My Day at the Mall Ch. 06

He opened the small door and said, "By the way Maggie, do you need actual film? I've got the new digital setup. It'll display the results on a screen and let you zoom in too. I can then re-focus and take a better picture if you need it."

Maggie's grin got even wider. "Tell me that you have the real-time feed and I'll kiss you."

He smiled and said, "You owe me a kiss then. I have the real-time imaging as well as the positive scan software."

Maggie sauntered over to Brad and gave him a five=alarm kiss that curled his toes. As she let him go Brad panted and tried to catch his breath. Maggie and Brad walked into the other room and I motioned Bear over to me. "What did you mean about the air traffic?"

"I've lived here most of my life. I got a call that you needed help and were in the area and the sudden increase in helicopter traffic started to get a little suspicious. There have been four choppers with the same markings flying over the area for the last six hours. They are looking for something or someone and it stands to reason it's you." Bears expression was pensive.

I pulled out the secure phone and called Red. When he answered I said only one word, "Wabbit", and disconnected.

Five minutes later the phone rang again. "Wayne, why do you think my lines are tapped?

"Bear was waiting here at the vet's office and warned us that four choppers are in the air doing a search grid. I know they can't find this phone and I'm betting that they only got the area code and prefix on the number for here. They are looking for us but they don't know what we were in so we should be good for a bit. Maggie sedated both girls again before we left so we can take our time getting back I think."

Red began cursing in all three languages that he spoke: English, Italian, and Spanish. "I just got a passive sweep result on my phones. There are at least three sets of taps in place. This is another scrambled Sat phone so it is secure. From now on use only this line to talk to me. Mel will have one of these by the end of the day as well."

"Maggie is going to see what she has to do about my knee and then we will head back. It's more than an hour and a half back to the girls so we should be good. Brad says he can fix us up with whatever she needs to do me and then we'll be gone. Maggie may call you with specs for a brace for my knee but that won't be till after she sees what she needs to do." I was getting nervous about her operating on my knee but then again I never did like the idea of someone cutting on me. We said goodbye and I made sure his number was stored in the Sat phone. As I did that Maggie and Brad came back in the room. Bear went back out and took up an overwatch position to keep an eye on the building while we were busy inside.

Brad was fast and efficient and twenty minutes later had all the x-rays Maggie needed up on a thirty inch Hi-Def monitor. Maggie looked the pictures over and had Brad zoom in on a couple of them, and then she turned to me.

"Well, Cowboy, it looks like I was right on the money. You have a foreign object in the connective tissue of your knee, specifically the Iliotibial Band, the large muscle that runs the length of the thigh and attaches to the outside of the knee. It's close to one of the ligaments and is putting pressure on it. The pressure from movement is what is causing the pain and swelling. Brad says he has everything we need ready for me to extract the object and sew you back up right now. All I need is your okay to do it."

I looked at them and said, "Well we ain't waiting on me Doc. Let's get this show on the road!" I smiled as Maggie laughed.

Brad took me into a room and had me strip. He and Maggie shaved my knee and wiped it down with betadine surgical scrub solution and then had me get on a very large, very cold table.

"I've had to improvise a little in order to accommodate a human but this should work to hold you in place." He showed me a makeshift harness that would keep me on the table. He explained that the table could be tilted to make the surgery easier on the doctor but normally the patients were horses so the harnesses he had were far too large.

Maggie looked it over handed it back to Brad with a nod and said, "Get him strapped down and let's do this."

Brad fastened me into the harness started an IV and injected a mild anesthetic. He had me count backwards from twenty. I remember saying fifteen and then darkness overtook me.