me.

"You are OK, Mr. Kz . . ." She was obviously struggling with my name.

"Toomas," I rasped through a dry throat. "I don't go by Mr."

I got a relieved smile. I don't know why, but people have trouble with my name. "Thanks, Toomas. You are in the ICU at St. Albans. Do you remember why you came here?"

I tried to remember, but nothing came. There was no reason I wanted to go to St. Albans. I had work to do around the house. My brow furrowed as I tried to think, but my brain was not cooperating at the moment. I shook my head.

"That's all right. It will come back. I buzzed for the surgeon when I saw you stirring. He should be here momentarily to speak with you. I'll call your daughter to come in, too." She started to step away, but I detained her.

"Please. Water?"

The nurse nodded and picked up a cup with one of those bending straws that I hate and held it to my mouth. "Just a sip, now. Enough to wet your mouth and no more."

I took a deep pull on the straw and swallowed, and she pulled the cup back away from me before I could get any more.

"No more, just now. I need for you to awaken fully first."

A knock at the door, and it popped open to admit a doctor in surgical scrubs. He nodded at me curtly and the nurse scurried out the door to return moments later with a dark-eyed, scared-looking Kat in tow. Meanwhile the doctor examined my chart carefully, glancing up at me from time to time until the nurse returned.

"Well, Mr. Kz . . ."

"Toomas," I broke in.

He nodded, brusquely. "You gave us quite a fright there for a little bit. Do you recall why you are here?"

I shook my head, "No."

"That is OK. Your memory will come back in time." He paused and looked down at my chart before continuing. "You very nearly bled out. Had it not been for your daughter here and the other young lady putting a tourniquet on your leg when they did we would not be having this conversation. You are very fortunate the femoral artery was not damaged, or they could not have saved you. On the other hand, one of the branch arteries was severed, which was almost as bad, but with the tourniquet and immediate infusion of dextran by the paramedics you were stabilized until I could operate."

He took a deep breath before continuing, and Kat stepped up to the bed and she squeezed my fingers gently. Things were starting to come back to me now.

"We were fortunate in that I did not have to harvest any of your vein tissue, but I was able to stretch the artery enough to graft it back together. Now, you will remain in ICU for two to three days until we are certain the surgery was a success, and then you will be moved to another room for a few days. You will wear this cast for about three weeks to prevent movement of the thigh, and to allow the artery to properly knit without being pulled apart. There is a chance of a hematoma of the femoral artery due to bruising, but the cast should prevent this. We will monitor you very closely, which is why you will remain in ICU. Do you have any questions?"

I shook my head slightly. "Not at this time, doctor. Thank you." My voice was a croak, and Kat, after looking at the doctor for permission, held the straw to my lips.

"Just a couple of sips, now. Hold it in your mouth for a couple of minutes to allow the tissues to absorb the moisture." The doctor held up his hand after I got a couple of swallows, and Kat pulled the straw away.

"You may have five minutes with your daughter, and then I think it would be better if you rested for a while, Toomas. You are a very fortunate man that you had someone who knew what to do or you wouldn't have made it. I don't understand why you people have to settle your differences with guns." The disgust on his face was palpable.

Kat jumped to my defense immediately. "Wait a minute, doctor! My father didn't go looking for a gun-fight, but if he hadn't been there when he was, one of my friends would have been killed, and possibly more of us! Sometimes guns are necessary to prevent evil, and I'm so glad Daddy was there."

"Nevertheless, I think guns are evil things and ought to be outlawed. Five minutes, and no more, understand? Nurse, call me immediately if anything changes." With that the doctor stormed out the door.

Kat leaned over the bedrails and kissed me on the forehead, and I felt a couple of teardrops. "You scared me so badly, Daddy. Deidra, too. The poor girl wanted so badly to come in, but they would only let in family. I don't think Lynn has quit crying since then. In fact, the whole team is out in the waiting room. They all wanted to donate blood for you."

"Thanks, Kitten. By the way, what were you doing coming in there like the Angel of Death with your pistol?"

"I knew something was going on when I saw you wearing your sport coat, and when I saw the little bulge from your gun when you bent over I thought I ought to have mine handy. If you thought you needed to have yours . . . well, I thought you might need backup."

I nodded my understanding and felt an unutterable weariness settling over me, and my eyes drooped. "I'll see you a little later," Kat whispered, and she left the room.

**************

I don't know how long I slept, but when I woke I found Kat sitting by the bed next to Greta, my eldest daughter. When they saw me open my eyes Greta jumped up to try to hug me, but all of the tubes, wires, and the bed rail got in the way. She managed to rest her cheek against my forehead, and she broke down and sobbed.

"Easy, now girl. You're not through with me yet." I was frustrated with both hands restrained so that I couldn't even reach up to comfort her.

"Why, Daddy? Why?" Greta pulled back a little bit, also frustrated at my inaccessibility. "You could have been killed."

"You would have done the same, had you been in my place. You should have seen Kat burst into the room like the cavalry coming to the rescue. It wasn't just me."

"But it was all over when I got there." Kat didn't want her sister's attention drawn to her. "What was going on, anyway?"

I sighed, knowing this was coming. "I don't know how much I really should say, and it doesn't go beyond this room. How about giving me me a drink first, please?"

Kat put the straw up to my lips and I got a couple of swallows before she pulled it back. "The nurse said not to let you have but a swallow or two at a time. Now, no more stalling."

"Lynn came to me and told me the guy she was dating was being abusive, and he threatened to kill her when he picked her up for a party. She said his father was a big-wig in the mob in Miami, so I thought it would be a good idea to have a gun, just in case. I really didn't think it would come down to that, but the guy was high on something, and there was no reasoning with him. He pulled out his gun and shot first, but he didn't know what he was doing. He was lucky to hit me at all."

"Johnny Walker has been by to talk with me a couple of times. You are going to have to talk with the police as soon as you get out of ICU, but Johnny says you don't have anything to worry about."

"It was self-defense. I had no choice. If I hadn't stopped him, he would have killed Lynn, and maybe more."

The nurse came in just then and told the girls they had to leave, that they had been in the room more than the allotted time already. Both of them kissed me on the forehead and said goodbye and I closed my eyes to sleep. I was that tired!

**************

Mid-day the next day, after the surgeon came in for a final visit, the nurse started unplugging some of the wires and unstrapped my arms so that I could finally move about some. You have no idea how good a good stretch can feel! I had been bored out of my gourd with nothing to do except watch TV, which I hate with a passion. I did sleep a good bit, but you can only do so much of that. When they rolled me down the hallway to the elevator and down to the next floor and into a private room I felt like I had just been pardoned from prison!

It took a little while to get settled in, but then my girls were all in the room with me, and I finally got a chance to reassure them I was going to be OK. Greta was the one most upset by the policeman standing guard outside in the corridor.

"Are you sure you aren't under arrest, Daddy?"

"Gretchen," my nickname for her as a little girl, "I'm not under arrest. Sure, I have to talk with the police about what happened, but it was self-defense, and I'll be OK. I don't know why he is there, but I know I'm not under arrest."

As it turned out, we didn't have to wait long to find out, either. Johnny Walker knocked on the door and came in. He shook my hand softly, as if afraid I was breakable in my condition. "Toomas, my friend. I don't like seeing you here."

"I don't like being here either, you old pirate. What brings you around, anyway? Not that I'm not glad to see you, but every time I see you it seems it costs me money." I gave him a grin to soften my jab, and he took it that way.

"I'm just a poor ambulance chaser who got wind you might need representation in just a few minutes, or my little bird at the police department doesn't know what he's talking about."

He sat down gently on the end of the bed and grew somber. "Look, I know you had to do what you had to do, but in a case like this I thought it better to be pro-active, and be here for you rather than have to have you refuse to talk until you have me here. It just works better all around. Lieutenant Halvorson from the homicide department will be here in about fifteen minutes. He's already been to the house and interviewed Kat." She nodded in agreement. "He also talked with your partner and the deceased man's girlfriend. . . ."

"She was not his girlfriend!" Kat broke in just before I could. "She didn't want to see him, and told him so."

"OK, OK. She told me that, too. It is just the way it is being reported in the news, and stuff. They had been dating, right?"

"They went out a couple of times," I agreed. "But there was nothing there, and the guy was threatening her. You know that. You started the paperwork for the protection order, remember?"

Johnny waved a hand in agreement. "I know. I know. I'm just laying it out the way the police will, and the way the media has been. There has been a lot of pressure being applied by the kid's father, and he has some powerful connections here in town. That's why there's a cop in the hallway, for your protection. I really don't think you are in danger, but the police department didn't want to take a chance."